reading school enrichment report 2012
TRANSCRIPT
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Annual Fund
Activities Report2011-12
Introduction This brief review of the activities supported with the help of the Annual Fund
during 2011-12 gives a flavour of the range of extra-curricular activities onoffer at Reading School. Their scope and variety is testimony to the energy
and intellectual curiosity of our students.
It also to the credit of the many members of staff who gave up their time and
skills to ensure the boys had ample opportunities to develop their talents and
interests. The activities complement and enhance learning in the classroom,
and make an enormous difference to students‘ intellectual and emotional
growth, which pays dividends both within school and in later life.
We would like to thank all those parents who donated to the Annual Fund
during 2011-12. It wouldn‘t have been possible to achieved so much without
their generosity and support.
We need as many parents as possible to become involved in supporting the
Annual Fund, to enable us to continue to provide high quality enrichment
projects. If you are a UK taxpayer, we will also be able to reclaim 25p in Gift
Aid for each pound you can donate.
You can make a donation using the Annual Fund donation form, or by
contacting the Development Office on 0118 9105600, ext 264, or email
Contents
Music — Page 2
Drama — Page 2
School Events — Page 3
Ichthus — Page 4
6th Form Debating —
Page 4
Public Speaking — Page 4
CCF — Page 5
Science Club — Page 5
Sport — Page 6 & 7
Chess — Page 8
Art — Page 8
Photo: T Tucker
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Increasing Participation in Music The Annual Fund enabled us to set up two new
initiatives this year – widening levels of participation
in music in the school, and entering the Chipping
Norton Youth Jazz Challenge for the first time. I am
pleased to report that we achieved both goals.
Reading School Big Band had a great joint concert
with the Innovations Jazz Band at Big School on
March 5th. A few days later, they participated in the
Chipping Norton Youth Jazz Challenge for the firsttime and won. They beat six other bands, including
last year‘s winners, King Edward's School, Stratford
on Avon. As a result, they were invited to play at the
Chippy Jazz and Music Day in September.
Throughout Michaelmas and early in Spring term, all
Year 7 students worked hard rehearsing for the Year 7
Concert at Big School on February 1st. It was packed
with hundreds of proud parents, as practically every
boy in the year played an instrument or sang. It was
an ambitious programme including Carey Blyton‘s
children‘s opera ―Dracula‖, which the boys performed
with great gusto and volume.
There are now over 10 ensembles in the school,
including choirs, orchestra, two jazz bands, and string
ensembles. The Annual fund enabled us to buy 14
new violins to give more boys a chance to play aninstrument, and also paid the costs of hiring a coach
for the Jazz Band to travel to Chipping Norton.
Next year, we plan to build on this success, and to
have even more boys participating in music making.
- Mr Meehan, Director of Music
The Drama Department was most grateful for theallocation of funds which enabled us to buy in the
services of Kerry Frampton, director of Splendid
Productions. Kerry ran an inspiring practical
workshop with our year 12 and 13 Theatre Studies
students which introduced them to new ways of
thinking about the creation and presentation of
character and situation.
The boys worked in groups to create, within a very
tight time frame, highly imaginative scenes which were both amusing, moving, emotionally charged and
highly entertaining.
The workshop was key in helping them develop their
performance style which benefitted their Practical
Performance Exam, for which all students gained an A
grade.
- Ms Capon, College Leader in English and
Drama
2
Reading School Jazz Band taking
part in the Chipping Norton Youth
Jazz Challenge, March 2012
Drama Workshop
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Each year, the Reading School
has a calendar of public events
that enable the school
community to celebrate our
students‘ achievements and
talents, as well as the School‘s
heritage and history.
These events involve large
numbers of students, staff and
parents, which we are unable to
accommodate in the School,
and the support from the
Annual Fund enabled us to hire
suitable external venues.
Inter-house Music
In November, Reading Town
Hall was packed as each of the
four houses presented a 25
minute musical programme
showcasing their musical
virtuosity.
It was the culmination of
several months of dedicated
rehearsal, and gave them the
chance to devise, work together
and to practice their leadership
skills.
East House swept the boards,
emerging as overall winners of
the Competition, as well as the
award for best ensemble
performance and best solo
performance. West House
were runners up.
Commemoration
The annual Commemoration
Service is used to give thanks to
the school‗s benefactors and
pray for continued success. It
was not just an opportunity to
celebrate the past, but also a
chance for the boys to look
towards the future andconsider how they might serve
their school and community.
In 2011, over 700 boys
attended the service at the
Minster Church of St Mary-the-
Virgin, together with staff and
local dignitaries, including the
Mayor of Reading, and Rob
Wilson MP.
Senior Prize-giving
Senior Prize-giving enabled us
to welcome back 2011 Leavers
after their first term at
university. At the event, which
was held at the Great Hall at
the University of Reading , they
and some of our current senior
students were presented with A
-level certificates and prizes for
academic excellence and for
overall contribution to school
life.
Prizes were funded by the
Reading Foundation and the
Old Redingensians Association.
Carol Service
Representatives of the entire
school community gathered at
St Luke‟s Church, Erleigh Road
in December for the Annual
Service of Nine Lessons andCarols, conducted by School
Chaplain, The Reverend Chris
Evans.
The choir and musicians
performed an ambitious
programme of carols and
music. These included several
Christmas favourites, and some
less well known carols.
School Public Events
3
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Public Speaking and Debating
Funding from the Annual Fund has
allowed us to expand and develop
public speaking and debating within
the school this year.
We now have a captain for public
speaking, Nikolai Ciecierski-
Holmes, and increasing numbers of
students of all ages becoming
involved.
We began a Debating Club on
Thursdays for students in Years 9 to
13, with Year 8 boys eligible to join
in the Summer term. It is regularly
packed, with students debating
topics such as the nuclear deterrent
and social activism.
We set up a Policy Team of nine
boys in Years 9 to 12 to generate
ideas for the development of public
speaking and debating at School.
During the year, we had 97 entriesfor the LAMBA public speaking
examinations from grade 4 through
to Grade 8 (Gold medal). We also
entered the Rotary Speaks and
English Speaking Union
Competitions.
In early July, we ran a training day
for Year 7 students, which
culminated in the Year 7 Public
Speaking Competition. East House
were overall winners, with Best
Chairman, Best Questioner, and
Best Team. West House won the
Best Speaker award.
- Mrs Williams
4
Funding from the Annual Fund this
year has helped to run the Philosophy
Club, two different ‗Ichthus‘ Christian
Fellowship lunch groups and the
‗Life‘ discussion group led by the 6th
form. In all of these activities boys
get to explore faith and philosophy
and to examine spiritual and moral
values. This is hugely important for
many of the students in our school
who have an active Christian faith,
and ensures that these boys have
room within their lives to reflect. It is
also really valuable for those with no
faith at all who need time outside of
the curriculum to crunch throughsome of life‘s biggest questions!
Philosophy Club this year has
explored some incredibly deep
concepts. We have most recently been
exploring the nature of ‗paradox‘ and
asking ‗can the material universe
contradict itself?‘ The boys‘
conclusion was mind blowing: ‗all
paradoxes are language problems,
because language is the only thing
that can contradict itself.‘
We have also been able to hold a total
of six joint events with the Abbey and
with Kendrick, including a very well
attended Lent course. A total of 110
boys have attended one or other of
these clubs, from Year 7 through to
Year 13, with an average of 40 boys
attending each week.
The Annual Fund has helped a great
deal – enabling us to buy resources
such as philosophy guides, theoccasional sweet, prizes and even
pizza for planning sessions with the
sixth form leaders. Next year we
hope to do more of the same – but to
include more trips.
– Mr Evans, School Chaplain
Ichthus6th Form Debating This year, the Annual Fund
enabled our Sixth Form to enter
the English Speaking Union‘s
Mace National Schools
Debating Competition.
We won the first heat at King‘s
College School in November. In
the next round, we were a close
second, no mean achievement
considering it was our first
participation in such a
competition for many years.
It also gave students a chance
to display and develop their
forensic and oratorical skills ina challenging context, and to
learn more about some of the
important ethical issues of the
day.
– Mr Beahan
East House Team, overall win-ners of the Year 7 Public Speak-ing and Debating Competition inJuly 2012
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Science Club The Science Club has had a busy and productive
year, getting boys doing practical science projects
and putting classroom learning into practice. Six
Year 12 students won crested gold awards from the
Engineering Development Trust for their work on a
project looking at hidden patterns in the National
Grid, with a view to finding ways of increasing
efficiency of energy supply.
Year 7 students have been doing lots of exciting
chemistry each Tuesday afternoon, including
building and launching hydrogen rockets. Younger
boys are also taking part in the Toyota Challenge,
which involves building a solar powered model car.
Older boys are also continuing to work on a long-
term project, designing and building an unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) that might be used to deliver
emergency medical aid.
This year the Annual Fund enabled us to pay the
costs of entry and travel for the Engineering
Development Trust competition, as well as materials
for all of the Science Club activities.
Steven Longstaff, Head of Chemistry
100 students have participated in the CCF this year,
as part of the Army or RAF Corps that meet each
Thursday afternoon. As well as after-school activities
at school, they were also able to participate in
exercises at Bramley and Arborfield, including some
24-hour exercises, which enable boys to learn team-
building, leadership, signaling and navigation skills.
A total of forty boys took part in CCF courses. They
included four who were awarded gliding scholarships,and two who gained flying scholarships. A highlight
of the year was victory, for the second year running,
in the National Cadet Signals Competition for the
second year running. This took place over the
weekend of 30 March -1 April 2012. The team tackled
a variety of challenges, including practical stands on
antennas and propagation, line laying, the National
Radio Net and voice procedure as well as theoretical
knowledge.
The support of the Annual Fund covered the cost of
insuring the CCF Land Rover this year.
Mr Hurst, and Mr Walters, Reading School
CCF
5
Reading School CCF Signals
Team, Sgt. A . Coombes, Sgt. J.
Munns, Sgt. A. Matthews, Cpl.
H. Phillips and L/Cpl R.
Sullivan, winners of the Na-
tional Cadet Signals Competi-
tion at Blandford Camp in April 2012.
Combined Cadet Force
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Sport for All
We had another great year of participation in sport,
with boys gaining skills in team-work, leadership and
goal setting, as well as physical and mental fitness.
The Annual Fund was a magnificent support in fund-ing additional coaching, equipment, affiliation fees for
sporting bodies, transport costs, catering, and refer-
ees fees.
Rugby
Approximately 250 boys, aged 11 to 18, took part in
rugby. As well as fielding teams for county and na-
tional championships, we ran a Senior House Rugby
Competition at Reading Rugby Club, with eighty Year
12 and Year 13 students taking part.
Each team got a minimum of eight fixtures and entry
into a cup competition, with at least two training ses-
sions each week during the season. We are very
pleased that the Under-12 rugby team won the Berk-
shire Trophy in an unbeaten run. The U13 rugby team
are also Berkshire Cup champions, with a resounding
22-7 victory in the final against Reading Blue Coats
School.
Cricket
Over 140 students of all ages took part in cricket this
year. Each team benefitted from two training sessionseach week, and eight fixtures during the season. They
also had entry into a county or national cup comple-
tion. We also ran a Key Stage 3 House Cricket Sports
Day recently, in which 130 boys in Year 7, 8 and 9
took part.
After our spectacular victory against the MCC in 2011,
we did well to draw against them this year.
FootballFootball is a relatively new sport at Reading School,
having been established in 2004. In this brief time,
the school has had much success. This year was no
exception, with 140 students participating, including a
large number of senior students.
The 1st XI came good in the Gibbs Cup by reaching the
quarter finals, where they lost to the eventual winners
of the competition. They also matched last year‘s per-
formance in the league, by retaining second place.
The 2nd XI competed in the West Berkshire league this
year, and their performance was outstanding. They
won five out six games, and with a final goal differ-
ence of 19 ,they secured the league title.
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is also a relatively recent addition to the
sports repertoire, but participation levels are growing
year on year. Every student from Years 10, 11, 12 and
13 has the opportunity to receive professional lacrossecoaching from two American lacross coaches.
This year we ran both an Under 16 and an Under 18
team, who each played six fixtures and tournaments
Athletics
The School currently has several star athletes, who
compete at club, county and international level. The
Annual Fund enables us to keep the numbers of boys
participating in athletics high by covering the cost of
our annual sports day at Palmer Park. This year, we
had a very successful games, with several long-
standing school records broken. They included Jonny
Davies setting a new record time of 4.04 for the Sen-
ior 1,500m, Dan Brock‘s time of 2.02 for the Senior
800m, and Andrew Smyth‘s time of 4.43 for the Year
8 1,500m.
- Mr Beckey, Director of Sport
6
Photo: T Tucker
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Badminton We set out to increase the number of students playing badminton this year, and we are delighted that over
50 boys regularly took part. Given the numbers, we
decided to organise sessions according to age groups.
We provided group coaching, teaching the basics of
the game, and most boys seemed to enjoy the social
side as well as the sporting aspect of the game.
We were also able to help the more talented members
of the club to access county coaching programmes.
There have been noticeable improvements in the skillsand confidence of these players, and several are now
competing at county level.
As there are no badminton facilities at the school,
we‘ve had to hire courts at Reading University and
Kendrick School. The Annual Fund covered the costs
of hire and the purchase of stocks of shuttlecocks.
- Mr Pedlow
7
Reading School 1st XI play
the MCC, July 2012
Photo: T Tucker
The aim this year was to upgrade our facilities and to
get more boys participating in rowing. We‘ve made
significant progress on both fronts. Twenty boys are
regularly participating in our Wednesday afternoonsessions. Unfortunately, we‘ve not been able to have
much racing because of bad weather and adverse
conditions on the river.
With the help of the Annual Fund, we‘ve been able to
buy two fully operational racing fours. We‘ve also
recently bought a second-hand Aylings Eight in good
condition. The boats have improved our ability to
practice, and will enable us to participate in more
competitions and regattas in the near future. Some of
the costs were met through the sale of old equipment.
The Annual Fund has also enabled us to pay the rent
and rates for the boat house. Next year, we are hoping
to make some essential repairs to the boathouse, and
funding permitting, to install basic toilet and
showering facilities.
- Steven Longstaff, Head of Chemistry
Rowing Club
This year, with the support of the Annual Fund, we
were able to hold our first Annual Sports Personality
of the Year Awards. The Awards enabled us to recog-
nise our students‘ wealth of sport achievement and
excellence, in representing, school, club, county and
in some cases, country.
We have re-introduced House Colours for all students
who represent their house. The prizes and colours
were covered with a grant from the Annual Fund.
- Mr Beckey, Director of Sport
Recognising Sporting Excellence
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A show case for Art
The Annual Fund enabled us to
showcase students‘ work at our
annual art show in Music School.
This gave boys a chance to curate a
selection of the work they had
produced throughout the year.
Visitors were impressed with the
range of the quality of work on show,
including several large sculptures,
and life studies, and many of these
have remained on exhibition in
public areas of the school throughoutthe year. Also of interest were the
boys learning logs, which gave an
insight into their observations and
inspirations throughout the year.
The Fund enabled us to buy some
new cameras for our animation
classes, which are regularly attended
by over 20 boys. Mrs Willoughby,
College Leader in Expressive
Arts
8
Reading School chess team has had
another very successful year, with a
victory at the English Chess
Federation's National Schools Plate.
Six members of the school chess
team also represented Berkshire in
the English Chess Federation Under
18 county championships on June
30th. Berkshire finished second
overall in the championships, and
Reading School were joint winners
of the Schools‘ Cup.
We have several national players in
our squad and won the Reading
School Sports Team of the Yearaward against some stiff
competition from more 'traditional'
sports.
Chess Club, which runs on
Tuesdays after school, provides an
important opportunity for boys
from years 7 to 13 to compete and
learn in a supportive environment.
We also co-run a chess tournament
in October, in conjunction with the
Berkshire Junior Chess Association.
Chess is extremely popular
throughout the School and the Year13 common room this year was
transformed by the purchase of 6
chess sets. On occasions, I had to
chase boys off to lessons because
they had become too engrossed in a
chess game!
Our contribution from the Annual
Fund goes towards equipment and
other costs incurred by the School
Chess Club and teams, including
transport and refreshments.
Finally, I would like to express my
appreciation of my colleaguesMr Sobieniak, who runs the
Tuesday Chess Club, Mrs Readings
who drives the minibus, and our
Captain, Ben Vandersluis , who has
provided invaluable expertise and
support to me in running the club
this year
– Mrs Smith, Head of Year 13
A thriving Chess Club