Dear Parents and Friends,

Last weekend our MUN delegates enjoyed a very successful trip to Haileybury where, once again, a number of them were commended for their chairing and delegate skills. Congratulations to Stevie Palmer, Georgia Covill and Joshua Frost who received individual awards and Michelle Kazi who chaired the Human Rights committee.

On Saturday, we ran some successful football and netball fixtures versus Christ’s Hospital and Dunnotar and I'm very pleased to see our teams finishing the season so strongly. Particular congratulations to the 1st XI and 2nd XI football squads on each winning their respective SKIL leagues. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Schwebs for his incredible work on the hockey pitches this year, as he leaves us for pastures new in Germany. On Saturday evening, the 1853 Comedy Night was a tremendous success, with a packed Great Hall enjoying each of the four comedians and the compere. I had not realised that being the butt of Bobby Davro jokes was in the Headmaster’s job description, but was pleased to deflect some of the focus of his attention from our parents!

The Palm Sunday Chapel service, supported by the combined choirs, included a wonderful procession around Chapel Quad, which was much enjoyed by the congregation.

Our Drama productions have continued this week with our Year 11 pupils presenting their examination pieces. After some final rehearsals over the weekend and at the start of this week, they were assessed on Tuesday evening and then performed again for parents on Wednesday. The quality of the work that the students have produced both on stage, and technically in sound and lighting, is extremely impressive. My congratulations go to all those involved and in particular to Ms Cripps, Ms Davenport, Mrs Muldoon and Mr Edwards for their tireless work.

Wednesday afternoon saw the annual school cross-country races which we ran on a new course around our estate, testing pupils and staff with new terrain and challenges. The atmosphere was tremendously supportive and encouraging and I was delighted to see the enthusiasm of the whole School community for this event. Congratulations to all those staff and pupils who completed the course and particular to those setting the pace for the rest of us to follow! The Senior Boys’ race, completing two laps of the course, was won by Matt Weller in 17:46 and the Senior Girls’ by Diana Malynovska in 14:29. The Intermediate Boys’ race was won by Robbie Turnbull in 11:54 and the Intermediate Girls’ race by Megan Driver in 13:10. The Junior Boys’ race was won by Jack Burton in 9:19 and the Junior Girls’ by Lucia Hart in 10:10. Thank you to Mr Davies and his team of staff helpers who made this such a successful event.

At our Assembly this afternoon, I was pleased to be able to award the first round of Prefect ties and cravats to 20 of our Year 12 pupils. Further Prefect appointments will be considered during the first half of next term as this year group start to take greater responsibility for the running of the School.

Our French Exchange students left for the return trip to Orléans in the early hours of this morning and the Spanish Exchange to Zaragoza departs next week. This weekend the Senior School ski trip departs for Utah. We also have a Gold Duke of Edinburgh award expedition running in the Brecon Beacons and CCF training organised more locally. I look forward to hearing of the adventures enjoyed on these trips.

The Royal Russell Players production of ’Play on!’ by Rick Abbot is being performed in the Auditorium next week. Further details and tickets are available at www.rrplayers.co.uk.

Some of the key dates for next term are listed in this newsletter including the Patron’s Lunch and Royal Russell Day. Please hold these dates in your diaries.

With very best wishes for Easter and for an exciting Summer term ahead.

Headmaster’s Weekly

Newsletter

24 March 2016

Chris Hutchinson Headmaster

From the Chapel

Palm Sunday In an evening service, everyone was given a palm cross. These crosses, along with four large palm branches, were blessed and then taken in procession around Chapel Quad, as we sang repeatedly the hymn, There’s a man riding in on a donkey to the tune Sing Hosanna. The boarders, by joining in well, gained a sense of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, five days before his crucifixion.

School Services Bart and Lucas, who have both won Cranmer Award reading competitions, along with Maria and Ben, played the major parts in a reading of a Gospel account of the passion and death of Jesus. On Maundy Thursday we remembered the Last Supper with a voluntary service of Holy Communion.

Lenten Candles If we were here on Good Friday, the one, remaining candle would be extinguished at 3.00p.m., ‘the ninth hour’, when Jesus died.

Year 13 RS trip The students visited The National Gallery. After seeing some pre-Reformation and Counter Reformation art relevant to their syllabus, they attended a seminar on Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus (1601).

It illustrates the moment on the day of the Resurrection when Jesus took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him. [Luke 24:30, 31] The shocked reaction of the two disciples, with an elbow and a hand jutting out towards us, as well as the precarious position of a fruit basket, invite us into the vacant space. By receiving the blessed bread and wine of Holy Communion, Christians can recognize Christ’s presence today. Diagonal lines lead our eyes to Jesus. The bemused innkeeper unwittingly participates – the shadow of his head acts as a halo for Jesus and the V outline of his left shoulder and its shadow points to the hand that

blesses. The fruit is full of symbolism: rotten apple [the sin of Adam and Eve], pear [Christ’s incarnation] and pomegranate [death and resurrection]. By the basket is a shadow of a fish, an ancient symbol of Jesus: the letters of the Greek word for fish can make the first letters of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. Why not visit The National Gallery [Room 32] this Easter and see for yourself!

Answer to Chapel Quiz 71 There is a legend that St Patrick banished snakes from Ireland after they attacked him. An alternative explanation is that Ireland separated from Britain before snakes first came to England from the Continent, to which England was joined about 7,000 years ago. Scholars believe the snake story is an allegory for St Patrick’s eradication of pagan ideology.

Chapel Quiz 72 What is the symbolism of Easter eggs? [Answer before you eat them!] Prizes for pupils. This photo of a Tenerife sand sculpture of The Last Supper comes from a kind mother and reader [the reader?] of this weekly page, From the Chapel. Perhaps some of you may be there over Easter. A very happy Easter to you all!

Library News

Author Visit - Matt Dickinson What do Brian Blessed, 2 frozen fingers, 250 toffee crisp chocolates and 1 small ‘fricassed brain’ have in common? No idea? Well, they were just some of the unexpected ingredients in a day of jaw dropping tales, humorous anecdotes and fascinating photos and video footage from Matt Dickinson – Everest summiteer, film –maker and writer, who visited the Library last week. Matt was only the fifth British climber to reach the summit of Everest via its North face in 1996, after he was approached to make a film about the actor Brian Blessed’s third such attempt. No stranger to film making in adventurous conditions, Matt is also an author of teenage adventure fiction and his book, The Everest Files was shortlisted in the recent Trinity School Book Awards. Year 8 pupils were treated to a first class travel writing workshop where Matt used stories, pictures and videos from his own adventurous experiences summiting Everest to inspire our young writers to develop their creative writing skills. Immersing them into a world of extreme cold, ice, fatigue, danger and excitement where the brain needs to be stronger than the body, they wrote descriptive pieces on ‘What they would miss most on an expedition to Everest’ and ‘Who would be their perfect (fictional character) tent buddy’. Reading these short pieces out to the group led to gasps, giggles and cries of ‘ugh!’ We learned that to write a good story you need to make the reader feel like they are there in the story, alongside the characters, feeling and experiencing the drama. Strong heros or heroines are always good but more importantly your characters need personality – that whether they are human or superhuman, they feel like real people whom the reader can believe in. Being able to transport yourself into the situation you are writing about so that you can describe the scene using all your senses is a skill the pupils were encouraged to develop and use in their own writing. Alongside the creative writing workshop, Matt also encouraged pupils to push themselves on a personal level, to believe that they can achieve anything when they set their mind to it and prepare well

for the challenge – but reminded them that it takes effort, determination, and above all, resilience. To illustrate this, he showed us a video clip he had filmed of a mountaineer taking his last few slow and painful steps to reach the summit of Everest: Matt described how difficult it is to breathe when the air is so thin your lungs are effectively working at only 30% capacity and your blood is so thick, like porridge, that you can physically feel it being pumped around your heart. To keep going when it really is a struggle is no easy thing but he told us that the rewards of personal achievement can be life changing.

Haileybury MUN

Last weekend saw another successful conference for Royal Russell MUN delegates, with twenty two pupils attending Haileybury School’s 25th annual conference. The cold and windy weather didn’t put off our pupils from getting fully immersed into lobbying and debate, and it certainly didn’t put any off attending the beach themed disco! We left the conference with three awards - Stevie and Georgia with Highly Commendable awards and Josh with a Distinguished Delegate award. For several of our Year 13s it was their last conference, including Michelle who has chairing a Human Rights committee, so for some it was an emotional end to the weekend.

Last MiniMUN Debate for the Year

The students in Years 6, 7 & 8 had their last MiniMUN debate on Wednesday ably chaired by Timone and Rolanda. This debate on the rainforest was very well attended with over 30 students arguing for help from developed countries for the developing countries with rainforests that need protecting. Mr Keable-Elliott and Miss Green had the unenviable task of selecting the awards for the students in each year since the standard of debating this year has been really high. In the end the following deservedly won:

David Cherry, Year 6

Arthur Heath, Year 7

Jack Burton, Year 8

Jago Burgess-Gibbs, Year 8 MiniMUN Debater of the Year.

Sixth Form Assembly

This week the Sixth Form were treated to a performance by the up-and-coming, Irish boy band Taken. The band, which consisted of Stephen Barron, Eoghan MacMahon, and Richard Power, sang a selection of songs including one they had written themselves entitled ‘All it is’. In addition to the impromptu ‘pop concert’ which was very well received, in particular by the female members of the audience, the band also spoke on a more serious matter, cyber bullying. They touched upon the problems it causes, what to do when it happens, and included a story from past experience and coming from a younger perspective.

All of which benefit students who do not want to step forward and admit they're being bullied, Overall it was an enjoyable yet informative assembly.

For more about Taken, see facebook.com/takenlive

Year 7 Science

My Science lessons took on a new dimension in March. Sets 7P and 7Q completed a revision lesson on digestion by drawing around their bodies and piecing together the digestive organs in the correct locations. They had to complete charts, questions, and labelling - all in competition!! I just sat back and watched! Well maybe not.

These are a great set of photos of pupils having fun! Stephanie Milton-Thompson

Stephanie Milton-Thompson

From the Sport Department

Netball A nice quiet week to finish the season.

We also had a netball meeting / donut party to thank all the girls for their hard work this season.

A special congratulations to the following:

Junior coaches player = Anna Stone Inter coaches player = Maddy Longhurst Senior coaches player = Carlie Hedmann

Most committed = Erika Rugyendo-Henry

Junior most improved = Emily Giles Inter most improved = Maddy Rhodes Senior most improved = Linda Ge

It has been a thoroughly enjoyable, successful and competitive season – well done to all involved

Football The football season finished in spectacular style with both the 1st and 2nd XI teams winning the tending matches against Christ’s Hospital. This meant that they both won their respective SKIleagues and are champions!

The U12 team travelled away to Wye in Kent and came away victorious with comfortable win and are now in the last 16 Nationally. Our Intra-school football programme culminated in a Champions League competition. This was ferociously fought, well done to all those players involved. It was great to see those once again who don't usually have the opportunity to compete in fixtures, experience a well fought competition.

From the Sport Department

Cross-Country

From the Sport Department

Trampolining Grace travelled all the way to Wigan at the weekend for the National Schools Trampoline Finals. To qualify for this prestigious event Grace had to compete in two previous rounds which she did in great style. After a long wait around for most of the day she performed two brilliant routines scoring great marks. The competition was tough and very close, Grace finished an amazing 6th place!

Huge congratulations on their superb achievement, #hardworkpaysoff Thanks also to Helen Ransom who was chief coach on the day.

Biathlon A great weekend for Emily Taylor and James Lloyd at the National Schools Biathlon championships. Emily ran 1600m and swam 100m really well to finish in 83rd place in a tough U14 group. James powered round the track with nothing left at the end, a great 2.41.47 and huge personal best! He then swam brilliantly too with another PB swim. He finished in a superb 33rd place. Most importantly he was a fantastic role model for our younger members of the team, supporting and advising them on race technique, well done.

The staff and U15 squad "competed" with the ORs and the U19s. A hard fought contest ensued with the ORs coming out on top due to some excellent shooting - Harry - and physicality under the hoop - thanks Daniel. Even Amanfi's fast break threat couldn't bring us back into the game. Bring on the rematch next season!

Staff v OR Basketball

Bobby Davro in Surprise Appearance at

Sold Out 1853 Society Comedy Night!

Over 200 family with their friends and supporters of Royal Russell and The 1853 Society had a spectacular evening last Saturday. Our sense of anticipation was heightened by the surprise announcement of a guest appearance of comedy legend Bobby Davro. Comedienne compare, Sally Anne Hayward, kept control: Sally Anne was joined by Phil Reid, Paul Ricketts and Phil Butler – all highly talented comedians. We have Sally Anne to thank for establishing what will get us adults a detention: Our Headmasters did come in for a bit of scrutiny…. and only the brave dared to heckle, or for that matter to sit at the front! Evenings as good as these don’t happen by themselves, the committee would like to thank our three corporate sponsors and of course Joke Club for putting on one terrific show! Thanks to the 1853 Society committee for their hard work: It is an honour to deliver events to appeal to a wide cross section of our community - that involve family and friends: what more can that say about how we value our School. Although having a great time is our main objective, the evening will have made a substantial contribution to the Pavilion fund. Thank you!

Race Night Saturday 7th May 2016 Sure to be a success, an evening offering another opportunity to get together, enjoy the company, have a laugh and raise a bob or two for the 1853 Society. Tickets cost £15pp, which includes a Fish & Chip Supper (vegetarian and non-fish options available) from McDermott’s Fish Bar in Forestdale. A cash bar will offer Wines, Beer and Soft Drinks. Doors open at 7pm, racing starts at 7.30pm. Family, friends and colleagues are all welcome.

To order tickets please contact emmathistleton@hotmail.com. Please include your name, telephone number and number of tickets required. To be held in the Junior School Assembly Hall – so tickets are limited! If you would like to sponsor a race, please either email Emma or visit www.royalrussell.co.uk/Donations. We would be delighted to hear from you.

Tickets still available for the Royal Russell Players next Production

Play On! By Rick Abbot

It is very funny comedy about an amateur dramatics group putting on a play written by a rather haughty friend and novice playwright Phyllis Montague.

What could possible go wrong……………….?

Please come along to join us for what should be a very

entertaining evening!

Tickets are available from Ticketsource, link available at

www.rrplayers.co.uk

Ticket prices adults £10.

Concessions £8

Prices include interval

refreshments.

We look forward to seeing you.

Phyllis Montague is being played by

our very own Judy Moseley from

the Junior School and Violet Imbry

is played by Georgia Covill, Year

12, Hollenden.

@RRS_MusicDept

@RoyalRussellMUN

@RRS_Library

For all our latest news……. Follow us

Diary Dates

Thursday 24 March Year 9/10 French Exchange Trip to Orléans Departs

Thursday 24 March End of Spring Term

Sunday 27 March Senior School Ski Trip departs

Tuesday 29 March Duke of Edinburgh Training Begins

Monday 4 April Year 8 - 10 Spanish Exchange to Zaragoza Departs

Tuesday 5 April CCF Trip to RAF Oldham

Wednesday 6 April CCF High Ropes RAF Halton

Thursday 7 April RAF Flying at Benson

Wednesday 6 April Duke of Edinburgh Gold award (CCF) Breacon Beacons

Friday 8 April CCF Night Exercise

Tuesday 12 April Summer Term Begins 8.15am

Summer Term Key Dates

Sunday 16 April Old Russellians’ Sports Day

Monday 18 April Music Tour Presentation 7.00pm Auditorium

Wednesday 27 April Media Studies Roscars Event 7.00pm Auditorium

Monday 2 May Bank Holiday Monday - SCHOOL CLOSED

Saturday 7 May 1853 Society Race Night 7.00pm Junior School Hall

Monday 6 June Internal Exam Week Begins

Sunday 12 June Patron’s Lunch Event

Wednesday 22 June New Pupils’ Welcome Day

Saturday 2 July Royal Russell Day

Thursday 7 July Summer Term Ends

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email: ccampbell@royalrussell.co.uk

Royal Russell School

Coombe Lane : Croydon : Surrey : CR0 5RF

www.royalrussell.co.uk Patron: Her Majesty, the Queen