THE SKINNERS’

SCHOOLTHE NEWSLETTER

january – february 2010

Contents

2-3 Headmaster’s foreword

4 Science News

5 debating/old skinners

6 CHARITIES COMMITTEE

7 TANZANIA BOOK PROJECT

8 WORLD CHALLENGE

9-10 ENHANCEMENT

11 h.e.a.l. GARDEN

12-13 daily mail cup

14 PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION

15-16 Dates ahead

The measure of a good school is not

simply that it achieves excellence in one area, butthat it shows strength across many. In the last fewweeks, I have been very pleased to see thatSkinners’ is able to do just that.

We are familiar with our outstanding headlinefigures for exam results and university entrance.However, a recent analysis of our performanceshows just how strong we are. The Governmenthave just released a study of our results using avariety of different measures. The performance ofpupils with a Special Educational Need, those onfree school meals, those of differing ethnic groupsand a host of other characteristics wereconsidered. At Skinners’, no group of pupilsperformed less well than others and the vastmajority outperformed all expectation. It seemsthat the American phrase “No child left behind” isvery relevant to Skinners’ academic work.

Green Flag Award Renewed

Two years ago we were one of the first secondaryschools in Kent to be awarded the coveted GreenFlag for our work on sustainability. After aninspection, it has just been renewed. To honourthe award of the one thousandth Green Flag, therewill be a ceremony in the House of Commons withthe Environment Minister. Ten schools were invitedfrom across the country. Nine are Primary Schools;only Skinners’ represents the Secondary Schools. Asignal honour for Mr Moody and his Eco-Committee.

Debaters Reach National Finals

Debating has always been a strength. In the lasttwo years, the school has twice reached the final ofthe English Speaking Union competition. This year,with two separate teams, we have reached thenational finals of both the Oxford and theCambridge Unions. James Tribe and Billy Wildi -one of our debating teams – are both in Yr 11 andhave successfully competed against Sixth Formerson the verge of heading to university. We lookforward to hearing how we do in bothcompetitions.

Daily Mail Cup Progress

Finally, we congratulate the 1st XV for their successin the Daily Mail Cup. We reached the quarterfinalstage, where 512 schools have been reduced to thebest eight nationally.

On Wednesday 9th February we faced RGSNewcastle and, after a thrilling match againstexcellent opponents, lost 29 – 13. Our 1st XV werea credit to themselves and the school. We lookforward to next year, when many of the teamreturn.

The Beadle’s Prize

The Beadle’s Award is offered for the first

time this year, following an extremely generousdonation by an old boy. £3000 is available eachyear to support a pupil of the school or an ex-pupil in a gap year. The funding will allow pupilsto take part in expeditions, trips andadventurous training around the world. The oldboy has also donated a prize, which is a piece ofrock brought back from the summit of Everest,mounted in Perspex. This is awarded to thepupil who has most distinguished himself onadventurous activities over the course of theyear. The first recipient of this prize is JoeSevers.

Joe’s description of the circumstances that wonhim the prize sum up the qualities that this prizeand award are intended to foster: “I took parton the Ladakh expedition. 3 days into the 11day trek we were approaching the first of ourtwo goals: a 4900metre peak (that’s just over16,000ft). I was starting to be seriously affectedby acute mountain sickness (or altitudesickness); many other people were affected, butarguably I had the most severe symptoms. Itwas the day of the ascent to the first peak; mycondition had worsened through the night. Iwas told by the expedition leader that it was theend of the road, and that I’d have to go back

down the mountain. If I went, I would miss outon the rest of the trek, and the ultimate goal ofascending to a pass of 5100 metres (nearly17,000ft). Despite my illness, and after sometime of heated discussion, I managed toconvince the team leader – with a little helpfrom Mr Moody – to allow me to continue, buton the condition that if the symptoms worsenedat all, I would be turning around and goingstraight back down to the nearest village.

I managed to reach the 4900m peak, along withthe rest of the team, through what Mr Moodydescribed as a mixture of ‘sheer grit anddetermination’. I and the team continued thetrek, although two friends had to turn back dueto illness over the next few days. I managed tocomplete the trek, despite the altitude sicknessremaining, and reach the last peak of 5100metres – proving the expedition leader wrong.”

Joe ends this incredible description of ‘mentaland physical endurance’ with a final point: “Iwould like to point out that any member of theexpedition could have won the prize, as they alldisplayed an amazing team spirit, willpower anddetermination to complete the trek, I was justlucky to be put forward for the award!”

S J EversonHeadmaster

The former Beadle is shown the prize by the Head

On Tuesday February 2nd a team from Oxford University MaterialsScience Department ran some excellent practical workshops forour year 12 physics students.

One group used tensile testing rigs to stretch samples of metalsand polymers to destruction. They plotted stress-strain graphs andlearned how to use them to make decisions about which materialsto use for a particular purpose. In the other group, boys built andtested solar cells, linking their knowledge of atomic excitation fromphysics with absorption spectra from chemistry.

The students learned about the latest research into thedevelopment of materials, such as new types of ceramic forturbine blades, and how Boeing have caused the price of carbonfibres to increase several fold as they research the use of carbonreinforced materials for building the next generation of aircraft.

Jayne Shaw and her two PhD students also talked to the boysabout applying to Oxford to do Materials Science, and invited themto attend the next Open Day.

Ruth Mead

Spectroscopy in aSuitcaseOur year 13 chemists received a hands-on practicalexperience of taking infra red spectra of variouschemical samples using specialist equipment onloan from University College London. Infra redspectroscopy probes the types of chemical bonds ina molecule by firing infrared radiation at a sample.Different bonds absorb particular frequencies of IRwaves which cause vibration of the bond, the exactvalue of radiation absorbed is specific for eachparticular bond. By examining exactly whichfrequencies have been absorbed we can gaininformation about the types of bonds in amolecule.

Normal infra spectrometers are only found inacademic and research laboratories and take up thespace of a whole lab bench. UCL loaned us acompact suitcase sized spectrometer that packsinto the size of a medium suitcase. Year 13 rantheir own IR spectra of various different samplesand using some information about the mass of themolecules were able to identify the unknowns. Thespectrometer also had an unusual feature of beingable to look at solids. We managed to confirm thata plastic ruler was indeed made of polythene.

Other schools in the local area also benefitted fromusing the equipment. TWBGS and Bennett receivedtraining on how to use it from us then took it awayto use with their students, whilst Combe Bank senttheir students to us to receive a workshop usingthe equipment.

Ruth Howard

Congratulations to Tom Rutland (Oxford, PPE), ThomasIngleby (Cambridge, Natural Sciences) and JamesArnold (Oxford, Chemistry) who have receivedconditional Oxbridge offers for September. Alsocongratulations to last year’s Head Boy, Sam Barker,who has received an unconditional offer from Oxfordto read Law.

Skinners’ Debating Society are having a very good yearso far! Tom Rutland and Joe Strong made it through tothe Oxford Union Finals Day (to be held in March). TheOxford Union competition is the biggest in the countryand certainly a prestigious accolade. They are very muchlooking forward to getting their teeth (metaphoricallyof course!) into the opposition.

Two new debaters, Year 11s Billy Wildi and James Tribe,surprised us all by winning their initial round for theCambridge Union in the autumn. Now they have sailedthrough the regional finals, which were held at St.Olave’s and look ahead to Cambridge’s Finals Day.Despite the rather argumentative nature of many of thedebaters, it is a friendly and welcoming society. Wewould love to see more Year 11s and 12s taking up thechallenge – debating experience has proved to be theclinching factor for a PPE place at university as well.

The Year 9s are also preparing for House Debates on avariety of historical topics.

Deborah HalifaxHead of English

Tom Rutland, Thomas Ingleby & James Arnold

The Old Skinners' Society hosted anothermemorable Annual Dinner at the School inSeptember of last year. This was followed by atypically lively and highly festive Christmas Party atthe Spa Hotel on 19th December, despite thearrival of freezing temperatures and plenty ofsnow. Raffle prizes included an Aston MartinDriving experience, a signed Chelsea shirt and aNintendo DS Lite amongst other great prizes. Thedancing, carols and good times continued long intothe night and it was good to see a healthy numberof Prefects and 6th Formers at both events. In factthe rendition of the Leopards' Song at theChristmas Party nearly lifted the roof!

The next event on the OS Social calendar is theSpring Social which is to be held at the School onSaturday 27th March. This event is relatively newin the OS Social calendar and the Committee islooking to develop the event with an emphasis onattracting more recent leavers and 6thformers. The other events are always very popular,

which means that spaces available to currentstudents is limited. However, the Spring Socialprovides a great opportunity to get involved withthe Old Skinners' Society and I urge you all to doexactly that.

I hope that those who attend the Spring Social onSaturday 27th March have a really fun night, and ofcourse that when you do leave the School, you jointhe Society and contribute to both the excellentsocial scene and support or the school.

Information can be found about the Society and itsevents on the website at www.oldskinners.org.

Richard SharplesPresident, Old Skinners' Society

Skinners’ has consistently prided itself in supportingcharitable causes. During 2009 the current upper sixthcommittee chose to support Read International and theCystic Fibrosis Trust. Read International provides booksto children in counties where learning materials are notavailable. They focus on obtaining textbooks for KeyStage 3, GCSE and A-level. We chose ReadInternational as it provides other students lessfortunate than us the opportunity of obtaining thequality of education we receive at Skinners’. The CysticFibrosis Trust raises money for those affected by theillness, which is very common, with over 8,500 victimsin the UK today. Our inspiration for choosing thischarity arose due to the unfortunate case of one of ourpupil’s siblings who is currently suffering from theillness; we wanted to give him a better quality of lifeand raise awareness of this disease.

So far this year the achievements of the committeehave been many. During September 2009 we saw thereturn of the infamous “Skinners’ Got Talent.”competition. It is events such as these where wecelebrate the further talents of our pupils. Skills suchas completing a Rubik’s Cube in just over a minute andanimal taming were all on the agenda - not to forgetthe vast amount of singing talent. The event proved agreat success, with special thanks to Tom Rutland in theupper sixth who made it all possible.

This year the committee and the school have;

•responded to the recent earthquake in Indonesia

•given generously to The Poppy Appeal

•once again showed their talents in ‘Stars in TheirEyes ‘ to raise money for charity

The Charities Committee also prides itself in supporting“Help for Heroes” as there are many boys from thisschool who have fought, or are fighting in, wars pastand present. I myself intend to join the forces when Ileave Skinners’ so I believe this to be a very worthycause.

Haiti Appeal raises £3,500

More recently the compassion of parents and pupilswas shown once again. The Haiti Earthquake left over200,000 thousand casualties with the toll expected torise even further. The school reacted to the disasterand with the help of pupils and parents we raised over£3,500, a fantastic achievement of which we can all beproud.

But what is the future of charities at Skinners’?February of 2010 has seen the handover from myself toMatt Bassi in the Lower Sixth form. I wish him well inthe coming year and I am sure he will carry on thisimportant role at Skinners’ with continuing success.

Ralph Lockwood

Chairman of the Charities Committee

Skinners’ Old Boys join forces to support Tanzanian book charity

Following a recent school reunion, two Skinners oldboys have joined forces to support the charityREAD International, previously known as TanzaniaBook Project. The charity began in 2004 when agroup of students at university had a vision tochange the world. A gap year experience had leftthe group so shocked by the lack of resources inTanzanian schools that they were compelled to dosomething about it.

Robert Wilson, who attended Skinners’ from 1994to 2001, founded the charity. He explains: “We feltcompelled to act and began by contacting our localsecondary schools and collecting books to send toTanzania. We registered as a charity and our workbegan in earnest. The book project has gone fromstrength to strength with more and moreuniversities coming on board each year. We nowhave 22 Book Projects across the UK, and since2003 we have shipped over half a million books toTanzania.”

At a recent reunion, Robert met another oldLeopard – the term given to ex-Skinners’ boys –David Fry, a UK & European Patent Attorney at AgileIP LLP. Fry, who attended Skinners’ from 1985 to1992, explains: “Rob’s story was incredibly inspiringso I volunteered to organise trade mark protection,through my company Agile.”

“The European application is currently goingthrough. It felt great to be helping out on aprofessional level; we will happily provide the sameservice to the Charity for many years in the future.I am also currently seeking attorneys in Tanzaniawho will also provide their services for free. ”

Wilson adds: “It’s fantastic to have support from anold boy at Skinners’ to help progress the charityeven further. We’re really grateful for the supportAgile has provided.”

The Skinners' School was opened in TunbridgeWells in 1887. The current roll is 839, with over 220in the Sixth Form. Head Teacher Mr Eversoncomments: “Skinners’ boys have achieved manydistinctions over the years – in music, athletics,rugby, drama and business. It’s wonderful to seetwo former students now running their ownsuccessful businesses and contributing to society –both locally and as far afield as Tanzania. I wishthem every success.”For further information visit:http://www.readinternational.org.uk/http://www.agile-ip.co.uk/

The 2011 Challengers from Year 11 are already working towardstheir expedition to Chile. Before the February break the teammet and agreed that they would follow some treks in LaCampana National Park during the early acclimatisation phase.This National Park in the middle of the coastal mountain rangewas a favourite haunt of Charles Darwin and might offer aglimpse of Aconcagua in Argentina – South America’s highestpeak. It will be a lush contrast to the Atacama desert, the driestin the world.

For the Main trekking phase the boys will be based in San Pedrode Atacama, with the ambition to climb Volcan Lascar (5610m),an impressive volcano with a distinctive crater rising above thevillage. Even if it is not possible to climb Volcan Lascar, it will bean impressive achievement to trek along the lower slopes whichstand between 3000 and 4000m. The route will take the teamthrough the salt flats and the pristine Miscanti and Meniques.

The boys have asked for a project where they can leavesomething permanent (despite expressing some fears abouttheir building skills!) and where they can meet and interact withthe local people. They plan to spend any spare time at the endof the expedition in Santiago from where they can reach boththe sea and the Andes. Since it will be winter in the southernhemisphere, sightseeing in the capital may predominate, butthey hope to spend a day outside the capital white water raftingin the Cajon del Maipo

The boys need to raise about £4,000 each, so they are lookingfor fund raising ideas; they are thinking of running a Quiz Nightand a Race Night next year, as well as joining sponsored runs.One pair raised money before Christmas by successfullycompleting the Bewl Water circuit as a 3 legged race.

Both teams of challengers are still looking for opportunities toearn money to pay for their trip. Any offers of work would begratefully received.

John Burton

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World Challenge Expedition to Chile 2011

Outside Speakers

The Sixth Form Geographers were delightedto welcome Mr Jim Kehoe and Mr AndrewTaylor from our Borough Council who gave avery interesting talk on planning conflicts inthe Tunbridge Wells area. It was fascinatingto hear about the planning discussionsbehind the developments of PemburyHospital, the old ABC cinema site in thecentre of town and new residentialconstructions by Grosvenor Bridge.

An excellent turn-out of 35 Sixth FormGeographers no doubt will have learned a lotfrom this lecture. Many thanks to Jim andAndrew.

Mr C FlemingHead of Geography

Michael Wadsworth, Lower Sixth Form, Mr Andrew Taylor, Head of Development Control TWBC,

Mr Jim Kehoe Head of Planning Services TWBC, and Oliver King, Head Boy

Building Bridges Masterclasses

Following on from the success of last year, we are delighted that The Building Bridgespartnership sponsored this year’s masterclasses which ran over four Saturday mornings from16th January to 6th February. A total of 84 Year 7 to 9 students from six local secondary schoolsexplored, tested, calculated and enjoyed these 5 free courses:

Earth Story, a look at the geology of the earth’s crust; Structural Engineering, the stresses andstrains of building things; Advanced photography which saw the students creating animationsfrom their photos; Rockets, building and firing rockets and Micro-Electronics where thestudents built then played a mini electronic organ. These classes show that learning is fun andin the case of the rocket that travelled over 53 metres straight up, it can be breathtaking too!

Grateful thanks go to TalyaRoberson from Building Bridgesand Mr Hubbard, Mr Walters,Mr Lennon, Mr Oschilewskiand Mr & Mrs Mead.

Roger BeeDirector of Studies

The School was very pleased to be invited tothis year’s Merlyn Rees Memorial Lecture inLondon on Tuesday 19th January. LordMerlyn-Rees was Home Secretary during the1970s and was instrumental in bringingchanges to legislation which allowedprosecution by UK courts of Nazi warcriminals. In conjunction with the HolocaustEducation Trust, this year’s keynote speakerwas Efraim Zuffor, Director of the WiesenthalCentre, Jerusalem, and possibly the last ofthe “Nazi Hunters.”

Dr Zuffor’s continued search for perpetratorsof horrific war crimes was both riveting anddisturbing, and we were incredibly honouredto be in the company of 25 holocaustsurvivors, MPs Michael Gove and LouiseEllman, and the son of Nicholas Winton, whoorganized the first of the Kindertransportsfrom Central Europe which saved the lives of10,000 Jewish Children. It was a trulymemorable event.

Jack Barker

Holocaust Memorial Day

On the 27th January 1945 the RussianArmy entered and liberated theconcentration camps at Auschwitz-Berkinau. This day has now becomeour national memorial to theHolocaust and as part of raisingawareness of this day members of theLower Sixth wore badges emblazonedwith the date 27.01.45. The selectionof a set of numbers was equallythought to be symbolic as a memorialto the millions who died.

Mr C Fleming

Efraim Zuffor & Jack Barker

Jack Barker, Matthew Bassi, Lewis Manning, Michael Turner, Adam Traynor and Tom Voshighlight Holocaust Memorial Day with their lapel badges - 27.01.45

On 14th December representatives ofthe HEAL Committee collected ourRoots & Shoots silver award fromJane Goodall and Colin Firth’s wife,Livia Giuggioli, at the ceremony inLondon .

The boys were inspired by hermoving speech, they got to swapideas with 11 other schools and werealso allowed the opportunity to goaround London Zoo itself.

Maryce Moss-Montoya

Skinners’ School 1st XV ground out another victoryto take then into the quarter finals, as theydefeated a talented Hampton College side 15-12 atSouthfields on Wednesday. Skinners’ took the leadthrough a well struck Ben Gamble penalty early onin the first quarter. Hampton were dominated inthe early exchanges and the young Skinners’ sidesquandered some golden opportunities. Clearlyout of match practice, the Skinners’ side committeda series of infringements that were swiftly dealtwith by the referee. As a consequence, Skinners’found themselves camped in their own 22 for thesecond quarter. A charged down clearance kickfrom scrum half Emmerson Wood saw a Hamptonflanker collect the ball and make his way to theSkinners’ try line to bring the score to 5 – 3.Hampton converted and went into the lead 7-3.

With 6 minutes left of the first half Skinners’ finallyfound their target in the lineout and an impressive25m drive saw the forwards rumble over in thecorner to bring the scores to 8-7. Fly half BenGamble coolly slotted the conversion from thetouchline to take Skinners’ into half time leading10-7.

In the second half, with the slope in their favour,Hampton attacked from deep and broke theSkinners’ line on numerous occasions. But forsterling defense from the stand out MurrayGalbraith-Lowe, they would have scored.

It was a Galbraith-Lowe turn over deep inside theSkinners’ 22 that saw Skinners’ clear their lines andresume play on the halfway line. The next passageof play saw Hampton infringe and the resultingpenalty was kicked to touch for a Skinners’ lineout.Another catch and drive was held up over theHampton line and re set as a scrum. A pick and gofrom the back saw the abrasive Skinners’ packsmash their way to the Hampton line, with the ballbeing touched down by Jake Sayers.

Skinners’ dig deep to reach quarter finals of the U18

Daily Mail Cup

At 15 -7 Skinners’ looked to be back in control but amoment of madness from Emmerson Wood sawhim yellow carded and sent to the sin bin for 10minutes. Hampton saw their opportunity and slickhandling saw them touchdown in the corner tobring the score to 15-12 with the conversion goingwide. Both sides now knew that the lead was up forgrabs. It was Hampton who responded first; aclinical lineout enabled them to get the ball wideand create an overlap. This was superblyneutralized by the Skinners’ back row who turnedover the ball and advanced into the Hampton half.The final 2 minutes belonged to Skinners’ as theirpack ground out the hard yards and advancedtowards the Hampton line. Numerous forwarddrives saw Skinners’ edge ever closer, and as thefinal drive was driven into touch amidst a bundle ofexhausted bodies, the referee ended the game andSkinners took one step closer to the finals.

To reach the final stages of the Daily Mail Cup atthe senior level is to be identified as one of thebest rugby schools in the country. It is the premiertournament for school rugby; originally, 512schools entered the competition – now only 8remain.

The success of the Skinners’ side is all the moreremarkable, given their youth. 15 members of the22 in the squad are 16 or 17 years old and willreturn to play for the school next year. Althoughyounger than the sides they play, and oftenphysically smaller, the team has won through withtheir never-say-die attitude and determination toplay for each other.

Head of Rugby Nick Oldham praised the team’sdedication and workmanlike attitude.“The boys have put a lot of hard work and effortinto their rugby and they are reaping the rewardsas a result. The boys have played someoutstanding rugby this season, competing in oneof the toughest rugby circuits in the country.

“At 1st XV level, schools rugby is of the highestquality. Many of the sides we play are fieldingInternational and contracted premiershipAcademy players.”

“Competing at the highest level is well within thereach of our young squad, who are bursting withtalent and play extremely well for each other, awork ethic installed in them from their inductionto rugby at the school. Given that they have 15members of the squad of returning next year thefuture looks very promising.”

Headmaster Simon Everson praised the team andthe quality of the coaching on offer.“The pride and teamwork displayed by our 1st XVrepresent every pupil at Skinners’. Our playershave surprised their opposition with theirresilience and skill.”“Our success is due in no small measure to thecoaching talents of Mr Nick Oldham and his teamof staff.”

For queries contact Fiona Lay 01892 539216 / fiona.lay@gmail.com

March 2010

2 Yr 10 GCSE Maths Module Exam2 Year 13 Theatre Studies trip to ‘ War Horse’ @ The National3 Year 9 GCSE Science exams4 Yr 9 Parents & GCSE Options Evening 5 – 8pm8 Joint Music Concert11 Frank Mason Hockey Tournament11 BBC School Report Day11 ‘Shackleton’ talk in Thomson Theatre @ 7.00pm12 Firminger U15 Hockey Tournament 12 CCF Dinner, 7pm in Dining Hall13 Oxford Union Debating Final13/14 AS/A2 Theatre Studies Exam preparation in Thomson Theatre15 GCSE Language Oral Exams Year 1116 GCSE Language Oral Exams Year 1116 PA Committee Meeting, 8pm17 Year 13 English Study Day in London18 Jan AS/A2 Module Results 18 Year 12 Parents’ Evening19/20 CCF Field Day20/21 AS Theatre Studies Exam preparation in Thomson Theatre22/23 GCSE Language Oral Exams Year 1123 AS Theatre Studies exam in Thomson Theatre (all day)24 Year 7 Theatre in Education presentation ‘The Man from the Council’24 Yr 12 Theatre Studies performance at Mayfield26 PA Quiz night in Dining Hall26 Deadline for Year 9 GCSE options27/28 A2 Theatre Studies Exam preparation in Thomson Theatre28 Year 12 Geography Fieldtrip to Devon departs29 A2 Theatre Studies performance exam in Thomson Theatre (all day)30 Junior Concert, 7.30pm Thomson Theatre31 Reading competition in School Hall

April 2010

1 Term 4 Ends1 Year 12 Geography Trip returns from Devon6 CCF Adventurous Training to Okehampton/Dartmoor until 13th April19 Term 5 starts20 PA Committee Meeting, 8pm21 Year 13 Leavers Photo 9.10am22 German Exchange Pupils arrive23 Year 13 Geography Conference in London23 Inter-schools debating competition, 4pm in Thomson Theatre24/25 Year 11 Drama GCSE prep in Thomson Theatre28 Team Maths Challenge28 Year 11 Drama practical in Thomson Theatre29 Junior Maths Challenge (Years 7 and 8)30 Year 12 Higher Education Conference in Canterbury30 German Exchange Pupils Depart

STOP PRESS:

In order to provide an efficient and helpful service, West Kent Community Health would like to provide students together with their parents and carers with the contact details for the School Nurse, Sue Bowman:-

Office: 01892 539144Mobile: 07507 555674

Feedback on the newsletter is always welcome. Do let us know what you think. Please feel free to email any comments or suggestions to: yourvoice@skinners-school.org.uk

I hope that you have enjoyed reading the latest edition. Whilst it is designed to be read on the screen, there is a printer-friendly version accessible by clicking here if you prefer a paper copy.

Susan PhyallAssistant Headteacher