The Salopian no. 160 - Summer 2017

SCHOOL NEWS 7
National Mathematics Competitions
David Gao, Isaac Dai, Linda Zhao (G LVI) and
Angela Liang (MSH LVI) entered this year’s UK
Senior Team Maths Challenge, finishing 7th
of 88 in the national final held in London in
February – a record for the School. A total of
1,290 schools had participated in the regional
heats earlier in the year. The competition tests
mathematical, communication and teamwork
skills, and is jointly organised by the UK
Mathematics Trust and the Further Maths
Support Programme. The following month, a
Fourth Form team comprising George Clowes
(O), Hannah Cheng (EDH), Ben Hulme (PH)
and Runjie Liao (MSH) participated in a regional
‘Maths Feast’ held at Keele University and also
run by the Further Maths Support Programme.
They won three of the numerous rounds of
extra-curricular and recreational mathematics,
resulting in Shrewsbury being the highest
scoring school in this event.
The UK Senior Maths Challenge took place in
November. 30 gold, 51 silver and 37 bronze
certificates were awarded to pupils across the
School, with Isaac Dai obtaining full marks.
He went on to obtain a distinction in the first
round of the British Maths Olympiad with a
tremendous score of 47/60. He was placed in
the top 50 nationally from over 1600 candidates
in the gruelling 3½-hour paper. Among the
other five pupils taking part in the Olympiad,
David Gao also achieved a distinction.
The first round of the UK Intermediate Maths
Challenge was held in February, with 29 gold,
29 silver and 25 bronze certificates awarded to
pupils in the Lower School. Of the 29 pupils
doing well enough to continue to the next
round, Lucas Arkwright (O V) and Reuben
Denison (SH V) qualified for the Intermediate
Maths Olympiad.
President of the Creative Writing Society is published in a
‘Successful Writers in 2016 Anthology’
A short story by Charlie Johns (I LVI), President of the School’s
Creative Writing Society, has been published in an adult
anthology. He submitted ‘Cobblestones’ for a competition run by
Black Pear Press last summer and was selected for publication in
their Short Story Anthology 2016 ‘The Day of the Dead’, which is
described as containing “the finest short story writers in the UK
right now”.
The Creative Writing Society have been spending this term
exploring written responses to extreme settings (most notably the
landscapes, both emotional and literal, of the First World War).
Braving the elements and “the wind through woods in riot” on
Wenlock Edge, they embarked on a Field Day in February that
was devoted to ‘The Edge’. This is the theme of this year’s edition
of ‘Fire Engine’, an anthology of new Salopian writing, published
in June. Copies are available from James Fraser-Andrews (email
jrfa@shrewsbury.org.uk).
‘Baptism of Fire’ Commemoration of Wilfred Owen
The life and work of Wilfred Owen, Shropshire’s most famous poet,
was celebrated with a day of activities at St Chad’s Church on Saturday
28th January, one hundred years after his arrival on the Western Front
in January 1917. Sam Bayliss (Rt LVI) writes: “The day, organised by
James Fraser-Andrews of Shrewsbury School’s English Faculty to raise
funds for St Chad’s Church, remembered the household name who not
only pioneered war poetry as we know it today, but changed people’s
views of war.
“The day concluded with an evening recital of words and music,
devised by James Fraser-Andrews. Led by Director of Music John
Moore and Head of Woodwind Maria McKenzie, musicians from
Shrewsbury School performed music from the period and beyond –
including a world-première of a new setting of Owen’s poem ‘The
Letter’ by student Dan Powell (Ch UVI). Readings included Owen’s
best-loved poems, letters home, and brand-new writing from the
School’s Creative Writing Society.
“The day was a fitting tribute to the poet who revolutionised war
poetry after his first experiences of the Western Front in 1917, and
who would tragically lose his life only seven days before the signing
of the Armistice, on 4th November 1918.”
Schützer-Weissmann Letter
Prize launched
A new prize in memory of the late Michael Schützer-Weissmann (MASW),
who died in December 2015, has been successfully launched and won by
Luke Russell (R III). The task was to hand write a letter and post it to the
judge, recently retired Head of Biology Andrew Allott. Open to Third and
Fourth only, the entrants had to imagine they were a solitary lighthouse
keeper and write a letter to a relative or friend about their life.
31 pupils entered, and, to quote the judge, ‘It was great fun reading
the letters. There was a lot of teenage gloom about loneliness and the
pointlessness of existence, but also much imaginative thought and some
very careful handwriting.’
The prize has been sponsored by Aidan Hartley, the father of Rider (Ch
IV) and Eve (MSH V). Aidan was a pupil of MASW at Sherborne where
he began his teaching career. The winning letter can be viewed on the
school website.
Richard Hudson