WINTER 2018 TIMES KTHE GREAT HALL CNEWS FROM KENT COLLEGE CANTERBURY FOCUS ON DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY REMEMBRANCE THE CANTERBURY FESTIVAL CAROLS ON THE FARM 1 KENT COLLEGE NEWS CONTENTS PAGE 4 PAGE 7 ARMISTICE CENTENARY GRIMM’S TALES DR COLSON MR SPENCER well: in particular the U19 Basketball team has been undefeated this season in the Kent Schools’ League, the U13 and U14 Rugby squads have also maintained an impressive unbeaten record and our equestrian team has produced some very impressive results in the NSEA championships. Our U16 Girls’ Hockey team should also be commended for some tremendous performances and in particular for being runners- up in the regional competition - they will certainly be a team to watch next year. The Duke of Edinburgh Scheme at KC also continues to go from strength to strength! Following a highly successful Gold expedition in the Italian Dolomites over the Summer, the Bronze activities in the Autumn PAGE 13 PAGE 19 PAGE 24 PAGE 28 term involved large numbers of Year 9s. We also now have a Silver Award Scheme! The inaugural Silver practice expedition to the South Downs enjoyed fantastic weather. We wish the pioneer participants well and thank our D of E staff for launching this exciting new project. FROM THE HEAD MASTER’S DESK This term also saw the publication of two exciting books written by long-standing and highly valued members of the KC community. In October, Dr Colson’s excellent book on the Cathedral’s medieval It’s been an extraordinary Autumn term! These 14 weeks have been packed with exciting stained glass, ‘Every Window Tells a Story’, was celebrated at a special event at the Cathedral Lodge. In achievements, events and activities and this edition of the Kent College Times gives us a great the following month, Mr Rod Spencer’s ‘Then Sings My Soul’, a marvelous collection of anthems, carols opportunity to reflect on all that’s been happening at KC since the Summer. and songs composed and arranged for Mrs Jackie Spencer’s Choristers, was launched during an evening of song and reminiscence in the school Chapel. The school’s academic success continues to be extremely encouraging. In the Summer, Kent College students and staff celebrated another year’s results. Achievement at A level was once You will be able to read about these highlights and much more in the pages that follow and I am very again very pleasing with 45% of grades being A* to A! Our IB results, with an average point grateful to the student editorial team for their hard work preparing this excellent publication. score of 37 (Oxford University offers require 38 points) put us in the top 10 schools nationally while our GCSE scores (100% pass rate) match the best grammar schools - a particularly Finally, an exciting development with a high visual impact at impressive achievement given our inclusive intake. the Senior School is the Great Hall, its very impressive profile emerging over the last few months. The Topping Out Ceremony MEET THE TEAM One particularly memorable event in November was our Armistice commemoration which has taken place and we look forward to seeing this crucially this year had as its focus the marvelous installation: ‘To End All Wars’. Many thanks to all important project being completed in 2019. who organized this whole school project, especially Mrs Kenmir and Mr Cox. When the commemorative tiles - produced by every individual in our community - are mounted by the WE WARMLY WELCOME THE FOLLOWING NEW archway into the main quad, they will provide us with an impressive and unique memorial to all ACADEMIC STAFF TO THE KC COMMUNITY those who died in the wars of the twentieth century, with a special link to those OCs who fell Ian Armbruster, Head of Business in armed conflict. Cristina Valles Carrera, Teacher of Spanish Rupert Champion, Head of Physics This term’s school musical ‘Oh! What a Lovely War’ provided us with another special link to the Armistice and audiences were both moved and entertained by an exciting production and a Daniel Coleman, Teacher of Science Timothy Hall, Head of Drama (Maternity Cover) large high-quality cast. It was also a delight to experience the Junior Drama Club’s innovative This year we have a fantastic new editorial team production of Grimm’s Tales just before Christmas. It was impressive to see the Senior Drama Paul Jackson, Director of Sport for the Kent College Times drawn largely from Scholars directing KS3 students, sharing their skills and experience and playing a key role in Harry Smith, Teacher of English pupils in Years 10 and 11. Not only has the team Robert Stephens, Teacher of Geography enjoyed gathering together to meet and share the development of a new generation of talented KC performers. ideas, but a number of the group have taken Monica Flores, Spanish Language assistant news reporting off the school site by engaging in We are also very pleased to celebrate some very special sporting achievements this Esme Covington-Cross, Sports Assistant/Resident Tutor interviews with performers from the Canterbury term. Congratulations go to Adam Lee-Browne who has been invited to join the Christina Patinioti, Resident Tutor Festival - seeing our reports appear as part of their young reporters’ initiative. England U18 Hockey squad, and to Abigail Pritchard who has been selected to play Lourdes Gonzalez Mernandez, Language Assistant for England Youth Touch Rugby Team, while Teigan Sullivan gained first place in the Our team comprises Year 12 Sam Stevens, Year Kent Cross Country League for her category. Our teams have also performed very 11 Emily Waters, Grace Morrison, May Douglas, Billy Evans, Ellis Bore, Sophia Shestha, Isabelle Savin and Alicia Hunt, Year 10 Daisy O’Connor and Angelica Wright. By JULIAN WALTHO SENIOR SCHOOL HEAD MASTER 2 3 By EMILY WATERS THE GREAT HALL & SOPHIA SHRESTHA ARMISTICE CENTENARY MEET THE ARCHITECT The Great Hall is well on the way to completion, as is evident from the rapid progress of building seen on the site, and the Kent College Community watches excited and expectant. Questions have been buzzing around the school: when will it be finished? What will it look like? Who will use it? And we thought that the person who could best answer these inquiries would be the Great Hall Architect, Mr James Robson, who has worked over about five years to design and create the biggest project that Kent 2018 marks the centenary of the end of the First World War, where one hundred years College has ever undertaken. Having worked on similar projects before, Mr Robson ago the suffering of millions of men finally ended after four years of dreadful fighting. was asked to create a hall that would be used as both a performance space and To commemorate and remember all those who were killed during the war, Kent College chapel, where up to 600 people would need to be seated. In order to achieve this flexibility, many innovative features have been added to the building, for example a History and Art departments have created a huge poppy, made of individual tiles. temporary screen will be installed that can reduce the seating for smaller performances Each tile has been uniquely decorated and designed by every member of the Kent College and audiences, which can then be removed for the hall to accommodate a whole school gathering. This adjustability is also key in the purpose of the building, where a religious community to symbolise the individuality of each soldier who died during this time, and space must also be adapted for performances and recitals: all of these matters were how those that we remember are not just statistics or names of the past, but were singular taken into account during the initial designing process. characters. This project was influenced by a trip to Ypres where six Year 9 students with Mrs. Kenmir and Mr. Cox were invited to help install the ‘Coming World Remember Me’ One other design that has been incorporated into the building of the hall is the natural exhibition. ventilation, where air will be extracted from the ground and recycled around the hall; this seems an incredible feature, where noisy and intrusive air conditioning units will be In this project, 600,000 clay figures have been made, each one representing a man who lost a thing of the past. Another important feature of the building is where it was going to be his life on Belgian soil during the First World War, and placed in no man’s land. In order to placed, as accessibility and visibility were key in the decisions made. The site that they create our own lasting memorial, this idea has been adapted to make our own tile poppy which decided on, just in front of the main school, is ideal in terms of convenience for the pupils and any visitors, as well as being visible from the road. Mr Robson also confirmed that will remain in the school as a permanent reminder of the peace that we now are able to enjoy. the brick used will complement that of the nineteenth century building behind and will therefore not detract from this marvellous architecture that forms the school’s history. Size and space are very important factors in choosing a site, which was why this area was suitable for the project, and many locals have already complimented the structure that outlines where the Great Hall will be. Exciting times are just ahead, as Mr Robson believes that the hall should be finished by Summer 2019, which is remarkable considering the size and demand of the project.