PREFECT ANNOUNCEMENT | There was an air of excitement at Assembly Tuesday, 6 February, as pupils in the Senior School and Sixth Form awaited the announcement of the new St Leonards Prefects and Senior Prefects.
With our Year 13 students now preparing for their IB Diploma exams in May, the baton was passed to a new set of Prefects, who are ready to take on the tasks and responsibilities that are part and parcel of these leadership roles.
Head Boy Harry Mercer and Head Girl Eve Wedderburn will be assisted by Deputy Head Boy Ben Clark and Deputy Head Girl Hannah Cooney.
They will be supported by this year’s Senior Prefects, who are: Roma Dhasmana, Robert Ferguson, Walter Fry, Deborah Goma, Eleanor Greenwood, Evie Hayward-Daventry, De Hong (Hayden) Hou, Molly Kavanagh, Carl-Friedrich Kolb, Hector Long, Aenghus McGregor, Isabel Obrador, Miguel Obrador, and Evie Turner.
The following students were selected as Prefects for 2018-2019: Charlie Adam, Sarah Barclay, Alisa Diakova, Augustin Didier, Breanna Hawdon, Max Klein, Karla Klosterman, Livia Kohlhofer, Tom McBarron, Iain McKechnie, Caitlin McNiff, George Reschop, Leonie Schwaerzler, Joshua Shenoy, Aidan Sutton, Shu Hei (Gilbert) Wong, Kathryn Wright, Leonie Zillikens.
CHINESE NEW YEAR
CHINESE NEW YEAR | Friday, 2 February saw the St Leonards community come together to celebrate the Year of the Dog 2018. The event, organised by our talented Chinese students and staff, is always a highlight of Spring Term and this year was no exception!
The Chinese New Year celebrations, held in the CDR, made for a hugely enjoyable evening with entertainment from pupils, a sell-out raffle and a delicious feast prepared by our wonderful catering team.
It was an opportunity to learn more about how Chinese families celebrate New Year, including the traditions of feasting with relatives, drinking tea and exchanging lucky red envelopes containing money. The colour red represents prosperity and good health for a safe and peaceful year ahead.
Hanna (Year 13) took to the stage in traditional Chinese dress to perform a perfectly choreographed dance, while Maggie (Year 12) treated the audience to two passionate vocal performances. Solos on the piano and the violin were met with loud applause from the audience, which included students, staff, and their families, who were invited to join in the festivities.
A fantastic meal, followed by a group number sung by our Chinese students rounded off the evening’s entertainment.
Thank you to all who were involved in organising such a super celebration!
NATIONAL LACROSSE COACHING
NATIONAL LACROSSE COACHING | As the cradle of women’s lacrosse, St Leonards can be spotted training, whatever the weather, on our scenic playing fields, and Tuesday, 6 February was no exception. This, however, was a training session with a twist thanks to the coaching expertise of Dave Simpson, who is Head Coach of the Scotland Women’s National squad.
Coach Dave splits his time between coaching at a high school in San Francisco and spending a week each month in Scotland. We were delighted to be able to welcome him to St Leonards during his February stay in the UK.
The top coach had the Year 4, 5, 10 and Senior Squad practising cradling techniques and performing drills to perfect their skills on the field.
With a mix of ages and abilities on the pitch, he took the teams back to basics, getting everyone moving and warmed up before covering a range of top tips for sporting success.
A big thank you to Coach Dave for coming to St Leonards to share his skills and inspire our players!
INTER-TEAM MUSIC
On Thursday, 8 February, students in the Senior School gathered in the Auditorium for the first St Leonards Inter-Team Music Competition.
Each team put forward a solo performance, a small ensemble and a House act in a bid to be crowned top team by our Director of Music and judge for the afternoon, Mrs Love.
St Rule’s solo act Zac kicked off the competition, with a rendition of John Legend’s ‘All of Me’ on the violin. Bishopshall was next up with Frankie playing the harp, and the individual performances were rounded off by Lauren from Ollerenshaw, who played the guitalele, which, Lauren explained, is a cross between a guitar and a ukulele.
The small group acts saw songs from the musicals meet Taylor Swift hits, before the whole-house numbers.
It was Bishopshall’s all singing, all dancing High School Musical performance, complete with pompoms and sports vests, which clinched the team the top spot!
BYRE THEATRE LECTURE
BYRE THEATRE LECTURE | On Friday, 23 February, our Year 12 biologists and geographers crossed the road from St Leonards to the Byre Theatre, where they attended a public lecture to mark the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science, hosted by the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews.
Professor Eleanor Riley, director of the Roslin Institute, and Dean for Research and Professor of Immunology and Infectious Disease at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh, gave a fascinating and very well attended talk entitled ‘Combatting Malaria’.
Professor Riley discussed how fundamental studies of malaria immunity have the potential to inform the development of new tools to prevent the disease (through vaccines), treat it (with new therapies) and reduce the spread of malaria (by monitoring malaria control programmes and identifying hotspots of ongoing transmission).
Thank you to Mrs Radons-Harris, Mrs Henderson, Mrs Pemberton-Hislop and Mrs Kennovin for accompanying the trip.
ORGAN CONCERT
ORGAN CONCERT | St Leonards Chapel was filled with the sound of organ music on Wednesday, 21 February, with a lunchtime recital followed by instrumental tuition from visiting organist John Riley.
Solos and accompaniments were performed by pupils on the beautiful pipe organ in the chapel, after which the focus turned to improvisation, with workshops led by John, who is an experienced tutor, having taught at several ‘Oundle for Organists’ and ‘Royal College of Organists’ study days. In addition, John has tutored prospective Organ Scholars for courses at Oxford and Cambridge. He is currently Acting Organist at St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral in Edinburgh.
This was John’s second visit to St Leonards, and our pipe organ students Tobias, Emily, Daniel and Ye, thoroughly enjoyed picking up improvisation tips from an expert!
FIFE SCHOOLS HOCKEY
FIFE SCHOOLS HOCKEY | It was wonderful to welcome teams from Madras College and Dunfermline High School to St Leonards on Friday, 23 February, for the Year 8 Fife Schools Hockey Tournament.
With top performances from all the players involved, the event made for a great afternoon of sport.
Winning goals were scored by Izzy Skinner, Fiona Branch and Niamh Headon, while Clara Chalmers, Nieve Greener, Josie Layland-Brown and Ella Gracie scored for the St Leonards B team.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM | St Leonards students took to the stage at the Byre Theatre last month with a three-night run of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Set in the 1980s, this was Shakespeare with a twist. The 32-strong cast donned tutus, legwarmers, bold prints and bright neon colours to set the scene for what was a fantastic show, bringing the traditional characters to life and expertly weaving the four separate plots into one terrific tale of love, hate, hope and trickery.
With stage hands, props, sound and lighting busy behind the scenes, it was all hands on deck to bring Shakespeare’s lamentable comedy to life.
Special thanks goes to the staff of the Byre Theatre for their support and expertise, enabling cast and crew to take this year’s school show ‘from the page to the stage’.
MOCKTAIL NIGHT
MOCKTAIL NIGHT | On Wednesday, 7 February, the outgoing Year 13 Prefects were treated to an evening of mocktails at The Adamson in St Andrews, as a thank you for all their hard work over the past 12 months. They have all done a super job in taking on their leadership roles and setting an example to our younger students. We wish our retiring prefects all the best with their IB Diploma revision!
TOM MORRIS PRESENTATION
TOM MORRIS PRESENTATION | It was wonderful to welcome St Leonards Senior, Sheila Walker, back to St Leonards on Monday, 26 February, to present a signed copy of the book ‘Tom Morris of St Andrews: the Colossus of Golf 1821-1908’, by D Malcolm and P.E Crabtree, to Ben Caton, who is our first Tom Morris Golf Scholar. Sheila Walker is the great, great granddaughter of the famous golfer Old Tom Morris.
GOLFERS ON TOUR
GOLFERS ON TOUR | Seven pupils from the St Leonards Elite Golf Programme travelled to Spain during the Spring Half Term break for a chance to play on some of the world's best courses, including PGA Catalunya and Club de Golf Vallromanes in Barcelona. Captained by Year 13 student Pol Berge, the St Leonards team: Aiden Sutton, Ole Specht, Pol Berge, Eric Berge, Tom Gomiwiecha and Ellen Caton, played against some excellent Junior teams, such as the Sergio Garcia Junior Golf Academy in Barcelona. Although a sunny start to the tour, the weather was similar to St Andrews at times, working in our favour! The team enjoyed training and playing at the different clubs, meeting the different teams and relaxed by playing very competitive Ping Pong! The team also travelled to play at the prestigious Golf Club de Zarauz in Bilbao.
Highlights of the hugely successful Half Term tour included an excellent hole in one for Ellen Caton on the Club de Golf Vallromanes course, practicing alongside many professionals and tasting delicious Spanish tapas and cheesecake in San Sebastian! Signing off with the Berge boys, Pol and Eric teeing off at PGA Catalunya...
FRENCH CONSUL VISIT
FRENCH CONSUL VISIT | On Tuesday, 27 February, students and staff welcomed Emmanuel Cocher, the Consul General for France in Scotland, to St Leonards to present DELF (Diplôme d’Études de Langue Française) exam certificates to students in Years 8-13.
Mr Cocher spoke at Senior School Assembly about the role of a diplomat and career opportunities in the diplomatic service, sharing his passion for languages with our own budding linguists.
After commending modern languages at St Leonards, Mr Cocher presented the certificates, which are recognised around the world as an international qualification in the French language. The DELF exams, which are offered at seven different levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), are now part of the curriculum at St Leonards, and act as a means of documenting the progress of our students before they go on to sit their GCSE and IB language exams.
Students were successful across the A1.1, A1, A2 and B1 tier qualifications. The B1 level exams are equivalent to the standard of knowledge and understanding required to apply for French citizenship.
Congratulations to all those who collected their certificates and thank you to Mr Cocher for coming to St Leonards for a third year to present the awards!
MONTHLY MEDAL
MONTHLY MEDAL | The February Medal on the New Course in St Andrews saw the highest attendance yet from St Leonards golfers, with 21 players taking part in the monthly competition.
Congratulations to Tom Goniewiecha, who finished in first place, followed by Pol Berge and Ellen Caton, in second and third place respectively.
SNOW DAYS
SNOW DAYS | Our boarders certainly made the most of the recent snowy weather, sledging down the slopes from Big Field to Fives and building snowmen in the school grounds, which were transformed into a winter wonderland!
Mugs of soup and hot chocolate were on the menu for the pupils when they came back to the boarding houses to warm up over games of pool and ping pong!
GLENALMOND GAMES
GLENALMOND GAMES | On Saturday, 24 February, the St Leonards girls came up against Glenalmond, with lacrosse fixtures for Year 9 and Year 10 girls away, and the 1st and 2nd XII at home.
Congratulations to the 1st XII on their 6-3 win against Glenalmond! A super performance from all our teams!
GOLF WIN
GOLF WIN | Five of the best St Leonards golfers played against St Regulus on the Strathtyrum Course on Saturday, 24 February, winning their match 2-1. Well done to Karla Klostermann, Emely Stern, Lara Schmitz, Niamh Headon and Leonie Zillikens, who represented St Leonards.
DIARY DATE
DIARY DATE | The Great St Leonards Egg Hunt, organised by the St Leonards Parents Association, will take place this year on Sunday, 18 March, from 11am to 2pm at St Leonards Junior School. Join us for an egg hunt with clues around the school grounds, and collect a chocolate egg at the end! There will also be Spring Bonnet and Decorated Egg competitions, so please do come dressed for the occasion if you want to enter!
Teas, coffees, soup, hotdogs and delicious home baking will be available to buy. Tickets cost £3 per child. Booking is essential via www.trybooking.co.uk/2584.
We look forward to seeing you there!