TITLE HERE 1 THE SALOPIAN Issue No. 156 - Summer 2015 he front cover photograph, showing the first frantic seconds of the CONTENTS TBumps Division II final on Speech Day, taken from the Kingsland Bridge by departing member of staff Dr Mike Wade of the Mathematics Academic News 4 Faculty, should provide even the most traditional of Old Salopians with Hodgson Hall 6 a reassuring image of traditions respected and upheld in the context of Shrewsbury International School 7 School Prize Winners 8 a wider world which is becoming increasingly unstable in whichever Scholarships 9 direction one looks. At the head of this division, with Churchill’s, Moser’s Hall 10 having bumped up for the three nights in a row making its final bid to Heads of School 10 catch Rigg’s - unsuccessfully as it turned out, with Rigg’s retaining its Chapel Interviews 11 Careers Education at Shrewsbury 14 pole position in all three divisions - are boys, but further downstream Shrewsbury House 16 the world is changing, with the three girls’ Houses working their way up Old Salopians in the First World War 18 the Division, no longer sitting on the bottom where new Houses have Thomas Pryce VC Memorial Lecture 22 traditionally had to start. So here is both continuity and change, the yin Poetry 22 PSHE 23 and yang of any healthy organism, Shrewsbury School not excepted. The Rovers reborn 24 House Play Season 25 Seven years after the first Sixth Form girls arrived at Shrewsbury, and Music 26 a year on from the institution of full co-education, the girls are playing Art 29 Euroscola trip to Strasbourg 30 the fullest possible part in School life, with their own traditions and General Election Hustings 31 history starting to form and coalesce. This past year the School has had RSSH 32 joint boy and girl Heads of School, and Esmé O’Keeffe’s chapel talk Football 35 (reproduced on page 11) and her reflections on her time in office (on Rugby 39 RSSBC 41 page 10) qualify her to stand at the head of a long line of distinguished Fives 44 Salopians stretching back over centuries. Girls Sport 46 School Sports Awards 47 Two other examples of this changed and changing face of Shrewsbury Shrewsbury School Foundation 49 From the Director 50 stand out from the past two weeks. The centrepiece of the traditional Salopian Connect 50 Eve of Speech Day concert consisted of a sizeable extract from Salopian Club Events 51 Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro, first performed earlier this term A round-up of OS Representatives 52 (reviewed on page 26). In last week’s concert Henrike Legner (MSH) News of Old Salopians 55 Old Salopian Golfing Society 62 conducted the overture, the first girl ever to conduct the orchestra, The Old Salopian Hunt 65 sang (in the role of Susanna) an aria and participated in the heavenly Sabrina 67 sextet which closed this section of the concert. At more or less the OS Squash 68 Saracens 69 same time, the Senior Girls’ Quad were qualifying as the first ever OS Football Club 69 Shrewsbury girls’ crew to compete at Henley Royal Regatta, where they OS Fives 70 will race in the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup. So the girls are now OS Yacht Club 71 firmly in the Salopian DNA, and, most significantly, welcomed as equal Salopian Club Arts Activities 72 Brigadier RHS Popham 73 partners in endeavour by the boys. The School has indeed come a very City on a Hill 74 long way since 2008. OS Publications 75 Obituaries 76 A vast amount of work has of course gone on behind the scenes to make the transition to full co-education as painless as possible. For one thing, the bumps charts, which date back to 1867, have had Editor Richard Hudson to be amended to accommodate the three new girls’ houses. Churchill’s Hall, Shrewsbury School, This has formed part of a much wider project as Ed Carroll (Ch) Shrewsbury SY3 7AT 01743 280630 [email protected] has completed, at the end his Upper Sixth year, a project conceived Assistant Editor when he was in the Third Form to replace the hand-drawn charts Annabel Warburg which adorn the walls of the Boat House with electronically Obituaries Editor Martin Knox generated charts. A more detailed account of this extraordinary Salopian Club project, a fitting legacy bequeathed by young man who has made a Nick Jenkins (Director) Old Salopian Club, The Schools, huge mark on the Salopian stage as an academic, operatic bass, cox Shrewsbury SY3 7BA and computer genius, can be found on the School Website at 01743 280891 (Director) 01743 280892 (Administrator) www.shrewsbury.org.uk/news/bumps-charts-online mail to: [email protected] Front cover: Bumps 2015 (photo: Dr Mike Wade) Design: www.grand-design.eu Inside Front Cover: Oscar Dickins (R), Joint Huntsman elect (photo: Peter Middleton) Print: www.lavenhampress.com 4 SCHOOL NEWS Academic News Aue Angpanitcharoen (Ch) Engineering Science at St Catherine’s College, Oxford Edward Carroll (Ch) Computer Science at Oriel College, Oxford Rory Fraser (Ch) (post A level) English at Trinity College, Oxford Sonny Koh (Ch) Economics at Downing College, Cambridge Miranda Woods (EDH) Arabic & Islamic Studies at Pembroke College, Oxford Charis Virgo (G) Medicine at St Hugh’s College, Oxford Dominic Dootson (M) Physics at Keble College, Oxford Esmé O’Keeffe (MSH) Latin & French at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Tom Lloyd (Rt) (post-A level) English at University College, Oxford Dan Edwards (S) History at Girton College, Cambridge Dan Lo (SH) German at St Hilda’s Oxbridge College, Oxford Congratulations to the 12 pupils who have been offered places at Oxford and Merrick Wong (SH) Mathematics Cambridge Universities. Once again this year, it is notable that the successes are at Emmanuel College, Cambridge spread across a very broad range of subjects. School Essay Prizes Medical School applications In the past three years, we have introduced two new essay competitions, designed Our ‘Class of 2015’ has been a vintage to provide pupils with the challenge of responding under time pressure to an one for producing future medics. So unseen title. far nine of our pupils have successfully negotiated the hugely competitive The Richard Hillary Essay competition provides an opportunity for Sixth Formers Medical School application process and to spend two hours pitting their wits against a one-word essay title. The event have received offers. was modelled on the historic competition undertaken to select fellows of All Souls College, Oxford. This year’s essay title was ‘Power’. Sabrina Chu (MSH) – Brighton & Sussex The competition was judged by Dr Mark Wormald, Old Salopian and Senior Tutor Millie Dean (MSH) – St George’s of Pembroke College, Cambridge. The winner was Loren Kell (EDH LVI), with Jane Fan (MSH) – Bristol Olivia Bradley (EDH UVI), Dan Edwards (S UVI) and Jonathan Trenchard (S UVI) Oliver Hope (Ch) – Southampton all highly commended. Yutaro Sato (SH) – Sheffield Ben Smith (Rt) – Lancaster Seventy pupils from the Third and Fourth Forms took part in the Junior Essay Prize. Rishi Trivedi (Rb) – Bristol They had to choose one title from a range of over 20, covering all subjects. The Charis Virgo (G) – Oxford choice included ‘Should we believe in life after death?’, ‘What makes Great Art?’, Tom Miller (Rb) (post A-level) ‘Are renewable fuels worth the investment?’ and ‘What makes a great hero – Cardiff in literature?’ The winner was Charlie Johns (I IV). Chemistry Olympiad Twenty-four Sixth Form students took part in Round 1 of the International Chemistry Olympiad. This year there were 23 students from the Lower Sixth and one from the Upper Sixth. The results were outstanding: gold medals were awarded to Chloe Chen (MSH LVI), Tom Dodd (Rb LVI) and Merrick Wong (SH UVI); a further ten pupils won silver and five pupils won bronze medals. Loren Kell Charlie Johns SCHOOL NEWS 5 Headmaster’s Commendations Each term a small number of pupils are nominated for Headmaster’s Commendations based on consistent excellence within the classroom. Pictured below are some of the Third and Fourth Form winners. School Mathematics Prizes National Mathematics Competitions Jonathan Cheng (I, UVI) and Sophie Zhou (EDH UVI), national The Arnold Hagger Prize – a 90-minute paper open to finalists in last year’s Senior Team Maths Challenge, were the whole School – was won this year by Aki Tamai accompanied this time around by Chloe Chen and Tom Dodd. (MSH LVI) with a near record-breaking score of 82% After a solid start in the first two rounds, they finished in 3rd in in a seriously difficult paper. Chloe Chen (MSH LVI) place in the regional heat of this year’s competition, organised by finished in second place. the UK Maths Trust and Further Maths Support Programme. The David Harrison Prize is also open to the whole The UK Senior Mathematical Challenge took place in November. School, and takes the form of a mathematical Twenty-seven gold, 40 silver and 41 bronze certificates were presentation. Tom Dodd (Rb UVI), runner-up in awarded to pupils across the school. Jonathan Cheng, Sophie the last two years, won in style with a hugely Zhou, Chloe Chen and Tom Dodd were joined by Fiona Wang entertaining talk on the mathematics and peculiarities (MSH UVI), Aki Tamai (MSH LVI) and Sherry Xu (EDH LVI) for of Special Relativity. Huda Hasan (EDH UVI), a the British Mathematical Olympiad. Chloe and Aki both obtained finalist last year, came second with an endearing talk certificates of distinction, with Chloe finishing in the top 130 on the application of probability theory to “Finding nationally out of over 1500 candidates.