TheChelmsfordian 2012 EDITION | K ING EDWARD VI GRAMM AR SCHOOL

TheChelmsfordian

And it is for this esprit de corps, this fantastic enthusiasm, that

we should all be thankful. Without it, there would be no

KEGS as we know it.

KEGS eagerly await the

opportunity to take on the best

the County had to offer!

PAGE69

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It is impossible so do justice to a whole year of activity in one piece but, without doubt, this has been a wonderful KEGS year! Fortiter Ex Animo!

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I think it is our job to offer up a smorgasbord of delicacies which our students can try before deciding to explore the full portion

welcome to

TheChelmsfordian

contents 02 welcome 03 school 23 economics & maths 27 art, drama & music 31 gpr, history & politics 34 house competitions 40 engineering & science 50 languages 54 geography & geology 59 english & philosophy 62 sport 72 editorial

NEW YORK TRIP

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| TheChelmsfordian

welcome to

TheChelmsfordian

I n this number, we record a period of

school history which has been especially

marked among the boys by enthusiasm

and by loyalty to school establishments,’

begins the 1908 issue of The Chelmsfordian,

but it is a testament to KEGS that this could

well have been said of any year. This

magazine, with a pedigree stretching back to

1895 under the legendary Frank Rodgers,

represents the ability of KEGS students to

perform in every field of academia and

beyond.

Being given the opportunity to edit The

Chelmsfordian is a singular honour for a boy

who spent a fair part of Year 7 staring in awe

at the VIth Formers who put together such a

professional magazine (sad as it sounds,

unfortunately…) I am doubtful if I can live up

to them, but it is heartening to see the same

KEGS spirit enduring seven years after I first

entered this honourable and gentlemanlike

house.

As ever, there are the regular masses of high

achievers (the people who get us the prestige

in the League Tables) but this magazine is as

much a celebration of KEGS’ unique culture

as of its intellectual pedigree.

I will thank the team behind this publication

later, but here I think it’s worth paying

tribute to all KEGS staff and students who

have contributed to this paper: both writing

articles and making the activities happen.

People here organise as much as participate:

they design, arrange, collate and pull their

hair out, in order that they (and their friends,

or their pupils) get the best out of all the

opportunities available.

And it is for this esprit de corps, this fantastic

enthusiasm, that we should all be thankful.

Without it, there would be no KEGS as we

know it.

SIDDHARTH VENKATARAMAKRISHNAN Editor-in-Chief

I ’ve lost count of how many times

students and teachers alike have asked

me the question ‘How are you Head

Boy?!’! I think I was as surprised as

everyone else to be offered the position of

School Captain this time last year, especially

with so many others in our year being more

than capable of carrying out the role.

It has been very difficult to balance

everything at various points throughout the

year, with long nights at Parents’ Evenings

and various meetings but Jack Coppack,

Siddharth Venkataramakrish-

nan and I have had great support from both

our Prefect Team and the staff, for which we

are all incredibly thankful. Without them, our

job would have been a lot harder, and their

unwavering commitment meant that help was

always at hand when we needed it.

In particular, we would like to thank

Ms Wiltshire: between the four of us,

we just about managed to stay on top of

everything that was going on (even if it was

somewhat last minute at times!). As well as

heading the Prefect Team, Ms Wiltshire has

also been a great help to a huge number of

people throughout the Sixth Form, providing

support and advice to anyone who asks for it,

as has Ms Turtle. I think there will be a lot of

leavers who will greatly miss their presence

next year.

I would like to personally thank Ms Wiltshire,

Jack, Sid and the Prefect Team for all their

help, and I hope we have somewhat raised the

standards above being the ‘worst Prefect

Team for a long time’ (thank you, Ms

Wiltshire!). I'm sure that next year’s Prefect

Team and School Captain, whoever they

might be, will do an excellent job and I wish

them the best of luck for their term as

Prefects!

KIERAN BALLINGER School Captain

School Captain’s Report

Prefect Team 2011/12

School Captain Kieran Ballinger

Deputy Captains Jack Coppack

Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan

House Captains Holland Oly Durose

Mildmay Hugh Harding

Strutt Will Leslie

Tindal Alfie Sansom

Prefects Tom Adam

Ayotunde Adekeye

Aaniya Ahmed

Shirin Ahmed

Isabel Allsop

Edward Alston

Elliot Boakes

Jordan Bulgin

Ricky Childs

Iain Clark

George Cox

Jamie Dent

James Dixon

Jessica Duffy

Amy Fairchild

Mark Freeman

Cian Holland

James Johnson

Lina Joviasaite

Jordan Kirkham

Aiden Lizzimore

Tofumni Onaeko

Michael Packham

Richard Packham

Sparsh Pandya

Emily Phillips

Isla Robertson

Jordan Rowe

Sam Searles-Bryant

Elizabeth Staiano

David Tremain

Ben Tully

‘

02

TheChelmsfordian |

Salvete

As the last Chelmsfordian was published,

we awaited the happy news of Emma

Barton‖s new arrival. Baby Henry arrived

on the last day of the summer term 2011,

and we welcomed Ms Barton back to her

role of Teacher of English on a part-time

basis in May 2012.

Victoria Hartwell completed her BA (Joint

Hons) in Modern History and English at

Oxford, and subsequently gained her PGCE

in Secondary English from Roehampton

University. Having returned from a 3 year

post teaching English in an international

school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Victoria

will join the English department on a part-

time basis in September 2012.

Lucy Fryer will join KEGS at a Teacher of

Geology and Geography in September

2012. Having graduated from the

University of Edinburgh with a BSc (Hons)

in Geology and Physical Geography, Lucy

completed her PGCE at the University of

Cambridge. Lucy is a member of the

Geographical Association and has worked

as an Activity Leader at an international

summer school.

We are delighted to welcome Suzanne

Bode to the MFL College in September

2012, as a part time Teacher of German.

Suzanne holds an MA in History of Art

from the University of London, BA in

German and Italian from the University of

Kent, and completed her PGCE in MFL

German with the Open University. Suzanne

is bilingual English/German, fluent in

French and Italian, and also speaks Czech

and Russian. Suzanne has extensive

experience of language learning.

Teacher of Physics, Kirsten Smith, will

join the Science College in September

2012. Kirsten is an experienced teacher

whose previous role was at Brentwood

County High School. Kirsten gained an

MEd from the University of Cambridge,

after completing both her MA, BA (Hons)

and PGCE also at Cambridge. Kirsten is a

member of the British Psychological

Society.

Rebecca Chant joins the Music

Department in September 2012. Rebecca

has a BA (Hons) in Music from Durham

University, completed her PGCE at

Canterbury Christ Church University, and

has previously taught keyboard to primary

school children. Rebecca is an experienced

choir leader and ensemble conductor.

Kim Cordell joined KEGS as a Learning

Support Assistant in November 2011. Kim

has a BA (Hons) in English Language and

Linguistics from the University of

Brighton.

Valete

Teacher of Geography, Stephen Smith

(above) retires after 23 years at the end of

this academic year. Already an experienced

teacher, Stephen was originally appointed

as Head of Geography in 1989. During his

career at KEGS, Stephen has undertaken

various additional responsibilities,

including Head of Year 13 and General

Studies Coordintator. Stephen was

awarded Advanced Skills Teacher status in

2002, and as part of that role has worked

extensively and successfully in outreach

activities including Leading Edge, Leading

from the Middle and the Consortium for

School Improvement. Another significant

achievement of Stephen‖s was his

involvement as coordinator in the

development of the Student Voice

initiative. Most recently, Stephen has been

instrumental in the development of the

use of ICT in the classroom. Stephen is

well respected by colleagues and students,

and will be greatly missed.

The Science Department were sorry to say

goodbye to Susan Bateman (on next page)

as she took her well-deserved retirement at

the end of the spring term; she has been

with the Biology department for some 23

years having started in January, 1990.

Throughout her time with us she has been

a truly wonderful technician who has

always put the needs of the teachers and

students above all else and has contributed

greatly to the training of our own

technicians and those who have aspired to

become technicians. She has been at the

very heart of science practical work and

her forward thinking, meticulous attention

to detail and efficiency have allowed

practical work to be enjoyed by all

school

A warm welcome to all new and returning staff...

We wish a fond farewell to our departing colleagues…

03

| TheChelmsfordian

students. Susan has allowed us to be

experimental, adventurous and generous

with practical activities which we at KEGS

have so often taken for granted - she will

be very much missed but we hope that she

has a long and happy retirement and can

spend time on pursuing her hobbies and

enjoying her role as a grandmother.

Marie-Christine Shearman (below)

retires at the end of the summer term after

12 years teaching French. Marie-

Christine‖s contribution to the French

department has been invaluable and for

years she has shared her love of French

grammar with her students. Mme

Shearman has been instrumental in the

organisation of the French exchange and

always actively participated in school and

extra curricular activities, supporting her

students both in and out of the classroom.

Adrian Berger came to KEGS from

Westcliff High School for Boys

in September 2003 as a highly experienced

classroom teacher and departmental

leader. He was also then a part-time

lecturer at the Institute of Education in the

University of London, working with trainee

secondary History teachers and teaching

several MA modules, and thus was most

knowledgeable about a broad range of

issues relating to the teaching of the

subject in schools. Not surprisingly, his

expert advice on developing the work of

the History department has proved

invaluable on a number of occasions since

then. Most importantly, Adrian has worked

very successfully in the classroom at KEGS,

particularly with his A Level History sets

over the last nine years, ensuring that a

consistently high proportion of his

students have achieved top grades, while

thoroughly enjoying his lessons at the

same time. We wish him all the very best

for his retirement.

After 4 years‖ dedicated teaching of

Physics, Richard Cecil will leave at the

end of the summer term. Before coming to

KEGS, Richard had taught in several other

Essex schools and therefore brought a

wealth of experience to the Physics

department. Despite being with us for a

relatively short time, he has made a

considerable impact on our teaching,

having suggested and helped to implement

many ideas for new experiments or

teaching methods. This year Richard has

made a particularly important contribution

to the school‖s physics teaching in the

shape of the extra-curricular GCSE course

in Astronomy. This has proved to be

pleasingly popular, considering that it has

been done in the students‖ (and one or two

parents‖) spare time. It is abundantly clear

that Richard will be very hard to replace

and both his enormous physics expertise

and his dry banter will be very much

missed; we will also miss him when there

are things on high shelves that need

getting down!

Anna di Francia (right) leaves KEGS at

the end of the summer term after 12 years

teaching German. She has taught across

the school, offering both Italian

and French as well as her main passion,

German. Mrs di Francia has also been on

countless school trips and organised

exchanges, including to the Leibniz

Gymnasium for the German Work

Experience exchange, as well as being a

staunch supporter of the German exchange

with Stuttgart by making all the visiting

German staff so very welcome. Her

organisation and methodical collection of

excellent resources are the envy of the

other members of the MFL department.

Since the birth of her children Mrs di

Francia has worked part time, though this

did not diminish her passion for her

famous Tiramisu, which countless students

in her Italian enrichment classes have

consumed with gusto! Mrs di Francia

famously refereed football matches in the

MFL world cup six-a-side competition, and

is well known as a fervent support of the

Azzurri in world cup competitions. We

wish her well as she takes time away from

teaching to look after her children.

At the end of the summer term, Maggie

Diffley will leave KEGS after 3 years, to

take up a new post at the Francis Holland

School, Regents Park. Maggie has made a

significant and valuable contribution to

the school through both her role of Music

Teacher, and pastorally as Head of Year 7.

Lara Ellman, Teacher of English, left

KEGS in May, after covering Ms Barton‖s

maternity leave. We are grateful to Ms

Ellman for all of her hard work on behalf of

the school.

Learning Support Assistant Heather

Collen left in November 2011, after 2½

years dedicated support to an individual

student.

Rob Lombardi departed in May for a new

role in maintenance. In his capacity of

Caretaker and Cleaning Supervisor, Rob

has been an integral part of our Site Team

for 2½ years and has been involved in the

large scale projects undertaken by the

school during that time. We are very

grateful to Rob for all of his efforts in

maintaining our school premises.

school

04

TheChelmsfordian |

A Word from the Head

T his has been an excellent year at

KEGS and I have thoroughly

enjoyed it! We kicked off the

year celebrating some school

records – the highest number of students

gaining 5 A or A* grades at A Level and the

highest individual A level tally (6A*s and

2As) achieved by Abdul Mohamed.

Towards the end of the year we have been

celebrating winning the Essex Cup for Year

8 Football – for the first time since

1985! Along the way, for the second year

in a row, a KEGS student won the Royal

Geographical Society‖s Young Geographer

of the Year award – this year it was Wei

Nan Zhou in Year 9 who earned this

considerable accolade.

These stunning successes represent the

depth of talent which exists within the

school. The features in this issue of the

Chelmsfordian magazine illustrate only a

little of the range of talents that KEGS

students possess, always looking for new

ways to challenge themselves and always

keen to explore new territory. Indeed, the

very existence of the magazine, which

depends upon student commitment and

leadership, is itself a representation of all

that KEGS stands for. I am extremely

grateful to the Editorial team for their

commitment.

This year a couple of student-led

initiatives have reached the stage of being

embedded. The wonderful Project 9 ICT

programme was in its 3rd year and the

KEGS Ambassador, under the Editorship of

Theo Demolder in Year 10, sustained a

superbly high standard throughout the

year. The production of Rosencrantz and

Guildenstern Are Dead by a group of Year

13 students was a personal highlight. The

play itself is highly entertaining and

thought provoking but the way in which

the students took the initiative to stage the

production was especially impressive.

The introduction of Student Voice

Ambassadors has given our School Council

extra verve this year and a number of

student-led projects and reports have been

undertaken. We look forward to the arrival

of the chickens which will supply the KEGS

EGGS from September.

After another year of superb concerts and

plays, and completing the exam period

where all the academic endeavour comes

to the boil, we enter the summer term

when the KEGS Travel Agency goes into

overdrive. This year, students will have

travelled to China, Kenya, France,

Germany, Romania, Indonesia, Thailand,

Costa Rica, New York, Switzerland and

Mongolia.

Our international academic outlook goes

from strength to strength with visits from

students at partner schools in China and

Japan. Alongside the ever-popular Model

United Nations events, the commitment to

the idea of ―global citizenship‖ has never

been stronger at KEGS.

The change in our admissions policy,

introducing a priority area to ensure that

we are permanently anchored in our Essex-

based community, has been an important

decision. Obviously there are winners and

losers as we go through this transition but

I am confident that it has set the school up

to enjoy success long into the future

without the pressure of spreading our

reach ever further from Chelmsford. At

the same time, this year has been one of

developing strong partnerships with other

British schools and our work at Mark Hall

school, leading to KEGS becoming a

National Support School, has been very

fruitful for all concerned.

It is impossible to do justice to a whole

year of activity in one piece but, without

doubt, this has been a wonderful KEGS

year! Fortiter Ex Animo!

TOM SHERRINGTON

Headteacher

school

05

| TheChelmsfordian

Time Capsule

E arlier this year, I found

myself wondering how

KEGS students of the

future would look back on

us today. We do have copies of

Chelmsfordians throughout this

establishment‖s history, but they

give a glimpse of only the tip of the

iceberg. Inspired by Knowing, that

Nicholas Cage ―classic‖ involving

clairvoyant numbers and a generic

apocalypse, I decided that there was

a way to rectify this: a time capsule.

I am certain that most of you have

come across the idea before – if not,

it‖s a tube into which one places

everyday items and then buries it for

subsequent generations to dig up.

Our own KEGS version contains a

number of quotidian items, like

uniform, menu cards and a staff list.

Pictures are also included, showing

events like the Pledge Auction in

addition to everyday life at KEGS,

with students in their regular

classroom environment as well as

the exam hall.

Perhaps the most interesting parts

are the letters written by

enthusiastic Year 7s, with their

views about the future (though

hopefully replacement of teachers

by holograms won‖t come true!)

There are a number of people to

thank for bringing this project to

fruition: first of all, the site team.

Without them, the hole for the

capsule would never have been dug!

In addition, Mr. Scullon in

Reprographics has been a star,

printing out all the pictures for us.

Finally, I would like to thank

everyone who supported the project,

especially all the Year 13s who

helped out with the process—you

know who you are.

We aim to open the time capsule in

50 years time, revealing how much

change KEGS would have seen.

Hopefully, the answer will be, “Not

too much,” but only time will tell!

SIDDHARTH

VENKATARAMAKRISHNAN

Year 13

school

06

TheChelmsfordian |

KEGS Debating Society

O ver the past year,

Debating at KEGS has

been highly popular. The

―Rotary Youth Speaks‖

public speaking competition saw

Henry Allen and Tony Lopez of Year

10 praised by the judges for their

speeches on ―The Future‖ but

unfortunately they did not make it

into the next round. Despite strong

performances in the Years 7 – 9

competition, WeiNan Zhou, Sam

Wisbey and Ollie Parkes were

ultimately unsuccessful; Joe

Richards, Tahir Khan and Henry

Allen, despite another strong

showing, were just pipped to the

post by Boswells, coming second out

of six teams overall.

In December Ethan Harradine and I

took part in the ESU Schools‖ Mace

Debating competition at Sandon

School. Despite our experience in

other competitions, we were

daunted that we were the only Year

10 team against Year 12s and Year

13s! However, we actually had the

element of surprise; one Year 13

veteran debater remarked how taken

aback he was by our confident style.

We earned ourselves a place in the

second round in January. However,

this proved to be even more

challenging as we found ourselves

against five exceptionally

experienced teams and thus failed

to make it to the regional final

following our debate.

Our most recent competition was

the International Competition for

Young Debaters, with the regional

round held at the Cambridge Union.

KEGS entered two teams- Joe

Richards and I were one team and

Ethan Harradine and Henry Allen

were the other. Despite failures in

the first round, we made up for it in

the second – this meant there would

be all to play for in the third and

final round – ―This House believes

that the 2012 Olympics are a waste

of money‖. Both KEGS teams

secured an impressive second, but

whilst Joe and I were in the top five

going through to the national final

(5th out of 29,) Henry and Ethan

sadly didn‖t make it through to

Finals Day.

Then came the international final at

the Oxford Union on Saturday 5th

May; though the 56 teams were

predominantly British, we also faced

opposition from countries including

Canada, Italy, Ireland and Greece.

The first round, ―This House would

ban gambling‖ proved to be

disappointing, as we came in fourth

out of four. However, rounds two

and three marked another

resurgence as we finished second in

each, both times opposing the

motions ―This House would punish

parents for their children‖s bullying‖

and ―This House would ban the

payment of ransoms‖ (the latter in

the Union chamber itself). In the

fourth and final round we proposed

the motion ―This House would make

voting compulsory for all 18 to 25

year olds‖, finally taking that elusive

first place. Overall, we came 17th in

the world, ahead of Eton and

beating our rivals Westcliff by just

one place! On the individual speaker

tab we did even better, of the 112

speakers I came 21st and Joe was not

far behind on 37th. Whilst it would

have been nice to have become

world champions, we are still

extremely proud to hold such high

world rankings in our age category.

It is also important to remember

that we have two increasingly

popular in-school societies. The

Junior Debating Society (Years 7-9)

and Senior Debating Society (Years

10 & 11) meet on alternate weeks –

details will be in assembly and

posted around the school. Whether

you‖ve never debated before and

want to spectate or you‖re eager to

gain experience for future

competitions, you‖d be very

welcome to come along. I‖d like to

thank everyone who has supported

the societies over the last year, and

particularly Miss Moore; without her

unwavering dedication in giving up

so much of her time, it just wouldn‖t

have been possible to run the

societies or enter all the

competitions that we have enjoyed

taking part in over the last two and a

half years.

THEO DEMOLDER

Year 10

One Year 13 veteran debater

remarked how taken aback he was

by our confident style

Overall, we came 17th in the world,

ahead of Eton and beating our

rivals Westcliff by just one place!

school

07

| TheChelmsfordian

Charities Committee

school

B ad assemblies aside, this

has been a year of

undoubted success for the

Charities Committee, and

we have been hard at work all year

on worthwhile projects. These

include collecting food for ―Harvest

for the Hungry‖, holding a cake sale

for Macmillan Cancer Support and

organising non-uniform days for

Jeans for Genes, as well as

supporting Havens Hospice

throughout the year and aiding

former students as they participate

in worthy causes around the world.

However, the focal point of the

Committees work this year was, as

ever, Charities Week. This year, we

chose to split the money raised from

our efforts between three

organisations. Scope, our first

charity, helps people across the UK

to live with Cerebral Palsy,

requested by Mr Perrotton. Our

second charity was Rays of

Sunshine, which helps make the

wishes of seriously ill children

around the UK come true, suggested

by Max Stone. The third charity we

chose to support this year, chosen

by Rosie Patterson, was CF Trust,

helping people in the UK to live with

Cystic Fibrosis. All of our charities

had a personal connection with

those who suggested them and it

was a privilege to work in aid of such

wonderful causes, knowing we were

making a significant difference to so

many people‖s lives.

Charities Week can be considered as

a resounding success this year, with

lots of fantastic fundraising ideas

being put into practice. Our very

popular wristbands sold out before

the end of the week and despite a

delay to its print, the reinvention of

the Rag Mag seemed to be a hit,

moving nearly 500 copies within just

three days. The yearly Superhero

Netball competition gained huge

crowds as did the talent show, the

highlight being Mr Russell‖s

―kidnapping‖ (a first for the school)

but this was not the only new event

this year – there was also the

introduction of PointSoc Champions

League, which is sure to become a

permanent fixture in future

Charities Weeks. The most

successful event however, has to be

the Pledge Auction, giving lower

school students a chance to live a

day with their heroes such as... erm,

two ―things‖ from Star Wars. The

final and most anticipated event of

the week was the Fashion Show,

taking place on Friday night,

showcasing an abundance of design

and performing talents, its success

in no small part due to its

organisational team, headed by

Enny Salau.

All in all, we managed to raise in

excess of £4,500 for our chosen

causes, sending £1,500 to each

charity with the excess going to

Mogonjet. I would like to take this

opportunity to thank everyone in

the Committee and everyone who

helped out with the smooth running

of Charities Week, in particular Ms

Campbell, and well, everyone else…

you know who you are! But most of

all, I‖d like to thank anyone who

donated and have thus made a

significant difference to the lives of

people not as privileged as

yourselves. Hopefully, we‖ll be able

to do even better next year!

DANIEL GOTTSCHALK

Year 12

Knowing we were making a

significant difference to so many

people’s lives

above

Charities

Committee

08

TheChelmsfordian |

Photographs by Will Starr

school

Events throughout

Charities Week

09

| TheChelmsfordian

Trip to China

school

A t 11 o’clock, on Friday 21st

October, a group

of 15 KEGS students in

Years 9 to 13 and three

teachers set off on a 20 hour journey

to Shanghai. Sitting on the coach as

we rode down to Heathrow before

flying to Munich and then on to

Shanghai, the mood was one of clear

excitement, though tempered with

exhaustion. Few would sleep despite

it being an overnight flight: the

anticipation for the beginning of a

trip which had been roughly a year

in the making proved too great.

On our arrival we met our Chinese

guide and commenced what proved

to be a whirlwind tour of the

remaining ‘World Expo 2010’

venues, walking where over 73

million had trodden before us. Our

first meal proved to be a particularly

surreal experience - not only had it

not yet sunk in that we were the

other side of the world; this

antipodean adventure was made

stranger still as we had to walk

through a wedding to get to our

tables. Throughout the meal we

heard the Pirates of the Caribbean

and Harry Potter theme music being

played in the reception, before

finally being led through the happy

couple’s wedding photo shoot as we

left. As we drove back to our hotel

we had the chance to see the

Shanghai skyline lit up at night: an

awe-inspiring view which was a

great end to a very long and tiring

day!

On Sunday we got up early for our

first full day, with Mr Barrow armed

with a packed itinerary. The first

site which we visited was the iconic

‘Oriental Pearl TV Tower’. There,

standing on a glass floor 259 metres

above the ground, we were provided

with fantastic views across much of

Shanghai. After taking in the view

and strolling around inside a

museum which is dedicated to the

history of Shanghai we went along

the Huangpu River and a garden

area where we enjoyed the ancient

scenery and a trip to the local

Starbucks! The last part of our time

in Shanghai would be spent by the

river, doing a little shopping on

Nanjing Road and exploring the

Bund. Unfortunately, our time in

Shanghai was relatively short

considering what a vast and

interesting city it is; however,

considering there were only so many

hours available, a great deal was

packed in to the day and a half we

spent there. Thoroughly excited, on

Sunday evening we took the coach

to our partner school ‘Wuxi No.1

High School’ which lies two hours’

drive away.

The host family stay/exchange

element of the trip was awaited with

much anticipation and a little

apprehension. Many of us were

curious as to what would it be like to

stay with a Chinese family in their

home for three nights – would we fit

in? Would they like us? This part of

the trip would certainly turn out to

be a resounding success: the

excellent hospitality which we all

received was really overwhelming.

This was apparent from the start on

the first Monday which we all spent

at the school, we were thoroughly

impressed and happy to see that

they had installed a large screen

displaying a welcome message on

one of the buildings. In Wuxi No. 1

High School, we would discover all

sorts of things: as well as learning

about Chinese culture, paper

cutting, Tai Chi and folk music, we

were given the opportunity to watch

an extremely impressive musical

10

above The

KEGS group at

Wuxi No. 1

High School

The chance

to see the

Shanghai

skyline lit

up at night:

an awe-

inspiring

view

TheChelmsfordian |

school

performance by students. This was

followed by the chance to

participate in their lessons and a

tour of their school. The facilities

they have are truly unbelievable:

these include a psychology lab, a

room modelled on the UN Security

Council chamber and even a

museum on the history of the

school!

Tuesday and the Wednesday were

spent sightseeing in and around

Wuxi. This again proved to be

extremely action-packed: whilst

there, we visited the giant golden

Lingshan Buddha, the Xihue and

Turtlehead parks, went on a giant

Ferris wheel, had a boat trip on the

canal and spent some free time

shopping in the older area of the

city. All three days spent in Wuxi

were very enjoyable – it seemed

especially incredible to us that our

partners go to school from 07:15

until 17:15 every day (it certainly

made us feel lucky!). Although we

were given relatively little time to

spend with our host families we

were made to feel very welcome;

meals in a variety of restaurants,

hikes, swimming and shopping were

organised in many cases.

On Wednesday evening, we would

move on, taking the overnight train

from Wuxi to Beijing for the final

leg of our trip. After a surprisingly

comfortable journey, we arrived at

Beijing railway station at 08:00 on

Thursday morning. There was no

time to rest as we plunged straight

into the city; we quickly went on our

way to Tiananmen Square and the

Forbidden City. It was one of the

best experiences of the trip,

exploring such an iconic area. In

the afternoon we visited the

Summer Palace on the outskirts of

the city which is the largest and best

preserved Royal Park in China. The

views of the sunset over the lake

were magnificent, oddly improved

by the layer of smog filtering the

sunlight.

Our last day in China was arguably

the best. Although we had to get up

early to beat the traffic on the way

to the Great Wall at Badaling, which

is about two hours from Beijing, it

was well worth it. Impressively, we

took just 45 minutes to walk along a

long part of the wall when the tour

guide had predicted we would take

an hour and a half! Afterwards, we

took the cable car down and had

some very lively experiences

bartering with market traders. After

a brief look round the remains of

one of the Ming dynasty tombs, the

Olympic Park was our last stop. A

number of us hired Segways for 20

minutes to ride round the track,

where we recreated the 100m final

(albeit with more false starts and

alleged foul play). We also looked

around the Water Cube – by the

time we left, the venues were lit up,

providing a great opportunity for

pictures. Last of all we explored the

night market, which serves

scorpions and birds’ nests amongst

other things, and shopped on the

Wangfujing ‘golden shopping

street’.

By the time we arrived back at KEGS

at 23:15 on Saturday night we were

all exhausted but everyone had an

absolutely brilliant time. It’s

impossible to do justice to such a

brilliant trip in so few words – I

would thoroughly recommend it to

anyone who’s interested. Thank you

to Mrs Singh, Mr Thomlinson and

particularly Mr Barrow for making

the trip possible and for showing

good humour throughout!

THEO DEMOLDER

Year 10

The excellent hospitality

which we all received was really

overwhelming

11

above At the

Great Wall of

China

| TheChelmsfordian

Reinvention: 2012

R einvention: 2012. The

title of this year’s Charity

Fashion Show denoted

many things: contextually

2012 signals the return of the

Olympics to Great Britain, the

Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and major

changes in the direction of fashion

houses like Christian Dior, Yves

Saint Laurent and Jil Sander. KEGS

took the opportunity of Charities

Week to reinvent the school fashion

show as a platform for young and

aspiring designers in Essex, using

this year of change and innovation

as inspiration.

After an introduction by a crew of

contemporary dancers from the

Sixth Form, the audience were then

treated to a selection of handmade

clothes from 16-17 year old

designers, vintage items sourced

from Spitalfields Market London and

an array of summer pieces kindly

lent by superstore Debenhams

presented through a catwalk show.

Although the show featured some

very wearable items, notably those

from Debenhams, the models did

well to pull off the eccentricity of

the designer outfits with

professional execution despite

impracticalities. Young creative

talent was supported not simply

through the clothes but also in the

beauty team behind the show, music

from Ed Alston and in the various

stalls situated in the canteen which

ranged from Zainab Hatif, a

qualified Henna tattoo artist, to

Megan Rose Photography, who

supported the photography of

William Starr of Year 12. Mack

Hairdressing, alongside the makeup

design of Louise Hall headed up the

beauty team, both of whom fully

took on board the theme of

reinvention with facial lace appliqué

and gem-encrusted lip detailing as

well as off-the-catwalk hair styling

which gave the show a very

sophisticated edge. The show was

divided into a casual and formal

section, compèred brilliantly by

Megan Kelly and Brin Pirathapan,

who kept the audience entertained

throughout the evening through

their informative yet amusing

presenting style. Aside from the

catwalk presentation, the canteen

was thriving with local craft-based

businesses and an impressive

selection of food and drinks

organised solely by Francesca

Barrick. Fabric Fairies, a young

company in association with

Chelmsford Vintage and Makers

Market, were particularly popular

and featured alongside A.B.

Fashade’s handmade jewellery, and

a Lush goody-bag stall – all of which

contributed to the impressive

amount raised on the night.

school

Photographs by

Will Starr

12

TheChelmsfordian |

Through devotion from models,

dancers and compèrs over the last

three months, KEGS produced a

show which gave the opportunity to

local young creative talents to

present their ideas on a catwalk,

which not only engaged with the

audience but which ultimately

raised over £1,000 for charity. Many

thanks are in order to the 2012:

reinvention team (models, dancers

and organizers), Miss Campbell for

her guidance in organising the event

and Charities committee for their

help front-of-house. The Charities

committee hope that this previously

overlooked school event will

become a major fundraising

occasion, one which unveils the

creative strengths of KEGS, a

‘reinvention’ of the bookish

Grammar School stereotype.

ROBBIE HODGES

Year 12

school

13

| TheChelmsfordian

The KEGS Ambassador

school

O ver the past academic

year, I have been

privileged to serve as

Editor-in-Chief of our

school’s student newspaper, The

KEGS Ambassador. The paper was

founded back in January 2009, with

Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan as

Editor-in-Chief; since then Lewis

Wood and David Tremain each took

on the role for a year, before I

became the fourth Editor-in-Chief,

presiding over issues 15-20. The aim

has always been to provide a

platform for students to express

their views freely on a wide range of

issues, exemplified by the lack of

any staff censorship in recent years

and the move from being the

‘official student newspaper’ to the

‘independent student newspaper’.

That’s not to say there isn’t a line to

be drawn with content sometimes,

but as a free vessel of Student Voice,

it is better for the responsibility to

be firmly in the hands of the Editor

rather than anyone else.

So, you may be wondering, what

actually appears in the paper? This

year, I divided it up into four

individual sections: School, with

news and comment relevant to

KEGS, Features, consisting largely of

opinion pieces and contributions

from staff and alumni,

Entertainment, showcasing

students’ humour and satire

alongside media reviews and Sport,

with the latest news and match

reports from school to international

level. Splitting it up in this way and

giving each section its own Editor

(James Barnes, Joe Richards, Tahmid

Rahman and Fred Forsey

respectively) makes it much clearer

for readers and makes my job a lot

easier too!

Over the past year we’ve been lucky

enough to have a wide selection of

major stories to cover- an obvious

highlight being the Admissions

Criteria debate in March. It was a

perfect example of how the

Ambassador can be used as a forum

for debate, including views from

across the school.

I am especially proud of our

‘Admission: Impossible’ cover, and

the ‘Head to Head’ where Mr.

Worrall and Tahmid Rahman each

presented their opposing views on

the new priority zone. Other topics

for debate over the year have

included ‘Should we learn Latin?’

‘Should religion feature in

assemblies?’ and ‘Is Student Voice a

waste of time?’- all provoking lively

and thoughtful exchanges. However,

there have also been many lighter

articles over the year such as ‘A Day

in the life of Colonel

Gaddafi’ (unfortunately published

on the day of his death), the opinion

column ‘Uncle Joe’ and George

Cox’s Cox and Balls, a ‘sideways

glance at the world of sport’, as well

as the recurring favourite, ‘A Head

of the Times’. The level of variety

and the balance of articles from

different years in the school has

really broadened our appeal, in turn

leading to more writers wanting to

get involved. But don’t just take my

word for it - please have a look at

our KEGSNet archive. There’s

something for everyone there!

So many people have shown

extraordinary dedication over the

last year, though I’m afraid I can

thank just a few here. Obviously all

of the Editorial team have been

fantastic but I’d like to specially

mention Henry Sainsbury, the Lower

School Editor and Jessica Martin, the

Deputy and Sixth Form Editor, for

working tirelessly to make sure that

their sections of the school were

fully represented. Also, Aaron

Demolder who has been our Layout

Editor, for all the hours he spent

putting the issues together and

achieving such a distinctive and

professional look.

Finally, I’d like to thank Mr.

Sherrington for his ongoing support

of the Ambassador and for handing

us the freedom to truly warrant the

title of an ‘independent student

newspaper’. It’s been a lot of work

but we’ve enjoyed producing it

immensely; I hope you’ve enjoyed

reading it too! I’d like to wish my

successor the very best of luck for

the year ahead and would encourage

everyone to get involved.

THEO DEMOLDER

Year 10

The level of variety and the

balance of articles from different

years in the school has really

broadened our appeal

So many people have shown

extraordinary dedication over the

last year

14

TheChelmsfordian |

Combined Cadet Force

D uring the annual Combined

Cadet Force recruiting day, it is

often mentioned that the CCF

is the oldest association at

KEGS. Having been founded in 1904, we

can proudly claim 108 years of unbroken

existence and experience, handed down

from senior to junior cadets in a constantly

recurring cycle. This academic year proved

to be as eventful and challenging as ever

for the CCF at KEGS, with our regular

training, camps, exercises and courses all

contributing to the high level of ability and

enthusiasm within the unit.

Our 2011 summer cap took us to the Welsh

coastal village of Penally in

Pembrokeshire. The large KEGS contingent

of cadets attending demonstrated that our

CCF can provide quality and quantity in

generous measure, winning both the drill

and fieldcraft competitions. The camp

allowed all attending cadets to show their

skills in the various areas of the CCF

syllabus, including marksmanship, tactical

exercises, camouflage and concealment,

kayaking and rock climbing. Summer camp

can be arduous for less experienced cadets;

however the unit proved that team

cohesion and robustness always wins out

over obstacles and difficulties.

At the same time, Major Brown and several

senior cadets had instead embarked on an

Adventurous Training expedition to

Romania, which can be added to the list of

highly successful AT trip destinations,

including Morocco, Mongolia, the Brecon

Beacons and the Peak District. While a

night-time flash flood may have robbed

some cadets of equipment and valuables,

decisive leadership from the Mountain

Leaders and Major Brown ensured that the

trip continued according to plan.

The return to school in September marked

the beginning of a new stage of

development for each cadet, including our

Year 9 recruits, who were in the midst of

studying their Army Proficiency

Certificate, in order to earn their ‘half star’

qualification. We had initially recruited in

the region of 90 pupils at our annual

recruiting day, but our instructors took the

significant load of such a number of cadets

in their stride, with each of the then-

’recruits’ having graduated to ‘cadet’ at the

time of writing. Recruit’s Camp, in

October, was the first chance for our

youngest members to gain field

experience.

The CCF took part in multiple

Remembrance Day services, with cadets

leading the Remembrance Assembly and

bugling the Last Post and Reveille at

various locations. A number of cadets also

represented the school at the Chelmsford

Remembrance Sunday Parade, with Drum

Major (Ret.) Nisbett laying a wreath of

behalf of the school.

Easter Camp this year took us back to

Stanford Training Area for an unusually

sunny four days of training. The camp

provided the chance for cadets from all

years to practice their fieldcraft skills and

drills, and gave senior cadets the chance to

command and administrate their sections

in the field. The highlight of the camp was

a superbly conducted platoon-level dusk

ambush, which can be credited entirely to

the effort of every individual cadet

involved, and enthusiasm of the directing

staff.

Currently, the CCF is preparing for our

upcoming Summer Camp to Beckingham. I

can speak on behalf of all our Cadets when

I extend our gratitude to all members of

staff who have enabled to the CCF to

perform as it does, with special mention

going to both Major Brown and Captain

Worrall. I would also like to congratulate

Sergeants Haeger and Church for both

having attended the Army Development

and Selection Centre, and being offered

places to commence Regular Army training

in September of 2012. Finally, a mention

should go to all upper sixth cadets who will

be leaving the CCF after the summer, and

moving onto new challenges. Six years has

been too short a time to be part of such a

team.

JAMES JOHNSON

Company Sergeant Major

school

15

| TheChelmsfordian

Corps of Drums

E stablished in 1907, the

Corps has been an integral

part of KEGS ever since.

Playing at myriad

functions throughout the year, both

in school and at events in and

around the Chelmsford area, and

annual parades including the "Essex

Regiment Reunion" at Great Warley.

Despite being disbanded in 1948,

the Essex Regiment is honoured to

this day by the Corps wearing their

badge.

This summer was a hectic period for

the Corps of Drums, parading and

playing in all corners of Essex. Ever

a highlight, the Corps had the

chance to play at the armed forces

event at Duxford Imperial War

Museum. We also paraded at a

commemorative event marking the

anniversary of the Battle of Britain

in the centre of Chelmsford. More

fun events included the Santa Fun

Run held in Central Park, and at

Moulsham Street, celebrating the

Christmas lights being switched on.

In October last year, we recruited six

year 7s to join the Corps, and I am

pleased to say that even with the

pressures of starting at a new

school, their dedication to the cause

is outstanding.

I must pay tribute to Chris Nisbett,

our last Drum Major. Having headed

the Corps with outstanding

leadership, he always kept his cool

when things were not going

according to plan due to unforeseen

circumstances. To follow the 104

previous Drum Majors since 1907 is

a true honour, for which I feel

greatly privileged. My first show of

the season was on March 3rd, 2012.

As the huddled, frozen masses of

competitors prepared for the race, I

was proud to lead the Corps of

Drums out on Bedford Fields, an

event arranged by Mr. Perrotton.

After the encouraging event, the

Corps is buckled down and training

hard for the summer to make sure

this season is as good as any before

(if not better!).

I would like to thank all the Corps

members for their loyalty and to

their dedication to the Corps of

Drums. I would also like to

especially thank Major Brown for

her outstanding guidance and

driving force to the corps. Without

such dedication and guidance from

Major Brown, the Corps would not

continue to flourish as it has done

for so many years past – and will

undoubtedly for many years into the

future.

MATT TREMBATH

Drum Major

school

16

above The

Corps of

Drums at

Riffhams

House

TheChelmsfordian |

Snowshoeing in Romania

school

P reparing for my second trip

to Romania, I had an idea

of what to expect and I

think this made me even

more excited. Not so exciting

perhaps was having to be at the

airport at stupid-o'clock in the

morning. Once through departures,

we made up for this in the style of

truly hardened teenage cadets by

falling asleep in the café .

On touchdown in Romania we were

loaded onto buses and driven the 50

yards to passport control (ply-wood

cubicles with webcams perched on

top). We were all (fortunately)

permitted to enter the country and

then proceeded to meet our guide,

hardy ex-Romanian mountain

soldier, Florin. By this stage the

daze of the early morning start was

wearing off and we were ready to

take on whatever Romania could

throw at us - which happened to be

a 2 hour minibus journey to just

outside the city of Brasov, stopping

en route to try the fantastic local

cuisine of chicken and peasant

potatoes. Arriving at our rustic

pension, nestled in the Romanian

mountains, we began by greeting

the owner’s dogs (and spent the rest

of the week sneaking food out for

them at regular intervals).

Our first full day in Romania was

spent fitting the snowshoes, testing

the avalanche transceivers and then

trekking a few miles into the

mountains to practise using them to

locate a “buried person”. We headed

back for lunch and in the afternoon

travelled into Brasov for a cultural

visit, viewing the Black Church, so

named because Austrian soldiers set

fire to it, charring the stones. After

we had looked around, Florin

introduced us to his wife and

daughter – something which I think

he later regretted when his daughter

received several Facebook friend

requests from members of our

group.

Our third day was packed with

snowshoeing and trekking up the

ridge of a mountain to the summit

where the temperature was about

‑25ºC. We noticed that it took

significantly more time and effort to

ascend the ridge than to get back

down but it was very enjoyable

nonetheless, and the views were

incredible. Once returning to the

pension we realised how effective

the sauna was for unwinding and

relaxing after a tiring day.

On one of the days we ventured

further afield via minibus to visit

Peles castle. The castle took 10 years

to build, and was completed in 1883.

We went on to Bran Castle, the

construction of which began in

1378, and is also known as Dracula's

Castle, after Bram Stoker’s famous

count, who allegedly lived there.

On our last day of snowshoeing (my

favourite!) we trekked back up to the

site of our avalanche practise,

divided into two groups and were

given two hours to prepare survival

shelters which were to meet with

the approval of Kev and Florin, both

ex-army international mountain

leaders. A daunting enough task on

dry land, let alone in two foot of

snow in sub-zero conditions - but

after a few dirty tricks to try to

intimidate the opposition and what

seemed like a very quick two hours,

our shelters were inspected. The

feedback was that it would have

been a very cold night for both

teams, but I still argue that I would

have been fine overnight with my

trusty babygrow.

A huge thank you from all of us to

Major Brown, Kev Sidford and Florin

Bana for making the trip the great

experience that it was, and for

giving up their February half-term

to put up with a bunch of noisy

teenagers who all, it has to be said,

had a great time.

ELLIS WHYTE

Year 11

above Buried?

Snow fear,

we’re here!

17

We realised

how effective

the sauna

was for

unwinding

and relaxing

after a tiring

day

| TheChelmsfordian

Sixth Form Enrichment

W ith Mr Myall, the teacher in

charge of the KEGS Chess

Club retiring two years ago,

I knew it would be up to me

to take over during Sixth Form. In Year 12 I

found the first few Chess Club sessions

hectic and I think that I did not settle into

the role until the Spring Term. From then

on, I began to relax and enjoy it more.

There have been a great deal of wonderful

things which have come out of running

Chess Club, namely entering a team into

the National Schools Chess Championships

after a 4-year absence from the

competition. Another highlight was

managing to arrange a friendly match with

Westcliff High School for Boys. I also

sorted out various internal events for both

junior and senior students such as the

‘home round’ for the Delancey UK Schools’

Chess Challenge. In my opinion, the past

year in particular has seen the standard of

chess at KEGS raised to a considerably high

level!

To sum up, I am extremely grateful to have

had this opportunity. It has definitely

helped me to improve my leadership skills

and above all, I have forged a close bond

with the pupils in Chess Club. Finally, I

would like to express my sincere gratitude

to Mr Gibbs and Mr Brewington as well as

my deputies, Matthew Stockings and

Matthew Varnam (Year 13) for their never-

ending assistance and the time which they

devoted to Chess Club.

BRIAN CHAN

Year 13

Chess Club

school

18

O ur Sixth Form enrichment

programme aims to offer a

range of seminars,

presentations and workshops to

stimulate discussion and thought, and to

open up areas which are not necessarily

touched on through our academic

curriculum.

This school year we have had

presentations from Positive Voice about

living with HIV; from a British financier

who was jailed in the United States for

drug related offences; from an Ultra

Orthodox Jew; from an Art Historian who

is an expert on the history of tattooing,

and heavily tattooed himself; from a

Humanist; from Grayson Perry, ex student

of KEGS; about testicular and breast cancer

awareness; about life in Nazi Germany;

and a Philosophy Debate at the Council

Chambers. We have also offered workshop

sessions on Cooking for One, Yoga, the

Samaritans and First Aid. I have found all

of them, at the very least interesting, if

only for the time of the talk; some have

encouraged me to look further into

different beliefs and backgrounds, some

have challenged my views. We have

recently surveyed Y13 leavers and have

been generally pleased with the way the

sessions have been received. However, it

still saddens me that a significant number

of students question the validity of this use

of time asking ‘what use is this to me as I

study for exams?’ and ‘how does this

support my subjects?’ It won’t, I hope, stop

us offering this sometimes rather strange

mix of topics and I would ask the question

‘How do we know what interests us until

we hear about, see, experience something

that interests us?’ I think it is our job to

offer up a smorgasbord of delicacies which

our students can try before, hopefully,

deciding to explore the full portion (a

convoluted food analogy which suggests

that Cooking for One may be my favourite

workshop!).

I am always looking for speakers who are

passionate about their field or interest;

please contact me if you or someone you

know would be willing to come and speak

to our sixth formers.

HELEN WILTSHIRE

Head of Sixth Form

I think it is our job to offer

up a smorgasbord of

delicacies which our

students can try before,

hopefully, deciding to

explore the full portion

The standard of chess at

KEGS has raised to a

considerably high level!

TheChelmsfordian |

Model United Nations

school

19

D espite an early start on a

Saturday morning, the

KEGS deputation heading

for another MUN

(comprising Year 12s Tim Lornie,

Rory Houlding, Noah Prasad, Kaiwen

Song and Deelan Vadher) seemed to

be surprisingly cheerful as it made its

way through the doors of the

International Maritime

Organisation’s headquarters in

London (an actual UN agency, adding

a real element of authenticity to the

proceedings). Model United Nations

have been held successfully several

times at KEGS, but it’s always good

fun to practise outside against other

schools.

The debate this MUN was extremely

topical, with the subject up for

discussion being the Olympic Truce.

This is an idea which the Greeks first

came up with in ancient times to

allow spectators and athletes safe

passage to the games by suspending

all conflict. Last year, in the real

United Nations, the UK delegation

succeeded in passing its own version

of the Olympic Truce, gaining

unilateral support for its suggestion

that a truce can be a personal or

communal agreement, not just a

transnational one. Our job was by no

means simple: it was to create our

own version of the Truce, a process

that would involve a challenging day

of debate, of compromise and of

acting as representatives of our

allocated nations – Israel, Japan and

Nigeria. From the start, we could tell

it would be a tough challenge, but we

were all looking forward to it anyway.

Throughout the day, a wide range of

issues were debated. These ranged

from issues of warfare including

nuclear disarmament and terrorism,

to abuses of human rights and the

epidemic of poverty which still

blights the world. At times it became

very heated indeed, particularly

when the organisers threw in a mock

newsflash that Israel had decided to

bomb Iran! For the Israeli delegation

(Tim and Rory), sitting next to Iran

was to become very interesting

indeed…

One of the highlights for Japan’s

representatives, Kai and Noah, was

succeeding in getting an amendment

passed, which required various

countries to provide the UN with

figures for their military spending – a

considerable achievement indeed! To

achieve this aim they had to use a

variety of techniques to win over

their opponents. Notable amongst

them was diplomacy, to persuade the

likely opponents (China and Russia)

not to vote against the clause, which

fortunately suceeded. Much of this

diplomacy (or horse trading) was

carried out ‘behind the scenes’

during lunchtime over a delicious

slice of IMO cheesecake!

One thing to be learnt from the event

is that good preparation is very

important in enabling you to speak

in a formal setting and to deal with

the unexpected. Coming from KEGS,

where trying to get by on as little

preparation as possible is a particular

speciality, this was a valuable lesson.

We would like to thank Mr Burcher

and Mr Thomlinson for organising

the trip, and in particular Mr

Thomlinson for taking us and

supporting us throughout the day,

especially with regard to his look of

sympathy upon the revelation our

country had just bombed Iran!

TIM LORNIE & KAIWAN SONG

Year 12

Much of this

diplomacy

was carried

out during

lunchtime

over a

delicious

slice of IMO

cheesecake!

above The

Year 12 MUN

team at the

International

Maritime

Organisation

| TheChelmsfordian

Arts Society

Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead

L ast year saw the reestablishment

of the KEGS Arts Society, there

had been a plan to call it CASK –

but one type of beer container

was enough as far as acronyms were

concerned, and Culture and Arts Society at

KEGS had something of a SPARK

clumsiness to it – or was it SPAK?

The plan behind the society was to

facilitate arts events at KEGS for students

and the wider community, and in the two

events we put on, we were pleased to see

both engaging. The first event of the

calendar was last November, and was the

visit of award-winning poet Wendy Cope.

After a surprisingly humorous reading,

which had the audience chortling, there

followed an enlightening discussion of her

inspiration, literary influences, and

opinion on the teaching of poetry in

schools. She then presented a certificate to

the winner of our poetry competition,

Sam Featherston, and signed copies of her

work. Wendy was one of the most

distinguished guests that KEGS has

entertained, or rather, that has entertained

KEGS, and it was a great honour to have

her here with us.

Dr Caroline Vout, lecturer in Classics at

Christ’s College, Cambridge, was our

second guest earlier this year. In an

engaging tour of Classical art, Dr Vout

addressed some of the key debates

surrounding Greek and Roman art, such as

the concept of primitivism, and the

rightful ownership of pieces such as the

Elgin marbles. Informal and enthusiastic,

she was able to provoke and answer an

interesting array of questions from the

audience, and gave a talk that was neither

too bogged down in history, nor in

technicality. Again, it was an honour to

have her here, and we were grateful for her

having come along, especially since it took

her two hours to get to Chelmsford!

KEGS prides itself on its engagement with

the arts, but it is sometimes easy to forget

with the array of talent we have in school,

that there are professionals outside whose

insight and skill in various areas of the arts

can be fascinating and entertaining. The

Borough Council and the Essex Symphony

Orchestra have shown interest in working

with KEGS as an arts venue in the future,

and I hope that this is the start of a greater

participation in the arts and the

community. Thank you to all who have

supported these events.

DAVID TREMAIN

Year 13

T heatrical performances have

been a part of KEGS life for many

years. In the past, the school has

put on shows ranging from One

Flew Over to Joseph, Our Day Out to

Anything Goes. Indeed, KEGS students

have even gone on tour as far as Australia,

with White Socks and Stilettos being put

on under former Director of Drama,

Gordon Scammell.

However, most of these have been run

under the tutelage of teachers. To put on a

totally student-led production seemed a

more challenging task, but a worthy one.

We are in a time where KEGS students are

becoming increasingly autonomous (as

highlighted by the continued success of

the student newspaper, the KEGS

Ambassador), and this performance

promised to further this tradition.

So, after many months of practice, on the

evenings of the 2nd and 3rd May, the Darwin

Centre became a medieval court for the

Sixth Form performance of Tom Stoppard’s

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The

play itself follows the misadventures and

musings of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,

two minor characters from William

Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Clad in full Elizabethan dress, a cast of

Year 13s, including David Tremain as

Rosencrantz, Elliot Boakes as

Guildenstern, Matthew Stockings as the

Player, and Oliver Steele as Hamlet,

presented an evening of farce, wordplay,

and Shakespeare, with a fair bit of ad-

libbing thrown in for good measure. The

production was in aid of Families in Focus,

a locally-based disability and special needs

charity, for whom we able to raise £221. I

would like to say thank you to everyone

involved and to everyone who came along

to support us.

DAVID TREMAIN

Year 13

school

20

TheChelmsfordian |

school

21

Photographs by

HyungBin Lim

| TheChelmsfordian

Mogonjet

M y experience of Kenya

was so much more

than anything that I

could have expected

or prepared for. I think that people

talk about life changing experiences

without really knowing what that

actually means: however, this trip

has definitely changed my

perspective on culture and people,

broadened my horizons and

(hopefully) changed me for the

better.

Foremost, it was the people who

made this trip so incredible. The

warmth of the Kenyans to us and to

each other is something that I feel is

sadly lacking from our own society.

Among the people we spoke to was

the son of one of the governors of

Mogonjet School who told us how

many of the students in the school

are sponsored by anonymous

benefactors who have been lucky

enough to have improved their own

circumstances through education

and pay the tuition fees of the

brightest but poorest students. I

found this quite remarkable as most

of the sponsors themselves are just

middle class Kenyans who, by

comparison to the west, do not have

much themselves. The students of

the school place an extremely high

value on their education, knowing it

is the only way that they can leave

the countryside and have a good job

which in turn would allow them to

improve their quality of living.

They know that they are the lucky

few who have the opportunity of

going to a good school where they

can hope to excel, which would

often not be possible without the

funding. The support that the

Kenyans offer to each other forms

the close knit society into which we

were lucky enough to have been

welcomed.

Our journey into the village around

the school was one of the highlights

of this trip with one of the students

(Robert, who was only 15 and yet

spoke impeccable English) taking us

to his home and to meet his family.

school

22

This trip has

definitely

changed my

perspective

on culture

and people

above KEGS

students

meet

Mogonjet

residents

TheChelmsfordian |

Target 2.0

O n the 1st December, KEGS went

to the British Racing School

Conference Facilities,

Newmarket to participate in

Target Two Point Zero – The Bank of

England and The Times Interest Rate

Challenge. This competition was to

analyse the current economic conditions

and government monetary policies to

determine counter-inflationary interest

rates.

Mr Gibbs and Mrs Singh sent a strong team

of four year 13 pupils – James

Gnanamithran (captain), Becky Welton,

Vithuran Kuganathan, and Justin Ho – who

delivered a fantastic presentation

explaining why interest rates should be set

at 0.5% and what level of quantitative

easing should be applied, if at all. KEGS

were competing against four other schools,

all of whom decided that interest rates

should be set at 0.5%. However, after a

long conversation, the judges concluded

that The King’s School, Peterborough

delivered the best presentation. They

recommended an interest rate of 0.5%

compared with the Bank of England’s

official rate of 0.5% set by the Monetary

Policy Committee on 10 November 2011.

They also recommended a total of £350bn

of asset purchases under the Asset

Purchase Facility, compared with the

£275bn agreed by the MPC (Monetary

Policy Committee) on 10 November 2011.

Along with the Year 13 students who were

participating, five Year 12 students – Noah

Prasad, Matthew Jones, Jack Mooney,

Jimmy Qi and Sam Gravatt – were asked to

come along and watch the Year 13s deliver

their presentation. We were certainly

impressed by the amount and level of

detail of economic terms and language -

most of which we had no idea about at the

time. They spoke about the effects of

changing the interest rate on the economy

and what this could mean in the future, as

well as the level of quantitative easing

planned by the Bank of England. There

were many options that the teams could

have taken, and whilst deciding what the

Bank of England should do appeared to be

tough, the reasoning behind it also had to

match up. This was not helped by the

judges’ tricky questions, which really put

the teams to the test.

The day was certainly very educational and

entertaining. We learnt a lot about the

Bank of England’s monetary policies,

giving us a huge head-start to what was

coming in Unit 2 of the AS Economics

course. The highlight from the speeches

was Justin’s response about toxic assets.

His in-depth knowledge stunned us all

(including Mr Gibbs).

We would like to thank the Year 13s for

representing KEGS in such a commendable

fashion and thank Mr Gibbs and Mrs Singh

for making such competitions possible. We

hope that the next Target 2.0 team will be

able to do as well as, if not better than, this

year’s team.

JIMMY QI

Year 12

Although far from a semi-detached house

in the suburbs, the small group of houses

that was home to the family of 10 was truly

beautiful. The strip of land that belonged

to them allowed them to be almost entirely

self-sufficient with chickens and goats

being kept as well as rows of crops of

different varieties to be eaten and sold.

The whole family helped with the

cultivation of the small farm with the kids

coming home from school at six to then

work for the remainder of the day: I was

often told by the Mogonjet girls how I

could never survive in Kenya as I lacked

the three basic skills of digging, cooking

and cleaning! I began to wonder what it

was that I did do at home as I certainly

don’t work as hard as the Mogonjet kids.

I think that we all felt extremely lazy

compared to the Kenyans who not only had

more obligations and fewer privileges than

us but also seemed to never begrudge how

hard they have to work or for how long.

Their motivation and dedication is to be

marveled at.

I don’t think that I have ever met someone

as good and noble as Anne Chegge who has

literally devoted her entire life to the

orphaned children from Nairobi. Tired of

seeing so many suffer, Anne

(affectionately known as ‘Mum’ at New

Hope) gave up her well paid job at a bank

to buy a small plot of land and a house

outside the city, taking with her the first of

the New Hope children. Since then, her life

has not been her own but shared between

the fifty or so residents aged between two

and eighteen. We heard some of the stories

of how the children had come to live at

New Hope and you would never be able to

guess the tragic backgrounds that the

smiling children had come from. Anne has

provided hope, a family and a future to so

many children who would be lost without

her. She has also started the ‘Grandma’s

Village’ providing for the elderly who had

been evicted from their homes time and

again but too poor to buy a plot of land for

themselves. To know that one person can

do so much good for so many makes me

hopeful for us as a global society, where

wars and trauma and sadness seem to

dominate our news, it is easy to forget that

people are also capable of such

extraordinary kindness.

ISABEL ALLSOP

Year 13

economics & maths

23

| TheChelmsfordian

Maths Competitions 2011-12

I t has been a great year for

KEGS students taking part in

both individual and team

maths competitions. The UK

Maths Trust runs several national

maths challenges for secondary

school students and the individual

challenges began in November with

the senior challenge. Well over

97,000 entries were received for this

year with the top 40% receiving

gold, silver and bronze certificates

respectively. 67 students from

KEGS took part and we gained 10

gold, 17 silver and 16 bronze, with

three students - James Dixon and

Ricky Childs in Year 13 and Year 11

student, Jonathan Wall amongst the

top 1000. All three secured a place

in the first round of the British

Maths Olympiad. Thomas Mitchell

scored highly but narrowly missed

qualification for the Olympiad but

was invited to take part in the

Senior Kangaroo, a new challenge

for this year.

Round 1 of the Olympiad went well

and after a tense 3½ hours of

difficult and complex questions

James Dixon was successfully

through to Round 2, putting him in

the top 100 in the country. It was to

be a truly momentous week for

James as he was also offered a place

at Cambridge University to read

Maths.

Following on from the successes of

the SMC, there was no less effort by

students in Years 9, 10 and 11 as

Jonathan Wall, Sam Dixon, Tim

Havard, George Metson, Toby Willis

and Shahzaib Shaikh came in the

top 600 of their year group in the UK

and qualified for the Intermediate

Olympiad, with a further fourteen

scoring highly and invited to take

part in the European Kangaroo. All

students performed very creditably

in the Olympiad but special mention

must go to Toby Willis in Year 9,

Tim Havard in Year 10 and Jonathan

Wall in Year 11 who each achieved a

distinction, putting them in the top

150 in the UK for their year group.

Finally, in April it was the turn of

the younger students in Year 8, and

a small selection from Year 7, to put

their mathematical skills to the test

in the Junior Maths Challenge. A

superb performance from the

younger members of the KEGS

community as fifty were awarded

gold certificates (only given to

around the top 7% of entrants

nationally) forty-eight won silver

and another twenty-three a

bronze. Top scorers Shagilan

Jeevaresan, Henry Sainsbury, George

Sadek, Rahul Pai and Thomas Beck

were in the top 1200 students for

their age group nationally and were

invited to go on and take part in the

Junior Maths Olympiad.

Not only did KEGS students perform

well as individuals but their team

skills came to the fore in two team

challenges. In February, fourteen

teams from schools in and around

Essex took part in the FMSP Year 10

Maths Team Challenge regional

heats. In a tough competition, which

saw the top six teams changing

position a number of times during

the evening, the KEGS team of Sai

Pendyala, Aditya Vijay, Asel Perera

and Daniel Owens not only won and

went onto the final at Cambridge

but KEGS narrowly missed the

double when Colchester County

High for Girls pipped our second

team of George Metson, James

Murphy, Nicholas Sale and Divyen

Vanniasegaram into third place.

March was equally exciting for the

KEGS Junior Maths Team. Toby

Willis, Prakash Singh, Henry

Sainsbury and Shahzaib Shaikh were

keen to follow the success of the

Year 10’s and they certainly didn’t

disappoint. Along with 27 other

teams the KEGS team headed for

Bancroft’s School for the regional

heat of the UKMT Junior Maths

Team Challenge. KEGS were off to a

great start in the group challenge

and during lunch it was announced

that we were in the top 6. During

the next rounds the team kept their

cool and scored well. They kept the

pressure on with only the relay

round to go and with a score of 42

points they took their total to 192

and were declared the winners.

KEGS will be representing Essex at

the national final in London on 18th

June.

MATHS DEPARTMENT

economics & maths

above James

Dixon, British

Mathematics

Olympiad

Contestant

24

TheChelmsfordian |

Maths Primary Masterclasses

areas of mathematics, beginning

with Amy Hooker from the Royal

Institute. Amy’s topics included

polygons and shape tessellation,

where students discovered just how

many shapes do not tessellate.

Dr Chris Saker, from Essex

University, came along in October

and took us on a trip around the

‘Bridges of Königsberg’ – a notable

mathematical problem concerning

an old Prussian city. The puzzle is

whether it is possible to cross seven

bridges in such a way as to cross

over every bridge only once. Dr

Saker returned in January to share

his knowledge of cryptology, with a

look at Caesar's code, substitution

codes and frequency analysis before

moving students on to creating their

own codes.

Professor Alan Davies, from Herts

University, joined us for two

sessions, one in November where he

presented a ‘Pi’ masterclass, and

again in January where yet more of

the mysteries of Pi were revealed.

Vinay Kathotia from The Nuffield

Foundation was our last guest

presenter and introduced students

to a mythical world where people

had 20 fingers, thus being able to do

larger multiplications using just

hands. Finally, a look at binary and

hexadecimal maths in computers.

During the final session all students

were presented with a certificate

from the Royal Institute, who

supported the programme and

provided some of the materials as

well as guest presenters.

MATHS DEPARTMENT

M aths primary

masterclasses have

taken place after

school at KEGS since

2008 and have proved to be

immensely popular every year. In

previous years we have invited Year

6 students from local primary

schools but this year we chose to

change to focus on Year 5 students

instead. Mrs Frankie Orr took over

running the programme in

September and has presented many

of the sessions, including topics

such as platonic solids and the

rather unusual subject of the

breeding habits of rabbits and bees.

A useful subject when trying to

explain the mysteries of the

Fibonacci number sequence.

We were pleased to welcome guest

presenters, specialising in different

economics & maths

25

He

presented

a ‘Pi’

masterclass,

where yet

more of the

mysteries of

Pi were

revealed

| TheChelmsfordian

O n the 6th of March, Year 9 found

itself privileged to take part in

an Enterprise Day set up by Mrs

Singh in conjunction with the

company “Young Enterprise”. They

specialise in igniting the spirit of

enterprise in young people throughout the

UK with various exciting activities - this

day would prove to be an opportunity for

us to develop money management skills,

learn about interview techniques and

visualise our futures. The Enterprise Day

took place in the main school hall, starting

promptly at 9 o’clock. Split into groups of

six students each, we had to push

ourselves to our limits as we undertook

varied tasks that we were given. The day

kicked off with our first group activity: it

was to map our present and future lives.

Thinking about the future, which was

something that many of my peers and I

had not considered before, proved

extremely exciting and interesting. Our

next task was to examine two role-plays of

a successful and unsuccessful job interview

– this in turn gave us a much deeper

insight into how the system of

employment works. We then went on to

discuss how a fictional character we had

been given could afford a certain luxury by

looking at their bank statement. We also

discussed ways in which to protect our

bank details and other sensitive

information from possible theft (a good

preparation for future secure financial

management).

In the afternoon, we talked about

consumer rights and responsibility, which

is increasingly vital for everyday life,

before we prepared for the close of the day.

Our final activities from Young Enterprise

were based around managing debt and

investing money. The course was

particularly helpful for those who are

planning to thrive in the highly

competitive world of business. A number

of us found ourselves with many questions

to ask the visitors who had come to hold

the event, who without doubt were eager

to answer and well-informed about all of

them. In my opinion, it proved to be an

outstanding day because of the variation in

the tasks we were given. Everyone was

given the chance to contribute and speak,

and we were all kept engaged with myriad

humorous role-plays, arts and crafts, as

well as thrilling games, which proved to be

extremely addictive and compelling. I am

inspired and feel that I have learnt many

vital life skills and I am certain that many

of my fellow classmates share the same

view. I would definitely recommend this

day to all future Year 9 students.

HEMAL DIAS & JOSHUA ASHAYE

Year 9

F riday, 20th April saw the KEGS

Chamber Ensemble, directed by

Maggie Diffley, perform a varied

and exciting 45 minute lunchtime

recital to a packed out Chelmsford

cathedral, ably assisted by Tom Carter

(violin), Stephanie MacLeod (viola) and

two Old Chelmsfordians, Patrick Calver

and Henry Robertshaw.

The pupils played brilliantly and were real

ambassadors for the school. We began with

the virtuosic Concerto for Lute in D major

RV 93 by Antonio Vivaldi, with the lute

part played beautifully on classical guitar

by Brian Chan. A spectacular rendition of

the second movement of the Concerto for

Two Violins, Strings and Continuo in D

minor BWV 1043 by J. S. Bach followed,

with the two solo parts performed by Chloe

Reynolds and Christopher Little, who both

recently gained a Grade 8 distinction on

the violin. The recital concluded with an

energetic rendition of Grieg’s Holberg

Suite.

Thanks must go to the three soloists who

performed in the concert; Brian Chan,

Chloe Reynolds and Christopher Little are

all very talented musicians, who contribute

an enormous amount both to the life of the

school and to the Music Department.

This concert could not have taken place

without the enthusiasm and dedication of

every member of the Chamber Ensemble.

Despite their very busy schedules,

involvement in numerous other activities

and examination preparation, these pupils

still find the time and energy to give their

best to this ensemble and I would like to

thank them all for all their hard work

throughout the time I have directed the

Chamber Ensemble.

MAGGIE DIFFLEY

Music Teacher

Chamber Ensemble at

Year 9 Enterprise Day

economics & maths

the Cathedral

Thinking about the future

proved extremely exciting

and interesting

26

TheChelmsfordian |

Grayson Perry Visits KEGS

B ritain has often been a

centre of the arts. Grayson

Perry is one of our most

respected contemporary

artists, feted for bringing the craft

tradition back into the modern

world of art. He is an entertaining

and knowledgeable pundit on arts

programmes, has been a part of the

Question Time panel, chaired an

episode of Have I got News for You

and presenter of a recent three part

documentary about class called In

the Best Possible Taste. He is also an

ex-student of KEGS and we were

privileged to welcome him back to

talk to the Sixth Form and the Art

classes as part of our Enrichment.

His recent exhibition Tomb of the

Unknown Craftsman at the British

Museum was a most entertaining,

clever and visually stunning

exhibition. Grayson Perry worked

with the British Museum to curate

an exhibition of those objects which

‘spoke’ to him most directly and

which link with his own work, some

made especially for this show.

Ancient artefacts from the British

Museum’s extensive archives were

chosen as a starting point for a

series of wonderful journeys into a

spiritual, imaginary, imaginative,

emotional world. Some highlights of

the show and of Grayson's KEGS

presentation were the vast, intricate

tapestry which takes the viewer to

places of pilgrimage, and the ship,

sculpted by Grayson Perry before

being cast in bronze, which stands

as a tribute to ‘the unknown

craftsmen’.

Over the year, pupils in Year Seven

have drawn their own 'Alan

Measles' (Grayson's teddy and 'god')

and have taken them on a

pilgrimage documenting it through

a series of photos. Members of

staff joined the Art Department for

an after school workshop on the

theme of ‘Alan Measles’, making

clay plaques inspired by the work of

Grayson Perry.

As Head of Art, I had asked Grayson

to talk about how he views Art and

the creative process, and what he

considers to be the value of Art in

today's society. He was as engaging

as he always is in discussion, with a

romp through his life, thoughts and

achievements delighting the

audience. Artists and non-artists

alike were thoroughly entertained,

even where some found his views a

little ‘off kilter’ with their own.

If you have not seen In the Best

Possible Taste I would encourage

you to watch it; Grayson Perry’s art

work is wonderful – fantastic, fluid

drawings developed into glorious

tapestries. You can probably tell

that I am a fan, and I am extremely

grateful for him for coming back.

HELEN WILTSHIRE

Head of Art

27

art, music & drama

right Grayson

Perry returns

to KEGS

He was as

engaging as

he always

is in

discussion,

with a romp

through

his life

| TheChelmsfordian

T his year, James Russell

and his talented young

players brought us a

Merchant of youthful

exuberance, where the wooing and

the banter was every bit as

important as the famous Pound of

Flesh. This production does have an

interesting historical setting – the

1980s, with its carefree financiers,

its chunky cell phones and its

distinctive taste in clothes. And in

the goody bag with the programme

– parma violets, drumsticks and

masks of Thatcher and The Gipper ...

Two devices cement the action – the

phones (mostly immobile), bringing

news, announcing arrivals and

enabling Antonio to plead with the

Jew from his prison cell in Act III.

And "the sweet power of music": not

just the ghetto-blaster soundtrack to

the decade [Wham!] but the

polyphony of the office phones, the

Dixie car horn heralding Bassanio's

return, a lovely naïve setting of

Fancy Bred, and, for Antonio and

countless others, not a lute, but a

grand piano centre stage,

punctuating the verse with snatches

of melody.

Shakespeare's words were in general

well served, with intelligent

readings and clear enunciation.

Particularly impressive work from

Luke Higgins as Bassanio [the letter

bearing bad news a highlight of a

superbly sustained characterisation]

and Martha Jenkinson as Jessica,

Shylock's daughter, given a

refreshingly upbeat interpretation

here, as she elopes with her lucky

Lorenzo [Max Brown]. I liked the

way that she was left to end the

play, with a sad recollection of her

defeated father.

She begins the piece, too, in this

version – God and Mammon neatly

contrasted on either side of the

stage.

Lots of energy from the traders, in

confident performances from Ed

Alston as Gratiano and Bart Lambert

as Antonio, the Merchant of the

title whose flesh is almost sacrificed

for his special friend Bassanio. Their

emotional farewell was moving

without being mawkish.

The suitors who queue up in

Belmont for a chance to open

Portia's casket were strongly

established by Hassam Ahmed as

Morocco, and Tom Crowe as Aragon

with his badly-broken English.

Portia herself was done with nice

20th century ennui by Pippa Searle;

far left Ciaran

Saward gets

into character

as the Clown

near left

Hassam Ahmed

as a convincing

Morrocco

below

Everything

kicks off in a

terse court

scene

art, music & drama

The Merchant of Venice

28

Photographs by

Will Starr

TheChelmsfordian |

she shone en travesti in the trial

scene, clearly enjoying her Mercy

speech and the chance to turn the

tables on the moneylender. And she

was well supported by Nerissa [Ruth

Tyson], amusingly gruff as her clerk.

Tom Adam was a sober presiding

Duke, and Ciaran Saward did what

he could with the remnants of the

clown's part – Old Gobbo totally

chopped in the interests of

tautening the action.

Lewis Wood rose to the challenge of

Shylock, berating his daughter,

perusing the Business Pages (useful

for stage asides) and thoughtfully

shaping his long speeches. I

admired his modesty and dignity at

the end, when he is subjected to

overt Jew-baiting, and finally casts

off his kippah as he leaves the stage.

Against a fairy-lit backdrop of the

City, KEGS gave us a slick, fast-

paced "comedy", a suspenseful look,

from a fresh perspective, at love, life

and the risk of their loss.

Congratulations should also go to

the amazing crew who also made

this production possible, and the

Prefects who helped make the show

run smoothly every night.

JAMES RUSSELL

Director of Drama

art, music & drama

29

Shakespeare's words

were well served, with

intelligent readings and

clear enunciation

Photographs by

Will Starr

| TheChelmsfordian

30

Art Display 2012

TheChelmsfordian |

GPR at KEGS: Two Years On...

G lobal Perspectives and

Independent Research: it

sounds like the sort of subject

that can drain the will of even

the strongest student, and leave their

writing hand with a repetitive strain injury.

But it’s so much more rewarding than this;

the opportunity to engage and discuss

global issues and build up your own

perspective about pretty much anything

and everything going on in the world

today.

Walking into your first GPR lesson, it’s

hard not to be intimidated. Chairs in a

circle around Mr. Barrow sitting on a

throne of current affairs awareness, you

wonder whether it may have been helpful

to briefly glimpse at the newspaper whilst

you were eating your breakfast this

morning. Then, when everyone’s sitting

comfortably, you’re thrown a curveball like

“So, Rob, how’s the Arab Spring?”, “Sid,

what’s your view on the welfare state?” or

“George, briefly explain to me why you

think the Banana Guard is the greatest

invention of all time.” Sometimes it’s very

difficult to come up with an argument that

you know very little about; I don’t even

like bananas. However, GPR isn’t an

exercise in what you argue, rather how you

argue. By using evidence and reasoning to

formulate a conclusion, you’ll be surprised

at how well you can cope under pressure –

and this formula is the cornerstone of GPR.

Whether you’re writing an essay or

presenting a talk in the first year, or

slaving over your dissertation in the

second year, the approach is always the

same: analyse a perspective, evaluate its

credibility and validity, and then construct

your own, informed argument. You’re

introduced to a cornucopia of different

flaws and faults that an argument may

have; ad hominem, tu quoque, and

tautology to name but a few (and don’t

worry, you don’t need to take Latin to

understand). Reading an article in class,

you can swiftly identify where the author’s

hyperbole has escalated out of control

(slippery slope), or where he has painted

an incorrect version of the opposing

argument just to make it easier to knock

down (straw men). By the end of the first

year, you find that these ideas have

leached into your subconscious to the

extent that you apply them to almost

anything you read or hear – other subjects

such as English and History in particular

benefit from this critical approach, and you

could even apply the concept of ad

hominem to Alex Ferguson’s post-match

grilling of referees. These transferable

skills are utilised at the end of Year One in

three different tests – the essay, a critical

thinking paper and a presentation.

The final year of GPR is the closest

experience to university that you can

achieve at school – the supervisions you

share with your dedicated supervisor

nurture and develop your ideas and

arguments until you have created a

coherent and understandable structure to

your essay. You also realise the specialisms

that the teachers of the school have – in

discussion with your supervisor, not only

do you share your interests, but you also

learn what made them choose their subject

in the first place, be it Maths, English or

Biology. This level of interaction is what

makes GPR unique, and you become rather

attached to your dissertation, feeling like

you’ve lost a friend when you eventually

hand it in.

Chatting to Mr. Barrow and your

supervisor in your post-dissertation

meeting (viva), you can express just how

proud and interested you are by the work

and research you have done. For this isn’t a

subject that just finishes when the mark is

given: I know I will use the techniques,

perspectives, interests and ideas that GPR

has helped foster in the years to come,

both at university and in real life. The

skills we have learnt will remain with us

for a long time, and this is the trait of a

successful, inspiring subject. The

experiment has worked – just don’t ask me

to explain why the Banana Guard is the

greatest invention of all time.

GEORGE COX

Year 13

gpr, history & politics

The opportunity to

engage and discuss global

issues and build up your

own perspective

However, GPR isn’t an

exercise in what you argue,

rather how you argue

This level of interaction

is what makes GPR

unique, and you become

rather attached to your

dissertation

31

| TheChelmsfordian

New York Trip

W istfully gazing out

across the New York

Airport Terminal that

Tuesday evening,

sipping my (non-alcoholic) Cherry

Ginger Ale and preparing to return

home, I reminisced on a trip like no

other – KEGS’ whirlwind tour of the

Big Apple.

From the moment we had left our

bags at the Hotel Pennsylvania,

Field Marshall Barrow set our ranks

at double time, trooping down to

Times Square in what has to have

been a defining night for me. To be

in New York is many things, but it

really takes the lurid neon

playground of wild consumerism to

drive home the tourist side. As we

clambered up the famous

illuminated steps for pictures

(despite the considerable chill,) the

momentous journey was just

beginning.

The next morning did not feel so

momentous. Shuffling out from the

Hotel, we began our day as we would

most of the others: with a trip to

McDonalds. The potential delights

of vast ‘hot cakes’ coated with

enough syrup to put Lyle out of

business or burgers capable of

ending world starvation were

quickly exhausted. Still, armed with

enough calories for a year, we

commenced the trip proper. First

stops: Ellis Island and the Statue of

Liberty, those bastions of New York

history. Passing through the halls

which welcomed (select) foreigners,

and through the painfully tacky gift

shop, we returned to New York

herself to see a rather different side.

The first of our destinations would

be Wall Street (where Goldfinger

would be given an Inferiority

Complex) and then, more

poignantly, the 9/11 Memorial

Garden. Opinion was divided, and

generally negative, on the pair of

giant pools which now lie there: the

fact that it operates as a park

somewhat seems to diminish the

sombre nature of the site. Yet on a

building opposite the site flies an

American flag, with the top two

stripes torn to commemorate the

first and second responders, and

construction continues on World

Trade Centre 3 (now over 100

storeys high.) Perhaps that is what

makes New York City quite so epic

in its style – it embodies humanity’s

constant desire to excel and to

aspire, and nothing can stop that.

(Unfortunately, after the grand

solemnity of the Memorial, I

found the Broadway version of

Sister Act a little out of key…)

I won’t bore you with the routine of

every day, but there are a number of

events and sites which made the trip

unforgettable. The New York City

library’s vaulted heights even put

KEGS’ formidable array to shame,

though even this experience paled

when compared to the Empire State.

Staring out across the concrete

jungle, at yellow taxis darting

cervine block to block; at a fractal

skyline, embodying the greatest and

worst qualities in man; at news

helicopters and commercial jets

roaring overhead, it was quite an

experience – though the views from

the Top of the Rock were perhaps

more impressive. The skyline which

King Kong, Spiderman and myriad

other films celebrated is truly awe-

inspiring in the flesh: a fact rammed

home by dinner at the revolving

Marriott, where the city came alive

around us in radiant glory (though

the rotation had the unfortunate

side-effect of moving the dessert

away from us even as we finished

our main course). Our tour of the

United Nations was also a rare

opportunity to witness the inner

chambers of an organisation which,

whether toothless or not, attempts

to ensure world peace. And it would

be criminal to forget the night city

tour by Coach. Despite the Yankee

chill, the view of the city that

evening does not have enough

adjectives to describe it.

The trip to New York could not have

gone ahead without Mr Barrow's

almost military leadership and I

would like to thank him, Ms

Wiltshire and Mrs Rowe for helping

keep everything in shape, and all my

fellow students for making the trip

so fantastically enjoyable!

SIDDHARTH

VENKATARAMAKRISHNAN

Year 13

gpr, history & politics

32

TheChelmsfordian |

Trip to Duxford

gpr, history & politics

33

A lthough some people view

History as a dull mass of

dates and figures, this

couldn’t be further from

the truth. It’s a living, breathing

subject, with real relevance to the

modern world. "Fools say that they

learn by experience. I prefer to

profit by others’ experience," as

Otto von Bismarck once remarked.

So on the 3rd of March, Year 9 would

embark on a history trip to Duxford,

one of the best military museums in

the world, where we would be

studying the evolution of aircraft

through the 20th Century. As we

had recently been studying the

Battle of Britain in history, the main

emphasis would be on how aircraft

changed and shaped the course of

the Second World War. This period,

as any Historian can tell you, was

vital: not only in helping to stop the

German advance, but in leading up

to the plethora of aircraft which

plethora of aircraft which patrol the

skies today.

The day itself was divided up into

roughly hour-long sections. This

gave us time in which we could

explore the different air museums

and film our projects, as well as to

take notes on specifications and

designs, and just browse among the

wide selection of aircraft.

Our form commenced our tour that

day at the British air museum. This

part of Duxford houses a variety of

the classic British aircraft like the

Lancaster bomber and the Spitfire,

which we were able to see up close

and personal. After spending an

educational hour at the British Air

Museum, we then trekked over to

the other end of the campus to see

the American Air Museum, which

housed a variety of planes used by

the Americans from the Second

World War to Vietnam. Whilst less

illustrious than the Spitfire or

Hurricane, many of these played a

pivotal part in the fight against

Communism.

Following these aircraft, we went on

down to the Battle of Britain

museum. This was particularly

exciting, as it housed a number of

the actual planes used in the battle

as well as some slightly later

models. There was also a chance to

see a replica control room that

would have been used at Duxford to

co-ordinate attacks while planes

were in combat. Having learnt about

these events from the History books,

it was a surreal yet fascinating

experience to see first-hand the

equipment and the place which

allowed the brave British defenders

to face down the might of the

Luftwaffe.

Next stop on the tour of Duxford

would be a well-deserved lunch. We

decided to consume this in the

British air museum (an odd

experience, munching sandwiches

amidst those mighty metal war-

birds), and then went on to spend

the remaining part of the day in

there. We continued to make notes

and film for our projects on the

evolution of aircraft throughout

the twentieth century (which

would be an extremely enjoyable

and educational), before we made

our way back home, feeling as if

we had learnt a lot. Thank you to

all the history teachers who came

with us for a fun and interesting

field-trip!

ALEX PALOTAI

Year 10

Having learnt

about these

events from

the History

books, it was

a surreal yet

fascinating

experience to

see it first-

hand

| TheChelmsfordian

House Music

house competitions

34

A nother year, another

great House Music. As the

first major House event of

the year, House Music

2011 promised bigger thrills than

any previous competition.

With the theme for the House Choir

being songs from movies this year,

we were really in for melodious

masterpieces and superb

symphonies in what would prove to

be a highly-heated competition.

To mention all the performers in

this piece would take too long,

unfortunately, but there were a

number of highlights throughout

the event. One issue that has to be

mentioned is timings: we had an

ample surplus of talent, which led to

some Houses overrunning their

allotted time. In the end, this proved

to be a deciding factor in the

competition!

A number of acts still stand out :

amongst these were Ed Dixon

(Holland), whose accordion playing

was very impressive indeed; the

fantastic performance of Valerie

including Mary Heartshorne,

Tofunmi Onaeko and Anna Gregory

(Mildmay); Tindal’s memorable

House Choir performance of Kung

Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas; Sarah

Woollatt’s virtuouso flute

performance for Strutt – all of these

were some of the highest quality

acts we have seen in many years.

Whilst it would be Tindal who

triumphed in the end, I would like to

say a huge congratulations and

thank you to all the competitors

who produced such great acts, as

well as all of the judges.

MUSIC DEPARTMENT

TheChelmsfordian |

house competitions

35

Photographs by James Murdey

| TheChelmsfordian

house competitions

It has been an absolute honour and

privilege to have represented Holland over

the past year in the House Championship,

leading the house to victory for the first

time in 3 years. However, it is even more of

an honour simply to have belonged to such

a warm, spirited, inclusive and, above all,

memorable house over the past seven.

Some say the house championship is a

matter of life or death, but I can assure you

it is much more serious than that. With

Sports Day being the first date on the house

calendar, Hugh Harding sure knew how to

intimidate the other houses with House

stickers – but what Mildmay had in

organisation, they lacked in ability, and

Holland asserted its dominance with an

emphatic victory. This was indeed nearly

the year where one could buy House points,

which was a great idea in our eyes: a true

encapsulation of House spirit and ambition

to raise money for underprivileged children.

The organisational ability of Drama

Captains Jamie Dent and Hassam Ahmed

was infallible, succeeding in earning victory

in House Drama for Holland. Our very own

Flying Circus performing a trio of Monty

Python sketches, most notably starring the

masterful George Cox. Of course, George’s

role in House Drama was nothing compared

to his vital, invaluable and incontrovertibly

meaningful role as Events/Assembly Co-

ordinator... Not so much positivity can be

attributed to the cataclysmic disaster of

House Tug of War. What we lacked in

strength, we more than made up for in

stupidity – with Jack Coppack for some

incomprehensible reason turning up in flip-

flops. We lost every single match, partly as

every house had a 2 girl advantage as a

result of every girl I asked being

mysteriously ‘busy.’ Similarly disappointing

was House Music where our cruel robbery of

a victory, led by Ricky Childs, on the

grounds of a ‘time penalty’ – being

penalised for too much musical ability.

Nonetheless, victories at House Swimming

and Year 10 Football completed the diverse

array of talent that Holland nurtures. My

deputies Shirin Ahmed and Jacob

Chegwidden have been absolutely

incredible, and so much of our victory is

owed to their efforts alone. I wish next

year’s house team the best of luck, I’m sure

they can emulate the success that this

Year’s Holland house team has proudly

accomplished.

This year saw Tindal winning five events

across the House Competition. Of these

stellar performances, the most notable was

none other than the KEGS Classic, House

Music. This year, we had great

performances from a variety of performers,

including the likes of Bart Lambert, Emily

Phillips and Ed Alston. It just goes to show

that to win you do not need to stay within

the convention of classical music being

best.

The victory at House Music (one of the big

events of the year) put us back in

contention with the other Houses.

Capitalising on the impetus we had gained,

we went on to well-deserved win in House

Film and a close second in a hotly-

contested House Drama. All of this

thoroughly helped us as we prepared for a

tense last couple of months of the 2011-

2012 House Competition. Our streak

continued with another equally close

second place in Sixth Form House football,

which saw us humiliate Mildmay with a 3-1

win. A great second half of the year

showed how much we were hindered at the

beginning of the competition with an

unfortunate loss at sports day (despite

great performances from Ben in Year 9 and

Craig in Year 13) and a third place at

standards. Yet, it still looked as if we were

bound to improve on last year’s overall

third place and get second. Unfortunately

for us, the last week of term saw Tindal

battered as we suffered losses in Lower and

Middle School sports events, which saw us

left behind Mildmay (equalling last year’s

team’s place.) I would like to say thank you

to my House Team who proved themselves

to be tremendously helpful in our efforts

this year. In addition, I would also like to

wish the best of luck to next year’s team in

the current competition.

HOLLAND Points: 2888

OLY DUROSE House Captain

TINDAL Points: 2663

ALFIE SANSOM House Captain

36

TheChelmsfordian |

house competitions

Mildmay are much like a greyhound: we

ooze sophistication, grace and beauty with

an underlying sense of an effortless and

irresistible athleticism that can be matched

by no other. What with the summer term

consisting solely of sporting events, we put

our best foot forward and were off to the

traditional flying start. A comprehensive

victory in Standards (which if you ask me is

the best indicator of House Spirit) put us in

the lead and set the tone for the rest of the

competition. Unfortunately, I am not

alluding to the fact that Mildmay would

retain the lead for the entire championship

– what I actually mean is that sporting

dominance would be Mildmay’s for yet

another year. Unfortunately that would be

all we could rely on.

With that in mind, we pressed forward into

the rest of the competition. The house did

itself proud with a sensational rendition of

“Can You Feel the Love Tonight” that will

always be a fond memory of mine and was

unanimously the best house choir on

display. That said, we still occupied our

traditional placing on the House Music

leader board despite fantastic effort and co-

ordination by James Johnson. We even

managed to display a hint of artistic flair in

House Drama and pinch 3rd place (a fine

achievement for the “jock” house). The year

was rounded off with strong showings

throughout the school in the various House

football competitions and culminated in a

victory in House Cross Country. Overall

Mildmay finished second by the smallest of

margins (55 points) and won the most

events across the year (9).

It has been a true honour to lead the house

this past year and they really have done me

proud, throwing themselves into each and

every event and ensuring that we always

had a presence in the competition. The

House Spirit was stronger than ever and I

have nothing left to do but thank all of you

for your efforts and contributions

throughout the year and for making it so

much fun for myself and the House team. I

couldn’t have done it without the support of

the girls and boys in the leadership team

and Mr Milliken and so owe a huge thanks

to them also. Best of luck to next year’s

team and I hope to see Mildmay back on top

in 2013.

Whilst Strutt eventually followed our trend

of propping up the table, this year was the

one in which we finally demonstrated that

we could hold our own in the house

competition, despite the claims to the

contrary of other Houses. The House Tug-

of-war contest at the Summer Festival

went entirely Strutt’s way. Annihilating

the other houses, who couldn’t cope with

the power on offer from the likes of Josh

Mews, we set what we hoped would be the

tone. Having won seven events overall this

year (the second highest overall,) Strutt

arrived at the Christmas break in first

place, and the excitement was tangible.

Thanks to the help of Tindal, who frankly

made the first six months of the House

Cup as easy as possible for everyone else,

we held hope for the last two terms. It

would be the biggest opportunity chance

had ever had in our time at KEGS. A

contentious House Music ruling changed

everything for us, in a twist of cruel fate.

Despite being the being the best House

musically, ‘poor timekeeping’ stripped us

of points. We hit back with a series of year

group wins, and entered the last term in a

strong second, with a firm chance of still

winning. We knew we needed to raise our

game though, as less than 40 points

separated first from fourth. Then came

House Drama, and whilst our actors gave it

their best shot, in the end we had to bow

out graciously to the other houses and this

turned out to set the framework for the

final standings. However, we were not yet

going to give up. A heroic performance in

VIth Form House Football, led by the

defensive stalwart Richard Packham and

the ever imposing Andrew Orsi, with the

best strike partnership since Heskey and

Owen in Seb Mayo and Steven Richardson,

and deft management by Manager-of-the-

Year contender Will Leslie, typified our

refusal to give up. The result? Strutt won

for the first time in seven years. In the end

it proved to be not enough, but this year

was one which Strutt can most certainly be

proud of. Thanks must go to the whole

house team and Mr Davies, and best wishes

to the new team. Peace out.

STRUTT Points: 2363

WILL LESLIE House Captain

MILDMAY Points: 2506

HUGH HARDING House Captain

37

| TheChelmsfordian

House Drama

house competitions

38

I t seems that every year, House

Drama gets more and more

impressive. Directors are

taking more of a risk, the

actors seem more confident and the

final result is a performance that is

creative and challenging. The sheer

amount of effort that goes into

these performances is often lost on

the audience. They don’t see the

time that the cast have had to put

in, forced to squeeze rehearsals in

between school work and other

commitments and, when they get

home, they’ve got to learn lines or

write scenes. And for some, it’s the

first time they’ve ever been on

stage, and what a brave step that

is! Having the stage in-the-round is

a challenge in itself and even

though it’s only a few metres across,

it’s a big space to fill, especially if

you’ve only got a few actors in your

performance.

The level of competition this year

was extremely high, and to ask for a

single moment of excellence is too

hard a decision. Every performance

showed considerable command of

the stage, and it only seems fair to

run through each House’s offering.

Starting with Strutt, their choice to

present Romeo and Juliet with an

entirely junior cast was definitely an

interesting and quite novel

interpretation. Furthermore, the

middle school choice of Chekov

provided wit in abundance for all.

Chekov’s lesser known piece went

down well with the audience and

particularly the judges. Will

Tillbrook and Rayan Qadri will

surely go down in history as a

marvellous comic duo. Credit should

go to Lizzie Staiano (House Drama

Captain) and to Elliot Boakes

(Deputy Head of Strutt) who helped

guide and mould some wonderful

moments.

Mildmay also presented a plethora

of magnificent performances which

kept the audience enthralled. Their

choice of tackling such a renowned

piece as Synge’s “Playboy of the

Western World” was a pleasure to

watch and handled with great

competence. In addition, their

choice of another classic, “Lord of

the Flies” gave Aiden Cunninghan

the chance to shine on stage and he

was a worthy winner of the Best

Lower School Actor award, playing

the part of Piggy.

It was a very close race for first place

and, as Tindal House Leader, it was

sad to not grab the top spot but I

was thrilled at the ability and

competence of all involved. David

Tremain in particular deserves a

medal for the hard work and

dedication which he gave to the

House Team. Having both directed

the Senior piece and written the

Junior piece, he showed real

enthusiasm for his art. Indeed, the

way in which the whole cast

attacked the tragedy of Julius Caesar

with manic energy and exuberance

was a joy to watch. Congratulations,

of course, should also go to Bart

Lambert for winning the Best Actor

award for the second time in a row;

a real star in the making!

Naturally, the final word has to go

to Holland who, I have to admit,

produced some world class

performances coupled with subtle

nuances and thought provoking

tales. The sheer blissful comedy of

Monty Python was worthy of the

high marks it received as was the

stunningly brilliant tension of Poe’s

“The Tell Tale Heart”. I must

mention the performance of Mark

Ellis who deservedly won the Middle

School award for this and sets a

precedent for the quality expected

of students for years to come.

The final score illustrates how close

the performances were. As an

audience member I found the day

bracing, inspiring and sometimes

draining. Just as it should be! All the

Houses should be extremely proud

of what they managed to create and,

if this is the indication of what we

can expect from House Drama, bring

on 2013!

JAMES RUSSELL

Director of Drama

For some, it’s the first

time they’ve ever been

on stage, and what a

brave step that is!

Congratulations go to Bart Lambert

for winning the best actor award

for the second time in a row; a real

star in the making!

All the Houses should be

extremely proud of what they

managed to create

TheChelmsfordian |

O n Wednesday 21st March,

KEGS held its first ever

House Dance event.

Introducing dance to a

boy’s school centred on academic

excellence was never going to be an

easy task, but I hoped that the

passion I have for dance could be

extended to the rest of the school.

I first made the suggestion of House

Dance to other students in the VIth

Form and was met by a positive

response, which led me to approach

Ms Wiltshire with my idea. She was

very supportive and steered me in

the direction of Mr Barrow as he

would be able to help find a date on

the school calendar for the event

and help organise it. Unbeknownst

to me, Mr Barrow is actually a salsa

dancer and therefore came up with

the idea of having salsa as part of

the competition. In the run up to

the event, he taught us salsa at

various group rehearsals (which

were a lot of fun!) However,

relations between the Houses soon

grew very tense. Fights broke out

over who could use the hall to

rehearse, whilst certain Houses sent

members to spy on their rivals’

rehearsals. Mr Russell was

constantly inundated with requests

to use his drama studio as rehearsal

space. Even before rehearsals began

though, I had to overcome the

problem of people claiming that

they could not dance. It was a case

of teaching simple steps and slowly

building up their confidence and

when it was time for the

performances, I was blown away by

the amount of undiscovered dancing

talent in the school.

The event began with the solo

dancers. Jamie Dent (Holland)

performed a highly skilled tap piece,

Erin Meredith (Mildmay) showcased

beautiful contemporary dance

techniques, Jon Onabowu (Strutt)

wowed us with a combination of

breaking, popping and locking and

Delan Sivanandarajan (Tindal)

performed an entertaining medley

consisting of jerking and moves

from Carlton in the Fresh Prince of

Bel Air.

The group dances were extremely

entertaining and ranged from an

exquisite reproduction of ‘The

Nicest Kids in Town’ from Hairspray

(Holland) to a ‘Cha Cha Slide’ from

Mildmay who struggled to overcome

the complexity that arose from the

lyrics, ‘slide to the right’. The

audience, many of whom were able

to take time off lessons to watch,

were thoroughly entertained,

especially by the salsa section which

had them all up on their feet

clapping whilst couples were

gradually eliminated until only Jess

Duffy and Ricky Childs remained.

The overall winners however, were

Strutt with Holland coming a

respectable 2nd, Tindal 3rd and

Mildmay in 4th place.

The competition was an opportunity

for people to showcase their talent

and I was impressed by the range of

skills that were put on show.

Performing onstage is never easy

and for most of the participants, this

was the first time they had put a

dance piece on display so all their

efforts should be commended.

Special thanks must go to Ms

Wiltshire and Mr Barrow for judging

and for their general support. No

longer will they have to put up with

me constantly turning up at their

office doors to clarify rehearsal

dates, judging criteria etc.

Well, until next year that is…

EBELE NWANGWU

Year 12

House Dance

house competitions

Jon

Onabowu

wowed us

with a

combination

of breaking,

popping

and locking

39

| TheChelmsfordian

engineering & science

KEGS at CERN

F rom light-speed breaking

neutrinos to the first signs

of the Higgs Boson, the

Large Hadron Collider has

been the epicentre of particle

physics research since first opening

in September 2008. This November,

a group of Year 13 students flew to

Switzerland to discover for how the

experiments carried out there have

changed our understanding of the

universe we live in.

Upon our arrival in Geneva, we

explored the city under the pretext

of a treasure hunt – though as the

sun set, our navigational abilities

ebbed away reducing us to our last

resort: ‘impressing’ the locals with

our unsound French abilities.

Wandering through the Old Town,

we had the chance to take in the

central European surroundings with

their cobbled alleys and cast-iron

balconies. The winners were

rewarded with a slab of Swiss

chocolate that, needless to say,

didn’t survive the walk back to the

hostel…

Entering CERN (Organisation

Européenne pour la Recherche

Nucléaire) felt much like going into

a control room of a nuclear test site

– a mixture of awe and repressed

temptation to press any buttons left

unguarded. Welcomed with an

introductory talk and a short film,

we were soon driven across the

Franco-Swiss border towards the

LHC-beauty detector site. LHC-b is

but one of the four detectors which

spot the sub-atomic remnants of

collisions between particles moving

at 99.999999% of the speed of light.

To achieve this, the ions need to be

accelerated through a magnetic field

– created by huge superconducting

electromagnets. In order to work the

system must be cooled to -271.25˚C

by immersing it in 96 tonnes of

liquid helium. This is an incredible

feat of engineering considering that

17 miles of those magnets were

buried up to 175m underneath our

feet. When the particles collide with

each other in the tunnel with

energies of up to 7TeV (which is in

fact only 10−6 J – because of how

miniscule the colliding particles are)

they produce a kaleidoscope of

quarks, gluons, bosons recorded by

the LHC detectors: this is how the

current search for the Higgs Boson

is being conducted. Since the Higgs

itself is expected to decay almost

immediately after its creation, the

computers are searching for a very

specific "signature" that would hint

at its presence. Although we were

not permitted to go down to the

tunnel, our tour guide explained to

us how such subterranean collisions

were used by the LHC-b experiment

to study the matter-antimatter

asymmetry.

In the afternoon the story of the

early universe continued at the

Microcosm museum. The hot soup

of baryons and fermions and gluons

gradually condensed to form the

particles so abundant on our day to

day lives – the humble protons and

neutrons – in the Hadron epoch.

Inside the darkened Globe of

Science and Innovation we watched

these events unfold, projected onto

the walls to resemble a planetarium

(by that point we felt so

intellectually drained that we simply

sat on the floor and marvelled at the

stars flying above us.) To recover we

headed for the most

unapologetically Swiss restaurant

imaginable where KEGS got to boast

their musical aptitude at both the

alphorn and cowbell.

The morning of the United Nations

visit Mr Burcher succeeded in the

implausible venture of making

queuing fun by retelling us its

history, from its post-WW1 origins

to the humanitarian role it plays

today. The tour guide explained

design of the Palais des Nations,

when first built to house the League

of Nations, was meant to reflect the

high hopes for lasting peace and a

new world order that the League

embodied. On that wistful note we

headed to the airport, exhausted by

three days worth of memories we

were bringing home with us. I would

like to thank Mr Burcher, Mr Cecil,

and Mrs Dent for providing us such

an incredible opportunity.

DARYA SHCHEPANOVSKA

Year 13

40

A mixture of awe and repressed

temptation to press any buttons

left unguarded

KEGS got to boast their musical

aptitude at both the alphorn and

cowbell

Mr Burcher succeeded in the

implausible venture of making

queuing fun

TheChelmsfordian |

engineering & science

Cosmic Ray Detector

L ast year, we reported for the first

time on our project to build a

device for detecting the super-

high-speed particles that arrive at

the Earth’s surface due to cosmic rays from

deep space. We have made very good

progress during the year and can give an

update on how things are going.

Do you remember what we have to do?

Easy (if only!): just build a Perspex box,

roughly a 30 cm cube, containing a mixture

of neon and helium and a stack of metal

plates about 1cm apart. Power them up

with a very high voltage – somewhere

between 5 and 10 thousand volts – add a

bit of electronics, and you have a cosmic

ray detector.

In last year’s report we expressed the hope

that the project might be finished by the

end of this year – this is now not realistic,

but we should come fairly close to doing it.

It’s been really difficult getting the parts

made that we need. Standard parts that

can be ordered off the shelf are no

problem, but custom-made parts have

presented major hurdles.

We went to immense trouble at the end of

last year to design a sophisticated and

cunning set of machined Perspex plates

with which to construct the spark chamber,

only to discover that it was going to cost

£2000 to have them made! We went back

to the drawing board and simplified the

design, compromising in a few areas, but

achieving a much cheaper set of plates. We

have had these made, spending roughly

half the original sum, though even then

the problems weren’t over, as we found

that the most complicated plate hadn’t

been made exactly to our drawing. The

supplier was happy to admit their error,

but then said they didn’t think they could

do any better anyway, so we would have to

take it or leave it. Having suffered such a

long delay in getting to this point, we

couldn’t face simply starting to look for a

new supplier, so we decided to take the

plate as it was and take the (small, we

hope) risk that the chamber’s operation

would be badly affected.

The other area of the design that we have

struggled with this year is the gas supplies.

Cylinders of gas can be quite expensive,

but fortunately we have found by doing

some trials that we can just buy a product

called ‘balloon gas’ to get our helium.

Balloon gas is not pure helium, but it’s

near enough and it looks like the

impurities won’t actually matter to the

functioning of the chamber – we did some

crude trials to test this out. To this we

added a small cylinder of neon. Neon is

relatively expensive, compared to helium,

though despite this we still pay most of the

money for the cylinder itself, which has to

be hired from the gas supply company. We

plan to be as frugal as we can with the

neon, so that we don’t need to replace the

cylinder too often. If we want to run the

cosmic ray detector 24 hours a day, we will

have to provide a continual supply of both

helium and neon, since it is virtually

impossible (I think it is actually

impossible) to make a chamber that has no

leaks at all.

We also had many tedious meetings where

we debated what to buy to connect up the

two gas cylinders safely. The pressures in

the cylinders are much higher than normal

atmospheric pressure, so users must be

careful to connect pressure gauges and

hoses and regulators that are the right

ones for the job in hand. It’s surprisingly

difficult to navigate one’s way through an

unfamiliar area of technical expertise,

although we did receive some advice from

e2v in Chelmsford, and also from a couple

of specialist suppliers.

So here we are in May with nearly enough

bits to get the spark chamber built. We

really should be able to get it largely ready

to run by the end of term, and that is our

target. There will certainly have to be some

further work early next year, but I intend

to have a working and impressive Cosmic

Ray Detector to show you by Christmas. In

the meantime, we have taken a photo,

above, of the chamber in its unassembled

state. We just propped up the bits of the

Perspex chamber and inserted the metal

plates to give you a rough idea what it will

look like in the end. After much hard work

we at last detected our first cosmic ray

particles on the 11th May.

DAVID HALL

Head of Physics

41

| TheChelmsfordian

engineering & science

A Trip to the Zoo!

It is easy to forget that biology is a

subject that holds huge relevance to

the world outside of school walls.

We take for granted the science

behind every contraction of our

cardiac muscle and every breath of

air we inhale- which, together, play

a fundamental role in keeping us

alive: so you can imagine the

reactions of us A2 biologists when

we discovered that there is a whole

unit in our syllabus on the science

behind the behaviour of animals. In

preparation for this, we were taught

all there is to know about the

workings of an animal’s mind from

the classical conditioning that

causes a dog to salivate when it

hears the ringing of a bell to the

instinctive innate behaviour which

explains why a mother sea turtle

returns to the same beach that she

was hatched on to lay her own

offspring.

On May 9th 2012, we all ventured

outside of the science labs to

Colchester Zoo to gain firsthand

knowledge about animals and bring

our science lessons to life. For most

of us, this was also a chance to take

a trip down memory lane, as it had

been a while since we last visited a

zoo. Although it was raining cats

and dogs in the weeks leading up to

the visit, we were lucky to have a dry

day – meaning all the animals were

out to play!

Upon arrival at the zoo, an expert

curator gave us an enlightening

lecture about animal behaviour. We

gathered useful information about

the workings of scientists such as

Nobel Prize winner Dr Konrad

Lorenz who discovered the principle

of imprinting from his work with

geese. In addition, we learnt of the

techniques used in the zoo to train

animals to coordinate their

movements with the zookeepers’,

including the behaviour observed in

Rajang, the 44-year-old orang-utan

that had managed to pick up the

skills involved in cleaning windows

and demonstrated this for visitors,

providing us with great

entertainment as well as evidence of

animal intelligence.

Whilst exploring, we were given the

opportunity to take part in the

public feeding of animals such as

goats, elephants and giraffes and

ask the zookeepers questions about

the animals; this reinforced what we

had learnt in the classroom back at

KEGS.

Whilst were all monkeying around

and investigating all that the zoo

had to offer, we picked up several

interesting nuggets of information.

For example, did you know that

there are only 8 living species of

bear? And did you know that pigs

can’t sweat- that’s why they roll

around in the mud to stay cool. Our

new experiences were able to deem

most of what we had previously

known about animals to be otter

nonsense!

Our outing to Colchester Zoo had

added sentimental value as the final

school trip of our lives, which made

us all value the efforts that our

teachers go through to give us such

opportunities (so thank you very

much!) All in all, it was a truly

enriching trip; not only did I

personally discover a new

appreciation for the beauty and

intelligence of animals, but I

honestly had a whale of a time!

AANIYA AHMED

Year 13

42

above Up close and personal with the giraffe

above KEGS students have a wild time!

TheChelmsfordian |

engineering & science

Hanningfield Adventure...

O n 7 July, Year 7 went to

Hanningfield

Conservation Centre. As

we neared Hanningfield,

the rain clouds were in abundance,

leaving little space for the sun to

shine. Thanks to Mr Le Couteur’s

notices (that came every day, three

days running) we were set for any

type of weather, each of us being

equipped with waterproofs and even

suncream. Shortly after our arrival

we were guided into a small room,

where all 56 of us sat shoulder to

shoulder.

The first of our extraordinary

experiences for the day was that of

using the compost toilets, which

were quite shocking! Our first

activity involved a fishing

competition where I was confident

that our sub-group were going to be

the best. Luke Spencer-Smith

caught a Great Diving Beetle, said to

be the biggest pond invertebrate

seen in months, Akshayan Suthakar

caught two Backswimmers and I

caught a Darter Dragonfly, being

very difficult to catch, due to the

fact that it wouldn’t stay still, hence

its name. Oliver Phillips caught a

Giant Water Beatle, which everyone

wanted, including my group, being

prepared to swap our two

Backswimmers for it. After our

detailed analysis of the various pond

creatures we observed we all came

to the conclusion that the pond

water was not polluted. This was a

good result because it meant that

most types of water creatures could

live there.

We then went to the bird-hide

where we were given binoculars and

a bird identification sheet. We

looked on the shore line of the

reservoir which is a Site of Special

Scientific Interest (SSSI) as there are

many rare species surviving there.

On the man-made reservoir, I

identified a Canada Goose, a male

and female Mallard and a Mute

Swan. Although I had never been

bird watching I learned how to use

binoculars and how to identify

correctly a specific bird; it was a

great experience! All the fishing and

bird watching made us hungry so we

headed back to the education centre

to have lunch; it had been a great

morning so far and more was to

come.

After a well-earned meal we were off

again, our next activity would be

sustainability and then orienteering.

Following a long talk about health

and safety we walked through a

dense forest where we investigated

issues around sustainability. We

were ready to be sent off once again

but this time for orienteering where

we were given a puzzle to solve. Our

aim was to find various letters that

were scattered around the

conservation centre. We were off to

an amazing start with only two more

clues remaining while one group

had only got one out of the seven.

Being in the lead gave us a boost of

confidence and within a further

minute we had finished in first

place.

To conclude our great experience at

Hanningfield we joined the other

class for a twenty minute hike to the

other side of the reserve. Here we

would be comparing coppiced land

against non-coppiced land. We all

plotted our results into graph and

this confirmed our prediction, that

the coppiced land had more

vegetation than the non-coppiced

land.

We all had enjoyed our day out and I

would like to take this opportunity

by thanking Mr Le Couteur, Dr

Pearson and Mr Ager and everyone

who helped to make our day so

exciting and adventurous!

NEAL PATEL

Year 8

43

above Year 7

students get

closer to the

natural world

The first

of our

extraordinary

experiences

for the day

was that of

using the

compost

toilets, which

were quite

shocking!

| TheChelmsfordian

engineering & science

Competition Successes in Science

44

K EGS students performed well in

national competitions. The

Physics Olympiad saw Nicholas

Hardingham receive the Gold

Award and a book prize; 6 winners of the

Bronze Award - David Wood, Samuel

Searles-Bryant, Matthew Varnam, Matthew

Stockings, Edward White and James Dixon;

and Commendations for Lewis Hardcastle

and Christopher Jennings.

In the Biology Olympiad, all eight

students who took part received awards

with Callum Harris scooping Gold to take

him through to the second round. Over

4000 students took part in first round and

just the top 5% are invited to take part in

round two. Well done to Iwan Williams,

Sarah Woollatt, Kevin Kuriakose, Hugh

Harding and Iain Clark who achieved

Bronze and Eleni Maria Liaka and Isabel

Allsop who received Commendations.

Students in Years 9 and 10 took part in the

Biology Challenge. Well done to Thomas

Yeung who received a Gold certificate;

Wiza Kaluba, Timothy Havard, John

Westcott and Ben Williams who received a

Silver certificate and Michael Clesham,

Laurence Watts, James Coughlan, Miles

Perham-Marchant and Alex Jackson who

all received Bronze.

We move to the Chemistry Olympiad.

This paper is set by the Royal Society of

Chemistry and always contains some

questions on recent advances in

Chemistry. Darya Schepanovska, Matthew

Varnam and James Dixon won gold

certificates while silvers were awarded to

Nick Hardingham and Chris Jennings.

Special congratulations to David Wood

who qualified for the second round at

Cambridge.

The competitions continued for Chemistry

with the C3L6 Challenge, set by

Cambridge University, who put Chemistry

puzzles online at midnight on the first day

of each month. Students who stayed up

late enough competed to be among the

first to solve the puzzles which were

targeted at Year 12s. Richard Meadows

was on the under-18 leader board for much

of this year.

As part of the challenge, Cambridge also

set an Olympiad-style paper. David Wood

and James Dixon did especially well last

year, being awarded ‘Roentgenium’

certificates. (Roentgenium is the new

name for the artificially-created element

immediately below gold in the Periodic

Table.) They were invited to a Summer

School at Cambridge and a reception at the

House of Commons in November

where they received awards to

acknowledge their outstanding

performance. They were amongst 30

students who achieved the highest marks

in the competition which was taken by

3000 students in 250 schools across the

country.

The competition is the brainchild of Dr

Peter Wothers of University of Cambridge

and is made up of a monthly online

competition which is open to anyone, any

age from anywhere in the world and is

designed to push boundaries and stretch

students’ science knowledge.

In the Analyst Competition, our team of

Marcus Mohr, Charlotte Stock and Alex

Evans enjoyed the opportunity to work in a

University lab and use University

apparatus in competition with teams from

15 other schools and colleges in

Hertfordshire and Essex. This year’s

competition involved the analysis of

paracetamol by three different techniques:

UV spectroscopy, high performance liquid

chromatography and titration.

The regional final of the ‘Top of the

Bench’ Chemistry Mastermind was

hosted at KEGS in December. In a close

competition, the KEGS team of Shazaib

Shaikh, Tom Mitty, Ryan Siabi and

Matthew Spaul put on a good performance

against Chigwell in the semi-final, which

resulted in the round ending in a dead

heat. Alas, our hopes were dashed as

Chigwell beat us to the buzzer in the tie

breaker question.

Last, but not least our youngest chemists

took part in the Salters’ Festivals of

Chemistry at Queen Mary University,

London. The Year 7 team of Joseph Twigg,

Zachary Harper, Oliver Day and Ethan

Willmer-Anderson were all chosen for

their commitment to the science ‘Fusion

Club’ which takes place during lunchtimes

at school. The festivals take place at

different universities across the country

and provide an exciting opportunity for

young students to work in university labs.

At Queen Mary’s the lab is huge and can

accommodate up to 100 chemists at a time.

After working hard at their experiments in

the morning, students were treated to a

university-style demonstration lecture

which showcased the properties of liquid

nitrogen.

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

David Wood and James

Dixon did especially well

last year, being awarded

‘Roentgenium’ certificates

Alas, our hopes were

dashed as Chigwell beat us

to the buzzer in the tie

breaker question

TheChelmsfordian |

Rampaging Chariots

engineering & science

O n Saturday 16th June, 6

months of hard work

culminated in the annual

Rampaging Chariots

event, held at SELEX Galileo in

Basildon. Two KEGS teams of Year 9

Young Engineers were competing.

With chariots built from boxes full

of wood and confusing looking

wires, their fully remote control

vehicles looked capable of tackling

anything that the competition was

going to throw at them. The two

teams – the first consisting of Rohit

Rajasegaran, Ben Russell, Matt Price

and Wiza Kaluba, and the second of

Joe Wheater, Dan Still, Joe

Buckingham and James Rooke - both

arrived with one man down but

raring to go.

The first event of the day was the

assault course, consisting of the

robots driving over a number of

obstacles. With just 5 minutes to go,

Team 2, named ‘Electronic Lads’ by

leader Dan Still, hit trouble when

the robot wouldn’t drive forward.

However, it just turned out to be the

batteries plugged in the wrong way

round, and they found success in

their first round.

By contrast, Team 1 (or ‘RmB’, as

they had been named) were

suffering from technical difficulties,

and were forced to delay their first

round, and missed several more

trying to get their chariot going

again. Electronic Lads, on the other

hand, were storming through the

competition, winning both the

Sumo and the Assault course

quarter finals. The Sumo

competition was a highlight for the

team, and consisted of the two

robots trying to push each other out

of the ring. With Dan Still

controlling the robot, ‘The Lads’

were a force to be reckoned with.

However, in the Semi Finals, they

underestimated the truth in the

name of team ‘Prepareforascare’,

and were decisively knocked out.

With both teams now out of the

competition, it seemed like it was all

over for KEGS. However, there was

one last chance to take the win: the

football competition. Previous KEGS

teams had been successful in this, so

there was pressure on both teams to

do well. The first round saw them

head to head in the first round, and

with Dan behind the controls, the

odds were stacked against rival team

RmB. However, with RmB putting in

an early first goal, the match turned

aggressive, with some hard knocks

being taken by both sides, but RmB

held onto their lead, and proceeded

to the Semis. Sadly, this was to be

their only win of the day, so both

teams returned with nothing for the

trophy cabinet. Despite this, both

teams were still pleased with their

performance, and the fact that both

robots still functioned well after all

the events is testament to the time

and effort that both teams had put

in. Both teams would like to thank

Miss Bunting, for all of the effort

and hours she has put in to helping

us, as well as all who made the event

at SELEX Galileo happen.

JOSEPH WHEATER

Year 9

above Dan Still, Joe Wheater and Joe Buckingham

above Ben Russell, Matt Price & Rohit Rajasegaran

above Matt Price

45

The fact that both

robots still functioned

well after all the events

is testament to the

time and effort that

both teams had put in

| TheChelmsfordian

Toyota Technology Challenge

engineering & science

I n the Toyota Technology

Challenge, my team found

itself challenged to design and

manufacture a vehicle that

could avoid obstacles placed in

random places on a course, while at

the same time navigating its way

through the course in the fastest

time possible. It would be a tough

task, but we were all raring to go!

We started our bid for victory by

researching actual vehicles which

perform similar roles including the

rather famous/infamous Toyota

Prius (because our project also had

to be environmentally friendly) and

the BAE systems Wildcat which was

designed to perform a similar

function in battle situations. We

then went on to design our car

based on such examples as those

which we had researched, as well as

utilizing innovative solutions such

as using a caster instead of front

wheels for greater chassis

versatility. Everything looked

favourable for the KEGS team as we

prepared to move on to the next

stage of the project: manufacturing.

Having completed the design of our

model, we manufactured it from

balsa wood before we then vacuum

moulded its body, which we would

then paint pink. Rigid testing then

ensued: we tested it on a makeshift

track at KEGS itself, whilst we

altered the complex computer

programming of the Programmable

IC that we used to control our model

to ensure it was at its best for the

challenge ahead, and made a variety

of other physical adjustments to

help improve performance and give

us the best shot at winning the

Toyota Challenge! We were one of

six teams who were selected to

attend the prestigious regional

finals at Duxford, having submitted

our project folder earlier in the year.

Excited but anxious, KEGS prepared

for the long and hard challenge

which would soon ensue against five

other tough teams. On the day itself,

we set our model off on the practice

course, only to discover that our

batteries were flat. This in turn

meant that we had to use up most of

our 5 minutes of practice time in

changing batteries! On our

competitive run, we clipped our

model on the corner of an obstacle

three times, which showed up a

loophole in our programming, and

meant that unfortunately, we could

not finish the course.

Overall however, despite coming in

last place (in the regional final,

which is still a fairly considerable

achievement considering the

competition which were up against)

it was an extremely enjoyable

experience and I would recommend

it to anyone looking to enhance

their engineering and presentation

skills. I think that the complexity

and the attitude we had to this

project really highlights the spirit of

KEGS Young Engineers. I would like

to thank all of my team-mates who

really helped develop a machine,

showing the KEGS spirit of curiosity

and ingenuity, and I would also like

to thank Ms. Bunting for of her help.

ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

above Team

‘Supercharged’ –

year 10 Young

Engineers Ethan

Harradine, Nick

Sale, Sean

Curtin and

Kunal

Namajoshi.

We were one of six

teams who were

selected to attend the

prestigious regional

finals at Duxford

46

TheChelmsfordian |

Engineering Education Scheme

engineering & science

A t the end of October 2011,

the EES scheme was

launched. Our team of

four consisted of Richard

Meadows, Dayann Charles, Ryan

Johnson and Zoe Cram. Aided and

supervised by the school’s

engineering coordinator, Ms

Bunting, and two link engineers

from SELEX Galileo, Craig Holahan

and Edward Malina, we prepared for

a tough challenge ahead.

Our brief and specification were

simple enough – the project was to

build a prototype machine which

could detect improvised explosive

devices (IED). After setting out

possible ideas and researching

further, we narrowed down the

options for the detection methods as

well as how to transport the device.

Having chosen to build a buggy and

designed a chassis, the team arrived

at the workshop at Brighton

university in December, focussing

on the completion of the machine.

Through hard work and

determination, most of the chassis

was completed and the wiring began

at the workshop - this continued

into the new school year. Sensors

were also chosen, integrated and

tested, with a metal detector, a GPS

location system and a mobile phone

signal sensor being added to the

buggy and tested quite successfully

(our other options were also tested

but unfortunately proved to be

ineffectual.)

In the end, with the report collated

and the buggy armed with sensors

and developed, the team went to the

University of Essex for the

Celebration and Assessment Day

(CAD) on the 28th of March. Here,

were given the opportunity to

present the project to a panel of

engineers as well as other schools.

The team would like to thank Ms

Bunting for here continued support

throughout the process and SELEX

Galileo and our two link engineers,

Craig and Ed for their help during

the whole project. We would also

like to thank the school for the

opportunity, which the whole team

has found worthwhile, educational,

challenging and fun!

DAYANN CHARLES

Year 12

The project was to build a

prototype machine which could

detect improvised explosive

devices

The opportunity to

present the project to

a panel of engineers as

well as other schools

47

above The KEGS

EES team with

their prototype

team

| TheChelmsfordian

First LEGO League 2011 Food Factor Challenge

engineering & science

I n the early morning of the 29th

November 2011, a group of

KEGS Young Engineers,

consisting of Years 8s, 9s and

10s were preparing to go to the Ford

Dunton in Basildon. Our task was to

create and program a Lego robot to

travel around a course, and to give a

presentation on an innovative and

unique way to stop food spoiling.

After we had donned our T-Shirts,

complete with logos, we boarded the

coach that would take us to the

research centre.

Once we arrived, we were asked to

hand in our phones, to ensure none

of us were there to take pictures of

Ford's latest technology. We were

led to a large open plan room, where

we could make final tweaks to our

robots. Along with the presentation,

and the robot course, we were also

interviewed by a group of people on

how we had worked as a team, and

by another group on the design of

our robot. Our first stressful

moment was the teamwork

interview. They asked questions on

how well the team kept together

during moments of stress, if there

were any difficulties within the team

and how we dealt with them. This,

we all felt, went well, and it was a

good start to the day.

The next activity we had to do was

the first round of the robot course.

There were three rounds, each

requiring our robot to do specific

things. The final score was based on

the scores from each round. Our

team was feeling fairly confident, as

all the programming had been

completed for this first run. After

last minute micro-tweaks, we were

called up. Our launcher, Kendal

Karaduman, positioned the robot

perfectly, in relation to what we had

programmed the robot to do. We got

the score we expected and a bit

more, putting us in the top slice of

the charts. Then, however, the real

work started in readiness for the

next two rounds. Due to difficulties

with our laptop, USB 2.0 ports and

dodgy batteries, our programming at

Young Engineers Club in school had

been a slow slog, so we had to catch

up and work hard to complete the

second run, programming for the

third run had to be from scratch!

The presentation on how food,

specifically fruit and vegetables, can

avoid spoiling was up next. Our

focus had been an Eco-Dome,

inspired by the Eden Project.

Though we were off to a

disappointing start, with the

projector taking a while to load up,

we quickly pulled it back, with a

good PowerPoint presentation, and

great delivery from everyone. James

Glover answered questions about

cost and materials superbly,

spouting facts off the top of his

head, that we didn't even know he

had researched!

After another great success, it was

time for our second run: we had just

finished it, and it was vaguely

similar to the first one. We got the

score in roughly the same place, and

that kept us in the top places.

Tension was building though, as

other schools and teams started to

climb up the ranks. Just after we had

finished the run and monitored

other rival teams to see their

progress, disaster struck, when we

lost our files. This resulted in a

reboot of the laptop, but even worse

news followed. The laptop would

not turn on! While Mr Leverett

worked on the laptop for a number

of minutes, we were all extremely

frustrated. Unfortunately, it was not

fixed in time for our presentation of

our robot. This left us all

disappointed, as everything had

been going so well up to that point.

It was time for lunch, and, thanks to

the skills of Mr Leverett, our laptop

was up and running again. We were

excited to find that we had gone

through to the quarter finals. We

realised however, that there was no

48

above Year 7

students gaze in

awe upon the

LEGO creations.

This

resulted in

a reboot of

the laptop,

but even

worse news

followed.

The laptop

would not

turn on!

TheChelmsfordian |

engineering & science

time to plan a sophisticated route

around the course. We decided to

create a straight run, with the hope

that it would hit enough things to

get some points. It was

affectionately called Project Ninja

by Kendal-who’s a fan of shurikens.

In the last run, there was everything

to lose, as a disaster could lead to us

getting kicked out of the semi finals.

With our robot lined up, Kendal

launched it, hitting enough items to

make it a score earner. When it hit

the wall, we were given it back for

another run - we were given three

goes in each major run. The same

thing happened again, with another

success. The final run would decide

our positioning in the League.

However, the final run was mis-

launched, and it missed our target.

While it was not the outcome we

were hoping for, we still got a

decent overall score. However,

disappointment struck as other

teams climbed the ranks, knocking

us down. The final blow was when

one of the semi finalists got a point

higher than us. While we had lost

the robot challenge, there was still a

chance we could win one of the

other challenges. We believed we

had a strong chance winning the

presentation on stopping food

spoiling. So, as everyone sat in a

circle, the results were announced.

It came to the presentation and after

a tense wait.....we found we had

won! While James may not admit

this, all of us felt that it was because

of his confident performance in the

presentation and his great skill at

batting back any issues posed by the

judges.

The outcomes of other activities

may not have had the people that

KEGS believed deserved it, but we all

had an extremely enjoyable day.

Thanks to Miss Bunting, and also Mr

Wilson, Mr Leverett and Miss

Walton for coming on the day.

Thanks to the sixth form mentors

for helping us, thanks to every

group for taking part, and thanks to

Ford for hosting us.

Congratulations to everyone who

took part in the First Lego League

this year. Due to an unprecedented

number of entries not every team

reached the regional finals, with

those producing the best team

presentations representing KEGS

Young Engineers at Ford Dunton.

Thanks to the engineering mentors

in Year 10 and the Sixth for helping

manage the teams during this ten

week project and for Mr Barrow for

helping with the selection process.

Many congratulations to:

Team T.N.T. (8H): Raid Rahman,

Rory Taylor, Adnan El Gendi, Jack

Edwards, Benjamin Southern-

Thomas, Jameel Damree, Jake

Furness, Aki Suthakar, Rohan

Bungre, Tim Barnes, who were

awarded the trophy for teamwork

(core values).

The prize for Robot Design was won

by Incognite: Rohan Yadav from 9H

and from 9M Toby Willis, George

Twinn, Laurence Watts and Tom

Mitty.

KEGS won both trophies for the

Food Factor Project presentations –

2nd place trophy going to Food for

Thought, from 9S: Ali Ward,

WeiNan Zhou, Joseph Thorogood,

James Foster and Alex Zarandi

and the winners Infinity from 8S:

Matthew Cockrell, Ethan Conner,

Greg Roffey, Ollie Barnard, Thomas

Ashford, James Glover, Kendal

Karodoman, Ollie Parkes and Jay Ho.

OLIIE PARKES

Year 8

It came to the presentation and

after a tense wait… we found we

had won!

49

| TheChelmsfordian

languages

50

Madame Shearman

I t’s often drilled in to pupils at KEGS

that they have the great benefit of a

very high level of teaching – nearly as

often as being told that they’re some

of the smartest kids in the country. Yet, in

my experience, this has not become a

cliché because it is so accurate –and not

more so than with Madame Shearman. To

pay homage to her fully in mere words

cannot be truly achieved, but I will do my

best to honour a teacher who has aided

KEGS Francophiles for many years.

I was first taught by Madame Shearman in

Year 8, and from then on, she has been a

shaper of my destiny at KEGS. It is very

odd (and not a little amusing) to hark back

to French lessons at a time when getting a

1 in IEGs was the key aim of my world.

Having had a chance to learn French before

KEGS was a little useful, but it was under

her tutelage that it would become one of

my favourite subjects.

I can still vaguely remember going through

the various topics which all French

students will be familiar with, and

rehearsing the topic of schools for my oral.

My own gratitude is particularly strong

because of the help she gave me (along

with three other pupils – Tom Adam, Brian

Chan and Sparsh Pandya) in Years 10 and

11: not only did she succeed in getting us

through GCSE a year early with at least A-

Grades, but she also helped immensely

with our success in the DELF qualifications

afterwards. Of course, it is not just me who

has had the privilege of her company, and I

can recall her being deferentially referred

to esteemed linguists such as Maxwell

Spence – figures who were role models

when I joined the school looked up to her

then, just as my peers and I look up to her

now.

Throughout my time at KEGS and before I

arrived, I know that Madame Shearman has

been a stalwart of the French Department.

With a fantastically wry sense of humour, a

vast repository of knowledge and real care

and concern for her students, she has been

an excellent guide for innumerable KEGS

students. Having been exceedingly lucky

and had her at A-Level where class sizes

are smaller, she has produced an

atmosphere which is more similar to a

plain, open chat rather than any rigid,

inflexible structure: this, undoubtedly, has

worked wonders for our spoken French in

particular.

Even at KEGS, where teachers always

exceed being pure vessels for learning, I

know that Madame Shearman is a

particular paragon of good humour,

excellent knowledge and the key,

compassionate desire to help students who

really want to learn French to get a proper

grip of the tongue. I know that she is both

extremely well-respected and very well-

liked by the French Department as well as

her students.

At first I thought I should have some

sombre last words for this article – but I

think that would not give the right air: for

this is a celebration of an excellent

teacher. On behalf of the students and staff

of KEGS, and particular the Languages

Department and their pupils, I would like

to say a massive thank you to Madame

Shearman. Perhaps it’s not Zola or

Maupaussant who would be so apt, but

Hindu scriptures which refer to Gurus as

sacred and worthy of reverence – or

perhaps Henry Brooks Adams: "Un

professeur influence l'éternité: il ne peut

jamais dire où son influence s'arrête".

Certainly, Madame Shearman is that kind

of teacher.

SIDDHARTH

VENKATARAMAKRISHNAN

Year 13

languages

51

Foreign Language Leaders

O n Wednesday 13th June 2012,

three students from KEGS

accompanied by Madame Selaj

went to Lawford Mead Junior

School to teach a group of 31 Year 4 and 5

students French. Whilst learning a

language in the class is one thing, such an

experience of teaching can prove

immeasurably useful in not only learning

how the language worked, but also

discovering the best way to teach it (such a

skill is transferable to many other

disciplines.)

The three KEGS boys, Tom Woollatt,

Dominic Short and Paul McGhee have been

working towards the Foreign Language

Leader Award (FLLA) since September with

Madame Midroit and Mr Torrie, learning

how to lead teaching sessions with

younger learners. This preparation

includes having to prepare and deliver

lessons with groups of beginners during

the course. They were able to take these

experiences and skills and put them to use

for the first time at Lawford Mead, and

they led a really successful session which

both they and more importantly the

Lawford Mead youngsters enjoyed

enormously. Indeed, the Lawford Mead

youngsters also felt they learnt a lot from

these sessions, proving the utility of such a

programme. From now on a different group

of Language Leaders from both Year 12

and Year 10 will offer different languages

to the same group each Wednesday. This

thus provides a two-way benefit: on the

one hand, KEGS students pick up teaching

skills and further their own grasp of the

language, whilst at the same time helping

to improve the multilingual capacity at

Lawford Mead Primary School. At a time

when the world is increasingly bilingual or

multilingual, the ability to converse in a

variety of tongues is no longer just a luxury

– it is rapidly becoming a necessity. At

KEGS, where languages have played a key

part in the syllabus for many years, the

ability to give something back into the

local community using these talents is

especially symbolic.

“I was very pleased to see be able to see

our students teaching French to primary

pupils. They were actually quite nervous

before hand but as soon as they realised

how much students enjoyed the activities

and how keen they were to follow their

instructions, they were confident and

relaxed. The fact that they asked if they

could teach the same class again as soon as

they walked out is a proof that they were

delighted with the experience.”

Mrs Selaj

LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

French Exchange

TheChelmsfordian |

| TheChelmsfordian

languages

Year 7 French Trip to Nausicaa

52

F riday 27th April would see a

very early start for Year 7

French students: the much-

awaited Nausicaa trip was

finally upon us! Despite our earnest

protestations, 7H and 7M all had to

be awake and at school by 4:45! This

was because we were travelling on a

coach which left at 5 o’clock –

fortunately, no-one was late.

Although we were all quite tired,

were given a booklet during the

journey which needed to be filled in

by the end of the day. Arriving at the

EuroTunnel, it would take us just

half an hour before we finally

arrived in France, extremely excited

for the trip ahead of us.

The first thing we did was to take a

stroll along the promenade to a café

in Wimereux for a hot chocolate or a

Coke, putting our French skills to

the test. Next, we did a bit more

walking, before we eventually

reached the outdoor market, a novel

experience for many of us. There

were a number of baguettes to buy

as well as other bread products such

as pains au chocolat and croissants.

In addition, we also had the

opportunity to bring home a variety

of reminders from your travels.

These included various pocket-sized

Eiffel Towers or a key ring of some

assortment. After doing even more

walking (!) and taking a number of

photos to stick into our booklets

later on, we had our picnic on the

field next to the aquarium.

The aquarium itself was brilliant,

and filled with all sorts of sea life.

Amongst the nautical wonders we

witnessed were sharks, jellyfish, sea

lions, sea horses as well as plenty of

other fish in all their sub-marine

splendour. We also managed to

learn a lot of French because of

having to speak it in the market

when we wanted to buy something

and also in the shop which we were

allowed to visit in the aquarium. We

also managed to learn some

interesting facts about the sea-

animals which we were able to put

in the booklets we had been given.

Next, we went on to the

hypermarket, which is basically

twice as big as a regular

supermarket. If you wanted to buy

something, then this hypermarket

was the place to look! They had

everything there from chocolate

biscuits to iPads 3, to shovel and

spades to cricket sets!

It was a very enjoyable trip; we

learnt a lot and there were many

times to have fun. We strongly

recommend Nausicaa to any future

students studying French, and

would like to thank all the teachers

who helped out.

DAN BACON & CALLUM

WHITTLE

Year 7 Amongst the nautical wonders we

witnessed were sharks, jellyfish,

sea lions, sea horses

above Year 7

Students enjoy

a drink in a

French café

near Nausicaa

TheChelmsfordian |

languages

53

Alsace 2011

I f you ask a KEGS student what

they remember about Year 8,

most of them will say Alsace.

So, on Sunday 16th October,

our year set out on their trip with

very high levels of anticipation.

Although we were dragged out of

our beds at 3:30 am for a not

inconsiderable14-hour journey to

Alsace (which is on the border of

France and Germany,) we were all

very excited about what would

follow. We would be staying at the

Hotel Rebstock in Rust, Germany,

which was just 10 minutes from

Alsace itself. Having finally arrived

at roughly 7:30 pm German time, we

ate a good dinner and got ourselves

a well deserved sleep.

On the first day, we immediately got

into the action. Visiting the

medieval castle Chateau de Haut-

Koenigsbourg was a particularly

impressive moment: The first thing

that shocked us was that we were

700m above sea level, lying above

the cloud canopy (giving us a pretty

spectacular view!) The sheer size of

the castle itself was also very

impressive, and gave us a great

opportunity to explore. We then

went on to visit a Bird Show in

Kintzheim. Even though it was all

in French, we still enjoyed the visual

experience and the skill of both the

trainers and the birds. The last

event of that day was the journey

over to Riquewihr, a historical

French village famous both for its

wine and its crepes. This was where

we first put our linguistic skills to

the test as we interviewed the locals

about the village, which proved to

be an exciting and useful experience

for our grasp of the language. In the

evenings, we started to work on our

group projects, in the hope of

winning the competition at the end

of the trip. Half of each group spoke

French and the rest spoke German,

which meant we could write about

our visits in both languages.

During the week we also visited a

variety of other sites of interest.

These included Baden-Baden, the

famous German spa town where we

shopped for souvenirs; the Maginot

Line Museum, where we learnt

about the WWII structure which was

supposed to have deterred the

Germans from advancing into

France and Schauinsland Mine and

Cable Car, where we ventured into a

real mine to see just how the miners

used to work. Afterwards, we had a

snowy trek to the Schauinsland

cable car for an amazing view of the

mountainside, and visited Freiburg,

another German town, where we

explored a German shopping centre

On Thursday we took a 5 minute

walk to the amazing Europa Park,

which is the biggest theme park in

Europe. Here, we had the chance to

go on at least 6 roller coasters – one

of them was called ‘Blue Fire’ which

measured your bpm, and if you

reached over 200 bpm, you won a

prize! We also got to see a scary 4D

movie called ‘Haunted House’,

which had some great special

effects. The theme park was most

people’s favourite day (including

some of the teachers!).

On Friday, we drove back to England

and watched some great movies on

the coach. Finally, we arrived back

at KEGS at 9:30 pm, exhausted, but

full of great memories. We would

like to thank all the teachers for the

effort they put into this trip, which

was a great success!

CHRIS JENNINGS & ROBERT

CORNWALL

Year 8

above Year 8

students survey

residents of

Alsace

We were

700m above

sea level, lying

above the

cloud canopy

giving us a

pretty

spectacular

view!

| TheChelmsfordian

KEGS Geographers Worldly Wise. Well Almost...

geography & geology

O n Thursday 23rd February

6 KEGS students, hand-

picked from Y8 to Y10 for

their vast knowledge of

all things Geography, and Dr Hitch

ventured to New Hall School to

challenge 12 other teams for the

annual Geographical Association

Worldwise Quiz regional title.

The boys were unsettled, something

was just not right. The signs were

not looking good and both teams’

chances were dealt a severe blow by

a very slow start. Was it jet lag or

fatigue following a long hard day at

KEGS or was something in their

preparation? Get over it boys the

questions are coming thick and fast

and you have a reputation to

maintain. It took the first half of the

quiz for the KEGS A team (Ethan

Harradine, WeiNan Zhou and

Lawrance Watts) to settle to the

geography and at half time they still

preferred to focus on a somewhat

pedantic approach to the quiz rather

than the geography. As a result the

A team trailed well behind the KEGS

B team (William Tilbrook, James

Glover and Ben Williams) who

themselves were placed

uncomfortably back in fourth place.

Fortified by an excellent evening

meal and some last minute swotting

up around the dinner table the

second half saw a resurgence of the

KEGS A team with their map reading

skills coming to the fore.

Despite continuing to close in on

the leaders throughout the second

half the geography of sport

round proved the final nail in the

KEGS coffins as women’s tennis,

men’s tennis, obscure tennis

tournaments and even more obscure

tennis venues were really not our

bag. Despite a great final round it

was all unfortunately just too little,

too late and despite finishing on 77

and overtaking KEGS B, just one

point behind on 76, KEGS A team

finished in third place with

Brentwood A (83 points) and

Brentwood B (80) points just

creeping ahead. A valiant effort by

all 6 boys but no national final for

KEGS this year. Still there is always

next year so swot up on your tennis

boys !

GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT

above KEGS Worldwise Quiz Team B

above KEGS Worldwise Quiz Team A

Was it jet lag or fatigue

following a long hard

day at KEGS?

They still preferred

to focus on a

somewhat pedantic

approach to the

quiz rather than the

geography

Resurgence of the

KEGS A team with their

map reading skills

coming to the fore

54

TheChelmsfordian |

National Schools A-Level Geology Challenge

geography & geology

G eorge Cox, Matthew

Newton, Phillip

Hammerson and Ethan

Harradine took part in

the final of the National Schools A

level Geology Challenge at the

Geological Society in

Piccadilly, London. With little

preparation, the KEGS team was

pitted against the might of the

regional winners from the South

West of England, the West Country

and South Wales.

Following last minute cramming of

geological knowledge in Cafe Nero

down the road, KEGS was first to

present. This went down well, in fact

very well; until the marks were

announced when we were placed in

a rather disappointing last. Maybe

over running the allocated 5

minutes by another 9 further

minutes was the problem. It would

require a seismic shift if KEGS were

to retrieve this one. The team must

rise (is that eustatically or

isostatically, George?) to the

challenge. Just in case things

continued like the first round, Dr

Hitch photographed the trophy as

it was unlikely on our current

performance we would ever see it

again and Photoshop is a wonderful

thing, isn't it? The quiz round saw

KEGS on 51 move

effortlessly from last to 3rd, trailing

the leaders on 59 and 61 by a

massive 10 points. Undaunted and

thrusting the team forward, George

made a dash for glory and we saw

the leading teams plunge into

despair and fold in front of our very

eyes as George was first to nearly

flawlessly answer question after

question. "Seismicity!" Yes,

"Aquifer!" Yes, "Footwall"

Yes, "Gneiss" Nooooooo !! "Schist!".

“It’s going to be a close one”

remarked Ethan while the final

marks were counted. He was right -

KEGS were not fourth, not third, but

had they done enough? After great

suspense the result was announced

and by just two points KEGS became

2012 National A Level Geology

Challenge runners up -as their

runners-up prize the team members

have all been made honorary

Candidate Fellows of the Geological

Society for 2012-2013.

“It’s not about the winning it’s

about the taking part, sir”.

“Yeah, right” said Dr. Hitch and

“How did you get Moh’s scale of

hardness wrong? We revised that in

Cafe Nero! And George, it was

isostatic! And what happened to the

poster round?"

Here's to next year and less last

minute cramming!

GEOLOGY DEPARTMENT

"Seismicity!" Yes,

"Aquifer!" Yes,

"Footwall" Yes,

"Gneiss" Nooooooo !!

"Schist!".

above William

Smith looks on

stony-faced as

the KEGS

Geology team

finish National

Challenge

Runners-up

55

| TheChelmsfordian

geography & geology

I f you ask a geography teacher

about A Level Geography,

they’re bound to whip out a

laptop and deliver an expertly

prepared and rehearsed PowerPoint

about how much better Geography

is than everything else when it

comes to exam results. But we

reckon that if you base your view on

geography on these statistics alone,

you’ve missed the point. Forget the

stats... It’s all about the field trips.

Supposedly, the point of the trip to

Preston Montford was to collect

data on human and physical

geography, analysing Birmingham’s

inner city, Shrewsbury’s flood

defences, river processes and the

rural–urban continuum.

Fascinating. More important to

most were the games of poker, Jenga

and Twister. Take my word for it,

Twister and Jenga combined (fondly

known as “Twenga”) is intense. And

not irresponsible in the slightest...

In between the entertainment, we

did some work, honest... just look at

the geography blog,

(geographykegs.blogspot.com). For

example, an important discovery

made in Birmingham on day one

was that, contrary to popular belief,

not all the shops are in the CBD.

Turns out the CBD Rock Anthem has

fed us false information... Tim

Lornie declined to comment.

Despite this shocking revelation

(one of a number which were to

come during the trip), the day in

Birmingham was spent observing

and analysing urban regeneration,

particularly of the shopping centre,

The Bull Ring and the heart of

Birmingham’s inner city.

As the week went on, the weather

steadily got worse and then better

by Friday. On the day when we were

looking at river processes, it rained.

And it rained. And it rained. As it

turns out, standing ankle deep in a

river, wiping moss from a grimy

pebble so you can measure its

longest axis whilst attempting to

cover your already soggy worksheet

from the relentless rainfall is

actually hilarious fun, and almost as

difficult as Twister–Jenga...

We can’t ignore the fact, though,

that this was actually a field trip.

This obviously meant that we had to

at some point go to a field. So we

went to some rural villages to

observe the rural-urban continuum,

where we were expected to complete

land use maps and questionnaires. A

slight flaw in this plan is that it is

impossible to carry out

questionnaires in a place where

there are more sheep than people.

The climax of the trip was always

going to be the quiz on the last

night – referred to by Mrs Revell as

“Dr Hitch’s Extravaganza”. The Four

Lions (Hassan, Khayam, Hamza and

a rather out of place Chloe) were the

ultimate victors, owing to their

fountain of knowledge on such vital

subjects as the number of cereals

available for breakfast at the Field

Study Centre, and the current

Fulham score. (Fulham won 4 – 1,

much to the delight of the

Geography department). Worryingly

though, by far the lowest scoring

round for every team was the

Geography round, where a

maximum of half marks was

achieved.

All in all, the Geography trip was

pretty great...this article is really a

bit misleading...we actually did do a

heck of a lot of work, but I think it’s

fair to say we had a lot of fun too. So

we’d like to say thank you to Dr

Hitch and Mrs Revell for taking us,

enduring our insanity, and making it

brilliant trip.

MATTHEW JONES & TIM

LORNIE

Year 12

above Because we are geographers, and because we have

nothing better to do with our time, we couldn’t miss the

opportunity for a pie chart. So here it is…. The amazing pie chart

of how we spent our time on the trip.

It’s an adventure, not an ordeal

Referred

to by Mrs

Revell as

“Dr Hitch’s

Extrava-

ganza”

56

TheChelmsfordian |

geography & geology

O n the 29th February, six

Year 13 and four Year 12

students along with Dr.

Hitch and Mrs Sharp set

out for four days of geological

fieldwork in the Peak District. After

about five hours and a stop off at

McDonalds, we arrived at our first

site - Mam Tor. The work started off

simply enough, making notes on the

local geology and history of the

"shivering mountain," so named due

to its instability and frequent

landslides. We then ascended the

mountain, with Dr. Hitch pointing

out features such as the turbidite

flow deposits and erosional surfaces.

Then the work actually began as we

had to complete a number of field

sketches of the area and a

sedimentary log, listing all the rock

sequences and structures making up

Mam Tor.

Our next stop was Windy Knoll,

where we found a number of fossils,

including brachiopods, crinoids and

corals. Once we had finished there

we headed back to the minibus

along Treak Cliff, which would have

been the descent into a tropical reef

300 million years ago. We then

headed to Ravenstor youth hostel,

which, like every good geology or

geography trip, meant more work.

Thankfully we all got a little

distracted with playing cards and

watching England's 3-2 defeat to

Holland.

The following morning we explored

the local geology around the hostel.

We then surveyed the area, coming

across various interesting structures

such as a lava flow and pillow lavas.

We then spent the following 30

minutes on a wall in the car park

talking and eating.

At Apes Tor, a large series of folds in

the limestone beds of Ecton Hill, we

drew several sketches and measured

the dips and strikes of all the folds.

We then finally completed another

sedimentary log and found some

fossilised scree before going to Ilam

youth hostel - by far the nicest

hostel any of us had ever visited (a

converted Victorian Manor House) -

but again according to tradition we

had to spend all evening working, in

the highly flammable cellar, which

rather worryingly smelt of petrol.

When it came to dinner we were a

little disappointed to find that the

primary school children sharing the

hostel had eaten all the sausages.

However, we got our own back at

breakfast when Jon went into the

kitchen with a plastic bag

demanding all the hash browns!

This kept us fuelled for the rest of

the day and the journey to Stoke,

where we studied the Willfield and

Hulme Quarries formed at the

Permian-Triassic boundary, which

we later had to produce a project on.

The two quarries contained red

sandstone, coloured by hematite

cement. We carried out the final sets

of dips and strikes, this time for

beds, joints, folds and faults,

produced a load more field sketches

and measured the three axes,

composition and roundness of a

number of rock samples (something

which will be very familiar to all the

geographers.) When we had finally

finished all the work we got on the

minibus for the final time to head

back to school. This is when we were

told by Dr. Hitch we had collected

the best set of results ever, in both

quantity and quality, not realising

that was because he was the one

who had done it all! To finish we all

had a great few days out in the field

and the four of us in Year 12 will be

looking forward to our trip to Wales

next year, with any new students

who chose to be geologists.

PHILLIP HAMMERSON

Year 12

Geology Trip to the Peak District

above

The group at

Mam Tor

Landslip

Jon went

into the

kitchen

with a

plastic bag

demanding

all the hash

browns!

57

| TheChelmsfordian

Walton-on-the-Naze Trip

geography & geology

58

A s all Geography students

know, you can only learn

so much about the

processes which shape

our world (both physical and

human) from the classroom. At

KEGS, where teachers pride

themselves on giving an in-depth,

interesting and fun understanding

of how the world works, this means

that we often get the chance to carry

out fieldwork. This allows us to get a

real understanding of how things

work - hence, the whole of Year 7

found itself on a field trip to Walton

-on-the-Naze: this would give us

the opportunity to learn about the

coast and the processes which shape

it.

At Walton, there were a multitude

of techniques which we used to

further our understanding of how

coastal processes change the world

around us. We learnt how cliffs were

eroded and how this affects the

humans living on the coast, who

often face losing their homes in the

inevitable succumbing to the

inexorable sea. We also saw the

powerful aftermath of cliff slumping

and were given the chance to get

down to some real field work. For

example, we measured just how long

it would take for the Naze Tower to

be eroded into the sea – an

estimation which obviously has real

world significance for many

inhabitants who live along the

coast. We worked out that it would

take approximately just 29 years,

using the fact that the unprotected

cliffs at Walton-on-the-Naze are

being eroded at 3m per year,

pushing further and further inland

and threatening more and more

human habitation. Whilst new

defences may halt this erosion for a

while, the future for the Naze Tower

still seems uncertain at best.

After our journey for 10 minutes

along the cliff top (which proved to

be more steep uphill going that we

expected,) most of us were wheezing

with exhaustion. Dr Hitch thus

decided to let us have a quick break

to have a look for fossils around the

area. These included a variety of

shark teeth, some pyritised wood

and turtle poo. We then decided to

walk back along the beach, as we

assessed just how the various

coastal defences have changed over

time as we approached the town

itself. We stopped there for lunch

(despite the considerable cold and

the wet,) before we filled out a

questionnaire about the Walton-on-

the-Naze coastline (and how it is

protected) along the way back. I

found the day exceedingly

interesting and enjoyable and I even

thought I learnt quite a bit! Thanks

must go to my fellow students and

all the Geography teachers involved.

EVAN REX

Year 7

above The

Year 7’s

observe the

sea defences

at Walton.

We also

saw the

powerful

aftermath

of cliff

slumping

TheChelmsfordian |

english & philosophy

Look What Des-cartes Dragged In

S ummer, 2011: the media

screamed of revolution as

the London riots were in

full swing - but the real

revolution was far, far closer to

home (well, school.) This year would

see the Phoenix-like rebirth of the

KEGS Philosophy Society, one of

this honourable and gentlemanlike

house’s most worthy and

intellectual societies. Though many

younger students will not remember

the Philosophy Society from its last

run, it was a once-prosperous

institution. After an unfortunate

lack of interest, it had lain dormant

for a few years – until enthusiastic

young philosophers Andy Davies

and Kyle Johnson got involved, that

is. Together with KEGS philosophy

masterminds Ms Turtle and Mr

Johnson, they started making plans

to get Philosophy at the forefront of

extracurricular life once more,

putting it alongside the resurgent

History and Politics Association and

the strong Debating Society. It

would be on a fateful November 11th

that the new-look Philosophy

Society met for the first time. The

discussion? The meaty and not

entirely simple question of ‘Is Time

Travel Possible?’ Needless to say,

the first debate proved to be a huge

success, with the room full to the

brim with students varying from

seasoned A-level philosophy

veterans seeking heated debate to

inquisitive middle-school students

interested to learn more about the

issue. Even the teachers waded in;

throwing hefty philosophical right

hooks into the meta-ethical melee,

they showed just how controversial

even purely hypothetical issues can

prove to be. Using a more fluid form

than traditional debating, the

various aspects of the problem were

quickly teased out as the arguments

and counter-arguments flew thick

and fast. By the end of lunch that

day, even if there was no consensus

on Time Travel, all involved felt that

they had been a part of something

quite profound.

After getting off to such a flying

start, the slightly overwhelmed but

ever enthusiastic philosophical

whippersnappers Andy and Kyle

knew that they would face a fairly

substantial task to sustain such high

levels of success. But not for a

moment did they think ‘we Kant do

it’. Working hard to ensure such

strong debates would continue had

its own guerdon, and the Society

flourished in the coming weeks and

months. All manner of ethical topics

would follow in that time, such as

‘What is the value of family?’, ‘Is

infanticide ever morally

acceptable?’ and ‘Is it ever morally

acceptable to murder one person in

order to save another?’ as well as

other more traditional philosophical

questions, for example ‘Is there real

value in the arts?’ and ‘To what

extent can liberty and equality

coexist?’. However, this year has

just been the beginning of what will

hopefully be a long standing

tradition at KEGS, re-launching

what was among the flagship

societies of the school. Andy and

Kyle, who are quickly proving

themselves to be KEGS’ answer to

Plato and Socrates, have big plans

for the society in the upcoming

academic year. It may be that the

world has stumbled upon the new

Philosopher-Kings!

ANDY DAVIES

Year 12

Even if there was no

consensus on Time

Travel, all involved felt

that they had been a

part of something

quite profound

59

above Marty

McFly and Jean

Claude Van-

Damme might

have had a

thing or two to

say about the

debate…

| TheChelmsfordian

Philosophy Trip

P hilosophy, as Open Evenings

demonstrate, is not a subject

which is well understood. “What

is Philosophy?” is the most

common question there, after all, and even

having completed the course, I feel I am

but a ship on a dark sea without any shores

or lighthouses to guide me. But the

greatest mystery for our year (even greater

than why we have consciousness, or

whether anyone listens to John Searle)

would be the long promised and much-

awaited Philosophy Trip to Cambridge.

Providing a change of scenery which not

even the Outdoor Classroom could boast,

Year 13 Philosophers were given a rare

opportunity to learn in a city which has

helped shaped modern thought, with

alumni of the University including men

such as Moore and Russell.

Based in Trinity Hall, the trip gave

students the chance to look over the

various facts we had learnt this year with

novel teaching methods (many of which

would be evident on the days before the

exams where they came into their own as

revision aids.) Centred on helping us to

understand often difficult topics, it was

interspersed with nearly open frivolity as

Cambridge held host to a grand contest –

divided up into groups, we were tasked

with discovering moral issues in the real

world, Mr. Johnson’s old room and various

philosophical texts throughout the city in

a thrilling race which saw our group meet

Rory McGrath along the way.

Provided with individual rooms, meals in

the dining hall and all the comforts we

would need, you would struggle to find any

student who was disappointed with the

trip, whether we were tackling the grittiest

problems of the mind and Hume’s work; or

if we were putting our cartographical and

photographical skills to the test against

the clock and each other as we strove to

win the competition.

All in all? A fantastic trip which every

student enjoyed and which they

undoubtedly were thankful for in the run

up for the exam in particular, and a highly

recommended experience. Though I Kant

say more about the specifics of our stay, I

am sure you will find it just Parfit!

SIDDHARTH

VENKATARAMAKRISHNAN

Year 13

english & philosophy

Stratford-upon-Avon Trip

W illiam Shakespeare’s

Macbeth and Harold Pinter’s

The Homecoming are not

perhaps plays which

ordinarily might go together, but on the

Year 13 English trip to Stratford-upon-

Avon last September, KEGS English and

Drama students were given the chance to

experience two very different theatrical

styles, and the resulting discussion, with

Mr Russell heatedly defending Pinter, was

one of the more memorable parts of the

trip. The RSC production of Shakespeare’s

Scottish Play, directed by Michael Boyd,

and with Jonathan Slinger as the “bloody

butcher”, threw a new light on the play,

casting children as witches, and removing

the famous “hubble bubble, toil and

trouble” dialogue. The set was a ruined

Gothic church for the first act, and a

sterile, whitewashed space in the second –

symbolising perhaps the transition to a

more personal, claustrophobic

atmosphere. In the intimate surroundings

of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, features

such as the pyrotechnics of the Porter were

delivered with startling dramatic effect. A

talk followed on the production history

and directorial objectives – a useful

revision session for the English students

studying Macbeth.

Also on the trip’s itinerary were visits to St

Mary’s Church, the final resting place of

the Bard, and Shakespeare’s house, where

as well as having the bizarre experience of

seeing the desk where perhaps some of the

finest literature in the English language

was written, we received a demonstration

of the glove-making techniques which

Shakespeare himself might have learned

from his father. In the free time we had in

Stratford, some of us headed out to Anne

Hathaway’s Cottage, or raided the local

bookshops for critical gems such as the

Dorling Kindersley Shakespeare

Encyclopaedia – a surprisingly useful

resource! When we returned home the

following day, having amassed more

Shakespearean puns than we would ever

have thought possible, both English and

Drama students had gained a valuable

insight into Macbeth and The Homecoming,

and were loaded with ideas about staging

and the importance of directorial

interpretation.

DAVID TREMAIN

Year 13

60

TheChelmsfordian |

english & philosophy

KEGS Creative Genius

The Girl with the Pearl Earring

A half smile plays around her mouth

As she glances back, eyes searching

Veiled expressions hiding the heart

Lips part, but now words fill the empty space

Only a breath floats on the air

As she sits in silence

As cold light bathes her face

Luminescent pearls radiate from the darkness

Minutes fade into brush strokes

Oil on canvas sits along, thinking

As the girl waits for the final touch of paint

Freedom beckons

Yet still she sits

Waiting

PATRICK CALVER

Old Chelmsfordian

The Book of Life

When I read a book I can be the author,

Writing against his will

Or someone in a fantasy,

Striving for love

When I read a book I could become a beast,

Tearing evil demons to miniscule things

Who can’t escape its future

Or even a skeleton, saving the world

When I read a book I can be on a desert

Far far away

With no source of communication

Starving in desperation to be a success

When I read a book I can be a detective

And notice every single tiny detail

Or I could be searching for villains

Or being someone with great presence

Trying to figure out the world inside me

When I read a book I can open up my soul

And the book speaks to me

And the book makes me feel like a character in the book

JOVETT DE CORDOVA-HARRIS

Year 8 Student

Of a Wanderer to the Sky

“So, are you there?”

He said to the sky,

No: rather, whispered

And then he yelled “Why

Won’t you answer me,

If you’re hearing me cry?”

Then as the frustration

Grew strong in his brain,

With rage, sadness, anger, confusion, and more,

Which he could not contain,

The man said quite softly,

“Why should I matter?”,

As down his face slid a torrent of salty rain.

He looked on the valley;

It lay there in mist,

The snow-white stream simply sitting there, still,

And the majestic mountainsides kissed

By a light wind so fresh, so calm,

And a dreamy coating of bliss,

He stood there.

He looked up, then down;

Clenched his fist.

After a while he looked up once more,

His anger abated,

But sad, so sad to his core,

No longer frustrated,

But sad, so sad to his core,

His feelings placated,

But sad, so sad, so sad to his core.

He looked on his past-

There, he found moments of pain,

He sought for an answer as to why-

But only in vain.

“Am I too bad?” He asked,

“Have I wronged you too much?

Or will my plea for forgiveness, love, acceptance

Touch your ancient heart?

Do you care about me?

This time, have I wronged you too much?

Is there anything I can do,

Your ancient, wise and powerful heart to touch?”

ANONYMOUS

61

| TheChelmsfordian

Ski Trip to Austria

T he trip started with the

thought of Mr Green’s

words “do not be late”

still fresh in our

memories. After braving the early

morning tiredness and minus 13°C,

we arrived at the school, only to find

that Mr Green’s taxi had broken

down and that he was late himself!

Finally, we all boarded the coach,

and left for a week in the Austrian

Alps - we only lost iPods, cards and

a rucksack on the way to the hotel!

But, after a long, three hour coach

journey, a two hour flight, and the

early morning start had taken its

toll, we all went to sleep soon after

reaching the hotel.

The morning brought a magnificent

view from the hotel window, looking

out onto picturesque mountains. We

were excited to think that we would

all soon be skiing on such huge

mountains, and with the recent

large snowfall, the conditions

looked great.

After several hours of skiing, we

finished for the day at 3:30pm and

traipsed back to the hotel. We sat

down for dinner in anticipation of

what we were going to have today.

However, the soup tasted exactly

the same as yesterday, and the main

course again involved some sort of

pasta - good for the carbs, but not

great for the meat eaters among us.

The dinner was swiftly followed by a

quiz night organised by some of the

year 13s. After all the questions,

Richard counted all the scores and

Rory Houlding’s team was

announced winners, and with shouts

of “FIX” ringing round the corridors,

we went up to bed.

We woke on Monday ready for

another day on the slopes, hopefully

able to venture onto some more

interesting ones. When we reached

the meeting point, we were

pleasantly surprised that we had

another instructor for the next day.

The first thing she did was take us

right up to the top of the mountain

via the chair lift - we had already

ventured into new territory!

Secondly, the instructor led us down

a small slope opening out onto large

slopes and giving us great views

across the valley - the week for our

group had just started!

The skiing over the week got a lot

more interesting with even a little

bit of off-piste in the end, leaving us

having to take half an hour to find

Mr Davies’ ski when he fell over in

the deep snow!

However, before the week was up,

there were obviously awards to be

given out over dinner on the last day

- the best skier from the beginner

group was Ed Dixon, with Mark

Freeman getting the most improved

award. The intermediate group gave

the most improved award to Alex

Corsham, and the best skier was

James McCallum. The expert group

had the most improved skier as

Richard Packham, and the best skier

was Robert Hooper. Then, the best

awards came - they were the best

lookalike: Alfie Sansom and mini-

Alf; and best singer went to Mr

Perrotton for his renditions on the

ski lifts.

Then, after an active and extremely

enjoyable week, we were up at

5:30am, ready for the long day

travelling back to the UK and to plan

for next year’s trip. Overall, it was a

greatly enjoyable week, and I would

thoroughly recommend it to all. Our

thanks go to Mr ‘Tiger Apollo’

Green’, Leslie, Mr ‘Chamone’

Perrotton and Mr ‘Eddie the Eagle’

Davies.

EDWARD ABBOTT

Year 9

above

Some of the

ski group in

the Austrian

Alps

sport

A

magnificent

view from

the hotel

window,

looking out

onto

picturesque

mountains

62

TheChelmsfordian |

SSCO and Link Programme

E ach year, the SSCO runs a

number of events, and

2011-2012 has been no

different. The SSCO

outreach work and link programme

continues to be a vibrant one which

offers a lot to the local community.

The three major events run by the

SSCO team this year have been

Cross Country, Tag Rugby and Quick

Cricket.

The academic year started with 12

CSLA students running an Inter

School Primary cross-country event

up at Melbourne on a rainy

afternoon! Despite the weather, this

proved to be a very successful and

enjoyable event involving over 200

Year 5 and 6 junior school pupils.

The cross country was followed by

the regional primary school tag

rugby in December, where twelve

primary schools battled it out to win

the mid Essex tag rugby

championship title and qualify for a

county place. It was a tough

competition, but one which all of

the competitors thoroughly enjoyed.

In the summer term the Bedford

fields played host to the Mid Essex

quick cricket finals. Fifteen Year 10

students from KEGS umpired a

number of games and gave specialist

coaching to different players

throughout the day, returning some

of the knowledge they had gained at

the school back into the community.

Throughout the year, students of all

ages have had the opportunities to

lead, coach and organise numerous

sporting events.

These have included a highly

successful Health Week at the

Cathedral School, which saw KEGS

students contributing a lot to school

life there; a basketball clinic at

Cathedral Superstars (Mini

Olympics) for a number of link

school Year 2 students which proved

exceedingly popular; a plethora of

Gifted and Talented days at

Melbourne for Year 6 students;

various charity events which have

involved a number of Kings Roads

Students using the fitness suite as

part of a health week initiative and a

Key Stage 2 football tournament

hosted on West fields playing fields.

Staff as well as students have been

heavily involved with helping out in

the community. Numerous PE

Teachers have taken part in a series

of inset sessions in local primary

schools throughout the area.

A link has also been established

between our feeder primary school

and the KEGS CSLA students,

further strengthening KEGS’ roots

in the local area.

It is worth noting that a number of

students have been volunteering to

help out in primary schools during

their free time. They have coached

particular sporting areas, an

initiative which has been welcomed

by our local primary school head

teachers and has allowed them to

offer greater extra-curricular

opportunities for their students.

A number of CPD opportunities

have also arisen through the

partnership within KEGS. These

include the opportunity for an

external volleyball coach to lead

lunchtime sessions; a lifeguarding

swimming course for the PE Staff at

KEGS, allowing them to gain further

proficiencies; a course to achieve

Level 1 basketball/ rugby refereeing

for both students and staff; a very

well-received Olympic Wave

swimming event for Year 7 students;

a highly popular Junior Fencing Club

which is going from strength to

strength; the option of cricket

coaching for Lower School Students,

as well as tennis coaching for Key

Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 students

and finally, a variety of Gifted and

Talented PE days for Year 7 and 8

students.

The SSCO and link programmes are

very worthwhile causes, offering

advantages to both participants and

to the communities and schools

which they serve. We hope that

more people will take it up next year

to ensure that it continues to have

such a high level of success.

P.E. DEPARTMENT

sport

63

Students of

all ages have

had the

opportunities

to lead,

coach and

organise

above

Some of the

ski group in

the Austrian

Alps

| TheChelmsfordian

CESSSA District Athletics Championship

sport

K EGS athletes produced some

fine individual and team

performances throughout an

exciting day of athletics at

Melbourne Stadium to finish 3rd in the

overall competition, a well-deserved and

hard fought for place.

James Rooke got KEGS off to a superb

start, winning the Year 8 800m early in the

morning session. In the Year 7

competition KEGS was placed third overall,

with Patrick Johnson (Shot) and Nari

Orubo (100m) both winning their events.

The outstanding performance of the day

came from Joshua Uduojie who won the

high jump competition with a giant leap of

1.58m. This ranks him No.2 in the country

- a huge achievement, considering that he

has only recently taken up the event!

But it was in the Year 10/11 age group

where KEGS were to enjoy the most

success, being crowned District

Champions. KEGS achieved ten top 3

positions, winning 5, with no athlete

finishing outside the top 6 in their event –

a truly impressive team effort.

Team captain Rory Houlding led by

example winning the 400m, Rohan Hazell

completed an impressive double in the

100m and Long Jump, and Robert Price left

the rest of the field trailing as he won the

3000m by the length of the home straight.

In the final event of the day the KEGS

Senior Relay team (Houlding, Andrews,

Virk & Hazell) team confirmed their

superiority as they romped home to win

the 4 x 100m.

This success was richly deserved and credit

goes to all the KEGS athletes who have

worked hard throughout the summer

preparing for this event. Well done!

P.E. DEPARTMENT

64

TheChelmsfordian |

Year 9 Rugby

T he KEGS Year 9 Rugby team

started the season well with

comfortable wins over Bancrofts

and Helena Romanes, though we

knew greater challenges lay ahead!

Tougher opponents were then faced in the

forms of St Martins, Westcliff and SWCHS.

Due to size, missing players and an

inability to get the ball over the

oppositions’ try line despite sustained

pressure, all these games were

unfortunately lost. However, every cloud

has a silver lining: they proved to be good

preparation for the Essex cup, presenting

the team a chance to turn the season

around.

In the first pool match the team found

itself outdone by the pace and athleticism

of Robert Clack. The final score was Robert

Clack 28, KEGS 7. Despite this setback,

KEGS quickly bounced back: William de

Ferrers were easily beaten 30-0. Even more

stunning was the game against BCHS. This

was finished early, part way through the

second half, with KEGS leading by a

whopping 50-0. We were now all set for a

climatic final pool match against Great

Baddow – a match which would decide

who would advance to the quarter finals. It

was an exciting, competitive match

between two strog teams which went down

to the line. KEGS just managed to save it

with a late try and the game ended 21-21.

The second time around KEGS won a

slightly more lacklustre game. We played

Colchester in the quarter final, aware all

the while that they were the previous

year’s winners by more than 30 points.

Nevertheless, KEGS put in a valiant

performance, and the final score of 39-0

does not tell the whole story (most of the

opposition tries were breakaways.) On

another note, Colchester went on to win

the final again…

Finally, we began the Essex schools’

Sevens tournament – a competition in

which the team started rather poorly.

Losses against both Coopers and St

Martins were understandable all the same,

considering the tough group and the

horrible conditions we were forced to play

in. However, after sheltering in a storage

room and regaining morale, they would go

on to comfortably beat Boswells and then

William de Ferrers in quick succession,

winning the Plate and ending the season

on a high.

SAM ALDERTON

Year 9

sport

65

| TheChelmsfordian

T his season the Year 7 team

have played some great

rugby, with a big thanks

going to Mr Davies and Mr

Perrotton for their support and

coaching throughout the whole

season.

We began the season playing

against a puissant St. Martins team,

who already had a few games under

their belt. Eager to impress in our

first game, we set out looking to win

and play some good rugby – in the

end, we had a comfortable victory in

the match.

Next came a much tougher away

game against a very strong Felsted

team, but after a great start we went

into the break in the lead. Despite

good play from Felsted after the

interval, we held on till the end.

After our wins against St. Martins

and Felsted, we were confident

going into what would prove a hard

away match at Bancrofts. After

conceding several tries early on our

heads were sinking, but after half

time we clawed some points back.

Unfortunately, the game still

resulted in a loss…

After the defeat to Bancrofts we

faced Helena Romanes at home.

KEGS returned to form, beating

them comfortably with a final score

of 35-7.

Next up was another home match

against Westcliff, and after a great

first half we found ourselves in the

lead. Throughout the second half we

increased the lead; winning with a

final score of 45-0.

Following our win against Westcliff,

with a well earned draw against

Great Baddow, 5-5 the final score.

Finally, we ended the season with an

impressive away win against Saffron

Walden.

After the 13-aside season we headed

into the Sevens season. Our first

tournament was at New Hall, where

we were accompanied by Mr Davies

and Mr Harding.

We started well by beating Boswells

in the first match. This was quickly

followed by our final group match

(due to the absence of one team)

against St. Martins who we had

beaten earlier in the season. Again,

we beat them convincingly after

they had had a player sin-binned

late in the first half. We moved on

into the knockout stages where we

came up against the hosts New Hall,

a strong side that beat us 14-0 (they

went on to win the final against

Campion.)

Finally, we hosted the MESSA Rugby

Sevens at KEGS. Facing William De

Ferrers first, we found they were

strong opponents; we ended up

losing 14-7. We then faced Boswells,

whom we had beaten at New Hall. It

would prove to be a close match, but

we won it 7-0. Our final group

match came against Moulsham, who

we beat 31-0. In the knockout round

we played the winners of the other

group Great Baddow, who had a very

strong side. They beat us and went

on to win the final against William

De Ferrers.

All in all, I think we have had a very

good first season and we definitely

look forward to next season. I would

like to thank all the teachers who

helped out so much, and all the

members of the team who worked

very hard throughout the season.

CALLUM WHITTLE

Year 7

above

The Year 7

rugby team

celebrate

their success

Year 7 Rugby

sport

66

We have had

a very good

first season

and we

definitely

look forward

to next

season

TheChelmsfordian |

Olympic Trip

O n 1stApril 2012, a group of seven

very excited students and two

very excited teachers, were

given the opportunity to go on a

trip to the Olympic stadium. The train

journey there seemed to fly by, as before

we knew it we were there. We started off

by going to our seats and admiring the

breathtaking views of the stadium. Many

pictures later, it was time for us to head to

the assembly point for the parade of the

track that we would take part in.

After a long wait in the midday sun, the

first parade started. We were in the second

parade, so our group followed swiftly after.

We reached the tunnel and we could feel

the anticipation in the air as we, not very

patiently, waited for our turn to walk

around the holy track.

Finally we were out and parading around

the track, enjoying the deafening cheers

and applause from our admiring audience.

The lap went too quickly for our liking, as

it seemed like only one minute later we

were back in our seats watching the rest of

the events. The first display was

gymnastic group Spellbound, who pulled

off some amazing moves that even Mr

Perrotton would struggle to cope with! The

day was concluded by a performance from

singer Dionne Bromfield.

We all left with our medals hanging

proudly round our necks and eagerly

anticipating the start of the Games in July.

On behalf of everyone who attended, I

would like to thank Mr Perrotton and Mr

Davies for organising this great event!

JACK FULLER

Year 7

T his summer a number of Year 8,

9, and 10 students braved the

long coach journey to the south

of France to take part in the 2012

Watersports holiday.

After a gruelling 19 hours on the coach we

arrived at Rockley Adventures site. The

site is on a French campsite and backs onto

a large lake where most of our activities

took place. After a brief tour, we started

the first activity, dart sailing, where we

were shown how to rig, de-rig and sail twin

hulled boats. By the end of the day we

were racing around having great fun.

After a hard day‖s work we ate and then

began some ―team-building excercises‖.

The next day we started with pico (dinghy)

sailing where we learnt how to set it up

and de-rig. After the dinghies we went on

a mountain biking session, riding a trail to

a nearby village where we stocked up on

Coke and sweets! This was followed by

more ―team‖ activities before enjoying a

good night‖s sleep.

Next we tried windsurfing—however this

activity was hampered by the lack of wind

so we just tried static turns, a way of

turning where you don‖t need wind or

speed. After windsurfing we tried

kayaking which was slightly more

successful due to it not needing any wind,

we paddled over to the far corner of the

lake in order to try and see some otters.

The next morning we all made our packed

lunches and set off to the other side of the

lake in our picos, it took a while to get

there seeing as we were against the wind,

but we arrived, had lunch, tried to get an

ice cream and then sailed back to the

Rockley site. That evening culminated in a

particularly hard challenge; running

through knee deep mud pushing a kayak.

The morning after we set off for the beach

in order to go body boarding in the

Atlantic surf, many of us had never seen

waves of that size or power. Afterwards

we walked around town looking for

souvenirs and presents. That evening we

had an amazing disco during which it

became apparent that KEGS boys really can

dance! The final day we had one session of

kayaking and then left the south of France

with many happy memories. We would like

to thank Mr and Mrs Green and Mr and Mrs

Perrotton for taking us on the trip; we all

really enjoyed it and would definitely do it

again.

FELIX BEARD

Year 9

Watersports Holiday

above KEGS students with

Olympic medallist Fatima

Whitbread

sport

67

| TheChelmsfordian

Year 8 Football County Cup Final

T he date for the County

Cup Final had finally been

written on the calendar,

and Thursday the 17th of

May loomed ominously. Arriving at

school that morning, a mixture of

excitement and trepidation about

the challenge ahead was felt across

the group. Could the Year 8 team

live up to expectations and dig deep

to bring home the cup?

Our first three sections dragged by

as I found myself fidgeting and

nervously thinking of different

outcomes for the match. At last,

after a carb-fuelled lunch, we made

our way out of the church doors for

some practice during our Games

lessons. We were told to take things

easy during some games of ―football

tennis‖ (though it was clear nerves

were kicking in as we boarded the

coach!)

45 minutes later, we stepped out at

the Old Chigwellian‖s ground and

every team-member stared at the

pitch in awe. The grass was so green

and lush, football posts glinting in

the sun – a bit different to playing

at Bedford Fields!

As the whistle blew, we could all see

that the other side were strong with

two academy players going down

the wings at fast pace. It was a shaky

start for KEGS as we conceded the

first goal only ten minutes in. But

the KEGS heads never dropped once

and soon we got the equaliser we

deserved with a great strike by

Oliver Heazel intro the bottom left

corner. By half time KEGS were 3 -1

up following further goals from Ayo

Olubotemi and Nari Orubo. The

early part of the second half saw

KEGS lose concentration and some

unwise decisions led to Holy Family

scoring off a free-kick – the score

stood at 3-2. Then the Holy Family

attack wormed its way through to

score another goal in quick

succession.

Score: 3-3. With only

twenty minutes to go,

two further strikes from

Oliver Heazel and Josh

Uduoji took the score up

to 5-3. Then a deflection off my

shin pad flew high allowing the Holy

Family attacker to get his head on

the ball – 5-4 ….sorry lads! A tense

moment but at last to everyone‖s

relief the final whistle blew and

Mr. Sherrington invaded the

pitch shouting: “COME ON YOU

KEGS!”, as parents and KEGS boys

celebrated.

The whole team played extremely

well. The defence (Lawrence

Whymark, Albie Nuttall, Mali

Gunter, Oliver Phillips and Billy

Saywer) were like a brick wall; the

midfielders (Ryan Hart, John

Loveday, Oliver Heazel and Matthew

Beazely) passed the ball around

beautifully, and finally our attackers

completely blew the opposition

away (Ayo Olubotemi, Josh Uduoji

and Nari Orubo). Thanks also go to

the unstinting support of our subs:

Matthew Colley, Zak Jagathesan,

Jovett De Cordova-Harris and

Charlie Bradford.

On behalf of the whole team, I

would like to thank everyone who

supported us throughout the season

and especially in the final. Special

thanks goes to Mr. Perrotton, Mr.

Smith, Tom Forward and Robert

Hyams. Without them our team

wouldn‖t have been complete.

I am proud to call myself a KEGS

student but to say that our Year 8

football team are ―County Cup

Champions‖, makes it all the more

special!

OLIVER PHILLIPS

Year 8

sport

68

TheChelmsfordian |

comfortable wins against William

De Ferrers (33-5) and The Royal

Liberty School (39-0) and then

advanced to a three way final

against Campion and Coopers

Coborn.

First up, KEGS were to face

Campion. The Hornchurch side

enjoyed the majority of possession,

but a determined and well organised

KEGS defence kept them trapped

inside their own half for the

majority of the first half. In the

second half, we were able to

capitalise on this: soon after the

interval, Brody Andrews raced in

from the halfway line for crucial try

and KEGS held on for a 5-0 victory.

With Coopers also beating Campion,

KEGS now found themselves facing

the tournament hosts, Coopers in a

winner take all last game.

Unfortunately, the match began

inauspiciously as the home side

started strongly. Campion managed

to score 3 first half tries to open up a

considerable 17 point lead over us.

Although the second half saw KEGS

playing much better and creating a

number of chances, we were only

able to convert one of these with

Ronny Jenner touching down under

the posts. KEGS fought to the end,

but Coopers ended the match as 22-

7 winners.

At the final whistle, KEGS were both

disappointed and exhausted, but

they should be extremely proud of

their efforts in reaching a first

County Final and won many

supporters for the way they played

and conducted themselves

throughout the tournament. All the

team members worked hard and

their numerous successes should be

well celebrated.

Squad

Harry Moseley (capt)

Laurie Clarke

Stefan Soyombo

Max Ingram

Ronny Jenner

Nick Anning

Brody Andrews

Rohan Hazell

Conor Healy

Charlie Prudence

JOHN DAVIES

P.E. Teacher

H aving tasted success in

the MESSSA 7s

competition in the

Lower School, KEGS

entered the tournament, eagerly

awaiting the opportunity to take on

the best the County had to offer!

With only the winners of the pool

advancing to the finals, the pressure

was on from the start: KEGS‖ first

match against Robert Clack would

prove crucial in deciding the

outcome of the group. Our team

started the first half strongly, and

we succeeded in scoring 4 first half

tries to open up a comfortable lead.

In the second half, KEGS controlled

possession, moving the ball around

the field, denying the opposition the

chance to mount any attacks. This

meant that the final score-line was

an impressive 29-0.

KEGS followed up this victory with

U16 7-a-side Tournament

sport

69

All the team members worked

hard and their numerous

successes should be well

celebrated

| TheChelmsfordian

KEGS First XI Football

L iving up to last year‖s high

standards of being knocked out of

both cups by the 2nd round would

be a tricky one. Unfortunately

this was one round too far for the KEGS 1st

XI, and after a 90th minute goal from

Plume, we were sent packing from the 1st

round of the National Cup in a 3-2 defeat.

Nonetheless, spirits remained high for the

County Cup- facing a reputable Brentwood

Private in the 2nd round. KEGS managed to

manufacture a 1-0 lead mid way through

the first half due to intelligent play

between Hugh Harding and Charlie

Patterson, but despite having attackers

named Austin, Brentwood scored twice in

quick succession, and as we approached

our exit from the county cup, we did what

any KEGS team does and claim having

better GCSEs is more important. Indeed,

great careers await those in the KEGS 1st XI

– most promisingly for Tom ―Ashley

Young‖ Forwood in the diving/screaming

industry.

A hard fought and well-deserved draw at

Bishop‖s Stortford was probably the most

rewarding result- a side clearly far more

trained and skilled- emphasising that

teamwork, effort and Route 1 football are

far more valuable traits to possess. We

ended the season on a high against a

strong Newhall side; Carl Bishop finally

figured out which way we were shooting

and scored a hat trick to make the final

score 5-1 to KEGS; a great way of framing a

fantastic 7 years of KEGS football. On

behalf of the team, I would like to thank

Mr Perrotton for firstly his immense ability

as a coach, secondly his judiciously crafted

parallels to professional footballers – most

notably Cian-dinho – and thirdly his

approachability and good humour that has

made captaining the 1st XI an absolute

pleasure.

OLY DUROSE

Year 13

Year 9 Basketball Team

T he KEGS Year 9 basketball team

have had a great season this

year, going from strength to

strength. This has been seen in

particular by managing to go the entire

season unbeaten and winning the Mid-

Essex Championship, no mean feat!

The first game of the season saw us pitted

against Plume – a match where the entire

team were pushed hard but eventually won

through 45-32, with Miles Perham-

Merchant top-scoring with an unbeaten 14

baskets. In the next game, Moulsham

school were our opponents and although

KEGS did not play their best basketball, we

still came out victors with a score of 39-24

- Shaarujen was top-scorer on that

occasion with 7 baskets. The Year 9s then

faced off against Brentwood County High

and won 47-28, with Gregory Young the

top scorer with his 6 influential baskets. A

highlight of the season came at the

triumph over Hylands school where the

KEGS team really turned up the heat and

put in their best performance so far, both

defensively and offensively, winning 75-8

(WeiNan Zhou top-scoring with 11

baskets.)

The final game against Boswells school

was a match between two heavy weights of

the Mid-Essex Basketball league as

Boswells were unbeaten too. It would be a

clash of the titans which KEGS could

hardly afford to take lightly, and Boswells

put up more than token resistance.

However, a combined effort across the

KEGS team saw us finish the season on a

high, winning 33-17.

Every Wednesday lunchtime is given over

to training, where we make sure that the

team is at its peak. I believe that the hard

work and effort which we put into learning

new skills and tactics in training paid off

throughout all of our matches. The result?

Our team played some excellent

basketball, showing flair in attack and

organisation in defence, and succeeding in

all of our matches.

On behalf of the team, I would like to

thank Mr Green for all his hard work,

especially helping us train and organising

the matches. Without his dedication to the

cause and hard work, I am sure we could

not have been so successful. I would also

like to extend my thanks to all those who

have supported us through our fantastic

unbeaten season, and I eagerly look

forwards to the challenges that we will face

next year!

WEINAN ZHOU

Year 9

sport

70

Indeed, great careers await

those in the KEGS 1st XI –

most promisingly in the

diving/screaming industry

TheChelmsfordian |

1st XV Rugby

W ith the burden of high

expectations and previous

achievements weighing

heavy upon this year‖s 1st

XV, we embarked upon this season‖s

adventure of a season, with captain Kieran

Ballinger and vice-captain Richard

Packham at the helm.

The first training session was started with

vigour and determination, but with much

rustiness as the inactivity over the summer

holidays showed (Jack Coppack) - this lack

of accuracy led to our first defeat of the at

the hands of Colchester Grammar, our one

solace being newly blooded fly-half Jordan

Ayling going over twice for our only points

in the match. We would usually have our

academic superiority to fall back on but in

this instance they beat us on both

accounts.

The next game came against the physically

imposing William De Ferrers School. KEGS,

however, matched this with aggression and

occasionally deviance, inspired partially by

the arrival of our new kit. In spite of this

we turned out a fairly average display with

some players feeling self-conscious with

the new kit being tighter fitting on some

than others.

Brentwood was the next challenge, with

another dominant display leading to a 42-5

victory. The performance was

characterised by a mammoth hit by

Packham on the opposition fullback

leaving the crowd in awe. The fifth round

of the Vase saw us drawn against rivals

Coopers Coburn. Past matches with

Coopers have traditionally been incredibly

tight and results have gone either way with

the games always being very tense. This

game was no different. KEGS went 5-0 up

midway through the second half with a

driven try from a strong KEGS lineout.

Unfortunately, KEGS defending slipped up

and Coopers finally broke through to bring

the score back to 5-5. A try saving tackle by

Jordan Ayling prevented Coopers from

scoring again in the closing minutes. The

game ended 5-5, sending KEGS through to

the next round as the away team in front of

a large and vociferous Coopers crowd.

We played Saffron Walden in the Daily

Mail Vase 6th round for a place in the last

16 in the country. In the first 5 minutes of

the game KEGS lost outside centre Jordan

Bulgin to injury, leaving Seb Mayo to fill

the void. Cian Holland soon went over for a

spectacular individual try and kicked a

penalty, increasing his already impressive

points tally for the season. Going in to half

time, KEGS lead 8-3. Early in the second

half we lost the other half of our powerful

centre partnership, Callum Howard, who

dislocated his shoulder in a tackle. As the

game was approaching the end, KEGS

increased the pressure and in a valiant

display of determination, Kayode

Ayobowale finished in the corner for the

deciding try.

The next round of the Daily Mail was

against Wallington County Grammar

school- a success in this round would see

us into the last 8 of the national

competition. The KEGS side, marred with

injury, started strongly with the

inexperienced backline mounting the

pressure. After a disallowed try from the

KEGS forwards, KEGS converted two

penalties to go 6-0 up. KEGS defended

strongly and managed to keep the

Wallington backline at bay for most of the

first half. KEGS were disappointed to

concede a try in the last play to the

opposition fly half after a strong period of

defence, taking the score at half-time to 6-

5. The fatigue of a long season and the

many injuries began to showed in the

second half with Wallington going over for

a number of tries without response, with

the game ending at 24-6. KEGS were

disappointed to finish the season with a

loss.

On a serious note, the KEGS team would

like to extend their thanks and gratitude to

Mr Davies and Mr Harding for their

fantastic efforts with the squad throughout

our time at KEGS and for putting up with

our regular truancy from training. I‖m sure

we will all greatly miss the pride of pulling

on the KEGS jersey and representing the

school. We must attribute a large amount

of success to the unwavering support of

the PE staff over the years. We love you

guys.

KIERAN BALLINGER & RICHARD

PACKHAM

Year 13

sport

71

| TheChelmsfordian

T he making of The Chelmsfordian

is, to use an analogy, rather like

a flock of geese. It requires

dedication, team-work and

copious amounts of honking, with a

certain amount of verve. Indeed,

completing it is a bittersweet moment.

Joking aside, The Chelmsfordian has been

great fun and no mean feat. There are a

whole host of people to thank for this is

publication, both staff and pupils. Starting

off with students, David Tremain has done

a fine job on proofreading articles (far

more quickly and accurately than I did…)

and helping out in general with the process

for which I am exceedingly thankful.

David, of course, also contributed a

number of articles to The Chelmsfordian,

and helped me to chase around for articles

– again, my sincerest thanks!

Alongside him, David Wood and Sam

Bailey deserve considerable thanks: they

have had the not entirely enviable job of

formatting the entire magazine, checking

through for consistency and bearing the

brunt of my fevered frothing at the mouth

when things were looking shaky. Calm and

collected throughout, both Sam and David

have put in tremendous amounts of time

and effort into helping complete the

Chelmsfordian.

The final student to thank is HyungBin

Lim, whose excellent pieces grace our

covers this year. Although at times slightly

elusive, HyungBin has tolerated my tirade

of demands without too much overt

annoyance, managing to fit in completing

great artwork with a decidedly hectic

schedule.

As well as this tightly-knit team, there are

myriad students who were also vital: the

authors! From Year 7 to Year 13, KEGS

students have again shown their skills at

writing as well as in the fields they were

writing about. Whether you wrote in early

or at the last minute, I would like to thank

each and every one of you: this magazine

could not exist without your input.

The staff have also been absolutely

fantastic – they have cajoled students to

write articles, helped find us pictures for

stories or even written some articles

themselves! Their willingness to commit to

the Chelmsfordian reminds me again of

how lucky we are at KEGS to have such

staff integration into the school

community.

Two members of staff in particular have to

be thanked. The first of these has been Ms.

Cleave, who has been an absolute star

throughout. Her technical knowledge has

been priceless, and allowing us to use the

computer rooms has been pivotal in this

enterprise‖s success. Of course, final

thanks must go to Mr. Harding – what

more can I say but that it‖s thanks to him

that we‖ve reached this point! As ever, he

has the final word, but I‖d just like to say

one more time what a pleasure it has been

helping run The Chelmsfordian this year –

I hope you‖ve enjoyed reading it just as

much as I have done editing it!

SIDDHARTH VENKATARAMAKRISHNAN Editor-in-Chief

The Last Word

72

editorial

Editor-in-Chief Siddharth Venkataramakrishan Student Editor David Tremain Design Sam Bailey & David Wood

Covers HyungBin Lim IT Support Vicky Cleave Staff Editor Mark Harding

Proofreaders Emma Barton & Michael Gray Printed by Graphic Impressions, Chelmsford

I n a ―summer‖ where much of my time

at KEGS has been spent in attempting

to play, and then rearrange, various

cricket fixtures it has been beneficial

to my stress levels to know that I could

leave the production of this year‖s

magazine in such competent and safe

hands. This has been one of the most

independent and well organised student

teams that have worked on the The

Chelmsfordian during my time as staff

editor. They have showed incredible

commitment over the year which

continues to be crowded with exams,

revision, trips away and the many various

day to day demands placed upon students

in their last year in the Sixth Form.

A very special thanks to Sid and David for

their sustained efforts to collect and

organise the array of varied and

entertaining content that reflects the

vibrancy of everyday life at KEGS. They

seem to have gone about their business in

a most professional yet relaxed manner

that has required very little help from me!

Also to those, both student and staff alike,

who have supplied the content; I do

genuinely want to offer my many thanks

for your time and expertise.

To Sam, many thanks for his design and

formatting skills and to HyungBin Lim for

her fantastic artwork displayed on the

front and back cover. I do wish to once

again pay special tribute to Vicky Cleave

for her ―day to day‖ support and technical

input to ensure the overall smooth running

of the production process.

And finally to you the reader, thank you for

taking the time to read this year‖s

Chelmsfordian and I hope you have

enjoyed the experience.

MARK HARDING

Staff Editor

KING EDWARD VI GRAMM AR SCHOOL, BROOMFIELD ROAD, CHELMSFORD

01245 353510 | CHELMSFORDIAN@KEGS.ORG.UK