May 2017

Dear Parents As I write to you, we have many pupils with their heads bowed over exam desks or studying in the Library or in their Houses; it is examination season and IB, A level and GCSE examinations are well underway. It can be a difficult and stressful time for our pupils but I have tried to encourage them to take things in their stride and to see things in perspective. I have also encouraged them to aim to be balanced in their approach to life and to appreciate the fact that thousands of people have written exams in the past and thousands will do so in the future and so they should try to see themselves in this context and to be sharp and calm at the same time. Another message I have given to the pupils is to go out of their way to be kind and caring, to say positive things about others, to show appreciation to those who help make our lives meaningful, to express thanks where it is due and generally to shift the emphasis from the importance of “I” to the importance of “we”. I have suggested that we should not be doing things exclusively for ourselves, but we should rather be very conscious of the prospect of contributing to the lives of others and making a difference to them. I am sure that we feel at our happiest when doing so. Our Peer Mentors are a group who certainly contribute to the lives of others and can help pupils in a range of different ways, perhaps by giving advice on studying or on relationships with other people. They are relatively senior in the school, being in the Lower Sixth, Hundred or Pre-Sixth, and have been trained to listen to issues raised by their peers which may be easier to talk over with someone who is of a similar age rather than a teacher. Naturally, as we have indicated to our pupils, there may be some circumstances which are more serious and in which a teacher may well need to be brought into the picture, but I am very grateful to our Peer Mentors for giving of their time to help create a supportive, caring environment here at Malvern. Each House has a number of Peer Mentors and I would like to thank the following for their contributions in supporting others: Karl Barbers, Ben Fu, William Pringle, Ritvik Sethi and Max Taylor (School House); Jasmine Jain, Trixi Meus, Lea Otscheret, Cheryl Yuen and Louise Zinke (Ellerslie House); Walter Gonder, Sunraj Dhariwal, Nader Di Michele, Nicholas Kruse and Ethan Wang (No. 1); Tom Doherty, Jonathan Lim, Henry Queen, Declan Swinburne and Philipp Thamer (No.2); Anna Hauptmann, Leonie Laubmann, Lauren Maxey, Mallika Prakash and Miranda Bruce (No. 3); Olivia Behan, Alexandra Medcalf, Cathy Cussans, Natasha Cook, Ariana Davison, Hannelore Elsden and Verity Manning Cox (No. 4); Owen Carroll, Max Pickering, Max Regan, Eliott Gilling-Smith and Sulaiyman Ahmad Fauzi (No.5); Liza Rosenberg,

Felisha Dodhia, Fran Hsu, Marianne McMurdo, Martina Totaro and Natasha White (No. 6); Federico Amodeo, Harry Everest, Lucas Heappey, Vishal Koneru, Josh White and Jack Bishop (No. 7); Claudia Cascon Pulido, Matilda Hyde-Thomson, Cordelia Lampard, Daisy Lazarus, Annika Schulz and Darcie Coates (No. 8); Jamie Bitenyo-Jones, Angelo Guenther, Edward Mayell, Jake Preston, Yan Saw and Nick Yeoward (No.9). Well done and thank you to all of the above. Our thanks go to the outgoing School Council for 2016-7 who raised the magnificent sum over £14,000 for a range of local, national and international charities and, in particular, Kaspar Klemm (Chairman), Oscar Holroyd (Vice Chairman) and Tara Prasad (Secretary) were instrumental in planning much of the work of the Council. The School Council for 2017-8 is Karl Barbers (SH), Alex Kruse and Sunraj Dhariwal (No. 1), Declan Swinburne (No.2), Heleena de Oliveira and Anna Hauptmann (No.3), Verity Manning-Cox (No. 4), Will Sharp (No.5), Vera Vodinskaya and Megan Davies (No.6), Lucas Heappey and Valerio Mazzola (No. 7), Claudia Cascon Pulido (No.8), Julius Lange (No.9) and Trinny Salnikow (Ellerslie House). Good luck to these pupils in their charitable endeavours. The Harvard Book Prize is awarded by the University annually to a pupil at a small selection of schools in the United Kingdom. It is awarded to an outstanding student in the penultimate year who is academically excellent, has exceptional personal qualities and makes a valuable contribution to the life of the school. This year it is awarded to Elizaveta Rozenberg and our congratulations go to her. In making this award to Malvern College, Harvard have indicated that they have some thirty students from the UK each year gaining admission to the University. At present, we have two Old Malvernians there and, naturally, a number at other Ivy League Universities. In the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Olympiad, Oscar Holroyd achieved a Gold award and Liza Rozenberg and Carla Walla Silver awards. Oscar’s award, naturally, places him in a very small group of elite Chemists. In the Biology Challenge for FY and Remove pupils, Max Horler and Ginny Lawrence both gained Gold awards, in this case placing them in the top 5% nationally, whilst Silver awards went to Evyanne Ewusie, Shea John, Jonathan Mather, Konrad Barbers, Lakshya Joshi, Daisy Broughton, Edward Bradshaw, Gus Stephenson, Peter Ingram and Hannah Atkinson. In Music, the following have achieved at Grade 5 level or above: Harrison Hudson (Grade 5 Singing with Merit), Devon Perry (Grade 5 Saxophone with Merit), Rowan Currie-Jordan (Grade 5 Singing), Laura Coulman (Grade 5 Clarinet), Georgina Wood (Grade 5 Singing), Charles Izzard (Grade 5 Piano), Ariana Davison (Grade 6 Singing with Merit), Amelia Wilson (Grade 6 Piano), Lauren Maxey (Grade 7 Singing), Elizaveta Rozenberg (Grade 7 Singing), Jacob Perry (Grade 7 Jazz Saxophone with Merit), Holly Needham (Grade 7 Singing with Merit), Georgina Denham

(Grade 7 Singing with Merit), Sofija Rakcejeva (Grade 7 Singing with Merit), Shea John (Grade 7 Flute with Distinction), Sebastian Thurlow (Grade 8 Singing), Verity Manning-Cox (Grade 8 Jazz Saxophone with Merit), Freya Westwood (Grade 8 Piano with Merit) and Martha Doherty (Grade 8 Piano with Distinction). The FY production of Treasure Island went onto the boards this week and was a triumph. Congratulations to the cast and crew of the Foundation Year drama. The large ensemble cast comprising Missy Hingley, Hattie Sibthorpe, Georgina Wood, Charlotte Bulley, Jamie Hawkins, Edmund Thurlow, Ani King, Millie Page, Louis Packham, James Francis, Jack Nicholson-Kay, Maissa De Oliviera, Shareek Oluwo, Devon Perry, Jacob Perry, Cecilia Gerber, Andrew Jung, Ishbel Spencer-Nairn, Will Brinkman, Sacha Bitenyo-Jones, Louis Edwards, Lakshya Joshi, Freya Bedell, Maddie Queen, Olivia Davies, Sofia Hsu, Alexei Poulet, Vansh Ladwa and Andrew Jung gave highly impressive performances and were ably supported by technicians Peter Ingram, Jay Yang and George Kent and the hair/make-up team of Emma Raycraft, Antonia Worrallo and Hannah Afsar. The production was very warmly received and excellently showcased the creative talents of our FY pupils. The creative team of Mr Doidge (Lighting), Miss Lawton (Sound), Mrs Fryer (Costume) and Director, Mr Packham, successfully navigated this production to great success.

We are very pleased that so many pupils take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Schemes and achieve success in them. The latest to do so are Ellen Berry, Tom Doherty, Poppy Delingpole, Emily Ingram, Henry Forbes,

Frédéric Reuther, Dino Abduljawad, Amber Anderson, Oliver Millard, Sam Platnauer, Josh Sigley, Sasha Wilson and Octavia Wyatt who have all achieved Bronze awards. News from the CCF is that Marine 1 section led by Monty Lampard won a multi-disciplinary competition involving 110 cadets. Our Shooting team comprising Sulaiyman Ahmad Fauzi, Nadim Ghassibe, Georgina Denham and Philip Blesinger, finished 4th out of 58 teams competing in the National Eley Cadet Force .22 shooting competition. This is our highest placing for some years.

A few weeks ago, many of us saw the London Marathon on television and were looking out for Abi Cunningham who ran with her father to raise money for the charity, KidsOut. This allows disadvantaged families to have the opportunity to experience holidays and trips which might otherwise be beyond their means. Abi exceeded her target which was to raise £2,800. Well done, Abi! Other Sporting highlights are below: • Our Golf team beat Cheltenham College 3-0 in the semi-final of the

HMC Foursomes and will play Canford in the final. • In the Girls’ National Fives Finals, Amelia Law and Anna Doroshenko

reached the semi-finals of the doubles and Amelia the semi-finals of the singles. Earlier in the month, Andrew Tudor had reached the semi-finals of the Boys’ National competition and Advait Manur won the plate event.

• Our Girls’ Hockey players continue to excel: Charlotte Atkinson, Hannah Atkinson, Ellie Calderwood, Georgie Hartley, Jess Biddle and Tali Swinburne all represented Stourport Hockey Club in the Under 16 national club finals where they finished third in the country. Jess Biddle has gone on to be selected for England Under 16. Congratulations to the girls for flying the Malvern flag so proudly.

• We have had two Athletics meetings this term the first of which was against teams from Oundle, Magdalen College School, Denstone, Cheltenham, Repton, and Bromsgrove. In the senior events, Dare George was second in the high jump, Lauren Maxey second in the discus and Vivien Kruse third in the shot put. In the intermediate events, Georgina Denham was second in the 1500m, Temidola Shonubi was third in the 200m, Lawrence Hooker second in the 1500 m, Louise Little third in the javelin, Jess Biddle third in the discus, Max Horler second in the high jump and Vivien Kruse third in the shot put. A superb tactical run in the 1500m junior event by Layskha Joshi saw him in first place. At a second Athletics meeting against teams from Rugby, Radley, Winchester, Marlborough, St Edward’s (Oxford), Clifton and Portsmouth Grammar, Dare George was second in the senior high jump whilst, in the intermediates, Lawrence Hooker was first in the 800m and third in the 1500m, Laura Browne and Hannah Atkinson were third and fourth in the javelin, Phoebe Palmer O’Riordan was third in the 200m and Arina Znamenskaya was first in the long jump. Amongst the juniors, Layskha Joshi was, once again, first in the 1500m.

• In Tennis, our senior boys’ team beat Hereford Cathedral School 5-3. Pair of the match was Luca Dell’ Antonio and Hans Baare-Schmidt who

won all four of their sets with relative ease. Our 1st Girls Team girls beat Repton 6-3, Claudia Cason Pulido and Mackenzie Holtom winning all of their matches. The 2nd team won 6-3 with Scarlet Shaw and Izzy Wynn winning all of their games. The 3rd team and the Under 15 As lost 8-1, our pair of the match being Gemma Luscombe and Imogen Cole. The Under 14As won 5-4 with the pair of the match Ishbel Spencer-Nairn and Maddie Queen, but our other teams lost to Repton, apart from the Under 14Cs we won 5-4 with the pair of the match Ginny Lawrence and Millie Page.

• A number of boys have done very well in representative Rugby: Imoesi Ogwemoh and Ludo Staley have represented the Worcester Warriors U15s and Ludo has been selected to attend the RFU Midlands Academy group which receive extra coaching from the England U18 coaches. Tom Hughes is in the Warriors U15 group for next year and Will Lane has been playing extremely well for the Warriors U17s as scrum half. More recently he played for the Warrior Senior Sevens Squad against Jamaica, a great tribute to him. Josh Phipps has also been in the Warriors U17 team and attended the England U16 trials recently, whilst George Amphlett, our First XV Captain, has represented the Scottish Exiles. James Scott has been playing for England U18 in the home internationals and, in the match against Ireland, was made “Man of the Match”, a tremendous achievement!

• In Cricket we have had a good start to the season, our 1st XI beating Wellington by 5 runs (Mahaaz Ahmed making 52 and Will Annetts 71). The 1st XI then beat St Edward’s, Oxford, by 63 runs (Jack Haynes 102, Advait Manur 53 and Aaron Tomson 3/23). We have also beaten Magdalen College School by 34 runs (Dan Holland 117 not out, Joe O’Gorman 2/27 and Jack Haynes 3/26). A further win against the MCC with Callum Lea making an 80, Jack Haynes 54 and Mahhaz Ahmed 50 preceded a single loss to Repton by six wickets. Nevertheless, we bounced back to beat King’s, Taunton by 25 runs, Jack Haynes making 81 and Joe O’Gorman taking 3/37. All of our other teams have won matches, except in two instances. The U15As and U14As both beat St Edward’s, Oxford the former by 9 wickets and the latter by 150 runs. Some juniors who have been to the fore are Dan Holland, George White, Will Brinkman, Jock Catto, Josh Dickenson and Vansh Ladwa.

The Parents’ Forum meets each term with the Senior Management Team of the school and the notes from the meeting are published on the Parents’ Portal. Each of the Houses has a parent representative (or two) and I established the Forum several years ago as a place where constructive views may be expressed as we seek year by year to improve aspects of the school. Naturally, it is more appropriate for you to discuss individual concerns which you may have directly with the relevant teachers, tutors or Housemaster/Housemistress or the relevant Deputy Head or me and I simply wanted to highlight in this letter that you may be interested to read of the discussions which have taken place in these meetings on the Parent Portal. That is, if you have not already done so!

After many years of unstinting service to the school, Mrs Gwyn Sloan is retiring in June from her role as a Registry Tour Guide. Gwyn’s warm and approachable style has touched the hearts of so many visiting families and she will be sorely missed. We are, therefore, seeking to appoint a tour guide to show the school to visiting prospective families and a parent may be interested in this role. Applications would be welcomed from those who know the school well as experience has shown that visiting families appreciate the knowledge and advice of those who have experienced the school at first hand. The role is part time, salaried and term time only. The closing date for applications is 31 May and details can be found on the School website. I have not yet mentioned our Heads of House in our Houses. Congratulations go to Max Taylor (School House), Dare George (No.1), Charlie Salnikow (No.2), Elise Black (No.3), Olivia Behan (No 4), Callum Lea (No 5), Natasha Falconer-Malcolm (No 6), Bibi Amana (No 7), Daisy Lazarus (No 8), Nye Owen (No. 9) and Juliette Hannecart (Ellerslie). In just a couple of weeks, we will enjoy our Commemoration programme and I trust that you will find this a memorable event with the athletic sports, Parents BBQ where there is the opportunity to interact with members of our Council and musical concert on the Friday evening and then the Service at the Priory, a range of activities at the school and the Prizegiving on the Saturday, followed by lunch. It is one of the highlights of our year and I hope to see you there! With my best wishes

Antony Clark Headmaster