The Hall Newspaper Spring 2020 No 17

SPRING

N E W S PA P E R ISSUE 17. 2020

CLASSICS

GreeceTRIP TO
P. 29

P. 48

P. 32
P. 15

∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙NEWS THE BOOK CORNER MUSIC IN PARTNERSHIP BEYOND THE SCHOOL GATES SPORT ART ECO-SCHOOLS

NEWS IN PARTNERSHIP

4 lecture@TheHall Eva Schloss 44 Introduction to Debating
5 The House Debating Competition 45 Saturday Club
6 Mexicolore 45 DT Club for The Winch
7 Latin and Greek Reading Competition
8 Science @Quiz Club UK ECO-SCHOOLS
8 General Knowledge Quiz
9 Year 3 Visit to Duxford 46 ECO Committee News
10 FUZE Coding Workshops 47 Reception Bird Feeders
11 Bee-Bot Driving Licences
11 The British Schoolboys' Championships in Wengen LIFE SKILLS
12 Grandparents' Afternoon Tea at The Hall
14 Lord Neuberger 48 Children's Mental Health Week
48 Inside Out Day
THE BOOK CORNER 49 Children's Mental Health Week in JS
50 Mindful March
15 Senior School 50 Badge Making
20 Junior School
24 World Book Day SCIENCE

BEYOND THE SCHOOL GATES 51 Sublime Science Launches Science Week at The Hall
52 Science in Action
26 French exchange Enfin! Finally! 53 Bench To Bedside at GOSH
27 Year 6 Visit to Verulamium & Welwyn Roman Baths 54 The Catapult Challenge
28 Year 4's Trip to The Lion King 56 Years 6 & 7 Science Week Exhibition
29 Classics Trip to Greece 57 Partnership in Science Learning
32 Crossword Roman Entertainment
ME AND MY ASTRONOMY
MUSIC NEWS
58 Kush Chandaria
33 Music Scholar Awards 2020
34 Informal Concerts SPORT
34 Chapel Choir
34 Middle School Concert 60 Spring Term 2020
34 Gala Concert 62 Rugby
64 Hockey
ART

35 Year 4 Art The Sea
37 Year 4 Life Drawing Workshop
40 Year 6 Art Self Identity / Basquiat
42 Year 8 Art Portrait / War

2

Welcome!

Our theme for the second half of the Spring Term was a Looking ahead to the Summer Term, as we face a further period
key value for the school, that of community; At The Hall of lockdown I have been reflecting upon how we can cultivate
we wish to demonstrate equality, diversity, teamwork, our own Hall community through this unique time of challenge.
citizenship and our place in the wider world through How we can build upon the basis of connection with each
community. other, developing something that we all hold in common to be
valuable, even though we cannot physically be together to do so.
Just before we closed the school due to the CV-19 distancing What can our community goal be during this time?
measures, the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a message In my reflections, I came across an article by Ian Holdcroft,
from Lambeth Palace. In his address, he considered some of the the adventurer and entrepreneur, which is ringing true in
choices we would all have to make as the lockdown took hold: my mind. The key message that I have taken from Holdcroft’s
piece is that although we may be feeling a ‘victim’ of these
“The temptation may be to pull up the drawbridge and just look challenging circumstances, as UK citizens we must follow the
after ourselves. That’s the kind of thing that leads to panic buying, guidance of our government to stay physically removed from
to growing fear, and to spiritual and emotional as well as physical each other. But what we can do, nonetheless, is choose how to
isolation.” respond. Feeling that we are active in decision-making through
the lockdown, rather than a helpless victim of the distancing
The Archbishop of Canterbury asked us not to do that. He measures, might be what counts through this extended period
reminded us that “Life carries on and there is much to celebrate of being physically apart from our community. Passivity just
in our communities.” He urged us “to listen to the voice of God’s makes you feel fearful and increases anxiety. But each of us has
caring love for us, and his encouragement to turn ourselves a choice in how we approach the demands that the lockdown
towards others, and seek out how we can care for those around us, imposes upon us - as an individual, as a member of our family
in person or virtually.” and as a member of our school. We can choose our attitude.
The CV-19 pandemic has reminded us that human connection
Signs of caring for those around us started in Italy, where they can spread illness. Let’s show ourselves that our Hall
called out messages of support to each other from balcony to community, above all else, can promote wellbeing through
balcony and shared recipes, cheering up the world in the early positive decision-making and kindness. Let’s be calm, be
stages of their confinement by singing and playing musical positive, be present, be respectful and see this lockdown as a
instruments. In Spain, communal stairways became the new unique opportunity to choose our attitude.
running tracks while videos of neighbours cycling around
balconies and flatmates playing foot-ping went viral. HEADMASTER

In London and around the UK, we have seen an outward turning
of gratitude towards the frontline workers in the NHS and care
homes being expressed through Thursday evening ‘Clap for Our
Carers’… we have seen an outward turning of compassion as
people flock to volunteer to help the ill and vulnerable, through
physical acts of shopping, delivering and making. New friends
are being made, old relationships are being deepened.

23 Crossfield Road, London, NW3 4NU EDITOR: Sue Godwin, IMAGES: The Hall School, Copyright © 2020 The Hall
Tel.: +44 (0)20 7722 1700 [email protected] Sam Peat, Will Perry-Parks, School. All rights reserved.
W: www.hallschool.co.uk DESIGN BY: Brigita Butvila, Robert Grant Reproduction in whole or in part
E: [email protected] www.graphicdesigner2b.co.uk without written permission is
Registered Charity No. 312722 strictly prohibited.

WELCOME 3

News lecture@TheHall

An evening with Anne Frank's stepsister,
and Holocaust survivor

EVA SCHLOSS

We were privileged to welcome Eva Ognjen Soskic, Head of History,
Schloss to The Hall in mid-February, introduced Eva and John to the
for a ‘conversation’ following the audience of about 80 comprising Year
screening of a Holocaust documentary in which 8 and 7 pupils, teachers and parents.
she appears. Eva is the stepsister of Anne Frank The screening was then followed by a
and one of the few remaining survivors of Q&A with Eva and John. Eva answered
Auschwitz. questions from the pupils about what it
was like being a prisoner at Auschwitz, her
The documentary No Asylum - the Untold Chapter of Anne Frank's memories of her stepsister, Anne Frank
Story was screened as part of the school's Holocaust education and how she feels about today's Holocaust
programme. Also present at the screening was John Wood, son deniers. She also urged the audience
of Leonard Berney who, as an officer in the British Army, helped not to be bystanders if they witness any
liberate Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp in 1945. Twenty years prejudice or discrimination of any kind.
prior, Leonard had attended The Hall, aged 5. Leonard also appears They must speak up. She told the pupils
in "No Asylum". that, in the future, they will influence others
and even change laws, so they must do
SHE TOLD THE PUPILS THAT, IN THE FUTURE, everything they can to help prevent another
THEY WILL INFLUENCE OTHERS AND EVEN Holocaust.
CHANGE LAWS, SO THEY MUST DO EVERYTHING
THEY CAN TO HELP PREVENT ANOTHER During the event, the three books Eva has
HOLOCAUST. published were available for sale: After
Auschwitz: A story of heartbreak and survival
by the stepsister of Anne Frank, Eva's Story: Leonard Berney in Hall
A Survivor's Tale by the Step-Sister of uniform 1925
Anne Frank and The Promise: The Moving
Story of a Family in the Holocaust as was
Leonard Berney's book: Liberating Belsen
Concentration Camp - a personal account.

"It was a real honour to host Eva at The Hall. Not only did she
give us a detailed recollection of the events in her life, but she also
reminded us of our responsibilities as global citizens, highlighting
in particular the nature of the refugee crises we face today. I was
incredibly proud of the pupils for their engagement with Eva’s story
during the event and the questions that they asked. Eva mentioned
how impressed she was with them too! Thank you to Eva and John
for providing the pupils with this opportunity."
Oggy Soskic, Head of History.

4

The House Debating
COMPETITION

The House Debating Competition 2020 was as animated as any house competition
gets! In the first round Orange triumphed over Blue and Green defeated Purple.
In the Finals on February 7th, Green House were crowned champions!

The Great Debaters after Spike came James B to conclude
Cassius Yechiel the debate for Green House. He
finished with some great rebuttal
On Friday the 21st January, Green House participated in a heated (argument against a specific person)
debate against Purple House (the previous winners and their and finished it off for Green House.
arch rivals). The motion was ‘Fairy tales are better than real And finally came Arthur Philipps to
life’. Purple House were affirming (arguing for the motion) and Green conclude not only Purple House’s
House were negating (arguing against the motion). points but everyone’s (no pressure).
Like James, he made some great
As Purple House were the affirming team they started off proceedings rebuttal for Purple House and definitely ended the debate on a high.
led by their debating captain Arthur Philipps. He made some good Result - Green House Win.
points making a great start for Purple introducing their main points. The pressure was on, since Orange House had beaten Blue House in
Following Arthur was Green House’s first speaker and also captain the first round and they had advanced to the next and final round.
of debating, James Borrie who also made some very well structured The topic for round two was ‘Actions speak louder than words’. This
points that were hard to argue against. After James came Josh time, Green House was affirming (arguing for the motion) and Orange
Hammond who was the youngest debater in the competition and made House were negating (arguing against the motion).
some clever points and clearly well thought out comments. After Josh Unfortunately for Orange their normal captain was absent on the day
came Cassius Yechiel (me), who pointed out some errors on the other of the second round of debating; he was replaced by Charlie Aldridge.
side and introduced some new points to the table. After Cassius came As Green House were affirming they started with their debating
Purple House’s last, but not least speaker, James Hammond. James captain James Borrie. He made some great points and started Greens
made some great arguments against Green House and made the whole off very well. After that came Charlie Aldridge who had only had a few
audience think. hours to prepare his debate. Nonetheless he made some great points,
pointed things out on the other side and agued very well against what
To finish off the debate before the summaries came Green House’s James had said.
Spike Kanareck who made a big difference to the final result. Straight After Charlie came Cassius Yechiel who had a good overall speech
and points. Succeeding Cassius was Ahaan Gupta. He made some
great arguments while adding in some humour. Green House’s final
speaker was Spike Kanareck who made some very good rebuttal and a
good speech. Then came Orange House’s last speaker, Archie Gee. He
made some thoughtful arguments and finished it off for Orange. The
summary from Orange was delivered by Charlie Aldridge who made
some great rebuttal against Green House. Finally came Green House’s
captain to summarise, James Borrie. He too made some great rebuttal
against the other side and finished on a quote.
Final Result: Orange House - 24 Green House – 32.

NEWS 5

Fant-Aztec! to
MAyztheecasrwtoprokusnhgodrpeadnodrwdgiatahungieshxetdceirtbeyJmoIeanantnnaaM.suIrsedlal sahnedd his

MIwsObIAtpeaeNhrsnhownzwnieemewwesltdaeaexutaeeierArtkocnarcrasemt,fhzgsiuditsttcmngewmtaehashoendhahdesoeearciteme,r,oeutsnwhlwilt.ipeueIntmeuwsohfsdevtigIaebni.oraheancnyaksgcutnoAptgcdsttfehuleeohzttattselwdiouidtoheynlnal*ptaneuewrdttet,hccv’npdoeaentathase'werrriuhtntswarenembtemedssnsigeaahsnottpbdluekrtcidniitilearelenloonaeplhrvruyulpgaygteomsosenobnoeutudtwfdnyrhiddrnrnhateeoastadmectaapehrzhAteytayehedktytadesziernseelntwdrictsddbu*wgUewueestopao.sdarlice.lhdrinslfarensmMeyeiRtllumoatest.btrmeyncaoenhoaihofhIncr’gefarrlfaiasaintunnenzitnftntaaessstwitehdghgtttktorliie:ieeeihernhd*nwho-dre,uee.agn.totmwwofsehSArigpordeneakhorztosnnsrdetmith.onmetneefoescfs Mexicolore

*ulla*mtaelpiz*otnhlaui:ezhttuhliee:tlaA: zhatoevrciezrwotnoicrtadallfdworraurm"bdarlulgmame’’
Alexandre Raynal

6

Latin andGreek Reading

Robert Grant

All boys in Years 5-8 take part in the preliminary rounds of the reading competition and
most of the Latin passages are taken from the Cambridge Latin Course. Years 5-7 perform

in groups and Year 8 perform a dialogue in pairs. The Greek passage is read by those
studying Greek in Year 8.

This year over 100 students were involved in the finals of the competition at the end of
January and a good crowd of parents attended the finals event once again.

The standard of the reading and performance was considered to be the best
seen since the inception of the competition. Many thanks go to
Mrs Grant and Mr Padden for judging the finals.

Winners are as below:

Latin Reading Competition

YEAR 8 Guy Silver & Zachary Joseph
Best individual Performance: Rory Todd

YEAR 7 James Hammond, Bob Murray & Sam Menton
Best individual Performance: Ollie Saunders

YEAR 6 Ahaan Gupta, Felix Twining, Timothy Scannell & Cassius Yechiel.

YEAR 5 The outstanding Performance prize went to Louis Munuera
Carl Hofstrom, Max Menton & Vansh Rathi
Best Individual Performance: Viktor Monteyne

Greek Reading Competition

Blake Morris, Will Haywood and Archie Marlow were all excellent in
their reading and won the competition jointly.

NEWS 7

SCIENCE Congratulations to Team 1 Lir Dorgan,
Maanus Swarup, Rayan Chandra, Ishaan
@QUIZ CLUB UK Nigam for working so well as a team and
for securing first position out of 12 teams.
The Quiz Club competition runs across the country with Well done to Team 2: Nathan Joseph,
Area Heats hosted by a professional Quizmaster and team Aden Nedungadi, Albert Sparks, and Omid
members using a personal wireless handset to select their Eftekhari for their perseverance and
answers. This year’s heat was held at Science Museum IMAX and excellent teamwork.
the show was projected to a huge screen with instant on-screen Huge congratulations to both teams on
scoring, making it very exciting for the teams. achieving such high scores and both
securing a place in the final. The National Final is to be held at The
The Science Quiz comprises 40 multiple choice science questions, Cambridge Theatre Covent Gardenon the 22nd June 2020, in which
covering subjects such as human biology, astronomy, great 75 teams will battle it out to find out which school has the greatest
inventors and inventions, physics, zoology, ecology, earth science, science knowledge.
oceanography, geology, meteorology, botany and chemistry.

In January of this term, our two Hall teams took part in the Area
Heat of the Championship; our teams performed very well in the
exciting and tense competition.

KnowledgeGENERAL We fielded two teams as follows:
QUIZ
TEAM 1 TEAM 2
On Tuesday the 10th March Felix Shulman, Max Mast, Armaan Hallam Ormonde, Milan Silva,
two taxis brought 8 boys Malde, James Halford–Harrison Zachary Lam, Felix Twining
ranging from Year 3 to Year
6 to the doors of the Emmanuel Competition on the day proved to be very tough and The Hall did not take a
Centre in Westminster to compete place on the winners’ podium. However both teams represented the school
in the General Knowledge Quiz so well, showing great team spirit and endeavour whilst answering very challenging questions. Big
Competition. congratulations go to Team 1, their score was so high that they have secured a place in the National
finals.

THE NATIONAL GENERAL KNOWLEDGE FINALS WILL BE HELD AT THE CAMBRIDGE
THEATRE, COVENT GARDEN IN LONDON’S WEST END AND THE EVENT WILL BE
ON MONDAY 22ND JUNE 2020 AT 1.30 PM – 2.30 PM.

8

DuxfordYEAR 3 VISIT TO
Andre Ramos-Turkinan &
Bertie Duralski Cross

In January, Year 3 travelled to Duxford Imperial War Museum
to see the planes. First, we went into Hangar 1 and we saw lots
of bullets and missiles, as well as many different planes. We
also saw a gun. We were so amazed by the planes. When we went
into the Concorde, we felt like we were stepping back in time.

Our favourite part of the museum was in Hangar 7, the American
Hangar. There were loads of planes and sources of information
for us to learn from. We also really enjoyed sketching the planes
in Hangar 1 with Miss Lachlan. She taught us how to sketch three
dimensional objects.

NEWS 9

CODING WORKSHOPS

In mid January, the FUZE team came to the Junior School
to run some more Coding Workshops.

Using a gaming device, FUZE4 Nintendo Switch, for the
first time in school, the boys quickly picked up the ways to
type, write and master the basics of real coding. The FUZE
team worked with them to ensure three core fundamental
coding principles were understood, namely loops, variables
and "if, then" conditional statements, since they represent
the foundation of almost every programming language ever
devised and will provide a basic understanding to underpin

learning more advanced languages in due course.

10

BEE-BOT

DRIVING LICENCES

A Bee-Bot is a programmable floor robot, a perfect
starting point for teaching children control, directional

language and programming.

Early in the term, Reception boys had fun learning how to enter
instructions to move their Bee-Bot; by pressing the <Go> button,
the Bee-Bot moves as instructed forward or backward in steps or
turning right or left in 90° turns. A Bee-Bot can remember up to 40
steps, so there was room for lots of experimenting around a circuit
on the floor... The challenge was programing the correct instructions
to move around a circuit without accident! All the Reception boys

achieved their Bee-Bot Driving Licences; Well Done!

SKI SQUAD NEWS Arthur Cullinane represented The Hall in the British
Schoolboys Championships in Wengen in late January.
THE BRITISH Disappointed to miss the Giant Slalom (GS) race which had
SCHOOLBOYS been brought forward due to the inclement weather, Arthur
did manage to race the following day, albeit in semi-blizzard
WengenCHAMPS IN conditions, facing a formidable 57 slalom gates. This course
was a real challenge for all the participants especially with the
compact ice underfoot; indeed only fifty out of 147 competitors
finished! With a finish time of 1.07.71, Arthur was placed in
second position for the U12s. Congratulations Arthur!

NEWS 11

Grandparents'We would like to thank all of Grandparents’ Day
the grandparents for coming 2020

AFTERNOON TEAalong to celebrate this special
AT THE HALLday with us.

Reception boys were delighted to welcome their grandparents into school for
Afternoon Tea in mid-February. In the weeks prior to this special day they had
prepared by making invitations, sending them in the post to their grandparents and
practising their singing and poetry readings.

The afternoon started with some entertainment by the Year 8 Jazz Band as the grandparents
arrived and settled into their seats – some of whom had travelled across oceans to be
here for the special event! After a welcome from Mr Godwin, the ‘show’ really began, with
Reception boys presenting their songs and poem recitals with gusto.

How to Plant a Sunflower Seed Order of Events

Step 1 1. Jazz band performance
2. Welcome from Mr Godwin
Put some damp soil in a small plant pot so it comes up almost to the top. 3. Jazz band performance
4. Song — ’When I Was One’
Then poke your finger in the soil to make a hole 5. Song—The frog song
for your sunflower seed. 6. Poem recital — ’We Share the Air’
7. ROH Performance — ’A Sailor Went to Sea’
Step 2 8. RL Performance — ’Frère Jacques’
9. Song— ’When I’m 64’
Drop a sunflower seed into the hole. 10. Tea and activities in Reception classrooms

Cover it with a little soil.

Spray or sprinkle some water on top.
Step 3

Put the cup on a sunny windowsill.

Spray the soil with water whenever it feels dry.

Can you think of a scientific investigation you could do using your sun-
flower seeds?

Step 4

Your plant should pop up through the soil after about 1 or 2 weeks.

You can now start measuring how much it grows each week.
Step 5

When your plants grow too big for the small cup, plant them in bigger
flowerpots.

You could put the pots in a sunny spot outside.
Step 6

Your plant should flower after about 8 weeks.
Step 7

When the sunflower heads start to turn brown, cut them off and hang them somewhere

12

THE AFTERNOON STARTED WITH SOME ENTERTAINMENT BY
THE YEAR 8 JAZZ BAND AS THE GRANDPARENTS ARRIVED
AND SETTLED INTO THEIR SEATS – SOME OF WHOM HAD
TRAVELLED ACROSS OCEANS TO BE HERE FOR THE SPECIAL
EVENT!

The afternoon continued with a Tea Party in the classrooms; as well as a chance
to devour some delicious cakes and biscuits, there was an opportunity for the
boys to show their grandparents what they have been learning at school and to
share their creative writing folders with their favourite stories. As a memento
of the afternoon, boys and grandparents planted sunflower seeds to take home
and nurture.

Many thanks to the teachers and classroom assistants, Year 8 boys and music
staff in bringing about such a special occasion for the Reception boys.

Watlheoenwggorutaolnddcelpilakebrereantottesthtfhoarinskcospmaeliclniaoglf
day with us.

NEWS 13

Lord Neuberger

We were delighted to welcome Lord Neuberger back to his old school
earlier in the term to speak at both a Middle/Senior School Assembly
and to the boys in the Junior School. Lord Neuberger continues to have a
strong connection with the school with his grandson, Theo currently in Year 1.
Lord Neuberger was a pupil at The Hall in the 1950’s and after attending
Westminster went on to study chemistry at Christ Church Oxford. A highly
successful legal career followed with Lord Neuberger becoming Master of the Rolls
in 2009 and then serving as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
between 2012 and 2017.
It was splendid to hear about Lord Neuberger’s time at The Hall, as he described
some of his highlights and fond memories but equally shared some of the aspects
of school life that he had found more challenging. Throughout his talk we were all
impressed by Lord Neuberger’s sense of humility and openness as he spoke about
his schooldays as much as when he outlined some of the important ideas that
guided his highly successful career and service to others.
Lord Neuberger seemed to be happy to face the customary deluge of thoughtful and
interesting questions from eager groups of boys in the audience.

A HIGHLY
SUCCESSFUL
LEGAL CAREER
FOLLOWED
WITH LORD NEUBERGER
BECOMING MASTER OF THE
ROLLS IN 2009 AND THEN
SERVING AS PRESIDENT
OF THE SUPREME COURT
OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
BETWEEN 2012 AND 2017.

14

The Book Corner

TChOeRBNoEoRk

BOYS (AND ADULTS) The purpose of a book review is Over these pages you will find a wide
ACROSS THE SCHOOL to help readers decide whether selection of titles that have been
HAVE BEEN SHARING to read the book themselves. enjoyed and are recommended by
THEIR IMPRESSIONS OF We asked the boys to identify our reviewers. We think you will be
AND REFLECTIONS UPON the central idea of the book, interested in their opinion of the books
A RANGE OF BOOKS THEY give the reader some indication whether they have loved the book
HAVE READ THIS TERM. of the author's style, approach, or not, and their honest and detailed
or premises, and then offer an thoughts might inspire you to find new
overall evaluation. books that appeal to you.

THE MASK OF ARIBELLA tries to master her new skill The more
but at the same time she that you read,
BY ANNA HOGHTON is thinking about Theo, her the more things
father and the old life she left you will know. The
Review by Alex Driscoll behind. more that you learn,
the more places
This book was recommended to me by a member of staff in
Waterstones when I was looking for something new to read. you'll go.
The main themes of the book are Magic, Adventure and Love.
Dr. Seuss
This book is set in Venice and Aribella, the main character,
lives with her father after her mother died when she was a Anna Hoghton can tie in both
baby. On the eve of her thirteenth birthday, Aribella realises magic and adventure with the
that when she becomes angry, flames shoot out from her language and imagery allowing the reader
fingertips. Her best friend, Theo, tries to defend her, but her to immerse themselves in the story. However, what really
name goes into the dreaded Lion’s Mouth. Everyone whose stood out for me was the sub plot between Aribella and Theo
name has gone into the mouth are never seen again. She is as Theo is confused as to why he has been abandoned by his
rescued by the Cannovacci who help her try to master her best friend who is no longer contacting him. In books such as
flames as she swears to protect Venice. Can they defeat the these I always feel sorry for the main characters when they
evil rising from the Island of the Dead? are stuck in such dilemmas.

What I really enjoyed about the book is the uncertainty of Overall, this book is amazing because of the mystery and
what is going to happen and how the villain is not revealed excitement that stays right up until the very end, it is a great
until the very end, this gives it such an amazing story line novel and I really recommend you read it too.
that keeps you guessing the entire way through. Additionally,
Aribella’s character also made the book a page turner as she

THE BOOK CORNER 15

THEODORE BOONE MARIANNE DREAMS

BY JOHN GRISHAM BY CATHERINE STORR

Review by Jack Walsh Review by Max Slotover

Do you love a good mystery? Theodore Boone Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr is the eerie story of a girl whose
is the first book in a series of legal thrillers drawings become real in her dreams. It was first published in 1958 and is still
for teens by John Grisham, a well-known law loved today.
fiction writer. The novel is set in a relatively
small town called Strattenburg. There is a big My mother read the book when she was my age and thought I might enjoy
case capturing everyone in the small town it. It sounded like an adventurous story and I liked the idea of being able to
accusing Pete Duffy of murdering his wife. design your dreams. Unfortunately, this is something I have never been able
to do!
Theodore Boone is a teenager who is
fascinated by law and knows every judge, The book tells the story of a girl called Marianne who went riding on
policeman and lawyer in his small hometown. His parents are both lawyers her birthday and became ill. She then had to stay in bed for two
who run a law firm called Boone & Boone. His Mum is a divorce lawyer and his months and as a gift to make her feel better, her mother
father is a real estate lawyer. Theo’s Uncle used to work for the law firm as a gave her a drawing book and a pencil which turned out to
tax lawyer but things got bad for him and now he helps out around the office. have magic powers. Anything she drew with the
In Boone & Boone, Theo even has his own small office and gives advice to his pencil, she would then dream about.
classmates if their parents are divorcing or if they are troubled.
There are two main places in the book,
On the first day of the trial in the town’s history, Theodore takes all his school Marianne’s bedroom and the house in her dream.
politics class to the trial as his parents know the judge very well. From the We do not know much about her bedroom apart
start of the trial it seems like Pete Duffy’s lawyer has the proof to show that from the fact that it is messy, but the house
there was no possible way that he could have murdered his wife as he was in her dreams is described in amazing detail.
playing golf on his local course in Waverly Creek. Everything in the house (including the boy who
lives there) was drawn first by Marianne.
Theodore has some more information about the case as a boy called Julio
explains to Theo how he knows a lot about the murder. Julio’s cousin works The house is two stories high; the rooms are very
on Waverly Creek golf course near where the murder happened but he will cramped and overfilled because of all the things
not come forward as he is an illegal immigrant. she’s drawn. Once when Marianne got annoyed
with the boy for not believing what the pencil
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes detective or thrilling was capable of, she drew rocks with eyes to
novels as on every page you discover something new which keeps the book scare him. But now the rocks scare her as well
fresh. The author John Grisham usually writes book for adults but this is and with good reason since they are watching
the perfect book for a teen or a young adult. The law in the book can be the children and getting closer.
complicated but if there is a term you don’t understand Theo often explains
these terms to his friends and it teaches readers about law too. The main character in the book is Marianne. She is ten years old
and ill in bed. She likes drawing and acting.We know this because when
The book is written in the third person which is important for the story as she is first diagnosed her immediate response is, ‘’Does that mean I can’t act
there are many different characters such as his close friend called April whose in the play?’’
parents are getting a divorce. April must choose which parent she is going to
live with even though she doesn’t want to live with either of them. Every night She is very thoughtful. The first things she draws when she realises the power
Theo chats with April and as Theo understands law, he can explain what is of the pencil, are things for the boy such as food, books and games for him to
happening in the court relating to her parents’ divorce. play while she is away.

I enjoyed this book because it is not the typical fiction book that you would ‘‘And you said you wanted some decent food so I drew some…I want to make
find. Every moment is worth reading with plenty of suspense especially you comfortable… And I thought the games and things would be amusing.’’
towards the end when some unexpected evidence unravels about the case of
Pete Duffy. On the negative side, she gets angry easily and also frustrated for example
when the boy doubts her abilities with the pencil.
In my opinion, this book is
‘‘I will show you. First of all I’ll rub you out so I never have to see you again,
intriguing for people who are and then I’ll scribble over the whole house so it’s dark all the time and you’ll
never get out, and then I’ll stop dreaming about you and you’ll die!’’
looking for something a bit
This shows that she gets vindictive when she is cross. On top of this, she finds
different. However, some of it difficult to be in bed all the time and is resentful about what she’s missing
out on because of her illness.
KEEP READING. the vocabulary used can
IT'S ONE OF THE be challenging depending The highlight of the book for me was when Marianne first discovers that she
MOST MARVELLOUS on how much you read. can dream about anything she draws.
This is the first book
“But,’’ Marianne thought, “how extraordinary! It’s the house in my dream!’’
ADVENTURES of a series so you can
ANYONE CAN HAVE. keep following the life The way she speaks here, and the two exclamation marks show how amazed
of Theodore Boone. The and excited she is.

Lloyd Alexander twists and turns keep the I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy and
reader gripped and the adventure stories and characters who leap off the page.

end of the trial is especially

shocking.

16

THE WAVE thing. He is offended when she says she does READING
not want to attend a rally for The Wave.
BY TODD STRASSER
Laurie skips the rally and confides in her GIVES US
Review by Joshua Jaegle
friends Carl and Alex, two jokesters from SOMEPLACE TO
The Wave was Todd Strasser’s third book, originally published in 1981 under the newspaper who have never liked The GO WHEN WE HAVE
the pen name Morton Rhue. It’s based on a real experiment performed by Wave. They decide to publish a special
high-school teacher Ron Jones in 1967. I was recommended this book by a issue of The Grapevine that will expose the TO STAY WHERE
librarian at The Hall.
problems with the new movement. That WE ARE.
The story is centered on Laurie Saunders, night, Laurie’s father tells her about rumours Mason Cooley
a senior at Gordon High school. She is the that a sophomore was beaten up for not being
editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, The
Gordon Grapevine. She is frustrated because part of The Wave. Mr. Ross notices that the
although she works hard, the rest of her staff
is very lazy and the newspaper always puts other teachers seem to have turned against The
out late issues. Mr. Ross is a history teacher
who is looking for ways to teach his students Wave, something that is confirmed when Christy and
about World War II. He decides to put on a
film about the Holocaust to show his students Principal Owens confront him about it. However, he reassures
how bad dictatorship is. His students ask him
why no civilians had ever tried to overthrow his wife and boss that he has a plan to end the experiment gracefully. They
the Nazis, and why they had gone along with
it in the first place, but he isn’t actually sure agree, although Principal Owens threatens to fire Mr. Ross if the experiment
himself.
continues to go wrong. The next day, Mr. Ross informs his students that
Laurie is one of the only children in Mr. Ross’s
class that is deeply disturbed by the scenes The Wave is part of a political movement, and invites them to a rally where
of graphic injury and murder portrayed in the
film. Later that day, when at home Mr. Ross they will hear a televised address from the leader. David and Laurie try to
is racking his brain, and trying to research
why anyone followed and supported the Nazis vile ideals and object to this, but Mr. Ross sends them to the principal’s office. Both Mr. Ross
orders, but after a couple of hours he realises that he isn’t getting
anywhere. He decides to conduct an experiment on his history class and Principal Owens tell them to hold their criticisms and wait to see what
the following day to find the reason behind the strange behaviour.
happens at the rally.
Mr Ross introduces the students to the concept of “Strength Through
Discipline.” He explains that they can make their lives better if they live in a Mr. Ross shows the students footage of Hitler. He explains that this is their
more organised and disciplined fashion. He gives the class a posture lesson leader and urges them to think critically and to stand up for themselves
and insists that they stand up and address him as “Mr. Ross” when they are rather than submitting mindlessly to the group. He then shows footage from
answering questions. The next day, Mr. Ross is impressed that the students the concentration camp documentary. The students are stunned and feel
remembered his lesson about discipline and are still excited about it. He adds guilty about their involvement in The Wave. Laurie and David approach Mr.
to the lesson, adding the concept of “Strength Through Community.” In his Ross after the rally and thank him for the lesson. He apologises to them that
class, everyone is equal and the students are responsible for helping each The Wave got out of hand.
other. He calls this The Wave and teaches the students a salute that they
can use with each other. Back At home, Mr. Ross devotes more and more I really enjoyed this book, and found it interesting to see how people
time to planning The Wave, which upsets his wife Christy for some reason. mindlessly follow a leader.
Meanwhile, Laurie tells her parents about The Wave. Her mother warns her
that The Wave might have negative consequences for those who don’t fit in, REBEL, BULLY,
and she should always try to think for herself and not be a sheep. GEEK, PARIAH

On Wednesday, Mr. Ross introduces The Wave’s final motto: “Strength BY ERIN LANGE
Through Action.” He also tells the students to recruit people outside the
history class to join The Wave. At lunch, all the Participants of The Wave sit Review by Samuel Linger
together. Laurie voices concerns to the teachers that The Wave is a little
dodgy. No one agrees with her. Later Mr. Ross is called to the principal’s I have just finished a book written by an
office. He approves of The Wave, but he becomes skeptical when he learns American author called Erin Lange, called Rebel,
it’s an experiment to teach students about Nazi Germany. However, Mr. Ross Bully, Geek, Pariah. What initially grabbed my
reassures him that the project will teach the students a valuable lesson. attention was the four-word title. I was instantly
keen to find out who the labels referred to.
At the publications office, Laurie finds an anonymous note addressed to The
Grapevine. It is from a student who describes his experiences being bullied The novel is based on the life of a teenage girl
because he did not want to join The Wave. Meanwhile, Mr. Ross notices that called Sam who has had a difficult childhood.
students are becoming ever more enthusiastic about the movement, making The story begins just as Sam is unfairly fired
posters and handing out pamphlets without any instructions from him. After from her job in the local supermarket due to a
a fight in the yard, one of the students shouts a Wave slogan while being misunderstanding with a customer. Furious at the way she has
dragged off to the principal’s office.This disturbs Laurie, but David reassures been treated she decides to visit the antique shop where her precious
her that Brian and Deutsch were rivals anyway and The Wave is still a good violin had been taken following the arrest of her mother for drug use. From
this moment, the reader follows Sam as her life continues to spiral out of
control when she and three other teenagers knock over a policeman in a
stolen car which has hidden drugs in it. The rest of the book continues with
their adventure over a few days as they all run from the law.

All the unpredictable events of this story take place in the present day and
the reader is taken on a rollercoaster ride starting with Sam’s lonely life at
high school, then to a drunken party in a creepy forest, followed by a high
speed police chase on a busy highway and ending in a quiet country house
where she and her new friends are trying to escape arrest.

THE BOOK CORNER 17

I thought it was interesting that each of the four names in the title refer to The story was written in third person. I
Sam and her three high school friends and each label reflects their characters. personally think that it was a good choice
The Pariah refers to Sam because at the start of the book she is a loner because then the author could express the
who tries to make herself invisible to other people so she is a bit of a social feelings of all the other characters extremely
outcast. My favourite character is the Bully called York mainly because well. The feelings of all the characeters were all
he is amusing and courageous in stressful situations, but he can also be explained amazingly and so you really get into
intimidating. York has a younger and slightly more intelligent brother called the book. I really enjoyed the fact that it told you
Boston, the Geek. He is not such an appealing character because he is always about bits from Allan’s very exciting life because
showing off his intelligence to the others. Sam’s other friend is called Andi, it really adds some adrenaline to the book.
the Rebel. I think most readers would find her interesting as she does not care
what anyone else says and she does exactly as she pleases, even if it means Some parts of the book which I enjoyed a lot
breaking the law. were when there were flashbacks to Allan’s
past and when he escaped from a Russian work
The narrative is written in the first person which helps the reader believe camp. I also liked the parts when the police were
that they are experiencing the adventures first-hand. The characters speak figuring out what Allan had done and where he
to each other in a slang way which I think is more realistic and appeals to all was.
teenagers. The author often refers to Sam’s feelings throughout the novel and
we are told about how Sam felt when she reveals to her new friends all about Overall, I really enjoyed the book because of its
her past which makes you feel quite emotional inside. humour, action and adrenaline. I would really
recommend reading The Hundred Year Old Man
My favourite parts of this book are the action scenes when it is very intense, who climbed out of the Window and Disappeared.
especially the car chase episode when the policeman, who in a further twist
turns out to be crooked, races after them and they almost have an accident. SALT AND SILVER
There is constant tension and suspense as they are usually running away
from the police which adds a lot of excitement and makes you want to keep BY ELANOR DYMOTT
reading. I also like the way Sam starts off in a very friendless situation but
gradually develops very close friendships as they start to look out for each Review by Andrew Dobbin
other.

The conclusion of the book is very moving and it made me feel quite
emotional and lost for words. I think it was a very satisfying ending but I
won’t spoil it, I’ll let you read it for yourself.

THE HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO First a disclaimer. The author, Elanor Dymott was an Oxbridge pupil of
mine at King's, Canterbury. Her first book, Every Contact Leaves a Trace,
CLIMBED OUT OF THE WINDOW AND draws on her experiences at Worcester College, Oxford and her subsequent
legal career in London. In her second, Silver and Salt she places a dis-
DISAPPEARED functional family in two idyllic surroundings, a manor house in Kent and a
Greek villa beside the stereotypical blue seas of the Mediterranean and then
BY JONAS JONASSON forensically explores the explosive relationships which end in tragedy.

Review by Rex Hills Max is a well known society photographer of the Sixties with commissions
that take him all over the world. Sophie is an opera singer whose successful
The Hundred Year Old Man who climbed out of the Window and Disappeared career is dramatically ended. Their two daughters are Vinny, a Cambridge
is a book about a hundred year old man called Allan on his hundredth translator specialising in German literature, and Ruthie, wild, complex and
birthday in an old people’s home and he decides it’s no fun there, so he difficult to love but compelling. Sophie's miscarriage is the catalyst for
climbs out of the window and his adventures begin. He is waiting for a bus the growing family tensions, but at the heart of the book is the complex
when a man asks him to hold onto his suitcase while he goes to the toilet.
While the man is in the toilet, Allan’s bus arrives and Allan for some reason relationship between Ruthie and Max. He can
decides to take the suitcase with him. It turns out that the suitcase contained be violent, she obtuse. Despite that, a close
50 000 000 pounds and that the man who went to the toilet was a member bond between father and daughter is formed,
of a crime group and so the member of the crime group is on the hunt for which focuses on photography and from
Allan and so are the police to get him back to the old people’s home. On his which the tragedy emerges.
adventures Allan meets lots of people.
This is not a book for a long distance plane
The story is set in Malmköping in Sweden where Allan’s old people’s home journey, but is one for those interested in the
is, although Allan travels to many different places in Sweden throughout the development of modern English literature and
book. The book is set in 2005 but it also tells you about Allan’s past and what who like a challenge. The shifts of time and
he did. During his travels he meets lots of people who he becomes friends place can initially be a little giddying, but they
with. These people are Julius Jonsson, Benny, Gunilla and an elephant called reflect Ruthie's state of mind and eventual
Sonya. Sonya the elephant used to be a circus elephant until Gunilla rescued breakdown. Elanor brings a photographer's
her and took Sonya to her house. Julius Jonsson lived in an old, abandoned eye to the description of landscape and
train station and none of the locals liked him but when Allan met him, he writes with forensic precision. I thought it one
came along with him on his adventures. Throughout the whole book the of the best novels of 2017, but then I would,
friends didn’t have any arguments and seemed to get on very well. wouldn't I.

Elanor's most recent novel, Slack Tide was
published in 2019.

18

UNDERLAND: A DEEP TIME JOURNEY NO TWO
PERSONS
BY ROBERT MACFARLANE EVER READ THE
SAME BOOK.
Review by Nicola Luckhurst

Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Dante’s the underground space. Macfarlane is alert Edmund Wilson
Inferno, Alice in Wonderland, Fattypuffs
and Thinifers, Demeter and Persephone — to the way in which our very language of
from childhood on, and perhaps particularly
in childhood, the chances are that we, as ‘understanding’ relates to the notion of the
readers, will already have been on some
underground adventures. In this book, underground (‘our common verb ‘understand’
Underland, we are the companions of
Robert Macfarlane as he explores a series of itself bears an old sense of passing beneath
very different underground places. It took
Macfarlane ten years to write this book (it something in order fully to comprehend it’). Expert knowledge is one tool,
has been described as his magnum opus)
and given the range, both geographic and intellectual, it is surprising that and this figures largely through conversations with, for example, nuclear
it didn’t take longer. For where classic underground narratives tend to
follow a single route, in Underland, it is as if the author's many journeys are physicists, fungal biologists, urban explorers, and palaeoclimatologists.
to encompass all the potential meanings that an underground narrative
might have. He suggests as much, when in the opening chapter he gives Beyond that, Macfarlane does the heavy lifting work of drawing further
us a schema by which we are to understand the different uses we make
(literally, emotionally, culturally) of the underground. connections, literary, philosophical, psychological and, ultimately, political.

‘Shelter (memories, precious matter, messages, fragile lives). To distinguish between these different levels is, however, to give a false
Yield (information, wealth, metaphors, minerals, visions). impression of the book. For they coexist, the physical, intellectual and
Dispose (waste, trauma, poison, secrets).’ emotional, and are constantly intertwining – this is one of Macfarlane’s
hallmarks, the connection-making between the exterior and interior worlds,
And this schema is, in turn, a kind of mode d’emploi to the narratives that so that the underground places he visits become highly resonant. The
follow. physics laboratory embedded in the potash mine, for example, opens up
the perspective of deep geological time and our relation to it, as does
It’s worth pointing out, in case you haven’t come across Macfarlane’s the final chapter of the book, but here stretching into the future, when
writing before, that although he is an academic, a professor of English Macfarlane visits a site in Finland where nuclear waste is being buried in
Literature, the journeys he narrates are his, physical journeys to real places. such a way that, it is hoped, future generations will be protected from its
And this is how we, as readers, access those places. Early on in the book, disinterment.
Macfarlane describes how, aged ten, he was gripped by a passage in Alan
Garner’s novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, in which two children Underland is then a series of spectacular journeys, forming an episodic
descend a mining tunnel. Deep inside the mine, the tunnels threaten to trap narrative which fundamentally changes our notion of what lies beneath our
them: ‘They lay full length, walls, floor and roof fitting them like a second feet. We are left with the unsettling sense that ‘the whole Earth is not solid
skin. Their heads were turned to one side… The only way to advance was to but everywhere gaping and hollowed with empty rooms and spaces and
pull with the fingertips and to push with the toes, since it was impossible to hidden burrows.’ (Kircher, Mundus Subterraneus, 1665).
flex their legs at all, and any bending of the elbows threatened to jam the
arms helplessly under the body”. Then Colin’s “heels jammed against the But to describe it only as episodic, to give the impression that the book is
roof: he could move neither up nor down and the rock lip dug into his shins a kind of cabinet of curiosities, would be to mis-describe it. For as we pass
until he cried out with the pain. But he could not move…” Similarly, reading from space to space, an underlying, ineluctable meaning emerges.
Underland, we are made to feel, viscerally, the author’s descent into a
range of underground places – whether it be abseiling into a glacial melt It can be summed up in a word – the Anthropocene.
shaft off the coast of Greenland, or entering a cavern so vast (‘large enough
to hold St Pauls Cathedral four times over’) it has its own weather system, Early on in the book, Macfarlane breaks off his journey through the potash
or, in perhaps the most claustrophobic passage of the book, navigating mines, to reference the Anthropocene, and specifically the moment when
the labyrinthine tunnels, former quarries and catacombs, beneath Paris. Of the term was coined. Up until then, the epoch of Earth history we inhabit
interest too is the fact that Macfarlane does not set himself up as a lone was designated the Holocene (‘a period of relative climatic stability
heroic explorer, he is accompanied sometimes by friends, but more often allowing the flourishing of life’). ‘Anthropocene’ shifts that focus – our
by experts, ‘cataphiles’, lovers of their particular underground – and these era’s defining feature is that human actions exercise an influence which
people figure vividly as characters who make the journeys and discuss their outweighs any other and which is shaping the Earth on a global scale.
meaning with the author. Some of the landscapes seem enchanted - the
underlands of forests ('the Wood Wide Web'), for example, where Merlin Underland not only explores the history of how we have exploited the
Sheldrake describes how fungi enable trees to communicate; others reveal underground, whether drawing resources from it, or using it to bury
a much darker history, as in the Carso (now in Slovenia) where Lucian and hide the things we wish to be rid of, it also shows us that what we
guides the author through a territory that bears witness to the wars and have done to the earth is our future. That once we have depleted these
massacres of the 20th century, where the underground became the site of undergrounds they cannot be replaced; that we cannot know that the
executions and burials, and victims 'were pushed alive, wounded, or dead waste we bury there will remain intact; just as we did not know that the
into these chasms in the limestone'. permafrost that is now melting would return to us diseases that were
thought to be eternally preserved in ice. Robert Macfarlane is a nature
So, this is the first ‘level’, the journey to a particular underland. But each writer who points up, again and again, that there is no nature as such -
journey goes deeper than this in its attempts to uncover the meaning of because a tipping point has been reached whereby all our actions have
consequences in the natural world. Hence the political nature of his work.

As the journeys draw to a close, the perspective shrinks - Macfarlane and
his young son cycle to a small wood near their house. They touch hands
and their contact sends us back to an image from the opening pages of
the book, a ghostly hand print left, more than
thirty-five thousand years ago, on a cave wall.
This final connection provides a moving and
unsettling end to a compelling book. What
underlands will we leave behind?

THE BOOK CORNER 19

The Book

CORNERRead on Junior School!

JS TEACHERS AND BOYS HAVE WRITTEN
SOME REVIEWS OF BOOKS THAT THEY
HAVE ENJOYED RECENTLY, TO SHARE
WITH OTHER YOUNG READERS.

We hope that you will feel inspired, JS boys,
to explore an author or type of book that
it is new to you and perhaps share ideas
about what you particularly enjoyed…
or write your own book?!

20

THE BOOK CORNER JUNIOR SCHOOL 21

22

SOMEBODY MR PENGUIN AND
SWALLOWED THE LOST TREASURE
STANLEY
BY ALEX T. SMITH
BY SARAH
ROBERTS Review by Miss Taylor

Review by Created by the author who also wrote the
Ms Talbot-Dunn ‘Claude’ adventures, this book is about a
professional adventurer, Mr Penguin, who wants to find
This is a story about a plastic bag named Stanley. As he journeys some long-lost treasure. It won’t be an easy mission though, as
through the ocean, the sea creatures mistake him for a tasty jellyfish there are many obstacles that Mr. Penguin must face, including an
snack. evil bandit group who are also after the treasure!

This delightful picture book written by an Eco expert, has lovely There are lots of unexpected twists and turns throughout the story.
illustrations and introduces children to the problem and dangers of Readers who like exciting adventure stories that keep you guessing
plastic in the sea. what is going to happen next will enjoy this. You won’t want
to put this book down!
I really liked the fact that a simple plastic bag was the main character
and despite some mishaps, the story ends with Stanley being used SAM WU IS NOT AFRAID OF SHARKS!
in a fun and positive way. It is a lovely book that has a powerful
environmental message for children about plastic pollution. BY KATIE AND KEVIN TSANG

I recommend this story book for young readers of Review by Miss Bargent
Reception age to Year 1.
Sam Wu is facing another fear he has discovered that he has, of...
RABBIT AND BEAR: SHARKS!
RABBIT’S BAD HABITS
In this story Sam is trying very hard to discourage his friends from
BY JULIAN GOUGH AND JIM FIELD going to a birthday party on the beach that they have been invited to
because he believes sharks will get them if they go in the sea. Despite
Review by Miss Barritt a few actions Sam takes to try to get out of the party that don’t work,
like trying to quarantine himself and his friends in his bedroom, he finally
Rabbit’s Bad Habits is the first book in the Rabbit and Bear series which must agree to go to the party.
follows the unlikely friendship between gentle Bear and grumpy Rabbit.
This is the second Sam Wu book I have read
One day, Bear wakes up early from hibernation and decides to build recently and the thing I like about these
a snowman. He is soon interrupted by Rabbit, a know-it-all who books is that we all have inner fears of many
wants to build a better snowman than Bear’s. After a close different things, like spiders, snakes or even
encounter with Wolf, Rabbit realises that life is better sharks and Sam is very good at explaining
when you have a friend to share it with. This story is his fears clearly, but then also feels a
about the day to day life of Rabbit and Bear with great sense of pride when he feels he has
lots of funny bits! conquered them.

The best thing about this book is how the The funniest part of this story is when Sam
author manages to combine facts about is in the local swimming pool while his friend
gravity, bears, rabbits and wolves with Bernard is learning to swim and gets the
humour. The fantastic illustrations will also fright of his life when he feels a pinch on his
bring you joy, so make sure you take the legs and screams “Shark!”almost jumping
time to look at them carefully, especially the out of the pool. It turns out to be a boy
animals’ faces! called Toby playing a prank on Sam!

I would recommend this book to Year 1 If you enjoy humour in your stories and
and 2, particularly to those moving on from enjoy reading a series of books with the
picture books. If you enjoy funny stories with same characters, I think you will enjoy
the odd bit of toilet humour, then this is the reading about the trials of Sam Wu and his
book for you! friends. Happy reading.

THE BOOK CORNER JUNIOR SCHOOL 23

This year saw the 23rd anniversary of World Book Day, and on 5th March, children
of all ages came together to appreciate reading. Very loudly and very happily,
judging by the excitement not only in the JS, but also in the MS.

The main aim of World Book Day is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books
and reading by providing them with the opportunity to focus on a special book of their own.
The JS classrooms were decorated with illustrations of the boys’ favourite books and book
reviews appeared everywhere… The culmination of the week was the ‘dressing up’ day, when

JS and MS boys and teachers donned the garb of their favourite character.

24

THE BOOK CORNER 25

SBcheyooonldGtathees

Enfin! Finally!FRENCHEXCHANGE before our guests hunkered down for
Katie Davies the weekend with their host families.
Weekend activities included trips
After a postponement forced on us by strikes across France we to Suffolk, Norfolk and Kent for
were delighted to welcome our French colleagues and twenty some whilst others went to football
one students to London on Thursday 23rd January. matches, visited Harrods and ate at
the world famous Hard Rock Cafe.
After a packed day of sightseeing which included the London Eye
and the London Transport Museum plus «le shopping» in Covent CAMDEN TOWN PROVIDED AN OPPORTUNITY
Garden, the group returned to Crossfield Avenue. FOR SOUVENIR SHOPPING BEFORE OUR
GUESTS HUNKERED DOWN FOR THE
As the saying goes «Every cloud has a silver lining» or «Après la WEEKEND WITH THEIR HOST FAMILIES.
pluie, le beau temps» and the postponement meant that our French
guests were able to join Year 8 and their parents that evening for On Sunday morning the group reassembled at King’s Cross St
an inspiring talk by the Atlantic oarswoman Debra Searle. Little did Pancras and said their farewells. In a fitting «finale» flourish James
Borrie entertained us all with a
we know then how a pesky virus might virtuoso performance on the piano
mean that Debra’s excellent strategies in the departure hall.
for weathering a storm would be ringing
loud in our heads only a few months À la prochaine! Until next time!
later!

Friday saw us visiting the Tower of
London followed by a boat trip up the
Thames to Westminster. Everyone
then really enjoyed the Chinese New
Year lunch organised by Mel Casey
and her team. Camden Town provided
an opportunity for souvenir shopping

26

VeruRlaYomEmAiRua6mnVIB&SIaTWtThOeslwyn
Robert Grant
excavated in this country and, in Verulamium Park also, there
The first week of March saw Year 6's annual visit to is one still in situ with a hypocaust system visible underneath.
Verulamium and Welwyn Roman Baths once again. The park also provided the remains of the ancient city wall of
Verulamium offered the boys a great opportunity to see our Verulamium to be explored.
recent work on Roman Britain come to life and the museum, with The final stop of the day for Year 6 was at the Welwyn Roman
its vast range of artefacts, offers a great insight into what life was Baths - a private bath house which was attached to a large private
like in Britannia two thousand years ago. villa and estate. Our guide there gave the boys a clear outline of
what bathing would have been like in ancient Britannia and they
In the Verulamium Museum, the boys not only had a chance to then had the chance to explore the remains of the bath house and
explore the galleries but they had a taught object handling session the other artefacts on view also. Once again it was an excellent and
also. This session gave them the chance to get up close to a range informative day. Many thanks to the staff also who accompanied
of ancient objects and the opportunity to learn about how men and the trip.
women dressed many years ago. Within the museum also there
are some of the best examples of ancient mosaics that have been

BEYOND THE SCHOOL GATES 27

YEAR 4's TRIP TO

Arun Burman

On Wednesday the 5th February, Year 4 set off from
Swiss Cottage tube to see the Lion King musical at the
Lyceum Theatre. We were all full of excitement and
anticipation, ready to see the Lion King.
On the journey, I sat next to Ishaan, Oscar and Daniel and I
was in Mr North’s group. I animatedly chattered about football
with them. On arrival, we leapt out of our seats, bombed off
the train and strode towards the theatre.
When we got to the theatre, we waited eagerly for the play to
start. Suddenly, the curtains flew up and my heart pounded at the spectacle in front of me. Ziyan, Oscar
and I were mesmerised by the stage sets and costumes. We all squealed with excitement. My favourite
part was when Simba was born. I also liked when Mufasa spoke from the dead because he was my
favourite character. Mufasa is my favourite character because he teaches Simba a lesson that Simba is
not ready to be King and he is very trusted character.
My worst bit was when Mufasa dies. I also do not like when Scar and the hyenas take over Pride Rock
because Scar is a mean, evil character. The hyena's song filled me with fear. The play looked so magical
and creative from Pride Rock to the twinkly stars of the past kings. After the thrill of the play, we went
back to school to be picked up by our parents. It was a long, tiring day but we had so much fun!

YEAR 1 GO tahTshicfnnrwtihuesooielthmtwrmthoeuiboeaerrroaytsreewiyr.lo,odtosTolnhf.uahwrseTvnkne,yaehsddlrnfwhiesiivttloocabhemtauptooefpcssoyawhaescron,eeooBtwdtdapurrFeglhransdIreeadht.ews,rdioTetaiioreipnmhnotrsletdknefmeyaissndlscmehshtaratryooonhsswposrdeestfd
ideas to share.
MTOovTHieEs!

Sarah Mendoza

28

CLASSICS

GreeceTRIP TO

Felix Twining it goes down, and ships pass over it! When we had finished lunch,
we went to Tolon and to our hotel. We then were assigned to our
DAY ONE rooms, had dinner, and had a much, much deserved sleep.
We woke up bright and early - well not exactly bright, as it was
3 am in the morning! But even time could not stop The Hall boys DAY TWO
and their excitedness and eagerness for the journey ahead. Once An early start again and a delicious breakfast before we were on
we had all gone through check-in we had had the chance to go the road again to Mycenae. As soon as we stepped out of the coach
and buy food for the plane journey, so we were well equipped for we were stunned: the site was massive and beautiful. We went up
our flight to Greece. The plane journey lasted about 3 and a half
hours but passed quickly as we were eating our way through our ONE OF THE INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT THE
purchases, chatting and playing card games. BRIDGE THAT SPANS IT, IS THAT INSTEAD OF
GOING UP TO LET SHIPS THROUGH, IT GOES
On arrival, we met our coach and our loyal driver Demitris at the DOWN, AND SHIPS PASS OVER IT!
airport. We then drove all the way to the Corinth Canal where
we had lunch and saw the canal which had been cut through the
middle of the isthmus of Corinth so that ships could cut their
journey length in half. One of the interesting things about the
bridge that spans it, is that instead of going up to let ships through,

BEYOND THE SCHOOL GATES 29

a series of steps and saw the was worth it. The view was truly a
Lion Gateway. What a sight sight to behold - we all gawped at
that would have once been to the fresh and never-ending blue
behold with its glinting gold sea and the bustling town of people
and exotic colours. After we far below. When we were exploring
passed through the gate, we the Venetian fortress at the top,
had the freedom to explore the several boys went into the totally
site. Some of us locating the dark, small prison cell there. It was
inner depths of it indeed, with not somewhere you would have
Mr Millburn-Fryer leading liked to have stayed for too long
an intrepid group of Timothy but thankfully we were able
Scannell, Arya Kadiwar and to descend from the fortress
Nicholas Taylor down into a by coach and to then to visit
cave at the heart of the citadel to the museum there and to have
locate the ancient water supply lunch by the port of Nafplion,
of the city. the former capital of Greece.

After Mycenae we travelled a The museum at Nafplion was
short distance to our pottery workshop with Jimmy the Potter – small but fascinating and finished off our visit to the town. The
he claimed to be Harry Potter’s cousin, much to Mr Grant’s great museum contained the very first complete bronze Mycenean
amusement. The workshop was very enjoyable and we created a breastplate which had been found locally 60 years previously and
series of pots. Mr Millburn-Fryer declared that his lump of clay there was a video for us to watch which told of its discovery. After
was the best but no-one else agreed. After the workshop we had lunch, we were on the road again and heading for our next hotel at
lunch at a restaurant nearby that was scrumptious and it was great Olympia. Dinner in the hotel that night was feast of many courses
to have the chance to sample some excellent local food also. of local delicacies and was greatly received. We slept well that
evening after that.
We then left to see the theatre at Epidavros. It was stunning. It had
1000s of seats. And the acoustics were amazing. I couldn’t believe DAY 4
it when I first saw it. The museum was We woke up ready and alert for the day to come. After another
very interesting also and had some excellent breakfast, we loaded ourselves onto the bus for a painfully
interesting artefacts from the site. Once long journey of… 1.5 minutes to the ancient site of Olympia, the
we returned to our hotel at Tolon at home of the Olympic Games. First, we went to the museum and
the end of a busy day, we had looked at the exhibits including many offerings to Nike, the Greek
dinner and goddess of victory. Apparently, her name and
went to sleep, wings are where you get the Nike brand and
our minds still swoosh from (as you’ve probably figured out).
processing the
wonders that Once we exited the museum we went to the
we had seen site itself. The site of Olympia was massive
earlier. and it had lots of sanctuaries to the gods,
a temple to Zeus, a training ground and a
MR MILLBURN-FRYER DECLARED THAT HIS stadium. At first, we all went to the stadium,
LUMP OF CLAY WAS THE BEST BUT NO-ONE where we had a race for all the different year
ELSE AGREED. groups, then a race for everyone
on the trip. There was individual
DAY 3 glory within the year groups for
We rose in the morning, had breakfast and set off once again. This some but Amaan Mathur was
time we went to Tiryns. I think I speak for everyone when I say it uncatchable and was declared
was truly fantastic. After that we went to Napflion and the Palimidi the overall winner in our mini
Fortress and climbed its 999 steps! I managed to come third in Olympic meeting! After the race,
the race to the top! Although we were all exhausted, the climb we split up and explored the
rest of the site in small groups.

30

It had been incredible to have run in the ancient stadium where and had many pieces of stone and sculpture that had been found
the Olympic Games first began almost 3000 years ago. After our and placed in the positions that they would have been thousands
exploits on the site, lunch helped us to recharge our batteries and of years ago. However some of the spaces were empty because -
some souvenir shopping prepared us for the long afternoon coach and Mr Grant will get angry if he hears me say this – quite a few of
journey to Delphi. After a quite late arrival at Delphi, we had dinner the stones are in the British Museum, which we visited also before
and went to bed and had to wait to see the dramatic views from our coming to Greece.
hotel until the morning.
We then walked to the Acropolis itself. We walked up the series of
DAY 5 steps towards it and were first met by the Theatre of Dionysus. It
We did not have far to go to the site this was big and impressive but not as big as the Epidavros Theatre. It
morning and so our breakfast was a little was however a place of great significance as it was the birthplace
later and more leisurely. Once at the ancient of ancient drama. When we reached the top of the Acropolis, we
site of Delphi, we entered the Delphi saw the Parthenon itself, aka the Temple of Pallas Athena. Its
museum first to give us an insight into what imposing size and
have been there and the importance of the amazing architecture
site itself before walking up to hillside to showed us that this
explore its remains. In the museum there was an important
were a selection of both statues and pots site, and that Athens
used to be a force to
that clearly showed how the art be reckoned with. The
forms had developed during view again was fantastic
ancient times. One of the most and the Parthenon was
famous statues in the museum extremely interesting to
was the bronze charioteer that look at.
was made of, you guessed it
bronze! ITS IMPOSING SIZE AND AMAZING
ARCHITECTURE SHOWED US THAT THIS WAS
It was incredible to visit the AN IMPORTANT SITE, AND THAT ATHENS USED
ancient site next. There were TO BE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH.
many, many steps to take us up the hillside and there were lots
of different shrines, and treasuries on the way. There was also a Once we had finished looking at the site, we went to the National
small theatre in which we sat for a while from where we could gaze Archaeological Museum where we saw Agamemnon’s golden
at the dramatic view down to the sea in the distance. En route to mask and many other prized treasures found at various ancient
the theatre there was also the Omphalos (the belly button) - the sites around Greece, for example the bronze statue of a boy on the
stone that marked the centre of the Ancient Greek world. A great horse that was found in a shipwreck and a tombstone that had a
opportunity for a photo was taken by several here.Once we had hockey match on it (amazingly!) and much more. After this final
finished with this fantastic site, we went on another road trip to museum visit it was time to head to the airport. We then flew back
Athens. We had lunch en route and after we got there, we had to England, waving goodbye to Greece’s many wonders.
dinner and a peaceful sleep.
In summary the Greece trip was fun, fascinating and
DAY 6 unforgettable for all of us – boys and staff. Special thanks to
We woke up happy but sad this was the final day of our trip. We had the staff, Mr Payne, Miss Baschiera and Mr Millburn-Fryer for
a lovely breakfast, packed accompanying and supervising us on our travels, to Mrs Grant
our bags and left the hotel who led us through the ancient
in Athens. The first place we sites and museums with her
went to was the Acropolis expert knowledge and finally, to
museum. It was awesome. Mr Grant for planning and co-
The first part had some ordinating our busy schedule.
statues and pots, but it Without you all it would have
was the second part of the not been possible to pull off a
museum that was the most trip as good as this one.
fascinating. It was designed
to look like the Parthenon

BEYOND THE SCHOOL GATES 31

CROSSWORDName: ___________________________________________ Date: ___________________

Roman EntertainmentRoman Entertainment

1
2

3

4

5
67

8 9 10
11 14

12 13 17
15

16

18

ACROSS

4. Latin word for sand 19
6. Actor who plays all the parts

8. A play or a story

13. Ex-Senator who put on a riotous 20 Down
show in Pompeii 1. Emperor who started building a famous arena
2. Performance area in a theatre cross
16. Those who watch in the theatre 3. Wild animal hunt . Latin word for sand
5. Poet who was keen on visiting the races (full name) . Actor who plays all the parts
17. Heavily-armed gladiator 7. The home of chariot racing . A play or a story
9. A god from above to the rescue 3. Ex-Senator who put on a riotous show in Pompeii
18. AFcoruorsshorsed chariot 10. Weapon that gives the name to the fighters 6. Those who watch in the theatre
11. Turning post 7. Heavily-armed gladiator
19. 4N.eLtatfiign hwtoerrd for sand 12. Roman Comic Playwright 8. Four horsed chariot
20.6A. Atchteoar twrheosptalagyes all the parts 14. Roman Board Game like 'Nine Men's Morris' 9. Net fighter
15. Beast Fighter 0. A theatre stage
8. A play or a story Down
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2. Performance area in a theatre S
3. Wild animal hunt
5. Poet who was keen on visiting the races (full name)20 S C A E N A A
7. The home of chariot racing
DO1W3. NEx-Senator who put on a riotous show in Pompeii 9. A god from above to the rescue NN U
10. Weapon that gives the name to the fighters
11. Turning post S 19 R E T I A R I U S I
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1. E1m6p. eThroosrewwhhoo swtaatrctheidn bthueildthienagtrae famous arena 14. Roman Board Game like 'Nine Men's Morris'UUH R
15. Beast Fighter
2. P1e7r.foHermavailny-caermaeredagliandiaattohreatre M IC SA

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DA 18 Q U A D R I G A
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5. P1o9e. tNwethfoighwtears keen on visiting the races (full name) SED 16 S P E C T A T O R E S A
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7. racing A 14 M U 13 R E G U L U S 12 P

CL 11 M I E S

9. A god from above to the rescue 10 G I 9D L 8F A B U L A
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10. Weapon that gives the name to the fighters 7C 6P A N T O M I M U S

5P T IS

11. Turning post SE A

12. Roman Comic Playwright PC E
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14. Roman Board Game like 'Nine Men's Morris' 3V 2O 1V
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15. Beast Fighter
ame: ___________________________________________
Date: ___________________
ANSWERS Roman Entertainment

32

Music School Music
NEWS
Dr Willem Steyn

Although the COVID-19 measures sadly cut short the term and for reasons of ‘social distancing’ we took the decision not to hold the
longed-for Gala Concert on the scheduled date, nonetheless it was a busy term for the Music School and highlights are described below.

MUSIC AWARDMUSIC SCHOLAR AWARDS 2020
WINNERSWe were delighted to learn this term of several scholarship awards to Hall boys for September 2020. Five Year 8 boys have been awarded
2020Music Awards at the following senior schools.

JAMES BORRIE WILL HAYWOOD

City of London School for Boys Magdalene School Oxford

James has been studying the violin since the age of six with Andrew Will’s love of music started in Year 3 when he started to learn to play the
MacDonald, and he particularly enjoys chamber music. He goes to Pro trumpet with Lorraine Temple. He instantly enjoyed the trumpet, and as
Corda in the holidays and has also played in various ensembles at school. a result it opened up many different opportunities for him. In the Middle
He has a great love for the piano and is a pupil of Mark Swartzentruber. School, Will was introduced to the world of ensemble playing. He then
James spends a lot of time improvising on the piano. Recently he has started learning piano with Androniki Liokoura, the trumpet with Claire
been experimenting with composing and performed his composition, Duncan, and also the drums with Martyn Kaine.
‘Reverie’ in the finals of last term’s Outstanding Musician Competition.
He also enjoyed the Music Tour to South Africa in 2019. Since starting in the Senior School in September 2017, Will can be found
most days somewhere in the Music Department. Will performs jazz with
James would like to thank his teachers for all of their support: Jamie O’Donnell, and has been in the Senior School Piano Duo, Brass
Dr Steyn and the staff at school, as well as Andrew MacDonald Quartet, and Symphony Orchestra. There have been so many classes,
and Mark Swartzentruber. rehearsals, concerts, gigs and also the once in a lifetime Music Tour to
South Africa last year. With recent exam success and now Magdalen to
DOUGAL GRAHAM look forward to, Will’s musical life is more exciting than ever.

City of London School for Boys LUQMAAN MARKAR

Dougal developed a passion for music in Year 6 at The Hall, when he Westminster School
started learning the viola with Hannah Biss.
Luqmaan started musicianship at the age of three through solfège
He also heard the recording by David Oistrakhand Yehudi Menuhin of the and Kodaly philosophy at the North London Conservatoire. The
Bach Double Violin Concerto, which made him want to play ensemble conservatoire’s focus on perfecting technique and public performances
music. His wish was later granted when he joined the Symphony from a young age seamlessly complemented the approach of The Hall
Orchestra, Chapel Choir, Percussion Group, a string quartet, Barbershop Junior School where boys participated regularly at informal concerts.
Ensemble, Horn Trio, a piano quartet, the Music Tour to South Africa and, Luqmaan learnt the cello with Laura Forbes and then began studies with
outside of school, Strings Rock, NCMC and Arpeggione. Ben Davies. At the age of seven, he started piano lessons with James
Cheung and is now guided by Hilary Coates.
His other areas of interest are jazz and soul music, which began
when he started playing the drums with Ben Reynolds. Thanks to all of Luqmaan’s love of chamber music developed at The Hall, where he has
Dougal’s teachers, he has been awarded a music scholarship at enjoyed being part of countless groups – from quartets and trios to the
City of London School. dynamic jazz band. Performing with the Chapel Choir at St George’s
Chapel and St Paul’s Cathedral was a privilege. He has participated
BLAKE MORRIS in all school orchestras and is lead cellist of the Symphony Orchestra.
Luqmaan had many opportunities at school to further his musical
Westminster School endeavours and among his cherished memories is the phenomenal ~
2019 Music Tour to South Africa organised by Dr Steyn.
Blake began his musical life with piano lessons in the small practice
rooms of the Junior School under the watchful eye of Milly Polasek. Luqmaan has received several awards including the JS Outstanding
He attended orchestral concerts for children at St. GMAaLrAtinC-OinN-CthEeR-TF2ie0l2d0s, | 5 Musician Cup (Year 3), MS Outstanding Musician (Years 4 and 5),
where individual players would demonstrate their instruments to Pilkington Cup for Piano (Years 4 and 5), Outstanding Musician SS
small groups afterwards. Keyboard (Years 6 and 8) and SS Outstanding Musician (Year 8).
He would like to extend his gratitude to Dr Steyn, Mr Dean and the
Entranced by their sound, Blake began stalking the double bassists. inspiring music teachers who have shared their knowledge with
Blissfully ignorant of the impracticalities of such a large instrument, such generosity and kindness.
he enthusiastically started bass lessons with Dave Manington in Year 3
and a few years later, jazz with Jamie O’Donnell. Among the ensembles Luqmaan is delighted to have received a music scholarship to
he joined, some of his favourites were the Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Westminster.
Band and Barbershop Ensemble. Like many others, he enjoyed the
phenomenal South Africa Music Tour in 2019 organized by Dr Steyn, In addition, two Year 6 (11+) boys have been awarded Music
which made a deep impression. Awards at UCS6 | GALA CONCERT 2020 for 13+ entry in September 2022: Albert Sparks and
Oscar Fletcher.
Blake would like to thank all the music teachers who have helped him
during his time at the Hall, including Martyn Kaine, Androniki Liokoura,
Dave Manington, Jamie O’Donnell, John Ward and especially
Dr Steyn, forever a source of inspiration. Blake looks forward to
continuing his musical journey across genres at Westminster School.

MUSIC 33

INFORMAL CONCERTS GALA CONCERT
Five Informal Concerts were presented during the course of the Very sadly, the
term, which involved the participation of approximately 60 boys, Gala Concert in
including boys in the Junior School. An Informal Concert dedicated collaboration with St
to contemporary music was also held this term, in which all of the Christopher’s, due to
MS and SS guitar groups performed and works composed by boys be held in the Royal
during music technology lessons were featured. Festival Hall was
cancelled due to the
CHAPEL CHOIR COVID-19 outbreak.
We are looking at
different ways to create
an opportunity for
the boys and girls to
showcase their work,
so that all their hard
practice and rehearsal
does not go to waste...

PARTICIPANTS

JUNIOR SCHOOL JS BAND
CHOIR
Joss Campbell & Patrick Richmond
Lorraine Temple & Patrick Richmond

Ali Abbas Andreas Paraskevaidis FLUTE SARAH ALEXANDER THOMAS ELWIN
Michael Asimacopoulos Alex Preiskel Silas Fraiser
James Grant hSTftaomhesSreslaeafhacvWorleksaiusooharitorhpssAsneptetalsaeeaPWhrsxauroooeardenewdnneiydesdki,innneiaoogncrnnsefPoidussmtnechGfpnhyoeAernraLerhmyhwpeiifwtaanelaasozp,ryWhoAdrsitonn-rhbiwwngmPegfioSssrnC.ittrumnMorksoiEuneonanppg.snogitlxwisWn,r&enegnracM.oitelekSowisnlehletraelrsy, gpKiStrnaLehdaSoocOcrEoredotrtdellftrqauinuoulnsceiMnwtdudtraAcvhtmiuoeategneaelciednnnbrlnasacottitddroroancbFprttihufdahch,oiciwhann,metSeeorPilhzgFasslnmansRhie.seAm’wcastTiiaoralrReerhrcaheDcytKanroaBrriocaatsinoomayreseelrmtmdrspaes,nAl,asoleallCCTtoyNatcAlr/sElhyrnnaataCa’icisuhoni/dcnstecoarSeamrtsel/ovsdoeoeitlmBcBiiopracp,ecseaFaiesTBemytecwleearnhrCeEwbOotydnatiotlafaSwiPphhmohTtarnMchreiuafiongBnodaertuMuaHhas,mnBAtsesueilueasCiiiasensscdgsnsassarg.ihiaCaonsatectaatnocpionOcsggOnadciicnuadanidphipnecatrwndleaerygseet.evrierrttAonethhfte
James Avery-Gee Andre Ramos-Turkinan Ayan Nedungadi TtTFToPhhaoihfpneotou(wetezlnmWrirhirvii2ott’nfeseeahe0olgessDsrW1ott9meOohwinea/Goefapi2ssBlrFrlneco0keNBsecorsneiarCseanhmnr’eitssgoanaRapHnpco4lshaaidlosfs0ouidnsouMnwdtwyiohs/f.eeiiwCeitrIta3snhsthoiOsna)tllsti,‘BnkaLpLhisViihBeeeFenevenerCaegbLrsasnrduoTa.pskCibmhOtaT’iaso/huor’rtEmnyRattmhinuctteieetenegaoqLrrtrsefhuMauthoonerriifO,reoMegeaU2mztEhroOu0caKndlnirhra2gngenntaen0e/hblanistdDgstuiotdsehiratn,a
Arkin Bahl Laksh Rathi Raphael Silverberg ASYHtdoaevurredrfnuiWltsmautonr, ecmdAsrmeaJodunyfl,iitPeGHstionein(icoMnckcgleiuccrhdOhliieanoff:egMaBl’snBiagdIotCtTgJhoiduemulawielendt;oVTNivanh)eu.eRvgeoNhrmneB’wseeo abroad.
Aurele Vandenbroucke OOAatH’SChnCAMgAomedaalrraourtomtirMhscthtulheeeekyarnylrsaeoSdSiC’nsvnJfhtheYoiodGHosronriCiwhooJsyueotoo,r,n,sirDToesnP,icbt’hkeTressrulsesheer,MonfdWe,aSeknPainctJt’erersHdstupa’orTirSinleDsnepyittglc,,rrllDoeyoeaAlMurornpyLTlduelog,rirtteTkomUeshue:ht,rneaeJtesTUedlod,DeFrSesDn!a;e,rmrTacRricaTethhoaTedhhneeelvdealdDrreDnTsrsDEroih,,abC(lwnLeMidNlnrekvoa’eegBse’erosesyfCnkk;,.),;
Ryan Becker Oliver Samuels taFthrtToaPeehtltbalhRooSuleewomtl’.ysRsianP,aooOsgTlalyoAhupbagioleecsl’rstmrgaaF,aCddaeiannseuasscttmtauhihlavtudiylieassodidlooonimnHrfaaagfuaMrlpt,sololpuLOimcanesoapnianRcltedrhd,lareiTfeoTddeSohniOtoraok.uepysWmt3gotea,gauhrCOasalciallrhsapjcrtotolsoe.yisainruriaatbcerssSdoCFetayiMt.tohy,fe.
Noam Boucard Luca Sanderse CLARINET BASSOON LT(aEH(hdNaaey(smeaAtMwtpTrraetosAsctuibenmTraec)hb;dlteuhNaadTsotiesnhrraesetMd:)ha,Aoata(TrnrcCehVsgb)hei;TeeeeTVrhtwshhetaAeeafgabrrtnio)Sbnr.demeae)cyN;MrIHse(aolHtainnnanocgrodyrytlnooiiBcnngnhiurGHuNdeaarosc(snrFhldtiag)h;rht
Luca Buraschi Cyrus Sarikhani Ryan Becker Patrick Cope
Ravi Chandarana Dylan Shorthouse Rufus Jewell Tim Crothers SSearraafhinioswmicazrraienddattonhdtehyPehhaoacveteboert.wanodchwilrditreernP, Setaemr
Felix Shulman Veer Melwani
Patrick Cope
The school’s Chapel Choir led the Evensong on Wednesday 11th Eskander Dean Maceo Silva TRUMPET
March in Southwark Cathedral. Ravi Chandarana
Neil Dhar Will Sinclair
MIDDLE SCHOOL CONCERT Murray Sugasa Jacob Gehl
The Middle School Concert took place on Wednesday 12th Yonas Djoudi Matthew Valentin Hallam Ormond
February in the Wathen Hall. All orchestras, bands and ensembles Sebastian Dobson-Persad
participated, involving 77 boys in total. Jacob Woolf
Bertie Duralski Cross Wilfie Wyman Stones
Conrad Dyble
Jacob Gehl Kiaan Zare

James Grant

Thurstan Hayne
Raphael Hussain
Rufus Jewell PERCUSSION
Noam Boucard
Daniel Kamalov
Eli Kattan Neil Dhar
Daniel Kamalov
Arel Kesimgil Oliver Samuels
Freddie Lee

Luca Liberatore

Arjun Malde

Milo McCluskey

Austin McKay
Jonah McNamara
Zico Melwani BRASS QUARTET
Veer Melwani

Cyrus Nation Claire Duncan
Ayan Nedungadi
Hallam Ormond
Aman Panjabi TRUMPET
Yash Panjabi Will Haywood
Alexander Mardle
Nobuki Smolders
Cassius Yechiel

GALA CONCERT 2020 | 15

34

ArtYEAR 4 Art

Abbie Luck

THE SEA

These images show Year 4 art works on the topic 'The Sea'.
Boys produced studies of fish from direct observation inspired
by the illustrations of Emma Dibben. Boys were encouraged to
use ink both in a detailed way and in a more expressive way.
Boys also looked at the environmental impact of single use
plastics. You can see here also boys' fantastic mono prints of
jellyfish in response to the work of Chihuly and their sculptures
of sea creatures using wire and recycled plastics.

Boys also looked at traditional Portuguese Azulejo tiles in order
to design and make their own ceramic tiles glazed in colours
and with patterns inspired by the ocean.

Alessandro Penati

Lucas Chowrimootoo

Ziyan Hirji Kareem Ghazi

ART 35

Sebastian Ferguson

Milan Silva

Noah Hutchings

Mykhail Melwani Noah Hutchings

Laith Mason

Laith Mason

36

Alex Stratford Leonardo Vulcano Max Mast

LIFE DRAWING WORKSHOP

Leonie Lachlan

The Life Drawing workshop was a challenging activity that required boys to ‘plug in’ to
their best concentration in order to use their observational skills. Year 4 demonstrated
serious and focused attitude to the challenge and they experimented with drawing
materials beautifully!

Laith Mason

ART 37

Dhruv Marcus Noah Hutchings

Theo Rotherham-Winqvist
Sebastian Salt

Matthew Dixon

Max Mast

38

Bruno Cokeliss Hugo Thompson

Sasha Raynal

The Year 4 life
drawing workshop
was held on the
Monday 27th January.
A professional model
was invited in to pose
for us and we made
several drawings
from different poses
in either pencil or
charcoal. We had
approximately 5
drawings to do
using a variety of
techniques. I loved
drawing in charcoal
the best. It was a very
enjoyable morning.

Adrian Altunis

Milan Silva

ART 39

ArtYEAR 6

SELF IDENTITY / BASQUIAT

In this unit of work, Year 6 boys looked at the work of Basquiat as a
source of inspiration. They studied how Basquiat's paintings spoke
about his own identity.

Boys then spent time exploring their own self identities including their
ethnicity, interests, upbringing, their social influences and the moral
beliefs that have made them who they are. You can see here boys' self
portraits using photomontage, including imagery and symbols that
represent their individuality. Boys also experimented with applying
paint in a number of expressive ways for their final large scale response
to Basquiat's work.

Marmaduke Constance

Giles Empson

Shiv Ahluwalia

40

Omid Eftekhari
Oscar Auerbach

William Gentle

Ahaan Gupta

Theodore Constance

Mohamed El Hadi Ababsa

ART 41

ArtYEAR 8

William Gordon Will Haywood

PORTRAIT / WAR

In this unit of work Year 8 boys looked at the work of Francis Bacon and the German Expressionist artists as a source of
inspiration. Boys learnt how both these artists drew inspiration from their religious and political beliefs.

Boys first produced distorted portraits using both photomontage and Photoshop that reflected the main characteristics of
Bacon’s work. Boys then learnt the techniques involved in printing with lino, having looked at examples of German Expressionist
woodcuts. They then completed an independent study on the topic of Distortion and War with the focus of creating an image or
poster for the Stop War Coalition.

James Borrie

Dougal Graham

42

Michael Grimaldi Charlie Aldridge
Ivan Rakity

Archie Marlow

Felix Johnson

ART 43

In Partnership

INTRODUCTION TO DEBATING

On Friday 14th February an Introduction to Debating enrichment
workshop was held at The Hall. Led by Ms Duncan in the Cooper Hall, forty
five Year 6 students from neighbouring partnership school Rosary Catholic
Primary School came together with six Hall boys from Years 6 to 8.
The goal of this enrichment was to introduce students from our partnership
schools who have never experienced an organised debate, to a set of skills
covering:

• Reasoning and presenting evidence; turning facts and statistics into a
strong argument

• Expression and delivery; being able to speak with the right tone, pace,
language and body language to engage an audience and convey an
argument

• Listening and responding; listening critically to the other side’s
argument and using what you hear to develop a well-reasoned
response

• Organisation and prioritisation; within the established protocols of a
formal debate each side needs to work as a team and be flexible in
working together in putting the best case forward

The afternoon was divided into four parts. To start with Ms Duncan introduced
the visiting students to the format of debating. Then the Rosary pupils watched
an organised formal debate modelled by the six Year 6 and 8 Hall boys. After a
short break the Hall boys worked with groups of students providing tutoring on
how to script a debate. Finally the Rosary teams tried out some of their newly
acquired skills themselves.

44

SATURDAY
CLUB

This Spring Term is the final term of Saturday Club for our
partnership primary school students in Year 6, who will, at
the end of the summer term, be leaving primary school and

transitioning to secondary school.

This group of students is the first cohort to have completed
The Hall Saturday Club programme, which runs for six terms.
There has been real progress across all subjects, measured by
feedback from parents, Head Teachers, Skills Builder and of

course the students themselves!

Many of the Saturday Club students applied and were
successful in gaining places at Marylebone Boys’ and Girls’

Schools, UCL Academy and Le Sainte Union amongst
others. They are also very eager to become our first ‘alumni’

group, dedicated to returning in the future to talk about
their new experiences and be apart of Q&A workshops for

the remaining Saturday Club students.

The Year 5s continue to develop skills in critical thinking
and presentation skills in their Debating classes and real

life problem solving skills (research and testing) and
teamwork in Science sessions. Creativity and logical
thinking have been demonstrated by all students in

explaining their choices of methodology in Maths
sessions and creativity, leadership and listening
skills have been improved in The Arts – this year

the students have been following a course in Comic
Illustration.

THE WINCH

A Design Technology Club ran for boys from The Winch this term led by
Miss Downing over five weeks at The Hall; the goal was to make a clock.

“All of those who came absolutely loved it! They were totally amazed
that they would be making a ‘real clock’. Some of the children have

never been to The Hall before and were quite taken aback by the
facilities in the DT Room. What a fantastic experience!”
Kim Mabbut, The Winch.

As well as gaining some specialist new practical skills in creating
design ideas, marking and cutting materials with a cutting saw,
achieving a high quality finish of the materials used, using the pillar
drill to make holes, joining materials and assembling the clock parts,
The Winch boys made achievements in their presenting, teamwork
and leadership abilities. Everyone seemed very proud of their

finished products!

IN PARTNERSHIP 45

ECO-Schools MEAT FREE
MONDAYS

After a very positive response to the Meat
Free Mondays survey. Mrs Casey and her team put their heads
together to create some exciting new options for themed Meat Free
Mondays. Meat Free Monday is now EVERY Monday rather than
every three weeks.

We have also been working hard on the
topic of Travel, encouraging people to
find a greener way of travelling to school.
As you all know ‘Step Counting Week’
was launched at the end of the term to
which over 100 boys signed up. This was
GREEN unfortunately interrupted with the abrupt
TRANSPORT end to the term and to be fair to those

who needed to isolate, we felt it inappropriate to see the initiative
through. We will be launching this again on our return to school.
Prizes will be awarded for the most steps taken in a day, the most
steps taken in a whole week and the overall mileage travelled in a
week recorded on the Mapmyrun app.

SWITCH OFF As mentioned in the last edition of The
COEMCMIOTTEE NEWS Hall newspaper, on the 9th January the
MONTH Eco-Committee launched Switch Off
Abbie Luck
Month with the aim of encouraging boys
Of course, due to the current situation, it has been difficult and staff to save energy. Bryte Energy kindly offered to talk to staff
to further our efforts on all things Eco. However, we would during their inset day with a breakdown of the school’s energy usage
like to keep you up to date with all of the Eco Committee’s and to stress the importance of leading by example. Monitors were
achievements last term in their goal to make The Hall green. responsible for checking that staff and boys were doing their best
Miss Luck has also been working hard at home to complete the throughout the month of January to turn off any lights and electrical
evaluation section of the Eco-Action plan so that we can tick off step equipment that did not need to be on. The results were very positive
6 of the Eco-Schools seven-step program. We are still very keen to indeed! For the three monitored meters there was an overall saving
apply for our green flag before the end of the year. for the Jan/Feb period of 746 kWh which is good news (15985 kWh 7th
Nov to 7th Dec against 15239 kWh 9th Jan to 8th Feb). Both the Junior
On our return to school we will be meeting virtually to discuss what School and Middle School made a consistent improvement over the
we might all be able to do at home to continue in our Eco-efforts. course of the campaign. The Junior School used 42 kWh less during
We have also set up an area on Firefly for you to upload anything you the last week of the campaign to the first and the Middle School used
might have been doing already. Perhaps you have been doing a spot 39 kWh less. The overall kWh saving is equivalent to 151 kg of C02 (if
of gardening, sketching or photographing the changes that spring has you weren’t using 100% renewable electricity). This would require 47
brought, recording changes in the levels of pollution, building a bird Christmas trees to absorb the C02.
box, planting vegetables, making more of an effort to reduce your use
of single plastic. Whatever you have been up to, please do post. SCHOOL All new school awards ties are now
AWARD TIES being made from recycled plastic
www.hallschool.fireflycloud.net/eco-schools/public-forum-1/eco-efforts-at-home bottles.

WE WILL BE CONTACTING YOU ALL SOON WITH IDEAS RAISED
IN OUR NEXT ECO-COMMITTEE MEETING AND IN THE MEANTIME,
DON’T FORGET TO POST ON FIREFLY ANYTHING ECO-RELATED
YOU MAY HAVE BEEN UP TO.

46

SILENT Our second Silent
PROTEST Protest, proved very
successful in raising
awareness of the damage
car idling can do. To further educate both boys
and parents on the topic of pollution, Camden
will be running an anti-idling action event which
will include air quality lessons and an anti-idling
workshop delivered by Idling Action project officers.
The project will also culminate with the co-creation
of a banner to communicate idling action messages.
The banner will be printed as part of the project
and will be displayed outside the school.
Idling Action event training will be given
to all interested community volunteers,
concerned parents, governors etc.
about idling and the harm it does so that
volunteers can then go out in pairs into the
surrounding streets to talk to pedestrians
and drivers about engine idling before and
during school picking up time.

Reception

BIRD FEEDERS

Reception boys were keen to make
sure the birds had enough to eat
in the cold early weeks of Spring.

They enjoyed using nuts and seeds
to make bird feeders which they

hung around the JS playground and
outside 2 Buckland Crescent.

ECO-SCHOOLS 47

Children' s Mental Inside Out
HEALTH WEEK DAY
Adrienne Cooper
Later in the week, as our whole school focus for Life
Children’s Mental Health Week took place from 3-9 February Skills, boys were encouraged to wear an item of clothing
2020. During the week we shone a spotlight on the inside out! The idea behind this eccentricity was to show
importance of children and young people’s mental health. that sometimes what we show on the outside, through our
This year’s theme was "Find your Brave". behaviours and actions, is not actually the same as what’s going
on inside our heads.
After an assembly on 'Finding Your Brave', Middle and Senior
School boys shared examples of when they had had to be brave in Sometimes, even when we are amongst friends and classmates, it
difficult situations. might be that we hide
what is really going on
In the JS, Mrs Bonham–Carter also gave an assembly and created inside us. By wearing
a display of examples of when pupils had 'found their brave'. Year 7 our clothes inside
boys went to talk to the JS boys about mental health and strategies out, we reminded
that they use to improve their self-esteem and the importance of each other that as
sharing feelings. individuals in school,
even though we do not
Later in the week, the whole school wore an item of clothing inside or cannot always know
out to show that whilst we how our friends are
don't always know how our feeling on the inside
friends are feeling on the day by day, we can
inside, we want them to know remind them that we
that they have someone to are always there for
talk to. them. With friends,
we can trust we will
always have someone
to talk to.

48

Children's Mental
Health Week

IN THE
JUNIOR
SCHOOL

Katie Bonham - Carter

After a 'Find Your Brave' assembly in the Junior School, the boys took home a shape
in which to draw or write about a time that they had found positive ways to deal with

things that might be difficult, overcoming physical and mental challenges.

We were overwhelmed with the ideas that the boys sent back on their speech bubbles
and produced a lovely display so that the whole school community could be inspired

by their bravery.

LIFE SKILLS 49

Mindful MARCH

In March we continued to support the importance of mental health with our support for
the charity Mind.
Year 6 boys made badges to sell, with helpful tips to encourage positive frames of mind.
Miss Downing helped the boys to make badges in DT and Mrs Remis organised the selling of
badges and offered mindfulness activities in her drop-in workshops every Friday in March.

Badge MAKING
William Samuels

Anew opportunity arrived for the Young Creatives group to create badges to
raise awareness of issues surrounding mental health.
Miss Remis launched a new initiative this week to raise money for Mind in Camden.
All week boys were hard at work making badges with different slogans such as ‘Life
is tough but so are you’ and many more using recycled materials. The badges came

in different colours such as yellow
and purple. Ahaan, Timothy, Felix
and I produced lots of badges during
break times in the DT lab., using
laser cutters to cut out the badges,
colouring them with marker, then
wiping off the colour so the text stood
out and, finally, gluing the pin on.
These badges were sold throughout
March and the money given to
charity.
50