Reading School Enrichment Report 2012

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Annual Fund

Activities Report2011-12

Introduction This brief review of the activities supported with the help of the Annual Fund

during 2011-12 gives a flavour of the range of extra-curricular activities onoffer at Reading School. Their scope and variety is testimony to the energy

and intellectual curiosity of our students.

It also to the credit of the many members of staff who gave up their time and

skills to ensure the boys had ample opportunities to develop their talents and

interests. The activities complement and enhance learning in the classroom,

and make an enormous difference to students‘ intellectual and emotional

growth, which pays dividends both within school and in later life.

We would like to thank all those parents who donated to the Annual Fund

during 2011-12. It wouldn‘t have been possible to achieved so much without

their generosity and support.

We need as many parents as possible to become involved in supporting the

Annual Fund, to enable us to continue to provide high quality enrichment

projects. If you are a UK taxpayer, we will also be able to reclaim 25p in Gift

Aid for each pound you can donate.

You can make a donation using the Annual Fund donation form, or by

contacting the Development Office on 0118 9105600, ext 264, or email

[email protected].

Contents

Music — Page 2

Drama — Page 2

School Events — Page 3

Ichthus — Page 4

6th Form Debating —

Page 4

Public Speaking — Page 4

CCF — Page 5

Science Club — Page 5

Sport — Page 6 & 7

Chess — Page 8

Art — Page 8

Photo: T Tucker



Increasing Participation in Music The Annual Fund enabled us to set up two new

initiatives this year – widening levels of participation

in music in the school, and entering the Chipping

Norton Youth Jazz Challenge for the first time. I am

pleased to report that we achieved both goals.

Reading School Big Band had a great joint concert

with the Innovations Jazz Band at Big School on

March 5th. A few days later, they participated in the

Chipping Norton Youth Jazz Challenge for the firsttime and won. They beat six other bands, including

last year‘s winners, King Edward's School, Stratford

on Avon. As a result, they were invited to play at the

Chippy Jazz and Music Day in September.

Throughout Michaelmas and early in Spring term, all

Year 7 students worked hard rehearsing for the Year 7

Concert at Big School on February 1st. It was packed

with hundreds of proud parents, as practically every

boy in the year played an instrument or sang. It was

an ambitious programme including Carey Blyton‘s

children‘s opera ―Dracula‖, which the boys performed

with great gusto and volume.

There are now over 10 ensembles in the school,

including choirs, orchestra, two jazz bands, and string

ensembles. The Annual fund enabled us to buy 14

new violins to give more boys a chance to play aninstrument, and also paid the costs of hiring a coach

for the Jazz Band to travel to Chipping Norton.

Next year, we plan to build on this success, and to

have even more boys participating in music making.

- Mr Meehan, Director of Music

The Drama Department was most grateful for theallocation of funds which enabled us to buy in the

services of Kerry Frampton, director of Splendid

Productions. Kerry ran an inspiring practical

workshop with our year 12 and 13 Theatre Studies

students which introduced them to new ways of

thinking about the creation and presentation of

character and situation.

The boys worked in groups to create, within a very

tight time frame, highly imaginative scenes which were both amusing, moving, emotionally charged and

highly entertaining.

The workshop was key in helping them develop their

performance style which benefitted their Practical

Performance Exam, for which all students gained an A

grade.

- Ms Capon, College Leader in English and

Drama

2

Reading School Jazz Band taking

part in the Chipping Norton Youth

Jazz Challenge, March 2012

Drama Workshop



Each year, the Reading School

has a calendar of public events

that enable the school

community to celebrate our

students‘ achievements and

talents, as well as the School‘s

heritage and history.

These events involve large

numbers of students, staff and

parents, which we are unable to

accommodate in the School,

and the support from the

Annual Fund enabled us to hire

suitable external venues.

Inter-house Music

In November, Reading Town

Hall was packed as each of the

four houses presented a 25

minute musical programme

showcasing their musical

virtuosity.

It was the culmination of

several months of dedicated

rehearsal, and gave them the

chance to devise, work together

and to practice their leadership

skills.

East House swept the boards,

emerging as overall winners of

the Competition, as well as the

award for best ensemble

performance and best solo

performance. West House

were runners up.

Commemoration

The annual Commemoration

Service is used to give thanks to

the school‗s benefactors and

pray for continued success. It

was not just an opportunity to

celebrate the past, but also a

chance for the boys to look

towards the future andconsider how they might serve

their school and community.

In 2011, over 700 boys

attended the service at the

Minster Church of St Mary-the-

Virgin, together with staff and

local dignitaries, including the

Mayor of Reading, and Rob

Wilson MP.

Senior Prize-giving

Senior Prize-giving enabled us

to welcome back 2011 Leavers

after their first term at

university. At the event, which

was held at the Great Hall at

the University of Reading , they

and some of our current senior

students were presented with A

-level certificates and prizes for

academic excellence and for

overall contribution to school

life.

Prizes were funded by the

Reading Foundation and the

Old Redingensians Association.

Carol Service

Representatives of the entire

school community gathered at

St Luke‟s Church, Erleigh Road

in December for the Annual

Service of Nine Lessons andCarols, conducted by School

Chaplain, The Reverend Chris

Evans.

The choir and musicians

performed an ambitious

programme of carols and

music. These included several

Christmas favourites, and some

less well known carols.

School Public Events

3



Public Speaking and Debating

Funding from the Annual Fund has

allowed us to expand and develop

public speaking and debating within

the school this year.

We now have a captain for public

speaking, Nikolai Ciecierski-

Holmes, and increasing numbers of

students of all ages becoming

involved.

We began a Debating Club on

Thursdays for students in Years 9 to

13, with Year 8 boys eligible to join

in the Summer term. It is regularly

packed, with students debating

topics such as the nuclear deterrent

and social activism.

We set up a Policy Team of nine

boys in Years 9 to 12 to generate

ideas for the development of public

speaking and debating at School.

During the year, we had 97 entriesfor the LAMBA public speaking

examinations from grade 4 through

to Grade 8 (Gold medal). We also

entered the Rotary Speaks and

English Speaking Union

Competitions.

In early July, we ran a training day

for Year 7 students, which

culminated in the Year 7 Public

Speaking Competition. East House

were overall winners, with Best

Chairman, Best Questioner, and

Best Team. West House won the

Best Speaker award.

- Mrs Williams

4

Funding from the Annual Fund this

year has helped to run the Philosophy

Club, two different ‗Ichthus‘ Christian

Fellowship lunch groups and the

‗Life‘ discussion group led by the 6th

form. In all of these activities boys

get to explore faith and philosophy

and to examine spiritual and moral

values. This is hugely important for

many of the students in our school

who have an active Christian faith,

and ensures that these boys have

room within their lives to reflect. It is

also really valuable for those with no

faith at all who need time outside of

the curriculum to crunch throughsome of life‘s biggest questions!

Philosophy Club this year has

explored some incredibly deep

concepts. We have most recently been

exploring the nature of ‗paradox‘ and

asking ‗can the material universe

contradict itself?‘ The boys‘

conclusion was mind blowing: ‗all

paradoxes are language problems,

because language is the only thing

that can contradict itself.‘

We have also been able to hold a total

of six joint events with the Abbey and

with Kendrick, including a very well

attended Lent course. A total of 110

boys have attended one or other of

these clubs, from Year 7 through to

Year 13, with an average of 40 boys

attending each week.

The Annual Fund has helped a great

deal – enabling us to buy resources

such as philosophy guides, theoccasional sweet, prizes and even

pizza for planning sessions with the

sixth form leaders. Next year we

hope to do more of the same – but to

include more trips.

– Mr Evans, School Chaplain

Ichthus6th Form Debating This year, the Annual Fund

enabled our Sixth Form to enter

the English Speaking Union‘s

Mace National Schools

Debating Competition.

We won the first heat at King‘s

College School in November. In

the next round, we were a close

second, no mean achievement

considering it was our first

participation in such a

competition for many years.

It also gave students a chance

to display and develop their

forensic and oratorical skills ina challenging context, and to

learn more about some of the

important ethical issues of the

day.

– Mr Beahan

East House Team, overall win-ners of the Year 7 Public Speak-ing and Debating Competition inJuly 2012



Science Club The Science Club has had a busy and productive

year, getting boys doing practical science projects

and putting classroom learning into practice. Six

Year 12 students won crested gold awards from the

Engineering Development Trust for their work on a

project looking at hidden patterns in the National

Grid, with a view to finding ways of increasing

efficiency of energy supply.

Year 7 students have been doing lots of exciting

chemistry each Tuesday afternoon, including

building and launching hydrogen rockets. Younger

boys are also taking part in the Toyota Challenge,

which involves building a solar powered model car.

Older boys are also continuing to work on a long-

term project, designing and building an unmanned

aerial vehicle (UAV) that might be used to deliver

emergency medical aid.

This year the Annual Fund enabled us to pay the

costs of entry and travel for the Engineering

Development Trust competition, as well as materials

for all of the Science Club activities.

Steven Longstaff, Head of Chemistry

100 students have participated in the CCF this year,

as part of the Army or RAF Corps that meet each

Thursday afternoon. As well as after-school activities

at school, they were also able to participate in

exercises at Bramley and Arborfield, including some

24-hour exercises, which enable boys to learn team-

building, leadership, signaling and navigation skills.

A total of forty boys took part in CCF courses. They

included four who were awarded gliding scholarships,and two who gained flying scholarships. A highlight

of the year was victory, for the second year running,

in the National Cadet Signals Competition for the

second year running. This took place over the

weekend of 30 March -1 April 2012. The team tackled

a variety of challenges, including practical stands on

antennas and propagation, line laying, the National

Radio Net and voice procedure as well as theoretical

knowledge.

The support of the Annual Fund covered the cost of

insuring the CCF Land Rover this year.

Mr Hurst, and Mr Walters, Reading School

CCF

5

Reading School CCF Signals

Team, Sgt. A . Coombes, Sgt. J.

Munns, Sgt. A. Matthews, Cpl.

H. Phillips and L/Cpl R.

Sullivan, winners of the Na-

tional Cadet Signals Competi-

tion at Blandford Camp in April 2012.

Combined Cadet Force



Sport for All

We had another great year of participation in sport,

with boys gaining skills in team-work, leadership and

goal setting, as well as physical and mental fitness.

The Annual Fund was a magnificent support in fund-ing additional coaching, equipment, affiliation fees for

sporting bodies, transport costs, catering, and refer-

ees fees.

Rugby

Approximately 250 boys, aged 11 to 18, took part in

rugby. As well as fielding teams for county and na-

tional championships, we ran a Senior House Rugby

Competition at Reading Rugby Club, with eighty Year

12 and Year 13 students taking part.

Each team got a minimum of eight fixtures and entry

into a cup competition, with at least two training ses-

sions each week during the season. We are very

pleased that the Under-12 rugby team won the Berk-

shire Trophy in an unbeaten run. The U13 rugby team

are also Berkshire Cup champions, with a resounding

22-7 victory in the final against Reading Blue Coats

School.

Cricket

Over 140 students of all ages took part in cricket this

year. Each team benefitted from two training sessionseach week, and eight fixtures during the season. They

also had entry into a county or national cup comple-

tion. We also ran a Key Stage 3 House Cricket Sports

Day recently, in which 130 boys in Year 7, 8 and 9

took part.

After our spectacular victory against the MCC in 2011,

we did well to draw against them this year.

FootballFootball is a relatively new sport at Reading School,

having been established in 2004. In this brief time,

the school has had much success. This year was no

exception, with 140 students participating, including a

large number of senior students.

The 1st XI came good in the Gibbs Cup by reaching the

quarter finals, where they lost to the eventual winners

of the competition. They also matched last year‘s per-

formance in the league, by retaining second place.

The 2nd XI competed in the West Berkshire league this

year, and their performance was outstanding. They

won five out six games, and with a final goal differ-

ence of 19 ,they secured the league title.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is also a relatively recent addition to the

sports repertoire, but participation levels are growing

year on year. Every student from Years 10, 11, 12 and

13 has the opportunity to receive professional lacrossecoaching from two American lacross coaches.

This year we ran both an Under 16 and an Under 18

team, who each played six fixtures and tournaments

Athletics

The School currently has several star athletes, who

compete at club, county and international level. The

Annual Fund enables us to keep the numbers of boys

participating in athletics high by covering the cost of

our annual sports day at Palmer Park. This year, we

had a very successful games, with several long-

standing school records broken. They included Jonny

Davies setting a new record time of 4.04 for the Sen-

ior 1,500m, Dan Brock‘s time of 2.02 for the Senior

800m, and Andrew Smyth‘s time of 4.43 for the Year

8 1,500m.

- Mr Beckey, Director of Sport

6

Photo: T Tucker



Badminton We set out to increase the number of students playing badminton this year, and we are delighted that over

50 boys regularly took part. Given the numbers, we

decided to organise sessions according to age groups.

We provided group coaching, teaching the basics of

the game, and most boys seemed to enjoy the social

side as well as the sporting aspect of the game.

We were also able to help the more talented members

of the club to access county coaching programmes.

There have been noticeable improvements in the skillsand confidence of these players, and several are now

competing at county level.

As there are no badminton facilities at the school,

we‘ve had to hire courts at Reading University and

Kendrick School. The Annual Fund covered the costs

of hire and the purchase of stocks of shuttlecocks.

- Mr Pedlow

7

Reading School 1st XI play

the MCC, July 2012

Photo: T Tucker

The aim this year was to upgrade our facilities and to

get more boys participating in rowing. We‘ve made

significant progress on both fronts. Twenty boys are

regularly participating in our Wednesday afternoonsessions. Unfortunately, we‘ve not been able to have

much racing because of bad weather and adverse

conditions on the river.

With the help of the Annual Fund, we‘ve been able to

buy two fully operational racing fours. We‘ve also

recently bought a second-hand Aylings Eight in good

condition. The boats have improved our ability to

practice, and will enable us to participate in more

competitions and regattas in the near future. Some of

the costs were met through the sale of old equipment.

The Annual Fund has also enabled us to pay the rent

and rates for the boat house. Next year, we are hoping

to make some essential repairs to the boathouse, and

funding permitting, to install basic toilet and

showering facilities.

- Steven Longstaff, Head of Chemistry

Rowing Club

This year, with the support of the Annual Fund, we

were able to hold our first Annual Sports Personality

of the Year Awards. The Awards enabled us to recog-

nise our students‘ wealth of sport achievement and

excellence, in representing, school, club, county and

in some cases, country.

We have re-introduced House Colours for all students

who represent their house. The prizes and colours

were covered with a grant from the Annual Fund.

- Mr Beckey, Director of Sport

Recognising Sporting Excellence



A show case for Art

The Annual Fund enabled us to

showcase students‘ work at our

annual art show in Music School.

This gave boys a chance to curate a

selection of the work they had

produced throughout the year.

Visitors were impressed with the

range of the quality of work on show,

including several large sculptures,

and life studies, and many of these

have remained on exhibition in

public areas of the school throughoutthe year. Also of interest were the

boys learning logs, which gave an

insight into their observations and

inspirations throughout the year.

The Fund enabled us to buy some

new cameras for our animation

classes, which are regularly attended

by over 20 boys. Mrs Willoughby,

College Leader in Expressive

Arts

8

Reading School chess team has had

another very successful year, with a

victory at the English Chess

Federation's National Schools Plate.

Six members of the school chess

team also represented Berkshire in

the English Chess Federation Under

18 county championships on June

30th. Berkshire finished second

overall in the championships, and

Reading School were joint winners

of the Schools‘ Cup.

We have several national players in

our squad and won the Reading

School Sports Team of the Yearaward against some stiff

competition from more 'traditional'

sports.

Chess Club, which runs on

Tuesdays after school, provides an

important opportunity for boys

from years 7 to 13 to compete and

learn in a supportive environment.

We also co-run a chess tournament

in October, in conjunction with the

Berkshire Junior Chess Association.

Chess is extremely popular

throughout the School and the Year13 common room this year was

transformed by the purchase of 6

chess sets. On occasions, I had to

chase boys off to lessons because

they had become too engrossed in a

chess game!

Our contribution from the Annual

Fund goes towards equipment and

other costs incurred by the School

Chess Club and teams, including

transport and refreshments.

Finally, I would like to express my

appreciation of my colleaguesMr Sobieniak, who runs the

Tuesday Chess Club, Mrs Readings

who drives the minibus, and our

Captain, Ben Vandersluis , who has

provided invaluable expertise and

support to me in running the club

this year

– Mrs Smith, Head of Year 13

A thriving Chess Club

Documents

Reading School Enrichment Report 2012