A busy boarding Christmas

Hello again all. Dare I say, “Happy Christmas.”? No, perhaps not yet. However, ‘tis the season to be merry, or, if you’re an Ashford School boarder, ‘tis the season to be very, very busy. The lead up to Christmas always offers all kinds of chances to become involved with things that otherwise you wouldn’t, but we’d say that this year has been more jam-packed than most.

An enterprising bunch:

During the winter term Mr Kendal brings his Young Enterprise group together. This like-minded collection of entrepreneurs forms a company; allots different roles; designs and markets a product and sells it in the school. This year has seen the emergence of DNA and their range of accessories made entirely from offcuts of wood from the DT department. Their eco-friendly designs included hummingbird pin badges, heart-shaped hair bands and wooden bow-ties with antlers all created using a laser cutter and doing their bit to reduce the millions of tonnes of unused wood produced by UK schools.

Included in the marketing pitch was a presentation to the whole school, never an easy job at the best of times, but what made it more impressive still was that the entire team was made up of boarders with English as a second language. Ably led by Tom, who also produced the stunning film that accompanied the presentation, with strong contributions from Eddie, Michael and Nick (among many others) DNA piqued our interest and that afternoon sure enough there was a queue outside the refectory with pupils and staff eager to get their hands on a sustainable yet stylish Christmas gift. The guys soon ran out of stock and had to take orders. Looking forward to the prize-giving in the Spring!

Hysterical history:

When teachers say “Challenge yourselves”, “Take yourself out of your comfort zone” We’re not sure that even they could have envisaged the scene last Friday in Brake Hall. A group of Brooke and Refuge boarders, co-ordinated with the EAL department’s Mr Munteanu, put on a fantastically funny and fascinating stage show, illustrating the multi-layered story behind the name of our junior boys’ house and its namesake Arthur Brooke. The performers were: Toki (as the cucumber cool narrator), Johnathan, Robert, Victor and a standout performance from William as Queen Elizabeth the First. To learn all those lines, in a foreign language and perform them in front of your peers and teachers with such aplomb, takes some courage. Take a bow, boys!



Will the 1st



 

Winter Wonderland:

It’s one of the highlights of the boarding year, when everyone gets together to celebrate the coming of the Christmas holidays. This year the event was held in the refectory and as usual it began with a wonderful meal put on by Jura and the catering team (thank you all!). It had been weeks in the planning. Mandy and her team of helpers, led by Savio, had the refectory looking beautifully festive and the boarders did the same (the post room had been filling up with parcels from clothing catalogues for at least the month before!). So the crackers cracked, the plates piled high, the paper hats took on jaunty angles and the foreign members of staff tried to find the humour in the cracker jokes (there isn’t any, that’s why they’re funny!) After the meal Savio’s boys cleared the tables like seasoned stevedores in in less than ten minutes and the disco began. There was a slow uptake at first, but Toki soon had people up on the floor following his lead. Many dance offs were had, bow-ties loosened and shoes kicked off. When the lights came on again just after 10 it was the same table operation, but in reverse and faster. It was done in 5 minutes…or was it? Chak spotted the error and the teams moved into action again. It less than 10 minutes it was over and everyone went home to nurse aching feet and stomachs filled to bursting. A great night!

A Cracking Christmas Concert:

Christmas is a time when generally most people around the school will be looking to wind down. However, for those involved in the various singing and instrumental groups, things are heating up. They will have been rehearsing for most of the term to warm up for the two big festive events: the magical Carols by Candlelight at St Mary’s Church and the barnstorming Christmas Concert. As always the boarding community played its part to the full.

The very well-attended evening began with a swing as the Wind Band got into the spirit of the season with the ‘Jingle Jive’ involving Brabourne’s Miso (oboe) and Celini (flute) and Brooke staff member Mr Vafidis on sax. Miso was also involved in the newly formed Baroque Ensemble’s first live outing next before the budding Elastic band took us to the movies with the Transformer’s theme.

This year’s concert included some very strong singing, including the superb emerging a cappella group, ‘The AshTones’ set up by Mrs Hawker and Mr Vafidis and including Alfred boy Zachary, with their moving tribute ‘Alleluia’ to the recently departed Leonard Cohen. It is worth pointing out that Zachary only joined the school last year, in the ASIC programme and was now performing, in English, front of staff, parents and students. Zachary and Mr Vafidis where members of the senior jazz band that brought an end to the first part of proceedings. Just before this new Brooke boys Toki and Lucas joined their Year 7 colleagues in a rousing rendition of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

Despite a minute’s interruption by a more classically minded insect (very cooly dealt with by Mr Hall) the orchestra, including Celini, Demi, Conan and Mook took us on a Starlight Sleigh ride before Zachary, Maria and the chamber choir took up the Christmas baton with the classic carol ‘Ding, Dong, Merrily on High’. Govind and James performed a virtuoso duet (we’ve run out of adjectives for these boys) and Mr Hall’s Ashford Youth Jazz Orchestra ended the more formal contributions.

What made this year particularly special was the addition of audience carols, sung by all in attendance, backed by the several amazing school choirs. We kicked off with a rousing ‘Good King Wenceslas’ followed by the choirs’ ‘Tomorrow will be my dancing day’. The belting ‘Oh Come all ye faithful’ was the penultimate number. The concert ended with a rousing ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ from all the choirs.

The Headmaster, Mr Buchanan, described his pride in a later Twitter feed (@AshfordHead if you would like to follow him) and as boarding staff and pupils left the hall that evening, they too felt the same pride for their colleagues and peers, but also a light-heartedness and thankfulness in having shared something special at this joyous time of year.

Congratulations to all those who performed (good luck to choir on Tuesday) and to all the music staff: Mr Hall, Mr Knox and Mr Powell, Mrs Hawker and Mr Vafidis for their time, leadership and encouragement.

A Fond Farewell:

Before we head off on our holidays, we need to say farewell to our gap students: Mr Meinke, Miss Carson, Miss Clozier-Jones and Mr Jarvis, for all their help, support and good humour over the last year. We wish them all the best of luck in their continuing studies back home. Come back soon!

And so, as the last of the suitcases are packed and the taxi drivers fill up their schedules for the end of term, it just remains for us to wish you all a very happy holidays and see you all again in 2017!

 

A Busy Start

Hello again. We hope you had a great summer holiday and start to the new academic year.

2015/16 ends...:

Already the first half term has flown by, but we thought we’d keep you all posted as to what has been going on within the boarding community here at Ashford School.

But before we do, let’s just finish off where we left off last time. Perhaps the biggest story at the end of last year was the success of the 2015/16 ASIC students as they trod the boards at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Playmaking Festival in Stratford upon Avon on July 4^th.

Accompanied by Mrs Dengate and Mr K these budding actors travelled to Shakespeare’s birthplace and overnighted at a youth hostel just outside of town. Bright and early on Monday morning they travelled in to perform their multilingual version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in front of an audience of school children and RSC staff. Judging by the rapturous applause that met the end of the show, they did superbly well and the atmosphere in the dressing room afterward was abuzz with excitement and pride at what they had just achieved. Bravo everyone! If you would like to see a video of their show, then search on YouTube for ‘Students perform Shakespeare’. You will not be disappointed.

August time saw A-Level and GCSE results’ days. Perhaps the most noticeable achievement was that of boarding captain Sam, whose A*- studded certificates saw him gain a place in Cambridge University to study Natural Sciences. Congratulations Sam and good luck!

Also moving on to pastures new was Alfred Housemaster Mr Vaughan, who has decided to head closer to home after seven wonderful years of service. He will be profoundly missed by students and staff alike and all of us at AIB would like to wish him and his family all the best of luck in their new home in Somerset.

Mr Vaughan’s departure meant a few changes in the structure of our boarding community: Head of Boarding Mr Liston took over as Housemaster of Alfred House. Previous Alfred tutor Mr Appleton took his place in Brooke and Refuge. Mr Cook, Mr Bishop, Miss Wellings and Miss Wilson are new boarding tutors in Alfred, Brooke and Brabourne (x2) respectively.

2016/17 begins...:

It’s difficult to think now, as the leaves change and fall and the days grow shorter and darker, that we had a brand new cohort of students just seven weeks ago, bringing our community up to over 180. Each new student will bring their own personality and skills to the boarding group and this has already been seen in the exciting advent of the House Councils.

These are groups of students elected by their peers to help the boarding staff run the houses and to be the voice of the boarding student body. These students will manage some of the house finances, organise house events and represent boarders in whole school committees. We have already had the boarders’ Halloween party, held in Brabourne the Saturday before half term and the second Annual Boarders’ Table Tennis Competition, hosted by ASIC, won by Kenneth, making amends for his second place in the pool championship last year. These events were organised by the students, for the students, with minimal staff support and their success only goes to show the calibre of boarding student we have here in Ashford.

To bring you up to date, this last half term holiday saw three foreign trips: the hockey tour to Holland, the Art trip to Madrid and the Humanities trip to the Bay of Naples allowed our students several great opportunities to experience a different culture and learn many new things. AIB accompanied the trip to Italy where, in the shadow of Vesuvius, many of our boarders took in the amazing historical wonders of Pompeii and Herculaneum; a hair-raising boat ride around the island of Capri and the chance to taste pizza as it should taste! Many thanks to Dr Wood, for leading this brilliant trip and to Mrs Rayner and Mr Wilde for taking the others!

With all that since just September, not forgetting the scholars concert (where Jervis shone) we cannot wait to see what the rest of the year will hold. Including the upcoming choir performance at the Rugby League Four Nations game between England and Australia. Thank you for joining us and see you next time.

Movers and Shakers

 

Hello all and welcome to the first entry of the Summer term. Yes the summer is here, though those (un)fortunate enough to be on the Geography field trip to Fairlight this week would not necessarily have noticed!

Something that most people will certainly have noticed (at least you would have hoped so) is that it's exam season again. Two years (9 months in the case of ASIC students) of hard graft and late nights coming to fruition in less than two hours in an exam hall. This may be a cliché, but doesn't it always seem to be the teachers that are more stressed than the students? Those of us privileged to have access to the boarding houses would say that whatever nerves there are (and we're sure they're there) are being well hidden or expertly dealt with. Good luck to you all in your efforts.

Before I go on, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Holmes and her team of invigilators for expertly setting up and running these examinations every year; it couldn't be done without them!

The Summer Term is always one of big changes and events at school and as usual, our boarders are in the thick of it. One of the most nerve-wracking and eagerly anticipated of these is the appointment of next year's prefect team. During the first weeks of the term the year 12s are invited to apply for a prefect position and their peers and teachers are invited to nominate who they think should have one. Once that is complete a rigorous selection process (somewhat over 2 hrs) takes place that includes many senior teachers and the current senior prefect team. Among criteria considered are: leadership qualities, flexibility, team spirit and the ability to communicate well with all members of the school community. So, without wasting anymore time, congratulations to: Odelia, Chak, Alex, Jonathan, Ochuwa, Amanda, Tini, Caroline and Sascha (if we have missed anyone out we apologise). They have already started their duties and we're sure they'll continue to do a great job.

Here at Ashford School, it is a small matter of pride that not only do we give our students every opportunity to do things that they've never done before, but that they nearly always take that opportunity and succeed. What's more, in many of these cases, they do it mostly by themselves. This was beautifully illustrated in the recent 'Minute to Win it' game show run by our Amnesty students in aid of Cancer research. Tini, Maria, Ochuwa and former boarder Lucas were compares beyond compare as they marshalled a competition of fantastic hilarity between students and teachers, featuring such games as 'Elephant's Trunk' and 'Defying Gravity'. There was some controversy as to the result, but all could agree it was a wonderful lunchtime's entertainment and for a worthy cause.

On a smaller scale Amanda from ASIC has set up and is currently running Ashford School boarding's first pool championship. She has organised the event from the start and will see it through to its culmination this weekend. Here you can see some photos of the action taking place:

However, when we talk about 'adventurous learning' there can surely be no more of an adventure that is currently being undertaken by the Year 11 ASIC students as they prepare for their Shakespearean debut. As you may know, 2016 marks the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death. The Royal Shakespeare Company are running a number of events to mark this and perhaps the most exciting of these is the Dream Team 2016 Playmaking festival. Here schools were invited to apply to rehearse and then perform a part of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. There were roughly 50 places for schools outside of Warwickshire and Ashford IC were lucky enough to be chosen. Their performance 'Lord What Fools...' will take place at The Other Place Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon at 10am on Monday 4th July and will be undertaken in the students' native languages and dialects.

Bearing in mind that these students are currently in the middle of important exams, they will have only two weeks to rehearse before they travel up. This may seem like a daunting task to these young people, many of whom have not acted before, but, under the expert tutelage of Ms Dengate and enthusiastically assisted by Mr K and Mrs Sagastuy, they are enjoying rehearsals and beginning to relish the chance that has been provided them. Here are some shots and video clips from the recent rehearsals:

Demetrius

Hermia

Helena

 

We will follow their progress eagerly as well as the Year 9 drama students, including boarders Tim and Doris, as they go to put on their adaptation at the 'Margate Shakespearean festival'. Break a leg all!

So, wherever they are or whatever challenge they're facing, Ashford Boarders are giving it their best, with the whole community behind them. That's what we do!

See you next time.

Boarders will rock you!

"Anywhere the wind blows..."

With those iconic lines and a dipping of the stage lights, the cast of 'Ashford will Rock You' closed a superb, rock strewn, uproarious opening night's performance of this adaptation of Queen's epic musical. Glow sticks waved, feet stamped, hands clapped until they were sore and, as one, the audience rose to its feet to acclaim another superb night's entertainment put on by students of Ashford School.

The school drama production is always one of the highlights of the Ashford year and there has been a buzz about the place since it was announced that it would be this piece being put on. For some, this wouldn't be the first time.

"It's been on my bucket list to do this musical again." ASIC's Maria told us one afternoon. "This is a dream come true."

As with all dreams though, it came with a lot of hard work. For months and months staff in the Drama and Music departments and students from across the Ashford Community had met and rehearsed songs, dance moves and lines until late in the evening and this was the culmination of all that work.

The aforementioned buzz reached fever pitch when, early in the term the cast received a signed photograph and note of encouragement from the living legend that is Queen lead guitarist Brian May. "Are you ready to rock?" it read. They certainly were!

For those not familiar with the story, the play is set in a fictional future Earth known as Planet More, ruled over by the despotic Globalsoft corporation that - led by it's leader, the scarlet-haired Killer Queen - has removed any trace of individuality from society. Music is sanitised, pumped through the internet, all dance moves are the same, musical instruments banned. Rebelling against this are a group, known as the Bohemians, a rag tag bunch, who cling to an ancient prophecy that 'a dreamer' would some day bring back the spirit of rock.


Killer Queen and the Ga-gas

Rockers: Galileo, Scaramouche and Pop

That dreamer comes in the shape of one Galileo Figaro, who hears snippets of songs in his head without knowing what they mean. Aided by the Bohemians and his 'don't call me' Chick' Scaramouche, they battle to thwart Killer Queen and her maniacal lieutenant - Commander Kashogi - and bring the prophecy to pass.



The Bohemians

Killers: Queen and Kashoggi

The play is littered with razor-sharp one-liners and in-jokes about the banality of reality TV - "We've only got this bit of the video, the rest is an episode of Britain's got Talent." - punctuated by the timeless rock anthems of Queen, including: 'Seven Seas of Rye', 'This crazy little thing called love' and of course 'We will rock you'. These were accompanied brilliantly by Mr Hall and his invitation rock band.

What many would have noticed on the night was that, among standout performances by the main cast: Jess, Jamie, Dexter and others, the majority of the chorus line was made up of members of Ashford School's boarding community. Daria, Tom, Jane, Maria, Kristina, Renata, Caroline, Katya and the irrepressible Timur, who raised smiles aplenty by just being himself in his dungarees and bright yellow socks. Yet another example of what we talked about last time, the whole community coming to together to produce some magic.



 



Behind the scenes the cast were aided by a proficient team of 'techies': lighting, stage hands and sound staff, as well as costume manager, Sister Jo, without whom none of it would have been possible. Others - including Ochuwa, Mo and Tini - helped out front of house, helping people find seats and keeping them refreshed in the interval. A big hand to them, the Drama department of Mrs Dinsdale, Mrs Dengate and Mrs Allum, the Music department: Mr Hall, Mrs Powell and Mrs Brown and above all, to the performers themselves.

To badly misquote another Queen classic: "They are the champions, my friends." Break a leg for the rest of the run and have a great Easter break afterwards, you've all deserved it!

BREAKING DRAMA NEWS: the ASIC Year 11s have been given one of less than 50 places to perform a small part of A Midsummer Night's Dream, in Stratford, as part of the Dream Team 2016 festival to celebrate 400 years since the Bards death in July. Watch this space for updates!

48 hours at Ashford School

As we have mentioned on many occasion before in this blog, we are a very strong community here at Ashford School. Almost every week there are occasions when boarders and day students come together with outstanding results to create something amazing or thought provoking.  These two adjective can certainly be applied to the events of the end of last week when, in just 48 hours we had ‘Dare to be Different Day’, the whole school Creative and Performing Arts competition and the Spring Concert.

Every year, the Amnesty group, headed by Miss Ball, runs Dare to be Different Day to focus people’s attention on the cause for human rights across the world. Every year students can raise money for great cause – this year, the Save the Children Syrian Refugee Appeal – by being silent (to highlight the right to freedom of expression), wearing a mask (the right to an identity or to highlight the plight of the many politically ‘disappeared’) or even blindfolded (the right to freedom of movement).

 

 

Last Thursday our students, and teachers, displayed just how much they care about these issues. There were many sporting Guantanamo-style orange prison jump suits (Yuki and Tini for example); Timur chose to be miserable all day (an amazing feat if you know this student!) but for many, the high point was Mr Newth sitting a lunchtime detention (‘Ode to a Water Droplet’ soon to be published!) There was a hearty bake sale too and Lukas’s Patriotic Pavlova was auctioned off for the princely sum of £18 to Mr Young.

We all look forward to seeing how much was finally raised, but you can be sure we’ll be trying to top it next year!

House competitions are always fiercely competitive and the CPA event didn’t disappoint. This year the theme was ‘Shakespearean’ as it is the 400 anniversary of the Bard’s death. Each house was given a play and asked to create a poster, a storyboard, a costume (mad out of wastepaper and bin liners) and an item of cookery based on it.

What’s great about these events is the buzz that runs through the house areas – we were lucky enough to be with Pilgrims this year and everyone was doing their bit. Chak was chopping, Kuso creating, Charlotte producing a marvellous manga representation of the climax of Romeo and Juliet and Bradley…well, his costume had to be seen to be believed! Each house then paraded their model and showed off their creations in front of a highly appreciative audience in Brake Hall.  After a weekend of much deliberation, Merchants ran out the winners  (by a single point) with their iPad-centred interpretation of Hamlet. Many thanks to Mr Barnett and the CPA faculty for all their efforts and to all the houses for bringing Shakespeare back to life.

The grand finale of the week was the much-anticipated Spring Concert. Throughout the last term the many music groups and soloists (under the tutelage of the school’s peripatetic teachers, along with Mr Hall, Mrs Powell and Mrs Brown) had been putting in the hours and wow, it showed on the night, as they produced a fantastic evening’s entertainment!

At 19:30 sharp Mr Hall, Mr Vafidis, James and Matt sung a cheeky four-part acapella to welcome everyone and to remind them to please turn their phones off. The theme of music bringing staff and student together was one that echoed throughout the performance. The school orchestra kicked off proceedings with a rousing suite from Handel’s water music.  Now, there are half a dozen boarders who play in this elite group – Kewen, Demi, Conan, Mook, Celini and Miso - it just goes to show the depth of talent we have. Many of these then went on to play in either the String Orchestra (with the appropriately titled ‘Plink, Plank, Plunk’) or the Wind Band (with a great set of marches from John Williams).

We are blessed here in Ashford to have incredibly talented pianists in James, Jervis and Govind. Where Jervis’s Prelude in G Minor by Rachmaninoff was stylish, skilled and nuanced, James’s ‘Cakewalk Smasher’ was gloriously bolshie and Govind’s three pieces imperious.

One of our favourite moments was the performance of the ‘Elastic Band’ made up of musicians who have only begun playing recently, playing music specially arranged for them by Mrs Powell. William and Rain joined in the joyful Pavan with Mrs Rylands, Mrs Odysseas and Mrs Cox. If these were beginners, the future of music here is very bright indeed!

The main event after the interval (no glass clinking please) was Haydn’s Nelson Mass sung by a 40-strong choir made up of the school Chamber Choir (including Shiyu, Maria, Mrs Hawker and Mr Vafidis) a group of guest singers and a number of brave souls from both the staff and student body who had just joined in at the beginning of the term to try something new. This group included Maths teachers Mrs Odysseas and Dr Britton, Development Director Mr Young and Head of EAL Mrs Sagastuy. These were privileged to be accompanied by four fabulous soloists and a superb orchestra (including Miss Leonard on the violin).

The mass was a masterpiece, with everyone giving their all in a performance that could have graced far grander stages with aplomb. To take on a piece like this requires courage and determination, particularly when it comes to singing in front of peers, friends and colleagues. Congratulations to all and a massive thank you to Mr Hall et al for your support.

When we look back at this amazing 48 hours in the life of Ashford School, it is incredible, but nonetheless true, to think that the preparation and practice for these events (lessons, meetings, activities) are a day-to-day part of our school and the boarders are in the thick of it and working with their day colleagues to make it happen. Now that’s what we call ‘Adventurous Learning’!

NB: We continue the creative buzz with the amazing ‘Schools Will Rock You’ rockin’ out Brake Hall on 17^th-19^th March. Be there!

Giving a Monkey's about cultural diversity

春节快乐!

Happy Spring Festival everyone! Welcome to the Year of the Monkey!

Now, here at Ashford School, and particularly within the boarding community, we are very proud of our cultural diversity and so, we always look forward to the first new moon in February upon which we celebrate the Chinese New Year.

There are several traditions that have sprung up over the last few years in order to mark this event on the lunar calendar. The first is the Chinese meal in the refectory. Mandy and her team of helpers decked the room out in beautiful red and gold decorations and the kitchen staff, with oriental chef Li to the fore, surpassed themselves with a sumptuous array of dishes including stir-fried beef, vegetarian glass noodles and a fiery hot and sour soup. Despite the blustery weather, the festivities moved outside where Mr Vaughan delighted all with a spectacular fireworks display. Our thanks to all involved.

This hadn't been the only feast though. Not needing any excuse for a good cook-up, boarders in both ASIC and Alfred had had the hot pots bubbling away on Sunday night (see photos below). Nobody can say we aren't well fed in the boarding community here!

Before moving on to the other tradition of the New Year period it would be fitting to add that this particular weekend marked birthdays for four of our Chinese boarders: Charlotte, Riley, Ryan and Amanda; very auspicious timing indeed! After the meal at school, all four marked the occasion with cake, gifts, balloons and boisterous games down in ASIC (balloon volleyball anyone?!). Thanks to Miss Beroule for organising that one.

On the Friday morning our final New Year tradition took place with the annual Chinese New year assembly in front of the whole school. Mr Buchanan had already laid the groundwork for this on the Monday, discussing things not to do at Spring Festival time; including eating porridge, bad luck Mr K! Under the guidance of Mrs Barber, boarders Jonathan and Caroline gave a very polished performance, explaining the different Chinese Zodiac signs and what characteristics those signs represented. To help they enlisted the help of Mrs Rayner, Mrs Waite and Mr Stoddart - Monkey, Horse and Rooster respectfully - who gamely demonstrated that there is indeed some truth in oriental astrology - where'd that rubber chicken come from then Mr Stoddart? To finish Jonathan had the whole hall wising each other Happy New Year in Chinese, and all this before period 1 had even started!

Now the houses are all quiet, with all the boarders having headed off home, to guardians' houses and the like, for the half term. As we approach exam season, there will be much holiday work to do, but we hope all will take the chance to rest too - that's staff included please!

Just before we do sign off, a couple of congratulations are in order. Every year we at Ashford School welcome two beneficiaries of the coveted HMC scholarship, which allows a select few overseas students to study here, at much reduced rates, for a year. This year both our scholars, Yr 12s Tini and Zuka, come from Georgia and we are very happy to announce that, after a superb start, both have been offered a place to stay and complete their A-levels next year. Congratulations to both and good luck for your on-going studies!

Have a happy half term everyone and see you when we return.

NB: in order to keep further up-to-date with boarding life in Ashford School, we invite you to please follow our two boarding Twitter feeds:

 @AshfordBoarding and @AshfordIC - see you there!