HEADMASTER’S NEWSLETTER

Friday 9th October 2020

Headmaster’s Assembly

Ahead of the announcement of the prefects on Wednesday, I wanted to speak with the boys about the notion of responsibility. At school, responsibility can be seen in the way in which we look after our property, in making certain that we are punctual for our lessons and in ensuring that we complete our work on time and to the best of our ability. We also have to be responsible in the way that we manage our relationships with other people. In ensuring that we try to lead our lives according to our values is an important part of behaving responsibly within a community. We also have a responsibility to ensure that others around us are also able to enjoy the opportunities at school as well as feel safe and valued. We should not condone or support those who look to make other people uncomfortable or who would treat them unfairly or cause distress. I told the boys a story about an immigrant baker who had managed to set up a very successful bakery in New York several years ago. One evening, the baker was set upon and beaten by burglars who had targeted his shop. A few days later, he was visited by a group of men who promised him ‘protection‘ from further attacks as long as he paid a regular, very expensive fee. The baker did what he thought was the right thing to do and reported the men to the police and they were arrested. A few days later, the baker was visited by other men who ransacked his bakery and spray-painted the message ‘snitches get stitches’ across the outside wall. The boys were able to tell me the definition of the word ‘snitch’. They were also able to explain how appalled they were by the unjust treatment of the baker. It is rare, but very occasionally I encounter boys who have quite passionately explained to their peers that it is not acceptable to ‘tell on’ other boys. There is, they say, an unwritten rule that boys do not snitch on each other when unkindness or bullying is witnessed. I find this mindset extraordinary. I struggle to understand how we might believe that doing the right thing in support of a victim is seen as being dishonourable. I suggested to the boys that the concept of snitching being unacceptable stems from the power that bullies want to have over others. Of course, the bully does not want to be identified or punished and so they exhort others to stay quiet. A rather perverse culture grows from this. Knowing how positively they had started this year, I encouraged the boys to continue to act as responsible, caring and kind young men. They should reject the bullies’ rule that snitching is wrong and, instead, they should continue to demonstrate the strength of their convictions by looking to ensure that the right thing is done. Sometimes, it takes a much stronger person to stand up to those who would threaten them. These stronger people are the ones we would all want to have in our community, supporting and caring for us as we do for them. This is one of our most important responsibilities.

Wednesday’s Assembly

I was delighted to announce our new House Captains, Deputies and Prefects in the Year 8 Assembly on

Wednesday. Mr Eaves and Mr Leek had received a very large number of applications this year and

their recommendations for this first tranche of awards were based on recognising the boys who

already had demonstrated leadership through their actions, their attitude and their support of all

others.

HOUSE CAPTAINS AND VICE-CAPTAINS:

Drake:

Patrick Grey (Captain)

Ethan Koller and Ralph Moggs (Vice Captains)

Grenville:

Jimmy Sinclair (Captain)

Alex Collins and Jasper Boulanger (Vice Captains)

Nelson:

Alfie Mitchell (Captain)

Daniel Adams and Oliver Hussey (Vice Captains)

Raleigh:

Digby Lane (Captain)

Jasper Cole and Alex Simpson (Vice Captains)

The boys will have the opportunity to support the Head of House in running House meetings and

House events.

PREFECTS:

Art/Design:

Charles Bulman, Ethan Koller and Sam McIlroy

English/Drama:

Louis Deverill and Freddie Mundell

Community/Sustainability:

Yacine El-Bachir, Patrick Grey, Zac Heslop and Max Turner

Music:

James Bell, Alfie Mitchell, Ralph Moggs and Jimmy Sinclair

Sport:

Jasper Boulanger, Ronny Dogra, Mohammad Malikov and Lewis Ridley-Smith

Younger Years:

Eric Chen, George Day and Harry Duffy

Many congratulations to the following Prefects who were awarded their badges and ties.

Tutor Session Report by Mr Eaves, Head of Pastoral Care

The eclectic range of activities in tutor sessions continued throughout this week with the boys really

enjoying the opportunity to focus on areas of interest to them and to share these with the rest of the

group.

3EM enjoyed a wonderful Chinese lesson taught by Stanley Liu, which

was very exciting and got the whole group involved in trying to

pronounce some very new words for some of them, while 3RR worked

together and created a lovely image about kindness.

4DJB completed their 'Around the World Map' this week, which saw

them place a pin in each country that a boy from the Tutor group (and

Mr Baker) has visited. Between them they have travelled to an

incredible 83 different countries!

5MG have enjoyed the opportunity to start the day with some quiet colouring

and to relax ahead of the day. The environment has created a very calm mood

in the class and allowed the boys to prepare for the day ahead. Year 6 have

been working on a Sport Charter for the last few weeks and completed this on

Tuesday. This charter has been owned entirely by the boys and includes the

areas of sport that are particularly important to them. It has been fascinating

to see the values that they have identified as being the most important to

them and how these have included sportsmanship, friendship, respect and

teamwork. Every boy has had the opportunity to add their opinions and values

to the charter and the Year group have all agreed that they will use this charter as a basis for all sport

that they play this year.

7VT took the opportunity to watch the BA747 farewell flight live and then Edward Lyons gave a

presentation of 747 planes through time.

8DL enjoyed the chance to work on some fiendishly difficult riddles and that certainly stumped a few

of them, including Mr Leek.

Year 6 Concert

On Thursday, our talented Year 6 boys performed beautifully in their virtual concert. We were so

engaged in performances that ranged from singing to piano, strings to brass and everything in

between. All Year 6 boys came together in their form groups to sing ‘Food Glorious Food’ with energy

and enthusiasm. Congratulations to all the boys who took part: the performances were truly

impressive!

We look forward to sharing the Virtual Concert with Year 6 Parents in due course.

Sports Report by Mr Davison, Director of Sport

The boys have certainly enjoyed the start of our football delivery this week. We are already looking forward to providing pupils with the chance to get stuck into some intra-school competitions. The House Pentathlon continues apace and it has been wonderful to see the boys take pleasure and pride in their performances in this competition. Athletics offers a chance to participate in the very purest of disciplines – boys committing whole-heartedly to the seemingly simple act (there’s a lot of technique required!) of running, throwing and jumping. Hot off the press is our entry into the Shrewsbury School in Shropshire (no relation!) virtual x-country event. All of the boys will run x-country over the next few days and the times will be entered in the above event. This will enable the pupils of Shrewsbury House School to compete against others from around the UK. The boys will run between 2.2km and 3.7km (dependent on Year group) – be brave! House Cricket, House Pentathlon, intra-school football and virtual x-country…busy boys!

House Cricket – the RESULT! It is with great pleasure that I announce the result of 2020 House Cricket.

U8 Wizards

U8 Vikings

U9 Wizards

U9 Vikings

U10 Wizards

U10 Vikings

U11 Wizards

U11 Vikings U12 U13

1st Drake Drake Raleigh Raleigh Grenville Nelson Drake Grenville Nelson Grenville

2nd Grenville Nelson Drake Drake Nelson Raleigh Grenville Drake Grenville Nelson

3rd Nelson Grenville Grenville Nelson Raleigh Grenville Nelson Raleigh Raleigh Raleigh

4th Raleigh Raleigh Nelson Grenville Drake Drake Raleigh Nelson Drake Drake

Year Group Winner Drake Raleigh Nelson Grenville Nelson Grenville

Final House Cricket 1st Grenville 72 points

2nd Drake 70 points

3rd Nelson 66 points

4th Raleigh 65 points

Football Camp – Cobham Academy

Run from Tuesday 27th – Friday 30th Oct 2020, this camp will be hosted at Shrewsbury House School

and operated by Cobham Academy Ltd. It will led by Billy Davison in his capacity as Director of the

above sports camp operators. Please click here for the October Half Term Football Camp booking

form.

Swimming Course - Aquademy

Run from Monday 26th – Wednesday 28th Oct 2020, this course will be hosted at the Shrewsbury

House School swimming pool and will be operated by Aquademy swim school. The lessons are 30

minutes in duration and run from 4.00 – 6.30pm (age: 4yrs and above). Please book here:

bookings@aquademysurbiton.com

Team of the Week

The sports Team of the Week is selected by all sports staff. Selection reflects recognition of pupils who

have displayed a positive and focused attitude to their sport during the week. Once fixtures

commence, it is possible that boys' performance in school matches is also recognised. Energy, effort,

positivity, kindness and support of others are all traits that inform selection for Team of the Week.

Team of the Week

1. JJ Agarwal 2. Josh Barlow 3. Toby McIlroy 4. Myles Dickinson 5. Robin Moggs 6. Alexander Woodford 7. Theo Cheng 8. Rayan Hussain 9. Oliver Leader 10. Alex Morawitz 11. Alex Gordon-Smith 12. Milo Hamilton-Raimondi 13. Oliver Forbes 14. George Day 15. Rafael Aram 16. Gyu Bhin Kim 17. Eric Chen 18. Benji Paul 19. Aston Frame 20. Yacine El Bachir 21. Otto Hamilton-Raimondi

Team of the Week (Junior)

1. Samuel Hackshall 2. Toprak Kurtulus 3. Hans Christian Kier-Helmo 4. Charlie Day 5. Alexander Wright 6. Jack Dickinson 7. Alfred Phillips 8. William Darvill-Evans 9. Gethin Davies 10. Hiro Setterfield 11. Sam Hazell 12. Hugo Ridley 13. Max Aherne 14. James Morris

Year 3 Kindness Awards

In Year 3, we have an emphasis on kindness and award stickers in the back of prep books for boys

demonstrating kindness to their peers (or teachers!). When they achieve five stickers in a row, their

name goes into a special pink bucket. Every half term, Miss Barclay randomly select four names from

the bucket (one for each tutor group) and they win 4 pluses and a special smiley face badge.

Congratulations to the following boys:

Ruaridh Dunsire Moore (3EM)

Casper Morgan (3KB)

Aaron Mathews (3RR)

Bertie Murrell (3DB)

History Department News by Mr Smart

Ampleforth Junior History Competition

Back in February, many of the then Year 7 and 8 boys entered the Ampleforth Junior History

competition where they submitted essays on a number of topics from the Tudors to the Vietnam War.

Then lockdown hit us and we heard nothing back other than they had been safely received.

This week the Headmaster received a bumper packet of 52 certificates for the SHS Winners, with the

results as follows for current Year 8 boys:

Year 8 Boys:

Rafael Aram – Very Highly Commended

Yacine El Bachir – Runner Up

James Bell – Highly Commended

Gyu Bhin Kim – Highly Commended

Ben Clarke – Highly Commended

Jasper Cole – Highly Commended

George Day – Highly Commended

Louis Deverill – Very Highly Commended

Otto Hamilton- Raimondi – Very Highly Commended

Milo Hamilton- Raimondi – Very Highly Commended

Alexander Harley – Highly Commended

Johnny Hart – Highly Commended

Henry Hulme – Very Highly Commended

Jack McGibbon – Highly Commended

Sam McIlroy – Highly Commended

Alfie Mitchell – Very Highly Commended

Ralph Moggs- Very Highly Commended

Benjy Paul – Very Highly Commended

Tom Simpson – Highly Commended

Jimmy Sinclair – Very Highly Commended

Lewis Ridley-Smith – Highly Commended

Max Turner - Very Highly Commended

Freddie Wolff – Highly Commended

Louis Wood- Very Highly Commended

Henry Zhang – Highly Commended

And a Special Award for a uniquely interesting and moving essay - Alex Gordon-Smith.

A great effort and achievement from SHS boys both past and present – well done to all those who took

part. Do enjoy reading about our leavers’ achievements in an updated Summer Alta Peto which will

be published soon.

Battle of Britain anniversary model competition

During the Summer it was announced that we would run a

competition to mark the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

The boys were challenged to make a model and diorama of

aircraft in scenes from the summer of 1940. There was a lot of

interest from across the whole school and multiple entries arrived

at the start of the term. Photos of all these great models went on

display in the New Block Corridor.

As always, the quality and variety of the models were really

impressive and the judges found it quite hard to decide who was

going to win. In the end we awarded certificates and pluses to

every participant but the six joint winners were; Kingsley Jones,

Anton Stepanek, Caspar Maxwell Randeria, Zach Hitchins, Theo

O’Donnell and Jack Wright. Each boy was awarded his prize and

certificate by the Headmaster.

I would like to sincerely thank all the boys who took part in this History competition.

Art Official Holiday Club

Mrs Kheir is delighted to be running ArtOfficial Art days in the half term holidays, on 19th, 21st, 22nd,

27th, 28th and 29th October. If your son would like to come and enjoy a relaxed day of Art, please

contact artofficial.co.uk@gmail.com for further details. Please do not contact Mrs Kheir via the school

email address. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

D.T Workshop – October Half Term

A D&T workshop will run on Monday 19th, Tuesday 20th, Thursday 22nd, Friday 23rd, Monday 26th and

Tuesday 27th October, based at Shrewsbury School from 10am-3pm each day. Mr Spires, Head of

Design and Technology, will deliver the course. Please click here to register your son.

Shrewsbury House School Parents’ Association

By now you will have received a note from Mrs Sayers regarding the wonderful contribution the SHA

make to the school community. I do encourage you to respond to Mrs Sayers.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Kevin Doble

Headmaster