cloister summer 2018 - mount kelly

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Highlights in this edition: Matrons, the real superheroes! 2 Book reviews 5 The Chamber Choir’s trip to London 6 The Flat Earth 8 Life in the United Kingdom 10 Life of the Head Boy and Head Girl 12 THE CLOISTER SUMMER 2018 Matrons, we salute you!

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Page 1: Cloister Summer 2018 - Mount Kelly

Highlights in this edit ion:

Matrons, the real superheroes! 2

Book reviews 5

The Chamber Choir’s trip to London 6

The Flat Earth 8

Life in the United Kingdom 10

Life of the Head Boy and Head Girl 12

THE CLOISTER S U M M E R 2 0 1 8

Matrons, we salute you!

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P A G E 2

“We are a sort

of second mum

for the students

I suppose you

could say.”

A day in the life of a Matron

0730: We start by putting the washing on for the students and then wake them up and give out daily medicines. 0815: We attend registration and give the students any messages we have. Once clothes are washed (usually the machines are on all day) we pack the clothes into labelled boxes for the students to collect. We order stores for the House, including bread, fruit and milk for the students, and ask for mainte-nance if anything is broken. Matrons take the students to their medical appointments - which is nearly every day. We stay in hos-pital with the student if they’re ill or admitted . Lunch time and evenings: We do daily clinics for anyone who wants meds or ice packs- espe-cially after games. We cover rugby, hockey and most games when asked and car-ry out first aid. We do a lot of sewing and mend-ing clothes and also help in the afternoons at Nurse Hannah’s clinic. Time off: We have 4 hours off one night per week and one day off per week when another ma-tron looks after our House.

At weekends: we work on a rota: 2 matrons go off Saturday pm until Sunday pm. The matron on duty is responsi-ble for medications on both sides – at the College and the Prep - and transportation to MIU if needed. Bedtime: We get to bed be-tween 2300 and 2330. If a stu-dent is ill during the night we are in and out checking them. If con-cussion is suspected, we check the pupil every two hours right through the night. The students are very good and some wait till they know we are up in the morning before they come to us. If a student has to go to hospital in the night a matron goes with them. End of term: We stay on in House to make sure all beds and rooms are cleared for the lets to come in. At the beginning of term we make up all the beds for returning students. We are a friendly ear if anyone wants a chat. We are a sort of second mum for the students I suppose you could say.

T H E C L O I S T E R

The Matron

Team

Courtenay

Tina Sherrell

Marwood

Bev Basson

Newton

Chris Tyrrell

School

Sharen Masters

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P A G E 3

Above: A Level Art Coursework

by Savanna Best

Below: A Level Art Coursework

by Halle Ashworth

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P A G E 4

“We shouldn’t

be afraid of

robots; they

only think what

we tell them to

think. It’s the

humans that

scare me.”

Written by

George Collins,

Year 9

Can we blame the robots? I’m sure everyone reading this is familiar with the idea of robots becoming far superior to us hu-mans, resulting in the eventual destruction of humanity. This could be shown to us in the form of a film, book or even play, with the eventual outcome always be-ing that the technology we de-sign gets more and more ad-vanced without us noticing. Alt-hough this might be believable under some circumstances, I don’t believe that it is robots or artificial intelligence we should be afraid of; I think we should be afraid of ourselves.

Robots are everywhere, in our pockets, in our cars and in our homes, designed and used to make our lives easier. For exam-ple, cars that drive for us, robotic vacuums that clean for us and fridges that create our shopping lists. Science fiction is becoming an affordable reality, and fast. But with the normalisation of artificial intelligence, the question of who’s in control becomes more and more of a concern. I would argue that because humans de-sign the technology, it should fol-low that ultimately humans should be in control of that technology.

We can program a robot to help people just as easily as to harm people, with humans being the ones to set the limitations and guidelines. For example, the new automated cars currently being designed by Google and other companies are researching the dilemmas of moral psychology to

inform on difficult decisions that may occur while driving on the road, such as, does one swerve to avoid a child and hit an old lady, or rather do you save the old lady and kill the child? A hu-man behind the wheel of a car would be able to make that deci-sion in a split second, but a com-puter .....? The computer will only react according to our program-ming of it.

To conclude, I would argue that we shouldn’t be afraid of robots; they only think what we tell them to think. It’s the humans that scare me.

T H E C L O I S T E R

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BOOK REVIEW by JENNY FOREST

“Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” by Gail Honeyman

P A G E 5

Eleanor lives alone, with only a plant for company. Virtually her only human contact is with her col-leagues at work who treat her with thinly disguised contempt. Her life is carefully ordered, down to the identical lunch that she eats every day. She speaks to her mother without fail once a week and then anaesthetizes herself with vodka until it’s time to go to work on Monday. Her life is loneli-ness personified.

And then one day a new colleague, Ray-mond, joins the IT department and en-courages her to do ‘normal’ things like go out for lunch. She meets his mother and sister, and together they rescue an elder-ly man who collapses on the street in front of them. Eleanor’s world expands but the tension mounts as glimpses of her past life and her troubled relationship with her mother are revealed.

The world as seen through Eleanor’s eyes is sometimes tragic and sometimes laugh out loud funny. It’s not at all surpris-ing that this book won the Costa Award for best first novel and that the film rights have been snapped up by Reece With-erspoon.

‘Brave, smart and funny… the most

refreshing and heartwarming

debut I’ve read in some time’

Review by YORKSHIRE POST

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P A G E 6

“There were some

truly amazing and

moving songs, but

when it was our

turn to sing

‘Shackles’ we

knew we had to

smash it. And we

definitely did! “

The Chamber Choir’s London Trip

The Mount Kelly Chamber Choir left school on the 12th March to go to London to perform in the Barnar-do’s National Senior Choir Compe-tition. After a long train journey, we arrived at Waterloo Station and went straight to our hotel, which was just a 5 minute walk away from the Royal Festival Hall – where we would perform later in the day.

We all got ready and then we made our way to the Hall. After only hav-ing 10 minutes to rehearse, we per-formed our two songs, ‘That Lone-some Road’ and ‘Shackles’. We were competing against six other senior choirs from around the country. We sung well, but going just after a choir who had sung bril-liantly, we knew we had some tough competition.

In the evening we sat down to watch the big gala performance, where all the choirs, both junior and senior, sung one song from their repertoire. There were some truly amazing and moving songs, but when it was our turn to sing

‘Shackles’ we knew we had to smash it. And we definitely did! We received a huge round of applause.

Finally, with great excitement, we all went onto the stage for the last time to find out who had won the competi-tion. (The worthy winners were Downe House). The show ended when everyone who had performed that night sung, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, probably most well-known for being the Liverpool FC anthem. This emotional performance received a standing ovation.

We left the Hall tired and very hungry, but happy, and had a great dinner at Pizza Express. Then, after a long night, we returned to our hotel (after taking lots of photos of London) and collapsed into our comfy beds, ex-tremely exhausted. After a peaceful night and big, filling breakfast, we made our long way back to Mount Kelly.

Thanks to Mr. Jensen and Mrs. Roberts-Key for a great trip.

T H E C L O I S T E R

Written by

Tavy Oursin,

Year 11

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Mount Kelly Choir Update There are now two choirs at Mount Kelly, the main ‘College Choir’ of about 50 and ‘The Chamber Choir’ of 18. Both choirs have been equally successful this academic year and have sung a range of pieces such as ‘Shackles’ by Atkins and Campbell, and ‘A Gaelic Blessing’, by John Rutter. The Chamber Choir competed in ‘The Salt-ash Festival’ in the Senior School category and were successful in bringing home the trophy for first prize. The main College Choir has sung at many venues including Bristol Cathedral and in St. Eustatius Church for the Carol Service. The Chamber Choir took part in a second com-petition, ‘The Barnardo’s Senior School Choir of the Year’ in London on March 12.

They were one of 6 senior choirs shortlisted to take part and sang in front of an audi-ence of 2,500 in the Royal Festival Hall in London. The main Choir took part in the Foundation Easter Concert. For this, the College Choir joined the two Junior choirs to sing ‘Adiemus’ by Karl Jenkins. The College Choir rehearse every Monday lunchtime at 12:45 with Mr Jensen (conductor and Director of Music.) They are a very friendly and lively bunch of people. The choir would welcome anybody who would like to join and give singing a go. The Choral Society performed Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor on 17th March in St. Eustachius’ Church. Written by Tessa Hansford

The Chamber Choir

P A G E 7

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P A G E 8

“The reader on

Facebook is

unaware of the

political or social

leanings of the

news they are

receiving. For

people to form

independent

opinions, balance

is key. Right now,

balance is not

what the average

reader is

receiving.”

The Flat Earth “Nobody likes the uncomfortable feeling of being this tiny ball flying through space,” Mark Sargent, a prominent ‘Flat Earther’ stated, and really that's a sentiment I can get be-hind. If I want the world to be a disc balanced on the back of a giant space-roaming tortoise, why can't that be the case? Clearly, I'm not alone in feeling this way as in recent years the popularity of believing in a flat earth has shot up. With members all around the globe, the Flat Earth Society truly is a scientific body to be reckoned with. If, somehow, your feelings on the issue aren't enough evidence for you, step outside and look around. Does the world look round to you? Of course it doesn't. Our senses tell us everything we need to know - we live on a flat earth at the centre of everything. The idea of a spherical world only emerged to fit the burden of evi-dence we observed indirectly over hundreds of years.

So, maybe just a little hint of sar-casm ...... but I think the Flat Earth Theory and its popularity help high-light some key problems in the way people are digesting and discussing media in the scientific community and in our society.

‘Fake News’ was named the phrase of the year by Collins’s Dictionary in 2017, and for good reason. For about a decade or so now the evo-lution of the way in which people receive information has developed rapidly, resulting in a complete change in the stories people actual-ly read. Facebook has become the primary source of news for many people, with popular and interesting stories being shared around the platform, and the boring ones fading out of relevance. This new age of media consumption gives us three real problems to face on a level we

have never had to deal with before, and all of which are perfectly illustrat-ed by the 'Flat Earthers’. Firstly, the development of 'Echo Chambers’. Social media, by defini-tion, is designed to link you with peo-ple similar to yourself. This makes it an incredibly powerful tool for finding people you know, or discovering en-tirely new like-minded people. It re-sults in bubbles being created, where everyone inside a bubble has a similar friends list, with very few links spanning between bubbles. At face value, this isn't an issue. It can help with the organisation of events and the spreading of personal life developments with the people you want to find out. However, when Fa-cebook becomes a source for news, the issue becomes clearer. If you are only linked with like minded people, the news which will be shared by them, and therefore the news you receive, will be heavily biased and never challenge your predetermined ideas. This is a so called 'Echo Cham-ber’, and can easily convince people with fringe beliefs, such as ‘Flat Earthers', that they are not only right, but that the majority of people feel the same way as them. This is the news that is presented to them. Re-ceiving biased news has always been a problem, but on Facebook the issue isn't as obvious as it would be with a Daily Mail reader. The read-er on Facebook is unaware of the political or social leanings of the news they are receiving. For people to form independent opinions, bal-ance is key. Right now, balance is not what the average reader is receiving.

Second is Clickbait. In the world of social media, the only stories which get clicks are the ones with short, witty headlines and intriguing imag-es. This does not usually correlate with the most important or well writ-ten articles that tackle real issues. As

T H E C L O I S T E R

Written by

Ted Jenks,

Upper Sixth

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P A G E 9

a result, more people know what Friends charac-ter they would be than the name of current Chan-cellor of the Exchequer. Again, this isn't a new problem, but it is now more serious than ever. Stories about controversial and interesting topics such as the prospect of the world being flat are far more tempting to click on than a report on the government's plans for Brexit, and it explains the sudden popularity of the Flat Earth Society. This fact is exploited by companies distributing their content on social media platforms, focussing more on reality star-style articles to get more peo-ple to visit their site, thus making more advertising revenue.

Finally, and most importantly, is the absence of facts or sources in modern news. I think if I were Mark Sargent, I wouldn't admit to having a prede-termined emotional preference towards one side of a debate before claiming a scientific proof, but at least he's admitting to something which is, in fact, incredibly widespread. The internet age puts pressure on news sources to get articles out as quickly as possible, making facts secondary to how quickly the story can be produced. Many times over the past year we have seen this result in false accusations which may never be fixed.

Moreover, an increased political divide be-tween the right and the left in the UK and abroad has meant both sides have more in-centive than ever to tar the name of the oppo-sition. The problem is amplified when people stop relying on evidence completely, and in-stead base their opinions and beliefs on feel-ing alone. This is what we see happening now, not only in the case of the flat earth, but on issues from politics to homelessness. This is the primary reason for the fake news epi-demic.

I'm not saying that the way news is received shouldn't change, it has done before and it will do again, and I'm not saying that only neg-atives have come about by this change; argu-ably, news is reaching more people more quickly than ever before. What I will say is that as a society we need to be more aware of the risks of this change, and call for better service from Facebook and other distributors, whilst taking personal responsibility for keeping our-selves informed. But don't take my word for it.

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P A G E 1 0

A thought

provoking

insight into

boarding in a

different culture,

thousands of

miles from

home.

Written by

Terry Chan,

Upper Sixth

Life in the United Kingdom The perspective from a Chinese Pupil

It was this time 4 years ago that I decided to continue my studies in the United Kingdom. I still remem-ber clearly the butterflies in my stomach while I was sitting on the seat of a British Airways plane. Now, 4 years later, I am an adult who will be sitting my A-Levels very soon. Suddenly having to stand on my own two feet was stressful at first, which I am sure is a common feel-ing for many Chinese students. No one is there to bring your laundry down or wash up dishes for you. You are ON YOUR OWN. Although it took time to get used to, it is safe to say we are all pretty independent now, which can only be a good thing. If we ignore the rain, wind and cold in the U.K., it is actually a beautiful place to be living in. Flourishing cit-ies such as Edinburgh, Nottingham, and Brighton have broadened our horizons as Chinese students. Hav-ing lived in Devon for 4 years, I have learnt the art of taking life slowly. Compared to when I was almost race-walking constantly in Hong Kong, I have adopted a much slower approach in all aspects in life, especially when eating (sorry friends…). All jokes aside, I certainly would not regret walking on the dewy grass on a calm Sunday morning and going to beaches with my friends when we went camping in Padstow.

My emotional journey can be de-scribed as a roller-coaster. Although it was fun trying to teach the locals how to use chopsticks, write their names in Chinese and watch them eat raw rice; the world suddenly be-comes a lonely place when it’s 2:00 am and I feel extremely homesick. I wished I was there to support and look after my mother when she had a surgery, I wished I was there when my sister had her university gradua-tion ceremony, I wished I was there to celebrate my father’s birthday and I wished I was there to say goodbye when my grandma passed away. Distance was the real barrier. Overthinking got me into some dark places. My advice to anyone when feeling homesick is to talk to people: friends, teachers, tutors - getting thoughts off your chest is a great thing to do. There is one other issue that con-cerns me. Unfortunately, despite all the effort of promoting integration and equality, racism still exists. It makes me despair when I realise that every single Chinese student would have experienced racism of some degree during their time in the United Kingdom. I just want to point out that the occasional and imbecilic jokes based on old stereotypes from friends are barely acceptable. When

the com-ments are meant to in-sult, howev-er, it is not remotely ac-ceptable and it does not matter who you are: rich, poor, strong, weak, well-educated,

T H E C L O I S T E R

Page 11: Cloister Summer 2018 - Mount Kelly

uneducated, an apology needs to be given. I know certain individuals find it difficult to apol-ogise, therefore my message for any victims of racism would be: the good thing about our society is that those who are racist tend to be conformists and are narrow minded. There is a Chinese saying: 'with a little forbearance, you will find calm and peace; take a little step back, and you will find more space around you.’ Therefore, continue to work hard to-wards your goal in silence, and let success make the noise one day. I will be heading back to Hong Kong after I have done my Master’s degree and living in the U.K. will be history for me. Perhaps there are things that I won’t miss such as jet-lags, 12

hour flights and the awkward moments of whether I should hold the door for people who are 20 feet behind me; it is and always will be, a great experience. I am thankful for my parents who allowed this opportunity for me. I am thankful for all the people I have met, including my friends, my girlfriend, teach-ers, housemasters, matrons, people who have supported me and people who have doubted and criticized me, in allowing me to mature and improve. My name is Terry Chan. This is my life in the United Kingdom as a Chinese student.

Across 1 Ring shaped to line a small hole (7) 8 “Master” of “stream”, say (7) 9 Related to language (7) 10 Card game — as an act (anag) (7) 11 Grating (5) 13 Adult females (9) 15 Maize (9) 18 Excited by desire (5) 21 Short passage (7) 22 Insect’s body part (7) 23 Hundredth of an old Deutschmark (7) 24 A poetical tear? (3-4)

Down 1 Narrow gorge with a stream in North America (5) 2 One in possession (5) 3 Very tasty (5-8) 4 Powder used on the body (6) 5 Sewing tool (7,6) 6 Mural painted on wet plaster (6) 7 Set out (on an enterprise) (6) 12 State openly (4) 14 Green fruit (4) 15 Nodding off (6) 16 Top (6) 17 Temporary suspension of operation (6) 19 More spirited (5) 20 Sewed together quickly (3,2)

P A G E 1 1

Crossword solution with Mrs Bridger

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P A G E 1 2

A powerful

insight into the

real history of

the Lam Tsuen

Wishing Tree

Written by

Grace Liu,

Year 11

Wishing Trees In Hong Kong there is a place with a lot of plants. They have a famous tree called the Wishing Tree!

Have you ever gone to the Lam Tsu-en Wishing Tree to make a wish? I went there several years ago. Some-thing strange happened to me there. Now, let me tell you the REAL history of the wishing trees.

On my birthday, my friend, Chris, took me to the Wishing Tree as a celebration. It turned out to be a mysterious night. We first wrote our wishes on the joss paper, ‘to stay together happily with each other for-ever’.

Chris and I threw the joss paper hard to the top of the Wishing Tree. It is said that the higher the branch the joss paper lands on, the more likely it is that the wish would come true. Just when we thought our wish would come true, a sudden gust of wind blew the tree.

‘Oh! No! Our joss paper has disap-peared!’ I shouted.

‘Let’s find it together!’ Chris suggest-ed.

Unluckily, we couldn’t find it. We sat near the tree desperately. After a while, I saw a ghost holding our joss paper. I immediately tried to stop it.

‘What are you shouting at?’ asked Chris.

He couldn’t see the ghost; I was the only one who could see it. I knew Chris wouldn’t believe that there were ghosts in this world, so we just

left together. But I decided to come back the next night by my-self…

Please don’t ask me why, because I don’t know the answer.

‘Why did you take our joss paper?’ I asked immediately when I saw the ghost again.

‘Woo… you are so brave to come back and ask me the question.’ The ghost seemed surprised to see me.

‘Reply to my question!’ I got into a flap.

‘I can make your wish come true,’ the ghost murmured and grinned at me.

‘What… what’s your... name?’ I stammered and started to shiver.

‘I’m called Banyan, but that’s not important. I won’t hurt you… ,’ the ghost whispered.

‘Why are you staying here?’ I asked bravely.

‘When I was young I wished that everyone’s wishes could come true. That’s why I told the villagers to wish on a piece of paper and throw it to the tree. The problem is, many of their wishes have not been fulfilled. So I decided to stay here after I died to help people ful-fil their wishes secretly,’

T H E C L O I S T E R

Joss paper, also known as ghost money, is sheets of paper and/or paper-crafts made into burnt offerings which are common in various Asian religious practices including the veneration of the deceased on holidays and special occasions.

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P A G E 1 3

Banyan said. ‘However … um… I’m lazy… so if the joss paper isn’t thrown high enough on the tree, I don’t want to fly down to get it.’

‘Why couldn’t my friend see you while I could?’ I asked. I wasn’t afraid of Banyan anymore.

‘It’s because your wish was stronger than your friend’s. I can feel that.’ Banyan replied - and then disappeared.

That’s what happened that night.

Next time, when you visit Hong Kong and go to Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree, remember to throw the joss paper as high as you can so that your wish will come true.

The Top Athletes Who are the top athletes in the school? The answer may surprise you. Obvious answers such as the swimmers or rugby players are very wide of the mark, so it’s time to blow apart your prejudices and reconfigure your thoughts on this thorny topic.

The hidden group of talented individuals who win the top spot are of course the singers! Highly honed technique, daily strength and conditioning for the vocal chords and a finely tuned programme of nutrition consisting of no dairy of any kind but plenty of crumble and chocolate brownies.

One of the key things to remember about the singers is that unlike other training regimes which have clearly timetabled sessions, the singer is in training every hour of the day. In-deed it is more of a lifestyle choice than a performance programme, necessitating al-

most constant humming and spontaneous three part harmony in the corridors between lessons.

How do they measure their success though, I hear you ask? Well, representation at nation-als is important of course, but individual per-sonal vocal bests or PVBs as we prefer to call them are a key indicator. Top soprano, Clarice, recently set a Mount Kelly open rec-ord with a sustained top Db in rehearsal. Something for the rest to aspire to of course.

So now you know. If you want to achieve se-rious kudos and set yourself up for life, then singing is the only way to go. You even get the chance to show off your vocal “pecs” in Chapel twice a week. It doesn’t get much better than that.

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Book Review

by

Josie Francis

T H E C L O I S T E R

‘I Am Malala’ by Malala Yousafzai, co written with

Christina Lamb.

The girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban.

‘I Am Malala,’ a fierce memoir co-written with Christina Lamb, is a testa-ment to the strength of character of a young Afghan woman passionate about women’s right to an education. Malala’s fierce struggle to battle ex-tremism and prejudice is revealed in this book.

It begins the day she was shot in the head, on her school bus, by the Taliban but backtracks to give the reader an insight into her early fami-ly, and education-orientated life. Whether Malala was be-ing a competitive teenager and keeping track of who she beat in exams, or writing a blog for the BBC that cata-pulted her onto the interna-tional stage, her life before 16 is dynamic and brave. The post gunshot section of the book is equally animated and thoroughly eloquent.

If you are looking for a book that will inspire and empower you, this is certainly an excel-lent read. It is honest and in-sightful. The determined tone and lively pace will stim-ulate you – and provoke you into simple astonishment.

P A G E 1 4

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P A G E 1 5

The music of Joni Mitchell Joni Mitchell, a marvel of folk music and a pin-nacle of change is, unfortunately, lost on most of us millennials. She is frequently referred to as one of the best singer-songwriters from the last century. Born in 1943 in Canada, she moved to California to attend Art College and to pursue music. She has written songs like Both Sides Now, Big Yellow Taxi and A Case of You - all of which show her roots in folk but also the occasional jazz influence. But how much did Joni take from her home country? What enabled her to write the music she did? Firstly, we should address the obvious. She’s a woman. In the 1960’s solo female acts get-ting platinum records was unheard of - unless they had huge management. So, from the very beginning, Mitchell was a new type of act. This is possibly because in the 1960’s Canada was far more open to successful women than America was. This enabled her to write lyrics from a position of success. She had defeated the opposition and she used this to advance her career. She was a deter-mined environmentalist and she held open views on many big issues, some of which are still relevant today. Being part of the hippy culture she, of course, shared these views with many others. Secondly, she was an outsider. She could say and see things that others might not because she had no part in the goings-on of America. She also knew another way of doing things. As a Canadian, she would be stereotypically more liberal than the Americans. Her success may also just be due to the fact that Ameri-cans were bored of listening to other Ameri-cans. She can tell Americans about the world because she is from another country. Ameri-ca being so huge, it means most of its resi-dents rarely look elsewhere.

Finally, from a musical perspective, she learned her music from people in folk clubs and the like, in Canada. This is where she would have learned alternative tunings (tuning the guitar so just the strings on their own play a chord) enabling her to play com-plex chords with little effort but still confining herself to one key. Her lyrics are by far the masterpiece of her work. The subtle com-plexities in their meaning make each song more meaningful and enjoyable.

If you get a chance this week, find some Joni Mitchell music and have a listen. Keep an open mind and her music will grow on you until you can’t get it out of your head.

Written by George Bowles

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The busy timetable – You are required to be at a number of events. Not only will you be at the events but often you also take an active role in the event, for example, doing readings and of course the Founder’s Day speech.

Founder’s Day speech – When most Mount Kelly pupils think of the Heads of School, they think of the speech at Found-er’s Day. Current ideas include breaking out into song mid-speech or doing the entire speech using interpretive dance. We will leave you in suspense until the day ar-rives....

Being in charge of the monitors – Another major role is the organization of the moni-tors. One of the most enjoyable aspects is the annual monitor pranks. The pranks are a topic that arises at every single monitor meeting in the hope of making them bigger and better than ever before.

We would strongly encourage students to apply for the roles of Heads of School. It has made our last year at Mount Kelly so much more enriching and memorable while also developing skills that can be trans-ferred to later life.

What we like:

Being able to make a difference – Not only is your voice heard and acted upon, but also you give a voice to other pupils. e.g. through regular meetings with the Headmaster and School Coun-cil.

Role of authority – This is one of the best things about being Heads of School and is also one of the most difficult. We always try to strike a good balance between being respected and also being someone that other pupils can talk to.

The Life of the Head Boy and Head Girl by Richard Bennett and Olivia Banks

Edition compiled by Mr Pearson

Richard and Olivia stand proudly with a tree planted to

commemorate their time as Head Boy and Head Girl.