I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to all parents as this year’s Head of School, a role which I am very much looking forward to.The summer saw five of our rowers competing for Wales, however, special congratulations must go to cox Jack, who stepped up to represent Great Britain and brought home two silver medals. Eye-opening trips to India and Nepal also demonstrate the fantastic opportunities offered to boys in the school.I urge parents to support the upcoming FOMS Quiz and Curry Night, as all profits go back into assisting stu-dents in their co-curricular activities. I would also like to encourage you to support the J16 rowing challenge, in memory of Tom. These boys have a testing row ahead of them, and I wish them all the best of luck.

Michaelmas term: Week 214th September 2018News

A note from the Head of School

Top stories

Talented students from Monmouth lit up Creates Gallery with an array of stunning artwork in an eye-catching End of Year Exhibition.

The exhibition included outstanding pieces from Monmouth School for Boys’ A level students Wilfrid, Robert, Angus, Harry S, Samuel, Harry R and Jason.

Angus (below) was delighted that his portrait of former Head of School, Nyasha, took pride of place in the gallery’s front window and Harry (left) was proud to see his Sea God sculpture on display at the popular Church Street gallery run by its director, Mr Kenny John.

Wilfrid’s Big Sister painting also had a lot of attention during the two-day exhibition which was organised in collaboration with Art In Penallt.

CREATIVE ARTISTS LIGHT UP MONMOUTH EXHIBITION

Charlie W, Head of School

Harry, a pupil at Monmouth School for Boys, bumped into Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar in London during the summer holidays.Harry, who lives in Monmouth, was playing for Wales Under 14s against Middlesex Youth when he spotted Tendulkar, the most worshipped crick-eter in the world.

Tendulkar – the highest run-scorer of all time in international cricket – has just launched The Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy and was a special guest at Lord’s for India’s Test match with England.

The inspirational meeting with the Little Master clearly worked for wicketkeeper Harry, who held three catches and made two stumpings as Wales put up a brave fight before losing by 31 runs to Middlesex in an exciting two-day match.

Harry, who plays his senior cricket alongside his dad Gareth for Monmouth in the South-East Wales League and his junior cricket for Newport, has been in excellent form with the bat this summer.

He struck 52 for Wales Under-14s against Cheshire earlier this sea-son and has scored three quick-fire half-centuries in four innings for Monmouth Seconds, including a swashbuckling unbeaten 82 against Ebbw Vale Seconds.

HOWZAT? TEENAGER BOWLED OVER BY INDIAN CRICKET LEGEND

Coach, Mr Paul Williams, and cox Jack, both from Monmouth School for Boys, represented GB at the recent Coupe de la Jeunesse in Cork. The leading under-18 rowers from GB battled it out against 13 other European countries across 13 events.

Mr Williams coached the GB Junior Men’s coxed four crew, which in-cluded 17-year-old Jack to runners-up spots in two events. The points achieved by the Junior Men’s coxed four crew contributed to the GB team retaining the overall title at the competition with Italy taking second place.

GREAT BRITAIN ROWING SUCCESS FOR JACK AND MR WILLIAMS

“The Coupe de la Jeunesse is the European Junior Rowing championships and selection to represent GB at this event was a major achievement, second only to being selected for the World Championships team,” said Mr John Griffiths, Master in Charge of Rowing at Monmouth School for Boys. “Jack’s selection and also that of Paul’s is a testament to the huge commitment that Paul has given to our rowing club and also a recognition of the giant steps forward we have made this year. It is also an outstanding achievement for Jack who is entering the second year in Sixth Form and so has another year as a junior to come.”

In their first race, Jack and his crew raced superbly as they secured the silver medal behind an Italian crew, who clinched the gold, and Ireland in third place.

In the second race, the GB crew rowed strongly once again, finishing second behind the same Italian crew, with France taking third.Mr Griffiths added: “We should be extremely proud of these selections as they continue to push Monmouth School for Boys in the top end of the best independent schools in the UK.”

“Tom loved his experience of rowing at Monmouth School for Boys and he could not wait to get into the cox seat,” explained 16-year-old Angus, who is spearheading the rowing challenge. We want to support the fantastic work of the Cancer Research Wales charity and we are also raising funds towards the cost of a new boat, named after Tom, to keep his rowing dream alive.”

The 22.7-mile challenge, called Monster the Loch 2018, is taking place in Inverness. A mass participation race, Monster the Loch is open to all human-powered boat types.

Angus will be joined by fellow Monmouth School for Boys’ J-16 rowers Edward, Ben, Hamish, Bill, Dan, Matt and Rui.

Angus is keen to follow in the footsteps of his father, Adrian, who set a record rowing on Loch Ness in 1976.Adrian rowed the length of Loch Ness 42 years ago, when he was a pupil at Sir Thomas Rich’s School in Gloucester, and set a record of 2 hours and 35 minutes in a J-16 coxed VIII.Since then, the record for rowing Loch Ness has been cut by seven minutes but the Monmouth crew will be aiming to attempt to set a new time.“The prospect of rowing 22.7 miles will be a considerable challenge for us in conditions which could be unpredictable,” said An-gus, who wants to row for Great Britain at an Olympic Games one day.

“But we have prepared well and are ready for the challenge. We will aim to keep nice and relaxed and, hopefully, we won’t sink.”

Headmaster at Monmouth School for Boys, Dr Andrew Daniel, is supporting the rowers’ epic challenge on Loch Ness. “Tom’s death came as a terrible shock for the whole Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools’ community,” said Dr Daniel. “Tom was a popular and caring boy and his loss is still felt immeasurably by us all. As well as his fondness for rowing, Tom was a very talented drum-mer, who sang in the magical performance by the schools’ musicians at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome in the summer of 2017.”

MONSTER ROWING CHALLENGE IN MEMORY OF ASPIRING COX

To support the boys’ Loch Ness rowing challenge, please visit:https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/msrc-monstertheloch2018?utm_id=1&utm_term=wNVpxBBE

Students from Monmouth School for Boys will be tackling a monster rowing challenge on Loch Ness on Saturday 15th September in memory of an as-piring cox.

The eight boys are raising funds towards the cost of a new boat in honour of Tom, who died in June, at the age of 13, after a short illness.

BOYS SECURE RUNNERS-UP SPOTS AT HOME INTERNATIONAL REGATTARowers from Monmouth School for Boys finished runners-up in two events at the 2018 Home International Regatta in Ireland.

Robbie, Iwan, Ben, Antony and Georg shone for Wales’ Junior Men’s team in Cork.

It was a memorable weekend for Iwan, who was named as the Wales Boys’ team captain for the showpiece on Innis-carra Lake.

Despite being hit by illness, the Monmouth boys, coxed by Megan, achieved second places in both the Junior Men’s Coxed VIII and in the Junior Men’s Coxed IV.

On both occasions, the boys rowed superbly but lost out to two very strong England crews selected from the Great Britain trials’ process.

RUGBY NEWS - NEW SEASON STARTS WITH A TOUGH TESTIt was a difficult weekend of rugby for all teams across the school, as Clifton com-pleted a clean sweep winning every game. Away from home both U14 teams lost by a score line of 22-10. The U16 B’s came closest to gaining a result with a 14-7 defeat, with the U16 A’s also losing to superior opponents.

Things were the same here in Monmouth, as the U15 A and B sides both lost out to strong Clifton sides. The second team started their game well as Charlie ran in from inside his own 22 to score under the posts with the conversion easily slotted by Adam. However Clifton fought back and eventually won the game 27-7.

The first fifteen came up against a very strong Clifton side. After a solid start we were unable to convert any of our pressure and Clifton made the most of this as they ran in 4 tries before half time. In the second half Alex scored our only try of the game after a delightful grubber kick through from Yann. This only turned out to be a consolation though, as Clifton came back stronger and the game ended 39-7. Plenty of positives to take from the game but work needs to be done before the fixture against Old Swinford next week.

A LIFE-CHANGING INDIAN SUMMER

A group of intrepid students from Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools broadened their horizons and embarked upon a month long expedition to India during the summer holiday.Accompanied by five members of staff, the 26 teenagers from Monmouth School for Boys and Monmouth School for Girls leapt at the exciting opportunity to explore a new land and culture.

During the trip, students immersed themselves in a community project in Kais where they painted walls, completed murals and donated teaching materials to local schools. The group also demonstrated outstanding teamwork and resilience in a once-in-a-lifetime trek in the foothills north of Manali in the Indian Himalayas.

Overcoming physical and mental challenges during the trip was character-building and humbling for pupils, who re-turned to Monmouth with an exciting new outlook on life.

Mr Gerry Stentiford, Head of Geography at Monmouth School for Boys, said working together and supporting each other had been key elements throughout the trip, “The trek, more than any other part of the expedition, brought the students together. Being wet for a week made the physical challenge of the trek become a mental challenge. The sheer vastness of the physical landscape was breath-taking at times and some students will remember their complete shock at the sense and pace of life in Delhi.”

Summing up the trip Mr Stentiford added, “the expedition was unique, challenging and hard. It was not a holiday but it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime trip for all of us.”

https://www.flickr.com/photos/habsmonmouth/albums/72157694766701265/with/40059536195/

COMING UP AT THE BLAKE THEATRENational Theatre Live on our big screen:

Thursday 27th SeptemberKing Lear

By William Shakespeare

***** ‘Ian McKellen reigns supreme in this triumphant production.’ (Daily Telegraph)

Broadcast live from London’s West End, see Ian McKel-len’s ‘extraordinarily moving portrayal’ (Independent) of King Lear in cinemas.

Click here to see all of our news stories on the website.

Calendar Dates:

Fri 14 September

8.40am Chaplain’s Assembly9am Year 13 deadline for all Oxbridge, Medicine, Veterinary Science and Dentistry UCAS applica-tions to TutorsFinal date for GCSE and A Level re-mark requests and return of papers.See Mr Pearson in M7 at lunchtimes 1.50pm – 2.15pm before closing date

Sat 15 September

8.40am Year 9 Pembrokeshire trip briefing (Blake Theatre)Boarders’ Activity: 6.30pm Cinema (Newport)Rugby: v. Old Swinford Hospital: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, U13A & B XVs (A) Lunch 11.55am, Depart 12.15pm, KO 2.30pmU15A & B, U14A & B XVs (H) KO 2.30pm

Sun 16 September

Hymn practice weekCCF: Pre-Competition Qualification (Sennybridge) Depart 8am, return 5.30pmBoarders’ Activity: 9.30am Surf Lessons10.15am Chapel: MB and MG Years 7 – 115pm Chapel: All Sixth Formers (before Joint Supper)Boarders’ Activity: 5.15pm Joint Suppers: Years 11 - 13 (MB) Years 7 - 10 (MG)Rowing: Boston Marathon: 1st squad only (Lincolnshire)

Mon 17 September 10.35am - 11.45am Year 9 Baseline Tests: Group 1 (COM2 and ICT2)

Tue 18 September

9.05am - 10.15am Year 9 Baseline Tests: Group 2 (COM2 and ICT2)10.35am - 11.45am Year 7 Baseline Tests: Group 1 (COM1 and ICT2)Year 9 Adventure Training trip to Pembrokeshire. Depart 2pm (to Friday 21 September, 3.30pm)7pm - 9pm Year 12 Supper: Quiz and Curry (MG Dining Room)

Wed 19 September

CCF: Pre-Competition Qualification (Sennybridge) Depart 8.45am,return 5.30pmCCF: RAF Gliding (Usk) Depart 1.50pm, return 5.30pmRugby: v. St Peter’s High School, Gloucester: U13 XV (A) Lunch 1.05pm,Depart 1.20pm, KO 3pm

Thur 20 September9.05am - 10.15am Year 7 Baseline Tests: Group 2 (COM2 and ICT2)Rugby: v. St Peter’s High School, Gloucester: U14 & U15 XVs (H)KO 4.15pm

Chichester Festival Theatre’s production received five-star reviews for its sell-out run, and transfers to the West End for a limited season. Jonathan Munby directs this ‘nuanced and powerful’ (The Times) contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tender, violent, moving and shocking play.Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, King Lear sees two ageing fathers – one a King, one his courtier – reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends.

Tickets: Adults £16, Concessions £15, Students £13 (Click on the image to book tickets for this event.)* Please note that King Lear will contain strobe lighting.