Sevenoaks players won the U15 boys and girls and the U13 boys matches at the tournament, which took place at Bromley Tennis Centre on Friday 14 June.

Each team took first place in their sections, and they went on to win quarter-finals and semi-finals to secure their places in the finals. In the U15 girls matches, two Sevenoaks pairs played each other in the final, with Josie Hogh and Ellie Knox beating Cathrine Hogh and Simone Deverall to win the girls intermediate competition.

The boys U15 pair, Liam van den Hoek and Russell Lam, beat Judd to win their final, while Dan Goodwin and Andrew Johnstone played some excellent tennis to win the junior (U13) event.

Sevenoaks School now looks towards the Schools Team Championships taking place at Tunbridge Wells in two weeks. All four Aegon Cup teams have progressed to the county final stages of this National Competition.

Gold
Harry Carley, 200m
Matthew Emmerson, 800m
Charles Lindsay, 1500m
Alexander Parton, long jump
4 x 100m Relay: Harry Carley, Matthew Emmerson, Alexander Parton, Thomas Smith

Silver
Phoebe Barker, 1500m
Harry Carley, 100m
Lexie Hoyer, javelin
Max Murray, high jump

Bronze
Hannah Daly, javelin
Matthew Emmerson, triple jump
Matthew Emmerson, Thomas Smith, shot put
Henry Jones, javelin
Alexander Parton, hurdles
Hebe Reynolds, discus
Alice Tyler, 800m
Girls Relay team: Phoebe Barker, Olivia Kelly, Lauren Tucker and Alice Tyler

Jonathan Stephens (OS 1978) was appointed KCB for public service especially to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Jonathan is the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Thomas Heatherwick (OS 1984) was appointed CBE for services to the design industry. He founded Heatherwick Studio in 1994 and has worked on a number of major design projects, including the UK Seed Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, the London routemaster bus and the cauldron for the London Olympic Games in 2012.

Congratulations also to Sarah Dunnett, school governor, who was appointed OBE for services to the National Health Service. Sarah is Chair of the Dartford and Gravesham NHS trust.  

The following day the groups examined the dunes at Cabourg and attempted to make visible the phenomenon of long shore drift by hurling oranges into the sea. There was also a very unique sourdough bread-making session with Eric the Dutchman in which everyone created very tasty loaves to accompany their supper. That evening the group learnt about the distillation of cider into Calvados, and about the impact of terroir and soil type on apple cultivation. Read the full report.

Last week’s Launch Night provided the opportunity for performances from students through Year 9 to the Lower Sixth and showcased the use of the school’s recording studio to record student performances. The night also saw the premier of the first ‘Treehouse Sessions’ video which incorporated performances from Ellie Bayne and Kat White.

Next year the society has the ambitious plan of recording and producing its very own charitable music album.

The full expedition, for both the practice groups and the assessed groups, started on Tuesday morning during half term. Again, the weather was miserable. In spite of this, most of the practice groups left early and those with 25km days ahead of them, and Cadair Idris to climb, were wise to do so. Nobody got lost and although some reached camp quite late, the new Yellow Brick tracker devices attached to a rucksack in each group meant a member of staff could watch the groups on an electronic OS map at base camp and update staff supervising those groups on the hill. Indeed, we watched a group of boys make a very definite navigation error halfway up Cadair, and then right themselves correctly within the hour. By Wednesday the weather improved, and this, along with the stoic determination of many of our pupils meant that they got up earlier each day. Friday was glorious and three groups summited Cadair Idris by 11am and were blessed with unusually stunning views of the surrounding hills and the Barmouth Estuary.

We had three groups doing their Gold Assessment this year: 20 pupils in the Upper Sixth and Emily Tait, who joined a group and completed the award she started seven years ago. All the groups completed and in fact, it was one of the assessed groups that made it back first on Friday, cheering and whooping as they walked into the Boys Brigade site in Dyffryn. All groups tucked into hard-earned fish and chips and delicious homemade brownies on Friday evening at Base Camp and then slept all night and most of the way back to Sevenoaks on the coach on Saturday. A big thank you must go to all the staff involved: Mal West, Alex Patton, Paul Bassett, Graham Hall, Ken and Kate Henderson-Thynne, Ashby Merson-Davies, David Potter and Simon Hall (who does not join us until September).

Sevenoaks students competed across a range of age and event groups in the championships, which took place on Saturday 8 June at the Julie Rose Stadium, Ashford. All are congratulated on the hard work and ability with which they met the stringent entry standards, in particular the following medal-winners:

Grace Annetts: Y7 Girls 200m, silver
James Yun-Stevens: Junior Boys javelin, silver
Ben de Souza: Junior Boys discus, bronze; Junior Boys shot put, gold

This places them among the three best athletes in Kent in their age-group events. In addition, Phoebe Barker recorded a county-standard performance in the Junior Girls 1500m and won her heat.

Ben de Souza and James Yun-Stevens were subsequently selected to represent Kent at the prestigious English Schools Athletics Championships in July.

Using powerful movement and absurd humour, The Uncanny Valley tells the truly electric love story of a man and a robot: Wilson is trapped. The city leaves him lost between the lines. Until the moment he discovers Her. Eyes light up, connections are made and deep inside a dormant chest, a battery heart begins to beat.

Superbolt Theatre is international ensemble company which creates theatre to appeal to a variety of audiences. The members devise all their theatre collaboratively, writing and directing together, often through improvisation, and drawing upon true sources. They are based in London, and have performed shows in Norway, Poland, Switzerland and across the UK.

Simon Maeder left Sevenoaks School in 2006. He studied at the University of York and the Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris. While an undergraduate, he helped to launch the company Belt Up, co-directing their two first productions, including Metamorphosis, which won several awards at the National Student Drama Festival in 2008. He has already been involved in three shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Read more about Superbolt Theatre and their crowdfunding campaign to reach the Fringe.

Professor Gemes addressed the Philosophy Society on Nietzsche and the death of God. He then discussed the nature of Philosophy with Higher Level students and explored meta-ethics with a Standard Level class.

All of the sessions were full of ideas and new perspectives, and our thanks go to Professor Gemes for taking the time to visit and giving us so much to think about.

In a round robin format, the Sevenoaks team had to play Junior King's, Wellesley House, Northbourne Park, St Edmund's, and Ashford School. They won all their matches, displaying some outstanding fielding.

They scored in total 40.5 rounders (averaging 8 per game) and conceded only 8 (averaging 2 per game).

Squad: Grace Annetts, Zoe Eifion-Jones, Annabel Jairaj, Charlotte Jairaj (Captain), Nicole John, Martha Reeve, Lily Snell, Clara Tyler, Orissa Welsh

The Russian welfare system sets orphans on a very different life course to children from normal families, and often these children find it difficult to socialise and integrate in society. The express mission statement of ‘Maria’s Children’ (the charity with whom we developed the project) is to help orphans overcome these challenges, through art, drama, physical games and group work. We managed to find a common language (mostly of Russian and hand gestures) as we developed theatrical performance of Beatles songs in small groups. These were then performed on stage to a warm and supportive audience! New friends were made, even in such a short time. Our Year 10 pupils then returned to the UK, having learned a little bit about Russia, and what lies beneath the polished facade, as our 11 Lower Sixth IB students moved on to the provincial village of Kitezh, 300km to the south of Moscow. Read the full report.

In addition to other recent successes, we can be very proud in continuing to produce the best junior shots in the South East.

Kent Ladies
Fran Vernon’s year has been truly astounding. With a 97.9 average at the end of her Kent Ladies season she finished with the highest average, beating many established shooters. Phenomenal!

Fran was selected to shoot in the NSRA Mrs Charles Law competition for the Kent Ladies and will be in the Kent Ladies team at the Inter-Counties Invicta Shield (25yds, 50m and 100yds) at Worplesdon on Sunday 19 May. She was also asked to join the County Main Squad for the Inter Counties Marks Shield competition on the same day.

Among Fran's other recent achievments was her score at the British Schools National Match 2013. Our five selectees, Tanay Modi, Fran Vernon, Tom Smith, Will White and Leonard Taylor, all played their part, while Fran achieved the highest possible score nationally with 200 out of 200, a very rare achievement.

Without doubt she has become the most successful small-bore shooter the school has seen in the last ten years.

Head of Shooting
Malcolm West, the school's Head of Shooting, will join Fran at the Inter Counties Marks Shield competition. He has also been selected to represent Kent in the NSRA Main Meeting this summer as their Individual representative in the Queen Alexandra competition, having shot the highest Kent score and fourth highest national score.  

The NSRA National Roll of Marksman Shield Competition includes every competing member of the clubs which enter. The club earns accumulating points for each member that completes a ‘Badge Set’ of targets, four targets shot in one day. The individual's score earns each one a ranking that carries the requisite points for the club. This competition promotes growth of the club and the individuals performance. In 2010 we set new national record scores for the main and junior shield. We have not ceased in trying to continue our growth and improvement, having set six national records in three years.

2009 – 27 individuals       Club score 147
2010 – 31 individuals       Club score 175   Junior Shield 82
2011 – 40 individuals       Club score 181   Junior Shield 114
2012 – 42 individuals       Club score 229   Junior Shield 120

It had previously reached a local television audience in a news item on Science Week, broadcast on Friday 19 April. The ITV Meridian piece included a report on the balloon, the video link to the International Space Station, and our Science Weeks. Head of Science Graeme Lawrie and Physics teacher Elizabeth Harper-Clark were interviewed, and Sixth Formers spoke about science at Sevenoaks.

Video courtesy of ITV Meridian.

In March Katherine was selected to represent the South East region in the Independent School’s Festival of Football, and after her performance in those matches she has been picked for the National Girls Football Development Camp in August. As her selection letter notes, this means that she is considered to be one of the outstanding players in the country and there will be the opportunity for her to be considered for the National U18 Girls Team. Congratulations to Katherine on this achievement.

The teams in their section who stood between them and their goal of reaching the Championship Final were Moor Park (Midlands), Millfield (West) Eagle House (South) and Queen Elizabeth’s (North).

As planned, the girls set off like a bullet from a gun and scored quickly against Moor Park with Louisa Webb confidently converting a beautifully worked goal. Much to the delight of the crowd of supportive parents, Jess Wentzel quickly made this two with a resounding strike on the left post from a Lauren Tucker cross. There are no weak teams at this level and the defenders Grace Annetts, Martha Tipper, Lexie Hoyer and Hannah Daly had to work hard to stifle Moor Park attacks and redistribute the ball to our quick and agile forwards with Alice Tyler, Polly Rimell and Lauren Tucker providing many useful and penetrating runs up front. Finally, Louisa Webb danced through the opposition and slotted a great goal for the Sevenoaks third. This score gave us three useful points and much heart for the next match against the mighty Millfield!

This turned into a tense yet flowing encounter with Ellie Skilton in goal being fully tested on more than one occasion. She kept out many strong shots for Annetts and Daly to clear to expectant forwards and finally Louisa Webb took off down the right wing and delivered the perfect pass to Alice Tyler whose accurate first-time shot secured the brilliant 1-0 victory. Sevenoaks were leading the section at lunch and all looked very hopeful!

However, the next game was against Eagle House, a strong and very tall team who turned defence into attack in a millisecond! Sevenoaks School’s defence played some fantastic hockey to staunch their flow but towards the end of the first half two umpiring decisions allowed the Eagles to squirm through on the right and score the only goal of the game. Sevenoaks fought back bravely and were a different team in the second half, but two shots went slightly wide and the points went to Eagle House. The last game in the section was crucial for the placings in the section and four teams, including Sevenoaks, were still in with a shout.

Sadly, that first loss of the season seemed to deflate the team and Sevenoaks legs looked tired in the last game against Queen Elizabeth’s who had one player who will, most certainly, be an international very soon! Despite being superbly marked by Alice Tyler, leaving Hannah Daly free to create attacking chances as she bravely did all day, their player snuck through on the blind side late in the first half and Sevenoaks never fully recovered. The final score was QE 2; Sevenoaks 0; a disappointing end to our title dream.

On a more cheerful note, Eagle House went on to win the final against Blundell’s School 5-0, which put a smile back on the Sevenoaks faces. This season ends this one, national, loss in an otherwise unbeaten record, and the girls now look to the future which for them, starts at the end of August with pre-season training prior to their next tournament challenge as Under 14s.

Pat Morecroft 

Squad: Hannah Daly (captain), Louisa Webb (captain), Grace Annetts, Lexie Hoyer, Polly Rimell, Ellie Skilton (GK), Martha Tipper, Lauren Tucker, Alice Tyler, Jess Wentzel

At HMS Excellent, the oldest shore training establishment within the Navy, we boarded HMS Bristol and slept there for the night before being woken up at 06.30 by the ship’s public address system. After breakfast on Whale Island, amongst British Marines, we headed off for HMS Illustrious.

We marched to the ship, where we received a tour from a commissioned officer. Highlights included visiting the hanger, the flight deck and the bridge of the 210m, 22,000-ton aircraft carrier. At 12.00 hours we had the rare opportunity to eat lunch in the wardroom with the ship’s commissioned officers. Immediately after lunch, we participated in a specially arranged hands-on exercise explaining and demonstrating the fire procedure for the ship and how to deal with leaks. This involved trying on the appropriate equipment.

We are extremely proud and fortunate to be affiliated with HMS Illustrious and had a thoroughly interesting and exciting day.   

Jamie Holland, Senior Cadet

With vocalists, saxes, percussionists and even a violinist, there was definitely ample variation throughout the evening, (although perhaps an excess of numbers covered by Michael Bublé!). Particular mention must go to Joe Mylod and Daniel Goodwin as Middle School performers in an otherwise entirely Sixth Form concert. Their respective pieces were of exceptional quality given their ages and this deserves praise.

All in all, the evening was a great success, and the audience were well treated to some excellent jazz that provided a fantastic atmosphere for the night.

On Saturday 11 May, they beat Northampton High, St George’s Harpenden, St Albans High School and Berkhamsted School in the final to win the tournament with the loss of only seven games all day. They outplayed all the opposition on a rainy and windy day. Cathrine and Josie are the first Sevenoaks School pair to win this historic trophy in its 92-year history.

In the U16 event, Simone Deverell and Sarah Dodds won the final of the Plate competition where they beat Sevenoaks 2 pair Hannah Wentzel and Tirion Scully. This was yet another brilliant performance from Sevenoaks; well done to all. 

Boys
Rhys Joseph: Kent U13 Performance Squad

Girls
Tash Farrant: Kent Ladies 1st XI and U17 Performance Squad
Martha Tipper: Kent Girls U13 Performance Squad
Lucy Goodfellow: Kent Girls U13 Emerging Spitfires Squad

An audience of 350 included Sixth Form students, parents and staff from Sevenoaks School, Cranbrook School, The Judd School, Dartford Grammar School for Girls, Kent College Pembury, Wilmington Grammar School for Girls, Maidstone Grammar School, Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls, and Dartford Grammar School. A presentation was given by Dr Lizzy Emerson, Senior Tutor and Admissions Tutor at St Hugh’s College, Oxford; Richard Partington, Senior Tutor and Senior Admissions Tutor at Churchill College, Cambridge; and Dr Caroline Burt, Admissions Tutor at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

The representatives from both universities spoke about their collegiate structure and the admissions and interview process. They made clear that they want to admit the brightest and the best, regardless of their school or educational background. They said that a strong academic interest in a particular course is what should motivate students to apply. The academics kindly answered some frequently asked questions and then they answered questions from the floor.

The evening was organised by Ruth Greenhalgh, Director of Higher Education and Wendy Heydorn, Assistant Director of Higher Education.

The 1st team, after a disappointing event the previous week, were really back on form sailing really well, particularly when it counted in the knockout stages. Fourteen teams were split into two leagues, with Sevenoaks 1 winning their league losing just one race. Sevenoaks 2 picked up some notable scalps including King’s 1 as they finished third in the other league. Sevenoaks 1 then raced RGS in their semi-final which they won comfortably to set up a final with Ipswich, who hadn’t yet lost a race. Sevenoaks dominated the starts and showed great speed to win the final and take the event 2-0. The 2nd team ended up 7th overall.

In the U16s the Sevenoaks sailors, used to sailing two-man boats had a steep learning curve in the single-handed topper class but acquitted themselves well to finish 2nd and 6th overall. All in all another good day for Sevenoaks sailors as we build up to the Schools Nationals in early July.

Sevenoaks 1: First overall U18s
Imogen Smith & Sophie Jones
Massimo Mazzolini & Issy Gordon
Ben Moverley Smith & Flora Donald

Sevenoaks 2: 7th overall U18s
Mikey Forward & Robbie Edwards
Isla Stevens & Kathryn Dodds
Ed Haynes & Tancredi Pucci

Junior Division
Sevenoaks 1: 2nd overall
Alice Kidd
Hamish Oliver
George Haynes

Sevenoaks 2: 6th overall
James Rudd-Jones
Remi Pfister
Taba Gibb
Georgie Powell             

Tom Harrison was exceptionally unlucky to finish second in the individual competition. He finished level on points with the winner, but lost the trophy on count back. The rules of the competition state that in the event of a tie the player with more birdies wins. Tom had two, his opponent three. Congratulations to all.

Team: Tom Harrison, Harry Hobbs, Jason Jiang, George Baron, Will White

His Maths Society lecture was a typical tour de force, outlining the theory of perfect and Thorp card shuffling, culminating in some deep results of graph theory to establish the minimum number of shuffles required to produce every possible permutation of a deck of cards. Surprisingly even for very small decks a brute force approach requires many more calculations than is possible even for a super-computer, and subtle arguments of symmetry are required to make the problems tractable.

The talk was of particular value for the Extension Mathematicians, who saw how some of the material they may have met in the Maths Curriculum, for example Stirling’s approximation, can be applied to relevant real world problems. However, the talk was also fully accessible to those from younger year groups, as it required very little background knowledge, and included many opportunities to verify the theoretical results by shuffling real decks of cards.

Unsurprisingly the talk was well attended by many of Dr Fugard’s Upper Sixth students, who took a short but well-earned break from the rigours of IB revision, for a perfect mathematical confection, and a reminder of what first attracted them to the study of mathematics. For those going on to study Mathematics at university next year it was a glimpse of some of the mathematical magic which lies ahead of them. 

The team comprising Charles Lau, Dong Sung Kim, Harry Gillis and Adrian Holle competed in rounds including a multiple-choice test, predicting properties of organic compounds, elucidating the identities of various materials and determining the purity of a sample using titration. It was an enjoyable and busy afternoon, at the end of which the Sevenoaks team were rewarded with second place, being narrowly defeated by an impressive team from Dulwich College.

The first half was started, however, by the Middle School musicians of the Sevenoaks Strings, who showed how much promise there is for the future with an assured performance of Holst’s St Paul’s Suite. Then the older musicians took over. First, Tabea Haas-Heger, Elspeth Newey, Georgina Gibb and Claire Macfadyen were superlative in their performance of movements from Ravel’s String Quartet and later Tabea was joined by Marcus Mok and Nina Del Ser for an astonishing performance of Babadjanian’s luscious piano trio. 

Completing the first half was the Sennocke Consort, polished and accomplished as always with Old Sennockian Christopher Roe’s lovely setting of Blake’s ‘I give you the end of a golden string’. In the second half, the Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s 1st symphony was breathtaking. They were delicate with the first movement, evocative in the third and simply stunning in the finale. This was a collective triumph and one magnificently led by the outgoing crop of Upper Sixth, who gave everything in this superlative performance.