Twenty seven senior cricketers have returned from the Caribbean after the most successful cricket tour in the School’s history. The First team won 6 out of their 7 matches, while the Second team won 2, drew one and lost 4.  Playing their matches in Antigua, St Kitts and Nevis, the boys were fortunate enough to play at Antigua’s new Sir Vivian Richards Sports Ground and the Warner Park in St Kitts.  Captain Matt Burgess scored 157 runs on the tour, with a school record of 50 off 18 balls. Jack Reynolds reached the tour’s top score, with 80 not out. Greg James was the leading wicket taker for the First team with 11 wickets and Gyan Rhodes took 12 for the Second team. Arun Parkash and Charles Reed both scored over 120 runs for the 2nd team.

Cricket was, however, not played all the time, and the boys enjoyed two catamaran cruises and a jungle hike, along with golf and plenty of post match relaxation on the beach. 
Report by Charles Inglis

Forty boys from the First and Second forms spent the best part of a week exploring the Alps in France and Switzerland at the beginning of the summer holiday. They visited the famous cheese factory in the traffic free cobbled village of Gruyères, then travelled to Chamonix, where they took the rack railway from Montnevèrs station to the Mer de Glace. Fantastic clear skies gave them superb views of Mont Blanc and the surrounding massifs. The Second formers in the party were able to spot features drawn in their geography lessons the previous term. On day three, the group travelled through the Châtel valley to Thonon les Bains, where the large weekly market gave pupils an opportunity to practise their language skills by completing a questionnaire. This was followed by a short journey to the spectacular Gorge de Pont du Diablo, a deep and narrow cleft cut by water through the limestone. An excellent guide took the party through the gorge on boardwalks suspended above the river.

As well as using geographic and linguistic knowledge, the boys had enormous fun, including visiting Labyrinthe, Europe’s largest maze and a play-park. They explored the three kilometre maze and enjoyed gladiatorial battles, unusually engineered bicycles, tricycles and quad bikes as well as a range of giant slides and other amusements.

On what seemed to be the first fine day for weeks, the whole School took to its feet, with over eight hundred pupils and staff walking around Verulamium Park to raise money for charity. The year’s final event staged by the Charities Committee involved the whole School community, the aim being to raise funds for Water Aid, a very appropriate charity considering the excesses of rainwater we have been enduring lately. The charity exists to provide safe clean water in parts of the world where it is difficult to obtain, giving people water to drink and improving sanitation. The six-mile route took the snaking column of walkers throughout the park and up the main hill twice before returning to the Gateway. It provided a chance for a leisurely stroll and a friendly chat, a relaxing way to move towards the end of the term, as well as raising a considerable sum for Water Aid.

Entrepreneur Peter Lassman, who began his career as a one-man business exporting records and is now a board member of Chrysalis UK, presented the prizes to the School’s Business Enterprise students and spoke to them about the business world. The four Sixth form companies, Magic Inc., Aspect Unlimited, Optimus and Viva, learnt the skills of market research, product development and sales through various enterprises, including a charity balloon race, pizza sales, personalised t-shirts, Playstation and football tournaments. Peter Lassman presented the prize for the most successful company to Elloit Lister-Fell, Managing Director of Optimus.

The traditional Summer Term exhibition of exam work in the Art and Design Technology Departments showed again the range of skills of students in the School. The Art display contained a range of canvases in varied styles, with GCSE and A level students experimenting with media and techniques. There were examples of fine, subtle painting and bold aggressive graphical work, while others worked with texture and three dimensional effects. The Design & Technology rooms showed off a range of skilled cabinet making, including an elegant music stand, and some particularly successful work in rebranding and packaging products. One student even ventured in to architecture, designing an extension for his house. Another picked up on Apple’s design cues in creating a ergonomic mouse to complement the iconic computers. Parents, students, staff and friends gathered to view the excellence of the pupils’ work at the exhibition.

Among the many school trips at this time of year, the entire Third form spent an informative and interesting day at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. The focus of the visit was a talk on the Battle of Britain, supported with a variety of memorabilia from the era as well as images and video footage of this pivotal confrontation in World War Two. There was also an opportunity to examine the numerous exhibits on display at Duxford and put into context that which had been learnt in the classroom when studying the Battle of Britain. With preparations for the air show in full swing, an unexpected bonus was being treated to an aerobatic display by a restored Spitfire.