Perse School

Our Year
2018 - 2019
Annual Review 2018 - 2019
3
Head’s welcome
Perse students do exceptionally well in I/GCSE, A level The most durable lessons in school are those that
and Pre U exams and as a result they achieve the top prepare students for life, not for public exams. As this
grades needed for entry to the best universities in the Annual Review shows, through sport, music, drama,
UK and overseas. Their successes mean The Perse is art, outdoor pursuits, clubs and societies and charity
the highest placed school or college in the East of work, Perseans gain essential inter and intra-personal
England for public exam results and The Times ranked skills and qualities such as teamwork, leadership,
The Perse first in its league table of GCSE results for emotional intelligence, communication, resilience,
co-educational schools. organisation, integrity, responsibility, creativity and
self-belief. They will use these skills and qualities on a
Our academic excellence is both absolute and daily basis in adult life, long after they have forgotten
relative, with independently conducted value added their GCSE and A level revision notes.
analysis showing that pupils of a given ability achieve
significantly better results at The Perse than pupils of Very importantly, through our extra-curricular
the same ability in an ‘average’ independent school. activities, pupils also have fun and develop lifelong
interests, both of which are key ingredients for a
For students to achieve their goals, they need to be happy and successful education.
well supported by a strong and caring pastoral system,
which aims to bring out the best in every child. Our There is far more to The Perse than just its outstanding
pastoral tutors work hard to help pupils through the academic successes. I hope that in reading the pages
challenges of growing up to emerge as well-rounded, that follow you will appreciate the scale and quality of
confident, kind and considerate adults. all that goes on at the Pelican, Prep and Upper to give
pupils an excellent education and a wonderful start in life.
ED ELLIOTT
HEAD
Shaped by our values

A clear sense of purpose, shared by pupils and staff,
lies at the heart of everything we do.
Intellectual Breadth and Endeavour: One another and

curiosity and balance: our environment:
We aim high and
scholarship:
We are involved, challenge ourselves, try We each play our part
We love learning, engaged and our best and are not in creating a kind and
thinking deeply, being committed, and we afraid to make mistakes. considerate community.
creative and welcoming take full advantage of We care for ourselves,
reasoned debate. the opportunities we each other and those in
are given. need.
4
PELICAN PREP UPPER
7 19 38
Intellectual curiosity Intellectual curiosity Intellectual curiosity
and scholarship and scholarship and scholarship
9 23 38
Breadth and balance Breadth and balance Science
12 25 40
Biology
Endeavour Endeavour
42
15 28 Chemistry
One another and One another and
our environment our environment 44
Physics
46
Computer Science
47
Maths
48
History
50
Geography
31 GCSE results 54
Independent Learning
34 A level results
61
Modern Foreign Languages
36 University destinations
5
68
Breadth and balance
68
Art
74
Classics
76
Philosophy, Ethics and
Religion
78
English and Drama
86
Music
92 118
Endeavour One another and
our environment
92
Sport 118
Charities
104
Outdoor Pursuits 124
Sustainability
111
Clubs and Societies 125
Summer School
112
42 Lectures 128
Community Outreach
114
Design and Technology 129
An Enduring Gift
116
Politics 130
Community Lectures
117
Economics
PELICAN
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Pelican
Intellectual curiosity and scholarship
Metre challenge adds up to

number fun
Pupils went to great lengths to celebrate the wonder of numbers
at the Pelican Maths Day.
Children across the school Reception children enjoyed a trip

were challenged to display their to Cambridge Market, where they
knowledge by each creating a discovered more about money by
‘metre of maths’. each buying an item with the £1
coins they had taken with them.
Year 2 youngsters faced a ‘chilli
Following on from their visit, they
challenge’ as they chose colour-
used crayons to make coin rubbings
coded strips of mild (green),
for their creations. Meanwhile,
medium (orange) and hot (red)
Nursery youngsters used Easter
maths problems to solve before
egg-inspired maths for their designs.
sticking them together to make
a 'metre of maths', while pupils in Ever yone gathered in the
Year 1 demonstrated their familiarity playground at the end of the day to
with different fractions by dividing exhibit their ‘metres of maths’, with
their metres and shading them in the total distance of their efforts
accordingly. spanning a huge 143 metres.
Pelicans inspired to become architects of the future

Designing and building their her architectural passion and Hadid. The wide range of shapes,
own imaginative constructions expertise with the children. styles and materials used in their
was the task for Year 1’s STEM constructions provided the perfect
They were also inspired by
Challenge. starting point for the children
the buildings designed by
to create their own architectural
Pupils were visited by Dr renowned architects, including Sir
masterpieces using items such as
Stacy Sinclair, who shared Christopher Wren and Dame Zaha
toilet rolls and art straws.
INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY AND SCHOLARSHIP

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Pelican
Science centre
visit is plain sailing
Year 2 pupils sailed away to
Cambridge Science Centre for
a special visit relating to their
topic on forces.
The trip allowed them to apply

some of the knowledge they had
gained as they took part in a sailing
science workshop. Children made
and tested land yachts and had
to think carefully about the forces
they were using and overcoming.
They had to decide what would be
the best size and shape for a sail
for their yacht and used a large fan
to test their designs before making
any improvements required for
their craft.
The pupils also had the opportunity
to try out some of the other
fun activities at the centre and
thoroughly enjoyed their visit.
Year 2 Science Morning

Year 2 pupils had a great time taking part in a carousel of
absorbing activities led by Year 3 Prep staff at their end-of-
year Science Morning.
Children enjoyed watching their painting patterns on filter paper increases heart rate by taking
mini helicopter rotors take off before dropping water on to part in a range of energetic
and fly after building simple them and watching the colours activities, including running on
electrical circuit boards to power run together. the spot, star jumps and jogging,
them and they produced some as well as being shown how to
colourful creations through the Pupils also headed outside to take their pulse.
process of chromatography by learn more about how exercise

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Pelican
Breadth and balance
Read all about it!

From Harry Potter to Harry and his Bucket Full Teddy said he dressed as Colossal Squid from the
of Dinosaurs, children dressed up as characters Octonauts series “because he’s funny and I learn a lot
from their favourite stories to celebrate World of things from the Octonauts,” while fellow Nursery
Book Day. pupil Sarah came as Lanky Len the farmer from What
the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson. She said: “I
Leading children’s author Ian Whybrow was also on like dressing up and reading. I like Lanky Len because
hand to entertain youngsters with his tall tales and he stole a cow!”
read extracts from his books, which include the Harry
In Year 1, it was possible to find Mog the Cat, Winnie the
and the Dinosaurs, Little Wolf and Say Hello series.
Witch and Tom, the hero of the Beast Quest novels, aka
Pupils and staff certainly enjoyed stepping into the Adam, Selina and Andre, enjoying the day. Adam said
shoes of their favourite book characters for the day he liked Mog because “he scared a robber and made
by dressing in a dazzling array of colourful costumes him drop his bag”, while Selina and Andre said Winnie
to mark the occasion. the Witch and Beast Quest were their favourite stories.
B R E A DT H A N D B A L A N C E
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Pelican
Pelicans experience wartime

life at Stibbington
As part of their topic about World War II, Year 2 visited Stibbington
to discover what life was like for an evacuee.
The children dressed up in clothes the countryside in those days, postcards, the Pelicans were also
from the period and began their including obscured signposts, shown how to use gas masks
journey back in time at Wansford pigeon pie, vegetable plots and and took part in an air raid drill,
station, where they were met by scrap metal collections, before hiding out in a shelter until the
a billeting officer who showed arriving at ‘school’. coast was clear.
them the type of steam train
Lessons took place in a After such an exciting morning, it
children from London would have
period classroom, starting was time to eat and pupils tucked
arrived on for their new life.
with a message from Princess into a period-style lunch that
Pupils then walked through Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth included Spam sandwiches, cake
the village of Stibbington II). Besides discovering how to made with dried egg powder and
where they learnt about life in use traditional ink pens to write apples from the orchard.
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Pelican
Peter Rabbit brings

feast of fruit and veg
Reception youngsters tantalised their taste buds
by trying out some secret smoothies during a visit
from Peter Rabbit.
Peter brought along a box of flavourful fruits and
vegetables for the pupils to look at, touch and
taste, while his assistant Sally Crewe, nutritionist
from Perse caterers Holroyd Howe, gave a talk
about the importance of such foods to a healthy
diet. She also explained that you have to taste
something at least 10 times before deciding you
do not like it.
Children then sampled mystery red and green
smoothies and had to guess which fruit or
vegetables each drink was made from. They were
eager to try the colourful concoctions, with the
green smoothie, containing mostly spinach, being
the overall favourite.
Sports Day
Children from across the school got on their
marks at the Pelican’s annual Sports Day.
With great backing from the big crowd of

supporters, pupils put their all into every event.
From being budding Usain Bolts in the sprints
to showing great determination in the obstacle
races, every child from Nursery to Year 2 had a
lot of fun.
After an entertaining series of events, it was
Woodpeckers who emerged as the overall
winners. They were presented with the trophy by
Helen Wood, a long-serving teaching assistant
who retired at the end of the academic year.
Inspiring Houses of Parliament visit

Year 2 enjoyed an illuminating visit to the Houses of Parliament.
They saw the Houses of Commons and Lords and learned about the two parts to Parliament, with Queen
Elizabeth II being Head of State. Children searched for symbols and crests on ceilings, walls and floors
and then designed their own floor tile.
Pupils also heard about the role of Chance the dog in rescuing people from the fire that burnt down the
Palace of Westminster in 1834. Chance became the mascot of the London Fire Brigade.
12
Pelican
Endeavour
Burwell House trip proves a hit

Developing new skills while having lots of fun made the Year 2
residential trip to Burwell House a huge success.
For some pupils, it was their first experience of staying away from home
overnight, but the level of excitement was such that any nerves quickly
disappeared.
They took part in a range of activities during their stay, including leading
a blindfolded partner along an obstacle course and decorating batik bags
with their own eye-catching designs, as well as toasting marshmallows
around the campfire in the evening.
Children learned how to look after their belongings and make and strip
their beds as well as helping to serve each other at mealtimes as the
trip helped them build up vital skills such as independence, resilience,
responsibility and teamwork.
E N D E AV O U R
13
Pelican
Pelicans strike Golden

a chord opportunities
Marvellous music was performed by Year 1 and 2 pupils
during the Pelican’s annual recitals.
Their impressive solo renditions followed regular
practice for the youngsters on their respective musical
for children
All Pelican pupils are valued for their
instruments, including piano, strings and recorder.
individuality with their achievements being
Enthusiastic audiences of family and school friends celebrated, no matter how big or small they
thoroughly enjoyed the performances. may be.
Every child receives at least one Golden Brick

during their time at the Pelican, with the award
being presented for a special achievement in or
outside school.
Parents or guardians can attend the informal
presentation ceremony in assembly and later in the
day, the recipient of the Golden Brick has Golden
Tea with the Head.
Children also have the chance to achieve the
Pelican Skills Award, encouraging them to acquire
the skills to help them become more independent.
There are 20 skills to achieve, ranging from writing
their name and doing their coat up to cycling safely
and tying their shoelaces, and upon completion,
pupils are presented with a special Pelican badge
to wear on their uniform.
E N D E AV O U R
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Pelican
Art Exhibition
Colourful creations by Pelican pupils were enjoyed by the many
family and friends who attended the school’s biennial Art Exhibition.
The exhibition was inspired by LS had the thrill of visiting the museum
Lowry’s work After the Wedding to view it before starting work on
and the children made their own their own pieces, with each year
artwork based on the themes, group choosing their own creative
subject matter, historical context direction to go in.
and composition of the painting.
Nursery children focused on towns,
As the painting is on display at the
buildings and houses and used and watercolours as well as making
Fitzwilliam Museum the children
recycled materials to make their collages from ripped paper.
own models of buildings, while
Year 2 studied the use of perspective
Reception pupils looked at Lowry’s
in Lowry’s painting before taking a
famous ‘matchstick men’ figures
photo of a building of their choice
and worked with wire and willow
in Cambridge and using that as
withies to create life-size versions
the basis of their works. As well as
in the same style. They also made
using inks, pencils and watercolours,
their own paintings of such figures
they made collagraph prints from
using oil pastels and Brusho.
which they produced eye-catching
The Cambridge cityscape was clay models with the help of Year 9
the basis for Year 1 to produce pupils at the Upper.
imaginative pieces using fine pens
E N D E AV O U R
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Pelican
One another and our environment

Marathon effort
Chicks cause egg-citement for charities
Learning about life cycles was literally brought to life for pupils when Children from across the school
they witnessed chicks hatch thanks to the Living Eggs scheme. were inspired to go the extra mile in
Ten embryo eggs arrived at the Pelican in an incubator and over the the Pelican Charity Marathon after
course of the two-week programme, fluffy little chicks gradually hearing the story of Pheidippides,
began to emerge from inside the shells. the ancient Greek runner whose
feats gave rise to today’s modern-
The children loved looking at the cute little birds and even had the day marathons.
chance to hold and stroke them before they were collected up at the
end of the fortnight to live on a free-range farm. Although they could not match
the 300 miles he was said to have
covered in just over four days,
pupils still managed to complete
a combined total of 1,973 laps of
the Pelican. After each lap, they
received stickers and stamps and
were applauded as they reached
the finish line.
The aim of the event was to raise
funds for East Anglia’s Children’s
Hospices, the Disasters Emergency
Committee and the World Wide
Fund for Nature. A fantastic total
of almost £1,000 was raised for
the three important causes, which
were chosen by the pupils.
Getting close to nature

Taking a closer look at the plants and bugs inhabiting
Wandlebury Country Park proved enjoyable and
educational for Year 2 pupils.
Children were shown how to identify different types
of trees and plants by staff from the Education Centre
during a nature trail. They also went pond dipping and
sifted through leaf litter and had the chance to identify
all the mini beasts they discovered.
O N E A N OT H E R A N D O U R E N V I R O N M E N T
16
Pelican
Pelicans focus on
green issues
Pelican staff and children embarked upon a journey to ensure the
school is actively becoming more sustainable.
Under the umbrella of renowned conservationist Jane Goodall’s

Roots and Shoots education programme, the Pelican began
to implement positive change for animals, people and our
environment.
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Pelican
In the early years, children thought about local wildlife Year 2 ‘Water Warriors’ also taught everyone how to
and how they could help creatures, particularly in save water with their magnificent shields, while their
winter time. The Nursery and Reception gardens independent upcycling projects were a lesson to us all.
wowed visitors with the growth of the cress, beans
In a joint venture with two pupils from the Upper,
and sunflowers they had planted.
Pelican children raised £900 for the Reteti Elephant
Year 1 children visited Shepreth Wildlife Park and Sanctuary in Kenya by dutifully carrying out chores at
Cambridge University Botanic Garden to discover home for which they were sponsored.
more about species of animals and plants. They also
Within the school, energy monitors ensure
learned about deforestation and took steps to help by
smartboards and lights are switched off when not in
sponsoring the planting of new trees in the rainforest.
use and pens, glue sticks and whiteboard markers
Pupils in Year 2 took a look around the Amey Cespa are now recycled. Meanwhile, teachers are playing an
waste management depot at Waterbeach to find out active role in reducing the use of plastic across the
what happens to our household rubbish and how school - the laminator is barely touched and washable
materials such as bottles and cans are recycled. The cups are now taken on trips rather than water bottles.
PREP
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Prep
Author and poet visits

– intellectual curiosity
inspired by literature
To mark World Book Day, children and staff dressed up
as their favourite fictional characters and were treated
to a visit from Megan Rix, who gave a fascinating talk
about her stories about animals. She provided children
with interesting insights into the historical context of her
books such as The Great Escape, The Bomber Dog and
A Soldier’s Friend. Fabulous footage of parachute dogs
was particularly well received by the children. Megan’s
workshops inspired Year 5 children to write their own
animal tales and the presence of her golden retrievers
helped children create even more convincing descriptions.
National Poetry Day was celebrated by a visit from
Paul Cookson. He inspired budding verse writers with
his energetic, entertaining and irreverent performance
of poetry and a series of workshops in which Year 6
children collaborated to write poems together. Paul’s
moving reading of his favourite poem Let No-one
Steal Your Dreams encouraged children to pursue their
present and future ambitions.
The Prep literary year culminated in a brilliant talk from
Caroline Lawrence. She focused on her ‘magic formula’
for writing a book and explained how she structures
her work, using examples from popular films. Caroline
also gave children a fascinating insight into life in
Ancient Rome and taught them that the most powerful
time machine is a book!

20
Prep
Professor Chappell and Dr Cooke gave an informative
Science Week talk about labour and birth during which children
enjoyed a carousel of activities, including blood
pressure monitoring, suturing and estimating blood
loss. Dr Gohel delivered a fascinating talk about blood
Einstein claimed ‘I have no special talents. I am
and used an ultrasound machine to show images of
only passionately curious’ and it is this quality
blood movement.
that children were encouraged to pursue during
Science Week at The Perse Prep. From cell communication (Dr Kaneider), to
orthopaedics (Mr Latimer), transmission of infection
The science behind medicine was one of the principal (Dr Cooke) and how DNA codes proteins (Dr Cutts),
themes of Science Week, as 23 professional experts the talks opened up a new world for the Prep children
shared their knowledge and passion with the pupils. and challenged them to engage with topical issues
about medicine.
Mr Alexander used art, games and optical illusions to
illustrate his fascinating talk about eyes and vision. Dr The link between science and the arts was demonstrated
Cox and Dr Balmus gave an interesting insight into through drama and drawing. Year 5 children devised
neurology and Dr Sharma introduced the children to and performed three plays in a day inspired by the
neuroscience. Dr Schramm talked about the human theme of science and discovery. Cambridge University
body and taught children to measure their blood Botanic Garden provided an idyllic setting for each
pressure and oxygen levels. year group to create scientific drawings of the fabulous

21
Prep
variety of plants. Professor Glover explained the science

behind plants and bees and children learned how to
extract DNA from strawberries with Dr Schmitt and Dr
Campos. Dr Ryten also taught children to extract DNA
from their saliva and Fluid Analytics gave a fascinating
insight into the DNA helix.
Mr Tadepalli inspired Year 4 children to think
about computers past, present and future during a
fascinating talk about processors. A computer science
lesson was also a fabulous highlight of the Year 5 trip
to the Upper during which the children employed their
new knowledge of binary to work out a colour-coded
pattern that eventually turned into a parrot.
Year 6 enjoyed a morning of science at the Upper
where they learned about the physics behind theatre
lighting, DNA extraction and testing for substances
such as sugar, protein and starch in a desert island
survival activity. The Life Bus taught children valuable
lessons about making healthy lifestyle choices.
The abiding allure of the animal kingdom inspired Year
3 to explore Shepreth Wildlife Park where they had
exciting encounters with a variety of creatures. Year 3
also enjoyed exploring the science behind creating a
dinosaur theme park with Mrs Tasker and had a fabulous
day experimenting with dinosaur-related activities. Mr Hunter enthralled children with
his talk about satellites and his work at
the European Space Agency
During various exploration and engineering activities,
children were spellbound by Mr Macdonald’s
fascinating talk about the science and engineering
behind the mission to send humans to Mars. Mr Hunter
enthralled children with his talk about satellites and
his work at the European Space Agency. Mr Jefferson
taught children about aviation and aerodynamics
and Mr Goodricke explained the engineering behind
sewage treatment. Dr George inspired budding
explorers with her passion for Antarctica and the
importance of studying the continent.
Children’s author Katherine Rundell says that ‘every
human on Earth is an explorer’. Prep Science Week
affirmed this notion and inspired children to keep
exploring and asking questions for years to come.

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Prep
Special days at school

and further afield
Learning was brought to life at the Prep through
a variety of exciting events and visits that pupils
took part in, including:
• Fitzwilliam Museum visits for Year 3, who explored

the archaeology of the classical world, and Year 6,
who made detailed observational studies of 18th-
Century porcelain figures.
• Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology visit for
Year 5, who made colourful drawings inspired by
the exhibition of beautiful clothing and masks from
all over the world.
• Celtic Harmony visit for Year 4, who dressed in
authentic clothes of the time and experienced life
in the past.
• Year 4 Saxon History Day and Year 5 Mediaeval
History Day.
• Year 5 Play in a Day, put together with help from
actors and directors from New Wolsey Theatre,
Ipswich.

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Prep
Breadth and balance
Henry VIII and other drama highlights

Year 6 pupils at the Prep put on a right royal show with Year 6 also staged a stunning performance of Macbeth
their production of Henry VIII the Musical. at the Mumford Theatre as part of the Shakespeare
Schools Festival.
Audiences were treated to an entertaining history
lesson about the life of the 16th Century King of The cast of 22 children attended a workshop and a
England as they performed the show over three nights. rehearsal morning at the theatre where they worked
with professional directors from the Shakespeare
The show, written by Eddie Copeland with music by
Schools Foundation on their abridged half-hour
Prep Director of Music Paul Harris, was triple cast
version of the Scottish Play.
with a different group of 25 children taking the lead
roles each night and performing in the ensemble on The Year 5 Centre Stage group performed Roald Dahl’s
the other evenings. Triple casting supports the Prep’s The Twits and musical comedy What a Knight!, which
‘drama for all’ approach and allows many children from brought a humorous twist to the Arthurian legend.
across the year group to shine in dramatic roles and
perform solo songs.
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Prep
Summer concerts
The Prep summer concerts created a wonderful musical finale to the
academic year. An impressive variety of ensembles, groups, choirs and
orchestras flooded the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre with beautiful
contemporary and classical music.
Teamwork, dedication and enjoyment shone through the children’s
performances on both nights. From the Year 3 pupils making their Peter
Hall Performing Arts Centre debuts to the senior children conducting
their own string quartets and quintets, the sense of joy inspired by music
was evident in abundance.
Inspired by the team of music teachers, the children played a fabulous
mixture of classical and modern pieces from Bach and Brahms to
Rodgers and Hammerstein and Pasek and Paul. Both concerts culminated
in fabulous finales which left the audiences in raptures. Years 3 and 4
performed selections from Lucky Luke and Years 5 and 6 sang a rousing
version of This is Me.
Art and DT Exhibitions

Every pupil produced eye-catching creations for
the annual Prep Art and Design & Technology
Exhibitions.
Featuring dozens of masterpieces, the Art show
saw inspiration come from a number of different
media and themes as children brought their works
to fruition, from beautiful ceramic leaf bowls and
oil pastel and ink shell drawings to architecture
constructed in card.
Meanwhile, a rich combination of pneumatic toys,
vacuum-formed toddler trays, beautifully engineered
chairs and carefully constructed desk tidies were on
show for all to admire at the DT display.
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Prep
Endeavour
Sports round-up
Whether it is rugby, hockey, football, netball, cricket or
athletics, sport is for all at the Prep, in games time or
Win
during clubs. Every child is involved in House matches
before progressing, from Year 4 onwards, to play Lose
fixtures against other schools.
Draw
U11 boys came second in the country at the
Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS)
national hockey finals.
U11 boys reached the Independent Schools Football
Association (ISFA) national football finals at St
There were a total of 515 fixtures against other schools,
George’s Park, the England team’s training centre.
with the Prep winning a staggering 75% of matches,
U11 girls reached the IAPS national netball finals. drawing 4% and losing just 21%.
Great Prep House Off

Children took part in a giant relay on Leighton
Lawn, showed off their unique skills in a talent show,
raised the roof while singing their House anthems
and tested their grey matter with a fiendishly tricky
general knowledge quiz in the first Great Prep
House Off.
Throughout the day, children worked in their House
families, containing one pupil from each year group.
Teamwork, collaboration and a healthy dollop of and won the talent section of the competition with
fun were the order of the day. some energetic dance moves. As a result of their
The inaugural champions were the Foresters, who victory, Foresters had the privilege of having their
wowed the judges with their rousing House shout newly-created House flag flown from the school’s
30ft flagpole.
E N D E AV O U R
26
Prep
Prep pupils develop independence

on residential trips
Fifty-three Year 6 children and six staff headed

off on the annual six-day hockey tour to Holland.
The children got stuck in to hockey sessions with
professional coaches, an indoor tournament and
fixtures against local clubs, whilst also taking the
opportunity to watch two professional matches
at HC Den Bosch. There was plenty of time for
other enjoyable activities, including trips to
Amsterdam and Rotterdam Zoo.
E N D E AV O U R
27
Prep
Year 5 headed off on their annual trip to northern

France, spending a long weekend in a chateau in
the small market town of Rue. Pupils practised their
language skills at the local market, when making
mayonnaise and at a goat farm, as well as enjoying
visits to the beach and some World War I battlefields.
Further highlights included trips to a traditional
confectioner and boulangerie not only to see how
sweets and croissants are made, but to taste them too!
Sixty-four Year 4 pupils enjoyed being in the great
outdoors on their first residential trip at The Perse
Prep. They spent the night camping out at Chrishall
Grange, and for some it was their first experience
of being away from home or staying in a tent. The
youngsters played exciting games in the woods and
enjoyed a campfire sing-song, accompanied by plenty
of hot chocolate.
Every member of Year 6 headed to the north Norfolk
coast on their activity weekend. The children had an
amazing time participating in a number of activities,
such as zip lining, archery, laser tag, high ropes, go
karting and climbing, as well as spending a lovely
afternoon on the beach.
E N D E AV O U R
28
Prep
Eco House Activity Day

The whole school took part in an eco-activity day Each of the Houses sang the song Reuse, Reduce,
in their House families. Each group took part in a Recycle - a really fun activity with a strong message.
series of activities designed to make them think In order to help the target of reusing items, children
about the environment in which they live, including handed in 200 pairs of old shoes to be donated to
junk modelling and making beeswax wraps which charity. The catering team helped reduce the Prep’s
they got to take home and will hopefully replace carbon footprint on the day by producing a tasty
some of the cling film often used in kitchens. meat-free lunch.
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Prep
Health and
Wellbeing Week
Pupils enjoyed two days of entertaining, engaging and absorbing
activities to round off the Prep’s Health and Wellbeing Week.
care and tested pupils’ visual skills

by getting them to draw pictures
from memory after being shown
an image, while Year 6 pupils made Pupils also had the opportunity
and decorated gingerbread men to to learn kung fu and first aid skills
sell in aid of the charity. as well as designing beautiful
relaxation boxes, inventing their
Collecting materials own superheroes and painting
to build rafts before stones using symmetrical and
testing their vessels on swirly mandala patterns, before
everyone came together to take
the water proved to be
part in a whole school line dance
among the highlights as the finale to a fun and thought-
Using just butter tubs, a fishing line for youngsters in Year 3. provoking week.
and pieces of wood, Year 5 children
created ukuleles with the help of
Hawaiian-shirted members of the
Utterly Butterly Ukulele Project
and were shown how to play their
instruments before performing a
concert in front of the rest of the
school.
Year 4 children were inspired to
become ‘eye heroes’ by visitors
from Eye Health UK, who explained
the importance of regular eye
Raising money
For the first time, every Prep pupil took part
in a ballot to vote for their charity of the year.
Nominations were shortlisted by the school council,
POD (Pupil Organised Democracy), and each
charity was presented to the whole school, who
exercised their democratic rights and chose to raise
funds for Cancer Research UK (CRUK).
CRUK representatives visited the school to give an
assembly and explain how the funds raised would representatives to a number of evening events
be used as well as delivering engaging workshops to during the year.
Year 6 pupils. Year 4 took up the CRUK fundraising In total, more than £15,000 was raised by Prep
mantle by raising almost £1,500 from their own Race children and their parents for good causes over
for Life event. the past year.
Children and parents also raised money for Prep children also gave their time to boosting
Accuro, a charity which supports children, young the school’s relationship with Denis Wilson Court,
people and adults with disabilities in the local with more than 100 children performing in musical
region. Accuro presented an assembly and sent concerts for the elderly residents.
UPPER
31
Upper · GCSE results
GCSE results 2019
A record-breaking 83%
of entries were graded 9
83% or 8 (broadly equivalent
to the old A* grade).
94%
9/8/A*
Overall, the 9-7 grade (equivalent A total of 75 students secured a

to A*/A) was 94%, while 60% of clean sweep of 9/8/A* grades in all
entries were graded at 9. of their I/GCSE subjects.
I/GCSE results by year

Year (% cumulative) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
2019 60 83 94 98 99 100 100
The A* figure below includes grades 8 and 9. Direct comparison is not possible as 8 straddles the top of the
previous grade A and A*
Year (% cumulative) A* A B C D
2019 83 94 97.7 99.9 100
2018 80 94 99.7 100 100
2017 69 90 98 100 100
2016 77 95 99 99.9 100
2015 72 94 99 99.9 100
The Times has placed The Perse top of the league table of 193 independent co-educational schools’ I/GCSE
results.
This was the fourth time in recent years that The Perse has achieved this, which is testimony to the year-on-year
success of Perse students in their I/GCSE exams.
When all 338 participating independent schools were ranked by the percentage of 9 and 8 grades (the two
highest marks in reformed GCSEs), The Perse were fourth nationally with 83.3% of all I/GCSE entries being
graded at 9 or 8.
32
GCSE results 2019

I/GCSE results by subject, Year 11
No. of Below
Subject 9 8 7 6 5 4
candidates 4
Ancient History 16 5 4 3 2 2 0 0
Art 29 13 9 7 0 0 0 0
Biology 176 88 53 20 9 6 0 0
Chemistry 175 107 35 21 6 3 1 2
Chinese 8 7 1 0 0 0 0 0
Computer Science 50 41 7 1 1 0 0 0
Design & Technology 60 41 12 5 1 1 0 0
English Language 176 93 38 29 15 1 0 0
English Literature 176 88 44 23 16 5 0 0
French 131 60 32 19 10 6 4 0
Geography 97 66 25 5 0 1 0 0
Greek 10 7 2 1 0 0 0 0
History 135 96 22 13 1 2 1 0
Italian 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Japanese 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
Latin 48 27 17 3 1 0 0 0
Mathematics 176 125 34 13 1 2 1 0
Modern Greek 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Music 30 24 6 0 0 0 0 0
Physics 173 119 33 13 5 2 1 0
Polish 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Religious Studies 45 23 16 6 0 0 0 0
Russian 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Spanish 39 15 17 6 0 0 1 0
TOTALS 1788 1072 414 191 69 31 9 2

33
GCSE results 2019

Further maths results
No. of
Subject A^ A* B Below A
candidates
Further maths 107 53 41 10 3
HPQ results
No. of
Subject A* A B C
candidates
HPQ results 31 27 4 0 0
9-7 I/GCSE results by subject, other year groups

No. of
Subject 9 8 7
candidates
Year 9
Chinese 2 2 0 0
German 4 4 0 0
Italian 3 2 1 0
Russian 1 1 0 0
Year 10
Astronomy 1 1 0 0
Computer Science 13 13 0 0
Italian 2 1 1 0
Music 8 8 0 0
Russian 1 1 0 0
A*-B I/GCSE results by subject, other year groups

No. of
Subject A* A B
candidates
Year 9
Turkish 1 0 1 0
34
Upper · A level results
A level results 2019

80% of entries were awarded an A* or 162 pupils (90.5%) achieved at least one
A grade (or the Pre U equivalent), with A*/A (or equivalent). 97% of entries were
almost half of all Perse A level results graded A*-C (or equivalent).
80% graded at A* (49%).
In total, 179 students secured 590
118 students (67% of the year group) A level or Pre U exam passes.
received three or more A*/A (or
equivalent) grades.
A level/Pre U results by year

Year (% cumulative) A* A B C D E U
2019 49 80 92 97 99 99.3 100

2018 49 84 95 99 99.6 100 100
2017 55 88 97 99 99.6 100 100
2016 46 81 93 97 99.3 99.8 100
2015 40 79 95 99 99.5 100 100
This table also includes Pre U equivalent grades using the standard D1/D2=A*, D3/M1=A, M2=B, M3=C.
A level results by subject

No. of
Subject A* A B C D E U
candidates
Ancient History 8 2 5 0 1 0 0 0
Art and design 7 4 2 1 0 0 0 0
Biology 49 29 12 6 1 1 0 0
Chemistry 37 9 18 5 3 2 0 0
Design and technology 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Economics 36 11 15 5 4 1 0 0
English literature 35 13 7 13 2 0 0 0
French 16 6 5 2 2 1 0 0
Further maths 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Geography 30 11 13 6 0 0 0 0
German 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Greek 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
History 41 22 10 8 1 0 0 0
Italian 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Japanese 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
Latin 4 1 2 1 0 0 0 0
Mathematics 67 20 26 5 9 4 2 1
Politics 23 9 11 2 1 0 0 0
Religious studies 9 5 1 3 0 0 0 0
Russian 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Spanish 6 2 3 1 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 380 151 133 60 24 9 2 1

35
Upper · A level results
Pre U results by subject

No. of
Subject D1 D2 D3 M1 M2 M3 P1 P2 P3
candidates
A level equivalent >A* A* A A/B B B/C C/D D E
Chemistry 30 13 9 4 1 1 1 0 1 0
Further mathematics 46 13 16 11 2 2 2 0 0 0
Mathematics 49 33 14 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Music 5 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Philosophy & Theology 10 1 1 3 2 1 2 0 0 0
Physics 50 21 10 10 5 1 2 0 0 1
Psychology 20 0 2 4 6 6 0 0 0 2
TOTAL 210 81 57 34 16 11 7 0 1 3
AS levels for subjects taken in the Upper Sixth

No. of
Subject A* A B C D E U
candidates
Design and technology 6 N/A 5 1 0 0 0 0
EPQ 25 18 7 0 0 0 0 0
Further maths 4 N/A 4 0 0 0 0 0
Italian 1 N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 36 18 17 1 0 0 0 0
AS Design & Technology, Further Maths and Italian have a highest grade of A.
Pre U completed early by members of the Lower Sixth

No. of
Subject D1 D2 D3 M1 M2 M3 P1 P2
candidates
A level equivalent >A* A* A A/B B B/C C/D D
Further mathematics 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
AS levels completed early by members of the Lower Sixth

No. of
Subject A B C D E U
candidates
Italian 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
STEP results
No. of
Subject S 1 2 3 U
candidates
Maths 2 3 0 2 0 1 0
Maths 3 3 0 2 0 1 0
Results correct at the time of going to print.

36
Upper · University destinations
University destinations
33 Universities
Cambridge 23
Durham 19
Oxford 14
Exeter 13
Bristol 10
Imperial College, London 10
University College, London 10
Warwick 8
Newcastle 7
York 7
Edinburgh 6
Nottingham 5
Southampton 4
St Andrews 4
Bath 2
Leeds 2
Liverpool 2
London School of Economics 2
Oxford Brookes 2
Queen Mary, London 2
Royal Veterinary University 2
AECC University College 1
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School 1
Cardiff 1
East Anglia 1
Hertfordshire 1
King's College, London 1
Leicester 1
Manchester 1
Royal Agricultural University 1
Sheffield 1
University of the Arts, London 1
Worcester 1
Total 166
37
Upper · Course choices
Course choices
62 Courses
Ancient History 1 Human Sciences 1

Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern History 1 Integrated Design Engineering (with Placement) 1
Anthropology/International Relations 1 International Relations and History 1
Archaeology 1 Japanese Studies 1
Automation and Control 1 Law 4
Biochemistry 1 Liberal Arts 1
Biological Sciences 2 Marine Biology 1
Biology and Psychology 1 Materials Chemistry 1
Biomedical/Bioveterinary Sciences 2 Mathematics 5
Cellular and Molecular Medicine 1 Mechanical/Mechanical and Electrical Engineering 5
Chemical Engineering 1 Medical Sciences 1
Chiropractic 1 Medicine 26
Combined Honours in Social Sciences 1 Music 3
Earth Sciences 1 Natural Sciences 4
Economics/Economics and Finance 13 Outdoor Adventure Leadership and Management 1
Economics and Management 3 Pharmacy 1
Electronic and Information Engineering 2 Philosophy 1
Electronic Engineering with Artificial Intelligence 1 Philosophy and Economics 1
Engineering 5 Philosophy, Politics and Economics 4
Engineering and Architectural Design 1 Physics 4
English 6 Politics 1
English Language and Linguistics 1 Politics with International Relations 3
English Language and Literature 1 Production Arts (Stage and Screen) 1
English Literature 5 Psychology/Psychology and Philosophy/

7
Psychology with Education Studies
Fashion Styling and Production 1
Rural Land Management 1
French and Beginners' Italian 1
Theatre and English 1
Geography 9
Theology 2
Geological Sciences 1
Veterinary Medicine 2
History 8
Wild Animal Biology 1
History and Modern Languages 2
History and Politics 2
Total 62
History of Art 1
History with Evolutionary Anthropology 1
38
Upper · Science

Science
Science students inspired by Boston trip

Adriaan Olivier and Margaret Li activity on electronic design and experience with high-tech medical
look back on the Lower Sixth production. We made torches dummies and virtual reality surgery
Science trip to Boston before experimenting with high- machines, while at the other, we
speed cameras, strobes and long visited a research team who are
On our first day, Pratap Singh (OP)
exposures. We learned about looking for evidence of life on Mars.
very kindly showed us around
the history of the building and We saw thermal vacuum apparatus
Harvard University before we were
the development of high-speed in operation, testing kit that could
joined by Alex Harris (OP). Both of
photography at MIT and saw several work in the Martian climate. We
them shared experiences about
pieces of analytical apparatus in also had a very stimulating tour of
university life in the USA.
action at the Koch Institute. AstraZeneca’s laboratories where
We saw inside physics labs where we learned about current research
Another highlight was visiting two
they explore quantum science, in cell biology and medicinal
hospitals. At one, we had hands-on
researching how molecules behave chemistry.
at temperatures very close to
absolute zero. The Glass Flowers
were on display at the Museum
of Natural History. The level of
detailed craftsmanship that went
into these intricate pieces of art
was awe-inspiring. We finished our
first day in Boston with a wonderful
dinner overlooking the harbour
thanks to the extremely generous
hospitality of Mr and Mrs Singh.
M a s s a c h u set t s I n s titute of
Technology’s (MIT) Edgerton
Center provided a very entertaining

39
Upper · Science
Destination Beijing for

winners of prestigious
SAGE competition
Sasha said: “We were very pleased.
I don’t think either of us were
expecting to win and we were
delighted with the opportunity that
was given to us.”
Seojung added: “Even if we hadn’t
won it, we had a lot of fun making
the proposal, filming the videos
and trying to think through the
method of our research. We were
very excited to be invited to go off
to China.”
As keen scientists, Seojung and
Sasha have previously undertaken
research and laboratory work
at the University of Cambridge
and Queen Mary University of
London and they relished taking
part in the SAGE Project Passport
competition.
Sasha said: “It was important we
chose a school where students
speak English and also with a
different culture behind it, so the
Lower Sixth students Seojung Park and Sasha Karabasova way that lab work is carried out is
travelled to China to carry out a science research project after different. That’s how we came to
winning the prestigious SAGE Project Passport competition. select RDFZ Xishan.
Their proposal to compare the Both Seojung and Sasha were “A major aspect of what they were
impact of practical lab work at thrilled to be given the chance to looking for in the competition is
The Perse School and RDFZ Xishan put their proposal into practice how school life can be improved
School in Beijing was selected after investigating how students in both schools. Hopefully the
as the winning entry by a panel engage with lab work across research that we conducted will
of international judges and they biology, physics and chemistry at do just that.”
travelled to the Chinese capital to The Perse.
undertake their research.
The Perse Science Quiz

In February The Perse hosted the second annual Perse Science Quiz, with a total of 10 teams tackling
three rounds of quiz questions and practical challenges designed to test a range of key scientific skills.
The Perse team of Alice Ledzion, Lauren Baxter, Rowan Westcott and Samuel Shenker (all Year 10) put
on a great performance both individually and collaboratively and by the end of the afternoon they were
in third place overall.

40
Upper · Biology
Biology
Perse students Thirty-five Year 11 and Lower Sixth Perse students

attended a series of lectures hosted by the Cambridge
Philosophical Society to celebrate their 200th
gain philosophical anniversary. Ashwin Ranasinghe-de Silva (Year 11)

shared his thoughts about the event.
insight into the From racing to first decipher the secrets of the
ribosome, all the way to life beyond Earth and
future of science
profound questions faced by humanity, ‘The Future
of Sciences’ talks were unique and thought-provoking
experiences.
12 10 22 14 19
GOLD SILVER BRONZE HIGHLY COMMENDED
COMMENDED
Biology Olympiad
A level students took part in the annual British Biology Olympiad run by the Royal Society of Biology.
Students performed very well achieving a total of 12 Gold, 10 Silver, 22 Bronze, 14 Highly Commended
and 19 Commended results.
A special mention goes to Elena Cates and Matthew Clarke (both Upper Sixth) who were our two highest
scoring students.

41
Upper · Biology
Opening the day was Nobel Prize winner Dr Richard Professor Vilayanur S Ramachandran of the University
Henderson of the Medical Research Council (MRC) of California, San Diego, then talked about neurological
presenting a concise but in-depth overview of disorders such as synesthesia and phantom limbs,
structural biology from 1927 to the present day and outlining in depth the theory behind and pragmatic
beyond, covering an array of imaging techniques. rectification for each phenomenon. Dr Seth Shostak
Following this, Professor Chris Bishop from Microsoft of Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) gave
Research provided an analysis of neural networks and the penultimate lecture on ‘Why The 21st Century Will
the modern Artificial Intelligence (AI) era. The talk Redirect The Human Trajectory’ – an entertaining and
examined principles and progressions of machine fascinating talk from a man who advises Hollywood on
learning and its implications, from the post-perceptron how to do aliens right, going through what this century
AI winter to the technological singularity and beyond. will entail and why that is so important, from the AI
and computational revolution to making mankind a
Professor Sheena Cruikshank of the University of
space-bearing civilisation and beyond.
Manchester, explored the human microbiome and its
fundamental mechanisms, stating how we can harness The final lecture rounded the day off on another deep
immunology to our further benefit, utilising probiotics philosophical note, with Professor George Whitesides
and carrying out procedures such as checkpoint of Harvard delivering his talk ‘Asking a Question is Easy,
inhibitor therapy. Understanding the Answer is Another Matter’, going
through implications of non-empirical management
Following this talk, Nobel Prize winner Dr Venki
of extreme complexity, rational drug design, enthalpy
Ramakrishnan of the MRC provided an epic account of his
and entropy, the AI era, origins of life and emergence,
quest to decipher the structure of the ribosome in a fast-
memory, hybrid human/machine systems and more.
paced, international race of his underdog team against
others to get there. Professor Sir Richard Peto then Lower Sixth students attended a molecular biology
provided a statistical symphony of a talk titled ‘Halving workshop at the University of Cambridge. The workshop
Premature Death’, with in-depth analysis of global trends focused on meiosis, gene editing and plant breeding.
and statistics presented in an amusing manner.
46 62 95 62 42
GOLD SILVER BRONZE HIGHLY COMMENDED
COMMENDED
National Biology Challenge

Students from Year 9 and Year 10 took part in the annual British Biology Challenge run by the Royal
Society of Biology.
Students performed very well achieving a total of 46 Gold, 62 Silver, 95 Bronze, 62 Highly Commended
and 42 Commended results.
A special mention goes to our top five scoring students – Sean Ridley (Year 9), Samuel Shenker, Robert
Rayner, Faith Ashworth Stobbs and Jay Sardesai (all Year 10).

42
Upper · Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry students discover Taylor told the audience that she

and her colleagues had developed
how waste can become energy a photocatalyst by mixing cadmium

sulphide into an alkaline water
solution. Small pieces of three
To mark the start of Chemistry seas by 2050. She added that of the
types of plastic used in everyday
Week, Taylor Uekert gave Perse 8.3 billion tons of plastic produced
items (PLA, PET and PUR) were
students a fascinating insight on globally between 1950 and 2015,
then added to the solution before
her research into turning waste 58% had been discarded. Just
being placed into a solar simulator.
7% had been recycled and of this
plastic into an energy source. It was found that the catalyst then
amount, only 10% had been recycled
reduced water from the solution
PhD student Tay l o r and more than once, so new methods are
into hydrogen while also breaking
colleagues in the Reisner Lab needed to reuse waste plastic.
down the plastic into small organic
within the University of Cambridge’s As such, Taylor explained how molecules.
Department of Chemistry recently she has researched the process
published a paper following their Despite making this breakthrough,
of photoreforming – the use of
investigation into producing she outlined that there are still
the energy of sunlight to break
hydrogen fuel from waste plastic. areas that need to be worked on
down waste to produce hydrogen.
to make the process feasible on
Motivation for the research stemmed Although a green fuel in itself,
an industrial scale. However, she
from the adverse environmental Taylor said the current way of
said her research is now assessing
effect waste plastic is having on making hydrogen through the
other photocatalysts and plastic
the planet. She gave the shocking steam reforming of fossil fuels uses
types which she felt would help
statistic that if current trends lots of energy from non-renewable
improve the process and lead to an
continue, there will be more plastic sources and also creates a large
evaluation of its economic viability.
than fish by weight in the world’s amount of carbon dioxide.
Pupils put theory into practice as

their analytical skills are tested
A team of three Lower Sixth students travelled to the University of
Hertfordshire to compete in the annual Royal Society of Chemistry
School’s Analyst competition.
Tatiana Vandermark, Alex Albright and Hari Prasad completed
three analytical tasks and were scored on their accuracy, technique,
teamwork and safety. The team did very well and although they
missed out on a place in the final, they gained valuable experience
of university-level practical chemistry.

43
Upper · Chemistry
Pupils inspired to consider

the science of cosmetics
Dr Emma Meredith, Director of Science for the
Cosmetic, Toiletry & Perfumery Association
(CTPA), gave an interesting and insightful 42
lecture to Perse pupils.
During her talk, she explained the role of the

association and how it helps to regulate the industry.
Dr Meredith described the formulation process that
a cosmetic product will go through before it reaches
a consumer, which includes ingredient selection,
safety testing, stability testing, efficacy testing, Dr Meredith talked about the functional and emotional
manufacturing and marketing. benefits of using cosmetics. She explained that
Pupils learned the difference between the legal a survey conducted in 2017 revealed how 71% of
definition of a cosmetic product compared to a consumers saw cosmetics as being ‘important or very
medicine which can sometimes be confusing. They important’ in their life, with 80% saying they help to
were challenged to think about how many cosmetic build self-esteem. Pupils learned about EU cosmetic
products they use each day, many of whom suggested legislation and the ban on any products being tested
they use at least 10 to 14 products, including on animals, which will not change in the EU regardless
toothpaste, shampoo and moisturiser. of Brexit.
10 14 14
GOLD SILVER BRONZE
Chemistry Olympiad
In January, 85 Perse students took part in the INEOS Chemistry Olympiad, resulting in 10 Gold, 14 Silver
and 14 Bronze awards.
Gold awards were given to Elena Cates, Ayshini Senadeera, Toby Proudfoot, Yao-Chih Kuo, Matthew
Clarke, Adele Chu and Iain Dowie (all Upper Sixth), as well as Freddie Ancliff, Hari Prasad and John
Hayward (all Lower Sixth).
4 17 18 23
ROENTGENIUM GOLD SILVER COPPER
Cambridge Chemistry Challenge (C3L6)

In June, 69 Perse Lower Sixth students took part in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, or C3L6.
Four students, Vikram Singh, John Hayward, Hari Prasad and Jaeheon Shim, each won a Roentgenium
award in this year’s Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, placing them in the top 56 students from more
than 9,000 who sat the paper.

44
Upper · Physics
Physics
Science prize honours for Perse students the size of chameleon nano flakes –
tiny silicon flakes covered with a
Toby Proudfoot and Usman Majeed celebrated their success at titanium compound, which can be
mixed with paint to make an object
the prestigious Armourers and Brasiers Tata Materials Prize final
coated in it appear to be different
in London.
colours, depending on the viewing
With just four entrants being amount for the school, while Usman angle – and how they work.
invited to take part in the final at received a runners-up prize of £100. Meanwhile, Usman researched
Armourers Hall, the Perse Upper the materials used in explosive
Both Toby and Usman worked on
Sixth students had already done ordnance disposal suits and then
four modules during the competition,
exceptionally well to get there, investigated the ceramic matrix
starting with a basic overview of
having worked on competition composites used in thermal
materials science. They then chose
projects over the course of the year protection systems in spacecraft,
an area to research for the second
under the guidance of Perse Head such as the space shuttle. For
topic and carried out a practical
of Physics David Tricker. the third module, he carried
investigation for the third unit before
They gave presentations on rounding off with a presentation on out experimental research into
diamond-like carbon and gallium a material of their choice. quantum tunnelling composite –
nitride respectively to a panel of a combination of polymer
Along the way, Toby looked into the composites with elastic, rubber-like
academic judges from the field
use of nickel titanium super alloys properties and metal particles used
of materials science, with Toby
in turbo fans and turbine blades in touch technology.
winning the competition, earning
on aeroplanes and investigated
£500 for himself and the same
Physics at Work Students attend a

exhibition Science Live event
Pupils in Year 10 visited the Physics at Work Sixteen Lower Sixth physicists attended a series
exhibition hosted by the University of Cambridge of lectures in London in November under the
department of Physics at the Cavendish banner of ‘Science Live’. They heard talks on
Laboratory. Pupils watched six presentations on subjects ranging from particle accelerators to
subjects as diverse as astrophysics, nanoscience, quantum biology that were delivered by well-
electron microscopes, superconductivity, known science communicators such as Helen
light-emitting polymers, brain imaging, plate Czerski and Jim Al-Khalili.
tectonics, jet engines and inkjet printers.

45
Upper · Physics
Hari flying high after

winning aeronautics prize
Hari Prasad (Lower Sixth) has won the prestigious Sir
Michael Marshall Young Persons Lecture Competition
after giving an ambitious and in-depth talk on ionic
wind-powered aircraft.
Held by the Cambridge branch of the Royal
Aeronautical Society, the competition was endorsed by
the branch’s Honorary Life Vice-President Sir Michael
Marshall, who was President of the Cambridge-based
Marshall Group, and aims to encourage young people
to engage with aeronautics.
Institute of Technology) physicists actually managed
Participants had to give a presentation on an
to fly a plane using this technology in November 2018.
aerospace engineering topic of their choice to a panel
of judges. Hari spoke about an aircraft with no moving “I searched for ‘cool engineering’ on the internet and
parts, such as turbo fan, turbine engine or propellers, found out about it that way. I thought it looked really
which is instead powered by ionic wind – the airflow interesting to give a presentation on because it’s
created when an electric current is passed between a something I knew nothing about and it gave me the
thin and a thick electrode. opportunity to learn something new.”
He said: “Ionic wind is a concept that was discovered Having won the competition, Hari has a chance of
in the 1920s but had been left behind in modern times further success as he will now be entered into the
because it had been decided it would be impossible to Royal Aeronautical Society’s NE Rowe National
fly a plane using it. However, some MIT (Massachusetts Lecture Competition.
3 6 9
GOLD SILVER BRONZE
British Physics Olympiad

Perse students have met with great success in There were a further six Silver awards and nine
this year’s British Physics Olympiad competitions. Bronze awards. Elena’s subsequent performance in
Elena Cates and Yao-Chih Kuo (both Upper Sixth) the British Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad
and Vikram Singh (Lower Sixth) all achieved Gold earned her a place in the final 15 for selection for
awards in the British Physics Olympiad, placing the International Astronomy and Astrophysics
them in the top 200 students in the country. Olympiad.
7 8 22 20 20 59 31 20 19
GOLD SILVER BRONZE GOLD SILVER BRONZE GOLD SILVER BRONZE
In the AS Physics Challenge, 7 The GCSE Physics Challenge saw The recently instituted Year 10
students achieved Gold awards a school record 187 participants Physics Challenge had 77 entries
(out of 135 in the country), 8 with 20 Gold awards (out of 112 from The Perse, with 31 students
achieved Silver awards and 22 nationally), 20 Silver awards and achieving Gold awards, 20 Silver
achieved Bronze awards. Josh 59 Bronze awards. Alex Walker awards and 19 Bronze awards.
Clark (Lower Sixth) was the (Year 11) earned the highest The highest mark went to Year
highest scoring student. mark in the country in the GCSE 9 student Jem Bennett.
Challenge and was invited to a
presentation afternoon at the
Royal Society in London.

46
Upper · Computer Science
Computer Science
Bebras challenge success

Seven Perse students received related to computer science topics 18) section, Jude Burling (Year 11),
special accolades after within an allotted time. However, Ruaidhri Carey, Robert Rayner
reaching the national finals of just the top 60 in each age group and Samuel Shenker (all Year 10)
the UK Bebras Computational were invited to take part in the to reach the senior (14-16) final and
finals at the University of Oxford’s Matthew Cain (Year 7) to qualify in
Thinking Challenge.
Department of Computer Science. the junior (10-12) category.
More than 180,000 youngsters It was a great achievement for They each received a finalists’
from across the country took part Pip Jackson (Upper Sixth) and certificate from Professor Peter
in the competition, in which they Tom Westcott (Lower Sixth) to Millican in a presentation at
had to solve a series of problems make the grade in the elite (16- Oxford’s Hertford College.
Perse team crack the code national uptake this year and we are hoping for even
more participation in 2020. The problems are carefully
Following the launch of the Perse Coding Team designed to be accessible to those developing their
text-coding skills.
Challenge in 2018, the second edition of the
programming competition proved even more “We are also looking forward to working more closely
popular. with Chris Roffey, of Bebras UK, next year to bring
an association between the two competitions and a
This year, around 2,500 pupils in Years 7 to 10 more natural flow through of participants. A particular
from schools at home and abroad took part in the congratulations to the winning Perse team.”
competition, which is sponsored by Dr David Braben
OBE, co-founder of Raspberry Pi and founder of video
game production company Frontier Developments.
Following an initial round, 254 teams made it through
to the final round, participating in their own schools.
The Perse team of Luke Moran, Toby Collins (both
Year 10) and Jack Fan (Year 8), who was also part
of the winning team last year, ran out victors with
an overall score of 117 points. Another Perse team,
featuring Kamran Bastani, Michael Lin (both Year 10)
and Emma Harris (Year 9), finished third with 106.
The top three teams also received a cash prize and a
letter from Dr Braben congratulating them on their
success.
Paul Baker, Perse Head of Computing & Digital Strategy,
said: “It was really pleasing to see such a big jump in
Twenty-two Perse students Vikram Singh (Lower Sixth) who, networking. They placed 32nd
from Year 9 to Upper Sixth with a score of 67, qualified for out of more than 840 schools.
participated in the British the elite BIO final, which was held
The next level competition, Cyber
Informatics Olympiad, one of at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Discovery, engaged students
the most challenging text-based
The G ove r n m e nt ’s c yb e r from Year 9 to Lower Sixth with
timed coding competitions
defence and intelligence centre, four students invited to attend
for UK schools. Getting more
GCHQ, runs two competitions the elite summer camps - Daniel
than 50 marks represents an
to develop and inspire the next Chen (Year 9), Max Bennett
incredible achievement and was
generation of cyber security (Year 11), Edmund Goodman
accomplished this year by Jem
professionals. The Cyber Girls and Cameron Mackenzie (both
Bennett (Year 9), Max Bennett,
competition saw 20 Year 8 girls Lower Sixth). Cameron was also
Jude Burling, Alex Walker and
compete in cryptography, cyber part of the team which won the
Amy Xu (all Year 11) as well as
security, logic and coding and Cyber Elite final.

47
Upper · Maths
Maths
Team maths challenge is easy as Pi

A Pi-themed design helped the Perse team achieve success in the poster competition at the Senior Team Maths
Challenge national finals in London.
Each team had to produce a poster on the subject ‘How I wish I could calculate Pi’. Perse representatives
Pip Jackson, Yao-Chih Kuo (both Upper Sixth), Hari Prasad and Vikram Singh (both Lower Sixth) beat a field
of 79 entries to take the honours.
Teams were required to research the topic in advance and combine that information with answers to three
questions posed on the day, with judges deciding the winner based on mathematical content and visual impact.
The team of Emma Harris, Hongli Hu (both Year 9), Rebecca Li and Mabel Symes (both Year 8) reached the
national finals of the Junior Team Maths Challenge, where they finished 18th overall out of 88 finalists and were
the highest ranked school from the East of England.
Maths Slam
Jaeheon Shim and Cameron
Mackenzie demonstrated their
numerical nous in quickfire
fashion at the Maths Slam
event in London.
The Lower Sixth students
gave a brief lowdown on the
square root of the number
two, exploring its irrational
nature and various methods of
approximating its value, in front
of a 1,000-strong audience at
the Piccadilly Theatre.
The Perse pair were one of just
four school teams invited to
take part in Maths Slam after
submitting a video entry of
their talk.
Competition success The Intermediate Maths Challenge saw more than 400
pupils from Years 8 to 11 participate, with 133 receiving
Miranda Connolley (Lower Sixth) achieved a merit Gold awards. Out of the 37 pupils taking part in the
in the Girls’ Maths Olympiad, while Amy Xu (Year 11), follow-up Intermediate Olympiad, nine were awarded
Margaret Li (Lower Sixth), Elena Cates and Siwei Dou distinctions. Six of them – Emma Harris, Hongli
(both Upper Sixth) were awarded distinctions. Hu, Sean Ridley (all Year 9), Toby Collins, Aaditya
Nagarajan and Aidan Wong (all Year 10) – received
Around 200 students from Year 11 to Upper Sixth (plus medals for finishing in the top 100 entrants nationally.
a few Year 10 pupils) took part in the Senior Maths Based on his outstanding result, Aaditya was invited to
Challenge with 51 pupils gaining Gold awards. The top attend a UKMT Olympiad training camp this summer.
21 participants from this group qualified for the British
Maths Olympiad, the UK Mathematics Trust’s flagship Year 7 and 8 pupils took part in the Junior Maths
competition. Challenge, bringing home 76 Gold certificates. Six
pupils qualified for the Junior Olympiad, with Sourish
Aaditya Nagarajan (Year 10), Jude Burling (Year 11), Sharma and Mabel Symes (both Year 8) gaining
Vikram Singh (Lower Sixth), Elena Cates and Pip distinctions. Mabel also earned a Gold medal – only
Jackson (both Upper Sixth) were awarded certificates awarded to the top 30 out of around 1,000 participants
of distinction, while Vikram also achieved a merit in - after scoring 67 out of 70.
round two of the competition.

48
Upper · History
History
Architecture, experience and collective emotions inspire
Perse pupils in Berlin.
This year saw the inaugural IGCSE trip to Berlin. Eighty Year 11 students and eight staff had a truly
memorable three days in the iconic city.
Nicholas Romanos (Year 11) shares to the Murdered Jews of Europe’ column, and birds singing in the
his experience of the trip. (or ‘Holocaust Memorial’) is a good greenery. Although at first sight, it
example of this. Situated near the appears similar to the ‘Holocaust
Berlin is noticeably a city in a struggle
Tiergarten, historic hunting ground Memorial’, it is in fact very different.
with its own past. This is unsurprising,
of the Brandenburg Electors, and Perhaps because of the light and
given its tumultuous recent history
surrounded by modern high- the life, it has a forward-looking
– from the Kaisers, through a brief
rise buildings, this mass of 2,711 and human feel.
period of fragile democracy, to Hitler
concrete stelae has an oppressive
and the Third Reich, and ultimately All cities are places of contrast, but
and inhuman feel.
a split into East and West. However, Berlin has a uniformity interrupted
what is interesting and surprising, The deep shade and grey monotony by stark juxtaposition. Berlin
is the effect that this has on the is representative of many of Berlin’s Cathedral and the Brandenburg
modern city. monuments – they exalt despair on Gate (and, by extension, the
the part of the viewer. However, the Reichstag itself) are remnants
A Berliner going about their daily
‘garden of exile’ at the Jewish Museum of a vanished imperial past. They
business will likely pass one of the
is one of the few places amongst the have a certain elegance, with their
many memorials commemorating
Berlin memorials where hope is one Baroque classicism, but a rampant
the horrors of the Nazi régime,
of the emotions conveyed. m o n u m e nt a lis m , s o m eti m e s
walk past DDR-era apartment
verging on the ridiculous.
blocks, and step over the line of One of the few areas of the museum
bricks set into the roads which situated outside, it consists of a Berlin is a place that does not hide
marks the line of the Berlin wall. square grid of concrete columns its history, its complexity, even
In short, history permeates every (the only regular shape in the if much of the rest of the world
corner of Berlin; it is a city with whole place), on an uneven floor, does. After all, humans, and human
echoes of the past. The ‘Memorial with oleaster growing on top of the history, are never simple.

49
Upper · History
History students visit the events of 1915 and the Battle of Passchendaele
in 1917, when British forces advanced in the most
battlefields in Belgium horrendous of conditions due to heavy rainfall and
an unprecedented artillery bombardment which
and France turned the battlefield into an untraversable morass.
Sixty-five Year 9 pupils went on the annual On the final day, the tour party commemorated one
battlefields tour to Belgium and France. of the 88 Old Perseans who lost their lives in World
War I. This year we visited the grave of Joel Jacobs,
Pupils spent two days visiting the key sites on who is buried at La Laiterie Cemetery in the south
the Ypres Salient, an area of almost constant and of the Ypres Salient. Jacobs left The Perse in 1911
intense fighting on the Western Front and the having boarded at Hillel House and served in the
location of four major World War I battles between East Yorkshire Regiment. He was killed on 20 July
1914 and 1918. The group focused mainly on the 1916, aged 21.
Essay Prize success

Lower Sixth students Rupert Gardiner, Francoise Dyer
and Ethan Aho have enjoyed success in illustrious
history essay competitions.
Rupert won the Vellacott and Julia Wood Prizes,
organised by Peterhouse, Cambridge and St Hugh's
College, Oxford, respectively. Ethan also prevailed in
the Vellacott Prize, while Francoise triumphed in the
Newnham College Essay Prize.
Rupert's Vellacott entry discussed whether
Charlemagne deserved to be viewed as ‘the Father of
Europe’, having united much of western Europe into
the Holy Roman Empire in the early 9th Century. His
Julia Wood essay explored how far Robert Clive was
responsible for the East Indian Company's success on
the Indian Subcontinent.
Ethan investigated whether history should embrace where he asserted that British colonisation had led to
or resist presentism – reviewing history from a current an “airbrushing” of Maori history.
perspective and imposing those thoughts on the past.
Meanwhile, Francoise, who hopes to study history at
He used a wide range of examples, reflecting on university, discussed whether it was wrong to combine
gender history and ancient history as well as the historical facts with peoples’ memories of events as
histories of different countries such as New Zealand, the basis for an historical knowledge of events.
History Society
This year has seen the relaunch of the History Speakers who have generously given their
Society for all year groups, which has proved to time include:
be a great success. Thanks to the hard work of
Mr Wilbur, Mrs Blackburn and our Upper Sixth • John Webb - Ancient coins and artefacts
history ambassadors, the History Society has met
• Professor Paul Binski - History of art
biweekly and attendances have steadily risen,
with lectures from students, staff and external • Professor Joachim Whaley - German democracy
speakers. The topics have been wide-ranging and and the Reichstag
have reflected a number of contemporary issues,
including LGBTQ rights in history, gender history, • Drummond Robson - His father’s experiences as
microhistory, religious history, military history and a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain
great individuals in history.

50
Upper · Geography
Geography
Iceland trip

51
Upper · Geography
Seventy-nine pupils in Years 9 and 10 enjoyed

a five-day trip to Iceland. Pupils visited a wide
range of places including the Blue Lagoon, the
Seljalandfoss waterfall, the Westman Islands, the
Golden Circle, and the glacier known as Langjokull.

52
Upper · Geography
Mock climate change conference

To mark the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Poland, Perse Upper Sixth
geography students took part in their own mock UN assembly.
Representing the USA , the The mock conference saw a global change. However, their agreed
European Union, China, Russia, consensus reached on emission figures would still mean, if climate
India, Australia, Bangladesh, reductions and on financial change trends continue, the global
Nigeria, Venezuela and the Maldives, contributions to the Green temperature would hit three to
students acted as delegates as Climate Fund – the UN Framework four degrees Celsius above pre-
they aimed to reach an agreement Convention on Climate Change’s industrial levels and the financial
on how to save the planet while fund to assist developing countries pot would fall $70 billion short of
also acting in the interests of their in adapting and mitigating the intended $100 billion target.
respective countries. practices to counter climate
To add a further element of
realism to the occasion, delegates
were even greeted by a scrum
of reporters, environmental and
industrialist campaigners, all
played by Year 9 drama enthusiasts,
as they headed into the conference.
With three ‘delegates’ per nation,
students researched their countries
in groups and put forward their
pledges for reducing greenhouse
gas emissions levels by 2050 and
how much of their GDP they would
give to the cause of limiting climate
change, overseen by the ‘UN
secretary general’ – Perse Head of
Geography James Riley.

53
Upper · Geography
Missing Maps scheme

continues to grow Worldwise win
The Perse sent two teams to the Cambridge &
The Missing Maps programme went from strength to
District Geographical Association’s Worldwise
strength with 140 members of the Perse community
Quiz. There was strong competition from schools
having contributed through one or more of the
around Cambridgeshire, but the Perse teams
school’s mapathons. Mapathons map communities
worked excellently under pressure and held on
in disadvantaged areas so that aid can be effectively
to the top two positions from the very start of
distributed.
the evening, with the Perse A team coming out
Special praise goes to Kabir Botre and Ivan Kulesha on top and retaining the David Booth Trophy and
(both Year 7) who attended all of the mapathons this the Perse B finishing runners-up.
year and Rory Clark (Year 11) who has attended all nine
since the scheme started in 2017.
This year’s mapathons have helped in Sri Lanka and
the Democratic Republic of Congo and also with Geography Debating
the response to Cyclone Idai by doing work with the
Red Cross in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Competition
Pupils made more than 40,000 edits to the world
This year’s Perse Geography Debating
map and mapped a population in excess of the size
Competition was the highest quality contest
of Cambridge. Jay Sardesai (Year 10), Katy Robson
to date and saw some excellent individual and
and James Hansen (both Year 11) were the leading
team performances by students from Year
mappers by total numbers of buildings added and
11 to Upper Sixth. Oliver Buckingham and
lengths of roads plotted.
Matthew Chan (both Lower Sixth) were worthy
Missing Maps was introduced as a Year 11 enrichment winners, arguing that migration has been the
option this year and several students now have the defining geographical issue across Europe in the
tools to go off to university and run their own clubs early 21st Century.
in the future.
Students awarded highest marks in

the country
Matthew Chan and Ethan Aho (both Lower Sixth) received Royal
Geography Society Excellence Awards after being among the students
who achieved the highest geography GCSE marks in the country in 2018.
Along with their fellow Perse GCSE geographers, Matthew and Ethan
sat three exams, including a paper based on work carried out during
a field trip to the south coast. The fieldwork included studying sand
dunes at Studland Heath and collecting data as part of a project in
Bournemouth town centre.
Both students praised the geography department, led by James Riley,
for their part in helping them achieve such successful GCSE results.
Perse hosts first Student GeogMeet

The Perse played host to the Cambridge & District Geographical Association’s inaugural Student GeogMeet.
Featuring presentations by students and staff from local schools, the event celebrated the breadth and diversity
of content in the A level geography curriculum, with talks covering topics such as the geographies of climate
change, geopolitics, development, identity and disease outbreaks.
Lower Sixth students Jonathan Black, Katherine Russell and Jessica Postgate opened the event by delivering
an overview of the geopolitics of Mali.
Perse Head of Geography James Riley and geography teacher Peter Hicks gave talks about the tectonic hazards
in Papua New Guinea’s Gazelle Peninsula and Mount Etna respectively, while Oliver Buckingham (Lower Sixth)
concluded proceedings with his superb investigation into the growing influence of China in the South China Sea.

54
Upper · Extended Project Qualification
Independent Learning
Extended Project Qualification
This academic year, 284 pupils undertook research projects beyond the
curriculum, supported by 45 members of staff. Running research projects for all
age ranges is key to a Perse education, nurturing students’ intellectual curiosity,
while also exposing them to cutting edge scholarship.
Fifteen Lower Sixth students undertook research for the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) – an
externally-assessed project amounting to half of an A level. Two students explain their findings.
After attending a lecture by Bill Browder - the largest

investor in Russia during Yeltsin’s tenure – I became
fascinated with the institutional corruption that was
rife across Russia and wanted to pursue this issue
further. I went on to read Browder’s book, as well as
contact him with some questions that I had on his
experiences with Yeltsin. After conducting further
research into the role that the oligarchy played in
Russia at the time, it became clear that the issues
which these individuals brought about in the country
could almost always be traced back to the actions
of Yeltsin. For example, when the IMF gave Russia
a $22.6 billion aid package to help the poorest in
the country, Yeltsin allowed the oligarchs to take the
majority of this aid in exchange for their media and
financial backing.
Yeltsin’s economic failings also led me to the work
of the UN economist Jeffrey Sachs, who advised
Yeltsin on his economic policies. Sachs was notorious
for developing the idea of ‘shock therapy’, which
involved transitioning Russia from communism to
“To what extent was the rise capitalism overnight. This was a huge failing on the
of the oligarchy the most part of both Yeltsin and Sachs, with inflation in Russia
exceeding 1,000% as a result. I interviewed Sachs and
significant weakness of he placed the blame for this economic catastrophe
solely on Yeltsin.
Boris Yeltsin’s tenure?” When making the final assessment of my original
This EPQ focused on the monumental failings of question, I outlined how despite the innate flaws
Boris Yeltsin and the undeniable catastrophe of his of Yeltsin’s economic policies, it is clear that these
tenure as the President of Russia. In my research, mistakes were in many ways influenced by the
oligarchy and the grip that they had over him. Hence,
I sought to evaluate whether Yeltsin’s inability to
this made Yeltsin’s inability to control their rise the
control the oligarchy during Russia’s transition
most significant weakness of his tenure.
into capitalism was his most significant weakness.
I then compared this with Yeltsin’s economic The plight of the Russian nation since the end of the
ineptitude, as well as the social devastation 20th Century can be identified from the moment
that he failed to prevent, ultimately coming to Yeltsin allowed the oligarchs to have such influence
over his cabinet in exchange for their financial support.
a substantiated judgement. Undertaking an EPQ
Once oligarchs had infected Russian politics, the fate
has provided me with some fantastic research and
of the economy and its people were sealed.
analytical skills that will undoubtedly serve me
well when at university and beyond. ARCHIE BOWMAN

55
Upper · Extended Project Qualification
“Should we be using animal experimentation in

human genetic research?”
Animal experimentation has been used to further our knowledge of fundamental biology since as early
as 349BC. This EPQ attempted to evaluate its use in genetic research to assess whether it is an ethically
viable mean of attaining a better understanding of human genetics.
Genetics shape the foundation of was surprised that the emotional research. Prospective alternatives
the way in which we are diagnosed welfare of the animals was a key should, however, be developed
and treated. Many fields of medicine contributor to the way in which and implemented accordingly to
are reliant on genetic research, they were handled and housed. reduce the number of animals used.
including those working with
To compare large and small- It is very difficult to answer the
cancers and muscular dystrophies.
scale animal testing, I visited question ‘at what point should
Animal models provide a relatively
Professor Morton at the University animals not be used? ’ For
dependable means of attaining
of Cambridge who is looking something as important as genetic
information to be passed on for
into Huntington’s disease using research, it is easier to justify,
human trial, however they face
transgenic sheep models. This was but the definition of ‘important’
ethical opposition. In researching
a useful contrast to the large-scale research is a grey area.
this topic, I had to be aware of
testing I observed at the Sanger,
ethical issues and the restrictions The EPQ process has taught me
using a longer-term testing period
that these placed on my project. valuable skills, including the ability
but with far fewer animals.
to work independently and time
During the course of my research,
My research not only looked management. It has also raised
I visited the Wellcome Sanger
into the practicality of animal the prospect of a future career in
Institute, a British genomics
experimentation, but also the research, something I would not
research centre which houses
ethical considerations associated have considered previously.
hamster, mouse and zebrafish
with using animal models. My
models for use in scientific SOPHIE BRIERLEY
conclusion found that at the
procedures. It was an eye-opening
moment, animal models are the
experience and introduced me to
most reliable for human genetic
the reality of medical research. I

56
Upper · Higher Project Qualification
Higher Project Qualification
Twenty-nine pupils in Year 10 completed their Higher

Project Qualification (HPQ). Pupils undertook research
into a wide range of subjects including wellbeing, music,
science, politics, maths and the humanities.
To what extent are From the beginning of my project, I knew I wanted

to research something to do with maths as it has
always been a subject that has interested me. After
fractals useful in looking into areas such as statistics, I eventually
concluded that I would look into fractals and
the real world? how they are used in the real world. This was
something that I already had some knowledge of,
as I had done some work on them in Year 8. At that
time, I discovered that although a perfect fractal
cannot exist in the real world, they still have many
interesting applications in the field of computer
science, medicine and geography.
My focus was on computer science as this is another
area that I am interested in. During my research, I
found that fractals were used in compression and
could actually be used to increase the resolution of
an image whilst still decreasing its file size. This is
extremely useful in the field, although only applies
to certain images that contain fractals.
Fractals can also be used in

medicine as many parts of the
body have fractal nature, for
example the lungs.
Fractals can also be used in medicine as many parts
of the body have fractal nature, for example the
lungs. Computers can then map these fractals and
compare a patient's lungs to an image of healthy
lungs and give a diagnosis based on this, which is
very reliable. The third application of fractals that
I looked in was surface physics, although I found
that most of the material was extremely complex
and I was not able to explain it in a way that was
accessible for a non-specialist audience.
Overall I feel that my project went well and it
expanded my appreciation for maths as it showed
me that even something that is mostly theoretical,
still has multiple uses in the real world and can even
help to save lives in the field of medicine.
BEN NORMAN

57
What are the positives and negatives

of using blockchain in our 21st
Century society?
When I first began my research my head what my research topic
project I was very interested in would become. Over the course of
cryptocurrencies, specifically my research I learned all about the
Bitcoin. My father had been various applications of blockchain
discussing it a lot at home and it to cryptocurrencies, gambling,
began to crop up more and more taxes, insurance claims and
in the news. Even before the even a recreation of the internet
project had begun I had done a we use now. Yet I also began
little research on Bitcoin because to understand that blockchain
I had an interest in a) investing could also negatively affect our
management which I feel was the
in it and b) mining it myself on society with it helping the sales
weakest part of my project.
our home computer. So when of illegal merchandise on illegal
the opportunity arose to further marketplaces on the ‘Dark Web’ Another important skill I learned
research something I was already and how right now it really couldn't during my project was how
passionate about, I seized the rival large transaction networks we to conduct an interview. The
opportunity. already have in place such as Visa project gave me the opportunity
and PayPal. to conduct an interview with
Upon initially beginning my
an economics professor at
research, I had mainly focused The project also helped me learn
the University of Cambridge.
on cryptocurrencies, but as my vital research and presentation
Interviewing Professor Hamid
research progressed I realised skills with the help of four talks
Sabourian was the most enjoyable
that I was much more interested we had over the course of the
part of the HPQ as it allowed me
in the underlying technology year, each focusing on a different
to go and do some primary, hands-
that cryptocurrencies depend on, skill. These talks really helped
on, research. The HPQ process was
blockchain. me organise my research using
something I learned so much from
online tools such as OneNote,
As I got to grips with the topic and I felt that my learning journey
Google Drive and the creation of
and really began to understand all was a successful one.
a Gantt Chart to help with my time
the intricacies, it became clear in
WILLIAM HARTLEY
To what extent myopia and there was no clear

reason to why this was happening.
can we explain I chose to base my title so that I
could review the evidence on why
the worldwide this outbreak was occurring. I also
wanted to look into the current
rise in myopia, treatments of myopia to see if
and what effect myopia could be a potentially
bigger problem in the future so
will it have on the I adapted my title so that I could
explore the potential effect of
future? myopia on the future.
During a conversation with my I was able to learn about many
family, it was interesting that in theories based on why myopia
my near family, I was the only was rising so rapidly and about
person that didn’t have myopia. An the three main treatments of
optician that I went to recently said myopia at the moment, these being
searching on PubMed, the
I was unlikely to develop myopia orthokeratology, atropine eye-
Vancouver Style of references and
now, and so I was interested in drops and spending time outside.
how to review sources.
what I was doing right and what my
During this research I learned
family was doing wrong, therefore Overall, I enjoyed the journey of my
valuable skills that could potentially
I chose this topic. HPQ and it taught me important
be of great importance to me in
skills I may well use in the future.
I found several news articles the future such as writing skills,
concerning the sudden rise of independent study, advanced AMAN BASHIR

58
How and why did Guns

N' Roses, AC/DC and Van
Halen grow in popularity?
I’ve always enjoyed rock bands and thanks to my
family being connected to the 1980s (which in my
opinion is the best decade) it has always interested
me. I really have connected myself to the decade
by attaching myself to Guns N' Roses who are my
favourite band. So when I heard we could do our
work on music I jumped at the opportunity to write
What are the wider impacts about my favourite bands.
of elephant poaching
on the species and the
community? How do we
best counteract this?
Ever since I was a young child, I’ve always had a
fascination with elephants and I’ve been lucky
enough to see them in person many times.
Throughout my travels I had always been aware that
elephant poaching was a significant global issue
and as I’ve grown older, I’ve realised how big the
crisis actually is. I had spent much of the first part
of my HPQ looking into the illegal wildlife trade of
ivory on a wider level and the incentives behind it
and management of it. However, when I stumbled
across a report about elephants suffering from Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of poaching, I
knew that looking at the impacts poaching has on
communities was an unusual choice but definitely the
right one for my HPQ.
I didn’t choose the popular bands like Queen and
I chose to research the impacts of elephant poaching Led Zeppelin because it’s rather easy to know
on the species, human community and the environment. how they became popular. Instead, I used my
So, in terms of the impact on elephants, I found out that favourite band (Guns N' Roses) and two other
poaching has huge impacts on the herd. Infant rejection influential groups, AC/DC and Van Halen. To read
and neglect and the absence of male socialisation were and learn about these bands was very intriguing
the biggest impacts on elephants. Significant impacts and something that I really enjoyed. The process
are also left on the human community such as trauma of writing up my thoughts on paper and writing
both within a community and on the ranger’s part. I the essay was very relaxed as I’m very enthusiastic
also learned that significant impacts were left on the about the subject. Sometimes the process of
environment as forest elephants are responsible for finding my data and resources was relatively
dispersing the biggest seeds for the biggest trees straightforward, for example, creating sections and
which store the most carbon. areas that the bands used to gain their popularity.
Luckily for me, the bands contrasted each other as
For me, the best bit of the HPQ process was the
Guns N' Roses used the dirty rock 'n' roll aspect of
opportunity to talk to and interview some incredible
life to gain their popularity, AC/DC made the ‘classic
specialists in the field. I spoke to several people all
tracks’ and Van Halen seemed to merge the two.
over the world, who all have different roles to play
within combating the illegal wildlife trade. I learned It was thoroughly enjoyable to write the essay
so much from all of them both about the impacts because of my passion for music. I also included a
but also about the illegal wildlife trade of ivory more reference to my family as my mum and dad were
generally, how to interest young people in supporting both connected to the rock and roll scene. Overall,
wildlife and the impact social media has on the trade. it was actually very enjoyable to complete this
All in all, I really enjoyed the HPQ process. subject.
ISSY ELLIOTT KEELAN ROTHWELL

59
Upper · Rouse
Rouse Awards
The Rouse Awards scheme is an internally-assessed
programme for Lower Sixth students judged by a panel of
Perse governors and Oxbridge academics.
Students participating in the Rouse Awards had supervisions with a subject specialist teacher
guiding them through their research process. Their submissions were then assessed by the awards
panel based on the intellectual curiosity, depth and quality of research that had been undertaken.
The latest winners were announced in September 2018, with two students taking the overall honours. On top of
this, 19 students gained distinctions, 45 were highly commended, 45 were commended and 18 received awards.
The Rouse Awards are generously sponsored by Alan and Valerie Hirzel.
Florence Clark (Upper Sixth) earned the Rouse Awards Alice Kemp (Upper Sixth) claimed the Rouse Awards
essay prize with her investigation into optimising the essay prize with her in-depth look at the Harold Pinter
delivery of topical eye medication to dogs. play The Birthday Party.
As part of her research, she carried out tests with She took the views of critic Michael Scott that the play
the help of David Williams, associate lecturer in had “attempted to reject the evils of the 20th century”
veterinary ophthalmology at The Queen’s Veterinary and “present a new outlook on society” and discussed
School Hospital, after meeting him while taking part the extent to which this was the case, based on a
in a VetCam residential course at the University of modern production of The Birthday Party, directed by
Cambridge in 2017. Ian Rickson, to mark its 60th anniversary in 2018.
Florence’s project was submitted by the University of Alice explained how it was only after watching the
Cambridge as a research abstract for presentation at production at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre, which
the British Small Animal Veterinary Association Annual starred Toby Jones and Zoe Wanamaker, that she came
Congress in April. A brilliant achievement for a Sixth to understand the play, having been left “extremely
Form student as this is something only undertaken by confused” by the script, which she had encountered as
postgraduate students. part of wider reading around her A level English course.
Perse Project Qualification

Forty-three Year 8 pupils completed the Perse Project Qualification (PPQ) research process, independently
formulating a research question, identifying sources, analysing them and developing their findings and
conclusions into an essay.
Topics ranged from the role of cricket in India in colonial and post-colonial times and gender equality in
schools to the future of ‘green’ vehicles and social changes resulting from the Spanish Civil War.

60
Upper · Schools' Challenge
Junior and Senior Schools'

Challenge success
Perse quiz teams do national double

Perse general knowledge teams displayed their The final was a tight encounter with The Royal
dazzling quizzing skills to be crowned national Grammar School Guildford, but despite being neck
champions in both the Senior and Junior Schools’ and neck throughout, The Perse edged ahead late on
Challenge competitions, which are regarded as to secure a 630-610 victory and the overall honours.
the secondary education equivalents of University
Team coach Lilly Freeman said: “It’s such a great
Challenge.
achievement from both teams and I’m extremely
proud of them. To win one title is fantastic, but to win
It was the second time The Perse had
both in the same year is incredible.”
won both categories in the same year,
having achieved the feat in 2014. No
other school has won both titles in the
same year in the competition.
The Perse won the Senior Schools’ Challenge
following a victory over Magdalen College School
in a Cambridge v Oxford national final at Warwick
School. Oliver Phillips (Lower Sixth) captained the
team, featuring Vikram Singh (Lower Sixth), Malachy
Wallace and Sean Ridley (both Year 9), to a brilliant
victory in the competition.
The Perse junior general knowledge team followed in
the footsteps of the senior side, with Warwick School
again proving to be a happy hunting ground as the
scene for the national finals.
Vishrut Pisupati (Year 8) captained the Perse team,
featuring Freddie Doel, Harry Purvis (both Year 8) and
Dhruv Radhakrishnan (Year 7) as they beat George
Heriot’s School 530-430 and Magdalen College School
750-540 in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.
Creating a buzz
Vikram Singh (Lower Sixth) was on the button with the new set of
buzzers he designed and built for The Perse’s quiz teams.
He updated the buzzers used in practice sessions by the school’s
general knowledge teams as part of a design and technology
project.
He said: “My project looked to rebuild all the buzzers with
robustness as the key element. I changed the cable standard to
USB and put printed circuit boards inside the boxes as well as multi-
core wire, where we previously just had single core wire wrapped
around all the components inside.
“I found it really rewarding. I designed these buzzers so they can
be used by many teams after I’ve left The Perse, bearing in mind
people will be hitting them and not treating them very carefully!”

61
Upper · Modern Foreign Languages
Modern Foreign Languages
Blast off with

International
Space Challenge
The science, engineering and foreign language skills
of Year 10 pupils proved to be out of this world when
they took on the International Space Challenge.
With the Russian space agency having announced
plans to build a space hotel on the International Space
Station, Perse pupils were set the task of designing a
rival space hotel for a European consortium.
The event was brought to The Perse by Business
Language Champions, an organisation promoting
modern foreign languages by demonstrating their
importance in the workplace.

62
Vienna’s sights and sounds

savoured by Perse students
Fourteen Sixth Form students enjoyed a cultural

weekend in Vienna during the half-term break.
Accompanied by Head of German David Brunskill and

art teacher Georgina Howling, they visited the sights
of the Austrian capital and enjoyed some great views
of the city from the top of St Stephen’s Cathedral.
The Sixth Formers, who are studying subjects which
include art, music and German, viewed art exhibitions
at the Secession Building, the Museum of Modern Art
and the Leopold Museum, as well as the outstanding
Gustav Klimt collection at the Belvedere Palace.
Students found the museum art to be of stark contrast
to the quirky architecture at Hundertwasser Village, an
urban regeneration project which converted what was
once a tyre factory into a bazaar with a tree-lined roof.
Music featured prominently on

the itinerary, with a visit to the
Mozarthaus and two evening classical
concerts at the Wiener Musikverein
and the Konzerthaus.
However, one of the highlights of the students’ trip
was the unusually named Ugly Vienna walking tour, in
which the group was guided around some of the less
obvious sights of the city. Students voted on whether a
particular building was indeed ugly or whether beauty
was really in the eye of the beholder.
Mr Brunskill said: “The Vienna trip is a great addition
to our cultural programme. All the students had a
fantastic time exploring what this beautiful city has
to offer and it was a wonderful opportunity for them
to enjoy a range of cross-cultural activities.”

63
Mandarin introduced to the

Students put their MFL curriculum
knowledge of the I started learning Mandarin this year and I have found it
a tough yet rewarding experience. Both of my teachers
German language to have helped to encourage my curiosity in the language
and nurture my knowledge. At the start of the year I
the test had no idea what characters and pinyin were, while at
the end of the year, I’m able to converse freely with
my Chinese friends which has helped to boost my
confidence in the language.
When I tell people that I study Mandarin, their initial
reaction tends to be, “oh wow, isn’t it hard? It must
be so much hard work!” I do agree that learning this
language takes a lot of effort, however my teachers
make it fun at the same time, by showing us amusing
songs with catchy tunes to learn particular phrases
and encouraging us to work together to improve our
pronunciation.
The course I have taken this year has been so enjoyable
that I have chosen to study the language at GCSE level.
Kashvi Sivasubramaniam (Year 9)
Nina Follows (Lower Sixth) gives an insight into
taking the Goethe-Zertifikat.
In May, a group of five Lower Sixth students
took the Goethe-Zertifikat B1 German exam
for young people. The Goethe-Zertifikat is an
internationally-recognised qualification run
by the Goethe-Institut, Germany’s cultural
institute which promotes the study of the
German language and culture around the world.
The institute is named after Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe, perhaps one of modern German
literature's most significant figures.
The B1 qualification demonstrates an ability to
live and work in Germany or German-speaking
countries, understanding familiar conversation,
dealing with typically encountered situations
Record-breaking Linguistics
when travelling in German-speaking countries
(such as announcements at airports and
Olympiad performances
stations), expressing views and explaining
events and experiences.
The assessment was focused on the four 5 3 9
main disciplines - speaking, listening, reading
and writing. The listening exam required GOLD SILVER BRONZE
understanding of a variety of different German
accents, adding an extra obstacle to the tasks.
The Perse continues to excel in the UK Linguistics
To take the exam, we went to the Goethe-Institut Olympiad with a record-breaking performance in
in South Kensington, London. The speaking February 2019, when 27 students in Years 9 to Upper
exam involved planning an event with a partner Sixth took part in round one of the advanced level.
and giving a presentation and answering
Five Gold, 3 Silver and 9 Bronze medals were awarded.
questions on a topic, which was somewhat
daunting. However, it turned out to be quite Jem Bennett (Year 9) was our youngest competitor,
enjoyable, and definitely a helpful experience and came fourth out of all the Perse participants,
to practise presentation and language skills. achieving a Gold award.

64
Olé for Perse students enjoying a

taste of Spanish life
Language students in Years 8, 10 and Lower Sixth took part in exchange programmes to Spain.
Year 8 and Lower

Sixth Spanish
exchange to Madrid
Going on the Spanish exchange was one of the best
experiences of my life. My host family was super nice
and helped me with anything I needed. During the few
days we were there we did loads of things like going
on the tourist bus, visiting the palace and visiting the
church. We also went to the zoo and to the Santiago
Bernabéu stadium. My favourite memory that I will
forever keep with me was winning a Real Madrid shirt
signed by Gareth Bale!
Max Rigatti-Luchini (Year 8)
Year 10 Spanish countless ‘maravillas’ of Seville. A personal highlight

was when the sports teacher of the host school ITACA
organised team games ranging from frisbee to tag
exchange to Seville rugby, and even rugball!
To conclude, the exchange was one of the most
During the week-long exchange, we all enjoyed one
exciting and incredible experiences of my life and it
of the most iconic and unforgettable experiences of
forced me out of my comfort zone and into a world of
our lives. One of my personal highlights was Cordoba,
food, fast speaking and fun! I would highly recommend
where we learned about mosques. The meals were
the exchange to anyone who speaks Spanish because
spectacular, with the Seville exchange partners
of all the great experiences you will have while there.
seeming to eat two or three times the amount we
eat back home. We were able to watch the Sevillian Alex Dixon
football team Real Betis play on TV, and visited

65
journey from Incheon airport, we could tell that this

was going to be a very different cultural experience
and the dancing only proved to solidify this notion.”
The individual competition came first with Kilian
and Alex facing a six-hour paper, which included
deciphering the script of the Middle Persian language
Book Pahlavi and working out the differences in re-
duplication rules in two dialects of West Tarangan, as
well as matching up noun phrases and understanding
class systems in Yurok and figuring out the time and
tone systems of Nooni.
Two Perse pupils win Bronze Despite being bilingual in English and German, and
awards at the International having also studied French, Irish and Mandarin, Kilian
admitted it was a huge test.
Linguistics Olympiad He said: “Each question, each in an uncommon
Kilian Meissner (Lower Sixth) and Alex Walker language, whether indigenous or literary, ancient or
(Year 11) secured bronze medals at the International still spoken, challenged a diverse set of analytical skills
Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) in Korea. and lateral thinking. The entire six hours were spent
pattern-spotting, hypothesising, frustrating over data
The Perse students were selected as part of an that did not fit said pattern and re-hypothesising.
eight-strong Great Britain squad following their
performances in the second round of the UK “The hardest, though not the most time-consuming,
Linguistics Olympiad in March. step to make is always the first - trying to figure out
what on earth is going on. It really demands you to
They claimed their individual bronze medals after shrug off all in-built notions of what a language is
finishing among the top 60 competitors from a field made up of. By the end of each question, you needed
of more than 200 at the IOL, held at Hankuk University not only to have answered a set of questions to test
of Foreign Studies in Yongin, following a tough series your understanding of the language, but also to have
of challenges in which they had to solve problems in written out an entire grammar of the part of the
a variety of obscure languages. language you are analysing.”
Kilian said both he and Alex had enjoyed taking part However, Kilian and Alex were unable to add to their
and discovering more about the country. medal tally in the team competition as the two UK
He said: “We arrived separately in Korea, brimming with teams struggled with a fiendish linguistics problem
anticipation, and completely unable to sleep on the 11- that did not concern a language.
hour flight. In hindsight, it would have been a good Kilian said: “Given the description of a gymnast's
idea to get at least some sleep, as it was with heavy actions for a move and the difficulty panel's code script
eyelids that we sat through the opening ceremony, for each move, we had to decipher what each symbol
which included traditional Korean dance performances. referred to and how many points it was worth. The only
“Already from the thousands of high-rise buildings and twists? It was highly ambiguous and different moves got
tropical temperature and humidity we had seen on our different amounts of points in different combinations.”
Five Year 9 pupils took a great trip into the city centre that helped us to get an
insight into the life of a local Pittsburgher and I would
part in an exchange recommend it to everyone visiting the area.
programme with students Lucy Blanning

For our day of service, we went to Life’s Choice, a place
from Sewickley Academy in where they source jobs for people with disabilities. We
Pittsburgh, USA re-decorated the bulletin boards around the building
and helped with the party they were hosting. We met
During our wonderful visit to America, we managed to some of the people working there in order to better
visit the Pittsburgh Strip District. We went into a variety understand how Life’s Choice can really change
of different shops, many of which had clothing dedicated people’s lives.
to the Penguins, Steelers and Pirates sports teams. At
I really enjoyed my time at Sewickley and seeing some
first, we went into a small fish market and spoke to some
of the contrasts between the two schools.
lovely locals. After visiting lots of shops and buying some
Pittsburgh souvenirs, we went and had ice cream. It was Charlie Stalker

66
Year 9 and Lower Sixth

French exchange to Paris
We had a very busy trip to Paris, spending time in lessons
with our exchange partners and visiting the Louvre,
where we were set a challenge to recreate artwork as a
group. It was really fun and we got some great photos.
On our final day we spent the day going to an
interactive science museum with a planetarium, as
well as visiting a chocolate museum where we even
participated in a chocolate-making workshop which
we all really enjoyed.
I learned so much from this experience and would
definitely recommend it to everyone.
Jemima Fung (Year 9)
Used with kind permission of the family of Luke Hobson

67
Year 10 French exchange

to Saint Jean de Luz
Alice Ledzion and Anna Wheaton reflect on the weren’t part of the exchange too, we had a highly
exchange trip. engaging guided tour of Saint Jean de Luz followed
by free time in town, which is very pretty with a lot of
We arrived in France on Friday afternoon and spent the
nice shops.
evening and the weekend with our exchange families.
We all did different activities over the weekend, The weather was beautifully warm so many of us went
including visits to Spain, the beach and surfing. This swimming and a lot of us played a traditional basque
was a great time to practise our French and immerse game similar to rounders on the beach. This was a
ourselves in the different culture. great way to end our last full day on the exchange. On
Thursday we spent the morning at the French school
We visited Biarritz, spending the morning in the
again in the same classes as before. After lunch we
aquarium, and then walked into the centre of town.
walked into town with our exchange partners. We were
We did a lot of shopping and walked around the town
all sad to say goodbye as we had become good friends
and on the beach which was super fun. On Tuesday we
with our partners.
spent the morning in the French school. Everyone was
in different classes and so we did a variety of different Everyone really enjoyed the week in Saint Jean de Luz
lessons. It was interesting to see the differences and we have all felt that our French has improved. It
between the French school and our own. After having was really interesting to spend time in another culture
lunch at school and socialising with other pupils who and experience living with a French family.
Perse students compete started debating the adrenaline kicked in, and we
discovered a ruthless streak in ourselves, which I
in the French debating don’t think either of us knew existed.
national finals “We would like to thank Monsieur Pillet for being an
incredible coach in dedicating his time to help us.
Lower Sixth students Hari Prasad and Kilian We are also extremely grateful to the organisers
Meissner qualified for the finals of the National for spoiling us with luxurious prizes, such as maple
Schools French Debating Competition in the Upper syrup from Quebec, as well other treats from
Sixth category. around the French-speaking world.”
Despite being a year younger than their opponents,

Hari and Kilian came out on top in the regional
round, held at The Perse, to book their place at
the French Institute.
Hari Prasad said:
“Going to the Institut Français was great fun, although

quite intimidating at first. Walking in and seeing so
many great French debaters, as well as Ambassadors
from many countries including Switzerland and
Canada was nerve-racking. However, once we

68
Upper · Art
Breadth and balance

Art
Compelling
creations
displayed at
Perse Art Show Ella Schumann
69
Upper · Art
Athena Li
A broad range of dynamic designs highlighting cultural identity, through the use of film projection over
the imagination and creativity of Perse students an acetate drawing.
were displayed at the school’s annual Art Show. The art block played host to stunning coursework from
Upper Sixth A level and Year 11 GCSE students.
The Pelican Gallery in the Peter Hall Performing Arts
Centre featured pieces by Lower Sixth art students, Themes for A level coursework pieces included the
showcasing coursework based on the body as well as ephemeral nature of smiling, positive and negative
individual exam work around the themes of light and spaces, mental wellbeing, the line between life and
conflict. death, the sea, and religious traditions in the modern
day, with the creations capturing the essence of their
Works included a digital film played over three screens
respective topics using a wide variety of media.
at different times, a layered hand-cut and laser-cut
paper piece, and an exhibit that combined acrylic Meanwhile, exam work featured etchings and silk
painting with screen prints influenced by renowned screen prints of an urban cityscape, black and
abstract artist Ben Nicholson. Other pieces sought white etchings and drawings around subjects such
to evoke traditional and modern architecture, using as Brutalist architecture and punk culture, and a
materials such as metal, wood and cardboard, a marine nocturnally-themed series of ceramic tiles based on
environment interpreted in print and embroidery, and feathers and moon craters.
70
Upper · Art
Stephanie Clark
Year 11 coursework pieces were based on natural forms

using a diverse range of media, while the exam work
on display stemmed from topics such as dwellings,
birds, signs, boxes and mirrors.
Perse Head of Art Anne Cunningham was thrilled with
the feedback she received from those attending the
exhibition.
She said: “A number of people told me they felt the
show was consistently good, and that the work was
degree standard rather than A level standard. People
also commented that there was so much variety in the
students’ work that it made the show more interesting
and engaging as well as allowing pupils to express
their individuality.
“I felt it was the strongest show we’ve had to date and
I’m really proud of the students for the work they’ve
produced.
“Art is a really important subject for the job market
because creative industries are such a big part of our
economy. Art isn’t just about painting and drawing,
it’s about ideas, creativity and imagination and using
different media to communicate those ideas. The
inclusion of so many different media in the exhibition
can only stand our students in good stead for their
future.”
Suzanna Arbide
71
Upper · Art
It was the strongest

show we’ve had to date
and I’m really proud
of the students for the
work they’ve produced
Perse Head of Art Anne Cunningham
Sophie Meadows
Maahika Singh
Bianca Emmerich Harry Ansell
72
Upper · Art
Competition
winners
Elin Oliver (Year 9) won the
Heller Prize for Creative Arts
with her stunning photograph
(left). The award is sponsored
by Sir Michael and Lady
Heller. Sir Michael is an Old
Persean (1954), businessman
and philanthropist, who was
knighted in 2013 for charitable
services.
Upper Sixth students Ursula

Griffiths, Rachel Barlow, Masaki
Hattori and Sophie Meadows
were commended in the Arts
Society Granta and Cantab Young
Arts Sixth Form competition. Their
works were displayed at the Young
Arts Sixth Form Art Exhibition at
the Michaelhouse Centre in July.
Charlie Toff (Year 10) was
shortlisted for the Royal Society of
Biology’s Nancy Rothwell Prize for
specimen drawing.
Joely Harrison (Year 9) was highly
commended in the Cambridge
Camera Club young photographers
awards.
The following students have had
work selected to feature in the
Protein Data Bank Europe 2020
calendar - Ayshini Senadeera
(Upper Sixth), Daniel Chen, Sheen
Gahlaut and Nicholas Malasiotis
(all Year 9).
Pelican Gallery exhibitions Art society clock

The Pelican Gallery in the Peter Hall Performing The Perse Arts Society made a clock, featuring
Arts Centre played host to two significant art the Perse values of intellectual curiosity and
exhibitions during the academic year. scholarship, breadth and balance, endeavour and
one another and our environment, which has been
A series of pop art pioneer Eduardo Paolozzi’s
hung outside the Main Hall.
screenprints and photolithographs, entitled General
Dynamic F.U.N., were on display as part of a touring Rachel Barlow and Pavan Tanna (both Upper Sixth)
exhibition from London’s Southbank Centre. were the principal students behind the timepiece,
which was created from acrylic in the school
They were followed by an exhibition of works
colours with support from the art and design &
by highly-respected painter Philip Hughes CBE,
technology departments.
entitled Alquimia de los Planetas, Alchemy of the
Planets, which he created in collaboration with
Mexican writer Carmen Boullosa.
73
Upper · Art
Fashionable student
is in Vogue
Callum Baylis (Upper Sixth) can definitely claim to be
a model student after strutting his stuff on the catwalk
at London Fashion Week (LFW) and appearing
in Vogue.
A career in couture is the dream for Callum and he
was thrilled to be given the chance to take to the
runway at one of the fashion world’s biggest events.
He made his modelling debut in the LFW spring/
summer show of designer John Lawrence Sullivan
last year and recently returned to LFW to model
Liam Hodges’ latest pieces in the autumn/winter
event.
Callum said: “I got there three hours before the
show for hair and make-up and to prepare. You do
a walk-through where you practise and the build-up
was very intense. I was very nervous doing it, but
once you get on with the actual show, you relax and
forget about everything and just do it. The intense
emotions of doing it only hit you afterwards.”
Both the John Lawrence Sullivan and Liam Hodges
shows appeared in Vogue and Callum was elated
to see his image appear on the iconic fashion
magazine’s website.
Artistic
They worked with clay, felt and
collage, with each one being
produced in response to one of
responses Schumann’s evocative piano pieces.

The artworks were projected on to
a large screen as each of the 43
World War I provided the pianists was performing, while the
theme as pupils got their original pieces were on exhibition
creative juices flowing for the in the Peter Hall Performing Arts
Centre foyer.
Year 7 Arts Festival.
Marking the centenary of the end

of the Great War, youngsters took
part in themed art, music and
drama workshops, culminating in
a show on stage at the Peter Hall
Performing Arts Centre.
In drama, they came up with short
plays inspired by pictures from
World War I, while in music, they
sang songs from the Great War
era. Pupils produced old-fashioned
prints in art sessions, which were
then displayed in the Gallery Studio.
In conjunction with the music
department, Year 9 art pupils
responded to Robert Schumann’s
Album for the Young.
74
Upper · Classics
Classics
Metropolitan
Museum of Art
internship
Camillo Padulli (Year 11) had
an “absolutely wonderful”
experience during his summer
internship at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art (MET) in New
York.
He spent a month working in the

Greek and Roman department
at the internationally-acclaimed
museum after being fortunate
enough to be of fered the
placement opportunity.
His p l a ce m e nt began by
researching three pieces from the
MET’s Cypriot collection – two
Cypriot bowls (“one of which
left me utterly speechless”) and
a Mycenaean-style vase – which
are set to be showcased at a
forthcoming exhibition. He was
given access to the museum’s
collection of scholarly books and
articles in the Onassis Library to
carry out his investigation before
writing up summaries about the “I greatly enjoyed working with the museum before it opened to
objects for the department’s Kiki as she allowed me to research the public. I confess that I used this
associate curator Kiki Karoglou. very interesting objects and to ability almost every day as being
find out more about the museum's able to spend an hour-and-a-half
C amillo then worked with
collection. Working with Sean was in the museum, completely empty,
department c u r a to r Sean
a real pleasure as it allowed me was an unforgettable experience.”
H e min gway in creatin g a
to really see what goes into the
Powerpoint presentation for Camillo felt he had discovered
running of a museum.”
a future major Ancient Greek much from the internship and
exhibition which was to be shown Having loved the classics since he developed new skills along the way.
to the museum’s director. He also was a young child, Camillo said
He said: “One of the most
made valuations on certain objects the internship had surpassed his
important things was learning
going on loan to other museums expectations.
exactly how a museum of such a
by poring over recent auction
He said: “I have been able to size and magnitude is managed.
catalogues and finding the prices
get to research objects of truly However, I also feel that my written
of comparable pieces.
astonishing quality and thus learn a communication has been enhanced
He said: “This was absolutely great deal more about this fantastic by having to write for the associate
wonderful as it meant that I was collection. Moreover, I made curator and even to contribute to
exposed to a myriad of different contact with incredible people a presentation that the director of
pieces from different places in the in the department and hopefully the entire museum will see. These
Ancient Greek world. However, the formed longstanding relationships. are probably the greatest skills I
very best part of this was that Sean have learned, but my researching
“However, for me, by far the greatest
even let me pick an object for the skills have also been greatly
aspect of the internship was being
exhibition. improved, as has my ability to
granted the ability to go around
analyse classical art.”
75
Upper · Classics
Greek play theatre trip

Nicholas Romanos (Year 11) shares his view of a trip
to see Sophocles’ Antigone on the stage in London.
We were treated to an interesting discussion of the
play, before awaiting the performance. As many
performances of Greek drama are nowadays, this
production was ‘interpretive’. An unusual blend of
ancient Greek and modern British politics, it was set
in Westminster, the detached and observant agents of
mass media forming a powerful chorus. As striking and
disturbing as this distorted vision of our own political
system is, along with the repeated callous undermining
of the tragedy by the chorus, perhaps productions like
these, and the fact that we continue to stage them,
tells us more about ourselves than about Sophocles.
Ludi Scaenici
The Peter Hall Per forming
Arts Centre played host to the
42nd Ludi Scaenici Latin play
competition welcoming St John’s
College School, St Mary’s School,
Ipswich School and Norwich High
School for an afternoon of drama,
performed in the ancient language.
Everyone who took part worked
very hard preparing and rehearsing
their performances.
The Perse team performed a Latin
adaptation of Goldilocks & the
Three Bears entitled Tres Ursae
with the pupils and audience
enjoying the experience.
Reading competitions
At the Senior Greek and Latin Reading Competition, organised by the Cambridge & District branch of the
Classical Association, Perse students enjoyed the following successes:
Pip Jackson (Upper Sixth) won the Senior Latin verse category.
Kilian Meissner (Lower Sixth) won the Senior Greek verse category.
Camillo Padulli (Year 11) won the Intermediate Latin prose category.
Nicholas Romanos (Year 11) won the Intermediate Greek verse category.
In the play performance of the Junior Greek and Latin Reading competition, The Perse were joint winners.
76
Upper · Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
Philosophy, Ethics and Religion

Highlighting the kindness of
strangers, Sir Erich recounted how
he was among many young Jewish
refugees taken under the wing of
leading composer Ralph Vaughan
Williams, who set up the Dorking
& District Refugee Committee, and
was housed in a home belonging
to the Duke of Newcastle in the
Surrey town.
Sir Erich, who is chairman of the
Association of Jewish Refugees’
Kindertransport group, outlined
how he went on to be fostered by a
Christian family from Sudetenland,
the German-speaking region of
what is now the Czech Republic.
They were themselves refugees
having fled the Nazis, but Sir Erich
said how he felt loved and “as far
as I was concerned, they were my
parents”.
Under pressure to have a Jewish
education, he moved to London,
but did not settle in his new
The kindness of strangers was environment and moved to Haifa
in Israel at the age of 13, initially
a recurring theme in Sir Erich staying with an aunt before joining
his cousin on a kibbutz.
Reich’s fascinating and thought- Following a spell in the Israeli Army,
provoking talk about his life at he returned to London, where he
went on to set up Classic Tours, a
The Perse School’s annual Josef company organising fundraising
challenges for charities, explaining
Behrmann Lecture. that he wanted to give something
back to the country as “the UK
The lecture is held every year in memory of Old Persean Behrmann, had saved me”. Sir Erich went
who was a Holocaust survivor, and Sir Erich’s talk evoked the on to be knighted for services to
horrific situation faced by Jews under Germany’s Nazi regime charity in 2010, with his company
during that era. having helped raise £90 million for
hundreds of charities.
Titled ‘The Boy in the Statue’, the this country. He explained to a
talk referenced Sir Erich’s young packed audience in the Peter Hall Sir Erich concluded his lecture with
likeness being immortalised in Performing Arts Centre that he his view that the UK should take
Frank Meisler’s renowned work travelled by boat from the Polish a leaf out of the Kindertransport
Kindertransport – The Arrival port of Gdynia, arriving in Britain effort by helping more
at London’s Liverpool Street just three days before the outbreak unaccompanied children escape
station. The statue remembers the of the war in August 1939. suffering in war-torn countries such
10,000 Jewish children who were as Syria, by providing them with a
He said: “I believe my parents gave new life and hope.
welcomed into the United Kingdom
me life twice – once when I was
via the Kindertransport rescue He said: “I believe Kindertransport
born and once when they let me go.
shortly before the start of World was a beacon in a very dark period.
The truth is it must have been very
War II. It reminds everybody what Britain
difficult to let a four-year-old go to
Aged just four, Sir Erich was among a different country with a different was able to do 80 years ago and
those youngsters who arrived in culture and a different language.” should be able to do today.”
77
Upper · Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
Year 8 pupils
challenged to
build a new
society for World
Philosophy Day
Rebuilding society in the wake
of a zombie apocalypse was the
tough assignment handed to
Year 8 Perse pupils. Sixth Form
philosophy students became the
undead wandering the school, with
the premise that, following the
release of a virus, Year 8 were the
only survivors of a global zombie
takeover. Using political and ethical
philosophy as a guide, their task
was to find a way for humans to
flourish once more.
Pupils worked in small groups to
formulate their plans, reflecting
on a number of different aspects
of how society could work.
They looked at the benefits and
drawbacks of different political
systems across the spectrum from
communism to nationalism as well
as how resources should be best
allocated. The thoughts of Buddha,
the utilitarian thinker John Stuart
Mill and Australian philosopher
John Finnis, who believes there
are seven basic ‘goods’ – life,
kn owle dge , play, a esth etic
experience, sociability of friendship,
practical reasonableness and
religion – were also studied by Year
8 to create their own value systems
for a new society. Groups then
presented their visions, with some
even designing flags and creating
national anthems.
78
Upper · English and Drama
English and Drama
‘A Race worth Running’

Gifted Perse actors hit the ground running with four stunning
performances of Chariots of Fire in the Peter Hall Performing
Arts Centre.
The Perse Players presented Mike Bartlett’s stage adaptation of choose something out of the box
the iconic 1981 film, which centred on real-life athletes Eric Liddell, that had never been done in a
a devout Christian who ran to glorify God, and Harold Abrahams, school setting before. The Perse
a Jew who ran as a way to overcome anti-Semitism, as they faced has a proud heritage in sport and
theatre, so I wanted to put them
the challenge of the 1924 Olympics in Paris.
together.”
The stage adaptation was originally “I saw this production directed by The roles of Liddell and Abrahams
performed in the West End in 2012 Ed Hall (the son of Sir Peter Hall) were double cast with two students
to mark London’s hosting of the and knew then I’d want to stage each alternating across the four
Olympics and The Perse was the it one day, especially with a group performances. Notably, both roles
first school since then to take on of young people. Mike Bartlett’s featured a female actor as Heather
the ambitious task of mounting the adaptation draws on the film, but Magowan (Year 11) shared the part
production. adds a few twists and turns in the of Liddell with Fabian Dodds (Year
way it’s sculpted, so it stands as a 11) and Jess Painter (Lower Sixth)
Perse Theatre Direc tor in
play in its own right. I wanted to played Abrahams along with Toby
Residence Matt Hawksworth said:
Owers (Year 10).
Mr Hawksworth explained: “In
the drama department, we want
all pupils irrespective of gender
to have the chance to play great
characters. This story isn’t about
gender, it’s about faith, personal
identification and the struggles
people face no matter how they
identify. I wanted the best people
for the roles so when Toby, Fabian,
Jess and Heather came along, I
knew that they were the four best
actors to tell this story. We also had
male actors playing female roles
and vice versa for the same reason.”
79
Gorley Putt’s life dramatised It’s great to see your work come
to life. Seeing fellow students put
on The Perse stage their feeling and character into it is

indescribable.”
The life and times of the late Samuel Benjamin said he had felt moved For Blythe, a keen actor, it was his
Gorley Putt OBE were staged in a to pen The Floating Palace after first time directing a play and he
play that was written and staged hearing fascinating tales about thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
by Perse students. Putt, who was a Gorley Putt’s life from his mother, He said: “It was very nerve-racking
Fellow of Christ’s College until his who was a friend of his. but at the same time really exciting.
death in 1995, provided the idea for I had some meetings with Benjamin
He said: “He was a very eccentric
the script written by Benjamin De at the start of the whole process
character and she just retold me all
Almeida-Newton (Upper Sixth). just to get an idea of the vision he
these stories, so I wanted to write a
Blythe White (Upper Sixth) play dramatising his life. was trying to portray and convey,
then took the directional reins, so I had to think about how I could
“I left the direction of the play to
assembling a cast of students from bring the play to life and try to
Blythe White and he has really
across the school’s year groups. execute his vision.”
brought it to life very creatively.
Music of the Night show led concert, which was staged in the Peter Hall
hits the right note He said: “We wanted to make it as student-led
as possible from the performers to the creative
More than 40 Perse students came together to
and production team, who did the costumes, the
celebrate the world of musical theatre with their
props, the lighting, the stage management and the
show Music of the Night.
directing of the individual acts themselves.
The show featured more than 20 singers and was
“It was fantastic that we had pupils from across the
supported by a 17-strong student production team.
whole school taking part and it was amazing that
Jonathan Black (Lower Sixth), who runs the Perse they felt comfortable to put themselves forward to
Musical Theatre Choir, organised the student- perform.”
80
The Boy Preference

Powerful social topics were explored in two sell-out
shows of the Year 11 play The Boy Preference.
The cast performed Elinor Cook’s play after just five
weeks of rehearsals.
Set at some point in the near future, in an affluent
suburb of a developing country, the play examined a
wide range of topics such as gender imbalance, power
and hierarchy, gender conditioning, individuality and
societal pressures. Ashwin Ranasinghe-de Silva
(Year 11) composed an original score to provide an
atmospheric soundscape to the performances.
81
Perse English students

take a bite of the Big Apple
Lower Sixth students Jonathan Black and Trinny
Duncan reflect on the Sixth Form English & drama
trip to New York
After arrival at JFK Airport, we immediately set off
into the heart of the city, Times Square, and on to
the Empire State Building for an awe-inspiring view
before heading to dinner.
The next day we enjoyed an authentic diner
experience for breakfast before glimpsing the
beauty of Grand Central Station – the so-called
‘greatest indoor space in the world’. It was certainly
very impressive. Continuing via the Rockefeller
Centre and St Patrick’s Cathedral, we finished the
morning by taking in the sights that the Museum of
Modern Art had to offer (very many!) before seeing
our first show To Kill A Mockingbird, apparently the
hottest ticket on Broadway! A very enjoyable and
eye-opening show for all, brilliantly staged and
extremely thought-provoking. We then visited the
iconic Hard Rock Café for dinner before catching
the subway across the East River to Brooklyn.
Then followed several people’s

favourite part of the trip – crossing
the Brooklyn Bridge towards
Manhattan and taking in the
famous skyline, lit up in the dark.
The following day saw us visit Lower Manhattan.
After a delicious bagel breakfast we visited
the 9/11 memorial site at Ground Zero. A very
moving part of the trip, the peaceful nature of the
memorial seemed very fitting for remembering
the devastating tragedy. After this we moved on
to see the New York Stock Exchange and Wall
Street before boarding the New York Water Taxi.
The boat took us around the harbour of the city, Sadly, we eventually came to the final day of our
giving us fantastic views of Manhattan, New Jersey trip which began with a chilly walk through the
and, most impressively, the Statue of Liberty – scenic Central Park – a highly enjoyable part of the
all accompanied by our fantastic guide Robin. visit, with plenty of photo opportunities – before
Travelling back towards Times Square, we got heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was
involved in a very enjoyable drama workshop and highly impressive with galleries of virtually every
we got to meet and question one of the stars of art form. This was followed in the afternoon by
the To Kill a Mockingbird production. We then had some final shopping opportunities before heading
dinner at the Bubba Gump restaurant, a Forrest to Newark Airport for our flight home.
Gump-themed restaurant right in the heart of Times It was a whistle-stop tour of the sights of the Big
Square. The day ended with the novel experience Apple, giving a fantastic cultural insight into the
for many of attending the opera at Lincoln Center United States. It was certainly an unforgettable trip
to see La Fille du Regiment, yet another exciting that will stay with all 12 of us for a long time.
and busy day.
82
Collaborators
Life in pre-war communist Russia was
brought to the Peter Hall Performing
Arts Centre stage in the compelling
Perse Sixth Form play Collaborators.
Set in Moscow in 1938, John Hodge’s play

centred around two real-life characters
in Joseph Stalin and dissident author and
playwright Mikhail Bulgakov, whose work
was banned in the USSR.
Drama teacher George Smith, who
directed the play, felt the Sixth Form
students did a fantastic job with their
portrayal of the situation.
He said: “They took real ownership of
the play. We had some really interesting
discussions with all the cast on what the
play is about for them because there are
so many different aspects to it.
“It’s been great to work with such a
conscientious group of actors. We know
a lot about Stalin from the history books,
but it’s really hard to know what life was
like under that regime.”
83
Into The Sea

The Perse Middle School Drama Company dived into
The Sea for their annual production.
The cast, formed of pupils from Years 9 to 11, staged
the Edward Bond play over two nights.
A tragicomic tale set in an East Anglian town during
the Edwardian era, The Sea follows the reactions of
local residents after a man from the town drowns.
Some characters become introspective or depressed
about his death while others display that they are more
concerned about themselves.
Perse English and drama graduate assistant Kathryn
Salmond directed the play, having felt it would be a
good fit with the actors taking part.
Top TV director inspires

Perse creative arts students
Television director David O’Neill provided an
illuminating insight into his work as part of the
Perse Creative Mentors programme.
Mr O’Neill, who has directed Call the Midwife,
Grantchester and Death in Paradise among others,
met with Perse students who are keen to enter the
world of performing and creative arts and outlined
his role in ensuring such hit shows come together.
Mr O’Neill advised students to learn from short
films, as they provide a good format for putting
ideas together on screen and honing their craft.
He also recommended turning the sound off when
looking at TV or film and just watching the pictures
to gain inspiration.
84
Eagles fly high to

win Perse Horrible
Histories House Drama
competition
Hit CBBC show Horrible Histories was the
theme for the annual Perse House Drama
competition as pupils took to the stage as
period characters from Vikings to Victorians.
What better person to judge the contest than

Old Persean and television producer Tom Miller,
who won a BAFTA Award at the British Academy
Children’s Awards in 2016 for his work on the “The Eagles’ Love Island spoof was spectacular. It
Horrible Histories special Sensational Shakespeare. was not only brilliantly made, but was also a really
Mr Miller (1997) was impressed by the standard of good parody of the show. The jokes all came from
all the entries, but gave victory to the Eagles with the history and I thought it was absolutely fantastic.
the Unicorns runners-up and the Dragons third. It brought the house down.”
Pupil success Corbin Abbasi, Ben Lewis, Toby Owers (all Year
10) and Isabella Li-Yan-Hui (Year 9, pictured) were
offered further opportunities at the National Youth
Jenny Jiang (Year 11) was longlisted for the National Music Theatre. Isabella took part in the NYMT
Theatre's ‘New Views’ play writing competition. performances of Anything Goes at The Other Palace
Alice Kemp (Upper Sixth) had a submission to the in London
Wicked Young Writers’ Awards accepted onto the
longlist of the competition. Only 20 out of 5000
original entries were accepted.
Horatia Duggan (Year 10) attended the USA Talent Inc
conference in Florida and was awarded a scholarship
to the New York Film Academy.
Corbin Abbasi (Year 10) was invited to give a solo
performance at the Viva Theatre Awards.
Sorcha Brickel (Year 8) represented England at the
Dance World Cup in Portugal and won Silver in junior
tap and Bronze in both senior and junior song and dance.
Year 9 pupils Victoria Black, Liliana French, Isabella
Li-Yan-Hui and Malachy Wallace took part in the
English Speaking Union competition. Malachy was the
overall runner-up.
Photo by Konrad Bartelski
Military film specialist

Ben Simmons returned to The Perse to give a compelling talk about his work as a military specialist
on major film and television projects.
Having left The Perse in 2003, Mr Simmons told the Creative Mentors group how after studying for an engineering
degree, he joined the Army, where he spent almost 10 years as a tank commander.
He told students making connections was vital if they wanted to break into TV or film, with becoming an extra
or a runner on a set being one of the simplest ways to do this. However, he said writing scripts and making
short films with like-minded friends were useful tools for gaining experience of what works and what does not,
adding: “Nobody will give you a chance to make mistakes on a big film set!”
85
Debating success
The Perse entered a number of debating
competitions.
English-Speaking Union public speaking

competition
Regional champions
Rizwaan Baig, Wendy Hau (both Year 11), Kirill
Nezhentsev (Lower Sixth)
English-Speaking Union ‘Mace’ debating

competition
National finalists and regional champions
Rizwaan Baig, Kirill Nezhentsev
English-Speaking Union Churchill public

speaking competition
Nicholas Romanos (Year 11) awarded best
speaker
Ganesh Mullaparthi (Year 8), Jemima Fung,
Adam Hartley (both Year 9), Wendy Hau,
Nicholas Romanos and Neil Sardesai (all Year 11)
Young actors marvel with
Rotary Youth Speaks Junior
metatheatre in Perse Lower District finalists
School Play Benedict Meissner, Kashvi Sivasubramanian,
Charlie Stalker (all Year 9)
Year 7 and 8 actors took on the works of Shakespeare,
Chekhov and Terence Rattigan across two settings in Rotary Youth Speaks Senior
an ambitious Perse Lower School Play production. Regional finalists
The production was a celebration of metatheatre, Rizwaan Baig and Maria-Louiza Van den Bergh
exploring the concept of a play within a play, with (both Year 11), Kirill Nezhentsev
the main element being a performance of Rattigan
comedy Harlequinade. Set in a regional theatre, Rotary Youth Speaks Sixth Form
Harlequinade is centred on a dress rehearsal of Romeo Winners of the local and regional finals
& Juliet where all seems to be going to plan until things Robert Almqvist, Archie Bowman, Kilian
start to unravel due to deserting actors, personal Meissner (all Lower Sixth)
revelations and scandal.
Oxford Schools debating competition
Before taking their seats in the Peter Hall Performing
National finalists and winners of the regional
Arts Centre, the audience were also treated to a
competition out of 53 teams
staging of Act One of Chekhov’s The Seagull, another
Rizwaan Baig, Kirill Nezhentsev
example of a play within a play, in the amphitheatre
in Ellison Court.
International Competition for Young
Debaters
First in one of the debates
Benedict Meissner, Ganesh Mullaparthi, Kashvi
Sivasubramanian
Tournament v Heritage School

Winners
Olivia Howard (Year 7), Ganesh Mullaparthi,
Rebecca Li (both Year 8), Benyamin Atabani,
Yonas Atabani, Benedict Meissner and Taylor
Sabot (all Year 9)
86
Upper · Music
Music
275 pupils involved

in the Summer Gala
Concert
60 ensembles
practise each
week
424 pupils involved
in weekly ensemble
music-making
63 concerts, masterclasses
and competitions took
place this year
14,640 individual
music lessons
taught this year
53 distinctions in ABRSM
and Trinity Guildhall
practical and theory exams
87
Upper · Music
Mozart’s Requiem strikes a chord at the Perse

Symphonic Showcase Concert
Perse musicians came together audience with their performance for the second half of the recital
to give a wonderful display of movements from Tchaikovsky’s with a powerful performance of
of virtuosity in the school’s Swan Lake. Mozart’s Requiem in D minor. The
Symphonic Showcase Concert choir was joined by Perse Head
Extracts from Frank Bridge’s
of Voice Chloe Beresford-Jones
at Saffron Hall. Suite for String Orchestra were
(soprano), Amy Shaw (mezzo-
performed by the Perse Soloists,
The Senior Trumpet Ensemble soprano), Alexander Gebhard
while Wind Band 1 presented
opened the show with a rendition (tenor) and Timothy Murphy
Ronde for Isolde by David Bedford.
of the Mars suite from Holst’s The (bass) as the Symphonic Showcase
Planets before the Symphony The Senior Chorale and Perse Concert came to a stunning
O rc h e s tr a e n r a pt u re d th e Concert Orchestra came together conclusion.
88
Upper · Music
Harry James, while Annabel

performed movements from Bach’s
Partita No 3 and Brahms’ FAE
Sonata.
Matthew rounded off the show
with a set featuring Danza, Danza
Fancuilla Gentile (Durante), Amarilli,
Mia Bella (Caccini), Die Taubenpost
(Schubert), A Hymn to God the
Father (Pelham Humfrey) and The
Sigh (Gerald Finzi).
Lesley-Ann Thomson, Director of
the Junior Academy at the Royal
Accomplished violinist takes Academy of Music, adjudicated the

final and was “blown away” by the
Perse Musician of the Year crown standard of the eight participants.

However, it was Emma who was
Emma Harris (Year 9) came out pieces from Croquembouches crowned champion and collected
on top against tough competition by Delvincourt followed by Phil the prestigious Richard King Cup,
to claim the Perse Musician of Woods’ Sonata for Alto Saxophone. with Matthew being awarded the
the Year title following a grand runners-up prize following a fine
Renditions of Jeux d’Eau by Ravel
final featuring the school’s most evening of music.
and Chopin’s work Ballade No 1
talented musical performers.
were performed by Hannah, while Emma said: “I feel very honoured
The final, held in the Peter Hall Emma played a movement from because I never expected it and
Performing Arts Centre, included Grieg’s Sonata for Violin and Piano there was such a high standard
performances from Emma and as well as Improvisation, Opus 21, among all the musicians.”
fellow violinists Yao-Chih Kuo No 1 by Kabalevsky.
Perse Director of Music Michael
(Upper Sixth) and Annabel Butler
Following the interval, John Holiday added: “It was a great
(Lower Sixth), singer Matthew
p rov i d e d a c o n te m p o r a r y competition. The musicians took
Chan, percussionist John Hayward,
sound with his performances of it seriously and showed a lot of
trumpeter William Nathan (all
The Solo by Steve Gadd, indie passion and excellence, which all
Lower Sixth), saxophonist Masaki
band Everything Everything’s comes from hard work. Everyone
Hattori (Upper Sixth) and pianist
instrumental +Pendolino acquitted themselves really well.
Hannah Seo (Year 11).
and Gordon Goodwin’s work
“It was a very difficult decision to
Yao-Chih opened the event with Whodunnit?
make, but Lesley-Ann felt Emma
performances of movements from
William gave renditions of played from the heart and that it
Robert Schumann’s Violin Sonata
Seiber’s Dance Suite, and Trumpet was a very passionate and musical
No 1 and Ysaye’s Sonata for Solo
Concertos by Oskar Bohme and performance.”
Violin, while Masaki played two
Three Perse saxophone quartets,

who had been working on their
own arrangements, savoured
the opportunity to get some
tips from Sophie’s group, the
Albatross Saxophone Quartet,
during a series of tutorials. Pupils
then joined the visitors for part
of a recital, which featured a
wide range of music from Bach
Rising saxophonist sets the to the Beach Boys.
tone for Perse musicians

Sophie, who studies classical
saxophone at the Guildhall, said
she had enjoyed coming back to
Sophie Burrows (2015) brought she returned to provide a The Perse to pass on her advice
along friends from the Guildhall masterclass to The Perse School’s to the school’s musicians.
School of Music & Drama when talented saxophonists.
89
Upper · Music
Perse Chamber Choir in In front of a congregation of around 400 people,

including parents, supporters and Old Perseans, the
fine voice for Westminster choir sang Herbert Howells’ Westminster Service,
featuring the canticles Magnificat (Song of Mary)
Abbey Evensong and Nunc dimittis (Song of Simeon), and ended the
service with a rendition of Charles Stanford’s work
The Perse Chamber Choir savoured the experience Beati quorum via.
of performing Evensong at Westminster Abbey.
Perse Director of Music Michael Holiday felt the
The school’s singers had the honour of leading the Chamber Choir’s efforts in rehearsals had paid
service in the quire of the iconic abbey, which is off in making sure they were fine tuned for the
the traditional setting for coronations of the British occasion.
monarchy and has hosted many royal weddings.
Top tango musician

gives masterclass to
Perse guitarists
Perse musicians were treated to a masterclass
from renowned classical guitarist Maximo
Diego Pujol.
The Argentine guitarist is one of the leading

exponents of his country’s most famous musical
style, tango. He has written and recorded 11 albums
and performed all over the world, having started
playing the instrument in his home city of Buenos
Aires at the age of eight.
Perse classical guitar teacher Rosie Mowatt said
the guitarists were delighted to have listened to
and played with Maximo.
She said: “We were extremely pleased to welcome
Maximo to The Perse to play and provide
workshops to our classical guitar students. He’s a
really big name in the guitar world and an extremely
important tango composer.”
90
Upper · Music
Winners of BBC2 series The Naked Choir

share their talents with Perse singers
Top a cappella vocal group The The Sons of Pitches then of performing some numbers
Sons of Pitches passed on their worked with the Acappelicans during the concert.
expertise to Perse pupils during group, who had the honour
a special masterclass prior to
their concert in the Peter Hall
Featuring beatboxer and Old
Persean Mide Adenaike (2013),
The Sons of Pitches rose to fame
when winning BBC Two series
The Naked Choir in 2015 and
went on to be the in-house group
on Sky One show Sing: Ultimate
A Cappella.
The Perse Voices choir, formed
of pupils from Years 7 to 9, was
treated to a performance from
The Sons of Pitches before
being shown how to create
an unaccompanied a cappella
sound and transform their voices
into a human drum kit, courtesy
of Mide.
Patchwork Jazz Orchestra gets Tom, who won the prestigious

Dank wor th Prize for J azz
Perse musicians into the groove Composition in 2013 and also

performs and arranges with many
other musicians, was thrilled to
return to The Perse.
He said: “I played in the swing band
and wind band at The Perse as well
as playing in my own groups. It was
a nice place to experiment and try
things because there was so much
going on musically that it really
started me on the path to what
I’m doing now as a professional
musician.”
Tom said he had been impressed
by the standard of the Perse
musicians and their willingness to
take part in the workshop. “We
just tried to teach them a tune
completely by ear. A lot of what
Patchwork Jazz Orchestra gave
The Patchwork Jazz Orchestra we do as jazz musicians is focus
an entertaining lunchtime recital
enthralled Perse musicians with on listening, playing together in a
featuring songs from their new
a marvellous masterclass. album before holding inspiring
section and improvising, just trying
to communicate in musical terms
Featuring Old Persean Tom workshops with members of the
without looking at any sheet music.”
Green (2007) on trombone, the school’s swing band, jazz band and
big band.
91
Upper · Music
Summer Promenade
Concert wows audiences
Audiences at the Summer Promenade Concert
enjoyed music from the summer strings group, three
percussion ensembles, three wind bands, the swing
band and massed choir.
Although the weather meant the concert was held
indoors, it was still a wonderful event and fabulous
end to the musical year at The Perse.
National Youth Orchestra Britten Sinfonia Academy

Kilian Meissner (Lower Sixth) took on the Mikey Halton (Year 10) successfully auditioned for
prestigious role of string leader in the National the Britten Sinfonia Academy’s 2019-20 season.
Youth Orchestra of Great Britain’s opening concerts
of 2019.
Notable individual
Julia De Luca (Upper Sixth) was selected to
perform with the NYO. achievements
Kilian Meissner (Lower Sixth) conducted the
Pro Corda Cantabrigian Youth Ensemble in performances
of Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture and Mozart’s
Two of our chamber ensembles, the Kuo String Piano Concerto No.24 at St. Paul’s Church, Hills
Quartet and the Senior Trumpet Ensemble, made Road.
it through to the national finals of this year’s Pro
Corda chamber music competition. Singer Isabella Wickham (Year 9) had a prominent
solo role in a recent performance of film music by
the Cambridge University Orchestra.
National Children’s Henry Proudfoot (OP) and Toby Proudfoot (Upper
Orchestra Sixth) both feature in the Gabrieli Consort’s most
recent recording, An English Coronation 1902-
Adelaide Harliono-Evans (Year 9) savoured the 1953, conducted by Paul McCreesh, as part of the
responsibility of being cello leader for the National assembled youth choir Gabrieli Roar.
Children’s Orchestra.
Isabella Li-Yan-Hui (Year 9) and her sister
Emma Harris (Year 9) relished the chance to co- Alicia (Year 7) won four prizes between them at
lead the National Children's Orchestra at the Anvil, the recent Cambridgeshire Competitive Music
Basingstoke. Festival, while Yao-Chih Kuo (Upper Sixth) won
Isabella Li-Yan-Hui, violin, and Will Dickens, cello his advanced category in February’s EPTA Piano
(both Year 9), were also selected for the main Competition.
orchestra, while Alicia Li-Yan-Hui, violin (Year 7), Elspeth Owen, Smera Sachin and Yining Lan (all
co-led the U12 orchestra. Year 7) were part of the 88 Pianists group that
broke the world record for the largest number
of people to play the piano at once during a
performance in Birmingham.
92
Upper · Sport
Endeavour
Sport
Perse students have shown their prowess in another hugely successful

year, with 173 teams being fielded across 16 different sports.
Cricket
Essex contract
for talented
Perse player
Nikhil Gorantla (Year 11) signed
for the Essex Academy after
impressing in trial matches
across all three formats of the
game during an Emerging Player
Programme camp at Framlingham
College. He scored his first century
for Essex U17 against Sussex in July.
His opportunity with the county’s
youth programme followed on from
becoming the youngest player to
appear for Cambridgeshire in the
Unicorns Championship at the
age of just 15 years and 73 days
– Nikhil’s Minor Counties debut
against Suffolk also saw him hit a
half-century.
E N D E AV O U R
93
Upper · Sport
Lord’s visits for Lady

Taverners finals
The Perse U15 Girls and U13 Girls indoor teams both
reached the national finals of the Lady Taverners
indoor schools finals at Lord’s MCC Academy. The
Perse was the only school to have teams qualify for
the finals in both age groups this year.
Both teams were crowned County champions and
Midlands & East champions on their way to making
the finals. The U15 Girls were fourth overall and the
U13 Girls were national runners-up.
Team coach John Read was delighted with both teams’
displays and felt it boded well for the future.
He said: “We’ve got girls in Years 7 and 8 who have
now had experience of being at Lord’s and half of the
U15 squad are eligible for the competition again next
year. We had some really close calls getting to the
finals this year, but I think we’re in a good position to
try to come back and have another go next year.”
1st XI Boys hosted Ipswich School, Durham School U14 Girls won the King’s Ely Cheffins Cup
and Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School in the annual tournament.
Perse cricket festival. Alex Maynard (Year 10)
U13 Girls won New Hall School’s Joe Hussain
scored 140 not out v Durham.
Cup competition and the shield event at the
U15 Boys represented Cambridgeshire in the Berkhamsted School six-a-side tournament, with
English Schools T20 Cup and reached the area final. Beatrice Rogers (Year 8) taking a hat-trick in one
match.
U14 Boys were County champions, beating The
Leys by seven wickets in the final. Bella Howarth (Year 9) won Essex Girls' Academy
U13 player of the year award 2018 and hit a
U13 Boys enjoyed an unbeaten season and won the
century representing the East Region Academy v
Felsted Festival.
Derbyshire this summer.
E N D E AV O U R
94
Upper · Sport
Boys’ team savours Sri Lanka

after 22 overs. However, some
very skilful and tricky spin bowling
limited their chase and they
collapsed to 122 all out.
The next day the boys played two
T20 matches against St Thomas’
College. Alex Maynard (Year 10)
was the star of the show, hitting a
superb maiden century with a six
off the last ball of the innings to
reach three figures.
For the final stage of the tour, they
travelled to Hikkaduwa and the
beautiful beaches on the south
coast, stopping off at a turtle
hatchery to see some baby turtles
before enjoying a river safari on the
Madu river.
On the last day of cricket, the
team played against two schools
Fourteen boys from Years 8 to 10 and three staff visited Sri Lanka who were supported by the MCC
Foundation for Goodness. The
for a pre-season tour. They were able to experience playing
centre was set up and funded by
cricket and touring around one of the most beautiful countries
the MCC after the tsunami in 2004
in the world. and provides care and education
The tour began in Kandy, as they The boys had the fortune to play for the children and young women
experienced some hot and humid at one of the nation’s Test venues who were affected by the disaster.
conditions in the jungle. The boys against St Joseph’s College. The The Perse got their first win of the
were very lucky to play their opening boys started the game very well tour in the final game. The boys
game at a first-class ground where and had their opposition 132 for 8 posted a huge 210 in the first
the England Lions team had played before a last-wicket stand pushed innings, thanks to another Alex
a few weeks before. After the match, the St Joseph’s total to 173 all out. Maynard century. They then held
the group travelled to Sigiriya to The Perse started positively and their nerve to come out victors by
climb the iconic 300-metre rock were cruising along at 110 for 3 eight runs.
fortress and enjoy the beautiful
views from the top.
The second game was in
Anuradhapura, which is famous
for its well-preserved ruins of
ancient Sri Lankan civilisation.
Here the boys battled the heat
and a very handy opposition in
two T20 matches. They were very
unfortunate to lose both games
by the narrowest of margins. Ben
Floto (Year 10) top-scored with a
very good 66 in one match.
The following day they visited the
Elephant Sanctuary in Pinniwala,
home to more than 80 orphaned
elephants, before the tour moved
on to the country’s capital
Colombo, where they stayed at one
of the oldest hotels in Sri Lanka,
Mount Lavinia.
E N D E AV O U R
95
Upper · Sport
Hockey
Outdoor hockey
U14 Boys were County champions, East champions,
eighth at National Finals.
U13 Boys were County runners-up, East champions,
joint-fifth at National Finals.
U18 Boys reached National Plate quarter-finals.
U16 Boys reached last 16 of National Plate.
U12 Boys were East runners-up.
U16 Girls (above) reached National Cup quarter-finals.
U14 Girls were County champions and reached East
finals.
U13 Girls were County runners-up.
U12 Girls were County champions.
Indoor hockey
U18 Girls and U16 Girls were County champions. Club de Polo. The boys played against the hosts
as well as Iluro HC, Lord Wandsworth School, FC
England U23 international Tess Howard (2017)
Barcelona, Amsterdam HC and Pedralbes.
returned to The Perse to share her experiences
with the school’s elite sport students and hockey Overall the two teams played 12 matches, including
players. Following her visit, she went on to make four warm-up games. Both squads learned a huge
her full international debut for Great Britain at the amount from playing a selection of European
FIH Champions Trophy in China. opponents and had the chance to watch top
international stars, such as Belgium’s Tom Boon
The U18 and U15 Boys’ hockey teams had a great
and Arthur van Doren, in a showcase World XI v
pre-season hockey tour to Barcelona, with visits to
Real Club de Polo match.
the Nou Camp and the Sagrada Familia.
The U18s finished jubilant as they celebrated a tense
Both teams competed in the prestigious Hockey
win in their play-off match by defeating Pedralbes
Reyes tournament located at the impressive Real
in a penalty shuffle competition.
E N D E AV O U R
96
Upper · Sport
Rugby
1st XV captain Matt Burson (Upper
Sixth, right) made his debut for the
Lambs – the England Independent
Schools team – against the Irish
Exiles after impressing selectors
during two development and trial
days.
Fifty-three Year 7 boys enjoyed a
mini tour that featured matches
against The Bishop’s Stortford High
School and St Columba’s College.
They got to meet Saints players
James Craig and Charlie Davies
before watching Northampton face
French giants Clermont Auvergne
in the European Challenge Cup.
U15 team reached last 16 of the
National Schools Cup.
U13 Sevens team took the plate
honours at the Redrow Homes
Nor thampton Saints Sevens
tournament after winning the
regional qualifying tournament.
The team also met Alex Coles
(2018), who made his professional
debut with Northampton this
season as well as playing for
England U20 in the U20 Rugby
World Cup.
Netball
1st VII were County runners-up and reached the U13 team won the PGL tournament at Shrewsbury.
regional finals.
Bella Howarth (Year 9) and Sorcha Brickel (Year
Annis Williams (Lower Sixth) and Maddy Brooking 8) represented Cambridgeshire in the regional
(Year 10) were selected for the Saracens Mavericks satellite academy tournament.
National Performance League pathway squad.
E N D E AV O U R
97
Upper · Sport
Tennis
The Senior Boys team of Oscar Earle, Max O’Sullivan, as well as enjoying success at the Frinton Open and
Ben Haynes and Oliver Sharp (all Year 11) were eighth Suffolk Championships. She also claimed the Volunteer
in the National Team Tennis Finals, competing against of the Year honour and Geraldine Booth Award for girls’
players who were up to two years older. player of the year at the Cambridgeshire LTA Awards.
They defeated Framlingham College and Langley Twenty pupils took part in a five-day training camp at
School to qualify for the finals, where they equipped the Vale do Lobo resort in Portugal, giving them the
themselves well in singles and doubles matches against chance to improve their skills prior to the season.
Magdalen College School, Felsted and Rugby School.
Megan Carmichael (Year 11, above) won the Gosling
Junior National Tour U18 girls’ event at Welwyn Garden
City, part of the LTA’s Summer Junior National Tour,
despite being the youngest competitor in the field at
15. She also produced a series of fine performances
to reach the U18 girls’ final of the LTA Winter National
Tour Championships at Roehampton and the U16 girls’
final at the Team Bath G2 Festival.
Megan’s other achievements this year included winning
the Sunderland Winter National Tour U16 girls’ title and
four titles at the Cambridgeshire Closed Tournament,
E N D E AV O U R
98
Upper · Sport
Cross country
National Schools Cup Cambridgeshire Schools

Junior Girls (U13) were County champions, runners-up Championships
in the East final and 26th in the National Finals.
Katy Ellis (Upper Sixth), Rebecca West and Isaac
Intermediate Girls (U15) were ninth in the East final. Rothwell (both Year 9) won the U18 Girls, U14 Girls
Junior Boys (U13) were third in the County finals, and U14 Boys races respectively.
runners-up in the East final and 27th in the National George Christmas (Year 7), Ethan Seal (Year 11) and
Finals. Robert Anderson (Upper Sixth) all finished in the top
Intermediate Boys (U15) were County champions and eight in their events.
came sixth in the East final.
This was the seventh successive year that at least one English Schools
Perse team has qualified for the National Finals.
National Final
Cambridge & District Isaac Rothwell, Rebecca West (both Year 9), Ethan
Seal, George McLaren (both Year 11), Josh Borrett,
Schools Championships Robert Anderson and Katy Ellis (all Upper Sixth) were
all selected for the Cambridgeshire team.
The Perse came first in the following team categories
– U16 Boys, U14 Boys, U12 Boys.
Katy Ellis (Upper Sixth), Rebecca West (Year 9) and
Bedfordia Championships
George Christmas (Year 7) were runners-up in the U18 Year 7 Boys, Year 8 Boys and Year 8 Girls were
Girls, U14 Girls and U12 Boys races respectively. champions.
Ethan Seal and Elspeth Rogers (both Year 11) were George Christmas (Year 7) won an individual gold
third in the U14 Boys and U14 Girls events respectively. medal.
E N D E AV O U R
99
Upper · Sport
Rowing
Brett Taylor (Lower Sixth, pictured) won Gold in
the single sculls and Silver in the double sculls, with
crewmate Levin Graf, in the Open J18 category at
the British Junior Championships. Representing
Chinese Taipei at the World Junior Championships
in Japan, Brett came 12th overall in the single sculls
after reaching the B final.
Brett also came sixth in the Sixth Form Boys category
at the British Rowing Indoor Championships.
Robert Almqvist (Lower Sixth) won Bronze with Elizabeth Bourne (Year 10) won the WJ15 D final
his crew in the Open J18 eights at the British Junior with crewmate Grace Church at the British Junior
Championships. Championships.
Cameron Mackenzie (Lower Sixth) was fourth in Charlie Toff (Year 10) competed in the J15 singles
the Open J18 singles sculls at the British Junior sculls at the British Junior Championships.
Championships.
Annabel Worth (Lower Sixth) maintained her place
on the GB Rowing Start programme.
Golf
Perse golfers enjoyed the following successes:
The junior team were runners-up in the Inter Schools Challenge Shield at
Cambridge Lakes.
Will McKernan (Year 9, pictured):
Competed in the IMG Academy Junior World Championships in San Diego
after being runner-up in the boys’ 13-14 years old category at a qualifying
tournament in Essex.
Oliver Brunt (Year 10):
Took part in the English Schools Championships and the English Schools
U16 Championships after finishing in the top 10 at the South of England
Schools Championships.
Oscar Earle (Year 11):
Selected for the Hertfordshire Boys squad for the second successive year.
Table Tennis Fencing

Mark Balon (Year 8) reached Adrianne Lin (Year 8) won
the last 16 at the Butterfly Bronze at three rounds
English Schools Championships of the Newham Junior
after being crowned County Challenge Series in the
champion in his age group. U14 girls’ category. These
results counted towards her
England U14 ranking.
E N D E AV O U R
100
Upper · Sport
Sailing
Joey Taylor (Year 9) was crowned
national champion following
victory at the Tokio Marine HCC UK
RS Feva Sailing Championships in
Wales.
He was joined by sailing partner
Terry Hacker as they claimed a
comfortable triumph over their
nearest rivals in the competition at
South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club.
Joey and Terry rounded off the
season by coming fourth in the
youth category (fifth overall) at
the World RS Feva Championships
in Italy.
It came just a few months after
Joey and Terry had competed in
an RS Feva – a two-person vessel
designed for junior duos or one
adult/one child pairs – for the first
time when they came fourth at the
UK Winter Championships.
Triathlon
Lotti Knights (Year 11) was fourth
at the ETU European Sprint
Duathlon Championships in Ibiza.
Representing Great Britain, she
crossed the line in 1hr 5min 00sec
in the women’s 16-19 category.
Lotti completed the opening 5km
run in a time of 19.52. She clocked
32.05 for the 20km bike leg and
finished off her race with a 2.5km
run of 12.03.
She also qualified to take part in
the British Triathlon Youth & Junior
Super Series after achieving a
ranking of 14th in the country in
the Youth B category.
Trampolining
James Able (Lower Sixth) won Bronze in the Years 10 to 13 elite boys’ category at the British Schools
Gymnastics Association National Finals after winning the Central Zone qualifying tournament.
E N D E AV O U R
101
Upper · Sport
Athletics
ESAA Schools
Championships
Charlie Knott (pictured, Year 11) was County champion
in high jump and runner-up in 100m hurdles, won
Silver in high jump at National Finals. Charlie was also
runner-up representing England Schools in the SIAB
International Match in Swansea.
Thomas Blake (Year 11) was County champion in 800m.
Isaac Rothwell (Year 9) was County champion in
1,500m, 12th in National Finals. Isaac also gained entry
to the prestigious British Milers Club after running a
mile in just 4min 23sec.
Alex Blake (Year 8) was County runner-up in 800m.
Yujian Zou (Year 9) was County runner-up in shot put.
Alice Lord (Year 11) was County champion in javelin
and third in shot put.
Maya Vandermark (Year 9) was County runner-up in
300m.
Lucy Boyde (Year 9) was County runner-up in long
jump.
Sophie Allen (Year 9) was third in the County
Championships in javelin.
National Prep Schools ESAA Track & Field Cup

Championships Intermediate Boys were East Anglia runners-up.
Alex Blake (Year 8) won 800m at East Area

Championships, fifth in National Finals. Cambridge & District
George Christmas (Year 8) was runner-up in 1,500m Jubilee Cup
at East Area Championships, sixth in National Finals.
The Perse team, featuring pupils from Years 7 to 10,
won the overall team event by three points from their
nearest rivals, St Bede’s Inter-Church School.
Shooting Orienteering
Sasha Karabasova (Lower Sixth) won the Matthew Clarke (Upper Sixth) retained the Year
National Schools Small-Bore Rifle individual and 12 and 13 boys’ title at the British Schools Score
pairs overall title. Championships.
Wendy Hau (Year 11) won the National 50m rifle Matthew also helped the Perse team, featuring
title in her age group. David Palmer (Upper Sixth), Rupert Gardiner,
Sam Hague (both Lower Sixth), Daniel Hague
Sasha Karabasova was selected for the England
(Year 10) and Ben Clarke (Year 9) to Gold in the
A team for the British Schools Small-Bore Rifle
Years 10 to 13 boys’ team category.
Association National Match. Alessandra French
(Year 11) and Arushi Mandal (Lower Sixth) were
called up to the England B team.
E N D E AV O U R
102
Upper · Sport
Basketball
experience for the team and gave us lots to think about
for the upcoming training sessions and second game.
The team took a transfer to downtown Madrid on day
two for a tour of Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu
Stadium. The chance to see the inner workings of
such a renowned sports club and their home turf was
an amazing opportunity, with the chance to sit in the
official dugouts and go behind the scenes in the press
room. The trip continued with a visit to the famous
Plaza Mayor and Puerta Del Sol to explore the local
culture.
The evening saw a return to the training hall for
a session with CD Torrejón’s senior coach, which
provided invaluable insight and new training
programmes for the team with a focus on developing
our mechanics and set plays.
Day three opened with a similarly intense training
session in preparation for the final tour game, with
a brief interlude over lunch in the Mercado de San
Miguel, famous for its architecture and premium
Alex Carmichael (Upper Sixth) reflects on the Perse
quality tapas market stalls.
basketball tour to Madrid.
After sampling the cuisine, it was time to get ready
The squad arrived in the Spanish capital feeling
for the final game against a second squad from CD
energised and ready to hit the ground running.
Torrejón. This match proved to be equally challenging
Day one saw a morning training session, looking to but the Perse team managed to execute the plays
prepare for the match against CD Torrejón later the from the training sessions and fought until the end
same day. After locking in some new team plays, it was of the game, pushing CD Torrejón to stay focused
time to head back to the hotel to freshen up, explore throughout.
the local area and return to the arena for game one
An exhausted team rounded off the trip with a quick
of the tour.
cultural detour to the Royal Palace and Museo del
CD Torrejón proved to be formidable opponents, Prado. Overall, the tour was a brilliant experience for
putting up an incredibly strong performance but the the team, playing opponents of a high calibre and
Perse squad kept pushing, aiming to compete until developing as a squad.
the final whistle. The match was a fantastic learning
Motorsport
Mac McFarquhar (Year 7) was
leading rookie (eighth overall)
in the Club 2000 Honda
Cadet series at Red Lodge
Karting and stepped up to
‘professional’ level following a
string of strong performances
and results.
He also travelled regularly to
British Karting Championship
circuit Ellough Park, near
Great Yarmouth, to take part
in races.
E N D E AV O U R
103
Upper · Sport
Diving
Frankie Webb (Year 10) won Gold in the 1m
springboard event and Silver in the 3m springboard
and platform events in the 14-15 year old girls’
category at the East Region Championships.
She also won Silver in the Irish Open Championships
in the 1m and 3m as well as coming third in the
3m at the English Schools Swimming Association
Championships regional finals.
Dominic Jaunzens (Year 10) won the 3m
springboard event in the intermediate boys’
category at the English Schools Swimming
Association Championships regional finals.
Alice Ledzion (Year 10, pictured) was fifth in the 3m
springboard event and sixth in the 1m springboard
and platform events in the 14-15 years old girls’
category at the Irish Open Championships.
She came fourth in the 3m, setting a personal best,
as well as finishing fifth in the platform and sixth in
the 1m in the 16-18 years old girls’ category at the
East Region Championships – her first competition
in the higher age group.
Alice also came eighth in the 1m and platform
events, setting personal bests in both disciplines,
as well as 13th in the 3m at the England National
Age Group Championships.
Swimming
Sebastian Vandermeer (Year 10)
recorded the fourth fastest 50m
freestyle time in the country this
year in the boys’ 16-years-old age
group with a time of 24.24sec.
He also enjoyed the following
successes in the pool:
Dutch National Championships:
Silver – 50m freestyle, 100m
freestyle; Bronze – 4x100m
freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle
relay (both with Dutch club team).
British Summer Championships:
Bronze - 50m freestyle; Sixth -
100m freestyle.
E N D E AV O U R
104
Upper · Outdoor Pursuits
Outdoor Pursuits
Perse Outdoor Pursuits is a very active department, with a

membership of over 600 students and more than 50 staff
and volunteers.
This year, PES has taken pupils on trips to the Lake District, Peak District, Brecon Beacons, Norfolk
Broads, Cairngorm Mountains, Sweden and Bolivia, to name just a few.
This year the school has invested more than £20,000 in new equipment, including 15 new Silverbirch Open
Canoes, a new trailer, specialist wood working equipment and a range of lightweight tents.
E N D E AV O U R
105
Perse Canoe Club members test their skills on

the London Olympics white water course
groups of up to five students able
to participate at the Hertfordshire
venue each week during term time.
He said: “Undertaking training
at such a world-class facility
represents a significant
improvement in the club’s
training provision. Students have
had to develop their paddling
skills, including overcoming the
technically difficult challenge of
completing an Eskimo roll.
“The proximity of the venue,
Since its launch in 2013, the canoe club has grown from delivering coupled with improved equipment,
sheltered water open canoe training to a range of water-based means that students can train
more regularly on moving water,
activities, including paddle boarding and white water kayaking.
accelerating their learning. The new
During that time, students have canoed the length of the Rivers
dry suits have certainly increased
Spey and Tay, crossed Scotland by paddling the Great Glens and
student confidence in the cold,
tackled rapids on the Rivers Dee and Tryweryn. wintry conditions. No longer does
A growing membership has seen Centre, which hosted the slalom an error mean getting cold!
the club split into two sections – a events at the 2012 Olympic Games. “After consolidating skills in training
foundation group for novices and a sessions, development group
Perse Head of Outdoor Pursuits
development group for intermediate students will be able to tackle
Ben Parker feels it’s a great
to advanced paddlers – with the more challenging rivers on an
opportunity for the club’s more
latter now being able to train expedition.”
experienced canoeists, with
regularly at Lee Valley White Water
E N D E AV O U R
106
Intrepid Perse pupils brave Brecon

Beacons on Summit 10 trip
Lauren Baxter (Year 10) reflects at the base of Pen Y Fan. The day
on the Perse Exploration Society started with a long 3km hike to the The trip and experience
Summit 10 trip to the Brecon summit and over 600m of climbing of Summit 10 has been
Beacons. before we descended down and
thoroughly enjoyable
along the ridge line following the
Over nine months, Summit 10
Brecon Way. The bike route was
and I have learned skills
members had been training for that will be with me
exhilarating as you didn’t have to
the major challenge of an 11km hike,
15km cycle and 7km canoe all in
pedal and could just roll downhill forever
all the way to Pencelli. From
one day, which included scaling the
there, we climbed into canoes and
highest mountain in south Wales,
paddled along the canal all the way
Pen Y Fan.
into Brecon. Congratulations to the
In order to prepare for this trip to winning team who completed the
the Brecon Beacons, we practised course in a speedy 5hr 30min.
paddle strokes at Milton Country
The trip and experience of Summit
Park, team-building exercises in
10 has been thoroughly enjoyable
our fires and undertook navigation
and I have learned skills that will be
challenges. This provided an
with me forever.
exciting midweek break from
school life and developed the
skills that would be crucial for
completing the main trip.
Waking up early, we boarded the
buses and began the journey to
south Wales. In the afternoon, we
practised the toughest section of
the biking route that we would
be tackling the next day as well
as refreshing our navigation
techniques. Staying in tents at
Cantref Adventure Farm, we soon
set up camp and set about making
our dinner on Trangias.
After an early start and porridge
for breakfast the next morning,
minibuses ferried us to the car park
E N D E AV O U R
107
PES Summit 11
PES Summit 11 is open to all students in Year 11 irrespective of previous outdoor experience.
The aim of the group is to develop outdoor bushcraft and canoeing skills, working towards a
multiday canoe-based expedition on the lakes of Sweden. On expedition, students carry all
of their food for eight days, sleep under tarps and cook all their meals on open fires.
There is also a reasonable amount of down time on expeditions and students have the opportunity to go
fishing, recreational paddling and swimming. In the summer, PES took 90 pupils to Sweden, which takes
the total number of pupils who have been on the trip to over 500.
Lewis Long shares his experience your partner. As the afternoon We also worked through our
of the Summit 11 training expedition progressed, and much to the horror CTCS (cutting tools competency
to Fritton Lake. of the students, it was time for skills) assessments attempting to
the capsize drills! The aim of this progress up to the white band of a
With a ro un d 8 0 stu d e nt s
task was to make sure everyone cutting tools leader. We also took
participating in the trip, it was set to
knew exactly what to do in the part in cooking some delicious
be a rather busy and enjoyable trip.
event of a capsize in the middle cinnamon swirls and completed
The fire leaders were dispatched
of a Swedish lake. It involved two in-depth training for first aid
slightly earlier than the rest of the
people capsizing and four people eventualities that could occur
troop in order to complete their
helping them out of the water and during the Sweden expedition.
food shop. This gave time for the
recovering their boat.
rest of the troop to arrive and settle
in before the activities started. For
the rest of that first day, the focus
was on setting up the personal
sleeping areas and the group tarps
for each fire.
Day two proved to be a much
busier day with group one setting
off on their canoeing adventure for
the day and group two taking part
in some outdoor baking, lessons in
first aid and various bushcraft skills.
The canoeing served as excellent
preparation for the trip to Sweden
later in the year.
We started with some lessons
on how to control the canoe
using specialist paddle strokes
and communicating well with
E N D E AV O U R
108
Bolivia
In August, the Summit 12 team of 17
students and four staff travelled to Bolivia
for a two-week summer expedition.
E N D E AV O U R
109
Students visited the capital city of La Paz and

tested their Spanish and Aymara language skills
while staying in the community of Santiago de
Okola, near Lake Titicaca.
The group embarked on a mammoth trek through the Cordillera Real range of the Andes, which
included ascents of the Austria Pass (5,150m) and Mount Tarija (5,320m) before returning home
via a stop in Lima, the capital of neighbouring Peru.
On climbing Mount Tarija: the main summit. Conditions were perfect as all teams
congregated at the summit for photos and a short
We had a slow and challenging climb over cracking celebration. After what felt a very short period of time,
ice while zigzagging through crevasses in the dark. At we descended once again to make the most of the
one point, this meant climbing down into a partially good snow conditions before the heat of the day could
collapsed crevasse over a snow bridge and ascending affect the glacier. Teams took 45 minutes to descend
the near vertical wall of the opposite side. After three in daylight what had taken many hours that morning.
hours of solid climbing, most teams clambered onto This did not diminish the feeling of success as we had
the ridge to be greeted with the early morning orange all made it.
glow of sunrise.
BEN PARKER
We had to climb over steep, bullet-hard ice to reach HEAD OF OUTDOOR PURSUITS
E N D E AV O U R
110
Ascent Group
Ascent Group is for pupils in Years 7-10. This year has seen the largest number of members join, with
around 280 pupils taking part.
A longer hike back to Corf Campsite followed, with

the main event being the epic wide game - a huge
water fight across the whole campsite in which
sections competed to steal each other’s ‘treasure’
with water balloons, slingshots and even some
homemade cannons which fired empty water bottles.
The final day was spent on an ‘Olympiad’ of
activities, most notably the cordon bleu competition
where patrols prepared a grand meal of at least
three courses. Students also competed for their
section in activities such as ultimate frisbee, tug
of war and mudflat racing. The day was brought
to a memorable close by the final campfire, where
Team-building fun we enjoyed cabaret performances, campfire songs,

sectional songs, awards and the appointments for
Charlie Toff (Year 10) shares his experience of the the next Year 10 leaders (Bears and Stags).
PES Ascent Group summer camp on the Isle of
Wight.
Upon arrival, our troop went straight into the
rotation of a huge range of activities, including
archery tag and field archery, as well as canoeing,
kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding.
I especially enjoyed orienteering, backwoods
cooking over open fires, and the restoration of an old
assault course which a previous PES camp had built.
Over the next couple of days, the whole troop hiked
to a survival camp where we would sleep under
hand-made shelters constructed out of nothing
but tarps, string and canoe paddles. The shelters
proved (mostly) impermeable to the strong wind
that gusted over the open hill-top field.
Perse runners hit the heights with Three Peaks Challenge

Seventeen Perse Runners successfully took on
the gruelling Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge.
The test saw pupils take on a 25-mile circular route on

foot, including the ascent and descent of the county’s
three highest mountains – Pen-y-ghent (694m),
Whernside Height (736m) and Ingleborough Height
(723m). The total height gain of around 1,600 metres
is the equivalent of climbing to the top of the Eiffel
Tower and back down again five times. George McLaren (Year 11) was the first Perse Runner
It is considered a major achievement for adult walkers to accomplish the feat, breaking his own school record
to complete the Yorkshire Dales course in 12 hours. with an impressive time of just 4hr 41min, having run
However, the Perse Runners decided to run at least almost the entire distance. He was closely followed
parts of the route and all participants managed to by history teacher Redvers Wilbur, Rupert Gardiner
finish in well under 10 hours. (Lower Sixth) and Edward Gaskarth (Year 11) as they
all completed the course in under five hours.
E N D E AV O U R
111
Upper · Clubs and Societies
Clubs and Societies

Right royal occasion for Duke of He was very friendly and welcoming,
he spoke about his career from an
Edinburgh Gold Award winners early age and the challenges and
opportunities they brought him.
also successfully completed the “It was a really amazing day. The
DofE awards scheme. award took a lot of dedication and
Holly and Jemima had the honour effort, so it was a very proud day
of meeting HRH The Earl of and something I will remember
Wessex, who is now patron of the forever.”
DofE programme, and a number Jemima was similarly thrilled
of other famous faces, including by being part of such a special
guest speaker Greg Rusedski, the occasion.
former British No 1 and world No
4 tennis ace. She said: “We had a really great
welcome. We were able to walk
For Holly, attending the ceremony around the gardens, there were
at Buckingham Palace was an bands playing and the atmosphere
“unforgettable experience”. was really exciting because
She said: “I was very excited. You everyone was so happy to be there.
bypass all the tourists and are able “Greg Rusedski gave a motivational
to roam around the gardens, where speech about how his life
the ceremonies are held. You really experiences impacted on his
do feel quite special being there, career and how he really valued
having finally achieved the award. his parents’ help. Our parents were
Upper Sixth students Holly Jones
and Jemima White relished the “We met HRH Earl of Wessex, who there as well, so that was really nice.
experience of receiving their Duke chatted to us, so we were really He gave us the awards and he was
of Edinburgh Gold Awards at lucky. We also bumped into Judy really down to earth and friendly.
Buckingham Palace. Murray, Mike Bushell, the BBC “It was great to get the recognition
sports presenter, and the actor for achieving the award because it
They attended a special ceremony
Jason Watkins, who we recognised took a lot of hard work and it was
at the royal residence and were
from the film Nativity! Our guest really nice to meet other people
joined by Old Persean Fraser Allen
speaker was Greg Rusedski, who who had done the same.”
(2018, pictured above), who had
presented us with our certificates.
Cadets fly high after

impressive Air Squadron
competition results
The Perse Combined Cadet Force team put in a
“stunning effort” to finish fourth in the Regional Air
Squadron Trophy competition at RAF Honington.
Only the top three teams qualified for the national
finals and The Perse narrowly missed out on making
it through from a field of 21 teams following an
impressive performance in what was their inaugural
entry into the tournament. The Perse cadets had only
two months of preparation and gave up their free time Aidan Baillie (Lower Sixth) did brilliantly to receive full
at lunch breaks and after school to ensure they were marks for his role in commanding the drill.
ready for action.
The second day proved to be tough with 14 schools
The competition focused on six different areas, competing at an extremely high level. So much so
including drill and uniform inspection, first aid, rifle that Sgt Sanderson, the CCF Regional Test Sergeant,
shooting, general knowledge of the RAF and the CCF, praised the Perse team for a “stunning effort” and for
aircraft recognition and a leadership command task. being “simply amazing young people in many respects”.
E N D E AV O U R
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Upper · 42 Lectures
42 Lectures
Our 42 Society series of lunchtime lectures is designed to
challenge our students to think about different ideas and
concepts to broaden their horizons.
Named after Douglas Adams’ ultimate answer to the ultimate question in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,
the programme has featured a wide range of impressive and interesting speakers throughout the year, such as
Old Perseans Max Rushden and Tim Harper.
Top sports broadcaster explains

‘how to talk football for a living’
to head to the studio, and related how his spell with
the local station culminated in his hosting a record-
breaking six-day long programme from a camp bed
at Cambridge’s Grafton shopping centre!
He moved on to BBC Radio London as a news and
sport reporter before hosting the station’s overnight
programme.
His big TV break came after he made a showreel which
was picked up by Sky Sports. After “spending an hour
chatting about Cambridge United” – his favourite
football club – with a Sky executive, Max was offered
a two-year deal to co-host Soccer AM with Helen
Chamberlain.
“An amazing experience” was how Max described his
eventual seven-year stint on the show between 2008
and 2015, interviewing big names from the worlds of
film, TV, music and of course, football. He now presents
BT Sport football quiz show Call Yourself a Fan? and
hosts a programme on talkSport every Sunday as
well as the award-winning Guardian Football Weekly
podcast.
Being sports editor of the university

Television and radio sports show host Max
newspaper had given him an insight
Rushden returned to his Perse roots to give into what he wanted to do for a living.
an entertaining lecture on ‘How to Talk about Max told the audience he felt lucky to have achieved
Football for a Living and Get Away with It’. so much as a broadcaster, but insisted he had worked
hard in a competitive field to achieve it. He explained
Max, who left The Perse in 1995, has become a well-
how going to university had been important for him
known figure on screen and on the airwaves, having
in “growing up” and that being sports editor of the
made his name as co-presenter of hit Sky Sports show
university newspaper had given him an insight into
Soccer AM.
what he wanted to do for a living.
However, he told students it was only while studying
Max added that no matter what career path students
history at university that he decided the career path
wished to take, they should “give it a really good go
he wanted to take, with radio being his initial passion.
because somebody has to do it, whether it’s winning
Max explained how he started out presenting the the Oscars, becoming an astronaut or hosting a TV
Saturday morning breakfast show on BBC Radio show”.
Cambridgeshire, getting up at 4am each weekend
E N D E AV O U R
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Upper · 42 Lectures
Breaking down the barriers to elite

sport through social enterprise
The future of elite sport was the basis of an model of getting as many people as possible playing
illuminating talk from Tim Harper (2006). a sport, providing well-funded training facilities and
pumping money into sports science.
Tim set up his own elite sport consultancy Harper
However, Tim felt previous attempts to boost elite
Performance (HP) in 2015, helping talented
sport in developing countries had often fell short. He
sportspeople and teams from developing countries
said rather than mimicking western models, HP wanted
fulfil their potential.
to help such nations develop their own sustainable
He told students how he initially got involved in sport solutions. This could be achieved by producing top-
as a strength and fitness coach with the British Army level athletes through social enterprise, combining the
rugby team while studying for an exercise physiology sports science, nutrition, psychology and coaching
degree, before becoming a strength and conditioning expertise of its projects team with the local knowhow
coach with Premiership club Saracens. and experience of local coaches. Funding for projects,
Tim went on to join London Scottish as Head of such as the Football for Good Academy in Uganda,
Performance, overseeing their sports science comes largely from the proceeds of HP’s work with
and sports medicine operations. After leaving the UK sportspeople and teams.
Championship club, he continued working within a He concluded: “It’s about changing the thinking and
diverse range of sports from rallying to eventing both approach to sport. There has been a shift which has
at home and abroad. allowed people like us to go into this environment to
However, Tim explained it was while working with the show they can do this their own way with less reliance
Zambian Olympic Committee that his focus changed on what’s happening in the West.”
to seeking ways to optimise elite athletes. He said
he realised the barriers, whether financial, logistical
or cultural, that were faced by gifted athletes in
developing nations and wanted to help break those
down.
‘Challenging the Radical Monopoly through Social
Enterprise’ was the theme of Tim’s talk as he
questioned whether sport was “living up to the ideals
that drew him in” such as equality. He felt “results are
largely dictated by where you’re born” and that sport
needed to live up to its ideals to “remain relevant in
the future as a beacon of fairness”.
He viewed the ‘radical monopoly’ – the perceived way
to gain success – as being based around the western
Other 42 Society speakers The International Workplace:

Staying True to Yourself in a Diverse Market
have included: IRINA ASTIGEEVICH
Cosmetic Products:
Britain and Europe: A Thousand Years of
Amazing Science Applied Daily
Conflict and Co-operation
DR EMMA MEREDITH
PROFESSOR BRENDAN SIMMS
Molecular Machines
Executive Functions and their Impact on
SJORS SCHERES
Adolescent Thinking Skills
DR MICHELLE ELLEFSON How Spartan were the Spartans Really?
PROFESSOR PAUL CARTLEDGE
Tackling National Security through
Government Policy Imaging the Heartbeat in the 21st Century
JOSH GAW (2010) DR ANDREW GRACE
Can We See Climate Change? The Meaning of China
PROFESSOR MIKE HULME BARNABY POWELL
E N D E AV O U R
114
Upper · Design and Technology
Design and Technology

Ingenious ideas on display An exoskeletal hand, a personal alarm with GPS and
a ‘smart’ cycle path light were among the creative
The Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre provided the projects designed and produced by Upper Sixth
setting for a variety of inventive projects from students students.
at the annual Perse Design & Technology Show. Non-electronic pieces made by Year 11 pupils included
It was the first time the venue had been used for the a collapsible chair, a water bottle that records how
exhibition, with the Gallery Studio and the landing much liquid the user has drunk and a hockey mask,
facing on to Ellison Court proving to be stunning while a bath monitor, a pinball machine and a window
spaces for the display of students’ innovative designs. alarm featured among their electronic designs.
Inclusive roundabout is brainstormed other ideas, including an inclusive

see-saw and play pen, they settled on designing
child’s play a ‘rainbow roundabout’ after running their
suggestions past a number of parties, including
Hannah Balane and Nicole Tan won a design Student Community Action, Saffron Walden
competition aimed at making life better for people Opportunity Playgroup and Milton Country Park.
with rare conditions.
While Nicole focused on the multi-coloured design,
The Year 11 pupils entered the RAREsolutions which also included chimes and adapting the size
contest, organised by the Cambridge Rare Disease of the spaces to allow for wheelchair users to play,
Network (CRDN), which challenged youngsters Hannah carried out research into what could make
aged 11 to 18 to find innovative solutions to one of the roundabout become a reality.
three different real-life scenarios.
The competition judges were impressed by their
They chose the task of designing an inclusive empathy for Eilidh and Vaila, their excellent
piece of play equipment for seven-year-old Eilidh, communication skills, the sensitivity and
a wheelchair user who has KAT6A – a syndrome thoughtfulness of their approach, their research
affecting only around 100 people in the world. skills and creativity and for the professionalism
Features of KAT6A include global developmental they had shown.
delays and sensory development issues, including
They gave a presentation about their design at
problems with communication.
RAREfest18 in Cambridge’s Guildhall and received
Hannah and Nicole contacted Eilidh’s mother Vaila a £100 prize and certificate from Abcam founder
to find out more about her condition, and having and biotech entrepreneur Jonathan Milner.
E N D E AV O U R
115
Upper · Design and Technology
Hooked
by crane
challenge
at Rotary
competition
Twelve Year 9 pupils took
part in the annual Rotary
Club Technology Challenge
Pi Wars robotics triumph at the Masonic Lodge in

Cambridge, alongside 12
other teams from five local
A team of Perse Lower Sixth students displayed their design and schools.
engineering dexterity by defeating teams from across the world
to win the experienced schools category at the illustrious Pi Wars The challenge gave them a taste
robotics competition. of what engineering is like in the
real world, where there are tight
Held at the University of Cambridge’s Challenges successfully dealt deadlines and limited budgets.
Computer Laboratory, this year’s with by their robot included
Pupils were required to design,
tournament featured 38 teams from completing a timed speed run
construct and test a crane that
13 countries, all attempting to build with a bend in the middle of the
needed to collect and return
Raspberry Pi-controlled robots course, manoeuvring through a
a derailed train carrying a
which then competed in a series of maze and navigating to coloured
container filled with hazardous
non-destructive tests to earn points corners of a box in a specific order.
chemicals. It had to have a pulley
towards an overall score. The machine also had to take on
system to reduce the electric
an obstacle course, knock down
Perse students Cameron motor speed so that a magnetic
targets, pop the balloons on an
Mackenzie, Martin England lifting hook could be operated
opponent and collect rock samples
and Daniel Vlasits funded their at a slow speed with a reversing
during the event.
project themselves and took on switch. The crane also had to
different roles to produce their In addition to the main prize, remain stable and have a means
winning machine. Cameron was the Perse team also received a of controlling its operations
project manager and programmer, technical merit from the judges for and movement remotely from a
Daniel was head of programming creating the most technical, ‘space- distance of 80cm.
and Martin was head of hardware, like’ and aesthetically-pleasing
The students were required
designing and creating the robot design.
to produce a portfolio of their
and its electronics.
design work as well as design,
build and test it all with a limited
kit of materials in just three
hours.
All the Perse pupils did extremely
well, especially Perse Team 3
(Jemima Fung, Rufus Williams,
Ethan Rigby and John Hansen)
who won the ‘Best Portfolio’
trophy. Perse Team 1 (Emma
Harris, Sulava Rai, Harry Knight
and Luke Hobson) received a
special mention by the judge for
part of their design, while Perse
Team 2 (Cara Hollis, Olivia Olah-
Bogathy, Finbar Chambers and
Finlay Lumsden) also did a
fantastic job.
E N D E AV O U R
116
Upper · Politics
Politics
Vital Red Cross research is virtual

reality for students
The horrors of daily life for people living in visceral and powerful way. This film asks ‘what would
war zones was experienced by Perse politics you do if you came under attack?’ We want people
students through the medium of virtual reality who aren’t familiar with urban conflict to get a sense
as part of a trial carried out by the International of what it looks and feels like.”
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Mr Ivlev-Yorke said the Perse students had been
extremely helpful in providing their feedback from
The ICRC produced a short virtual reality film entitled viewing The Right Choice.
The Right Choice, which puts viewers in the situation of
a Syrian family trapped in urban conflict. They tested He said: “The Perse Sixth Form students are at a
the impact of the film on different audiences to assess turning point in their lives, with the big decision of
whether virtual reality could be a powerful instrument university choice looming large. I would like to believe
in highlighting the problems faced by civilians living in that a visit such as mine may impact the students at
war-torn environments in a compelling and realistic way. this critical juncture and give them food for thought
when deciding on their future careers.
More than 20 Sixth Form students donned virtual
reality headsets to watch The Right Choice before “We wanted to find out if this kind of personalised
answering a short questionnaire based on their interactive approach resonates with the audience and
responses during ICRC public relations associate has the potential to change someone’s perception or
Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke’s visit to The Perse. incite behavioural change. Insights from engaging
with audiences about The Right Choice will inform
Of the film, Mr Ivlev-Yorke said: “With The Right Choice, future investment in VR as a critical tool to educate
the ICRC has developed a new way of interactive people and raise awareness and action for pressing
story-telling. The experience gives viewers a choice humanitarian issues.”
in the face of attack, but in the end none of the options
leads to a positive outcome. Perse Head of Politics Peter Richards said: “The
experience clearly had a profound impact on many of
“Virtual reality transports viewers from the comfort the students, bringing to life both the level of human
of their homes to the horrors of the battlefield in a suffering and the powerlessness of civilians in war.”
E N D E AV O U R
117
Upper · Economics
US & UK politics (Democrat, North Carolina’s 3rd district) and Tim

Petri (Republican, Wisconsin’s 6th district) offered
invaluable insight into the current issues in US politics
conferences as well as many interesting anecdotes from inside the

Beltway.
Sixth Form politics students attended a number of Lower Sixth students attended a conference entitled
conferences this year. An Upper Sixth conference on ‘Britain at the Crossroads: What about Strength,
US politics at the British Library featured talks by first Stability and the Future?’ A number of well-known
class academics on topics as diverse as ‘The United politicians including John Bercow, Vince Cable,
States Supreme Court and the Conservative Counter- Chuka Umunna, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nigel Farage
Revolution’ and ‘The Imperilled or Unconstrained addressed more than 1,000 students before taking
Presidency?’ Former Congressmen Martin Lancaster questions from the floor.
Mid-term congressional election breakfast

Politics students enjoyed an early morning American-style breakfast as the results of the US mid-term elections
came in on a dramatic morning for the country’s politics. The House of Representatives was captured by the
Democrats from the Republican Party, leading to a divided Congress and a more assertive Democratic Party
led by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who made her mark preventing President Trump from holding the
State of the Union address until the Government shutdown was called off.
Economics
Students roll the dice exciting, fun and collaborative, but also has a really
strong educational message.”
on new board game He said having Perse students play the prototypes of
Road to Riches had been a huge help in bringing the
Perse economics students played their part in finished product to fruition.
testing out a brand new board game based on He said: “The way we develop a new product is to test
personal finance before it goes on the shelves. it with the audience and slowly tweak and adapt it. This
game is unrecognisable to the one we started with.
Developed by the Financial Times, Road to Riches is
the name of the game that is set to be launched in “The students have loved it. The feedback has been
autumn 2019. extremely positive. When we collated the results,
we got ratings of 4.8 out of 5. It’s testimony that it
The aim is to amass fundamental assets including combines fun and economics which is something
a house free of mortgage, a retirement plan, an economics usually lacks. The teachers really like it
education and £100,000 in cash. To make money, because it’s a board game.
players have to answer questions on personal finance,
while other cards make predictions on which stocks “We mulled over creating a digital game, but there’s
will go up or down. Players can also make investments something special about the board game. Teachers
and savings and there is also a ‘wildcard’ element to can see the students are playing the game and the
the game. students have responded really well to it.”
The game was trialled by economics students at The

Perse and has been developed from an original idea
put forward to the FT two years ago for a game based
around stocks and shares.
Krishan Puvvada, the FT’s project leader for schools,
said: “All of the market research we’ve done through
visiting a lot of schools and surveys have told us one
of the things students are really concerned about is
personal finance and how they’re going to manage
their money when they leave school.
“Personal finance is the real hook for the game. We’ve
been working together to make a game that was
E N D E AV O U R
118
Upper · Charities

Charities
£33,000
Over £33,000 raised for a wide range of charities.
Courageous pupils are

shown the ropes in
charity abseil
Fourteen fearless Year 10 and 11 Perse pupils were
literally roped in to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.
The pupils plucked up the courage to participate in
the Cambridge Guildhall Abseil as they joined many
other altruistic adventurers in descending the side of
the iconic city centre building.
Perse Charities Co-ordinator Chloe Fagan said all
the pupils savoured the experience after overcoming
some initial nerves, with their appeal raising £2,727.
all did it twice and they all felt it was better the second
She said: “They loved it. It was the first time they time because they were less scared. One group of our
had abseiled and they thought it was cool to see pupils even dressed up as fairies because they wanted
Cambridge from a different perspective. In fact, they to do it in fancy dress!”
119
Upper · Charities
Perse pupils take on inclusive sports challenge to

raise funds for Power2Inspire
He told pupils how he had since
set up the first adaptive sports
club in the British forces at RAF
Wyton and despite missing out
on selection for the last Invictus
Games, he is aiming to make the
GB squad for the next Invictus
tournament in The Hague in 2020,
competing in sitting volleyball,
wheelchair basketball and indoor
rowing.
The inspiring stories of two other
Warrior Games athletes were
outlined by Sgt Lauder – runner
Sarah Rudder, who lost most
of one leg as a result of injuries
sustained during the 9/11 search
and rescue mission, and Israel del
Toro, who suffered severe burns to
80% of his body and lost most of
his fingers in an IED explosion in
From getting to grips with Mr Willis, who was born without
Afghanistan but bounced back and
goalball to testing out table fully formed arms and legs, set up
took up archery, using his mouth to
cricket, Year 8 pupils had the Power2Inspire six years ago and
pull back the string and a partner,
chance to experience inclusive famously completed all 34 Olympic
known as a ‘spotter’, to help him
sport thanks to Power2Inspire. and Paralympic sports in the build-
guide the arrows on target. Based
up to the Rio Olympics in 2016
Power2Inspire is a charity that aims on this, Sgt Lauder rounded off his
using specially adapted equipment.
to make sport inclusive for disabled session with a challenge for pupils.
He held a workshop where pupils
people and founder John Willis In pairs, one closed their eyes and
were invited to design their own
was joined by coaches from the walked towards a target with a pen,
equipment that he could use for
organisation to lead youngsters in while the other was the ‘spotter’,
similar challenges.
a carousel of Power House Games. giving them directions to get as
Pete Lauder gave an inspiring talk close to the bullseye as possible.
Besides goalball and table about how he bounced back from
cricket, they also had fun trying Pupils also raised almost £2,200
discovering he could no longer
out a number of other sports, for Power2Inspire by taking part
play his favourite sports of rugby,
largely designed for people with in a sponsored ‘inclusive kilometre’,
having represented the RAF, and
disabilities, such as New Age with further funds set to be added
squash in 2015 after an injury left
Kurling, sitting volleyball, floor to the overall total from a non-
him with no cartilage in his hips. He
lacrosse and boccia. uniform day.
admitted feeling low for six months
before an RAF colleague with a The idea behind the challenge
form of cerebral palsy suggested was for the pairs participating to
he give adaptive sports a go. consider the effects of having an
impairment. Some tied their legs
Sgt Lauder did just that and was
together, others were guided while
selected to compete for Great
wearing blindfolds, or even crawled
Britain at the Warrior Games –
or hopped to complete the mission.
an event organised by the US
Department of Defense for Charities Co-ordinator Emma
wounded, injured and ill military Kenzie said: “Year 8 had a really
and emergency services personnel good day and thoroughly enjoyed
and veterans – in Chicago in 2017. trying out inclusive sports as well
He took part in sitting volleyball, as hearing from John and Pete.
archery and swimming, narrowly We’re also pleased that we have
missing out on a medal after been able to raise so much for
coming fourth in the 100m freestyle. Power2Inspire.”
120
Upper · Charities
Students displayed their musical

talents with dazzling performances at
the annual Perse Charity Cabaret
With funds raised going to The Children’s
Society, the Perse Bursary Fund and the school’s
outreach projects, the event proved to be a
success with a large audience enjoying a terrific
evening of song.
The concert featured music performed by highly

accomplished soloists, duos and vocal groups from
a wide range of genres from jazz and musical theatre
to easy listening and modern pop. Alongside covers
of famous tunes, there was a performance of Lower
Sixth student Ben Bradshaw’s original work Reckless,
performed by Matthew Chan (Lower Sixth) and the
Perse Big Band.
The Perse Big Band also provided their powerful
backing to renditions of songs such as Fly Me to the
Moon, Valerie and Toxic, while fresh from a masterclass
with top a cappella group The Sons of Pitches, the
Acappelicans gave their vocal twist to an Aretha
Franklin medley, Billy Joel’s Lullabye and Portugal the
Man hit Feel It Still.
A sensational evening of entertainment was rounded
off with a light-hearted song and dance routine from
the Senior Prefects.
Perse catering team get on

their bikes for charity
Perse Catering Manager Craig Minney was joined
by Steve Wade, Gareth Williams, Christian Turner
and Matt Heys as they cycled 250 miles in just
three days to raise money for Bullies Out, a charity
that provides education, training and support to
thousands of young people affected by bullying in
the UK. A total of £2,292 was raised.
121
Upper · Charities
Perse pupils take part in sponsored sleep-out

for homelessness charity
More than 70 Year 9 pupils had a taste of the
reality for rough sleepers when they took part
in a sponsored sleep-out to raise money for
homelessness charity Emmaus.
They bedded down in various spots in the open air at

The Perse and have so far raised £4,735 for Emmaus,
which helps homeless people work their way out of
their situation by giving them meaningful roles as well
as the stability of having a roof over their head for as
long as required.
Members of the Emmaus Cambridge branch came
Charities Co-ordinator Chloe Fagan said: “It was great
along and told pupils their stories of living on the
for them to chat to the Emmaus volunteers and find
streets and how the charity had helped impact their
out about their experiences of homelessness. The
lives for the better. Pupils also took part in a game
sleep-out also helped them experience the reality of
where they had to ‘earn’ enough ‘money’ (in the form
the situation for the homeless and it’s fantastic they’ve
of chocolate coins!) to buy cardboard to sleep on and
been able to help raise so much money for such a
a map to find the Emmaus volunteers, who were giving
worthwhile cause.”
out soup and snacks.
Perse student treks Great Wall of China for

diabetes research charity
John Hayward (Lower Sixth) completed a
gruelling trek along the Great Wall of China
to help raise funds to find a cure for Type 1
diabetes.
At the age of three, the Perse student was

diagnosed with the condition, but he has been
determined not to let it get in the way of living a
full and active life. So much so that, along with his
father Chris, he decided to take part in an arduous
five-day hike along the iconic Great Wall during
half term to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation.
The challenge included a climb of 1,000 steps
to reach the wall itself and a trek through 11
watchtowers to the Heavenly Ladder, which
included another 460 steps up a 45-degree
gradient, as well as helping to carry out repairs to
a small disused section of the structure.
He said: “Firstly, the wall is built on difficult terrain,
so you’re walking up and down large hills and
mountains and dealing with diabetes in this way
wasn’t something I’d had to do before. That was
a challenge for me but I got through it in the end. on the wall and staying in these small villages with
no other real way in or out. It was just a completely
“One of the main highlights was seeing the less
different experience to anything you’d get here in
tourist parts of China because we were going out
England.”
122
Upper · Charities
Tanzania
beds, often without mosquito nets and bed sheets.
To solve this, we funded the construction of 10 metal-
framed bunk beds and provided all the bed sheets and
Year 11 pupils Kimi Willson-Brandtner, Isaac Pfaender, mattresses. This was a brilliant project to have funded
Ben Haynes and Ben Hancock spent three weeks this and we were pleased to have improved the welfare of
summer working with the charity Go Make a Difference the children.
in Tanzania (Go MAD). Kimi gives an insight into their
experience. It was wonderful to have kick-started
After a long journey, we arrived safely at Eagle Lodge, what should be an amazing project
the base of Go MAD and our home for the following which will revitalise the area through
few weeks. Our work with the charity began with widespread planting of trees, hedges
laying foundations for a 9,000-litre water tank, a
and other flora.
fatiguing job which included mixing bags of cement
alongside dozens of buckets of sand, aggregate and I was also involved in a project which aimed to map
water. The process took around eight days, requiring out a huge farmland and grazing area using drone
the steel frame to gradually be rendered. photography. By the end of the trip we had managed
The following morning, aided by a larger group, we to map out an area of over 20km2. The aim of this was
started work on a new 14,000-litre tank for a school. to help farmers define their farmland, to designate
With approximately five people digging a base for the specific grazing zones for goats and cattle and to plan
tank, others worked to create the large steel frame an irrigation system. The area being mapped has faced
before beginning the daunting job of cement mixing. major problems with illegal timber felling, as well as
By evening, we had laid all the foundations, which gave overgrazing. These problems combined have resulted
a great sense of accomplishment. in reduced rainfall and biodiversity. Despite this project
being in very early stages, it was wonderful to have
We were deeply shocked at the immense danger kick-started what should be an amazing project which
that albino children face in Tanzania. Many rural will revitalise the area through the widespread planting
communities have retained a strong belief in witchcraft, of trees, hedges and other flora.
with the body parts of albinos being used in an array
of different tribal medicines. Therefore we wanted Overall, the trip was a fantastic experience, and we all
to help a boarding school that provides a home for developed an understanding of the problems faced
children all the way up to adulthood, allowing them by millions of people worldwide. The thought that we
to live securely. hopefully improved the lives of some of these people
was wonderful and we all left with a true appreciation
The school faced a huge lack of bedding with many of just how lucky we are.
of the students being forced to share tiny single
123
Upper · Charities
Christel House Mr Baker said: “I was thrilled to see the progress that
Bangalore Christel House has made with classroom
digital resources and teacher training and usage
The Perse has been working with the Christel House
since my last visit three years ago. This development
foundation since 2011 and raises money throughout
is now also being replicated in their newer school
the year to provide resources to support both the
in Raipur. It was exciting to visit this school for the
teaching of children and training of staff there.
first time and work alongside the staff and provide
Perse Head of Computing & Digital Strategy Paul Baker, training in digital learning, presentation software and
who is also responsible for relationship development online resources.
with Christel House, visited their schools in Bangalore
“It is always such a privilege to be able to visit Christel
and Raipur (Atal Nagar) this summer.
House Schools around the world and to be involved
Paul spent 11 days focussing on digital learning, in the deepening relationship with them. I cannot say
computer science/ICT and maths. enough about the love, nurture and passion that the
staff show for the children or the impact that it is
Over the last two years, The Perse has raised funds to
making in the lives of the Christel House children and
fit the Bangalore and Raipur schools with classroom
their wider communities.
projectors and staff laptops. Paul was keen to see
how these were being used and assist with some “The holistic nature of the project with its emphasis
whole-school staff training in digital learning and on breaking the long-term cycles of poverty is hugely
related teaching. impressive.”
Year 7 pupils chose to raise money for Jimmy’s Many whole-school events raised further funds.
Cambridge (supporting homelessness) and Cancer We sent 414 shoeboxes to Romania in November
Research UK, through a range of fundraising through the Link to Hope charity and supported
initiatives. Pupils raised £1,625 by organising events Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign
such as a non-school uniform day and cake sales. by writing 208 letters, to show support to those
facing difficulties across the world. The music
The Year 10 Charities Committee worked tirelessly
department also contributed greatly to the school
throughout the year on a number of fundraising
fundraising through concert collections, raising an
events. Firstly, they organised the Christmas Hat
overall £1,929 for Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust.
and Jumper Day and sold Christmas hats and candy
canes, raising £1,880 for Reteti Elephant Sanctuary The Sixth Form Charities Committee played a
and The Andrew Clark Trust. The committee also hugely important part in the school’s fundraising,
took part in a sponsored Color Obstacle Rush in working on a range of fundraising projects
which the students ran 5km, starting in a white including, the charity cabaret, Sixth Form quiz
t-shirt and then being covered in powdered colours night and lip sync battle. The committee raised
by the end of the race. Overall, the pupils raised a just under £5,000 for The Children’s Society and
further £1,824 for the two charities. the bursary and outreach funds.
124
Upper · Sustainability
Sustainability
Pupils and staff

challenged to
go green
Hugo Rainey (1990), Wildlife
Conservation Society project
director, returned to The Perse
to give the keynote talk of Perse
Sustainability Week, reflecting on
his career, which has been largely
spent working on projects in Africa.
He outlined how his current role
sees him advise the governments
of Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique
and Madagascar on how to
reconcile economic development pupils were encouraged to wear The student-led Perse Green Team
with th e con se r vation of green garments to raise funds were behind many of the initiatives
ecosystems and wildlife. for the Cyclone Idai appeal and and team leader David Palmer
the water and sanitation initiative (Upper Sixth) was pleased with
Dr Rainey explained that his task Toilet Twinning. the response.
is to highlight how “supply and
demand” can be managed. He Students made ‘eco pledges’ of He said: “Sustainability Week
said: “You can have wildlife next how they would do their bit for the gave us the opportunity to have
to industry. There’s a way of doing environment on an ongoing basis a big presence in the school. We
it without destroying everything and had the chance to sample ran activities to try to open the
you’ve got there. Conservation different plant-based proteins at conversation and lead the way
isn’t a restraint on economic a tasting table arranged by the towards changing attitudes and
development.” catering team. There was also an behaviour our world so desperately
eco-poetry contest as well as the needs. Lots of pupils and staff got
Sustainability Week also included launch of a sunflower growing involved and it’s nice to have that
a clothes swap service and a ‘go competition. acknowledgement that people
green’ non-uniform day, where took the messages on board.”
Perse Pride Week gives and powerful messages about their sexuality while
also educating all pupils to make them empathetic
food for thought on towards LGBTQ+ issues. Following the talk, Tim
took part in a discussion about LGBTQ+ issues
LGBTQ+ issues with members of the Perse Student Council, Anti-
Bullying Ambassadors and Keep Smiling group.
Support and solidarity with LGBTQ+ students Perse Assistant Director of Music Ben Wingfield,
and staff was displayed with a series of thought- who co-ordinated Perse Pride Week with Theatre
provoking events throughout Perse Pride Week. Director in Residence Matt Hawksworth, said:
Tim Ramsey, CEO of Just Like Us, a charity aimed “It was invaluable to have his input in the later
at supporting and empowering LGBTQ+ young discussion regarding the Perse community’s
people, was the keynote speaker of Perse Pride support of its LGBTQ+ members.”
Week. He gave a heartfelt and at times humorous Other events that took place included LGBTQ+
talk about his journey, having hid the fact he was based talks themed around classics, music, biology
gay while at school and initially at university due and history, a Junior Drama Club workshop on
to negative perceptions and fear of being “an identity and a play-reading workshop celebrating
outsider”. diversity in theatre. Rainbow ribbons were also sold
He outlined how Just Like Us wants to help LGBTQ+ to raise funds for Just Like Us, while the rainbow-
young people by making sure they hear positive striped Pride flag flew from the Perse flagpole.
125
Upper · Summer School
Summer School
This year the Perse Summer School ran 93 popular courses.
Over four weeks of the summer holidays, students
aged between 7 and 15 years enjoyed a wide range of
activities including dance, baking, outdoor pursuits,
cycling, photography, tennis, forensics and technical
theatre.
Summer School is open to pupils from any

school.
“I really want to ride my bike to school

in September so my mum thought it
would be a good idea to do this course,
to get me ready for that. It is helping to
make me safer on the roads as it is busy
with the traffic when I need to go to
school. This course is teaching me skills
and safety so it is helping a lot.”
Cycling Experience student
“We’ve been doing lots of experiments

in science which is really great, because
“It’s been so much fun learning how to
you don’t just watch the teacher doing
bake. I especially liked making the lemon
it, you get to do the experiments
drizzle cake, which I took home for my
yourself and I love that so much.”
family to eat and they loved it too.”
Marvellous mixtures and the wonders of
Baking course student
chemistry student
Club Pelican
Children aged between three and eight enjoyed
Club Pelican which took place for six weeks
at the Prep School. Each week focused on a
different theme including magical creatures,
animal antics, space academy and things that fly.
“The tennis course is brilliant, it’s the

perfect weather to be outside learning
lots of new tennis skills, and playing
tennis with new friends. We all want
to improve our game so this is a good
opportunity to do that.”
Tennis course student
126
Upper
A celebration of life -
Luke Hobson
Luke joined The Perse in September 2018 at the start
of Year 9. Luke was a kind boy with an infectious
personality who quickly made many new friends and
embraced all that The Perse had to offer. He played
violin and sang in the choir and had started learning
the drums. Luke represented the school at rugby and
hockey and was looking forward to the rugby tour to
South Africa in 2020. Luke enjoyed computer coding
and outdoor pursuits with the PES Easter and Summer
camps to come. He enjoyed everything he studied and
had real difficulties deciding which subjects to take
for his GCSEs as he did not want to drop any of them.
Above all, Luke loved being with his friends and team-
mates in a place where he had so much to enjoy and
look forward to.
Luke died following a tragic accident playing hockey
at his local club on 28 March 2019. His loss has been
deeply felt throughout The Perse but we will continue
to celebrate and cherish his memory.
Gratias tibi agimus, Sir David’s career has seen him as UK Ambassador
to both Japan and South Korea, Secretary to the
Prince of Wales, first Chief Executive of British Trade
Sir David International and Vice-chairman of Barclays Capital.
Famed for his swiftness of response by email or
Sir David Wright stepped down as Chairman of
telephone no matter what time of day or night in
Governors at the end of the 2018-19 academic year whatever time zone he found himself in, he has
having been appointed to the Board in December generously given his vast experience and many skills
2009 and elected Chairman in June 2010. to The Perse.
Governors and senior management have looked on
with gratitude – and, not infrequently, awe – at his
ability to keep meetings to time while ensuring clear
outcomes. Few have not gained from witnessing his
succinct summaries of debates and ability to build
consensus (not to mention the speed of his drafting
of semantically and grammatically perfect prose).
He has provided the Board and the School with
leadership and wise counsel from which they have
benefited greatly.
As a visible manifestation of success, his decade-
long leadership has been marked by both growth
and consolidation as pupil numbers have risen, new
buildings been completed and further land been
acquired.
With the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre very
much open for business, a new master plan agreed,
the Upper Music School extension under way and
both overseas development and edtech development
agreements in place, he leaves the school in a strong
position and better placed than many others to face
the challenges that lie ahead.
127
Upper
Ellison Court named in

honour of retiring Bursar
December 2018 marked the end of an era when
Gerald Ellison retired from his role as Perse
Bursar after 21 years of exemplary service to
the school.
When Gerald arrived at The Perse in 1997 he joined a

much smaller 7-18 school with fewer than 800 pupils.
In the intervening years Gerald masterminded much of
The Perse’s subsequent growth including the opening
of the Pelican, the building of New School at the Prep,
and over £40 million worth of campus improvements
at the Upper including the creation of the Sports
Hall, various science extensions, the construction
of North and South Buildings and finally The Peter
Hall Performing Arts Centre development. As well
as transforming our sites and adding a new one at
Abington, Gerald strengthened The Perse’s finances
and in doing so allowed the school to spend more
on means-tested bursaries for children whose families Gerald’s musical humming and eccentric head gear.
could not otherwise afford our fees. We are delighted that Gerald remains at The Perse on
a part-time basis as Clerk to the Governing Board so
Gerald is a very modest man who always preferred
the school continues to benefit from his professional
the bursarial shadows to the head masterly limelight.
expertise and corporate memory. It is fitting that
But both I and my predecessor Nigel Richardson are
governors have given Gerald the honour of naming
under no illusions as to just how central Gerald has
the space in front of the Peter Hall Performing Arts
been to Perse success. We will all miss his attention
Centre Ellison Court, for he oversaw the construction
to detail, wise words, kindness and command of both
of all the buildings that surround it.
construction contracts and English grammar. The
bursarial corridor is a less colourful place without Ed Elliott
School building
recognised
with national
architecture awards
In June, the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre
received a prestigious RIBA National Award.
Having firstly won a RIBA East regional award

in May, the new facility, designed by architect
Haworth Tompkins, achieved further recognition
from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Gerald Ellison, former school Bursar who led the
project for The Perse, said: “For the Peter Hall
Performing Arts Centre to receive a RIBA award
is hugely exciting. The award both celebrates the
wonders of this marvellous building and provides
fitting recognition of the great efforts and skill put
into its creation by so many people.”
128
Upper · Community Outreach
Community Outreach
The Perse worked with 20 different primary schools across the Cambridge area
throughout the year, delivering a wide range of enrichment programmes.
Our long-standing primary schools partnership with galleries and museums. Perse students developed their
King’s Hedges Educational Federation focused on art, inter-personal skills in the process, whilst King’s Hedges
with Perse pupils working with King’s Hedges pupils on pupils gained confidence and knowledge. The feedback
a range of art appreciation activities, including visits to from King’s Hedges pupils and staff was very positive.
Technology troubles
solved by students with
Digistart scheme
Upper Sixth students helped older people
get to grips with technology as part of
their enrichment programme.
The Digistart scheme saw a group of Perse

Sixth Formers show retired members of the
local community how to get the most from
their computers and smartphones. Residents
met the students once a fortnight for one-to-
one tutorials at the school and focused on areas
they wanted help with, whether it be ordering
shopping online, using Skype or sending emails.
The students produced an informative Digistart
guide for each person they worked with. The
booklet combines straightforward information
and useful graphics to help with everything from
recognising scam emails and buying a phone
to setting up an online account and creating a
Primary pupils are on song table using Excel.
with top a cappella group
Children from Cambridge primary schools were given
French partnership
the opportunity to perform with leading a cappella Upper French teacher Florence Nairac
group The Sons of Pitches at The Perse. reflects on her fortnightly visits to The
Pupils from Fen Ditton Primary School, Morley Memorial Galfrid School (formerly Abbey Meadows
Primary School, Queen Edith Primary School and Primary School).
Queen Emma Primary School came to The Perse for a
special singing lesson with the group, who rose to fame The Year 3 pupils were already learning Spanish
after winning BBC Two series The Naked Choir in 2015. and their enthusiasm for modern language
learning was clear from day one. Ably assisted
The Sons of Pitches, featuring Mide Adenaike (2013), by the fantastic class teachers and assistants, it
were then joined on stage by the school groups as they was a joy to teach a whole range of fun topics.
performed the songs they had learned during the day
for a concert in the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre. Particular highlights included a few pupils’ joy
when replying “Ca va mal!” in dramatic tones
Fen Ditton sang Pharrell Williams hit Happy and Morley when asked how they were in French, their
Memorial gave a rendition of Ed Sheeran’s Perfect, competitive streak emerging when it came to a
while Queen Edith performed Shotgun by George Ezra game of Simon Says in French, and enthusiastic
and Adele’s Rolling in the Deep was sung by Queen singing and dancing to a range of French songs!
Emma. After taking a break to enjoy Sons of Pitches All pupils made impressive progress and I hope
sing several numbers, all the children came back on they carry on learning and enjoying languages
stage to lend their vocal support to a rousing finale of in the future.
Justin Timberlake smash Can’t Stop the Feeling.
129
Upper · Legacy
An Enduring Gift
During this academic year we have received £550,000
for the school’s Enduring Gift campaign, bringing the
campaign total to over £2.6 million.
The Enduring Gift campaign helps double the number of means-tested bursaries the School can
provide, whilst also raising funds to extend our outreach work.
This year the Alumni and Development Office has Baker (1953). Maurice had been a loyal supporter of
organised several events for Old Perseans, parents the school during his lifetime and left a gift in excess
and Friends of The Perse. In February we held a Perse of £260,000 to the Bursary Fund in his will. Maurice’s
Players Gala Dinner, celebrating the 70th anniversary incredible generosity is a wonderful example of an
of Peter Hall’s starring role in the Players’ production enduring gift that will transform the lives of young
of Hamlet. Over 100 guests from the whole Perse people for years to come.
community came together to celebrate the occasion
In addition to financial gifts, we are also very grateful
and had the opportunity to watch a special production
to the Old Perseans and Friends of The Perse who give
of highlights from previous Perse Players productions
their time to The Perse. This year over 120 members
and to hear from Kenneth Tharp CBE (1978), Director
of our community got involved as volunteers, from
of the Africa Centre, professional dancer and former
delivering lunchtime lectures and careers workshops
CEO of The Place. We are looking forward to hosting
to helping with extra-curricular activities or being a
more events that span the whole Perse community,
Year Group Rep.
including a Sports Gala Dinner in the autumn.
Our Community Lecture programme continued,
Following on from the success of last year’s Leavers’
entering our second year of partnership with The
Gift Appeal, the Class of 2019 parents took up the
Cambridge Building Society. This year our lectures
mantle and have, at the time of writing, raised in excess
were delivered by Lord Neuberger, former President
of £60,000 in support of the School’s Bursary and
of the UK Supreme Court; Matthew Bullock, founder of
Hardship Fund. Special thanks go to Alison Wilkinson,
Cambridge Ahead; and Sir Shankar Balasubramanian,
Juliet Jackson, Liz Proudfoot, Ruth Lewin Smith, Nikki
Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at
Owers and Amanda Parton for their help in raising
the University of Cambridge. All lectures are free of
awareness of the campaign.
charge to attend and are open to the whole community,
In November, we were honoured to receive a ensuring our value of intellectual curiosity reaches
transformative legacy gift from the estate of Maurice beyond the school gates.
64 new
£60,000 donors
raised by class of 2019 parents
£550,000 441 total

donors
raised this year
£2,660,000
campaign total so far
Campaign donations Donors this year
130
Upper · Community Lectures
Community Lectures
Lawyers, Judges and the Rule of Law
Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, former President of the UK Supreme Court, delivered
the first of the community lectures for the academic year. After explaining the rule
of law (a principle of the UK constitution that means politicians govern within their
powers and that the law is clear, accessible, respected by the people and are given
effect properly) Lord Neuberger discussed the peculiarities of the UK constitution.
The United Kingdom (along with New Zealand and Israel) is unusual in that it has no
codified constitutional document, instead relying on the constitutional conventions
of Parliamentary supremacy and judicial independence. Lord Neuberger explained
the relationship between these conventions and how they play out in reality. The
lecture finished with a discussion about an increasingly important area of public
law – the infringement of rights – and used the Miller [2017] case as a high profile
example of how justice should be done.
Can we maintain sustainable high growth

in Cambridge?
The Hon. Matthew Bullock
Cambridge has expanded greatly over the last few years, and this growth looks
to continue. Within this context, Matthew Bullock, Master of St Edmund’s College,
Cambridge and founder of Cambridge Ahead, delivered a lecture on how this growth
can be sustainable. Focusing on economic sustainability, Mr Bullock presented a
view of the highly stressed infrastructure in Cambridge, with discrepancies between
employment and housing costs that are reducing overall quality of life. He discussed
four possible scenarios that could solve the issue: building up (density change),
building out onto green belt land (spreading), moving business to surrounding
villages (dispersal) and using existing transport routes to spread (corridors).
Cambridge Ahead have considered all of these options, modelling growth within
the city and making projections based on historic data and experiences of other
cities. He suggested that this information should be shared with the community as
well as city planners to allow us to make a decision that would most benefit us all
and enable the growth of Cambridge to be sustainable.
Reading your DNA: What can it tell us?

Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian FRS
Cambridge has played a central role in the DNA story, beginning with the notable
announcement in 1953 by Francis Crick and James Watson that they had discovered
the double helix structure of DNA (with the help of data published by Rosalind
Franklin). In the present day, Sir Shankar Balasubramanian is continuing the city’s
role in this story. In 1995, Sir Shankar and Sir David Klenerman were given funding to
develop a system to look at the enzyme DNA polymerase and see what they could
learn. This led to the development of Solexa sequencing, a sequencing method
based on reversible dye-terminator technology, and engineered DNA polymerases.
Sir Shankar explained the development of this technology and its many uses, such
as developing non-invasive methods of prenatal testing, monitoring outbreaks of
infectious disease, and in the treatment of rare diseases. The lecture ended by Sir
Shankar noting the many different scientists that had contributed research that
had allowed DNA sequencing technologies to develop and be applied in different
areas, demonstrating that teams of people can achieve more together.
The Annual Review was written and produced by Claire Ziwa and Aaron Mason.
Design by Steve Welch at Svelte Design.
Cover photo taken by Alex Salmon (Lower Sixth) during the Summit 12
expedition to Juri Khota lake in the Cordillera Real mountains of Bolivia.
perse.co.uk
The Perse School is a charitable company limited by guarantee (company number 5977683, registered charity number 1120654)
registered in England and Wales whose registered office is situated at The Perse School, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 8QF.

Perse School

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Our Year

Shaped by our values

Intellectual Breadth and Endeavour: One another and

PELICAN PREP UPPER

Intellectual curiosity and scholarship

Metre challenge adds up to

Children across the school Reception children enjoyed a trip

Pelicans inspired to become architects of the future

INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY AND SCHOLARSHIP

The trip allowed them to apply

Year 2 Science Morning

INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY AND SCHOLARSHIP

Breadth and balance

Read all about it!

Pelicans experience wartime

Peter Rabbit brings

With great backing from the big crowd of

Inspiring Houses of Parliament visit

Burwell House trip proves a hit

Pelicans strike Golden

Every child receives at least one Golden Brick

One another and our environment

Getting close to nature

Under the umbrella of renowned conservationist Jane Goodall’s

Intellectual curiosity and scholarship

Author and poet visits

INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY AND SCHOLARSHIP

Professor Chappell and Dr Cooke gave an informative

INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY AND SCHOLARSHIP

variety of plants. Professor Glover explained the science

INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY AND SCHOLARSHIP

Special days at school

• Fitzwilliam Museum visits for Year 3, who explored

INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY AND SCHOLARSHIP

Breadth and balance

Henry VIII and other drama highlights

Art and DT Exhibitions

Great Prep House Off

Prep pupils develop independence

Fifty-three Year 6 children and six staff headed

Year 5 headed off on their annual trip to northern

One another and our environment

Eco House Activity Day

care and tested pupils’ visual skills

GCSE results 2019

Overall, the 9-7 grade (equivalent A total of 75 students secured a

I/GCSE results by year

2019 60 83 94 98 99 100 100

2019 83 94 97.7 99.9 100

2018 80 94 99.7 100 100

2017 69 90 98 100 100

2016 77 95 99 99.9 100

2015 72 94 99 99.9 100

GCSE results 2019

Chemistry 175 107 35 21 6 3 1 2

Design & Technology 60 41 12 5 1 1 0 0

English Language 176 93 38 29 15 1 0 0

English Literature 176 88 44 23 16 5 0 0

Mathematics 176 125 34 13 1 2 1 0

Physics 173 119 33 13 5 2 1 0

TOTALS 1788 1072 414 191 69 31 9 2

GCSE results 2019