N E W S L E T T E R - Radley College

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RADLEY ACHIEVEMENTS ACADEMIC Radley joined Eton, Winchester and St Paul’s in declining to publish exam results in August, preferring to wait until all remarks and appeals had been dealt with. Nevertheless it is clear that the 2009 A level cohort was within a whisker of 2008’s record of 90.5% A/B before any remarks. The UCAS points per candidate (433) was the best ever, and more boys (45) than ever before got four A grades. 65% of grades recorded were A grade. At GCSE this was a superb year with c.86% of all grades being A* or A at the outset, and with every prospect of higher figures still once some strange departmental results are appealed. Nearly half the cohort (62 boys) got 10 A*s or As. The results are the more meritorious because Maths and Sciences entered the demanding IGCSEs. Significant numbers of boys in the 5th Form took AS levels early in French and Maths and achieved A grades. Physics Olympiad silver medal was awarded to Sam Gundle (Dragon, j); William Handy (Cheltenham, d) and Rory Robinson (Twyford, f) gained silver medals in the Physics Olympiad AS paper. This year’s Declamations competition was judged by Jonathan Smith, teacher and novelist. The standard of the five years’ competition was very high, living up to previous years. The winners were: Hugh Petit (Cothill, k) in 6.2 reading ‘Prayer before Birth’; Joshua Rencher (Abingdon, d) in 6.1 recounting Dracula’s arrival in Whitby Bay; Sam Nugée (The Hall School, Wimbledon, h) and Ed Dillon- Robinson (Cumnor House, e), who read ‘Greensleeves’ and ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ respectively, winning the 5th Form; Tommy Siman (Abingdon Prep, h) winning the Remove competition with ‘An Otter’ and Henry McPherson (Malvern, d) winning in the Shells with an extract from ‘Hamlet’. Sir Andrew Motion OR ‘From Achilles to Alexander: the Classical World and the World of Metal’ in Heavy Metal Music in Britain. Dr Simon Thorn’s work done on his sabbatical at Oxford on the neurophysiology of dyslexia is soon to be published. Harry Crump gained a 1st in his Open University English Literature degree. Radley continues to attract distinguished visiting speakers to talk to 6.2: parents like Rory Tapner OR, Hector Sants of the FSA (in the week of the collapse of Lehman Brothers), Dick Powell, John Whittingdale MP, Charles Crawford and David Richards spoke universally well on their expertises. The 6.2 Conference with St Helen’s (our 12th) was provocative and compelling on ‘The Forgiveness Project’, the presence of Brighton Bomber Patrick McGee being especially controversial. Radley’s History, Economics, Politics, Perplexed, Literary, Classical and other subject-based societies all had numerous visiting speakers throughout the year. At the ESU Public Speaking Competition in Oxford, Archie Manners was adjudged ‘Best Overall Speaker’; Alex Donger (Dragon, j) and Rob Crawford (British School, Warsaw, h) narrowly failed to qualify for ESU finals. ACTIVITIES The Wednesday Afternoon Activities programme continued to organise 5th Form boys to teach in primary schools, and concert parties to entertain residents in homes across Oxfordshire. Instant Muscle, and other community schemes, continued to help local villagers. It has been another year of charitable activity by both dons and boys. Over £15,000 has been raised by boys and dons for a range of charities, with two major recipients being Radley Village Church’s ‘Beetle Fund’ and Multiple Sclerosis, through a large number of different fund-raising events from Chinese lantern launches, auctions, concerts to a mystery art exhibition and a well- supported 24 hour ‘ergo’ relay on rowing machines. The D of E boys had a notable year: 12 boys – Humphrey Maddan (Aldro, c), Alex Welch (Dragon, a), Freddie Bolton (Summer Fields, g), Max Blanshard The Earl of Wessex is shown a magic trick whilst visiting a D of E exhibition Creative Writing under Christopher Ellott’s leadership is flourishing; visits, readings and workshops from poets including Sir Andrew Motion OR (on the last night of his Laureateship), Greg Leadbetter, John Whitworth, Costa Award winner Jean Sprackland, and James Harpur have stimulated the boys to write; ‘Today I am going to rest’ is the latest Radley College creative writing Anthology. Radley’s own dons give a lead in writing and research. Iain Campbell has published 6 THE RADLEIAN NEWSLETTER
& ACTIVITIES IN 2008/9 Mann (Bilton Grange, d) and Angus Lambert (Maidwell Hall, b) had work exhibited at the Mary Hare School near Newbury. J and K Socials’ public spaces have been filled with imaginative artwork by Shells. The St John’s Smith Square Concert (Cottesmore, b), Will Haldane (Ludgrove, b), Will Storey (Cranleigh Prep, d), Barney Hunter (Farleigh, c), Will Mitchell (Dragon, d), George Stinton (Sandroyd, d), James Lucas (Caldicott, g), James Chadwick (Cothill, h) and Noah Assheton (Cothill, h)– were awarded their Gold. 24 boys attained their Bronze Award. The Earl of Wessex visited Radley in October and spoke to all 30 boys manning a D of E exhibition, before unveiling a plaque to open the new D of E Centre in the Careers Library. Tom Stewart (Maidwell Hall, f), Jonathan Quicke (Summer Fields, b) and Charlie Palmer (Cottesmore, b) won Army Scholarships. Radleians continue to go out to Romania and Kerala in their summer holidays in large numbers to teach and to build houses. It has once again – despite the credit crunch – been a year of many expeditions: all 136 Shells marked the 65th Anniversary of D Day with an excellent visit in April; the Rowers went to Portugal; Art Historians and Artists to Italy; Linguists to France. But we are conscious of the need to rein back on an understandable enthusiasm to visit attractive but expensive locations. ARTS A strong year for Drama was marked by an outstanding Richard III, the College Play in November, in which Hugo Walker (The Elms, b) gave a towering performance. The whole ensemble, skilfully directed by Robert Lowe, and beautifully lit and stage managed (Matt Barker) and costumed (Lianne Oakley- Rowland) created a remarkable production. Three boys had great success and training for the National Youth Music Theatre: Tom Milligan (Caldicott, k) played a major role in the Hired Man in August and appeared alongside Owen Petty (Elstree, c) in a new musical by Mark Ravenhill in London. Ben Sheen (Westminster Abbey Choir School, c) worked on The Hired Man as a technician, George May’s Remove Play, The Trial, was a taut ensemble piece of physical theatre and the Shell Play, Tom Brown’s Schooldays (co-directed by Ben Hatt (Lockers Park, h) and Robert Lowe), was a real company show highlighting narrative techniques. The Dons’ Play, The Happiest Days of Your Life, was thoroughly professional, highly entertaining, and brought in £1,200 for charity. The Art Department’s work, showcased all round College, continues to impress visitors and give meaning to Sewell’s aesthetic vision. Arthur Laidlaw (Dragon, h), who left last summer, was commended by AQA for gaining 100% in both AS and A2 exams. Seb Inglis- Jones’s (Dulwich Prep, e) magnificent drawing of an old truck in a field has been exhibited in Oxfordshire’s Future Artists at the North Wall, and in the Oxford Town Hall Gallery. Ollie The sheer amount and quality of Music this year has been remarkable; it has culminated this summer in a sequence of seven individual Leavers’ Concerts which have embraced every instrument, and ranged from countertenor aria and show songs to Shakespearean soliloquy and stand-up comedy. Since September the Chapel Choir, apart from maintaining a very high standard each Sunday, has sung in New College and Salisbury Cathedral; there was a concert given by over 130 musicians to 500 in the audience at St John’s, Smith Square of an excellent standard; a splendid Duruflé Requiem on Remembrance Sunday; Christmas and scholars’ concerts; a rousing Carmen in March; a concert performance of the next big dramatic treat, Les Miserables; regular coffee concerts; five big instrumental competitions; and the Piano Extravaganza. Whilst invidious to praise some above others, there is no doubt Radley will miss the singing of Ben Sheen (Westminster Abbey Choir School, c), the horn playing of Andrew Savill (King’s Hall, g), the violin of Arthur Sawbridge (Hall Grove, e), Myles Watkiss (KCS Wimbledon, h) and Jonathan Wong (Dragon, a), the saxophony of Charles Cutteridge (Highgate Junior, d), the jazz piano and sax of Henry Mills (Harrodian, e), and the percussion and showmanship of Freddie Tapner (Ludgrove, f) all 6.2 leavers all this summer. Richard III THE RADLEIAN NEWSLETTER 7 THE RADLEIAN NEWSLETTER 7
Page 1 and 2: Radley THE N E W S L E T T E R | Ra
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N E W S L E T T E R - Radley College

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