Michaelmas TermWeek 13December 2017

NEWS

I would like to congratulate our Rowing Club on their recent successes: we had a proud moment in our school assembly this week, with a huge set of gold, silver and bronze medals to award. You will find below report to celebrate achievements in rowing. This Saturday we have the Christmas Craft Fair in the Blake Theatre. Thank you to the FOMS for the great amount of work to prepare for this wonderful community event. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Fair.

MONMOUTH SCHOOL for Boys BOYS 11-18

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A note from the Monmouth School Headmaster

RAF SECTION ARE UP TO THE TEST

The RAF Section was represented by a team of 13 cadets at the West Region of the Air Squadron Trophy held at RAF Cosford last week.

They tested their skills on a range of stands from drill to first aid and air recognition. Notable mention must go to Jeffrey who was best shot in the section with 19/20 on the range and Alf who scored 28/30 in the Aircraft Recognition. Team Cap-tain Wilfrid performed well in the fitness test and provided a strong lead in the command task. After a thorough debrief the team hope to strengthen their all-round performance next year.

All of our students will be fending for themselves when they leave the sixth form, and one of the funda-mental skills they need is to be able to prepare healthy and cost-effec-tive meals for themselves and their friends.

“Life after school cooking” helps to demystify the kitchen and teach safe and proper skills for food preparation through preparing tasty dishes each week (e.g. soup; curry; lasagne; fajitas;

SPOTLIGHT ON ENRICHMENT - LIFE AFTER SCHOOL: COOKING

Free meet for student coders to bring projects and ideas, use hardware & software to build an app, a website, a game, anything. Get support for ideas & join workshops. Bring a laptop, Raspberry Pi, tablet, or any device you can code on.

Click on the image to find out more and book your place.

WyeHack event on Sunday 3 December from 2pm to 5pm.

frittata; salads and stir fries). It’s a perennial favourite on the Enrichment options list, and the results are always worth the effort. Many thanks to Mrs Vickers for running the course.

Although rowing is a quintessential summer sport, boat speed is down to a huge amount of training and preparation during the winter, so the Rowing Club has been very busy indeed this term.

Two weeks ago, Robbie, Iwan and Jack travelled to Boston for the first round of the Great Britain Team trials. They acquitted themselves very well and can look forward to more success as they pursue their aims over the coming months as the trials process continues.

Last week the club saw great success off the water as the J15s dominated the Welsh Schools Indoor Rowing Championships, with a clean sweep of the medals in the individual event as well as a disciplined win in the team event. Iwan won the J17 Gold as well as destroying the field in the Welsh Indoor Championships the following day with a very fast time for 2000m.

Back on the water at Wallingford Head of the river over the Exeat weekend, all crews raced well, with the highlight of the day being a third place for the J15 VIII in a strong field.

Next up are the internal Plum Pudding Eights event with Monmouth Girls and Monmouth Winter Head, followed by a well-earned break over Christ-mas.

LATEST ROWING NEWS

FORM V FACE FEAR IN OUTSTANDING PSHE TALKThe Fifth Form were privileged to receive a talk from adventurer extraordinaire: Andy Torbet last Friday. Andy was involved in military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands as a paratrooper, serving with the 16 Air Assault Brigade.

He is now an underwater explorer, skydiver and TV presenter, featuring in programmes such as ‘Coast’, ‘Operation Ice-berg’ and ‘The People Remember’ and he has raced with a falcon, free-falling at speeds in excess of 240 mph, featuring on ‘The One Show’. He is also a zoologist and currently studying archaeology. He talked to the boys about the manage-ment of stress, anxiety and fear, exploring, through his adventures, the way that all the fear is in the preparation; once you have prepared well and practised well, there is no need for fear in the final event, such as exams. The fear and the worry belong to the safe space when you are in control; once you have prepared then you can approach the place of unknown eventualities with confidence and calm.

CLASSICAL BUSKING RAISES MONEY FOR CHILDREN IN NEED

It was fantastic to hear that Chris from Form II was putting his considerable musical talents to charitable use the other week. The shoppers at Waitrose were treated to a violin ser-enade from Chris and they were obviously very impressed as he raised a grand total of one hundred pounds and nineteen pence. Fantastic job, well done, Chris!

OLLY JUMPS THE WATERFALL

The beginners of the canoe club enjoyed a sunny day on the Upper Usk last Sunday learning the skills of river–running and waterfall-jumping. They were ably assisted by Hamish, one of our more experienced canoe-ists who acted as safety kayaker and passed his BCU Three Star award.

RUGBY NEWS: STILL ONE TEAM UNBEATEN AS MONMOUTH WELCOME QEH, CAERLEON, DEAN CLOSE AND CHELTENHAM!

The past two weeks have seen 23 matches played against a selection of schools. Forms I and II took on QEH, Caerleon and Bromsgrove school winning 6 of their 10 games. Against Caerleon, the Under 12 As and Bs put an impressive 50 points on their opponents and, in the following week, both teams remained successful, beating Bromsgrove. The C team also managed an excit-ing 30 all draw. Against QEH the under 13As lost 25-5 but the B and C teams came away 50-10 and 25-15 winners respectively. The following week the As and Bs were both beaten by strong Bromsgrove sides. Moving up the school we suffered some nar-row defeats against Cheltenham College. In the third form the A team deserved more than an 8-15 loss and the B team lost to a powerful Cheltenham side. But, under the guidance of Mr Picken, the C team won 19-15, maintaining their perfect season as the school’s only remaining unbeaten side. In the fourth form the As and Bs suffered defeat but the latter only by 5 points. The Under 16A team also went down 12-36, but showed more signs of improvement.At the senior level, the Red Army were beaten 24-17 in a frustrating game, despite Lucas’ thundering running.The 2nd XV however produced one of their best displays of attacking rugby. Monmouth ruthlessly took apart Cheltenham’s de-fence to go 21 points up in the first 20 minutes, and then subdued any chance of a Cheltenham fightback through the fierce tack-ling of Oli and Matis.

JAMES GAINS SELECTION FOR INTERNATIONAL SCOUTING EVENTHuge congratulations to James from Form IV who has gained se-

lection for the World Scout Jamboree in the USA in 2019

Only 144 spaces were available to Scouts in Wales so James had to write a personal statement in order to apply and then take part in a selection camp weekend. The camp consisted of a series of different scouting challenges including bridge building and camp cooking and there was also a panel interview. Well done James!

The Cheltenham 1st XV arrived in Monmouth 4th in the league and on an unbeaten season. Monmouth showed great bravery in the face of our highly accomplished and very large opposition and we eventually lost narrowly (20-12).The following week Dean Close came to Monmouth. The 16As lost a high scoring game 26-36, the 3rd XV returned to winning ways scoring nine tries and the 2nd XV lost by the narrowest margin of 5-0. An eventful 1st XV game saw Monmouth a try down when we were reduced to 14 men. A spirited second half performance saw us salvage a draw with tries from Lucas and Wagner. Well done also to Matt for his excellent debut in the front row. The next set of fixtures will be against Millfield.

KIDS LIT QUIZ TEAMS COME IN FIRST AND SECOND!Monmouth School took two teams to the Welsh heats of the Kids Lit Quiz in Cardiff last week and the Form II team consisting of Sam, Rhys, Oliver and Rhodri took first place showing an extraordi-narily broad knowledge of all things literary.

To add to the excitement close behind them in sec-ond place was our Form I team. This was a fantastic achievement by William, Sam, Tom and Archie who are no doubt already practising for next year!

The winning team have been invited to attend the National finals at the City of London School for Girls on 5th December which promises to be a very grand occasion.

Calendar Dates:

Fri 1 December 2.00p.m. Form IV Inter-House Ergos: New, School, Weirhead (Boat House)

Sat 2 December

10.15a.m. Brass Band meets (Music School)11.00a.m. - 2.30p.m. FOMS Christmas Fair (Blake Theatre)Boarders’ Activity: 6.30p.m. Cinema (Newport)Rowing: Wycliffe Small Boats Head: J15 - J18Rugby: v. Millfield School: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, U15A, B & C XVs (A) Lunch 11.45a.m., Depart 12.00 noon, K.O. 2.30p.m.U16A & B, U14A, B & C XVs (H) K.O. 2.30p.m.v. Dean Close Preparatory School: U13A & B, U12A & B XVs (A)Lunch 12.30p.m., Depart 12.45p.m., K.O. 2.30p.m.

Sun 3 December

Boarders’ Activity: 11.30a.m. Ice Skating (Cribbs Causeway)2.00p.m. - 5.00p.m. Christmas WyeHack (Library)3.00p.m. Chapel Choir rehearsal (Chapel)6.00p.m. Bach Orchestra rehearsal (Library)6.00p.m. Chapel: Advent Carol Service

Mon 4 December 1.50pm – 2.30pm Form VI Literature Students: Literary Society Lecture (E6)6.30p.m. Form I Parents’ Evening (Blake Theatre)

Tue 5 December

Form II Lit Quiz Team, Kids’ Lit Quiz (City of London School for Girls, Barbican, London) Depart 7.30am, return 9pmJoint MB/MG A level English Literature Lecture: Hamlet (Birmingham) Depart 8am, return 7pmTutor Period: Period 1Christmas Lunches4.30p.m. - 5.45p.m. Form IV/Year 10 Joint MB/MG German Quiz (MG - Room 120)7.00p.m. Chamber Concert: Junior Ensembles (Blake Theatre)7.30p.m. FOMS Wreathmaking (Hitchcock Pavilion)8.00p.m. Boarders’ Multi-Activity: Form III/Year 9 (MG)

Wed 6 December

CCF: RAF Air Experience Flying (MOD St Athan) Depart 6.30a.m., return 5.30p.m.8.40a.m. Form V Mock Examinations Briefing (Blake Theatre)9.00a.m. FOMS Wreathmaking (Hitchcock Pavilion)12.00 noon Reports to Housemasters: All Forms except I, II & VI.1

Thu 7 December

8.40am Chapel: Hymn PracticeForm VI.2 Mock Medical Interviews (Hereford Hospital) Depart 9am, return 2.45pm 4.30p.m. - 5.45p.m. Form III/Year 9 Joint MB/MG German Quiz (MG - Room 120)5.15p.m. Boarders’ Christmas Meal6.30p.m. Boarders’ Christmas House Parties

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COMING UP AT THE BLAKE THEATRE:

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO BUY TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT

Live on our Stage:Friday 1st December 7.30pm

Jive Talkin perform Bee Gees in concert

MONMOUTH SCHOOL for Boys BOYS 11-18