Review of the Year

Review of the Year
2013-2014
FOREWORD
‘One of the great schools of our country.’
A comment such as this, particularly when it is rooted in knowledge of what really goes
on – in this case, partnership teaching in maths and physics – will put a spring in any
Head Master’s step, but it came as a surprise and an honour to hear this warm accolade
from the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP no less, on the occasion of the opening of the Sir
Martin Gilbert Library in May 2014.
But whether we measure our quality in ‘greatness’ or in comparison with other schools,
I’m hugely proud of the passion, energy and intensity of my colleagues’ engagement in
the extra-curricular life of our pupils, as I am struck by the passion, energy and intensity
of their response! And so it is that we cajole colleagues and pupils alike to record their
comings and goings in drama, art, music, and sport, in clubs and societies, in the Duke
of Edinburgh Award and the CCF, and in community service and partnership teaching.
We do so because, well because young people tend not to tell you what they have been
up to, and it’s reassuring to know that between homework and exams, between being a
teenager and an undergraduate, between Instagram and Facebook, there is time to
explore the unexamined life, to find friends and to find activity in a face-to-face world.
I am a believer in the power of life beyond work and the classroom, however engrossing
either is, to introduce balance and perspective, to provide the young with attractive
alternatives to adult life: passionate people don’t get bored, don’t find themselves at so
many dangerous loose ends. But in a year when one club (LGBT) caught the attention of
the national press and another (Chorale) was on national television, it’s clear that life
beyond the classroom is more than a ‘would be nice to have’: extra-curricular life is at
the core of many, many pupils’ lives, and I hope that this booklet will inspire even more
to get on board. And it doesn’t have to be po-faced or serious or obviously useful (though
many activities are!): there’s room for the skittish and the scurrilous too.
There’s a lot to read thanks to the unwavering, charming and persuasive editorship of Finn
Strivens (13KG) and my secretary, Alice Dickens (and great photos, too, thanks to Laura
Stubbs): I know we bombard you with information, from our weekly emails to the
biannual ‘mag’, from High Notes to Head Master’s blogs, and I imagine this Review of
the Year, like a bumper Sunday supplement, may just find its way to your bedside tables
or bathrooms or guestroom loo: leave it there! Flick through (What’s the most unusual
entry under sport? Who did win the House instrumental? Where did the physicists go on
tour this year?) and savour the Review like a pack of your favourite Allsorts. I think you
will see why this is more than another advertisement for Highgate: it’s a (pretty) shameless
celebration of the colleagues and pupils who have once again invested countless and
uncounted hours – a great example of Einstein’s favourite aphorism that ‘not everything
that counts can be counted; not everything that is counted counts.’
Adam Pettitt, Head Master
July, 2014
PUBLIC EXAMINATION RESULTS 2013
A-level
70 leavers (46%) were awarded three A or
A* grades, with 30% (51 candidates)
receiving A*AA (or better), the entry
requirement for the most competitive
universities. 13 pupils were awarded a full
house of three A* or more: Patrick Dodd,
Scarlett Evans, Benji Gibber, Rollo Hutson,
Nicky Kossoff, Baichuan Li, Ed Manuel,
Caspar Phillips, Garsha Seyf, Tom
Shepherd, Allie Sumners, Rosa Verity and
Tian Xu.
GCSE
Just under a quarter of pupils in Year 11
received ten or more A*. Congratulations
to the following pupils on their results:
Rory Anastasiou, Alastair Baldry (11),
Alex Baleanu (11), Beth Belin (11),
Sebastian Birch, Julia Chmielowska, Sam
Coade, Anna Crucefix (11), Isabella
Cullen, Michael Delgado (11), Richard
Footman (11), Jacob Green (11), Daniel
Hilton (11), Theo Hurford (11), Omar
Hussein, Raoul Kumrai-Woodruff, Richard
Law, Alex Ledigo, Florence Malster, Tom
Moulding, Jodie Pearlman, Gideon
Phillips, George Pliotis (11), Katerina
Polemis (11), Ben Reed (11), Ariel
Reingold,
Jake
Reimer,
Gregory
Richardson (11), Tim Roberts (11), Max
Robertson (11), Imogen Ryan (11), Milo
Saville, Sam Stephens, Casper Szigeti (11),
Conor Thomas, Katie Waddell (11) and
Sam Willis (11).
MUSIC
Mr Wiggall, Director of Music, writes:
After another year, during which the Music
staff have done their level best to keep up
with the pupils’ voracious appetite for
Music and Performance, it is, in equal
parts, rewarding and humbling to look
back and take stock of what has been
achieved this year.
September
The start of the academic year would be
incomplete without the fevered rehearsing
of twelve specially-arranged part songs for
the House Vocal Competition. Sam Van
Stroud (13KG) shares his thoughts: House
singing was the first competition I ever won
with my house and nothing forms bonds
within a house in the same way. The work
involved is gruelling and intense for
everyone taking part. It is the house event
that involves the most people, lots of whom
don’t normally get involved in choirs, so it
is a great way for younger years to
integrate into the house from the outset of
the year. House singing has always been
a big event and this year was a record
turn-out with an audience of over a
thousand. Couple this with the fact that
there is invariably too little time to prepare,
and you will start to feel the intensity that
house singing is famous for. The results are
always spectacular, and this year was no
exception.
Kingsgate
(my
house)
performed a medley of Misery and
Troublemaker, arranged in-house by Jamie
Powe (and won Ed.). If you haven’t been
already, then I look forward to seeing you
there.
October
The Solo Music Competitions for our
advanced performers comprise individual
heats, from which the top two performers
go forward to compete in the Final. The
competition was fierce and, to the sixth
formers’ dismay, young new challengers
appeared in Year 7 in the form of Amos
Sharp (7Q) and Sarah Henderson (7H).
Thus the initial rounds saw a disruption of
the established order, evident also in a
highly proficient incursion by the
percussionists into the top spots. After a
superb final, the placed performers were:
Richard Footman (12FG) in first place;
Georgina Lloyd-Owen (11EG) in second;
Christie Blackaby (13SH) in third place on
marimba; and Hal Knight (12EG) earning
a mention for his electrifying performance
of Hendrix’s Purple Haze on drum kit.
November
Remembrance Day saw the School mark
the occasion in the traditional way on the
Parade Ground with the Brass Sinfonietta
MUSIC (continued)
performing a moving arrangement of
Barber’s Adagio and Chorale providing a
remembrance motet. Chorale had also
been working hard during the term,
learning Fauré’s well-loved Requiem Mass.
This was a considerable achievement for
the choir at this stage in the term and
contributed significantly to the atmosphere
of the Service of Remembrance, held in St
Michael’s, Highgate.
The Orchestral Concert was held in a reconfigured Dining Hall which offers the
best acoustics for music of any space in the
school, giving pupils a superb symphonic
experience. Brass Sinfonietta, Lazarus
Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Chamber
Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra
performed works by Gabrieli, Strauss,
Ellerby, Biber and Beethoven.
Meanwhile, the School’s under-the-radar
rock bands were putting the finishing
touches to their set lists for the inaugural
Bands’ Gig. Concert Industry professionals
came along to chat to the bands
afterwards and plan a bands’ workshop
evening that took place later in the term.
November ended with the Junior
Ensembles Concert in which the Sinfonia,
Concert Band and String Sinfonietta took
part. The Junior Ensembles Concert also
provides a refuge for some of the rarer
ensembles such as the Goossens Ensemble
(oboes, Cor Anglais and bassoon), Brymer
Ensemble (clarinets large and small) and
the Percussion Ensemble.
December
The start of Advent was marked by a
Service of Words and Music, featuring the
A Cappella choral ensemble and invited
instrumentalists. Bach’s Cantata No. 61
Nun komm der Heiden Heiland provided
the architecture for the service which also
featured the plainsong recitation of the
Great Antiphons. Notable solos were given
by Jamie Powe (13KG), Finn Strivens
(13KG), and Isabelle Chauzy (12NG).
The members of A Cappella had the
opportunity to reprise their cantata
performance the following week in the
newly-conceived Christmas Concert. The
first half of the concert also featured the
Concert Choir, singing Vaughan Williams’s
Fantasia of Christmas Carols, and a
performance of two movements from
Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols by
the Girls’ Chapel Choir. Mulled wine was
then required during the interval to help the
audience change cultural gears for the
second half. Both senior barbershop
MUSIC (continued)
quartets sang Christmassy numbers, with
the Jazz Ensemble and Cameron Burt
(11TL) providing a traditional tribute to
Bing Crosby. After a somewhat surreal betinselled clarinet and percussion rendition
of Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody, the
Chamber Orchestra rounded off the
concert, accompanying audience carol
singing, under the sparkly baton of Mr
Murphy.
The term was completed with the triptych
of carol services (St Mark’s, Dalston and
two at St Michael’s, Highgate) and a less
chilly than usual Pond Square Carols, ably
led by members of the Concert Choir and
Symphonic Band.
January
With a collective sigh of relief, School and
the Chapel Choirs moved back into the
newly renovated Chapel to resume the
observance of special and quotidian
worship. In the Michaelmas Term, the
Chapel Choirs and Chorale had
contributed to what had been a two-year
tour of local churches. This included
services at St Peter le Poer, Muswell Hill, All
Saints’, Highgate and Hornsey Parish
Church. While the Chapel is the proper
home of the regular evensongs, we will
seek to remain in touch with these local
churches who have been generous in
welcoming the choirs while the Chapel has
been unavailable.
February
February saw the House Instrumental
Competition come round again and, once
again, a great intensity of music-making
was to be heard around the Department.
All twelve Houses fielded entries that
ranged in style from Baroque Chamber
Music to a full-on funk band set-up. This
year, having been denied a placing in the
House Vocal Competition, Midgate
romped home with a professional-quality
rendition of Dave Brubeck’s ‘Rondo a la
Turk’. Notable soloists in Midgate’s line-up
included Ben Huston (13MG) and Sam
Coade (12MG).
March
In March, the Jazz Orchestra and Quintet
returned to Pizza Express, Dean St. Sam
Coade (12MG) was playing: The audience
was treated to a versatile repertoire and
some truly memorable performances. The
quintet started proceedings with a set
including the slick Kenny Garrett tune
Wayne’s Thang, Footprints, by Wayne
Shorter and Strasbourg Saint Denis, which
began to get the audience grooving. The
Jazz Orchestra then took to the stage, with
MUSIC (continued)
The Weather Report classic Birdland
featuring Aron Shelemy (12QG) on bass
starting the set with a bang. Off the Hook
followed, with Ben Huston (13MG) and me
taking solos. Hal Knight took centre stage
in Kind of Bluegrass, as his stunning drum
solo nearly took the roof off the club. Dan
Hilton’s (12HG) sublime playing on the
ballad Isfahan, brought tears to the eyes of
many. For the finale, we played Azulito,
giving thrilling solo spots to Theo Hurford
(12SH), Hal Knight, and Ben Huston. The
show, while enjoyed by everyone, was
tinged with some emotion, as we bid
farewell to Ben Huston (13MG). Ben has
been a stalwart of the Highgate music
scene since his arrival, and has made
particularly valuable contributions to jazz
at Highgate. Many thanks too to Mr
Canniere for his coaching.
As the Jazz Orchestra were improvising in
Soho, the members of Chorale were
delivering the most rehearsed performance
of their lives so far in the Final of the BBC
Songs of Praise Senior School Choir of the
Year Competition. Conor Wilcox-Mahon
(13NG) reports: Given the horrifically
early start, Highgate Chorale were in
relatively high spirits as we boarded the
coach, no doubt fired by the exciting
prospect of spending the day in front of the
BBC in Birmingham. We had been
surprised to reach the final and it had led
to a steady build of confidence through
much rehearsal which was, we were told,
to peak on the day. The goal, as Miss Price
shamelessly revealed on national
television, was to win.
Although preparation for it had spanned
several months and hours of rehearsal, the
day was compact. With no chance to
witness the entries of our competitors, we
had to trust in our own abilities first for our
hymn, and then for the ‘inspirational’ song
performed in the final. The former took the
form of When I Survey the Wondrous
Cross, where the variation between verses
and bass section were praised in a contest
at least as close as the final itself with Laura
Mvula saying that the quiet sections made
her want to cry. Singing in the auditorium
felt strange as the room was so big that we
thought we sounded really quiet. Our
performance was enough, however, to pull
us through from six into the three-part final,
giving us the opportunity to perform
Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho. Here the
tenors were lauded by Gareth Malone for
maintaining a challengingly high line, and
the judges found the piece engaging and
artistically successful. Our loyal fans and
family who had come up just to see us
MUSIC (continued)
assured us that our win was deserved;
hopefully we gave them something worth
the journey.
During the academic year 2012-13, the
School received an antique fruitwood
Steinway piano, generously donated by
the Bluman family in memory of Robert
Zikel OC. In a Chamber Concert to
inaugurate the piano and to thank the
Bluman family, the Steinway was played as
a solo instrument, as part of a Piano
Quartet (Schumann) and Piano Trio
(Beethoven) with offerings from the
barbershop quartets¸ percussion ensemble,
Baroque Chamber Group, two String
Quartets, the senior Saxophone Quartet
and Junior Jazz Quartet. The standard of
music-making was excellent and a real
tribute to the work of the pupils and
chamber music coaches, including many
of the visiting music staff.
At the end of the Spring Term, the Junior
Ensembles Concert took place in an
external venue for the first time, the
magnificent church of All Hallows, Gospel
Oak, marking the extent of the increase in
quality and number of participants in this
area of the department. Amongst a
programme of works, including the Theme
from ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (Goossens
Ensemble), a movement from Beethoven 7
(Brass Ensemble) and Oye Como Va
(Concert Band), the Sinfonia performed a
ravishing version of Strauss’s Blue Danube
Waltz.
The next day, the Senior Ensembles headed
to Holy Trinity, Sloane Square. Jamie Powe
(13KG) writes: Ludwig Van Beethoven once
said, “It is better to hit the wrong note
confidently than hit the right note
unconfidently”. Well Ludwig, I think you
would have been proud of me. As
Symphony Orchestra played Beethoven’s
5th Symphony, I probably played the right
notes approximately half of the time, and
about half of those were in the right place,
but boy did I play them confidently.
Thankfully, the likes of Peter Van Dongen
and Tom Stephens in front of me were
playing what is a very challenging piece
with remarkable skill and ease, so I was
allowed to enjoy being swept up by one of
the most iconic pieces of music ever written.
The concert began with a highly
accomplished performance of Copland’s
Fanfare for the Common Man by the Brass
Ensemble, followed by Bartok’s Romanian
Folk Dances performed by the Chamber
Orchestra. Concert Choir sang the beautiful
Sleep by Eric Whiteacre, and Symphonic
Band played The Year of the Dragon by
MUSIC (continued)
Phillip Sparke in a performance ablaze with
fiery virtuosity. After the interval came the
main event. For a school orchestra to play
an entire Beethoven Symphony is no mean
feat and it is testimony to the talent that we
are so lucky to have throughout the
orchestra, as well as the first-rate direction of
Mr.Wiggall, that we were able to deliver a
knock-out performance. It was also a
poignant one for me as I had decided that
it would be my last outing as a violinist (a
full 11 years after I played for the first time),
but I could not think of a better note to end
on than a loud C natural at the end of
Beethoven’s 5th.
May
In May, the Chapel was officially rededicated. Finn Strivens (13KG) was
singing in the choir: The voice of the Bishop
of London boomed into the chapel as his
staff struck the doorframe three times. With
holy water he painted an alpha and an
omega on the door and proclaimed “We
take possession of this place in the name
of Christ!” Then the choir, congregation,
organ and trumpet fanfare sounded up for
the procession into the newly restored
chapel. Having sung in the Chapel since
Year 7, it always seemed like just another
dimly-lit church. Now, however, it has been
cleaned brick by brick, had heating
installed, relit, and having been without it
for a year makes you realise what an
amazing part of the school it really is. The
service came shortly after the choir’s
performance at BBC Choir of the Year and,
with a lot of hard music to learn in not
much time, we were forced to behave like
a professional choir. We had sectionals
before school, learned the music before
rehearsals and covered eight pieces within
a few weeks. My favourite was the
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis by Kenneth
Leighton, known for its dissonance and the
way that the choir effectively sings in a
different key to the organ.
At the North London Festival of Music, two
ensembles were awarded first place and
one second place. The most notable
achievement came from the Schumann
Piano Quintet (Richard Footman (12FG),
Georgina Salter (11SG), Joshua JonesLachman (10SG), Sebastian Birch (12QG)
and Eve Smith-Bingham (10SH), coached
by Miss Andrusier, which won the keenlyfought U18 chamber category.
June
The grand finale of the year has been the
Summer Music Festival, in which numerous
workshops and masterclasses are taking
place, the Beginner and Intermediate
MUSIC (continued)
sections of the Solo Music Competitions
and the three-day extravaganza that is the
Highgate Festival, starting with the Summer
Concert and ending with the Review at the
Camden Roundhouse.
In addition to all this, throughout the year
pupils have performed solos in Informal
Concerts, Scholars’ Concerts and Instrumental
Concerts and retained, in the face of huge
demands, a cheerfulness, professionalism and
enjoyment of music-making that speaks both
for the character of the pupils and the value of
the enterprise. We look forward to 2015,
when musicians will be called upon to join
and lead the celebrations of the 450th
anniversary of the School’s founding.
ART
Young at Art
Alicia Gerhardstein (7D) writes: Four
Highgate pupils were selected for Young at
Art this year: myself, Nicole Kaminer (7D),
Oliver Gottlieb (9NG) and Alice De Lanoy
Meijer (9GH). I was really happy to
discover that my drawing of a natural form
received highly commended. I attended
the private view at the beginning of May
and experienced the element of bidding for
art. My drawing was bid for £50! The
money went to Cancer Research UK, and
overall Young at Art raised £60,000. There
was lots of inspiring work on show from
students all over the south of England from
age 4-18. I thoroughly enjoyed the
opportunity of seeing my work hung in an
exhibition.
KS3 Exhibition
Stephanie Antoniou (8C) writes: Year 7
focused on drawing and printmaking. My
favourite pieces were the prints where the
pupils used etching, collagraph and screen
printing to create simplistic, fine designs
which not only showed off shapes, but
some incorporated block colours, such as
orange and black which made the work
more eye catching and bold.
Year 8 classes produced beautiful pots.
Although they were pure white, their crisp
silhouettes enabled them to stand out. My
favourite, and coincidentally my class’s
project was the futuristic city. The initial task
was to design futuristic buildings. From
cardboard to wire, to paper, to sweets, we
scavenged for materials and scoured the
internet for inspiration, Zaha Hadid to
Oscar Niemeyer until we found the perfect
shape, size, use and material to satisfy our
interpretation of a futuristic sculpture.
Year 9’s work was based on geometry,
contrast, detail and perspective, conjoined
to create their own abstract composition.
When I entered the room, what caught my
eye first was the piece where objects of
every colour, shape, size and use were
displayed upon a board, scattered beside
each other. The exhibition was
phenomenal.
Year 10 Film and Photography Workshop
On 16 May, all Year 10 art students took
part in a film and photography workshop
as an introduction to our year 11 projects,
with the intention of opening up potential
lines of enquiry and inspiring fresh ideas.
The day was led by Tapestry Film
Company (who made the films on our
website) and consisted of both talks and
practical activities, with the objective of
improving our perception of the key
elements that make a good photo, as well
as broadening our technical skills in the
field. The two creative activities set for the
day (one photography based and one film)
helped to put our budding skill-sets into
practice by playing around with lighting,
new composition techniques and camera
angles. All agreed that the end result was
new found confidence when using the
camera at the end of the day.
Saatchi Schools Prize
The Art Department is very proud that Matt
Rooney’s work (FG, c/o 2013) was one of
the twenty selected from 16,000 entries for
the short list for the Saatchi Schools prize.
DRAMA
Ms Fehr, Director of Drama, writes:
House Drama
Having now fully established itself as part
of the dramatic rhythm of the school year,
the annual House Drama Competition got
off to a flying start at the beginning of the
Michaelmas Term, with all twelve houses
choosing,
adapting,
casting
and
rehearsing their plays in snatched spare
moments throughout the pupils’ busy
working weeks. With entries as diverse as
Woyzeck, Mean Girls and A Doll’s House,
the whole experience was a rich and
rewarding one, for both pupils and judges.
Callum Wallis (9KG) reports: Playing the
part of Sideway was an interesting and fun
experience as Sideway’s enthusiastic and
energetic character encouraged me to stay
lively throughout the performance
rehearsals.
Putting
together
and
performing the play solidified my
relationship with these members of my
house, and the whole event was a great
way to get settled into Highgate life during
my first term here. After a tense wait whilst
the adjudicator Ben Ockrent (playwright
and OC) deliberated, Kingsgate’s
production of Our Country’s Good was
proclaimed the winner. Special mentions
were awarded to Roisin Cowen and
Laurence Benson for their roles as Marie
and Woyzeck in Woyzeck. In Kingsgate,
myself and Johnny Bloom were also given
special commendations’.
Young Directors’ Weekend
This year saw the first Young Directors’
production take place at the School. Sixth
Formers Form were asked to apply to put
on an adaption of a play of their choice,
executed over the course of one weekend.
Omar Hussein and Greg Richardson
(12MG) write: ‘The Jury’, also known as
’11 Angry People,’ was supposed to be
’12 Angry People’ based on ’12 Angry
Men,’ by Reginald Rose. As you can see,
this did not work out quite as we expected.
This all began in October, when Miss Fehr
offered the opportunity for some pupils to
put on a production of their own, which
they would direct and perform in. We
decided to accept this and put on the Rose
play for its simplicity and timelessness. The
story is that of a jury who must decide on
the guilt or innocence of a young man
accused of his father’s murder, and is
facing the death penalty. The intended
challenge was that rehearsals would only
occur over one weekend, four days before
the performance; the real challenge for us
was finding a suitable cast who were all
available. As we wished to have a mixed
gender cast, we ended up with nine men
and two women on our jury, which resulted
in us having to re-write parts of the script.
DRAMA (continued)
However, as soon as rehearsals began it
was clear that it was coming together. The
most enjoyable moments of the process
involved our own personal direction, with
aid and advice from Miss Fehr, making the
final production one that we could feel
proud of.
French Play: Tartuffe
The French Department took a more
traditional route with their choice of play
this year. However, it was a fresh
approach to a well-known play and,
inspired by a workshop with the wellknown Commedia Dell’arte expert, Didi
Hopkins, the cast of Tartuffe had the
audience in stitches with their clever
characterisations. Isabelle Chauzy (12NG)
writes: ‘Moliere’s famous play, Tartuffe,
which was first performed in 1664, and
then swiftly banned due to its blasphemous
nature, was an obvious choice for a group
of Highgate pupils to tackle for this year’s
French play. This story of a traitorous man
who infiltrates a family, posing as a
clergyman, seemed daunting at first, partly
due to the 17th century French, but also
due to whether we were going to be able
to transform Tim Roberts into this cunning,
treacherous man (needless to say, a lot of
hair gel was required), and myself into an
old, stubborn and extremely angry old
woman (I like to think we were not
typecast). Led by the excellent direction of
Miss Church and Miss Pottier, rehearsals
began in September, happening once or
twice a week.. Finally, we perfected our
lines, and managed to stop laughing at
Richard Law’s portrayal of Monsieur Loyal,
complete with an asthma pump, and the
final performances in February were
extremely enjoyable. From having the
pleasure of watching Felicity Jukes,
Cameron Kirkpatrick, and Lisa Benson
dance to French pop each evening, to
watching Tim Roberts flirt with Arielle
Martin, being in Tartuffe was an
experience that I will always remember.
Classics Play: Medea
Following swiftly on, the Classics
Department changed the mood entirely by
erecting a Romany caravan (expertly built
by Mr Allchin) in the Drama Studio as part
of the set for their production of Medea.
Set in a gypsy community, this was a
terrifically innovative version of the play.
The directors: Mr Grant, Miss Picton and
Mr Shepherd, cast the play well and Liliana
Talwatte (12SG) was breath-taking in the
lead role. She reflects on her experiences:
I never thought a teacher would tell me that
my shirt, face and arms didn’t have
DRAMA (continued)
enough blood on them, but that’s what I got
for being in Medea. The Classics play was
a great chance to combine my interests in
theatre and the ancient world, and to get to
know people from Years 11 to 13 whom I
otherwise might never have spoken to.
After October auditions and months of
rehearsing the many, many monologues,
we watched our set come to life a week
before our performances in March. The
final product was well worth the hours that
the cast and directors put into it, though
some members of the audience may have
been slightly scared of me for the following
weeks. It was a fantastic experience, which
taught me that, if you put your mind to it,
Room 16 can be transformed into a truly
excellent rehearsal space.
West Side Story
The biggest event of the drama calendar
this year was undoubtedly the school’s
production of West Side Story. Having
been lucky enough to secure The Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art as our venue,
the production team knew that they were
going to have to pull off something pretty
special, and they did! The show is
notoriously difficult, music and dance wise,
but with the expert choreography of Mrs
Rodgers and Mr Hanson’s musical
brilliance, the pupils achieved results way
beyond their own expectations. With just
one day of rehearsals at the venue prior to
the first performance, the cast had to adapt
very quickly from the rehearsal space of
Caen Wood Hall. Ever the professionals,
they took it all in their stride and numerous
members of staff at RADA commented on
what a thoroughly talented, respectful and
generally super group of children they all
were.
Tom Stephens (13WG) reflects on this, his
final production at Highgate: As a cast and
crew we could not have been an odder
bunch at the start of the process; with a
wide range of pupils having been selected
from years 8 to 13, not many of us were
familiar with most of our apparent
colleagues. But six months of hard work
and four performances later, we had
become so close that we were practically
family; I know I made some friendships that
I’ll want to keep for many years. Thanks to
the guidance of our talented directors Mrs
Rodgers, Miss Fehr and Mr Hanson, an
exhaustive rehearsal schedule and an
unparalleled level of commitment from
everyone involved, we managed to put on
a show that almost everyone who saw it
labelled the best Highgate production they
had ever seen.
DRAMA (continued)
The Y7, Y8, Y9 Play: Gulliver’s Travels
The image of Lemuel Gulliver pinned down
by hundreds of tiny Lilliputian soldiers is
iconic, and Jonathan Swift’s novel has
retained its popularity despite the fact that
the times that it satirises have long since
passed. But how do you put this fantastical
tale of minuscule people and giants, of
floating cities and hyper-rational talking
horses, on the stage? This was the
challenge facing the 33 members of the
cast, and they responded with great
imagination to create a high-spirited and
fast-pace piece of ensemble theatre. Jack
Jeffreys takes the role of Gulliver, telling of
his travels in flashback, with 8 other actors
playing the roles of his younger (and less
embittered) self. The rest of the cast play
multiple roles, from empresses to beggars
to bumble bees. In this production the
Senior School’s youngest actors have
grasped the opportunity to show what they
can do.
Beckett
This year the Drama Department has had
a Director-in-Residence working with us, in
the shape of Guy Woolf, an OC, who
already knew the school well and was
excited at the prospect of getting to know it
again, from the other side of the staffroom.
His directorial assistance on Tartuffe,
Medea and the A Level and GCSE pieces,
was very much appreciated. His love of
Samuel Beckett informed his choice for the
first Director-in-Residence production and,
with a cast ranging from Years 7 – 10, he
put together a series of shorts, taken from
a variety of different Beckett plays. The
cast (Marko Andrejevic, Adem Corney,
Harriet Howarth, Noga Inspector, Ruth
Louis, Vivika Martini, Seb Maskrey, James
Rodgers and Amy Walpole) worked hard
to perfect the skill of doing “nothing”on
stage, and bravely entered into Beckett’s
challenging dramatic landscapes.
Drama TAA
An old office chair lies on its side with a
warning label taped on to it: “DEFECTIVE”.
The chair is one of many bits of junk that
cover the stage at the start of Philip Ridley’s
play Sparkleshark, as performed by
members of TAA Drama from Y7 to Y11 in
November. But as the play develops, the
audience realises that all the characters in
the play, in one way or another, have had
the same label attached to them - by their
peers, their families or other people in their
lives. It is only when one of the characters
starts to tell a story, and the others join in
to act it out, that the disparate group is
brought together through the power of their
imaginations. Likewise, the cast pulled
DRAMA (continued)
together, from the Y7s in their first Senior
School production to Y11 GCSE Drama
pupils, to produce an excellent and
memorable piece of ensemble theatre.
Playwriting Society
“Thunder”, “phlegmatic”, “discombobulate”,
“chaos”. The words are relished as they are
spoken, each word by a different voice. The
voices belong to the 10 members of
Playwriting Society, who are sitting in a circle
in the Drama Studio at a writing workshop
led by Dawn King, an up-and-coming
professional playwright who has asked them
for their favourite words. Highgate’s budding
playwrights, drawn from Y10 to Y13, were
inspired by her visit to write their own plays,
helped by the opportunity to share their
ideas at weekly lunchtime sessions. Dominika
Ucar’s (11KG) play, Sessions, reached the
judges’ long list of outstanding plays. in the
National Theatre’s New Views competition
for 30-minute plays written by secondary
school pupils in the UK.
Theatre Society
You don’t have to do Theatre Studies A
Level to be in Theatre Society, you just have
to be interested in theatre. Every term
around 20 of us go as a group to some of
the best plays on in London, hand-picked
by Miss Fehr, our Head of Drama. Going
with a group allows us to all share our
views and analyse the plays in the interval
and afterwards, and it makes for a really
fun evening out. This year at the Almeida
we saw American Psycho starring Matt
Smith, Chimerica, which won the Olivier
award for best new play, Ghosts, which
won best revival and best actress at the
Oliver awards, and an adaptation of
Orwell’s 1984 at The Almeida Theatre.
Miss Fehr clearly has good taste. My
favourite play this year was, however, The
Events at the Young Vic which was an
experimental play involving only two
permanent actors and a community choir,
taken from choirs of local businesses,
which were different every night.
DEBATING
Year 7 Debating TAA
Amos Sharp (7Q) writes: We have debated
some very serious topics, for instance: this
house believes that naughty children should
get coal for Christmas instead of presents, or
something far more light-hearted like: this
house would make voting compulsory. As
well as parliamentary style debating we
have also tried another exhilarating type: the
balloon debate! Each of us represented a
celebrity and I’m afraid that Mr Bean took
priority over Mr Pettitt. Ah well, both
inspirational figures! Evidently debating is
one of the best (and funniest) TAAs and I
highly recommend it.
Year 8 Debating TAA
Sam Shulman (8M) writes: Topics covered
this year range from “This house believes that
poetry should not be taught in schools” to
“This house believes that the £250,000 spent
on paintings in the House of Commons was
‘money well spent”. We have picked up a
wide range of debating skills and techniques
this year, such as “points of information”,
which are used to signal an error in the
opposing team’s argument and we’ve all
made noticeable improvements. Thank you
to Miss Burch and Mr Powell who have been
a vital part in making Debating TAA so
thoroughly interesting and entertaining.
Year 9 Debating
Minna Griffiths (9KG) writes: An enthusiastic
group meets every Tuesday with Ms
Saunders and Mr Bovey to practise the art
of debating. Motions have included moral
topics, such as whether it is our responsibility
to help each other, political motions, such as
whether Britain should intervene in Syria,
and there was even one attempt to ban
school (which was carried – although we still
seem to be here). We have also had several
balloon debates, where some very
unexpected people have survived the
plummet from the balloon.
Year 10 and 11 Debating
George Monaghan (10QG) writes: I am
glad to have participated in debating this
year, because it has made me consider and
reconsider interesting issues, such as “This
House Believes Assassinating A Dictator Is
Morally Justifiable” and “This House Would
Make National Service Compulsory”.
Debating has greatly improved my
confidence in public speaking. It has helped
me evaluate both sides of an argument and
to summarise succinctly. It has been
rewarding for all of us to progress from
talking for barely a minute to being able to
speak confidently and eloquently for a full
five minutes. Thanks to Mr Davey and Mr
Seymour for their support and coaching this
year.
Sixth Form Debating TAA
Ben Huston (13MG) writes: This year, sixth
formers have taken a great pride in
debating. The Senior House Debating
Competition was a stylish affair, held in the
school Tabernacle before a panel of judges
and presided over by Miss Shipp. The victory
went to Midgate, who were awarded the
competition’s rediscovered silverware.
Eastgate came second, with both teams
arguing to boycott sporting events where
there were poor human rights. Shortly after,
Conor Wilcox-Mahon and Ben Huston were
thrilled to be invited to the Oxford Finals Day
competition, following success in the regional
round. There, they grappled with motions on
subliminal messaging, the Ukraine and the
burden of proof for crimes with low
conviction rates.
SOME INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Damon Falck (9EG) auditioned and won
a violin-playing/acting part in Emil and
the Detectives at the National Theatre last
summer.
Claudia Chmielowska (11SH) has been
selected to represent Poland in the
European Gym Championships.
Cameron Burt (11TL) auditioned successfully for a part in National Youth Music
Theatre’s production of The Hired Man.
Sophia Parvizi-Wayne (12WG) won the
Intermediate Girls 3000m race at the
English Schools Track and Field
Championships last July. She went on to
finish 2nd in the Schools’ International
Race.
Terence Fawden (10WG) finished 1st in
the London Borough U15 Boys Race at the
Mini Marathon in April.
Imogen Ryan (12SH) has been accepted
on to the UK-German Scholarship
Programme for August 2014
Harry Kleiman (13SH) competed the
Royal Parks Half Marathon last September
in 83 minutes, raising money for the charity MIND.
Eleanor Burke (11TL) revived her role as
Flora in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the
Screw at Theater am Rhein, Dusseldorf,
and took the lead role of Vixen Sharp
Ears in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen
with Southgate Youth Opera.
Laurence Carden (13TL) gave 2 organ
recitals – one in Bromley and one at St
Lawrence Jewry.
Julia Wilkinson (11TL) and her horse
Tchibo won their first ever British Dressage
U25 High Profile show in February this
year, and qualified for the 2014
Trailblazers
National
Dressage
Championships in the summer.
Noga Inspector (10TL) was Mrs Quickly
in the London Children’s Ballet production
of Nanny McPhee at the Peacock Theatre.
Charlie Smith (9SH) has been selected
for the GB U14 Waterpolo Talent
Development Squad.
Anna Lebe (10SH) played netball for the
Hertfordshire Mavericks, a Superleague
Squad and played for the Middlesex
County netball team.
SCHOOL COLOURS
Congratulations to the following who have been awarded School colours this year:
Community
Full colours
Oliver Friend 13MG
Felicity Juckes 13WG
Fraser Medhurst 13FG
Oscar Nolan 13GH
Riaz Razaq 13FG
Olivia Wilson 13GH
Cricket
Full colours
Ferdinand Hunter 13QG
Bertie Mills 12SH
James Powe 13KG
Cross-Country
Full colours
Harry Kleiman 13SH
Charles Katz-Summercorn
13EG
Half colours
Adam Swycher 13SG
Theodore Jackson 13SG
Drama
Full colours
Thomas Stephens 13WG
Jake Morris 13FG
Natasha Knight 13EG
Vicente Macia-Kjaer 13SH
Fives
Full colours
Charlie Noble 13EG
Christy Blackaby 13SH
Bertie Mills 13SH
Jamie Willett 13KG
Kane Rayner 13NG
Half colours
Saachi Sehgal 13HG
Frank Martin 13WG
Riaz Razaq 13FG
Conor Wilcox-Mahon 13NG Stephen Papaloizou 13QG
Marina Mylonadis 13GH
Julian James 13SH
Finn Strivens 13KG
Judgemaan Choudry 13QG
Daniel Edge 13KG
Felicity Juckes 13WG
Killian Fitzgerald 13KG
Marlie Hajnal-Corob 13HG
Talia Caplan 13FG
SCHOOL COLOURS (continued)
Football
Full colours
Christian Blackaby 13SH
Benjamin Berrick 13QG
Joe Berriman 13EG
Oliver Friend 13MG
Thomas Henderson 13MG
Leo Holdsworth 13SG
Daniel Nikolopulos 13QG
Charlie Noble 13EG
Music
Full colours
Laurence Carden 13TL
Benjamin Huston 13MG
James Powe 13KG
Phoebe Marquand 13SH
Christopher Thomas 13WG
Luke Sanders 13EG
Samuel Van Stroud 13KG
Jennifer Landesberg 13QG
Julian James 13SH
Half colours
Finn Strivens 13KG
Constantine HawaPeter Van Dongen 13MG
Antoniou 13FG
Christian Blackaby 13SH
Joseph Perl 13HG
Bertie Mills 13SH
Kane Rayner 13NG
Oscar Nolan 13GH
Menelaos Yiannakas 13MG Thomas Stephens 13WG
Half colours
Poppy Micottis 13SG
Madeleine Sands 13KG
Conor Wilcox-Mahon 13NG
Miranda Zeffman 13TL
Olivia Hall 13TL
Sabrina Simpson 13EG
Netball
Full colours
Jennifer Landesberg 13QG
Half-colours
Talia Caplan 13FG
Olivia Fox 13HG
Emily Hankin 13FG
Marina Mylonadis 13GH
Gabriella Paul 13HG
ACTIVITIES, SOCIETIES & CLUBS
Airfix Society
Charles Hill (8B) writes: This year was the
first one that Highgate has had an Airfix
Society, and I was lucky enough to be one
of the first members of it. We started off by
all building spitfires, but we soon branched
out into Messerschmitts, bombers, and all
sorts of other planes. We now have
soldiers, tanks, scenery, and a scale model
village. We are also building a model of an
actual WW1 plane that previous pupils
worked on in the early part of the last
century, an Avro 504. I have really enjoyed
this society, as it is quite small and we have
a chat over gluing and painting (though we
often do more talking than work).
Amnesty International
Niusha Bonakdarian (12NG) writes:
Highgate Amnesty International exists for
two reasons: to raise awareness of human
rights abuses going on every day, and to
see if there is something that we can do
about them. This year we have
predominantly followed the Amnesty
Campaign championing Women’s Rights
in Afghanistan. We have had moving
presentations, we have broadcast the
message, and we have written letters and
signed petitions. It is an uphill struggle, but
for as long as there are people who are
not permitted their basic human rights, the
work of Amnesty continues.
Autosoc
Omar Hussein (12MG): Autosoc has had a
busy, most successful year in its new
garage, with over fifteen students taking
part in sessions. Projects this year included
a new engine, an entire new car that was
given to the society and work on the
teaching car which is constantly breaking.
Autosoc continues to promote its belief that
anything can be fixed, even if it takes way
too much time to justify trying. I would like
to take this opportunity on behalf of
everyone in Autosoc to thank Dr Szydlo,
Mr Aston, Mr Lamb and Mr Willson for all
that they have done to make Highgate
Autosoc such an amazing place to spend
our time.
Beekeeping Society
Stella Strivens (10KG): What occurs in
Beekeeping Society? A select group of
young individuals who are talented in
various bee related things congregate and
discuss and take care of bees. We have
irregularly scheduled meetings where the
incredibly well-informed Dr. Szydlo
imparts his seemingly infinite knowledge to
us. We have held many talks about the life
cycle of bees, bees in general and candles!
Recently we have been experimenting with
creating our own beeswax candles and we
regularly produce Highgate’s own honey
which is delicious!
ACTIVITIES, SOCIETIES & CLUBS (continued)
Biology Society
insight into the delectable world of Welsh
The Biology Society continues to attract cheese, paving the way for many more
pupils from all year groups to discuss the young
Cheese
enthusiasts.
The
wider world of life science research. year culminated in what we hope to be the
Highlights this year included a talk by Dr first of many Cheese Society Specials: A
Peter Long from the Biodiversity Institute at World of Cheese, and Highgate School
the University of Oxford who spoke on the Cheese Society looks forward to another
topic of biodiversity technologies, and a Cheese-filled year to come.
presentation by Dr Ben Owens from
Somerville College, Oxford who discussed Chemistry Society
his work on translational gastroenterology. The highlight of Michaelmas 2013/14 was
a series of lunch hour lectures delivered by
Cheese Society
young researchers from some of the
Jacob Green (12HG), Aron Shelemy country’s leading universities. Ms Jennie
(12QG) and Joey Grostern (12MG), Co- Flint of Cambridge University gave an
chairs, report: Cheese Society enjoyed a exciting talk on novel approaches to
successful and informative second year studying Alzheimer’s using single
running with a variety of student talks and molecules. We were transported into the
a range of Year groups attending. Every realm of the organometallic and materials
fortnight, Highgate’s finest Affineurs gather chemist by Dr Michael Fisher of UCL. His
to listen to Smooth Jazz while discussing talk on advances in fuel storage for
and sampling a selection of Cheeses with a hydrogen-fuelled vehicles left us feeling
common theme; often a specific very optimistic about fixing our
manufacturing process or from certain overdependence on fossil fuels. In echoes
regions or countries. Memorable talks of the popular television series Breaking
include Mr. George Pliotis’ seminar on Bad, Dr Yu Heng Lau of Cambridge gave
Nordic cheeses at the beginning of the a highly entertaining talk about the drugyear, which featured a unique fudge-like discovery process and how labs in places
cheese called Gjetost (“Yay-toast”) that as far afield as China would always
caused much debate and controversy due remain a step ahead of government efforts
to its strange colour and texture. We were to ban legal highs.
glad to receive our first talk from a Year 8,
Oscar Wilkinson, who gave a fascinating
ACTIVITIES, SOCIETIES & CLUBS (continued)
Classics Society
the variety of life in rockpools and one
Mr Waller writes: Classics Society has met called ‘Have I got Newts for You’, about
every other Thursday this year and I can former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone’s
safely say that the talks have been of a favourite amphibians. There was also a
higher quality than I can remember. Our Quiz called ‘Biology Blockbusters’ which
faithful followers have been treated to was part of the Science Week programme
pupil-led talks on topics such as ‘Pre- of activities in the Lent Term.
Socratic Philosophy’, ‘The Sound of
Greece’, ‘Hannibal’, [Katie Waddell’s talk], Experimental Biology
‘Linear B Script’, and ‘Athenian The Experimental Biology TAA, supervised
Democracy’. We have also welcomed by Dr Weston and Dr Crawford, saw
more outside speakers than in recent years: Tamsin McKinnon (13SH), Joe Baker
Daniel Morden’s compelling re-telling of (13TL), Tavishi Kanwar (13KG), Finn
moments from the Odyssey - complete with Strivens (13KG), Sholto Gillie (12TL) and
sound effects – was totally engrossing, Eloise Most (12FG). undertake some high
whilst Professor Robin Osborne’s level research in the field of molecular
fascinating talk on the Art of the Athenian biology, using the polymerase chain
Acropolis was delivered as the annual reaction to amplify targeted regions of the
Douglas MacDowell Memorial Lecture to a Drosophila melanogaster genome. The
very healthy audience. Other talks have work maintained our link with Dr Teresa
centred on Cicero’s rhetoric, Greek tragedy Niccoli of UCL and culminated in the pupils
and Roman history. Many thanks go to all being selected to present their work at the
those students who led our sessions so Young Scientists’ Conference, held at The
successfully, and to Felicity Juckes (13WG) King’s School in Canterbury.
for her enthusiasm and organisation as
head of the society.
Family History and Genealogy TAA
Mr Streuli writes: A dozen or so pupils in
Junior Biology Society is intended for Year years 7 and 8 have explored their ancestry
7 and Year 8 pupils, and presents a variety in the Family History and Genealogy TAA
of talks on a wide range of topics in this this year. Those with ancestors from Britain
very diverse subject. We have had talks or Ireland have had a good deal of success
on springtime butterflies, the rather gory in tracing their forebears in the census
life cycle of dragonflies and damselflies, records and official registration indices
ACTIVITIES, SOCIETIES & CLUBS (continued)
back to the early nineteenth century. held, led and organised by Richard Law
Participants have enjoyed writing up their (12EG), looking at solving some classic
family trees either by hand or using chess riddles and puzzles.
bespoke software, and several have been
able to discover previously unknown Film Society
connections. This TAA is open to people Rafe Jennings (13WG) writes: Like a really
of all ages, and is especially helped by great film, Highgate Film Society is a rarer
having parents and grandparents willing event than you would hope. That fact has
to talk at home to participants about their not stopped the opinionated/ cynical/
own history.
critical/ pretentious members of Highgate
School meeting together to argue with
Chess
each other about whether or not David
Mr Wright reports: Chess continues to thrive Fincher is a gifted auteur or whether
at Highgate, with enthusiasm levels at an Fighter Club was just a flash in the pan (for
unprecedented high. The number signing the record neither are true, but the Social
up for Chess TAA has reached record Network is definitely worth watching); or
levels, with over 50 Year 7 to 9 pupils about whether any Christopher Nolan film
opting to play on a Tuesday afternoon. has any strong female characters (they do
Over 60 pupils competed in the Year 7 and not). The year may be over, but the
8 Inter-Form Chess Competition, held over arguments never are; as Federico Fellini
five lunchtimes during the Michaelmas says: “There is no end. There is no
Term, and which saw the 7H team (Harry beginning. There is only the infinite passion
Elliot, Luca Louis and Sarah Henderson) run of life.”
out convincing winners. In second place
were 7W, and in third place 8M T House Geography Society
Competition for the older pupils took place The Geography Society has been very
in Lent term and saw Southgate’s team of active this year under the excellent
Sammy French, Joseph Kleeman and leadership of Olivia Fox and Tasha Knight,
Manolis Chryssanthopoulos just pip who arranged a programme of exciting
Westgate and The Lodge on the final day to talks given by a number of outside
take first place by half a point. On the back speakers as well as many home-grown
of the House Competition a brief but offerings. Particular highlights were Ms
successful stint of lunchtime meetings were Sharon Alsoodani talking on ‘Pragmatic
ACTIVITIES, SOCIETIES & CLUBS (continued)
Solutions for Israel-Palestine’ and Dr Capitalism and Communism, along with
Thomas Smith speaking about wildfires. theoretical debates such as the difference
Cassie Weinstein spoke about Vulcanism between History and Historical Fiction.
in the UK and Nathan Taylor about the Isle
of Skye. Isabelle Chauzy outlined the Law Society
World Food Programme’s activities in Syria Harry Gestetner (9HG) writes: I am just one
and Fraser Medhurst spoke about the of the many Year 9s who attend Law
American health care system.
Society. It was set up for the Sixth Form,
but we turned up and now we have the best
History Society
attendance! We’ve had a huge variety of
Milo Savile (12FG) writes: History Society is talks from solicitors and barristers, on topics
a hugely popular and immensely interesting as diverse as ‘How can you defend
place. Attended by an array of students, someone you know is guilty?’ to ‘Maths in
from the school’s five most senior years, its the Courtroom’. Sixth formers have given
attendees are blessed with talks of a talks on legal subjects in the news that
similarly diverse nature. This year, our interest them, and Ms Orlans and the
members found themselves listening to talks Bursar have spoken to us, explaining their
ranging from the Jewish peoples’ past experiences as lawyers. I can speak
relationship with football, by Lisa Benson for most of us in saying that we really enjoy
(13QG), to Napoleon and the Peninsular asking questions! My favourite talk was
War, by Lucas Walker (10GH), to probably the talk on Intellectual Property
Khrushchev’s Secret Speech, by Gideon Law (the speaker, a partner in a City law
Phillips (12KG). From such presentations firm, even brought in toys to demonstrate
arise engaging and often provocative his points!) Law Society is among my
questions that allow the Society’s members favourite lunch activities.
to grapple with and debate historical issues;
a talk by Marcus Leonardo (Year 11), on Senior Maths Society
the Falklands War, led to half an hour of As well as in-house talks from staff and
heated discussion regarding the nature of students, including the particularly
British ambitions. As well as the weekly memorable Who Plays the French Horn?
meetings, the Society publishes an annual from Theo Hurford (13SH), we were also
Journal, in which contributors addressed pleased to welcome some eminent visiting
such topics as the tensions between lectures. Professor Imre Leader, Trinity
ACTIVITIES, SOCIETIES & CLUBS (continued)
College Cambridge, started the year off in of Paediatrics and Child Health to Major
September with a talk on Games of Edwards (OC), who is one of the country’s
Evasion and Pursuit, and he also spent time leading trauma surgeons. Many of the
with the nine students taking part in the UK speakers were parents or friends of the
Maths Olympiad for Girls, showing them School who gave highly stimulating and
some of the tricks of the trade of problem insightful talks about their specialism to
solving. A feature of this year has been many potential medical and life science
several cross-curricular talks, including Mr students. Dr Wilson of the National
Davison presenting on Godel’s Theorem Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery,
jointly with Philosophy Society, and two gave a particularly memorable and
Biological presentations one from Mr moving presentation on the issues and
Pearce on Evolutionary Behaviour and one ethics of brainstem death, which generated
from Dr Jonathan Swinton, AstraZeneca, many interesting questions and debates
on the emergence of patterns within living amongst students long after the speaker
organisms.
had left.
Junior Maths Society
Junior Maths Society events were extremely
popular this year, both at Olympiad
training sessions and lunchtime talks. As
well as in house presentations we also
hosted talks from some well-known
external speakers including Professor
Emma McCoy (Head of Department at
Imperial College) and Professor David
Spiegelhalter, who gave a talk to the whole
of Year 10.
Medical Society
Dr Welch writes: Medical Society was
privileged to have so many distinguished
speakers throughout the year ranging from
Dr Cass, the President of the Royal College
Natural Sciences Society
The Natural Sciences Society continued to
flourish this year. It was good to see a
plethora of excellent and diverse
presentations from both Y12 and Y13
students. Highlights included a presentation
by Tamsin McKinnon on the future of pain
relief, which astonished the audience with
her knowledge of the subject, and Ben
Reed’s presentation on ‘Just Plumbing and
Electricity’. Zoe Kay delivered a highly
interesting and innovative presentation on
‘Nanopatch Vaccines’, while Max Savage
and Joe Baker gave a lively talk on the
chemistry of ‘Poisons’.
ACTIVITIES, SOCIETIES & CLUBS (continued)
Philosophy Society
Summer Festival where it was possible to
Charlie Gladstone (13TL) and Ben Huston have a close encounter of the scaly kind
(13MG) write: Philosophy Society has been with Stripe the African Fat-Tailed Gecko
known by its attendees as the fortnightly and Red the Corn Snake. There have been
home of discussion and presentations by presentations on native reptiles in the UK,
pupils and teachers. Over the last year we the reptiles of Provence, as well as accounts
have asked ourselves: “why should we be of individual pets kept responsibly by the
governed?”, “are science and faith members of the society.
incompatible?” and, “why do so many
great philosophers have such incredible Year 12 Social Enterprise Project
moustaches?” Perhaps unlike other Chloe Grabiner (13SG) writes: A social
societies, Philosophy Society has attracted enterprise is an organisation that applies
pupils from many different areas of commercial strategies to maximize
academic interest and discussions have improvements in human and environmental
frequently extended beyond the official end well-being, rather than maximizing profits
of the society, and sometimes into the for external shareholders. This year, five
common room itself. Never holding itself teams learnt all about this during our time
above any area of academia, or insisting working on our own social enterprises, with
on a formal approach, Philosophy Society ideas ranging from lower school discos to
has been appreciated by the interested and winter fairs, all linked with the common
the interesting.
goal of improving both environmental and
human well-being. Our group created a
Reptile Society remains one of the most company called ‘Hashtag’, which sold
popular activities especially with members unisex jumpers. In line with what we had
of Year 7. The Society is proud to have learnt in the many sessions held by Miss
been filmed this year on two occasions for Norris and outside speakers brought in to
use by Highgate in its fund-raising, giving help us with both the management and
the lie to the idea that you should never social aspects, we made sure to source the
work with children and animals. Steve the product as locally as we could to reduce the
Kingsnake, our veteran reptile at well over carbon footprint. A main stage in the
twenty years old and still going strong, was process was pitching our idea to the
one of the stars of the show. There was School’s own version of a ‘Dragon’s Den’
also a Reptile Society stall at the Highgate with a judging panel comprised of
ACTIVITIES, SOCIETIES & CLUBS (continued)
successful entrepreneurs Seb Bishop Urban Survival is a Tuesday Afternoon
and Victoria Flemmington, and our own Activity which aims to prepare pupils for
Bursar Mr Pheasant. Each group had to life in the ‘Concrete Jungle’. Dr Szydlo
pitch their business plan, once it had been continued his thorough practical course on
approved by the Bursar, and the judges car maintenance featuring his trusty
then picked a winner. Fortunately, having Triumph Herald, where pupils learned not
been the only group to have already started only how to undertake basic checks but
implementing their plan, our group won.
also to repair damage using welding
equipment. Mrs Cunningham delivered a
The most rewarding part of Social series of sessions on managing your
Enterprise was getting to experience money from the cradle to the grave,
running our own business and having to including living on a budget as a university
take responsibility if things went wrong. It student, obtaining a loan for a car and
prepared us for working in teams later in getting a mortgage. Finally, the urban
life but most importantly the £2,920 raised navigation module teaches pupils how to
for our chosen charity ‘Action for Children’ navigate safely, quickly and cheaply
around the Capital as well as introducing
was the best outcome.
some of the history of the city, the London
Underground system and the London A-Z
Atlas.
COMPETITIONS
A number of sixth form pupils took part in
the 2014 Biology Olympiad organised by
the Society of Biology. Tavishi Kanwar
(13KG) was awarded a gold medal. Silver
medals were won by Joe Baker (13TL),
Justin Hoggard (13EG), Max Robertson
(12SG) and Finn Strivens (13KG) and Alex
Lipien (12HG) and Tamsin McKinnon
(13SH) received bronze medals.
Over sixty pupils in year 10 took part in
the 2014 Biology Challenge organised by
the Society of Biology. Gold medals were
awarded to Toby Barker (10SH), Sam
Jones (10HG), Charlie Solomons (10TL),
Joe Hilton (10HG), Nirwan O’Shea-Nejad
(10MG), Matthew Houppermans (10NG),
Edward Kirkpatrick (10SH) and Samuel
Huston (10MG).
This year’s Chemistry Olympiad saw
Samuel Karlin gain a Gold award and
another 12 Highgate pupils achieve Silver
awards (Alistair Baldry (13GH), Richard
Law(12EG), Max Robertson(12SG), Igor
Yakunin (12SG) , Joe Baker (13TL), Tavishi
Kanwar (13KG), Tamsin McKinnon
(13SH), Stephen Papaloizou (13QG), Bali
Parmar (13SH), Lucas Raschke (13GH),
Max Savage (13SG) and Annabel Simms
(13QG)), in this notoriously tricky
competition.
A group of Year 10 pupils (Charlie
Solomons (10TL), Misha Voloboev (10SH),
Sam Fowler (10EG), Joe Hilton (10HG))
entered the Chemistry Challenge, a new
competition run by the Royal Society of
Chemistry. Highgate came 2nd out of 70
teams that entered, with a score of 97%.
‘Top of the Bench’ Chemistry Competition
Charlie Solomons (10TL) writes: The Top of
the Bench competition is a nationwide
chemistry challenge organised by The
Royal Society of Chemistry. Since the
competition’s creation a few years ago,
Highgate has always participated. The
competition is based on an opening round
done by area, and if you win you regional
qualifier you go to the finals, this year held
at Loughborough University. The last time
Highgate won the regional qualifiers, we
ended up winning the whole thing, so the
pressure was on when Juliet Evans (11KG),
Sean Lennard Berney (9MG), Alex Law
(9EG) and myself narrowly won our
regionals. We then went off to
Loughborough to participate in the big
finals, and had to sit a half-hour exam,
followed by two practicals, one of which
used high-end chromatography equipment
on tea, the other being a set of experiments
used to determine what unknown
substances were at hand. Unfortunately we
didn’t win, but it was a great learning
COMPETITIONS (continued)
experience, as well as an interesting taster
of what chemistry at university was like.
Thanks to Dr Szydlo for organising it all,
and being a great inspiration for us.
Economics: Target 2.0
Josh O’Neill (13WG) reports:
In
November, Highgate participated in the
Bank of England’s Target 2.0. The
competition requires students to form a
panel, and to replicate the role of the Bank
of England’s Monetary Policy Committee;
i.e analyse the most recent economic data,
and hence decide what to do with the
Bank’s base interest rate and Quantitative
Easing Programme. Each member of the
Highgate team was given a particular facet
of the economy to study, and to present to
the Bank staff: Saachi Sehgal (13HG) was
given Demand, Sam Winter (13MG) Prices,
Kimara Saldanha (13MG) Supply and Josh
O’Neill Credit & Quantitative Easing.
Charlie Noble (13EG) completed the team
by co-ordinating the group presentation. In
a day at the Bank that showcased fauxMPCs of mixed solemnity, Highgate
performed well, coming a narrow second
in the Regional Round to the very
impressive QE Boys’. The competition
certainly aided our comprehension of the
national economy, and it was a great
experience to be quizzed on policy by the
very people who initiate it.
Linguistics Olympiad
Mr Brunskill writes: Several Year 12 and
13 pupils competed in this year’s
Advanced Linguistics Olympiad. It is a
demanding exam and the pupils had no
training beforehand. There is a lot of
problem-solving involving spotting patterns
in living, dead and made-up languages in
order to break the codes. There was a
mixture of linguists and mathematicians
taking the exam and a number of high
scores resulted, with Nicholas Ridpath
(12HG) being awarded a Gold Certificate,
which puts him in the top 5% of all those
who took the exam in the country.
HSBC/British Council Mandarin speaking
competition
Ariel Reingold (12HG) writes: I was one of
three Highgate pupils, with James Remo
(11FG) and Amber Gerrard (10HG) to get
through the London regional heat in the
British Council’s Mandarin speaking
competition, and to take part in the final
which aptly took place during Chinese
New Year. After much preparation and
practice with our two brilliant teachers, Mrs
Wallis and Ms Cheng, we were ready for
the big day. Having the world famous
British Museum as the venue certainly did
not make the competition any less daunting
nor did the large number of native
Mandarin teachers there with their
COMPETITIONS (continued)
students. After much deliberation over
what was some very tight competition, the
team of judges announced the results.
Highgate had won the advanced category!
This meant that I was invited to the British
Council’s 80th anniversary celebrations,
where I met the Prince of Wales. A big
thank you to Mrs Wallis and Ms Cheng for
all their support.
Mathematics Competitions
In the Intermediate Maths Olympiad, Jacob
Chevalier Drori (10TL) was awarded a
Distinction and a prize, and Sam Jones
(10HG), Robert Harvey Wood (11SG),
Daniel Remo (11NG), Ravi Sharma (11TL)
and
Wenbo Cao (11GH) were all
awarded a Distinction. Thanks to Mr
Walter for his coaching.
Highgate Maths teams had a very
successful year. The highlight was probably
the victory of a Year 10 team (Jacob
Chevalier Drori, Misha Voloboev (10SH),
Joseph O’Neill (10FG) and Lucas Danson
(10QG)) victory in the London Heats of the
FMSP Team Competition followed by
second place in the regional East of
England final which took place in
Cambridge. Perhaps equally encouraging
was the strength in depth, with our second
team finishing fourth in the heats. Our
Hans Woyda quartet (Sean Lennard
Berney (9MG), Daniel Remo(11NG),
Richard Law (12EG), Sam Karlin (13EG))
finished second in the Northern Plate Final,
and there was a new girls only team who
had enjoyable fixtures against Channing,
St Albans High School and North London
Collegiate.
EVENTS
75th Anniversary of Jewish Circle
JC Chairs: Lisa Benson (13QG), Olivia
Fox (13HG), Chloe Grabiner (13SG) and
Joe Perl (13HG) report: On 5 April 2014,
Jewish Circle marked its 75th anniversary
since the group’s creation during the
school’s evacuation to Westward Ho! in
1939. With the service led by Rabbi Liss
of the Highgate Synagogue, a range of
speakers shared their memories and
reflections of Jewish Circle including
father and son OCs Andy Lennard (HG
1972) and Conrad Lennard (HG 2009).
The 200 strong audience demonstrated
not only the strength in numbers of
Highgate School’s Jewish Circle past and
present, but also the warmth which continues to bond the group. As Jewish Circle
leaders, we together felt incredibly proud
to have chaired the group during our final
year at school and to have been given the
opportunity to take part in such a meaningful service. The event was a wonderful
parting memory and one that we can
hopefully share at the Jewish Circle’s
100th anniversary!
Opening of the Sir Martin Gilbert Library
On 5 May, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP,
former Prime Minister, visited Highgate to
open the Sir Martin Gilbert Library,
named for his friend and colleague, Sir
Martin Gilbert OC, the distinguished
biographer of Churchill and Jewish historian in the presence of the Israeli
Ambassador, Lady Esther Gilbert, Gilbert
family members and friends and Highgate
pupils and staff. The Heads of School,
Jamie Powe and Maddie Sands (13KG)
welcomed Mr Brown, who amazed us all
by speaking for 20 minutes without notes
after an overnight flight from Washington,
and who delighted the scholars lined up to
meet him by shaking hands and speaking
to each one of them.
HIGHGATE ABROAD
Sixth Form Biology Trip to Honduras
Joe Baker (13TL): Biology is by far my
favourite subject and I intend to study it at
University. So I was over the moon when I
found out that there would be a
conservation ecology trip to Honduras over
summer and I immediately enrolled. I didn’t
expect any of what occurred on the trip,
largely because there was so much to do
that didn’t seem like conservation work.
We hiked and went scuba diving and
talked to local people living in one of the
less populous Buenos Aires’ (apparently
there are quite a few of them). But as idyllic
as this holiday sounds we did do
conservation work and it was brilliant. We
hiked for hours to reach a spot by a river
where we could catch and count beautiful
iridescent orchid bees or hours in the other
direction to reset dung beetle traps –dung
beetle numbers are excellent indicators of
the health of a rain forest. We had a great
time and there is nothing that could have
done more to enhance my love of biology.
Sixth Form Geography trip to Morocco
Riaz Razaq (13FG) writes: A 14-strong
group of dedicated Highgate geographers
(12 Sixth Form students and two teachers)
rolled away from school on 4 April en
route to Marrakech, Morocco, feeling that
we were in some way reviving geography’s
fantastically explorative heritage For many
of our group, Morocco 2014 was the first
venture into Africa. The first day we spent
much of our time travelling on the bumpy
and winding roads in the Atlas Mountains
as became common during the trip;
thankfully, we were treated to views of
unparalleled splendour. On our travels we
also visited Marrakech’s famous souks,
where we encountered the pushiest
salespeople north of the Equator and I
struggled dismally to purchase some spices
for my mother. Two locations remain
especially vivid in my mind, the first being
the vast Todgha Gorge in the eastern High
Atlas Mountains. The second was the
unending expanses of the Sahara desert,
with rolling dunes spreading out into the
distance. Our group was carried by a
recklessly-driven convoy of four-by-fours to
a camp perched on the edge of the desert;
we arrived in the early evening and, in
front of a glorious Saharan sunset,
attempted (with wildly varying degrees of
success) sandboarding before dinner.
(Very) Early the following morning, we had
the opportunity to ride camels back to
civilisation: this hour-long task was not kind
to my thighs, although the pain was more
than worthwhile for the splendiferous
desert scenery and sunrise that we saw.
HIGHGATE ABROAD (continued)
Visit to Great Lakes High School, Uganda
Lisa Benson (13QG): During two weeks in
the summer of 2013 22 Highgate pupils
were led into the great Ugandan unknown
by Mr Short, Mr Dabrowksi and Miss
Jackson. Despite many bumps along the
way (upset stomachs, geckos, and the quite
literal bumps of un-tarmacked roads) we
all left with a greater understanding of
Uganda, a greater respect for teaching
and unbreakable bonds with the children
of Great Lakes High School. Personally, I
would recommend this trip to anyone: if the
lures of trying to beat the Great Lakes
football team (still only a dream after
drawing 5-5 and losing on penalties),
teaching Greek dancing and visiting the
Nyamirama and Kirima Parents’ primary
schools are not enough to tempt you, I am
sure the two-day safari trip to the Queen
Elizabeth national park is, where water
buffalo, monkeys, hippos, elephants, and
lions are often within reach.
Physics trip to the Kennedy Space Centre,
Florida
Ingimar Tomasson (9WG), Dimitris
Papatheofanous (10NG) and Max
Eskenazi (10SG) report:
The first thing I noticed in Florida was the
wonderful weather allowing you to wear
just a T-shirt. The highlights of the hotel
were the heated pool that we made good
use of in the evening and the american
breakfast with jugs of maple syrup to start
the day. Ingimar was inspired the most by
the museum in the Kennedy Space Centre
which taught him the physics behind space
travel. Just next to the museum was the
rocket garden which had many different
rockets that actually flew to space. Dimitris
found it really hard to pick a favourite: The
micro-gravity wall was great fun. The
science centre was educational. Everything
was amazing! Max: The Kennedy Space
Center is still a working site and It was
really great having lunch with an astronaut
who had worked on Skylab III .But the
craziest thing was looking at the 1960’s
Mission Control Center. (That’s spelled
center not centre). The entire control room
has been kept exactly the way it was when
the lunar landing happened. It is shocking
how basic and functional the objects in the
room are. The desks are huge and clunky
and covered in switches, huge binders and
the odd slide ruler- primitive tools, but the
only devices one could use for calculations
because there were essentially no
computers. Thanks to Dr Quinn, Miss
Taylor and Mr Doyle for a great trip.
HIGHGATE ABROAD (continued)
Year 7 ski trip
Emma Williets (7W): The Austria ski trip in
April was my favourite school event of the
year. I had been skiing a couple of times
before but never like this and I couldn’t wait
to arrive in the hotel in Nassfeld. When we
got there we got sorted into dorms with our
friends and then came down for dinner. My
group attempted red runs, black runs and
lots of bumps and jumps. My favourite part
of the week was when we crossed into Italy
to go and have pizza. Every evening there
was an activity. The one I liked most was
swimming because there was a huge water
slide. On the last night there was a disco
which was fantastic and everyone got to
show off their dance moves. The trip was a
huge success thanks to Mr. Humphrey and
all the other teachers.
German/History visit to Berlin
Mr Creagh writes: During the October
half-term 20 students from Year 11 and
Year 13 took part in a cross-curricular visit
to Berlin organized by the German and
History Departments. The group stayed in
the vibrant Mitte district and enjoyed four
full days of sightseeing in the German
capita, including visits to the Brandenburg
Gate, Checkpoint Charlie Museum, the
Berlin Cathedral, and the Stasi Museum.
Fuelled by the famous local brand of
Currywurst and plenty of chocolate, the
Highgate Germanists and historians made
considerable efforts to improve their
German and to extend their knowledge of
the GCSE History Curriculum. Thanks to Mr
Newton and to Ms Church for co-leading
the visit.
Year 7 visit to Lille
Max Starn (7W) and India King (7D)
report: With the exams over, we looked
forward to half term knowing that we had
another (working!) holiday to come. The
French trip to Lille was amazing, with the
whole of Year 7 descending on France via
the Eurostar – it seemed like one minute we
were at school and then the next munching
on baguettes and asking locals questions
in French! We actually slept quite well and
only managed to keep the teachers awake
a little bit, whilst in the day we enjoyed
trips to local museums and galleries.!
Home comforts were also to be had – we
watched 101 Dalmatians at the cinema (in
French!) and went shopping and ate
crepes (ordering in French – of course!).
Thanks to all the teachers, and especially
Mlle Pottier for organising such a great
trip. Next year’s Year 7 will have a great
time, so get practising Year 6!
Year 10 French exchange
Ruby Gold (10FG) writes: We arrived in
Paris at the Gard du Nord feeling excited
HIGHGATE ABROAD (continued)
but slightly nervous and were taken to our
respective homes for the week by our
exchanges. I was collected by Leo and his
parents. Every morning Leo and I took the
metro straight to Jean-Baptiste Say School
which was very pretty with Parisian
wrought iron gates. In our Highgate group
we spent the week walking through Paris in
the warm sunny weather visiting galleries
and well-known sites such as the Arc de
Triomphe, the Musée d’Orsay and the
Louvre where we sat out in the Jardin des
Tuileries eating our lunch together. Over the
week we ate too many crepes and delicious
steaks, and I even plucked up the courage
to try snails. For me the best part was taking
the Bateau Mouche along the Seine. It was
sad to see the last of our exchanges on
Monday when we left because everyone
had really enjoyed their week.
Year 12 French exchange to Paris
Octavia Browett (12SH) writes: On the first
day, having arrived safely at Gare du
Nord in Paris and spent the evening
catching up with our exchanges, we
climbed 225 steps to Montmartre, where
we spent the morning entertaining
ourselves with a photo challenge, visiting
the lovely church and gazing at the
fantastic view of Paris. The rest of our trip
included a visit to the famous museum, Le
Louvre, listening in on a French Radio
programme at the studio, wandering
around the idyllic Marais, and buying
macaroons
at
every
available
opportunity! The definite highlight was the
morning spent at a cooking workshop in
the suburbs of Paris, where our three teams
made the starter, main course and dessert,
and then were able to taste the finished
product of each.
German Exchange
James Rodgers (10HG) writes: Contrary to
the popular portrayal of the Ruhr region as
a grey, polluted and ugly region, our
location was full of beautiful landscapes
safeguarded by strict environmentallyfriendly policies and our exchange
partners, their families and their friends
made us feel extremely welcome through
our stay. One of our favourite excursions
was the 10 mile bike tour around the
Baldeneyer Lake. With the sun shining,
lovely views, and welcome pit stops for
Minigolf and home-made Apfelstrudel you
can’t really go wrong! It was interesting to
spend time in lessons in a Gymnasium
(Grammar School) and I loved exploring
Essen Werden too as the town seemed
straight out of the Middle Ages with
cobbled pavements all through the town
centre. However, the visits to the cities of
Gelsenkirchen, Cologne and Düsseldorf
were definitely the highlights. It struck me
HIGHGATE ABROAD (continued)
just how proud Germans were of their
industrial past and on our visit to the Veltins
Arena, the home of Schalke FC, we learnt
how well German clubs treat their fans. It
was difficult to appreciate the towering and
ornate Cologne cathedral after 600 steps
when severe “Muskelkater” (muscle
hangover) had set in! The treats offered in
the Chocolate Museum, however, were
definitely appreciated.
Mandarin trip to China
Robert Preston (11MG) reports: Flight
BA39 took off at 5:00pm GMT on Monday
21 October and by 12:00pm Beijing time
on Tuesday, we had arrived. The next ten
days were packed with excitement and joy.
On our first day in Beijing, after a quick
introduction to Beijing cuisine, we were
whisked off to an enamelling factory and
then to a traditional cultural street where
the sight of a Starbucks and the
opportunity to fill ourselves with caffeine to
try and remain conscious after an 11-hour
flight was a great relief. After a fair amount
of window shopping it was on to dinner
and an early night. The next day was
packed, with visits to the magnificently
huge Great Wall and exquisite Summer
Palace along with plenty of food, including
authentic Peking Duck. On our last day in
Beijing, we visited Tiananmen Square, The
Forbidden City and The Temple of Heaven.
In Xi’an, we were struck by how huge the
city is, despite the fact it is relatively small
compared to most cities in China. Our first
day was spent at the Drum and Bell Towers
and Big Goose Pagoda. Next day, after an
authentic KFC lunch the whole group had
been begging for ever since we spotted
one in Beijing, it was on to the Terracotta
Warriors.. To see them lined up, row on
row, and to be able to observe the ongoing
archaeological work going on there is truly
amazing and my personal highlight of the
trip. That very same evening, we were on
the plane to Chengdu to see the pandas.
Back in Beijing, on our last day we were
treated to a rickshaw tour of the traditional
Hutong streets of Beijing. The China trip
was everything you could hope a school
trip would be, it was exciting, all of us tried
something new, we saw some of the most
magnificent sights in the world, we made
new friendships but most of all, everyone
had a great time. Thank you to Mrs Wallis,
Ms Cheng and the teachers who
accompanied us.
HIGHGATE IN LONDON
Scholars’ Programme
The scholars’ programme has grown
substantially this year from the exciting
curriculum of academic fora, with a
number of visits for the lower years. Year 7
considered ‘big questions without answers’
on trips to Greenwich Observatory and
Kenwood House, Year 8 mused on status
in British society in Highgate Cemetery and
the Banqueting House, and Year 9 enjoyed
some superb architecture when visiting the
Royal Courts of Justice and St Paul’s
Cathedral. To complete the programme,
Year 10 scholars started thinking about
what they might do in a few years’ time,
prompted by a tour around Gonville and
Caius College, Cambridge, and a lecture
from one of its resident academics. On the
Year 9 trips, Rory McKinnon (9SH) writes:
The first was a tour of the Royal Courts of
Justice - a beautiful building designed by
architect George Edmund Street. Walking
through the halls and corridors, we learned
about the struggle for completion during
the eleven years of construction, and some
of the famous cases that had been held
there. Our second visit was to St Pauls
Cathedral. After starting on the ground
floor gazing up at the incredible
decorations on the dome, we climbed up
to the Whispering Gallery, and further
onto the roof to admire the spectacular
views across London.
The senior students also worked extremely
hard to write and edit this year’s edition of
Perspective (the scholars’ journal), which
has an especially interesting theme of
Collaboration and Synthesis. Articles
ranged from Pericles and the Purists by
Conor Wilcox-Mahon to A Solution to
doping in sport by Tamsin McKinnon.
Visits in London
Oliver Dickson (12KG) writes: In April, my
classmates and I went to Soho to visit
Chinatown for lunch. We all ordered in
Mandarin and tried a variety of food. After
lunch we set out to test out our speaking
skills on the people walking around
Chinatown. We found this hard as some
people were Cantonese speakers.
However, we persisted in our interviews
and
managed
to
hold
flowing
conversations in Mandarin with passersby. We then finished off our trip to
Chinatown by treating ourselves to a taste
of traditional bubble tea.
Annie Rouse (11FG) writes: Earlier this
year, I attended a talk at the Physics Society
by Professor Sara Russell, Head of the
Mineral and Planetary Sciences Division at
the Natural History Museum, about
meteorites. As a result of this, three of us
were invited to go to South Kensington to
see behind the scenes. As we toured the
stores and research laboratories we were
able to see some of the meteorites which
are not normally on display and learn
about how they are analysed to yield
information about their origins in outer
space, using the technique of spectroscopy
for example. This was a very interesting
and valuable experience, and we all
learned a lot about this fascinating area of
physics.
In March fifteen Y12 Biologists were invited
to attend the ‘Ask a Nobel Scientist’ event,
organised by the Crick Institute and hosted
by the Wellcome Trust. Pupils were asked
to submit questions to a select panel in
advance and Lily Bracken (12KG) was
chosen to ask her question, also winning a
prize for its quality afterwards.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Lower School Community Action Committee
Isobel Wilcox-Mahon and Ella Young (7J)
write: This year the School has joined
North London Citizens. Each Tuesday,
Sophie, a representative from the
organisation, comes in and the Lower
School Community Action Committee TAA
discusses issues that we can solve in the
local area. One of the things we care
strongly about is inappropriate and scary
adverts on phone boxes near schools. We
called this campaign “Say No to Naughty
Ads!” To try and stop these adverts, we
have sent letters to BT and have met a Lib
Dem councillor who agreed to support out
campaign. Recently, Highgate were proud
to host the North London Citizen’s
Assembly, where we helped out with the
preparations and heard more from local
politicians. Lower School Community
Action TAA has made us think about the
local community in a different way and has
opened our eyes to issues we can change.
Year 9 Community Programme
Every pupil in Year 9 spends one day
working for the local community. This year
the Community Programme sent pupils to
primary schools, charity shops and schools
for children with special needs. All the host
institutions gave us glowing feedback and
our pupils found the experience interesting
and inspiring.
Ellen Bonser (9HG) writes: I visited
Holmewood School, a school for children
with special needs, I helped teach basic
numeracy and literacy and played sport
with the children. I most enjoyed teaching
one of the pupils number bonds. I learned
more about autism and autistic children. It
was a really good experience and I got
quite a lot out of it. They really enjoyed it us
being there I think, as did I, so it was really
good’
Juliette De Freitas Vile (9HG) writes: I went
to Highgate Primary School. I helped the
children make props for their play and
learn their lines. We played outside. I read
to them and helped them stick. I really
enjoyed looking after these children. I found
the assembly really interesting as there were
a lot of partially deaf children and all the
kids including the ones that weren’t deaf
joined in with the sign language.
SHINE
Miss Church (who co-organised the project
this year with Ms Orlans) writes: This was
the fourth year of the highly successful
SHINE Serious Fun on Saturdays literacy
project, which is aimed at children from
many different ethnic backgrounds who
wish to improve their level of spoken and
written English. Many of them have lived
for only a short time in the UK.
COMMUNITY SERVICE (continued)
For 10 Saturdays in December and
January a group of thirty pupils from Crest
Girls and Crest Boys Academies attended
lessons at Highgate in English, Games and
Art. Once again, we had amazing help
and support from Highgate teachers who
came to teach lessons, and from Highgate
pupils from Years 10, 11 and 12 who
acted as mentors, giving up their Saturday
mornings to work closely with these
children and ultimately giving them the
confidence to speak and present in front of
a large group of people. Feedback from
the Crest pupils has been overwhelmingly
positive. The project will continue next year.
HIGHGATE PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES
Our partnership teaching operates in
association with 43 schools in Haringey,
Camden, Brent, Islington and Enfield with
teaching concentrated in STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Maths)
subjects at Key Stages 2-5. Thirteen
teachers have timetabled allocations
equivalent to the work of four full-time
teachers. Other teachers in Biology,
Classics, and Design and Technology also
devote time to partnership teaching on a
voluntary basis. There are thirteen primary
schools and thirty secondary schools in our
network of partner schools this year.
Chrysalis
Most of the secondary schools with whom
we work are part of a group called
Chrysalis, an initiative started six years
ago to bring a university access scheme to
gifted and talented cohorts at schools in
north London. This year saw another round
of well-attended Chrysalis summer schools,
with 90 students registered for the four-day
Year 12 programme and forty-five students
registered for the Year 10 summer school,
as well as the launch of the Arcadia Work
Experience Programme.
Physics
Physics teachers Dr Quinn and Miss Staight
each spend half their time working as
Highgate Partnership Teachers. Dr Quinn
has been working this year at
Northumberland Park School in Tottenham
and at Heartlands High School in Wood
Green. Ms. Staight has been mainly at the
Crest Academies in Brent, where students
have been studying AS Physics for the first
time in 2013-14. She has successfully
launched and run a lunchtime science club
in the boys’ Academy and hopes to
expand this initiative to the girls’ Academy
in September 2014. Both teachers have
also worked with Parliament Hill School in
Dartmouth Park. In all schools, they work
with new teachers and non-specialist
teachers through the sharing of teaching
resources, lesson observations and
assistance with practicals. Throughout the
year after-school drop-in clinics and
Saturday morning masterclasses have
been available to students from partner
schools with a desire to extend their
knowledge, brush up on exam questions or
simply to be part of a young scientific
community. This work is funded by
generous donations from private donors
including parents and the Ogden Trust.
Highgate hosted a Stimulating Physics
Network (SPN) Day for teachers in March
2014 which was the most successful of its
kind to date, attracting 72 physics teachers
and technicians from across the
maintained, independent and further
HIGHGATE PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES (continued)
education sectors. Once each term the
Camden, Haringey and Islington Physics
Network has convened after school at
Highgate to demonstrate interesting, nonstandard practical work to teachers from
our partner schools. The Summer Term saw
the launch of a series of in-school
enrichment talks that can be booked by
partner schools. Dr Quinn and Miss Staight
have delivered presentations on Energy,
Medical Physics and Particle Physics at
Highbury Grove School in Highbury, Saint
Mary Magdalene Academy in Islington
and La Sainte Union in Dartmouth Park.
Chemistry
Dr Agyei-Owusu and Dr Szydlo also
spend half their time working as Highgate
Partnership Teachers Dr Agyei-Owusu
works on timetabled activities, dividing his
time between the Crest Academies in Brent,
the London Academy of Excellence and
Parliament Hill School. He team teaches
with newly-qualified teachers and nonspecialist teachers in Key Stages 4 and 5,
and works to support the teaching of
practicals in Years 11-13. Dr Szydlo gives
dynamic demonstration lectures which are
available for booking by our partner
schools and other interested groups,
including the Royal Institute which hosted
a fully-booked presentation in April 2014.
Mr Bains, the Head of Science, has given
significant support in the Spring and
Summer terms the teaching of chemistry at
the London Academy of Excellence in
Stratford.
Chemistry-Physics Joint Initiatives
This year saw the Highgate Chemistry and
Physics Departments join forces to deliver
an enticing extravaganza of science
around a theme. Starting with “Coins” and
moving on to “Time” with an explosive end
in “Combustion and Heat”, Drs Quinn and
Agyei-Owusu worked with Miss Staight to
create an immersive and investigative
experience for the pupils visiting from the
Crest Academies, Parliament Hill, La Sainte
Union and St. Mary Magdalene Academy.
We are often asked about how we might
encourage more girls to engage with
science in our partner schools and it has
been noteworthy that the number of girls
in
attendance
at
the
Saturday
masterclasses has far outweighed the
number of boys.
In June, Dr. Agyei-Owusu organised the
fourth annual Highgate Chemistry and
Physics Conference for 140 pupils in
attendance including about 50 from partner
schools. The packed full-day programme
sees Highgate taken over by stimulating and
HIGHGATE PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES (continued)
thought-provoking workshops and seminars
run by speakers from Cambridge University,
UCL, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the
National Gallery.
Maths
Mr. Butterfield has led the Maths
partnership work this year with a team of
Highgate teachers working for the
equivalent hours of two full-time teachers
in partner schools across Haringey,
Camden, Islington, Brent and Enfield. Their
activities are concentrated on the gifted
and talented cohort from Key Stage 2 to 5
and can range from Maths Clubs at local
primary schools to the teaching of A2
Further Maths to a class of fifteen students
whose schools do not offer this in Year 13.
With University Preparation classes run on
seven Saturdays in Michaelmas, Highgate
teachers provide Year 13 students with
personal statement assistance and
interview skills training.
Termly enrichment days at Highgate,
visiting speakers and trips to the Royal
Institute have created the opportunity to
form a maths community among the
students who attend. In Haringey, where
in-school Key Stage 3 maths clubs have
been set up and run in several schools, this
work has culminated in the inaugural Year
7 and Y8 Haringey Junior Maths
Competition at Heartlands School in June
2014 where ten local schools competed.
Highgate partnership teachers also work
with two schools for autistic pupils
(TreeHouse School in Muswell Hill and
Holmewood School in North Finchley and
Highgate pupils from Years 9 and 12 work
as pupil mentors.
Primary Summer Schools
UCS and Highgate work together every
summer to host a three-day ‘Voyages of
Exploration’ summer school for local
primary school children. Highgate also
hosts a one-day summer school for
children from our partnership teaching
primary schools. There was also a threeday Year 5 ‘Olympic Legacy’ Summer
School which took place at Highgate and
involved fifty-eight pupils invited by
Highgate and UCS with the aim of
providing activities for pupils with a talent
for sport.
Highgate Pupil Mentors
Several of the partnership projects include
mentors. Highgate pupils have the
opportunity to work with pupils from
partner schools in enrichment activities
which take place before or after school, at
weekends and occasionally during the
school day.
HIGHGATE PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES (continued)
Using a format inspired by Ernest
Hemingway, who according to legend was
challenged to write a novel in six words (he
is said to have written “For Sale. Baby
Shoes”. Never Worn”. Highgate pupils
from Years Nine and Twelve recount their
experience of mentoring in six words.
Everyone can be taught by anyone. Jacob
Green (12HG). I hope I helped someone
learn. Omar Hussein (12MG). While
teaching I began to learn. George Pugh
(9TL). Giving time, giving knowledge,
receiving satisfaction. Aarti Patel (12HG).
New
intriguing
interactions
with
inspirational people. Grace McIntosh
(9SH). My Mentoring Meant More than
Much. David Brown (9EG). Maths
mentoring > its parts. Benedict Reed
(12EG). Good fun, we all learnt lots. Theo
Hurford (12SH).
WORK EXPERIENCE - ARCADIA
Natasha Algazy (12SG) writes: The
Arcadia work experience program was
first presented to us in February during a
Head Master’s Assembly. This wasn’t any
usual Wednesday assembly; as soon as I
walked in I could feel the excitement of the
Head Master about this new venture. We
received a short presentation about the
work experience program and the
application process from the Chief
Operating Officer of Arcadia (“COO”)
and the Head Master. A few weeks later,
Highgate hosted a big event for the launch
of the work experience program. Hundreds
of pupils attended from Highgate School
and from numerous schools that are part
of the Chrysalis partnership. There were
many inspiring speeches from Sir Philip
Green, the Rt Hon Michael Gove, the COO
and Mr Pettitt. It was at this event that I
realised what a unique opportunity this is.
Having attended four masterclasses
provided by the Arcadia Team on PR and
Marketing, Retail, and CV writing skills it
was finally time for the application process.
Writing my own CV and cover letter wasn’t
the hardest part as we were given
guidance in the masterclass, however the
video interview is what I found incredibly
daunting. It was something I had never
done before, but I am glad that it was part
of the application process as it is something
employers are using more and more.
I have highly enjoyed the Arcadia
experience so far and I was lucky enough
to get a place on this exciting new
program. I am very much looking forward
to my 2 weeks at Arcadia in the buying
sector at Miss Selfridge.
DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD
Bronze
Emmanuelle Twentyman (10SG): In April,
we went to the South Downs for our
practice expedition for Bronze Duke of
Edinburgh. The first day we walked 13km
through farmland before arriving at the
campsite at Alfriston. Despite our
questionable map reading skills we only
managed to get lost once, unlike some
other groups. Tent pitching was amusing
and culinary skills were variable but none
of us starved. After getting up early and
having a breakfast of beans on toast the
next day, we set off on our walk on top of
the Downs in the wind and rain, but this
did not dampen our spirits. Overall it was
a fun weekend, if a bit tiring, and we are
looking forward to doing the real thing.”
12th century Lanthony Priory, the alleged
murder site of King Edward II. It was great
to spend some time away from London and
take a break from revision. On climbing
the last hill on the third day we were
rewarded by a break in the clouds and
some spectacular views over Abergavenny
and the surrounding landscape, and
accompanied by some chocolate this
proved a very satisfying end to our trip.
Everyone passed the Expedition, but all
were left shattered and thus it was a much
quieter return journey with most people
tucked up in their sleeping bags,
recuperating. Many thanks to Miss Joss
and all the staff who gave up their
weekend to come with us.
Silver
Annie Hartley (11HG) writes: During the
Easter break a group of 31 pupils travelled
to the Black Mountains to complete our
Assessed Expedition for the silver Duke of
Edinburgh Award. We spent three days
camping and walking across the Welsh
countryside; along the way we visited the
Gold
Congratulations to the following who
completed their Gold Awards this year:
Harry Kleiman (13SH); Charles KatzSummercorn (13EG) and OCs Max
Wintle, Harriet Lehain, Jessica Marais,
Oliver Ingham Clark and Edward Carden.
COMBINED CADET FORCE
Mr Thomson, Officer commanding the
CCF, writes: The Combined Cadet Force
has been very active this year, with healthy
numbers of able and enthusiastic cadets.
In September a new cohort of Year 9 boys
and girls enjoyed their first taste of CCF
away from school last October when we
undertook a very successful field day at
Pippingford Park in Sussex.
In November we mounted a colour party
for the two Remembrance services, the first
to feature girls (Sgt Kirsi Sumray (13WG)
and Sgt Eloise Donovan (13SH)) in the
history of the Highgate CCF. In February,
we went to Crowborough Camp in
Hampshire for the annual Todd-Lunn
Trophy, together with Forest School CCF.
This proved to be a very worthwhile day
once again, for both seniors and juniors.
Sam Willis (12NG) and Beth Belin
(12WG) were selected to take part in the
very challenging Senior Cadet leadership
course at Nescliff, and Cpl Belin was
award Best Cadet in her platoon..
As always the staff have been pivotal in
making the CCF a success this year and I
thank them for all their time and input. We
bid farewell to Lt Grant this year as he
moves to Norwich School, and thank him
for his six years of support. In conclusion,
a great year and a good time was had by
all.
HIGHGATE ARCHIVES
This year the School appointed its first
professionally qualified Archivist and
Records Manager, Ms Julia Hudson, to
manage the School archives dating back
to its foundation in 1565.
Ms Hudson writes: Engaging pupils with
the collection has been a key activity this
year. In the Michaelmas term, the Archivist
helped the Junior School remember
Cholmeley House (demolished in May
2014 to make way for the new Junior
School). Pupils created a memory box, due
to be opened in 2033, which is now kept
in the Archives. In January, we hosted a
meeting of the Junior History Society. The
Elizabethan Charter of 29 January 1565
was on display, as well as Dr Dyne’s slate
used for taking the daily register in the
19th century. The Archives have also
played host to a palaeography class where
members of the History Society had the
opportunity to read original documents
relating to the School. We have also
helped a number of pupils with their art
projects and have worked with the Junior
School on a project to commemorate the
centenary of World War I.
Other work has involved providing images
of John Tavener and John Rutter for two
BBC documentaries and we have started
planning for the forthcoming museum
opening in January 2015 for the 450th
anniversary of the School. Tours for
parents, OCs and new members of staff
have continued this year and the OC
reunions have led to a welcome increase
in our collections.
SPORT
Mr Henderson, Director of Sport and
Exercise, writes: This year saw the
introduction of some significant changes to
Sport at Highgate, and these were
encapsulated in the evolving ethos for
Sport and Exercise. Our belief is that every
pupil is able to succeed in sport, and it is
just a question of finding the right fit. This
has meant developing our curriculum so
that pupils are offered an increasingly
diverse range of choices, once they have
received a good grounding in some of the
sports which form the mainstay of our
competitive opportunities. Success in sport
is really about rising to the challenges you
are presented with, and responding by
producing your best performance. This is
what we hope all our pupils will find in
SpEx at Highgate - that inner desire to
succeed in their chosen sport, regardless
of what it might be, and the following
reports hopefully give a flavour how some
of our pupils set about doing so.
Football
1st XI
After a notable season which began with a
tough encounter with Charlton Athletic FC,
and buoyed by the positives taken from last
year the First XI went on to fulfil much of
their promise with the most successful
season of recent years. This included
notable wins over Charterhouse, Eton,
Harrow and Westminster. Captain Dan
Nikolopoulos, was ever present in midfield,
and was supported by a group of players,
some of whom have been playing together
for over 11 years! At the end of a rain
affected Lent term, the team played out two
thrilling fixtures – one a “Varsity style
match against UCS at Wingate and
Finchley FC which ended in a hard fought
draw; and then a narrow defeat in a really
close encounter to a recent leavers team
led by ex-captain Nick Landesberg
(Queensgate) who scored two late goals.
Tom Henderson (13MG) gives his view on
the 1st XI: For a team so perilously close to
success in the past, this year’s 1st XI seem
to have finally delivered the performances
worthy of the famous Highgate badge. In
fact, through combining youth with
experience, John ‘The Maestro’ Humphrey
has led his troops in to one of the most
successful seasons ever. Consistently
finding the winning formula, the team has
emerged victorious from some particularly
tough fixtures, while the unfaltering
captaincy and inspirational half-time
speeches of Daniel Nikolopolus [13QG]
have urged our players on to some
impressive results. The team enjoyed a
remarkable Cup run, only culminating in a
close-fought defeat to the eventual winners
SPORT (continued)
of the national ISFA Cup, Millfield. One of
the strongest Highgate teams in a number
of years, the season was marked by the
first varsity match against local rivals UCS
which was strongly contested at the
Wingate and Finchley stadium in front of
several hundred spectators. Capped off by
a somewhat interesting 3-2 victory in the
annual Staff vs. Pupils fixture, this season
will be one cherished in the memories of
all who took part.
And for those who are more enthusiastic
than skilled, Laurence Carden (13TL) gives
a final report on five years of Recreational
Football:
Recreational Football continues to be
Highgate’s best-kept secret. The premise is
simple: once a week, a group of terrible
footballers join together to play a truly
awful match. Own goals are as frequent as
those scored against the opposition, and
the idea of tactics is alien to most. My first
experience of Rec was in Year 9, where the
final score of the match was somewhere in
the region of 23–19. I was particularly
proud of scoring my first ever Highgate
goal in that session (after nine years of
trying...) – a glorious shot right through
goalkeeper Mr Doyle’s legs. From the first
game I was hooked, and five years later I
find myself still loyal to the sport. This
speaks volumes about the positive and
inclusive atmosphere at Rec. This ‘season’
has proved no less fruitful than any other of
the last five years, with particular highlights
including some stellar defending from Niall
Brockbank (MG), questionably robust
challenges from Laurence Benson (FG),
explosive strikes from Christopher Thomas
(WG) and gracious passing from Lucas
Raschke (GH). Over the last few seasons we
have both gained and lost young talent,
with Frank Martin (WG) recently being
transferred to the ‘dizzying heights’ of the
4th XI squad.It does not matter who you are
or how good you are; no one is too bad to
join Rec. Ultimately it is a chance to play a
game of non-judgemental football every
week for an hour or two in an environment
where everyone is equally terrible as one
another. What might happen at Rec on any
given day is unknown – you may even join
the ranks of yours truly and score with a
belly-sliding header...
U16 Football
At the end of a good season, with
outstanding performances by Max
Holdsworth, Elliot Farr and Gabriel
Seemungal, the Under 16A team,
captained by Tom Disley, made it to the
final of the Middlesex Cup where they were
unfortunately beaten by some excellent solo
goals.
SPORT (continued)
The U16B’s stand-out players this season
were Joel Sharpe, who displayed towering
defensive performances and mature
leadership, Robert MacLennan and Theo
Abramson, whose skilful midfield play
impressed opposition coaches; and Alex
Blofeld, who worked tirelessly and grew in
stature as the season developed.
U15 Football
The U15A’s season started well with an
October tour to Barcelona, where they met
and rose to the challenges of some
excellent older teams. The new
determination and teamwork was evident
for all to see in their remaining
performances. Ably captained by Callum
Barry the team went on to the quarter final
stages of the ISFA cup, where they were
unfortunate to lose narrowly to Whitgift.
The U15B football squad, captained by
Josh Pena, performed valiantly, playing
flowing, attacking football and refusing to
be drawn into a battle against more
physical opponents. There were some
memorable highs, including a thumping
10-1 victory against Chigwell and victories
over Westminster (A) and Berkhamsted (H).
At the end of the season Alfie Gadsden
was awarded ‘Players’ Player’ and Zak
Worontschak the ‘Player of the Season’.
U14 Football
The U14A’s had their most successful
season to date, and indeed the most
successful results of all the Football teams.
Having played 17, won 15 and lost only 2
(to Bradfield and Eton), including winning
all 3 of their matches on tour in Barcelona
against some technically talented
opponents, their season culminated in
reaching the Middlesex County Cup semifinal. The results were in no small part due
to the goal scoring efforts of George Pugh,
who finished as top scorer from all the
Football teams, ably supported by strikers
Ed Travers and Alex Bazar-Rosen. Captain
Isaac Biney produced some outstanding
saves in goal on the odd occasion that the
defences were breached. Overall, an
excellent season which drew plaudits from
many opposition coaches, and promises
much for the future.
This year the U14B squad, that engine
room of talent which saw many a
promising recruit get snapped up by scouts
from the A team, kept a winning formula of
cheerful determination throughout the
season. Special mention goes to Captain
Alfie Owen for barking orders at his troops
from the back.
Year 8 Football
All the boys have worked incredibly hard.
The A, B and C teams all enjoyed success
SPORT (continued)
and were involved in some high scoring
games. Star players were Max Christofi,
Louis Perl, Austin Harris. Most memorable
goals were several long range shots from
Frankie Fitzpatrick, and an overhead flick
from Mischa Rocklin. Joe Jacobs again
played amazingly to represent London
Independent Schools.
Netball
This year saw the first Netball and Hockey
tour to Jersey, in October 2013 for 42 girls
from Years 9 and 10. This was a great
success against very strong opposition, on
an island in love with sport.. Anna Lebe,
Minna Griffiths, Grace McIntosh and Anna
Willis were chosen for Middlesex U17
Netball squad. Highgate also hosted our
two annual tournaments with over 20
schools competing in the U15 and U13
age groups
Senior Netball
The First VII were captained by Jennifer
Landesberg this year, and they trained
hard to step up the level of netball played
at the top end of school. They were
victorious over rivals UCS, City of London
Girls, and Latymer Upper School. Anna
Kovar was the player of the season, and
will become captain next year.
U16 Netball
The girls endured a tough season against
some strong opposition. However, they
showed a fighting spirit in some of the more
closely contested matches and also at the
Middlesex Schools tournament. One of the
highlights of the Michaelmas Term was the
U16A win against Harrodian. Captain Thea
Augustidis worked tirelessly in defence,
whilst Ellen McDonald and Olivia Gidman
both worked well together in the attacking
circle. Special mention also to Matilda Mills,
Imogen Barber (U16B captain) and Freya
Woods who stepped up from the U16B team
on a number of occasions to provide further
depth in circle defence and mid court.
U14 Netball
The U14A girls made their way through to
the Middlesex finals in which they
performed with great credit, showing both
team work and determination against
some very strong opposition. The U14B
Netball team went from strength to strength
over the course of the season, proving
themselves to be a cohesive and dynamic
team by their final matches. Particular
mention must go to Maya DharampalHornby, to Laura Jennings and to our ace
defence – Issy Sanders, Helen Footman
and Ella Crowe – who proved to be a
fearsome combination match after match.
SPORT (continued)
Year 8 Netball
A fantastic season for all four teams,
winning almost all their matches in a strong
fixture list. The girls have worked so hard
to improve their skills and tactical
awareness, and this worked to good effect
in some memorable matches against St
Albans High. Impressive players have been
Lara Bolton Patel (player of the match 5
times!), Kira Rothwell, Sophie Gidman and
Julia Chan.
Fives
Fives has had a very successful season at
all levels. In the Michaelmas Term Eve
Smith-Bingham and Olivia Hirschfield won
the National Ladies U.25 Championship,
and a Highgate team (Eve Smith-Bingham,
Amira
Reimer,
Phoebe
Bracken,
Marjolaine Briscoe, Olivia Hirschfield,
Georgia Allen and Carolina Valensise)
won the Black Cup. During the Lent term
Eve Smith-Bingham and Amira Reimer
won the National U21 Championship and
progressed to the final of the Ladies Open.
At
the
Schools
National
Fives
Championships Highgate reached the final
in eight of the nine competitions entered,
winning five: the Boys U14 where Oliver
Light and James Hopkins beat St.Olaves,
and four all-Highgate matches - the Boys
U12 (Josh Avigdor and Amos Sharp beat
Joseph Sochor-Grethe and CJ Coleman),
the Mixed (Eve Smith-Bingham and Charlie
Noble beat Amira Reimer and Christy
Blackaby), the Girls U15 ( Eve SmithBingham and Phoebe Bracken beat Amira
Reimer and Marjolaine Briscoe) and the
Girls U18 (Eve Smith-Bingham and
Marjolaine Briscoe beat Amira Reimer and
Phoebe Bracken). We also entered the Prep
Schools U13 Championship in early March
where our boys were in top form. In the
final Joel Abramovich and David Gran
beat Louis Perl and Harry Jenkins 15-14 in
the third and final game to win 2-1.
Hockey
The girls had some early season
opportunities to practise their skills on the
October tour to Jersey, and this paid
dividends with their form later in the
season. Georgia Crowe and Millie Davies
were selected for Middlesex U14 Hockey,
which shows the growth in strength of this
sport at Highgate. Highgate also hosted
two annual tournaments with over 15
schools competing at U12 and U13 with
the U12 Highgate team bringing home the
bronze medals.
Senior Hockey
Although the senior squad had a short
hockey season, the players who
SPORT (continued)
represented Highgate provided strength
and depth across both 7-a-side and 11-aside formats. Captain Ellie Thomas, Julia
Wilkinson, Olivia Gidman played well
together up front in attack, whilst Anna
Crucefix, Talia Caplan, Alice Lumley and
Lauren Steele (Goalkeeper) put the
pressure on the opposition in defence.
Chloe Grabiner and Cassia JohnsonWheeler also proved their worth with great
supporting performances.
with the mouth guard in, but results have
been great. The highlight was a big win
against Francis Holland. Special mentions
to Talia Pamensky, Mille Davies and Ayley
Loh for some awesome goals.
U16 Hockey
Despite a small squad, the girls worked hard
to develop a strong unit within lesson time
and training. Lily Kuenzler provided strength
in goal as the ‘keeper, with captain Olivia
Gidman up front and Julia Wilkinson on the
wing providing pace on the ball in attack
and scoring the goals for the team.
Cricket
First XI
Last summer saw a Highgate Cricket 1st
team travel to Sri Lanka for a successful tour
combined with community outreach. The
first block fixture saw Highgate gain wins
across the board against Chigwell with 1st
XI captain Jamie Powe and Sri Lankan
centurion Ferdy Hunter amongst the runs.
As it currently stands the 1st XI are in the
3rd round of the Middlesex Cup and had a
creditable draw against the MCC before
losing to a strong Aldenham side.
Lower School
Lots of lunchtime practice has seen Year 7
girls massively develop their stick skills and
tactical awareness. The girls have done
really well in tournaments, but the highlight
was winning their first game. Special
mention must go to Georgia . In Y8, the
standard just gets better and better – even
if we say so ourselves! Our new specialist
coaches have helped develop our skills –
next challenge the reverse penalty flick! We
still haven’t managed to speak coherently
U15 Cricket
The Under 15A side has made a promising
start to the term and such is the talent in
this age group that several have been
promoted to the 1st team. Tom Waine, Jack
Bruce and Daniel Marshall are all 1st team
regulars now with Sam Hoare and Josh
Friend also making their 1st team debuts.
Jack Bruce has gone on to play for
Middlesex 2nd XI and also made his debut
the Middlesex 1st XI against Oxford
University.– a very promising start to what
SPORT (continued)
we hope will be a bright future in County
Cricket!
In a rain-affected season the U15B
cricketers have played four matches and
won three. Sam Huston hit 84 in a
boundary laden innings against Chigwell.
The bowling attack of Tom Stewart and
Bruce Allinson made light work of the
opposition top order Highgate limited the
opposition to just 74. Aldenham were
dismissed in the same style with Sam
Tansey hitting a half-century to lead
Highgate to victory.
U14 Cricket
The Under 14A side have had some
impressive performances and have
demonstrated a real team spirit. This has
led to them scoring 808 runs in only six
matches, and taking 45 out of a possible
60 opposition wickets! Highlights were
totals of over 200 against Chigwell and in
the first round of the County Cup. This
included 120 not out for James Hopkins,
who came in to bat on the third ball of the
innings, after an early dismissal! Captain
and wicket-keeper Dempster Fawden led
by example scoring a number of 50’s.
Lower School
Highlight of the Y7 cricket season were
excellent wins versus Chigwell and
Fortismere. This is a very knowledgeable
bunch of players, including the ‘wheels’ of
fast bowler Josh Avigdor and the batting
of ‘hawk eye’ Henry Everitt! Fielding drills
by our professional Sanjay have kept our
teams sharp in the field. A enjoyable
season for Y8 so far. Results have been
mixed, but we are heading towards the last
rounds of the Middlesex Cup! Harry
Jenkins and Tom Dickson have been star
players, whilst Toby Steiner has captained
the B team very well. Highlights have been
Mr Evans’ new sunglasses, and Mischa
Rocklin’s amazing hat trick in the Cup!
Rounders
Highgate’s Rounders teams have had
another great season. With scores topping
30 points and some dream catching from
our fielders, the girls were in great form on
the pitch this year. The U15 team were
undefeated for the fifth year in a row and
the formidable combination of Eve SmithBingham, Aimee Paul and Lola
Katz-Roberts saw off any potential threats
from opposition teams. This season the
U12B rounders team has been of a very
high standard – only losing one game all
season. There is a lot of cross over with the
A team with a lot of movement between the
two teams..
SPORT (continued)
Athletics
Athletics has continued its re-growth in
both popularity and strength. We are still
in the Hertfordshire League and the U14
boys in particular have shown strength
across the events, winning two of the four
meetings they have attended. Some
performances have seen our athletes
achieve personal bests which have given
them good standings nationally. Special
mentions go to Terence and Dempster
Fawden, Oliver Light, Cecily Turner and
Phoebe Littler who have consistently
produced excellent middle distance times,
and to Andrea Guariglia, Zara Deery,
Olivia Hirschfield, Josh Avigdor, Joe
Jacobs, Sophie Boehler, Isaac Biney, Ton
Blackshaw and Charlie Knowles who have
excelled in the sprints and field events.
The pupils’ commitment has been
rewarded by wins of the Y8 Girls, Y9 Boys
and Girls Haringey titles at the Borough
Championships, and a record 23 Highgate
athletes were selected to represent
Haringey at the Middlesex Schools’
Athletics Championships. Many of the
athletes recorded personal bests on the day
and there were podium finishes for the
following: Gold medals for Terence and
Dempster Fawden (3000m and 1500m
respectively), Oliver Light (800m), Cecily
Turner (1500m); Silver for Phoebe Littler
(800m); Bronze for George Pugh (300m),
Patrick Henderson (Pole Vault), Minna
Griffiths (75m Hurdles).
Swimming
This year our Swimming team continued to
improve under the guidance of Tamsin
McKinnon and Alex Manolopolos at the
senior end. There were some creditable
performances at the Bath Cup and Otter
Medleys at the Olympic Pool in Strateford
with the teams finishing in the top half of
the results from over 70 schools from across
the UK. The boys’ team consisted of Alex
Manolopolos, Killian Fitzgerald, George
and Alex Kapanadze, and the girls’ team
of Tamsin McKinnon, Sophia ParviziWayne, Julia Wilkinson and Alice Kwan.
In the junior age groups our U15 team
performed notably well in galas against UCS,
Mill Hill, Latymer Upper and Brentwood with
solid performances from Konstantin
Kapanadze, Joe Wildisen, Dempster Fawden,
Charlie Smith, Alex Louis, Markos
Manolopolos, Rory McKinnon, Melisa
Corney, Hannah Della-Porta and Jess Shaw.
Our Under 12s and U13s continued to go
from strength to strength and reached the
North Division finals of the London
Independent Schools’ Swimming League.
SPORT (continued)
Cross-country
Mr Creagh writes:The cross-country season
stretched over two terms with runners from
Y7-13 competing across the South-East of
England. Highlights include the Middlesex
Schools Championships at Harrow School,
which saw ten Highgate athletes qualify to
represent their county at the English
Schools Championships, the South-East
Schools Championships where the girls’
team of Marjolaine Briscoe, Phoebe Littler,
Anna Willis, Millie Davies and Beth Belin
lifted the team trophy for the first time, and
the Knole Run at Sevenoaks where the girls
took team silver, Sophia Parvizi-Wayne
individual silver, and the boys finished 7th
from 42 teams. As always, the season
finished with our home fixture on
Hampstead Heath - The Pat Bagnall
Memorial. More than thirty Highgate
runners competed in fine Spring conditions
with Terry Fawden (10WG) taking
individual gold in the U17 boys race.
Thanks to Mr Morrow and Mr Shinkwin
who regularly assisted with coaching,
officiating and training runs.
Sophia Parvizi-Wayne (Captain) writes:
I´ve always believed that a succesful
athletics team was that team filled with the
best athletes. However, this year the
Highgate Cross Country and Athletics team
proved my previous assumptions to be very
wrong indeed. Ultimately the most
successful team comes down to how well
each individual works to help each other
and support one another, whether they lead
the race or fall flat on their face at the start
line( I´ll take credit for that one!). The Team
is more like a family than a school team.
We have travelled far and wide, from
running alongside deer in Sevenoaks Park
in Kent, to practically swimming across
ocean size puddles at Wellington College.
Not that we haven’t had our fair share of
success too. This year, Highgate had a
record number of nine students
representing Middlesex at The English
Schools Championship, in addition to the
girls team winning the Wellington College
Relays and placing second at the
prestigious Knole Run. The Cross Country
Team has made leaps and bounds this year
and due to the leadership of the everenthusiastic Mr Creagh and the will and
determination of every member of the team.
Gym and Dance
The Gym and Dance show is a highlight for
Year 7 and 8 girls. Lots of hard work goes
into rehearsals, but it is worth it when we see
how much the audience seem to appreciate
the show. All the girls did brilliantly well, but
special mention should go to Sophie Boehler,
Erin Kovacs and Harriet Howarth.
SPORT (continued)
Fencing
Ben Huston (13MG) writes: Highgate’s
fencing squad has grown this year with
many fencers from the younger years
making a serious commitment to the sport.
Most recently, Gemma Smith-Bingham,
Anastasia Yakunina and Leah Turner won
their two matches against City of London
School for Girls in a fixture in May.
However, our Senior fencers have
continued to show their own mettle in
competitions and in March Conor WilcoxMahon was successful in being placed joint
first in the Senior competition in a friendly
against the RLS Fencing Club. The most
important date in the fencing calendar is
the Public School’s Fencing Championship.
This year Isabella Gill and Matthew
Abrahams, two of Highgate’s finest
fencers, won the foil categories for their
age groups. The following fencers also
deserve a mention: Anastasia Yakunina
(9th), Leah Turner (27th), Evie Lawlor
(45th), David Gran (27th), Blake Quellman
(31st) and Conor Wilcox-Mahon (41st).
This year has been Miss Pottier’s last as
teacher in charge of fencing and we thank
her for her enthusiasm and tireless
patience.
Tennis
U12, U13, U14, U15 and U18 tennis pairs
were fielded for the first time this year.
With wins angainst Harrodian and
Haileybury, Girls’ tennis look set to go from
strength to strength. Julia Meyer and Lara
Bolton-Patel were stand-out players from
the U13s. The boys have played fixtures
against APS, Mill Hill and UCS and have
notched up a number of impressive singles
and doubles wins. Special mention should
be made of Marko Andrejevic, Daniel
Vishnick, Sam Tansey and Ingimar
Tomasson (who himself is already. part of
an outstanding Middlesex team).
Climbing
Introducing climbing as a games option has
given many who preferred a new and
exciting Sports option the opportunity to
flourish in a different arena. The 90 minute
sessions every week at the Castle Climbing
Centre have been a ground for much
improvement in technique, core strength,
balance and managing fear. Notable
amongst the climbers are Phoebe Bracken
for her effortless way of bounding up
overhanging climbs, Marcus Beadle for his
sheer determination and Robbie Waddell
for his power grunts!
SPORT (continued)
Sailing
We started the year with an excellent
Y9&10 trip to Rockley Sailing School,
Poole Harbour, at the end of the first week
back at school. The weather was set fair on
Saturday which allowed us to do a long
voyage to Long Island and back. With
strengthening winds, the pupils enjoyed an
exciting trip back up the Wareham
channel! All showed that they were
competent to sail a triangular course and
were awarded their Level 2 certificates.
Returning to West Reservoir, pupils were
taught the basics of seamanship as well as
improving their racing techniques. The
option has been increasingly popular this
year and we took a mixed ability Y9 and
10 group sailing in the Summer Term.
Rugby
Jamie Powe had an outstanding season as
fly-half, leading the team by example. He
and other Y13 stalwarts, Laurence Benson,
Felix Brasseur, Finn Strivens, Oscar Nolan,
Max Savage, Killian Fitzgerald, Jake
Morris, and Ted Bolt leave us this year in
pursuit of rugby at University level. There
were also notable performances from
Conrad Murphy, Alfie Rudman and
Thomas Wilcox-Mahon, who will still be
around next year, and this will hopefully
lay the foundations for another First XV to
rise from the ashes of this year’s. The
highlight of the season was a 57-0 victory
over Ibstock Place School.
VALETE, SUMMER 2014
We thank Mr Guy Willson who stood in for
Alastair Sursok during his leave of absence
and wish him well at South Hampstead
High School where his omnidirectional
enthusiasm and gentlemanly courtesy will
guarantee great success and popularity,
and Dr James Brown who, drawing on his
considerable experience of interdisciplinary
work at university, introduced rigour to and
engineered
improvements
in
our
Knowledge Curriculum.
Miss Emily Potter leaves the Mathematics
Department, as does Mr Paul Walter: Miss
Potter for further study at UCL to equip her
as a future meteorologist, and Mr Walter
for Magdalen College, School Oxford. Miss
Potter’s enthusiasm and dedication knew no
bounds and she so surprised herself with
the enjoyment she gained from teaching
that we wonder whether her career as a
meteorologist may be short-lived; Mr
Walter’s infectious, entertaining and
intellectually versatile pedagogy inspired
would-be Olympiad medallists to new
heights. Mr John Butterfield’s brilliantly
successful apprenticeship as a maths
teacher has led to rapid promotion as
Second in the Department at The Perse in
Cambridge: from the classroom to the
football pitch to the outreach master-class,
Mr Butterfield, Highgate’s own ‘Magic
Roundabout’ Zebedee, has injected
unbelievable buzz, energy, thought and
humour.
Miss Laura Morton takes up the promoted
post as Head of English at Queenswood
School. A fiercely intelligent and hardworking colleague, Miss Morton sparred
with the brightest and cajoled the less
attentive, adding to her Department’s
reputation for excellent exam results and the
highest intellectual endeavour. She was a
willing and skilled stalwart of the games
programme and a generous contributor to
partnership teaching with the Crest
Academy. Miss Rebecca Burridge of the
Geography Department leaves Highgate
for the Harrow School in Beijing. Miss
Burridge quickly overcame her suspicions
about Highgate as an alumna of Channing
to become the inspirational mainstay of
Geography fieldtrips and outward bound
expeditions: whether because of her
committed and skilled games coaching or
her predilection for the outdoors or her
conscientious lesson preparation, her
experience was of the 24/7 teacher whose
work was ‘never done’ but always
completed. Miss Stephanie Taylor of the
Physics Department also moves east, but
only to Norwich where she becomes
Norwich School’s first Ogden Teaching
Fellow. A reflective, thorough and
imaginative teacher, Miss Taylor cut her
management teeth first on co-ordinating
junior science and then on leading and
unfussily
streamlining
‘Oxbridge’
applications and preparation; she also
found time to introduce astronomy and
broader science education to an adult
learners’ group. Never one to hog the
limelight, she was nonetheless a shining
example to girls and to boys of the
committed physicist who just loves her job.
Miss Alexandra Saunders returns to Radley
College as Second in the English
Department. Her phenomenal energy,
intellectual passion and pedagogical acuity
do not quite account for her invariable
success with pupils of all abilities and
motivations: uproarious laughter and
unflagging good will characterised her
encounters with staff, parents and pupils
VALETE, SUMMER 2014 (continued)
alike: one simply cannot but enjoy English
in her company. Mr Oliver Williams also
moves west, to Ibstock Place School, initially
to take his young family closer to his
stamping ground in Kingston but in fact to
a promoted post where his incisive
administrative skills will be deployed. A
thorough, thoughtful and brilliantly
organised teacher, Mr Williams led the
French Department with assured, kind and
winningly consensual energy, while
contributing unflaggingly and skilfully to the
major games programme.
Mr Alex Grant joins those moving east, in
his case to take up the post of Head of
History at Norwich School. Mr Grant roved
through both History and Politics
specifications with Stakhanovite energy and
versatility, teaching with enthusiasm, wit
and a trenchant demand for high
standards. A keen and willing Officer in the
CCF, arch-organiser of forays to the First
World War battlefields, imaginative
director of classics plays and scrupulous,
patient administrator of the Extended
Project Qualification, he squeezed into six
profitable years several decades of
achievement. Mr Luke Pearce joined
Highgate in 2007 but fresh from
Cambridge University where he read
Mathematics. The first to admit that he had
a lot to learn, Mr Pearce was unperturbed
and unflappable from the outset, taming
and then inspiring his classes with his
penetrating
intelligence,
pedagogic
invention and a mountain cyclist’s stamina.
He recognised brilliance where he saw it –
in his mentors Robert Wilne and Dan
Abramson – and aspired to be as good
and memorable as they were to him. He
leaves a school (but not a city) he loves to
work at Magdalen College School in
Oxford where he hopes, but is not sure, that
the pupils he meets will be as independent
and motivated as those he has met and
developed at Highgate.
Mr James Stenning hands over the running
of the Economics Department to become the
first Head of Sixth Form at a newlyestablished senior division of Northbridge
House School in Canonbury. The most
expert but also intuitive of teachers, Mr
Stenning innovated, organised and brought
rigour to sloppy thinkers and inspired,
challenged and stretched the quick-witted.
His winning affability and endless patience
belied his steely determination: these
qualities, to which he adds kindness and
good judgement, equip him ideally to see
through the inevitable indecisive, wayward
or disorganised behaviour of some sixth
formers to their true potential. Mrs Ruth
Shepherd leaves the Art Department,
moving her family to leafy Surrey, and she
does so with a heavy heart as she has quite
simply loved a decade here which saw her
make the transition from practising artist to
expert and trusted teacher. Mrs Shepherd
brought both imagination and precision to
her teaching which was fed by intelligent,
scholarly engagement: no formulas,
nothing
wishy-washy
but
flexibly
formulated, perceptive and well-structured
clarity which inspired confidence and
ambition in generations of would-be artists.
Mr David Rey has served a decade as
teacher of Economics and is rewarded with
his promotion as Head of Economics at the
City of London School for Boys. Legendarily
well-organised and focused, his teaching
took no prisoners and every pupil, however
callow, made the transition to welldisciplined, rational, evidence-based
VALETE, SUMMER 2014 (continued)
thinking under Mr Rey’s watchful and
purposeful teaching. Drawing on his
experience in the City, Mr Rey ensured that
Economics was more than an exacting
academic discipline: it was also a tool to
read the world around his students in
rigorous, unsentimental ways. Among his
interests were promoting an understanding
of financial investments, squash and most
recently, gardening for the Lower School:
sad to leave a school he has been so happy
at, Mr Rey is excited and well-suited to
establishing a vision for Economics in a
school even more closely linked to the City
than Highgate.
Miss Debbie Picton leaves the Classics
Department to become Head of Sixth Form
at North London Collegiate School, a post
for which she must be ideally suited, having
overhauled and directed Highgate’s higher
education programme. A teacher of
energy, clarity and purpose, Miss Picton
forged her formidable pedagogic skills in
Highgate’s all-boy sets, not all of whom
worked well without considerable firmness
from their teachers. They met their match in
Miss Picton who developed both beadiness
for the would-be unruly and lively challenge
for the inspired. Her professional interests
ranged wide, from classics itself (stepping
in as Acting Head of Classics) to teacher
training and mentoring to educational
initiatives, each of which was underpinned
with wide-ranging reading and research
and communicated in profitable and
inviting dialogue. But it as the grand
architect and arch-organiser of sixth
formers’ futures for which she became
known: hundreds of pupils were
shepherded towards good choices and
university doors were opened thanks to her
eye for detail, relentless attention to
schedules and an ability to bring reality to
life in the most (over) optimistic of pupil or
parent. Her qualities of patience,
determination, kindness and unflappability,
as well as her presence, mean our loss will
be North London’s huge gain.
The Reverend Paul Knight, sometime bank
manager and parish priest, has ministered
as School Chaplain for twenty-two years.
He claimed that he would not retire until the
Chapel, into which he breathed warmth
and affection, was restored: my only
complaint to Governors for authorising the
refurbishment works is that it has allowed
Mr Knight – Rev Knight to the pupils – to
retire with his wife Val to their rural retreat
in France. A Chaplain has several faces:
that of preacher, teacher, confidant,
confessor,
institutional
conscience,
colleague and friend. The magic of Rev
Knight’s work is the quality he brings to
each of these roles: in each, like a
beautifully founded bell, he rings true. As a
preacher, most often to a congregation of
the coerced, secular and sceptical, he
added a permanent undercoat of
understanding and open-mindedness, into
which he mixed, with the skill of the
alchemist, a sensitivity to, an appreciation
of, what he would call God’s love for us. He
anchored his listeners: with Rev Knight there
was no avoiding tough questions, no wishywashiness allowed, but there was no
tub-thumping either. He understood that,
while his congregation was not free to walk
away, they had to be free to think for
themselves. As self-taught teacher he
created a safe haven where listening and
learning were intertwined with rigour, and
gleeful delight at youthful insight. As
confidant and confessor? Who knows? But
we were many.
VALETE, SUMMER 2014 (continued)
We all have many memories of Rev Knight
because he was a part of all our lives. I
shall miss his intoning of the morning collect
and the Lord’s Prayer; his penetrating
laughter; his emails in point 16 purple font;
his colourful socks; his carefully measured
advice; his natty suits; his courage and
strength; his watchful eyes; his reassurance;
his pithy but unrushed sermons; his deepheat kindness; his discretion, and his
unlimited, beautifully sentimental love for
his wife.
Mr David Smith leaves Highgate physics in
rude health after twenty-seven years at the
helm, and three more besides: a tireless
innovator and enthusiast, Mr Smith put
physics on the school map and Highgate
physics on the national map. Against a
backdrop of falling numbers, Highgate’s A
level cohorts were abundant and varied,
maintaining links with and affection for their
physics master long after leaving: Mr Smith
was a weaver of intricate webs of
connection with alumni and with physicists
further afield, especially through wellestablished bodies such as the Institute of
Physics where he became a well-known and
influential figure. The Highgate Physics
Society was a model of its kind with the most
significant and up-and-coming physicists
mingling with young minds week in, week
out. Forays into the early internet, into
astronomy and telescopes and cosmic rays
meant that physics teaching was never
circumscribed by syllabus or held back by
tradition: Highgate was always ahead of the
game, his results ahead of the curve. The
Department was spruce, inviting and well
organised, no mean feat considering the
heavy managerial responsibilities which his
long-term colleagues combined with their
teaching. Most recently the Physics
Department has taken the lead in forging
links with local schools to develop
partnerships, and Mr Smith has promoted
and joined this adventurous vanguard,
devising and participating in master classes,
encouraging colleagues, both teachers and
technicians, to get involved. Haringey
schools are feeling the benefit already.
Beyond physics Mr Smith enjoyed
formidable success as an inter-disciplinary
polymath: from spell-binding, interactive
lectures on science to pupil of all pages and
adults too, to championing the work and
heritage of Highgate’s sometime Head of
Art, the late Sir Kyffin Williams, Mr Smith
embodied the spirit of Highgate’s
Knowledge Curriculum, the birth-pangs of
which he saw, nurturing the spirit of the
unexamined pursuit of knowledge in happy
collaboration with colleagues and pupils
alike. It is no surprise that in retirement he
will continue to explore and extend
Highgate’s culture of learning as our first
Heritage Officer.