January saw a Roman invasion of the Junior School by Year 2 boys, who dressed up in togas and sandals to become ‘Romans’ for the day. They enjoyed a day of Roman activities, including creating mosaics, clay pot-making and designing their own laurel head-wreaths. ROMAN INVASION! JS NEWS 51
52 I n an early January assembly, Mr Dobson talked to the boys about the practice of skychology – a wellbeing practice that simply involves stopping for a moment, looking up at the sky and taking the time to really notice it – the shapes, colours, movements and contrasts. He invited the boys to send him some photos of the day and night skies that they had observed. Here is a particularly beautiful evening sky shared by Adrian in 1M. This Spring our core text was All That Rubbish, by Michael Foreman. After ruining Earth and soaring off to a star in his rocket, The Man returns to find that ancient creatures have beautified the Earth and it is where he wants to live after all. In our Year 1 lesson, we imagined we were The Man. We thought Skychology Conscience Alley Lisa Blair YEAR 1 CONTEMPLATES SOME MORAL DILEMMAS about how we would feel when we realised that the star we had ruined was actually Earth. We posed questions to ourselves such as: Was it worth it? Would we destroy Earth again? How do we feel about the dinosaurs roaming Earth now? How would we do things differently? Do we want to share Earth with the dinosaurs who have created it into a paradise? We settled on words such as embarrassed, ashamed, sad, responsible, guilty and we created sentences using these words to describe how we felt. Next, we formed an alleyway. Our teacher pretended to be The Man and as she walked down the aisle, we took turns to read our sentences aloud. Conscience Alley is a superb task that invites children to empathise whilst using their comprehension and writing skills. Great job, Year 1!
Year 3 Greek Day is hotly anticipated every year and this year certainly did not disappoint. The boys had a fantastic time in mid January, learning about different aspects of Ancient Greek civilisation and trying their hand at various activities such as soap-making and mosaics. The costumes looked very authentic too. GREEK DAY YEAR 3 JS NEWS 53
54 AFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRY YEAR 3 TOPIC Year 3 had a wonderful “Africa Day” in mid September, learning about different aspects of life in West Africa. Workshops included African drumming and dancing, using recycled materials to make beaded necklaces and creating an Adenkra print using a block printing method. The children loved meeting Kwame and hearing stories about his life in Ghana.
In October the JS boys enjoyed an excellent assembly from 3B who retold an African folk tale about a greedy spider called Anansi who gets his comeuppance when tackling a wise turtle. From the passion they demonstrated in performing this delightful tale, it was clear to see how much the boys are getting from their topic work this term. Year 3 boys again had an exciting time in early November with a lunchtime trip to an Ethiopian restaurant called The Queen of Sheba where they were able to taste some authentic dishes and learn about Ethiopian cuisine. JS NEWS 55
56 Diwali With their bodies and colourful pens, Year 4 spent a wonderful afternoon embracing the spirit of Diwali, the Hindu festival of light. With the assistance of a skilled professional actor the boys vividly imagined and physically embodied different roles, dramatic situations and actions as they retold elements of the great epic through dance. The Wathen Hall became a wild forest in which Prince Rama and his wife Seta moved and posed, creatures such as frog, golden deer and Hanuman the monkey leapt and concluding fireworks exploded in a long line of wave-like splendour. In a second activity that filled the heart of the school with creativity, the boys cut and coloured evocative Diwali lanterns. Few of us will forget this great Hindu festival in a hurry. CELEBRATING Penelope Harley MS&SS News Phil Earle At the end of January, author Phil Earle gave a brilliantly funny, moving, and inspiring talk to Years 4, 5 and 6. We were delighted that Year 6 from our partnership school, Rosary Primary School, were able to join us. As a boy, Phil wanted to play football for Hull City – he had no thought of becoming a writer. More than that, he struggled with reading. We were gripped by the story he told of his journey from ‘reluctant reader’ to award-winning author of over twenty books, including When the Sky Falls and While the Storm Rages. Phil spoke about the importance of finding ‘your book’ - the book that will open your mind and heart to reading. He also discussed where he finds inspiration for his stories and the importance of play – “To write is to play: it’s the most brilliant reminder of waiting on the edge of my school chair at the age of eight, for the bell to ring for playtime.” After his talks, Phil led a creative writing workshop for pupils in Years 4 to 6 whose work was published in the English Department’s new magazine, ‘The Right to Write’. We’re hugely grateful to Phil for coming to The Hall and wish him all the best for his next novel, Until the Road Ends. Finally, a note of thanks to Sam Coren, George Henton, Milo McCluskey, and Kiaan Zare, for introducing Phil’s talks. Nicola Luckhurst AUTHOR VISIT
Once again students across the MS and SS were able to start 2023 with a taste, both literally and metaphorically, of French culture and traditions. Friday 6th January was Epiphany, or as it is better known in France «La Fête des Rois». Each class learnt about the traditional sharing of the King's cake / «La galette des rois» with the infamous charm / «fève» hidden within. The youngest member of each class chose, as is the custom, to whom the respective portions of cake should be given. As The Hall is a nut-free zone we gave the more traditional puff pastry and frangipane version a miss but Mme Stones very kindly sourced and transported home from France sixteen brioche versions of the cake. As the pictures show there was much appreciative munching and excitement, not to mention crumbs as a King was elected in each class. HOW TO MAKE A PINWHEEL Elie Gorin Delmas L Epiphanie FRENCH Mme Davies The Boy who Harnessed the Wind I nspired by the resilience and ingenuity of William Kamkwamba, a boy from the Kasungu region of Malawi who perseveres against the odds to bring electricity to his village using junkyard scraps, the Year 7s powered up for their English homework! The challenge Mr Pinkus set involved salvaging waste materials from the recycling bin to fashion into something useful or entertaining for a new purpose… YEAR 7 ENGLISH I made a pinwheel, which was quite difficult because the video did not explain everything. I had to work out some parts on my own but on the other hand it was a lot of fun. This pinwheel included one A4 piece of paper, glue, a pin (that’s why it is called a PINwheel) and a stick. I didn’t have a long and hard stick, so I compromised and used a straw that worked the same way but was much more bendy. Also, I did not have a pin, so I modified it to a staple, and I did not have double sided tape, so I used glue. MS&SS NEWS 57
58 BUILDING A TOY CAR CREATING A GAME CUP There were three minor difficulties I had along the way. The first one, was that I had to restart about 5 times because I couldn’t fold the paper properly. The second problem was when I glued the paper to the straw, it kept falling off, so I tried again and again. I Finally managed to glue it without it falling off. The third problem was when I stapled the paper it was quite hard because the middle was quite far from the outside. So I bent the paper a bit to make it easier for me to staple. After I finished this I thought that if this was hard, I would not like to imagine what it would be like if i made a real one with wires and electricity. So my conclusion about this ‘task’ was that even if you use different objects than the tutorial you can still achieve whatever you want. We know this because in the book of ‘The Boy who harnessed the Wind’, William used all sorts of materials from taking things from the scrapyard to using a bicycle. I really understand how William is greatly appreciated by everyone in the world because of what he makes. As William says ‘Trust yourself and whatever happens never give up’. “Trust yourself and believe whatever happens, don’t give up.” William Kamkwamba 2009 As part of my third Reading Project (The Boy who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer), I chose to create a game out of materials that I could find in the waste bin. To get started I looked in the recycling bin where I was expecting to see numerous useful objects. To my surprise there were very few materials that gave me an inspiration or an idea to create a game. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I thought hard... but no light bulb in my brain lit up. Reluctantly, I switched on my laptop, and I searched up on the internet for the craft ideas from recycling bin. This reminded me of how Kamkwamba didn’t even have access to a computer, the internet or even electricity before he built the windmill, but a library with a limited number of books and his imagination. I was determined to face a similar challenge to Kamkwamba’s, and, after a few minutes of searching, I put all online resources to one side and thought deeper, just like he always did. Will I be able to come up with an idea for a game? Eventually, I found it. A fragile, flickering, and friendly light illuminated my brain. ‘Eureka! I can make the game cup and ball, the aim being to flip the ball into the air and catch it in the cup,’ I whispered excitedly to myself. Next I searched for all the necessary unwanted materials around the house and gathered all of them in my ‘work area.’ These were a sheet of bubble wrap, a ball, some rope, one roll of toilet paper, hair ties, a googly eye, a sharpie pen, a glue gun (to glue not to build) and finally, but most importantly, cardboard. With all the materials arranged in front of me I thought, “Could I make it?” I was curious to see what I would experience along the way and what the final result would look like. However, building the game wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. There were a few unexpected challenges I faced throughout the planning and construction process. One of them being finding specific materials like a ball with a desirable weight. After some trial and error, I found out that a soft ball would be perfect. The ball is a crucial part of the game that even with the slightest issues, can make this game biased. To make it, I used a small squishy magnet wrapped in bubble wrap and to hold it in place I used hair ties. Another problem I had was to find a toilet roll with a diameter wide enough to fit in the soft ball and lastly, going to the very beginning, thinking of how to make it. These issues reminded me of how Kamkwamba needed to find specific, mostly tiny materials in a massive scrapyard and even, after hours of searching, some of his necessities that he found were broken. On the flip side, the game at the end was really fun to play with and there are even different techniques on how to increase a chance of winning. I thought about it, I tried it, and I made it! I built a toy car out of lids of jam jars, chopsticks, an Amazon package, Sellotape and lids of milk bottles. At first I was clueless on my design and sketched different possible toy cars. But nothing was easy enough to build with the resources I had at home. I was getting annoyed, so I took a break and ate breakfast. At breakfast my brother had a great idea. To use the lids of the milk bottles, cut out a hole in them, take a chopstick and glue the jam jar lid to the chopstick. I didn’t really understand him at first, but then he explained it to me. I thought it was a good idea, so I tried it out. First I took a hammer and a nail (because I didn’t have a drill) and I hit the nail on the caps of the milk bottles and formed a hole. Then I had to make the hole big enough for a chopstick to fit, but not too big because otherwise the chopstick would be lost through the hole. Next I used Sellotape to tape the cap to the Amazon package. Now the chopstick could actually turn, but with difficulty. To solve this problem, I had to take a knife and trim the chopstick (cut small parts off). Then I Sellotaped the lids of the jam jars to my chopstick. The front two wheels were done. Then I repeated this process and did it to the back side of the car. This took a lot longer because I accidentally broke the chopstick in two. Eventually my toy car was finished. It was not as good as any of Milo’s toy cars, but it worked so I was happy. This homework was fun to do, so thank you to Mr Pinkus and the audience. Alexandre Raynal Florian Jhamna
WATER BOTTLE PIGGY BANK BUILDING A PINWHEEL I chose option 3 and I made a piggy bank with an empty bottle and some paper that was written on as my two waste products to recycle. I prepared by setting up all that I needed. I felt like this was going to be easy. But almost immediately I encountered a problem: my scissors could not cut a hole into the plastic! If there was no hole, you could not slot the coins on the top of the piggy bank. I found a solution by making a tiny hole carefully with a safe knife and snipped a decent hole. There were also many other technical problems, like glue not sticking properly to the plastic. What was a tremendous success though, was the fact that this type of piggy bank was better than the ones you can buy straight away. The reason is because when you fill your shop-bought piggy bank and just want a few coins to buy something cheap, you must smash the whole thing with a hammer and that takes time and effort. Also, you have nowhere else to store your remaining money unless you buy a new one. Of course, now there are piggy banks with holes on the bottom, but in William Kamkwamba's time this would be a total Firstly, I chose to build a pinwheel for my project as I think out of the five elaborate options, this one reflected the story best. In addition, I chose this as it is a fun, creative project to do to feel like I am in William’s shoes. THE PROCESS TO MAKE THIS PINWHEEL THAT SPINS, EFFECTIVELY A MINI WINDMILL, I NEEDED THE FOLLOWING: • A Sheet of Yellow card • A short wooden rod (I used a bamboo straw) Kevin Dente Yang Noah Hutchings game-changer, as you can just get coins from unscrewing the bottle lid. This is also portable, and William could have brought it to a shop instead of a heavy porcelain pig. At the end of the building process, I knew that it was harder than I thought but still okay to do. I think this would have been useful to William, because in the book money is what he really needs to achieve his goals. He could really use this to store all his money in a safe place, far away from thieves. Overall, I expected the paper to wrap around the bottle more smoothly, but I would say it is a job well done. • A pair of scissors • A gluestick • A paper pin • A small circle of white paper First, I watched the short video one time through on exactly how to put together this admirable working pinwheel. After watching it all through, I moved on to watching it again, but this time making the wheel. I diagonally folded the yellow piece of card and then cut of the spare rectangle at the bottom till I was left with a perfect square. I folded this square again diagonally, so I had a sort of X shape folded onto a square. With these lines making out the X, I cut about halfway to the centre and then put a dollop of glue in the middle where there were no cuts. Moving on, I folded in one corner that had slits on either side and stuck it nicely in the middle. However, as hard as I pushed with my finger, it refused to stick. The constant retrying made me think about how hard and frustrating the building of a windmill must have been for William. Anyway, I carried on persisting and ended up sticking all four corners down in just a matter of moments. Preparing my next equipment, I used my glue stick to act like a weight in holding down the centre to keep the corners in place. I then used scissors to cut a circle of white paper about the size of my glue stick's head, then pierced the pin through that pinning it onto my yellow spin wheel. Finally, I poked the sharp end of the pin into my bamboo straw and tried spinning the wheel... MS&SS NEWS 59
60 At the end of January, Year 8 gathered in the Cooper Hall to listen to Judith Hayman from 'Generation2Generation' to mark this year's Holocaust Memorial Day. The theme of the day this year was 'ordinary people’. Judith told her family story to help illustrate some of the details of life in 1930s and 1940s Europe, and to highlight some of the atrocities that were experienced by many groups of people at that time. Judith told of the experiences of her family in Austria both before and after the Anschluss in 1938 and what life was like for the Jewish Community in particular. Ordinary people suddenly had their lives turned upside down and lost their freedom, possessions, and businesses. Many lost their lives too and Judith told us that many members of her family did not survive that period. Her mother and her aunt however managed to escape to England and thus she is now able to educate others about the Holocaust so that hopefully such events will never be repeated. It was a very moving and informative talk and one that raised some interesting questions from the audience. Many thanks to Mrs Mindell for arranging the talk. Holocaust MEMORIAL DAY I n November we were lucky enough to receive a visit from Cornelia Oosthuizen, a Paralympic tennis player who has represented Great Britain and won many titles. Cornelia was previously in the British Army before an injury forced her to leave her service. We were very fortunate to have the opportunity for the boys to hear about Cornelia’s journey, her message of resilience was inspiring. Cornelia Oosthuizen VISIT Ms Luck started the Autumn Term in a very different way from previous academic years, returning from Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where she had been teaching and documenting school life. Whilst the Kakuma teachers and children were hugely grateful for the time Ms Luck was able to give, they are always in need of new facilities and resources, so Ms Luck worked with SS and MS students to put a sponsored ‘No Screen Time’ initiative into action, raising further funds, nearly £6k for WWEP, the charity responsible for building new classrooms which has made a huge difference to overcrowding. Hopefully the amazing fundraising will help them build one more classroom. Ms Luck IN KAKUMA
MUSIC 61 On 22nd November musicians celebrate the life of St Cecilia – the patron saint of musicians – and so our St Cecilia Concert falls very close to this date. This year’s concert brought together over 100 Senior School pupils, playing and singing in 12 different ensembles. The programme featured a wonderful breadth of musical periods, styles and genres, ranging from pieces by Brahms, Bizet and Stevie Wonder, to music from film, musical and pop. Throughout the concert, not only were all the performers fabulously committed, effective and wonderfully musical on stage, they were all tremendous listeners – really supporting each other throughout. Huge congratulations to all concerned – pupils and staff ensemble directors. Music The start of the Autumn Term is always a busy one for the music department. Organising the music timetable and arranging hundreds of weekly music lessons can often feel like attempting the world’s hardest sudoku puzzle and adding in the 54 weekly ensemble rehearsals on top can occasionally feel like a monumental and impossible task! But we always get there in the end, and after a couple of weeks, students and staff are back into a familiar routine and focussing on the most important thing – making music! It has been a pleasure to welcome our Year 4 musicians into the Middle School, and delightful to see how they have courageously thrown themselves into the musical life of the school. Our twice termly Informal Concerts in the MS and SS provide a relaxed forum for pupils to gain individual performance experience, and it has been heart-warming that so many students have taken up these opportunities. Over 80 students played and sang with great aplomb and enjoyment to their friends and family over last year. NewsAUTUMN/WINTER Luisa Rosina ST CECILIA CONCERT INFORMAL CONCERTS
62 I t was a pleasure to listen to the boys performing in their Class Concerts in November. It is often the first time I hear the Year 4 boys performing a solo piece, and it’s also a wonderful opportunity to hear how the boys in all year groups are progressing in their instrumental music lessons. I am always amazed how confidently the boys perform in front of their peers, A and how well they support and encourage each other. record number of Hall students successfully auditioned for this prestigious orchestra. Congratulations to Jonah McNamara, Veer Melawani, Luca Buraschi, Alex Preiskel, Sebastian Ferguson, Alexandre Raynal, Neev Bansal and Rex Hodgkinson, who will all be participating in NCO projects this year. The Music School held two ABRSM exam sessions in the Winter Term. The boys prepared well, and I was delighted with their results. Congratulations to Benjamin Chen (Year 6) and Sebastian Koh-Tang (Year 3) who both scored 140+ in their Grade 7 piano exams! CLASS CONCERTS AND MUSIC COMPETITION NATIONAL CHILDREN’S ORCHESTRA SUCCESS EXAM SUCCESS The informal concerts, like the Class Concerts run in the Junior School under the direction of Mr Richmond, help students to build the self-confidence and presence required for more formal performances of music as they get older. So called ‘soft skills’, as much as musical skills, are practised from an early age here at The Hall, although the qualities required to stand up in front of an audience are often anything BUT 'soft' in my opinion! It can be very difficult to physically control the side-effects of nervousness, such as trembling breath and knocking knees in order to perform a piece musically resulting in a sound that is pleasing to those listening. Remembering to graciously thank the accompanist and acknowledge the kind applause from the audience is also nervewracking when all you want to do is get out of the limelight. So, ‘Bravo to all’! Well done everyone for your courage and for practising all those important life skills. Do remember that these concerts are open to all pupils, whether they have their instrumental lessons in or out of school. The Middle School Outstanding Music competition this year in early December was the best one ever! Everyone tried their best to get to the finals but only three from every category could progress to the next round. There are six categories; piano, string, brass, woodwind, vocal and contemporary. The boys who passed into the Finals were: PIANO: Kasra Rahmani, Oliver Holmes, William Edwards STRING: Ronak Bansal, Tristan Lauckhardt, Oliver Penderis WOODWIND: James Fishman, Loucas Katsoulis, Nicholas Luehrmann CONTEMPORARY: Rafael Zorza, Sam Coren, Daniel Eisenberg BRASS: Lucian Hernandez, James Pitman, Will Jeffreys VOCAL: Benedict Swift, Lochlan Mardle, William Adkin No matter what, the boys who got into the finals but lost should be proud of themselves because not many boys get into the finals. Loucas Katsoulis
MUSIC 63 Music, Arnold House). At the end of the Winter term, we bid farewell to our wonderful colleague, Izzy Herschmann. Izzy had been our music administrator for three years and will be sorely missed. We wish her the very best in her new role as Music School Manager at St Paul’s School. I am delighted to welcome Tamika Johnston to the music school to oversee the departmental administration. A busy and exciting couple of terms lie ahead, with our Gala Concert at Cadogan Hall, Jazz Concert at Pizza Express Soho, and our String Chamber Music Concert at JW3. See you there! From these class concerts, a handful of boys were selected to perform in our annual music competition, The Hall Outstanding Musician Competition 2022. Well done to the following boys who were selected as category winners: BRASS: Lucian Hernandez (MS) and Jacob Flax (SS) CONTEMPORARY: Sam Coren (MS) and Sammy Calver (SS) PIANO: Kasra Rahmani (MS) and Benjamin Chen (SS) STRINGS: Tristan Lauckhardt (MS) and Benjamin Gu (SS) VOICE: William Adkin (MS) and Marcus Feder (SS) WOODWIND: James Fishman (MS) and Noah Hutchings (SS) Congratulations to Benjamin Gu, Year 8, for being crowned the overall winner. My thanks to our visiting adjudicators, David Wallace (Guildhall School of Music and Drama) and Christopher Wary (Director of After highly successful performances at St Paul’s Cathedral and for the school’s remembrance service in November, the Chapel Choir brought the Winter term to a close by leading the music in the annual Nine Lessons and Carols service at St Mark’s Hamilton Terrace. ChapelCHOIR WINTER 2022 Christopher O’Leary Chapel Choir Director
64 Taking place in person for the first time in several years, I must agree with the view of all in attendance by saying how delighted I was with the fantastic singing at this very special occasion - a true testament to the level of preparation that each member of the choir had put into learning their music in the weeks leading up to the service (no mean feat given that they had eight anthems to learn on top of hymns and descants!). All those who contributed to what was a wonderful way to round out the term deserve praise – including our readers, helpers, and visiting musicians – but I would particularly like to congratulate Conrad Dyble and Eskander Dean on their superb solos in Harold Darke’s ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ and ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ respectively, and additionally commend all the boys for their semichorus endeavours in Jonathan Lane’s ‘There is No Rose’. My thanks once again to all those staff who assisted with this excellent event, especially our guest percussionist Ms Rosina! The highlight of our experience at Chapel Choir this year, so far, has to be singing at St Paul’s Cathedral, although we have been to places like Christ Collage as well. Every Thursday and Fridays we go in early to practise up until our first lesson. Chapel Choir is good fun. When we went to Saint Paul’s Cathedral, we had to arrive at least 3 hours earlier to practise with the Tenors, Basses and Altos. During the performance, we sang an anthem, a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, a psalm, preces and responses, also a hand full of prayers and readings. When we entered Saint Paul’s Cathedral, we waited at a desk to receive stickers saying, ‘Visiting Choir.’ Then, we progressed into the choir practice room. Here, we practiced for an hour like at the other cathedrals we have been to. By Mihir Agarwal, Benedict Swift, Oscar Thing and Lochlan Mardle “WHAT I LIKE ABOUT CHAPEL CHOIR IS THAT YOU GET TO SING WITH FRIENDS, AND YOU TRAVEL AROUND LONDON”. “THE HIGHLIGHT OF SINGING AT CATHEDRALS IS THE OVER EXPRESSIVE ANTHEMS.” Since then, and following a well-deserved rest, the choir are once again making preparations for a series of very exciting performance opportunities in the coming months. These include another guest evensong focused on the music of William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes – whose 400th anniversary celebrations both occur this year – as well as singing something completely different from their usual repertoire at the Gala concert in Cadogan Hall (no spoilers!). They’ll also be looking ahead to two prestigious joint services in the summer term, when they will be travelling to King’s College, London, and Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, to perform with members of the choirs at these institutions. Although I have previously written about the boys' success at St Paul's Cathedral last term, I was delighted to since receive a letter of thanks from their Succentor congratulating the boys on their wonderful singing... and inviting us back next year! As always, I am delighted to be able to assist in continuing the ensemble’s excellent achievements, and I would like to thank all those staff, family, and friends for their support behind the scenes. Well done boys and keep up the great work!
MUSIC 65 I n late December 2022, the Year 6s went to Wilf Slack for a steel pan workshop. First, Chris, the steel pan musician talked about where steel pans originated from and how they first came into being. Steel pans were first played in Trinidad and Tobago. Chris had laid out some steel pans and demonstrated one that had been made from a refashioned oil drum. We learnt that the ‘skirt’ is the part you hit that creates the notes and that the bottom of the steel pan is called the ‘belly’. The steel pan is a relatively new instrument that was created in the 1930s. This is ‘new’ when compared with violins and woodwind instruments you play in modern times, since these originated many decades before. The highlight of the steel pan workshop was being able to play them. You had to hold the drumsticks, made of wood with rubber on the end, in a certain way. Chris the steel pan workshop owner told us to roll the notes Steel Pan Workshop AND Windrush Generation PROJECT Andreas Paraskevaidis and create a sound like footsteps. The sound of the steel pans was deafening as we banged them trying to get the loudest notes! After an hour of the steel pan workshop, we went on with Mr Soskic and Mr Gordon to learn all about the history of the Windrush Generation. We were given a package containing some photos taken during the Windrush Generation and had to find a link between the photos and three words in a paragraph that summed up some of the photos. One of the key words all the groups wrote down was racist. The Windrush Generation happened during a racist era. The name Windrush arose due to the fact that the boat that set sail to bring 492 people to England, was called ‘Windrush’. The people who came over to help the English with a favour, still had to pay for their transport. They had to pay for the privilege of helping the English do their work. The Windrush Generation period is considered racist because the British Empire was ignorant about the migrants from the Caribbean countries. It was because of this ignorance that they discriminated against the black people who arrived in the country.
66 THE YEAR 3S APPRECIATED HOW THE STORYLINE CAME TO LIFE THANKS TO THE WONDERFUL LIVE ORCHESTRAL MUSIC OF THE BRILLIANT MOZART PLAYERS, WHO PROVIDED AN IMAGINATIVE COMBINATION OF STRINGS, WOODWIND, BRASS AND PERCUSSION, ACCOMPANIED BY A HARPSICHORD, EFFECTIVELY COMBINING THE MUSICAL SOUNDS OF BOTH THE 17TH AND 21ST CENTURY. Year 3 boys had a fantastic time at Milton Court at the Barbican Centre last term, at a production of ‘Fire!’, a dramatic musical story of the Great Fire of London in 1666 through the words of Samuel Pepys and Jane Birch, his sensible young housemaid. The pair tell of the four days that changed London forever. Year 3s found out why the fire spread so quickly, how Londoners tried to stop it, and what the city was like during and after the fire. The Year 4s had an exciting afternoon at the Lyceum Theatre, watching a performance of The Lion King in early February. They were bowled over by the incredible lyrics, dancing, acting, puppetry, costumes, set and awe-inspiring music. Music Trip JS In the final scene, an older Jane Birch returns in 1710 with her grandson to marvel at the newly completed St Paul’s Cathedral. The finale celebrates the regeneration of London under Sir Christopher Wren and his men; beautiful churches in the latest style, improved sanitation and drainage, wider streets, grand civic buildings and houses made of stone and brick rather than flammable wood. The Lion King YEAR 4S GO TO SEE
The Tempest Workshop On Friday, 18th November, Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation visited The Hall to lead a ‘Play in a Day’ Shakespeare workshop. This year, a group of sixteen students from Year 7 and 8 – all regular attendees of Drama Club – participated in a workshop exploring Shakespeare’s play ‘The Tempest’. At the start of the day, the students were given a movement and voice warm up and played several games to help build an ensemble. This was followed by the creation of a number of movement sequences from the play, such as the shipwreck, which were staged by the whole company. The actors then learnt about and physicalised the characters in the play, then acted out the plot, act by John Padden DRAMA 67 Drama
68 act, making sure that they knew the story thoroughly as well as the details of the characters’ relationships. Later the students were given short scenes from the play, which they managed to very quickly learn by heart. In the afternoon the actors put the whole thing together as a heavily edited and semi-improvised re-telling of Shakespeare’s last play. At the end of the day the whole of Year 7 came to see the result and were most impressed to learn that the actors had managed to put the performance together in one day. The students worked extremely well as a team and performed with confidence, creating dynamic movement sequences, and bringing humour and vocal expression to the scenes. It was a hugely enjoyable day for all involved. Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation works with hundreds of schools and thousands of young people across the country every year, helping them build their confidence in an active and fun way, leading to students’ enhanced comprehension of plot and character and able to inhabit his famous characters through movement and voice work and professional theatre techniques and rehearsal room tools such as ‘Mapping’ and ‘Ghosting’ to activate Shakespeare’s language.
Year 8 went to an outdoor performance of a modernised version of Sophocles’ Antigone. This production chose to focus more on religious discrimination, specifically antiMuslim hate. Creon has been changed to a caretaker Prime Minister, who is competing in the leadership race as a Conservative. Initially, Creon is more of a One Nation Conservative, and tells stories about his mother’s chemist shop, but later takes a more hard-line stance. This takes inspiration from the story of Rishi Sunak, whose mother was a chemist, as does the entire play. The killing of Eteocles by Polyneices is different to the Ancient Greek version of the play, as Eteocles is a radicalised terrorist, wronged by the UK government. Polynices is a police officer. The play overall was strong but varied from the original. Specifically, the original isn’t about religious discrimination, but sexism, whilst this play is about anti-Muslim hatred. This is fine, as xenophobia against Muslims is a much larger issue than sexism in modern Britain (This is all my opinion, I’m not Muslim or a woman). There is one scene which focuses more on sexism, but this feels slightly out of place, as it doesn’t really go anywhere. The show does suffer from this, as there are a few scenes that feel as though they are fodder or, in the case of the aforementioned Boys in Years 1 to 3 had great fun in the Senior School in November, watching a fantastic performance from the Little Angel Puppet Theatre called “There’s a Rang-Tan in my Bedroom”! Inspired by the Greenpeace campaign Conor O’Sullivan scene, a quick homage to the original. This is understandable, as the show is originally about the moral issues of sexism. Because sexism is also a legal issue, that weakens the message and the play must be tweaked in order to be adapted into a compelling story. The production does have some excellent small details. For instance, one character who sells data to Creon is constantly watching from above. There is also the fact that Haemon isn’t Creon’s son, but his stepson, because that is less awkward for modern audiences. The show also has several scenes detailing real life problems with Islamophobia, such as permanent watch lists and Orwellian levels of surveillance. In conclusion, Antigone was excellent, despite a few small flaws. It does inform us about problems in our society. Sophocles’ Antigone REVIEW OF THE SHOW ALSO HAS SEVERAL SCENES DETAILING REAL LIFE PROBLEMS WITH ISLAMOPHOBIA, SUCH AS PERMANENT WATCH LISTS AND ORWELLIAN LEVELS OF SURVEILLANCE. “THERE’S A RANG-TAN IN MY BEDROOM”! DRAMA 69
70 SHARING SPACE WITH THESE NEW FRIENDS WE SEE THEIR PROBLEMS AND LEARN ABOUT THE TERRIBLE RESULTS OF HUMAN ABUSES OF NATURE. films There’s a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom and There’s a Monster in My Kitchen written by James Sellick, the story tells how an everyday little girl unexpectedly meets a series of creatures in her house, disrupting her world and causing her to question why they are there in the first place. Using rhymed storytelling, each tells her there’s a human in their own home, making it uninhabitable, so they have come to live with her. Sharing space with these new friends we see their problems and learn about the terrible results of human abuses of nature. She promises to find a way to help them and encourages the audience to join her. The JS boys admired the beautiful puppets of Jaguar, Turtle and Rang-Tan and couldn’t help but love them as they ‘naughtily’ invaded the fridge, popped up from the toilet, and meseds up the bedroom, to the great hilarity of the JS audience! In fact, the boys soon became part of the story, part of a world shared with nature. At one point they were invited underwater to experience the ocean for themselves, seeing the damage caused by plastics. A world of magical possibility and invention was brought into the Wathen Hall, enabling the next step of empowerment for our small spectators, in which they had to decide what to do next. The problems clearly explained, they were encouraged to leave their seats, to literally pick up the phone and hear the urgent call for help; no-one is too small to speak out and be active in changing the way the world works.
ART 71 Yiannis Mizios Daniel Sprake Illy Shaikh Gabriel Orr ANIMALS Inspired by Peter Clark Year 4 began by looking at the work of the artist Peter Clark as a source of inspiration. Peter Clark is a British artist who predominantly uses collage in an innovative way to mimic the texture and colours in animals’ fur. Year 4 began the Autumn term producing chalk drawings of animals working from direct observation before moving on to produce these wonderfully characterful collages in the style of Peter Clark. YEAR 4 Finlay Tyler Peyton Ormond Salaar Sheikh Jamie Mardle Art
72 Year 5 have studied portraiture this term. They began by learning about proportions in the face and produced these fantastic self-portraits working from direct observation. Boys then used real fruit to create imaginative portrait sculptures having studied the work of the Italian Renaissance artist Arcimboldi. The acrylic paintings on these pages are boys’ responses to Arcimboldi’s work, which they painted from photographs of their creations. PORTRAITS Inspired by Arcimboldi YEAR 5 Nicholas Luehrmann Nathan Storchak Sebbie Le Beron Oliver Penderis Jacob Jan Hudson Krist Frederick Stothers
ART 73 YEAR 5 Noah Lam Rafi Zorza Rajvir Kumar Etienne Whitewood Theo Reiner
74 STEAMPUNK Year 6 have been looking at Steampunk as inspiration for a series of work. They first made tonal studies of metallic objects working from direct observation. Boys then had great fun creating their own imaginary creatures from mechanical parts which they photographed and then located in a postapocalyptic landscape using Photoshop. YEAR 6 Matthew Valentin Felix Shulman Luca Liberatore Yash Panjabi Arel Kesimgil Ethan Vincent Ben Zimmern + Daniel Valeev Murray Sugasa LINO PRINTS
ART 75 LINO PRINTS These are a few examples of the fantastic prints that Year 8 have produced this term. Boys first analysed the woodcuts of the German Expressionist artists and discussed the movement’s use of art to protest about the situation in Germany at the time. Boys then thought about how they might like to use art as a means of protest and created designs for a series of lino prints commenting on a range of current affairs. YEAR 8 Thomas Smoulders Apollinaire Vandenbroucke Sam Saron Strahinja Zizic Maxim Smith Yanda Xu
76 Arlo Terry Vansh Rathi Freddie Osborne Ben Moser Nehru Patel Raphael Silver Alfred Stevens Pharon James
Sport Planning for the football season starts in April, long before a ball is kicked, creating a schedule for all boys to enjoy. Over this season the MS/SS boys played around 200 fixtures in total, against 21 different schools, in local friendly matches against our neighbouring schools and also national tournaments against new opposition. Year 2 & 3 boys in the Junior School have had their first sessions up at the Wilf Slack Playing Fields, with Year 3 playing some fixtures against local partnership primary schools and competing in The Hall’s very own World Cup (during the actual World Cup for a change!). This saw some of the younger school football fanatics put in some thrilling performances on the pitch and, just as importantly, according to Mr Mavroudis and the Games staff, the boys approached the competition with great team spirit, good natures and showing courtesy and respect for each other at all times. In games sessions all MS/SS boys have been part of a team and have been challenged to work on various parts of their game, both as an individual and as part of a team. Collaboration and teamwork are essential skills, featuring strongly in sport, and I firmly believe that gaining this experience and understanding can support a child’s development in so many ways throughout life. There have been so many parts of the season which have been pleasing to see in the MS & SS, from the Year 4s playing in their first ‘ALL PLAY’ fixtures, all the way through to the U13A team progressing into a national semi-final (which is still to be played at the time of going Chris MacFarlane FOOTBALL OVERVIEW 2022 SPORT 77
78 YEAR 5 FOOTBALL SEASON The A team started off a great season after a 12-1 win against Arnold House, our close rivals. The hardest game in the season was our 2-2 draw against Highgate at the football festival with Maxime scoring in the last second from the halfway line to prevent a loss. The best outside defence goes to Wetherby for their breath-taking blocks and stunning saves, but they could not stop all the amazing attacks from Raza Ahmed, Paolo Furlani, Oscar Thing and Maxime Morgan. They ended up breathless and the attacks became impossible to stop, with a result of 4-0. Then the A team wrapped up the season with a comfortable 5-1-win against Northbridge House. The B team started off with a 1-1 draw against Arnold House and got better with every game. They got so good that their last game ended in a well-deserved, hard-earned 8-0 whopping win. The C team started off particularly good after a wellearned 2-0 win over Arnold House and improved thoroughly with every game. They started getting challenges such as a one touch finish or handing over two players. That didn’t stop them, and their last match was a whopping 5-0 win. The D team started off with a win against the Arnold House Y6 C team, a much harder team to play against and ended on a real high with a 9-0 victory. The E team started off slowly with a 2-1 loss against Arnold House with Hudson scoring a goal, but they did not find an equaliser in the match. They made improvement from excellent training sessions and had a great end to a hard season with a 6-1 victory against a battered Northbridge House team. The F team started off smoothly with a 3-2 narrow win against Arnold House. After that, the F’s started slipping down and lost most of their matches. Then, surprisingly a comeback of a 4-2 win against St Anthony's gave hope and confidence. They went on to win most of their matches after that extraordinary experience. The last game was a well-deserved 5-0 win over Arnold House to warmly wrap up the season. All the Year 5 teams had an excellent season. We can all agree that The Hall Year 5 teams are better than any other school’s by miles! Primo Page and Paolo Furlani to print!). Success can be measured in a variety of ways, from individual improvement, to getting as many boys as possible playing competitive sport and by giving the boys an enjoyable experience so that they want to stay involved in sport for life. I hope we have achieved all of the above this season. However, our main success of the season results-wise must be the U11A team. They are now the IAPS U11 National Champions, after qualifying for, then subsequently winning, the finals at Millfield School on a drizzly Sunday in November. They become the first set of boys from The Hall to gain national honours; and fully deserved too. Thank you and well done to all the boys for their efforts. Thank you also to the teachers for their expertise this term. Come on The Hall!
It was a tense and competitive week in Middle School. DAY 1: The first game in the Year 5 A league was Green vs Orange. It was a very intense game, but Orange House nicked the win after going one nil down. James Fishman scored a great goal but, in the end, Orange won 3-1 and Maxime Morgan scored a hat trick. There was also another close game, Blue House vs Purple House. This game ended 1-1. Etienne Whitewood scored but then Raza Ahmad for Blue House quickly equalised. For the B league, it was also a competitive day when Purple House played Blue House with an easy win for Purple. A 2-0 victory with goals scored by Kush Patel and Jack Utting. Even with a Purple win, Blue still had their chances; like when Kush Patel gave away a penalty for an unlucky hand ball, but Rafe Murry hit the post. On the other pitch Orange were playing Green, with a hammering 8-3 win for Green and Benedict Swift scoring a great hat trick. The last game for the A league was also a great game where Orange smashed Purple 4-0 and Maxime Morgan scored two but could not get his hat trick. In other news, Loucas Katsoulis got his first goal and George Henton also got on the score sheet. Another tight game was Blue House against Green House which ended in a draw. This time Blue took the lead with Raza Ahmad scoring his second goal then Theo Hartman equalising near the end of the game for Green House. The last game for the B League was painful for Purple House after losing to Orange House 3-1, with Hudson Krist scoring his first hat trick. Purple did fight back but it was just not enough to win the game with Kush Patel coming on as a super sub, scoring a goal and having so many chances. It was also a win for Green House, 7-2 which led them into the final, even if they lost their next game. DAY 2: The Year 5 A League had its last group games and the Final and the third-place play offs. Starting with Orange House vs Blue House; this time Blue got their first victory against Orange. A beautiful finish from Paolo Furlani gave Blue the lead and they hung on to the win. The other game was a thrilling six goal game with a result of 3-3 between Green and Purple Houses. Theo Hartman scored a banger with two goals for James Fishman and the Purple goal scorers were Oskar Axelson-Baltrusaitis and Etienne Whitewood. James Fishman dribbled past the whole team, but Leo Dhanani made a great save. So, at the end of the group stages in the A league in last place was Purple with 12 points then third was Green with 14 points. The top two margin was very tight with Orange in second with 20 points and in first place was Blue with 22 points. The third-place playoff was Purple vs Green. A goal from Etienne Whitewood for Purple put them in front, but just before the end Theo Hartman equalised to make it 1-1 so that meant it went into extra time. If it ended in a draw, it would mean Green House would win the thirdplace play-off because they had more points in the group stages. Purple took the lead with Etienne Whitewood scoring first but then Aurele Vandenbroucke scored his first goal, then Oscar Thing scored to take the lead. At the end, Misha Prosyankin made it 3-1 in extra time so they got third place. The Final was between Blue House and Orange House. It was a very tight game but when Maxime Morgan hit the post in the first half it changed the game, and the last kick of the game was Maxime again who broke through the defence and placed the ball in the bottom corner with his left foot. Blue went to take the centre but once they touched the ball the whistle blew for full time and Orange celebrated wildly. In the B league the last two group games were Orange House vs Blue House and Purple facing the champions, Green. It was a good game for Purple as they stole an easy 4-1 win with Jack Utting, Kush Patel scoring two amazing goals and Mihir Agarwal on the scoresheet, with Benedict Swift scoring an amazing goal for Green. On the other pitch Orange House won 2-0 against Blue House. But now there was a huge problem with Orange, Green and Purple all on 22 points so it was going down to goal difference. Orange and Blue were in third place play offs and Purple and Green were in the final. Blue won a hard game battling it out to come third with a 1-0 win over Orange. In the final, Green won 2-1 over Purple with Benedict Swift scoring two goals. Purple fought back with Jacob Jan scoring a lastminute goal, but it was just not enough. Green had won. The results were, first place Green, second place Purple, third place Blue and last place Orange. MS HOUSE MATCHES Maxime Morgan and Kush Patel HOUSE SPORTS CAPTAINS SPORT 79
80 Black shirts thronged the pitch as nine Hall boys jumped up and down, elated, cheering and euphoric, smiles spreading from ear to ear on all their faces. It was a cold, damp, dreary morning yet there was still a buzzing atmosphere in the bus as we drove to Bishop Stortford. After a swift warm up, we played our first four group stage matches against tough oppositions. We succeeded and ended up finishing 2nd after an intense penalty shootout. Stakes were rising as we faced the host team in the Quarter Finals. We had a great start and after a few powerful shots on target, Ziyan Hirji rebounded one into the back of the net to win us the game. Fatigued but still hungry for the win, we faced our next opposition, St John’s Beaumont, in the Semi – Finals. It was a tough game with both teams having a fair share of possession, however we triumphed and progressed to the finals. The ‘IAPS 6-a-side Regional Final’. So far in the season, there was nothing bigger than that. We faced a strong Lochinver House side who were as determined for the win as we were. They were a tough match and at times they looked like they dominated. However, we gathered our resolve and as a team we played incredibly well; we won the match 2-0 with Zachary Lam and Ladi Sodeinde scoring and so became the first ever Hall team to win the Regional Finals. We progressed straight through to the National Finals that will take place in late November. On behalf of the team, I want to say a massive thank you to Mr MacFarlane and Mr Perry-Parks for leading us to victory! Vansh Rathi James Avery-Gee U11 A-Team and 1st XI won both IAPS regional qualifier tournament winners IAPS 6-A-SIDE REGIONAL FINALS U13 REPORT U11 REPORT After an incredibly early 7:30 departure in the minibus we headed for Bishop’s Stortford College where the U11 IAPS Regional Tournament was being held. This was a big tournament for us as it was a chance to qualify for the Nationals where we would get the opportunity to play schools from all over the country. After some fantastic driving from Mr MacFarlane and some careful directing by Mr Perry-Parks we arrived at the venue with the sun gleaming and the team feeling fresh and ready for action. The tournament format was 8-minute games of 7-a-side, so we knew we needed to get the first goal and keep it tight at the back. Our first game was against Bishop’s Stortford, the hosts themselves. Fortunately, Dylan Shorthouse managed to slip a nice finish past the keeper in the last minute to give us a hard fought 1-0 victory. This gave us extra belief and we stormed through the next couple of games and managed to come first in our group. Having qualified first, we felt confident going into our Quarter Final against Dulwich Prep. However when we learned that if we won this game, we would be in the National Finals, we realised that if we lost all our work would have been for nothing. I think all the spectating parents could agree that this match was nail-biting to say the very least. Dulwich Prep were a very good side and managed to blunt our attacking players very successfully. In the end, the game finished 0-0 and went to extra-time and then penalties. Dulwich Prep were unaware of our spectacular Goalie Will Sinclair and he managed to stop 2 out of 3 penalties and then it all came down to Raphael Hussain who slotted the final penalty in the bottom right corner with ease. We had qualified for the nationals! Now we were going to turn a good day into a great day... Now our semi-final. Manor Lodge stood in our way (or I should say attempted to stand in our way). We managed to score an early goal which gave us a great base of confidence to finish the job off. Eventually, we ran out with a very solid 2-0 win with goals from Raphael Hussain and James AveryGee. We knew there was just one more game to go before we could write our name in the history books as the first Y6 team to qualify for the Nationals as well as winning the tournament itself. We played Westbrook Hay who were armed with 3 Academy boys. Even that couldn’t stop The Hall and Conrad Dyble slipped home a magnificent finish to give us a 1-0 victory. I would just like to pay credit to the magnificent defensive work of the team in not conceding a goal for the whole tournament. Well done to Will Sinclair in goal and Alex Preiskel and Rufus Jewell at the back. Finally, a special thanks to our two brilliant coaches, Mr Perry-Parks and Mr MacFarlane, for all their hard work and inspiring team talks. On to the finals now at Millfield School on 27 November!
The football World Cup, held in Qatar, has been a source of joy, admiration, and frustration for many. Spectacular teams have been beaten by unexpected ones (Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia) and teams have been beaten by over five-nil. At school we held a sweepstake, with prizes including highest defeat, first penalty saved and, of course, first place. We watched the highlights of most of the games the following morning, as well the entire Iran-England match. It was fantastic, and I really enjoyed it, as did all my classmates. Morocco, one of the underdogs, astonishingly beat Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. Japan defeated Germany; Senegal has humbled France; and Croatia destroyed tournament favourite, Brazil. Messi even missed a penalty, as his rival, Ronaldo, became the first man to score in five World Cups. In England’s final game, Harry Kane took two penalties against France, scoring one. This resulted in a final score of two-one to France and England was knocked out of the tournament. The leading scorer of the World Cup was, no surprise, Kylian Mbappé with five goals. Although the action on the field was excellent, the tournament was somewhat overshadowed by the controversial setting. Serious human rights issues have led to many thinking that FIFA should have awarded the tournament elsewhere. My prediction is France will beat Argentina in the final was wrong with Argentina taking the cup again! The World Cup match, England vs Iran! 6-2 wow lots of goals. 99% of the school supported England so every time England scored there was a loud YES in the school and a NO when Iran scored. Yes, we scored. Most of the students, even the non-footballers, enjoyed the three sessions with no lessons. Because think of it half the school missed the academic lessons, such as Math and English and even some people missed their favourite lessons like ICT, Latin, Science, or even Games. The Iranian Goalkeeper got a concussion causing fourteen minutes stoppage time to occur at the end of the first half. Our class (5S) was very noisy as we have many England supporters. In fact, lots of times we had to turn off the match because we were too noisy, but overall, it was great football! Hardly anybody knew this, not even me, but the reason Jack Grealish celebrated his goal the way he did was because he had met a little boy who was a Man City fan and he was about to say do the worm if you score in the World Cup. Because he could not do the worm, he said do the worm with your arms?! And sure, enough he did it. As most people would expect that if England scored six goals, then Harry Kane must have scored one. In fact, his first goal was in the match against Senegal which they won 3-0. When everybody went home, they had a good feeling that England would win the World Cup, but sadly they didn’t. Guess we will have to wait till 2026! HOW WE LOVED THE WORLD CUP 2022 Isaac Dean Raphael Silverberg & Leo Dhanani SPORT 81
82 Maia Boucher Cricket Tour 2023 It was a pleasure to welcome England cricket player Maia Boucher to The Hall in early November. Maia gave the Year 7 and 8 students attending the Cricket Spring Tour 2023 a masterclass in the Wathen Hall and then answered their many questions. I n December, in preparation for the India Cricket Tour 2023, due to depart at the end of March, a select group of Year 7 and 8s enjoyed some training at Lord's, The Home of Cricket. The Year 7 and 8s certainly had a unique view of the hallowed turf, much of it covered in snow on the day! However, the indoor Cricket Centre with its state-of-the-art facilities was the perfect place to develop hard ball skills and practise the tactical side of the game, increasing the players' skill and technical-based learning. COACHING THE HALL TO INDIA
Twelve boys represented the school at the National Indoor Ski Championships, at Hemel Snow Centre in October... This was quickly followed by seven members of the Hall Ski Squad competing in the finals of ESSKIA National Dry Slope Championships in Norfolk, at which for the first time, we secured a podium place with our U12 A-Team taking 3rd place! The next adventure for the Ski Squad will come along in March at the Interschool Championships in Pila, Aosta. Good Luck! Ski Squad WINTER 2022 SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS OCTOBER 2022 SPORT 83
84 Sebastian Hansjee Growing up on the slopes of Sweden and Norway, I was excited about the challenge that lay ahead of me in the “English Alps”. The plastic track, glistening from water, made up for the lack of snow. The wind was whistling in my ears. The cold was biting me with its teeth. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine being back in Sweden. The ski slope was deserted at the time I arrived, but reassuringly my Hall School teammates soon started to arrive. The sun rose and peered through the clouds, warming our bodies and emboldening our spirits. I was ready! Nervousness turned to adrenaline and off we went to scale the mountainous slope. The ski lift felt like an eternity, passing speedy racers who were already torpedoing down the steep track. Eventually we reached the peak, where my heart started to echo the stomp of a giant’s footsteps. This was it, I could hear the distant roar of the crowd encouraging me to plunge into the unknown. I pushed myself off and soon was winding through the gates, twisting and turning, descending the heights like a falcon hunting for its prey. As I sped through the final gate, I heard cheering and screaming. I had done it! Now it was time to cheer on my team. Later on, I heard that The Hall U12 A Ski Team ( Jonah, Jack, Alfie and Bertie) celebrated a well-deserved podium 3rd place, inspiring us all. For the B Ski Team (myself Sebastian, Paolo and Tim) this experience has motivated us to improve for the next challenge. THE THRILL OF THE RACE THE ESSKIA SKI FINAL IN NORFOLK U12 A TEAM TOOK 3RD PLACE AT THE ESSKIA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Basketball has risen in popularity in the Senior School over the last couple of years. It forms part of the P.E. curriculum, but there has been a new wave of interest outside of P.E. lessons. This will culminate in The Hall’s first ever appearance at the IAPS Basketball Championships in June. Raf Silver and Strahinja Zizic shared their thoughts on the rise of the sport. When did you first start taking an interest in basketball? Raf: People that know me will know I am not the tallest person, but it did not discourage me from playing basketball. I first properly got into basketball on 2K18, which is a basketball game on the PS4. I was obsessed, and from then, every time my brother was up for it, I would play basketball in the garden, much to the annoyance of my parents. After this, Mr Soskic, 7S and Basketball Club have developed my abilities from a hobby to a competitive sport and kindled my love for the game even further. Strahinja: During lockdown my two brothers introduced me to the NBA. We became obsessed with the sport. We would play or watch some basketball together whenever we could. We could not play football with others, so basketball was our pod sport. We devoted all our attention to the rising star, Nikola Jokic, who is also Serbian like us. We became the Nuggets family, supporting Denver because of him. I used the lockdown as an opportunity to gain experience playing basketball and played lots. Some days I would go to the local park, and I would not come back home until the park closed. How did the interest grow in the school? Strahinja: Mr Soskic loves his basketball. He often talks to me and others about Jokic and other NBA stars. When we were in 7S last year, each pupil was assigned an NBA team. Each morning we would update the standings, displayed on our balcony. This acquainted us with the NBA and basketball in general. We all enjoyed it and many, who previously did not follow NBA, began chatting about it. This helped us become closer as a class and we started playing in breaktime. This then became an interest for not just 7S students but people from different year groups and classes. Even though the hoop is incredibly high in the yard, it has helped us with shooting, passing, and working as a team; we have to be closer to the hoop to score! It has made some great memories and Raf Silver & Strahinja Zizic GROWTH OF BASKETBALL POPULARITY IN THE SS SPORT 85
86 has been a brilliant replacement for football when we cannot go to Swiss Cottage because of weather. When Mr Soskic realised our developing love for basketball, he wisely used this opportunity to create a club. Tell us more about Basketball Club. Strahinja: Basketball Club, set up by Mr Soskic, was and is thrilling. I always look forward to Thursday after school. In the very beginning we were all enthusiastic and energetic, but we could not play for our lives. Our technique was poor, and we knew little about positioning. Now we have improved drastically. Even if he sounds like a broken record at times with his advice, Mr Soskic is always supportive and shows that he cares. Playing basketball, we all have a good laugh, and it is a different physical challenge to other sports we play. We never jump this much! Raf: My favourite part of the club is the free time at the beginning as we can play against our friends, relax and let the stress out after a tiring week. With the music blasting from Mr Soskic’s speaker and everyone in a different assortment of basketball jerseys, everyone always has a smile on their face. When we play games, it gets intense but that has made for some incredible shows of skill, and brilliant examples of teamwork. Did the participation in this club then lead to the Inaugural Hall School Streetball Tournament? Strahinja: Yes. The Inaugural Hall Streetball Tournament took place on the 2nd of December 2022. Arnold House, The Hall, and St Anthony’s participated. Not surprisingly The Hall came out on top. The finals featured The Hall East against The Hall West. Come On the Hall! I think I can speak for everyone when I say it was great fun. Raf: It was also a chance to get to know some people from these schools in between the breaks of the games and cheer our teams on from the balcony. I had a brilliant time as I had never played an organised basketball game before, and it did not disappoint. I would like to thank Mr MacFarlane for bringing his idea for this to life, and Mr Soskic for leading the teams in this exhilarating and enjoyable opportunity. Will there be opportunity for more competitive fixtures this year? Strahinja: The IAPS Championships in June, which we have been entered into for the first time, will be great fun for sure. It will be both a learning experience and a challenge. It will allow us to experience a higher level of tournament play. For the first time, we will combine all team members into a single squad! Raf: It is an exciting challenge we are all looking forward to! I also cannot wait to play in a bigger gym as no matter how great the Wathen Hall is, it does sometimes get a bit cramped as there are a lot of incredibly tall people, for obvious reasons.
CHRISTMAS AT THE HALL 87 Christmas AT THE HALL 2022 Many staff stayed after school hours to decorate the various school buildings as a Christmas surprise ready for the boys’ arrival the next morning; the Christmas trees and hallways dazzled with their tinsel and sparkle, looking festive and raising excitement levels! Two Carol Services were held at the end of term. The JS families huddled into St Peter’s, Belsize, to hear some heart-warming carol singing and readings, warming up with coffee and mince pies back at the JS afterwards to raise funds for St John’s Hospice in the retiring collection. CARIS HARINGEY CHRISTMAS TOY APPEAL The JS supported the CARIS Haringey Christmas Toy Appeal, and scores of presents were brought in into school. THE UPPER ROOM Generous contributions came in for the JS Harvest Festival for The Upper Room and then later in the term, Green and Purple House formed an allegiance in the MS&SS to bake and sell some magnificent wares as part of the 14 days of Christmas to raise further funds.
88 CHILDREN'S BOOK PROJECT In the MS and SS students created Christmas and Chanukah cards for residents of local care homes and in an initiative coordinated by The Hall Librarians, donated hundreds of books to the Children’s Book Project again this year in time for Christmas. THE WINCH FAMILY SUPPORT Over 100 Christmas gift boxes and 84 sacks of baby food and nappies were made up by Hall families for young children in families living in poverty and The Regent’s Park 100k Cycle Winter Appeal Ride also raised a record £26k for The Winch Family Support to provide services locally during the Christmas holidays and throughout 2023. CHRISTMAS LUNCH Hot chocolate was enjoyed during morning breaks and the Chanukah Doughnuts and special Christmas Lunch were as popular as ever, including amongst our French Exchange guests. Huge thanks to Mrs Casey and her amazing catering team! Dr Steyn held a special online Cook-a-thon, demonstrating Christmas Sausage Rolls on Zoom, so that students from across the school could help out with family menus over the festive holiday period.