Citation preview
Reflecting on the Year
It was not the end of year celebration that we all had in mind, but
that wouldn't stop the traditional Commemoration and Prize Giving
Service taking place, this time streaming online to the world.
Enjoy this edition of the courier which celebrates achievements and
looks back over the year. ...and much more
2The Senior Courier
#STAYINGSAFEATHOME
#REMOTELEARNING
How is it possible to summarise the strangest of terms?... by Lee
Glaser, Headmaster
I must start with our students. The way you have engaged with your
learning over this past 10 weeks has been exemplary. I have
nothing
but admiration for you. It has always annoyed me when older
generations have described you as snowflakes. You have stood up and
shown resilience when it mattered, probably more than you could
have imagined. I have loved sitting in on lessons, watching drama
debates concerts scholarship sessions CCF, chapel talks and
Lectures. Your engagement has been amazing and I am extremely proud
of you all.
Year 11 and Upper Sixth you deserve special mention. To have the
focus of your studies removed at the last minute was a real shock
and you dealt with it so well. The way you finished off your
courses and engaged with the bridging the gap and pre-university
courses was very impressive.
Teachers – your commitment, creativity and resilience have been awe
inspiring. Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that schools
would close I was asked by many colleagues “what can I do to help?”
My response was “provide our students with the best possible online
experience. Deliver outstanding lessons, outstanding pastoral care
and an outstanding co-curricular experience”. You did it and way
beyond anything I could have imagined.
We have learnt so much together – and learnt from the students- and
our challenge is to build on the best of what we have learned. The
level of collaboration has been outstanding and we have been
overwhelmed with the messages of support and praise from students
and parents.
Our middle leaders deserve special mention. Heads of Department and
House Staff have shown real leadership this term. All of the
teaching and pastoral initiatives have been driven by them and
their determination to deliver excellence has been essential in
making this work.
Parents, thank you so much for all of your support. Your messages
of positivity and praise have been very much appreciated and have
often caused a bit of emotion. I sense that some of you have
enjoyed sitting in on lessons and may have learnt something along
the way.
As we come to the end of a year like no other I thank you all for
your positivity. We will be working hard throughout the summer to
ensure we can return safely in September.
Watch all of the end of Year celebration films by clicking this
link:
https://www.tauntonschool.co.uk/parent-information/ts-end-of-year-celebrations/
Last Taunton Chapel
Enrichment Talk: Game Changers: US race relations and the influence
of Sport, 1908-2020
End of Term Assembly
Commem Prize Winners Form Prizes for 2020
Year 9 Major Prizes: Jana Boraei Orlando Cairns Hetty Christopher
Chloe Hims Max Mitchell Isabella Wells
Prizes: George Cousins Benjamin Giles Matilda Jacoby-Kelly Ella
Marsden Jessica Oppenheim Amalie Thomas
Year 10 Major Prizes: Kate Blackmore-Greasley Elizabeth Dutton Mark
Eavis Evie Gulliver Annabelle Mellenchip Nathan Roberts
Prizes: Henry Collins Luke Cunningham Helen Hounslow Julia Louw
Grace Talbot Zongyou Yao
Year 11 Major Prizes: Floriana Christie Daisy Hickson Naijia Hou
Alfie Joseph Hamish Ruthven Jianhua Zhang
Prizes: Laura Assanti Benjamin Coston Rebekah Kane Katheryn McVicar
Yuxiang Wen Charlie Shave
Middle School Prizes
Tucker Prize for History Jianhua Zhang Pridham Prize for History
Hamish Ruthven Colin Rowe Prize for Technology (D&T) Sophie
hant The Summers Prize for Innovation (D&T) Adam Lewis-Williams
Dewdney Prize (Classics) Daisy Hickson Jemima Layzell Trophy
(Creative Arts) Chloe Hims Turing Prize for IT Yuxiang Wen Leaman
Trophy (Drama) Woody Knight Wilton Trophy (Art) Laura Assanti
Thomas Rowell Cornish Prize (Geography) Henrietta James S.P. Record
Prize (for best GCSE Results) Jesper Harrington Lower 6th
Prizes
Major Prizes: Skyla Coate Vincent Cuevas Max Fletcher Isabel Glaser
Edward Kerslake Alvin Ku Anastasia Liubychenko Benjamin Pomeroy
Daniel Travers
Prizes: Lena Boraei Zoe Cao Flora Collier Jessica Fisher Sophie
Fisher Jesper Harrington Rhiannon Lee Philip Pullicino
Beaumont Prize (History) Edward Kerslake Withey Prize (Chemistry)
Ronnie Foster Fung Prize (Physics) Daniel Travers
4The Senior Courier
Sandra Christie Baltnas Prize (Biology) Daniel Travers Old
Tauntonian Western Club Prize (Art) Kate Foster The Ian Ball
Photography Trophy (Art) Neva Ilhan
Upper 6th Prizes
Mrs Kidner Prize (English) Georgia McGovern Old Tauntonian Prize
(English) Astrid Thomas Cyril Eyre Prize (History) Jack Kerslake
Fox-Bassett Cup (History) Tamsin Peto-Dias Carrington Trophy Jack
Kerslake A.R. Painter Prize (Classics) Daniel Lloyd-Jones Old
Tauntonian Prize (Geography) Andrea Gilbert The Polly Darvall Cup
(Geography) Oscar Thomas David Balfour-Brighton Trophy (Business
Studies) Mabel Pyne J.H. Newton Prize (Economics) Oscar Thomas
Representative Governors’ Prize (Religious Studies) Danielle Hardy
Smith Prize (Modern Languages) Astrid Thomas Figgis Prize (Modern
Languages) Sophie Brett Le Clere Cup (Modern Languages) Angelica
Gori Modern Foreign Languages IB Prize Maria Parada Gasperin T.S.
Penny Prize (Art) Anastasia Malevannaya Visual Arts Trophy (Art)
Ethan Ho Robinson Prize (Chemistry) Finnian Hallworth Geoffrey Eyre
Prize (Mathematics) Oscar Thomas Geoffrey Eyre Prize (Advanced
Mathematics) Daniel Lloyd-Jones Pean Memorial Prize (Physics)
Daniel Lloyd-Jones Chan Prize (Physics) Julian Muller Henry
Colthurst Prize (Biology) Anna Parkinson Telfer Project Prize
(Biology) Katarina Bogdanovic Kidner Prize (Science) Lorena Streit
Benjamin Clark Prize (Maths and Science) Hugo Lam LC Phillips
Trophy (Engineering) Stephen Cao Havelock Case Prize (Engineering
Science) Patrick Doherty The Science Prize for Endeavour Lauren
Berridge Psychology Cup Jessica Stacey Wickham Trophy (PE/BTEC)
Dominic Murphy BTEC Prize for Sports Science Conway Gilbert Atyeo
Trophy (D&T) Joshua Crompton Clegg Salver for Innovation
(D&T) Jose Etcheverria The Turing Price for ICT Yuen-Lam-Janice
Lee
Music Prizes
Howell Reed Orchestral Trophy Daniel Lloyd-Jones Howell Reed Trophy
(Piano) Ben Mouzouri Lindo Cup for Musicianship Jose Etcheverria
Hudson Cup for Brass Sophie Whitworth Angus Judkins Ravenscroft
Trophy (Woodwind) Daniel Lloyd-Jones Michael Brown Trophy (Singing)
Charlotte Michaels Lisk Cup (Strings) Megan Jones Bridges Trophy
(Choral Singing) Florence Rihll Music Department Prize for
Contribution to School Music Sharon Huang
5The Senior Courier
Drama Prizes
Gulliford Drama Trophy Chikere Jumbo The Smart Trophy Sophia Kasali
Landucci Speech Trophy Patrick Large The Birdie Trophy (for
technical support) Hoi Kit Wong
Speaking Prizes
Burke Prize for Debating Joseph Day Goodland Public Speaking Prize
Angelica Gori Pascoe Prize for Public Speaking Hanna Wittek Priest
Prize (Most Improved Speaker) Nathan Roberts
CCF Prizes
The Pugh Combined Cadet Force Shield Thomas Yap The Gray Cup Maria
Parada Gasperin
Sports Prizes Snow Cup (Boys’ Hockey) Toby Power Richards Cup
(Girls’ Hockey) Anna Parkinson Thomson Cup (Athletics) Andrea
Gilbert Fred Wilton Dawe Award (Boys’ Athletics) Tom Dollery Barrie
Cup (Netball) Daisy West Roger Smith Memorial Cup (Cricket) Conway
Gilbert Alec Stewart Memorial Cup (Cricket) Toby Eavis Roger Smith
Memorial Cup (Rugby) Daniel Irons Burrows Cup (Senior Rugby Player
of the Year) Tyler Goosen The Longstreet Cup – Boys’ Tennis Jack
Kerslake Reid Cup (Girls’ Tennis) Jennifer Cuthill The Merit Cup
for Girls’ Swimming Georgia Williams and Abigail Norman The Wright
Cup for Boys’ Swimming Alex Male The Goddin Award for High Sporting
Endeavour (Girls) Eloise Winsor The Goddin Award for High Sporting
Endeavour (Boys) Alex Male School Prizes
Hebditch Cup (Sportsman of the Year) Daniel Irons Hebditch Cup
(Sportswoman of the Year) Anna Parkinson Musician of the Year
Trophy Charlotte Michaels Daniel Lloyd-Jones Florence Rihll A.J.
Williams Bursaries Andrea Gilbert Patrick Large Old Tauntonian
Freemasons’ Prize Zachary Tyler Megan Fender P.G. Smith Cup for
High Endeavour Katarina Bogdanovic Harry McFaul Trophy Amy
Whatmough Pickard Trophy Angus Judkins Lizzie Pincock Teapot Mabel
Pyne William Gore Prize (Best Emergent Mind) Julian Muller
6The Senior Courier
#STAYINGSAFEATHOME
#REMOTELEARNING
This week saw the return of over 240 students to the school for
house picnics.
A simple way of enabling the students to come back to the school
grounds and have a socially distanced face to face event with both
their tutor group, their housemaster or housemistress and the
tutors within the house. Many of the houses, went through some
statistics about the year and gave presentations and awards to
their leaving Year 13s including the delivery of Leavers’ Hoodies
and Year
Books, due to our inability this term to hold the normal Leavers’
Service and BBQ events.
There were definitely plenty of smiles and of course a few tears of
sadness from some of the Year 13s (and the staff), but what is fair
to say is that the enjoyment, energy and noise that came with the
picnics, certainly lifted everyone’s spirits going into the summer
break and this could not be dampened by the rain’s attempt to spoil
the party.
Thanks to all that attended, I hope you enjoyed being back, if only
for a brief encounter, it was lovely to see you all, even if only
for a wave and a smile. Look forward to seeing you all again very
soon.
Hayley Mortimer Director of Co-Curricular
House Picnics
TENNIS Colours Junior Full Eloise Taylor Matilda Clarke
Senior Half Service Colours Mimi Longchamp Florence Salter Green
Florence Rhill Ruby Cooney Senior Full Colours Jack Kerslake
Jennifer Cuthill Georgia McGovern
ATHLETICS Colours Junior Half Thomas Houghton-King Junior Full
Leila Fisher Hamish Ruthven
Senior Half Service Colours Vincent Ruegg Tyler Goosen Joshua
Crompton Bertie Miller Patrick Large
Senior Full Colours Tom Dollery Alex Male Andrea Gilbert Astrid
Thomas Anna Parkinson
SWIMMING Colours Junior Half Matt Ashby Ranuga Fernando Daisy
Hickson Kesia Cunningham Ben Coston Hamish Ruthven Junior Full
Hetty James Tom Houghton-King Harrison Barrett Owen Row
Senior Half Service Colours Sophie Clough Ethan Ho Senior Full
Colours Georgia Williams Abigail Norman Alex Male Tom Dollery
RUGBY (Missed from Spring Term Assembly) Colours Senior Half
Service Colours Ollie Halliday Sam Stevenson Jek Ramella Pollone
Archie Prosser
DEBATING Colours Junior Half Kara Klimczak-Gang Junior Full George
Knowles Guido Weiser
Senior Half Service Colour s Josh Cummings Hanna Wittek Ruth
Kargbo
Senior Full Colours Angelica Gori Joseph Day TECHNICAL
SUPPORT
Colours Senior Half Service Colour s Jason Wong
CRICKET Colours Junior Full Benjamin Chaffey Benjamin Coston Jacob
Pengelly
Senior Half Service Colour s Ben Mouzouri Dominic Murphy Zachary
Tyler Robert White
Senior Full Colours Conway Gilbert Toby Eavis Ayush Shulka
8The Senior Courier
#STAYINGSAFEATHOME
#REMOTELEARNING
CCF Colours Full Maria Parada Gasperin Certificate of Merit Ollie
Edwards (Army) Thomas Yap (Army) Matt Ashby (RN) Ben Pomeroy
(RAF)
Announcements of CCF Positions for Next Year: Contingent RSM –
Makena Nesbitt Head of Royal Navy Section – CPO Zoe Cao Head of
Army Section – CSM Emma Hounslow Head of RAF Section - Flt Sgt Tom
Kitson-Herring
Lord Lieutenant’s Certificate of Meritorious Service have been
awarded to Mr Ian Piper for 26 years of service to the CCF.
End of Summer Term Awards
YOUNG ENTERPRISE COUNTY FINAL The Young Enterprise team were
Somerset’s best overall Company and competed in the Regional
round.
Regional Round: commended for their business model, great marketing
video and use of social media plus also their local
networking.
Young Enterprise Journey Award Winner is Miles Butt.
INTERMEDIATE MATHS CHALLENGE CERTIFICATES Bronze – Year 9 Charlie
Bedford Tilly Jacoby Kelly Ben Redrup Shailu Srithar
Bronze – Year 10 Aniela Cuevas Ollie Heard Pavel Irzhak William
Kyles Short Mina Li Devrim Tarr
Bronze – Year 11 Sophie Chant Floriana Christie Hetty James Edward
Smith Verity Winsor
Silver – Year 9 Lewis Frost Morgan Gunter
Silver – Year 10 Elizabeth Dutton Max Hole Michael Hudson Karl Ko
Grace Talbot
Silver – Year 11 Ben Coston Daisy Hickson Fedor Ivanov Alfie Joseph
George Knowles Zachary Meeten Charlie Shave Daniel Wen
Gold – Year 10 and Best in Year 10 Steven Yao
Gold – Year 11 Kelly Hou
DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD Bronze Ailani Braine-Clarke Julia Louw Skye
McLaughlin Ollie Edwards Ronnie Foster Martha Mileham
Silver Award KesiaCunningham
Gold Award Karl Andress William Darlington Angus Judkins Sharon
Huang Lorena Streit Danielle Hardy EthanHo Sophie Brett
DANCE RAD ballet exam success
Grade 4 Lily Lucas and Nola Fisher (distinction)
Grade 7 Kesia Cunningham Georgia Imm Arabella Ellisson
9The Senior Courier
#STAYINGSAFEATHOME
#REMOTELEARNING
National School Sports Week Over the past week (National School
Sports Week) the House Teams have been encouraging participation
from their houses in a
number of different events and activities to compete for Virtual
Sports Day titles.
The responsibility fell to the Year 12s to collate videos, photos
and evidence for each of the events and submit their completed
entries.
Well done to everyone that took part. Here are the results! Hayley
Mortimer
Director of Co-Curricular
20km Bike Archie Tyler, ML ML
5km Run Archie Tyler, ML WW
Plank Archie Tyler, ML ML
Press Ups Sam Stevenson, WE WW
Sit ups Gustav Zhao, FW FW
Egg and Spoon Seb Dando, FW FW
Shuttle Ronnie Foster, FW WW
Vertical Jump Seb Dando, FW FW
Broad Jump Seb Dando, FW FW
OVERALL
Plank Jana, BV BV
Egg and Spoon Kate, BS BV
Shuttle Charlotte Hicks, JK JK
Vertical Jump Andrea, BV BS
Broad Jump Tia, WD BV
OVERALL
Regatta Winners
Last week, Hetty Holden, Marni Gallimore, Catherine Kemmish and
Lizzie Kemmish competed in Chester "Virtual" Regatta - apparently
the oldest Regatta in the world - and won the Junior Women's age 14
Quad Race!
They have been continuing with their rowing sessions weekly via
zoom and using ergo rowers but are looking forward to being allowed
back on the water soon.
Congratulations all of you!
The Taunton School student- led Amnesty Group have been busy
continuing their work for the International charity and have
produced a video of their latest campaign: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=uU3zhHKKx2w&feature=you tu.be
In the past, Taunton School’s Amnesty group has helped tackle
period poverty. This was done by collecting pads across the school
and donated to countries where girls had
a lower chance of attending school due to their periods and lack of
resources. In addition, we have “Written for Rights” to
governments, government officials and victims themselves. Your
generous donations will help provide food and shelter for these
orphans. Because of the terrible economic climate that COVID19 has
left us all in, most of the funds that the orphanage once received
have completed and because of the dusk-dawn curfew, it has been
harder than ever for the Kenyan citizens. The higher the donations,
the more food that can be given to help feed the children. We at
Taunton School would like to give you our complete and sincerest
gratitude, with your donation, no matter how big your small, you
have changed the life of a young child. Thank you for your
positivity and hope in the humankind.
A message from the pastor
Nyataro children's' orphanage is found to the Western parts of
Kenya, 52 km south of Kisii, Nyataro village. Kisii boarders the
Luo speaking community of Migori county to the south and Maasai
speaking community of Narok county to the north. This two ethnical
community are always hostile whenever comes country's General
elections. The orphanage was started in October 2017 after a severe
ethical war that was brought about by political differences. Dozens
of people lost their lives due to political instability. These
political wars led to many people and poor orphans who fled to our
church for safety.
Please visit their "Go fund me page" if you can help:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/nyataro-childrens-orphanage
Taunton School Amnesty International Group
11The Senior Courier
Dining Room Update After an enforced 5 week absence
just before Easter, the contractor returned to site at the start of
May and our project is now very much back on track. Works started
slowly at first, to allow site staff to adjust practices and
activities and a new way of working in line with Govt guidance
around Covid-19.
Working inside a nearly completed building has been no easy task,
but the team on site has responded superbly, ensuring that the site
is safe at all times. The continued efforts of all involved have
been superb and as such progress has
continued.
The most significant visible change since the return is the removal
of the large blue hoarding on Densham Green – that has allowed
passers-by to see for the first time the impressive full height
glass façade that is the new dining room. The dining room will open
out on to the new terrace, properly linking the interior spaces
with the outside.
Inside the building we are starting to see significant progress on
the finishes and services – our facility will have a huge amount of
technology built in, and miles
of cabling and controls are being installed everywhere. The dining
room will have state of the art audio visual systems, colour
controllable lights, automatic blinds and underfloor heating to
name but a few. These are in addition to a kitchen facility that
will allow our catering team to work in a 21st century catering
environment.
We are now “full steam ahead” for a completion just before the new
term at the start of September.
Terry Harris, Estates Manager
Taunton School Memories Project
A new online campaign has been launched encouraging all members of
the Taunton School community – Old Tauntonians, teachers, staff and
parents past and present to take part.
So far we have received some excellent responses to our
questionnaire from Old Tauntonians, dating back to those who
attended school here in 1944! We’d love some more stories and
memories from our parents - memories of the first day of dropping
children off, proudest moments and anything you’d like to
share.
We are planning to use all these stories, photos and videos to
celebrate the 175th anniversary of the school in two years’
time.
Join in! Taunton School Foundation Team
We’re collecting memories!
For Parents and Staff: https://forms.gle/x5Ame3ckepu76PDWA
13The Senior Courier
#STAYINGSAFEATHOME
#REMOTELEARNING
Taunton School Daily Drawing Challenge Thank you to everyone who
has taken part during the summer term.
14The Senior Courier
#BLM Game Changers: US race relations and the influence of
Sport, 1908-2020 On Tuesday, 30th June, Ben Marsden
(History Teacher and Housmaster) delivered an insighful and topical
enrichment talk as part as part of the end of year
celebrations.
The recent death of George Floyd and the ensuing turmoil in the USA
has given fresh impetus to the movement for racial equality around
the world. The Black Lives Matter movement has never had a
higher profile, and there appears to be a genuine appetite for
change.
To mark this current mood, Taunton School is offering a free
lecture on the influence of sport in the long-term campaign for
improved civil rights in the USA. Ben Marsden provides an
historical sweep of the twentieth century, and argues that black
athletes have been far more
influential in highlighting and promoting change than has perhaps
been recognised.
To watch his presentation in full presentation, follow this link:
https://www. tauntonschool.co.uk/parent-information/
ts-end-of-year-celebrations/
16The Senior Courier
House Singing Christmas
World Mental Health Day Rugby charity fundraising
Weirfield took the 2019 crown! Read this edition of the Courier
here.
Christmas celebrations and a special debate. Read this edition of
the Courier here.
Rugby Team raise money for Musgrove A&E. Read this edition of
the Courier here.
The U14, U16 and U19 triumph at County Championships. Read the news
story here.
Great success for musicions at Taunton Festival of the Arts. Read
this edition of the Courier here.
Tea and Chat for students to support Mental Health Day. Read this
edition of the Courier here.
Lots of fun and games during this year's RaG week. Visit the School
Facebook page for a round-up here.
17The Senior Courier
The 39 Steps
Choral Concert Home Learning
Learning at home for the Summer Term. Read this edition of the
Courier here.
The Community Choir sang John Rutter's Magnificat Read this edition
of the Courier here.
Taunton CCF had their Biennial Inspection. Read this edition of the
Courier here.
Harry the Piano entertained a packed theatre. Visit the school
Facebook page to see a short film here.
A superb production of The 39 Steps was performed by talented
students. Read this edition of the Courier here.
Reporter and Broadcaster Tim Marshall visited School. Read this
edition of the Courier here.