I hope you have all had a very positive start to the new year.I would like to echo the Headmaster's assembly address by congratulating boys in years 11 and 13 who have received excellent mock exam results. I urge all boys to make good use of the mocks by identifying specific areas for improvement before the summer exams.As the football season begins, I must commend all teams for a positive start to the campaign, as well as the swimming team in their gala against Cheltenham College.I wish everyone a relaxing exeat weekend.

Lent term: Week 425th January 2019News

A note from the Deputy Head of School

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On Thursday 17 January, swimmers in Year 9 to Year 13 swam in a very competitive gala against Cheltenham College.

The gala took place at Monmouth School for Girls, and both boys and girls took part. For the boys’ team, Ben (team captain) started the racing with an excellent Individual Medley race, finishing in second place.

The 4x50m Freestyle race demonstrated some fantastic swimming from Ethan, Ben R, Bosco and Skye and the 4x50m Medley Relay saw a win for Iwan, Robbie, Jack and Ben. Iwan also secured a win in the 50m Freestyle and Robbie in the 50m Breaststroke. James, Barney and Dylan swam extremely well in the face of tough competition.

Overall, it was a closely fought competition with the final score: Monmouth 69 points and Cheltenham College 59 points.

SWIMMERS TAKE ON CHELTENHAM COLLEGE... AND WIN!

Jack, Deputy Head of School

Some of the victorious swimmers after the event

Six of our talented students took part in the Rotary Club Youth Speaks competition last Thursday.

Competing against Monmouth Compre-hensive School and Monmouth School for Girls; Miles, Oliver and Alfie from Year 8 and Adam, Zac and Josh from Year 11 demonstrated supreme skill, preparation and confidence against incredibly tough opposition.

YOUTH SPEAKS... AND WINS!

Oliver’s team delivered an excellent presentation on issues in mod-ern farming whilst Zac, speaking on the topic, ‘Why we need sto-ries’, delivered a memorable and thought provoking discussion that, with able assistance from his team, carried them to victory and the forthcoming regional final in February.

Five talented and creative pupils at Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools have been offered the life-changing opportunity to study at Oxford and Cambridge universities.

The dedication paid off for four pupils at Monmouth School for Girls and one pupil at Monmouth School for Boys as they received conditional offers from these prestigious universities (above).

Old Monmothian, Joshua Kershaw (below), has also had an offer to read Veterinary Medicine at St John’s College, Cam-bridge.

Joshua, who took his A levels at Monmouth School for Boys last summer, is currently in Thailand working in coral conser-vation.

Bella, who joined the Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools’ family at Pre-Prep and Nursery, has been offered a place to read Languages (French and German) at Lincoln College, Oxford. Bella is studying German, French and English at A level.

Deputy Head Girl, Lisa, who is studying Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Physics at A level, has an open offer across the colleges to read Engineering at Oxford.

Lisa also holds a prestigious Arkwright Engineering Scholarship to work with the Hab-erdashers’ Company.

Freya has received an offer to read Law at St Anne’s College, Oxford, and is studying English, Economics, German and Religious Studies at A level.

Keen rower, Jack, a Deputy Head Boy at Monmouth School for Boys, has an open offer across the colleges to read History at Oxford.

Jack, who joined Monmouth in Year 7, is studying Maths, History and Latin at A level.

Deputy Head Girl (Boarding), Mererid, has an offer to read Music at Newnham Col-lege, Cambridge.

Mererid, 17, is studying A levels in English, German, Latin and Music and is a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools Sympho-ny Orchestra (HMSSO) and Senior strings.

Congratulations to all of these students, and to all of the other members of our 6th form community as they aim to secure their places in higher education.

OXBRIDGE OFFERS RECEIVED BY MONMOUTH STUDENTS

Whether it’s a place to come and read a newspaper or magazine, or a serene space to come and do some prep, the Monmouth School for Boys Library has several thousand books, over twenty subject related periodicals and twelve computers to aid everyone’s study. This new year we will be shining a light on a space within our school which is ideal for research and contemplation as well as host to regular talks and exhibitions. This week it was a lecture from novelist Ben Kane:

Around 80 students from the Monmouth Schools enjoyed listening to Ben Kane’s brief history of the Punic Wars, Carthage and Hannibal’s march over the Alps this week. Ben, a novelist who specialises in historical fiction and is best known for The Forgot-ten Legion, Spartacus and Hannibal book series, came dressed as a Roman solider and brought artefacts for everyone to try on and look at including swords, shields and helmets. The question and answer session at the end also included some interesting queries, including; Why were they called the Punic Wars? and How did they train the elephants?

And of course the answer to these, and many other questions can be found in the Monmouth School for Boys library!

A WORD FROM THE LIBRARY: BEN KANE BRINGS ANCIENT ROME TO LIFE

Year 12 artists enjoyed an inspirational and incredibly in-formative still life painting masterclass delivered by local artist Lee Wright recently.

Lee, who co-owns the Welsh Academy of Art, passed on his expert tuition working with oil paints. Pupils made progress with their appreciation of composition, lighting, colour theory and a variety of painting techniques.

6TH FORM ARTISTS GAIN INVALUABLE TIPS

FULL SPEED AHEAD FOR BOARDERS KARTING ADVENTURE

It was high octane fun at the Go-Kart track for some of the Monmouth School for Boys boarders last weekend.

High speed cornering and a healthy competitive spirit meant that juniors and seniors alike had a great time.

Thank you to all the staff who gave their time to support this.

The school young enterprise team this year, Eco Panda, are conducting market research for their new product, bamboo straws. In the wake of Blue Planet, and with the upcoming ban of plastic straws, they feel as though this is both a useful and environmentally friendly product. They would be extremely grateful if you could fill in a short two minute survey, so that they could gain some insight into the scale of interest, and maximise their chance for success in the upcoming national Young Enterprise competition.

The link for the survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8P53TPM

YOUNG ENTERPRISE TEAM NEED YOUR HELP!

15 Army and Air Force cadets spent the afternoon at Boulders Climbing Centre working towards team selection recently.

8 cadets will represent Monmouth School CCF in the forthcoming National CCF Climbing Championships on Saturday 26th January.

After some top-tips and superb guidance on technique, cadets practised on over-hanging routes, tested their speed using the auto-belays and took on bouldering challenges which progressively got harder. Having had huge success during the last three years at the National Championships, the pressure is on with only one more training session left.

CLIMBING TEAM SEEK SELECTION FOR NATIONAL CHAMPS

FOOTBALL REPORT - SHERBORNE PROVE A TOUGH TESTAfter an impressive set of results against Wycliffe, all teams were faced with strong opposition in Sher-borne school. Away from home the Under 14 B’s were unlucky to lose 5-1 whilst the A team were able to win 5-3 in a high scoring game. The U16’s suffered a narrow defeat 2-1 with the absence of Frankie to the 1st XI not helping their cause. The 3rd XI came across a strong Sherborne side and were defeated 6-0. At home, the Under 15 B’s maintained their good form to put in an impressive performance to win 4-1. However, the Under 15 A’s were unfortunate to lose 3-2 in a tightly contested game.The 2nd XI were looking to carry on their good form after a convincing win last week. However, after a slow start they found themselves 1-0 down. After upping the pressure, Monmouth were then able to play some good football which saw them score a well worked equaliser and some individual skill from Rory saw Monmouth take the lead going into half time. The second half would prove to be extremely frustrating, with Monmouth hitting the woodwork 3 times. Sherborne were able to capitalise on Mon-mouth’s frustration and scored two late goals to inflict the 2nd XI’s first defeat of the season in a 3-2 loss.Confidence was high going into the game for the 1st XI after a great team performance last week to get a result against one of the top sides in the country. Despite this, we were slow to start and quickly

found ourselves under pressure which saw Sherborne take an early lead. After settling into the game, chances started to be created and a diagonal ball caused problems for the Sherborne defence which resulted in the ball finding its way to 5th former Seb who tapped home his first of the season. Following this, a similar pass saw a chance emerge for Monmouth but a block on the line kept the scores level. To add to our frustration Sherborne were able to take the lead once again with a good finish from their striker meaning we were behind at half time. We started the second half brightly and a good run from Samuel saw him fouled inside the box and a penalty was given. In a tense moment the captain was able to calmly convert the penalty level-ling the scores once again. However, Sherborne seemed to find an extra gear as the second half went on and a controversial goal was given against us meaning we trailed 3-2. As tired legs began to kick in we pushed for an equaliser leaving us open at the back and Sherborne were able to score late on to finish the game 4-2.

HALLAM BACK FOR 6 NATIONS AS WALES HOPE FOR STRONG CAMPAIGNFormer Monmouth student Hallam Amos has been picked in Wales’ rugby squad for this season’s Six Nations campaign.

The former Head Boy at Monmouth School for Boys is among six Dragons’ players called up by Wales Head Coach Warren Gatland. Hallam, 24, returns to the Welsh fold after not featuring in the autumn because of an elbow injury. The Old Monmothian, who started all three summer Tests at full-back last year, will hope to earn a spot in Wales’ matchday 23 for the opener with France in Paris on Friday 1st February (8pm).Hallam can also play on the wing or at centre and helped Wales to seventh place in the Rugby Sevens at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games last year.

Live on stage:Mon 28 Jan 2019

The Oresteia - Splendid Productions 7pm

COMING UP AT THE BLAKE THEATRE

Calendar Dates:

Fri 25 January

1.50pm Briefing for all prospective Year 11 Oxbridge applicants (MG)4.05pm Exeat begins4.15pm Boarders' coach to Newport Station4.30pm Year 13 Parents' Evening (MB Blake Theatre and MG Atrium)

Sat 26 JanuaryCCF National Climbing Championships: Years 10 - 13 (Cardiff)Depart 8.45am, return 5.30pm

Sun 27 January

Boarders return from 7pm7pm Boarders' coach departs Newport StationRowing: Head of the Taff: J16 - J18 (Cardiff)Soccer: v Merthyr Academy: U16 XI (H) KO 4.45pm (3G)

Mon 28 January7pm - 8.15pm All Years 9 - 13 Drama students Theatre trip:The Oresteia (Blake Theatre) (Meet in Drama Studio at 6.45pm)

Tue 29 January8.40am Year 9 meeting: Talk on forthcoming vaccinations (Blake Theatre)8pm Boarders' Joint Social: Year 10 (Weirhead House)

Wed 30 January

8.40am Year 13 Exam Entries Meeting (Blake Theatre)11+ Sports Trials4.15pm Agincourt Society: Talks by Year 13 students: Historical Enquiry 2019 (School Library)Joint Years 11 - 13 German Debates (Clifton College) Depart 4.30pm, return 9pmSoccer: v Merthyr Academy: U14 XI (H) KO 7.30pm (3G)

Thur 31 January

8.40am Chapel (Form 8F)8.40am Year 11 Exam Entries Meeting (Blake Theatre)2pm School Council (Conference Room)7pm Kent-Dodsworth Brass Competition (Music School)

Click on the image to buy tickets for this event

Splendid Productions present an epic, murderous tale of family, history, vengeance and honour in a story nearly as old as theatre – The Ores-teia.Condensing Aeschylus’s classic trilogy into an hour, Splendid’s new creative adaptation explores the place where rage meets justice in an artful, political, physical, musical, entertainingly furious – and furiously entertaining – piece of theatrical magic.

Tickets: Adults £12, Students £10

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