Friday 27 January 2017

THE CAMBRIDGE CLUB GETS BIGGERI was delighted to hear, on Tuesday, that Dan received an offer from Cambridge to read Engineering. So there will be five Emanuel students heading to Cambridge in the Autumn, and one to Oxford, if they satisfy the terms of their offers. Well done Dan! This has been a very unusual year for Oxbridge, from our point of view, as traditionally students from this school have favoured making applications to Oxford instead of Cambridge during my time here. So it is rare to see so many members of the Upper Sixth choosing to apply to Cambridge instead of Oxford in 2016/17 – is this a temporary blip, or a sign of things to come? To illustrate the point: with five Emanuel students heading to Cambridge this Autumn, this will more than double the number of Emanuel students who are currently there. Frankie Postles is studying Music at Trinity College, Dylan Carroll is at St Catherine’s, studying Human Social And Political Sciences, Ewan Day Collins is at Peterhouse reading History, and Chloe Fuller is at Murray Edwards studying Veterinary Medicine (and Emily Nearn has

“14 Emanuel students have gone to study at Oxford since 2012, compared to only five at Cambridge during the same period. Is this a natural rebalancing – or the start of a trend?”just left, having completed her degree in English at Peterhouse). However, in the past five years, look at how many Emanuel students have chosen to study at Oxford: George Russell (currently studying History at University College), Hannah Jacques (English, New College) Noah Vickers (English, St Edmund Hall), Maddy Webb (Classics, Worcester), Shahryar

Iravani (English, Corpus Christi) Carmen Martinez, (English and Spanish, St Hugh’s) Alex Fuller (Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, Balliol) Matthew Woolley (Engineering, Oriel with a choral scholarship) Lottie Barrett (English, New College), Shannon Hayes (Psychology, St Anne’s) Isobel Hamilton (French and German, Jesus College) Cormac Connelly Smith (History, St Benet’s) and Zoe Dickey (History, St John’s). With Lorelei Piper also heading to Oxford this Autumn, to read Classics at St Anne’s, this will bring the total to 14 Emanuel students studying at Oxford since 2012, compared to only five at Cambridge during the same period. Is this a natural rebalancing – or the start of a trend? Time will tell. But, in the meantime, many congratulations to Dan and Thais, Ben, Davie, Juliette and Lorelei for all getting offers to either Cambridge or Oxford (and mostly to Cambridge) this

year. MHB

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CHORAL & ORCHESTRAL CONCERTTHURSDAY 9 FEBRUARY 7PM | HAMPDEN HALL

This is a fantastic opportunity to hear the Orchestra, Choir and Year 13

music scholars perform as soloists in:

JS. Bach’s Mass in B Minor - featuring -

Colette Boushell (Soprano)Hermione Leitch (Soprano)

Leigh Woolf (Mezzo Soprano)Robert Martin (Tenor)James Oldfield (Bass)

Grøndahl Trombone Concerto featuring Josh Blows (Trombone)

Directed by Tim Rhodes

Tickets: adults £13 (£14 on the door) concessions £7 (£8 on the door)

family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) £30 advance only

Book now: lucy.stevens@emanuel.org.uk

Sarah Govett presented an intriguing argument on the modern teens’ seemingly never ending fascination with dystopian literature. From huge selling titles such as ‘The Hunger Games’ to cult classics such as ‘A Clockwork Orange’ they continue to fire the imagination of teenagers and dominate the bestseller charts. Coming from a background in law, Sarah only started writing fiction seriously four years ago. Her novel ‘The Territory’ was a surprise hit and is one of my favourite dystopian novels of recent years, mixing both educational and environmental issues into a convincing futuristic setting. Sarah was exceptionally knowledgeable on the subject and explained that much of dystopian literature reflects current fears and worries, such as the environment or politics and highlighted some of her other favourites titles from the genre. Sarah noted that the best dystopian novels often have complex plot lines which mesh science fiction with

SARAH GOVETT - AUTHOR VISITspeculative fiction and are ideal ways for teenagers to engage in real current issues via literature, often asking the question ‘What if?’. We then had a very successful book sale in the Library where

many other pupils came to meet Sarah and have books signed. I hope they all enjoy the book as much as I did. Sarah is currently writing the final book in the trilogy which should be out in 2018. TRJ

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Tickets are on sale for this year’s musical, The Producers. Based on Mel Brooks’ Academy Award-winning movie, this is a hilarious musical comedy that has taken Broadway and the West End by storm, winning a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards and 3 Olivier Awards. Impoverished by a string of flops, New York producer Max Bialystock recruits timid accountant Leo Bloom to help him pull off Broadway’s greatest scam. They aim to produce the worst show ever and run away with millions, but they soon learn that show-business can kick you in the teeth. Performances take place in the Hampden Hall 15-18 March at 7pm. Tickets available through the Drama Office. RJA

The chaplain will be offering preparation classes for any student thinking about confirmation (Church of England). The enquirers group will begin meeting before February half term and the confirmation service itself is likely to be in June 2017. The confirmation group classes are informative, informal and enjoyable and there is no obligation to proceed with confirmation at the end of the series of meetings. Anyone interested in confirmation should contact the chaplain as soon as possible, either directly or by email on forbes.walker@emanuel.org.uk. Parents should also feel free to contact the chaplain on behalf of their son or daughter or indeed with any questions about confirmation or the preparation process. RFW

A reminder to Year 11 pupils that the deadline (Friday 10 March) is fast approaching. Please complete the pupil placement form (available from the parent portal) and return to Miss Malik ASAP. If you have any questions please see Ms Zaratiegui or Miss Malik immediately. HHM

This is our new ‘pop-up’ reading group which focusses on the graphic novels and comics nominated for the annual 2017 ‘Stan Lee Excelsior Award’. This award has been around for a few years and has been growing in popularity with more and more schools realising graphic novels are a fantastic way of encouraging reading. The award celebrates and promotes the best graphic novels published in the previous year and has a proven track record with connecting reluctant readers with carefully chosen titles. The Emanuel group will meet on four occasions between Tuesday 31st of January and Easter to decide upon which book we would like to nominate as our overall school winner. This is an excellent opportunity for children who may not normally attend our Junior Literacy Society, but have a personal interest in

this area, to attend this informal group and chat about the eight books with other kids. We will read and review the books as a group and rate them in four categories; story, a, dialogue and characters before deciding upon our winner. As we are officially shadowing this award we have been provided with review forms to complete. Should you wish a copy of the standard review form email tony.jones@emanuel.org.uk and I will forward it on. It does

not to create lots of written

work for children. The eight books on the shortlist are featured on a poster later in this newsletter and are all available in the School Library. We also have all the previous winners and shortlisted books amongst the 600+ graphic novels and comics stocked in the School Library. TRJ

Emanuel romped to an easy 11.5 to 0.5 victory over an under strength Trinity side last Friday. Earlier in the season this school defeated us 7-5 in a very close match, however, this time out they used a few reserves and paid the price for underestimating us. Although we have lost a few games this season our defeats have been very close losses, so it was very nice to avenge this defeat. When we do manage to field our strongest six players we are both very competitive and very experienced, as Trinity found out. However, our problem is our chronic lack of depth, whenever one of our top six is unavailable we have no strong reserves and can often struggle to field a team at all. Virtually no children play chess in the Lower School so, long term, this problem is only going to get worse and at some point we may not have enough players to raise a competitive team for the Surrey School Chess League. Against Trinity the team won both games with the exception of Pietro Fassina who won one and drew his second. The winners were Eash Anadkat, Tom Harrison, Jacob Solon, Luke Northwood and Daniel Cox who won by walk-over. Both a great effort and a very professional performance. TRJ

THE PRODUCERSCHESS RESULT

CONFIRMATION 2017

WORK EXPERIENCE

EXCELSIOR GRAPHIC NOVEL READING GROUP

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Prayer and reflection is an important part of life at Emanuel, not only for the pupils but for all members of the community.A group of parents has expressed interest in establishing an informal prayer group which will meet in the school chapel (8.30am - 8.50am) on a monthly basis (first Thursday of the month in term time) to offer prayers. They pray:• for the needs of the school that are known to them

• in response to prayer requests coming from members of the school community and also• in response to prayers and requests that the pupils, staff and parents have placed in the prayer box just outside the chapel.Whilst prayer is the focus of this group, it also allows space and an opportunity to develop supportive and friendly relationships across the school

community. The prayer group welcomes all parents and is open to anyone at any time. If you would like to come along please just show up. Here are the details:The dates of the meetings (school chapel 8.30am - 8.50am) will be: Thursday 2 February, Thursday 2 March, Thursday 4 May and Thursday 6 July. For more information please contact the chaplain on forbes.walker@emanuel.org.uk. RFW

PARENTS’ PRAYER GROUP

Last week the Creative Arts and Design Faculty ran an Open Arts project which involved opening the Music, Art, Drama and DT departments to visitors. During the two days, all arts lessons were open door and teachers from other subjects were able to walk-in to see students working creatively, using their artistic talents. In the evenings, more than 70 parents and teachers from other subject areas joined us for free workshops in practical activities ranging from plaster sculpting and Kodaly singing to technical theatre and CAD mask-making. This was a fantastic opportunity to show off our work and for parents to experience the learning the children experience within our departments. We hope to repeat the project next year as great fun was had by all. BMD

BY KEATONOn Tuesday the Upper Sixth Music A-Level students put on an evening of live music, inviting friends and family to listen. Each student performed a handful of pieces, ranging from voice to woodwind to percussion, with their performances being recorded for their final A2 grade. Hermione Leitch sang a handful of songs, one being ‘Flow my Tears’, composed by Jason Dowland. Felicity Sanders showed her versatility performing on both the bassoon and violin while Kitty Oliphant delighted us with a selection of show songs. David Kemp sang a range of styles including one song in French. Later in the night Jason Arnold played a beautiful piece by Bach called ‘Gavotte’ on the guitar. Then following a performance from Head Boy Joshua Blows on trombone. Zein Checri ended the night with a fast paced and punchy piece called ‘Boomtown Beats’ on percussion. All in all, it was a great night of live performances and we wish them the best of luck in the rest of their A2.

Assassinations, Kate Moss, Napoleon and Tungsten. You may be wondering what these have in common. They were all topics discussed at the latest meeting of the Chemistry Book Club. Each student gave a brief presentation about a book that they had been reading over the past few weeks. The group are used to working in the science field and many of the students enjoyed the opportunity to read more about chemistry from an autobiographical and historical perspective. Some of group have chosen to research further into materials such as kevlar, or poisons used in assassinations due to a curiosity which has been sparked from their reading. The students will now select a new book to read as they continue their A level studies. Thanks to Joyce for providing hot drinks and a cheery smile to get the group going on a cold and frosty morning. HHM

A LEVEL RECITAL CHEMISTRY BOOK CLUB

OPEN ARTS PROJECT

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SPORTRUGBY

1ST VII V ALLEYNSFINAL SCORE: 25-14 (WON)

BY TILLY

From the start of the game, we knew that the match was going to be different since it was an alternative formation of players to usual. However, we were in the lead by the first quarter which was helped by the excellent defence, where Daisy was playing at Goal Defence, gaining posses-sion and turnovers on Alleyns’ centres. Maddie was working hard as Goal Attack, providing the team with speed and agil-ity, as well as a strong shooting success rate. Chloe took several interceptions to keep us on the front foot, with Rebecca providing many inch-perfect feeds to the shooters who converted. Despite a new formation for this development team, we played well together. The result was well deserved against a traditionally a strong side.

NETBALL

SENIOR 1ST VII V ROYAL RUSSELLFINAL SCORE: 31-30 (WON)

BY CATHERINE

The team travelled to Royal Russell for round two of the ISN Plate competition. It would prove to be a tough match - the first one back this term - and one that would go to the wire. After a slow start for Emanuel, due to familiarisation with the court, we trailed by three at the end of the first quarter. We knew we must clean up our unforced errors in order to put up a fight in this game and, heading into the second quarter, we were fired up. The feeding of Allegra and Catherine meant that Tilly and Maddie had many opportunities to score, which they converted. Chloe and Rebecca made many interceptions and provided support to our midcourters when attacking. Defensively we stepped it up, with our new through-court defence causing many held ball calls, as well as forcing high passes for Ibs to pick off. We won the second quarter, pulling

us level for the first time in the game. Eventually, the whistle went for full time, with the scores even, meaning we would head into a period of extra time to try and find a winner. The girls stayed composed and confident, and with little less than 10 seconds remaining we scored to win the game by one goal in extra time. It was a momentous effort from all involved and one that will be remembered due to our calm and collected nature under the pressure of extra time. We now progress into the quarter finals of this competition, and eagerly await our next game where we hope to repeat the same win.

2ND VII V GREY COURT SCHOOLFINAL SCOREL 17-31 (LOST)

BY HOLLY

Despite the miserable weather, the team was in high spirits in preparation for the match. The first quarter got off to a good start with sharp drives and fierce interceptions. The defence balanced the court well with Scarlett dominating the goal third along with Molly at centre. Our shooters, Holly and Ellie, managed to score an astonishing 13 goals in the first half. However, due to slippy courts and extremely strong opposition, the team went down in the third quarter causing morale to fall. Thanks to the energetic play by Megan the game still remained close until the very end.

1ST VII V GREY COURT SCHOOLFINAL SCORE: 40-22 (WON)

BY TILLY

It was a shaky start for the team, going down five goals in the first quarter. However, Chloe picked up the pace in the second quarter, playing as centre. We managed to turn it around but we were still down by three goals. Maddie provided agility on the court, managing to get the ball down to the circle where Tilly put the shots up. In the third quarter the score came to 21-21, however, with

the help of the excellent duo, Nicole and Daisy, they managed to take possession and win the game for us.

U15A/B VS IBSTOCK PLACE U15AFINAL SCORE: WON 46-0

The first half of this game saw us play some the best rugby we’ve played all season. There was aggression, physicality, clean ruck ball, off-loading and clinical execution of opportunities to score tries. By half time, we led 34-0 and the victory was more or less assured. The second half was more competitive as we made a number of changes, and credit to Ibstock; they worked hard, but our strong defence meant we didn’t concede a try and added a further couple ourselves. Special

mentions go to: twins Luke and Marcus who were hard-working throughout, Jake who scored an outrageous four tries in the game, Jack who showed what a class act he is with ball in hand (one try) and Henry (one try) who put in another outstanding performance in the back row. Man of Steel was Jake, who not only played a blinder, but also capped it off with an audacious, old fashioned ‘up and under’, which he then gathered himself to score under the posts. DCH

“The first half of this game saw us play some the best rugby we’ve played all season.”

FIVESEMANUEL V WINDSOR & ETON

Emanuel took two pairs to Eton College on Sunday to play against Windsor & Eton in the third division. The first pair of Ben Emerson and Tom Marwood had a tough draw against two veterans of the game. Both students played extremely well, and it was great to see improvements in volleying on the front step and coping with the additional pressure of playing in the adult game. While the boys lost 3-0, there was much to take from this experience. Ernest Pretzlik and Richard Marwood at second pair had a closer match, with Ernest putting in one of his finest performances so far, with excellent cut returning, anticipation in the front court and volleying. Despite losing the first game 11-12, they came back to win the second 12-9. The next two games

were close, but the opposition's greater experience was enough to secure the match for Windsor & Eton, 3-1.All in all, a great fixture which showcased many good things from all who took part. BY DOMINIQUE REDMOND - COACH

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RUGBYU12A VS KING’S COLLEGE WIMBLEDON FINAL SCORE 40-30 (WON)

BY JACOB

At the start of the first half of the game we were all half asleep and we conceded four early tries to send us 20-0 down. This was our wake up call to get in the game. We came back well before half-time thanks to Hal, Tom and Jacob. In the sec-ond half, we were much more aggressive and we scored two interception tries be-cause of our great line speed. There was some outstanding rucking from Martin, Ollie and Max. The King’s team were very direct in the way that they played and we had to roll up our sleeves and be aggres-sive with our tackling and defence. This was demonstrated by Andrew and Matt who were making great tackles, along with Ben and Jack. Overall we played well, though we weren't playing on our usual long, wide pitch so we had to adapt and do more grunt work in order to win the game.

U12B V KCS WIMBLEDONFINAL SCORE: 25-20 (WON)

BY ZEESHAN

We opended the game with an amazing performance from all players and with a firm defensive line. Every time our opponents got near, we immediately took them down and held our ground. By the end of half time, we were winning by four tries - two from Jamie Sinclair and two from Timur Gurpinar. After half-

time we became a bit sloppy and our line started to crumble. KCS gained four tries quickly and both teams struggled for the next one. We finally broke their defence, gaining a winning try from Donald. An outstanding performance from all the team and excellent tackling from Isaac

U12C V KCS FINAL SCORE: 50-10 (WON)

BY ETHAN

We played our first game of the term on Friday with high hopes as the C team looked to continue their high form. We kicked off and we applied pressure straight away. We managed to rip the ball many times and score on the counter attack. KCS were strong in the mauls so we had to push them back. Occasionally we lost concentration as they got through a few times. We played very well scoring many tries. Pavle used his speed and pace to run through the defence. Oscar used his power to break through the defence. Overall it was a great win and everyone played exceptionally well.

EMANUEL U12 V BERKHAMSTED PREP

Wednesday 11 January saw the home leg of our two fixtures this term against Berkhamsted. An injured Arthur and Jacob were at first pair, facing a strong pair of Berkhamstedians. The first game was lost 2-12, but the score line did not reflect the quality of the play from both teams, and the rally play was excellent from all involved. The second game also went to Berkhamsted, but the 9-12 score

line more accurately reflected the high level of the Emanuel players. Ben and Ethan at second pair had the closest match of the fixture, with their first set lasting almost as long as everyone else’s entire matches. Despite a good start from their opposition, Ben and Ethan came back from 3-7 down to bring the scoreline to 7-8, at which point the Berkhamsted pair accelerated away to take the set 12-8. The second set, which was extremely hard-fought and close, ended up 12-9 in Berkhamsted’s favour. The third pair of Isaac and Hughy had their work cut out for them, but rallied well in the first game - the opposition just

“We opended the game with an amazing performance from all players and with a firm defensive line.”

had the edge however, winning the first game 6-12, and the second game went more convincingly Berkhamsted’s way, finishing 12-2 in their favor. Whilst this was a 3-0 win to Berkhamsted, it is important not to be disheartened and to remember that many of their students have been playing for several years, and thus have accrued more experience than schools like Emanuel that start in Year 6 and 7. The ability, enthusiasm and sportsmanship of all who took part was excellent. There is no doubt that the future holds exciting things for this year group. BY DOMINIQUE REDMOND - COACH

“The ability, enthusiasm and sportsmanship of all who took part was excellent. There is no doubt that the future holds exciting things for this year group.”

“It was great to see improvements in volleying on the front step and coping with the additional pressure of playing in the adult game.”