Issue 17 Friday 24 February 2017  
Dr McNerney writes....

This week’s exciting events have centred on our Literary Festival and news about future schools for our boys in Y8 and Y6. Each year, Mrs Smith manages to outdo her previous efforts in providing the boys with the most inspiring authors, illustrators, storytellers and theatre productions, which encourage the boys to read more. I cannot thank her enough for her dedication and enthusiasm in organising all of the events.

The news about future schools for our Y8s has been great and we, once again, congratulate all of our Y8s for working so hard to ensure that they were all placed in one of their schools, with the exciting addition of several scholarships: Henry Wareing, Thomas Groves, Nayan Chatrath and Raiyan Qureshi at Merchant Taylors', Ameya Dabral and Ronak Patel at Haberdashers’ and James Gray at Aldenham School. We are still waiting for results for three of our pupils (Harrow, Eton and St Albans) and I feel confident that this news will be equally as good.

We have also awarded this year’s Continuity Scholarships for some Y6 pupils for entry into MTS in Y9, and we congratulate Luka Hinton, who has been awarded the Wolsey Scholarship; Aarian Malhotra, who has been awarded the Terry scholarship; and Yiorgos Velimachitis, who has been awarded the Lee scholarship. Scholarships for MTS have also been offered to Anish Bharadwaj, Aayush Pandit, Aaron Sohal, Krish Thakrar and Sid Tiwari, which is a great achievement.

Before half term, we were treated to some wonderful events as well. The show for Years 3 & 4, Daniel: A Hard Act to Swallow, was brilliant and I was wowed by the boys’ mature and animated performances and Mr Hinton’s expert directing.

We were also visited by Hannah Macleod MBE, British Olympic hockey gold medallist in Rio, who mightily impressed us with her talk about teamwork, which possibly helped to inspire our joint MTP/MTS U13 hockey team to dominate so resoundingly in their hockey tour to Bath.

Finally, I would like to thank the PA for their dedication to MTP. Their Cake Sale was much enjoyed, as were the refreshments provided as part of this week’s Literary Festival. Please do support their upcoming Quiz Night, on 4 March, which will be hosted by Simon the Quiz Master (his quizzes are thoroughly excellent and much-loved by the boys when he visits MTP).

Best wishes

Dr. Karen McNerney | Head of School

PREP NEWS
PRE PREP Y1-Y2
The MANOR
SPORTS
aRT
mvp mip
house
diary dates
DRAMA
SCIENCE
PA
MUSIC
VISIT
     
DIARY DATES

Saturday, 25 February
Y5-8 Watford FC Matchday Coaching Package

Monday, 27 February
Daniel Morden and Hugh Lupton - Classics Storytellers
3/Y4 Beale Poetry Recitation 1015 - 1045
Y3/Y4 Parents' Evening 1730 - 1930
Y5JL Subject Parents' Evening 1730 – 1930 Dining Hall

Tuesday, 28 February
Pancake Races & Newton Charity Fundraiser
U9AB Football v Gayhurst (a) 1430 - 1645
U9CD Football v Gayhurst (h) 1430 - 1615
Y7 Whole Class Band Concert 1630 - 1645

Wednesday, 1 March
1st XI Football v Thorpe House (h) 1430 - 1615
2nd XI Football v Thorpe House (a) 1430 - 1700
Y5 & 6 Beale Poetry Recitation 0845 - 0915

Thursday, 2 March
U9ABCD Football v Belmont Prep (a) 1430 - 1645
World Book day - Korky Paul (Author Visit)

Friday, 3 March
U10ABC Football v UCS (a) 1430 - 1700
U11AB Football v UCS (h) 1430 - 1615
Y7/Y8 Beale Poetry Recitation

Saturday, 4 March
U8 Gayhurst Football Tournament (a) 0930 – 1230

Monday, 6 March
Merchant Taylors' Hall concert (pm)
Y3/4 Parents' Evening 1730 - 1930
Y5NW Parents' Evening 1730 – 1930 Dining Hall
Y6 Rehearsal Week

Wednesday, 8 March
U12 & U13 Squad Hockey v St. John's (a) 1430 - 1615
U13 The Beacon Sixes Football Tournament 1400 - 1645
Y4 Viking Day

Thursday, 9 March
U8ABCD Football (h) v UCS 1430 - 1615
U9AB Football v HABS (a) 1430 – 1645

Friday, 10 March
U10ABCD v Highgate School (h) 1430 - 1615
U12 Strikers Hockey Tournament (a)

Saturday, 11 March
ISFA U11 South East Regional Tournament tbc
U10 Berkhamsted Football Tournament 0930 – 1330

Wednesday, 15 March
1st XI, 2nd IX & 5th VII v Davenies (a) 1430 - 1700
3rd & 4th IX v Davenies (h) 1430 – 1615

Thursday, 16 March
Senior Choir sing at SOS Bosnia Concert 1930
Pre-Prep Music Recital 0900 - 0930
U8AB Football v Belmont Prep (h) 1430 - 1615
U8CD Football v Belmont Prep (a) 1430 - 1645
U9 UCS Football Tournament 1300 – 1700

Friday, 17 March
Merchant Taylors' Music Afternoon 1345 - 1830
St Patrick's Day & Johnson Charity Fundraiser
Y6 House Football Competition

Saturday, 18 March
U13 Belmont Football Tournament 0900 - 1300

CONGRATULATIONS          CONGRATULATIONS

Ahren Chadha 6J3
Alexander Meikle Pebe 4M & Ishan Olsen 4G

           Ronak Patel 8N3
           James Gray 8L1
HOUSE NEWS  
Boys have a spring in their step

The pupils have returned from half-term with a spring in their step. Raiyan Qureshi 8N1 leads the House Points competition with 101 House Points after Week 6.  Warmest congratulations are extended to Year 8 as a whole for their places and awards at a range of senior schools. They have added to the school’s academic reputation.

Mrs Smith masterminded Book Week this week, enriching both the curriculum and imaginations. The annual Beale Poetry Recitation competition takes centre stage next week after extensive Tutor Group and House auditions. House Football will follow. Miss Burke J3 still leads the School’s Fantasy Football competition with Amaan Kassam 7J1 and Niam Bhattacharya 8W2 closing in.

Year 3-8 boys are looking forward to our traditional Pancake Races next Tuesday on the Prep playground. In association with this event, we hope to raise money for the London Air Ambulance, by providing pancakes with free toppings (£1 donation), hot chocolate drinks (£1 donation) and for pairs of boys from all Houses, to guess the weight of the sweet jar - £1 for 2 guesses (50p donation each). The winning pair will share the contents between them. London's Air Ambulance serves people who live, work and travel within the M25. Their helipad is on top of the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel and their overnight base is at RAF Northolt. We feel it is a service we would like to help and we hope that the boys will enjoy the races to raise money for this deserving cause.

On Tuesday 28th February, boys should bring in their pound coins. Staff will collect donations as boys enjoy their pancakes/hot chocolate and guess the weight of the sweet jar.

PS Good luck to all Houses in the Pancake Races!

Heads of House

SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM
From the SLT Corridor

Towards the end of a very busy half term, Mr Hibbert spent a wonderful Thursday afternoon talking to boys about some excellent work that they had produced. It was incredible to see both the standard achieved and the effort put in by these boys. Because of this they were then awarded our first ever SLT commendations.

Congratulations to:
Agastya Daphale 3S
Dhaya Thind 4G
Oluwatobi Alade 4M
Yash Shah 5J3
Mark Humphrey 5N2
Aryan Sodha 6J2
Max Domb 6W3
Raj Shah 8J1
Vincent Hudson 8W3
Shay Thakrar 7L3

Mr Crook, Mr Hibbert and Mr Waddington can hardly wait to talk to our February nominations about their excellent work next week.

We would like to congratulate our Year 8 boys on their outstanding efforts in their 13+ examinations. They have done both the School and themselves very proud in securing places and scholarships to some of the finest schools in the country. We trust that the year group will support the remaining two boys who are preparing themselves for Common Entrance examinations in June.

Mr M Hibbert | Assistant Head of School & Mr A Crook | Deputy Head

NEWS FROM PRE-PREP
From The Manor

It has been a very exciting term in the Manor. The boys have thoroughly enjoyed our topic “Off We Go!” and have been curious to learn more about journeys and different vehicles. Before half term they met Christopher Alleman, BA Cabin Crew Cabin Services Director, who helped them to act out a journey on an aeroplane. The boys certainly loved their imaginary journey on board our Merchant Taylors’ Prep/BA flight and the experience has inspired their imaginary play in all areas of the Nursery! The photographs show the boys in Nursery enjoying their inflight snack and the boys in Reception in their seats ready to take off!

Mrs S Funnell | Head of Pre Prep

From Year 1 and Year 2
A highlight of the last half term was our visit to the Museum of London to see the current exhibition about the Great Fire and our walk through the city to see at first hand some of the areas that it affected. We were led on our tour by Blue Badge guides who were full of information and facts which the boys found so interesting. The boys really were fascinated by the whole experience and it brought to life all that they had been studying in school. The photographs show boys in the exhibition and outside St Paul's Cathedral.

We have been very busy in the woods this term, learning how to tie knots to use when putting up a shelter. We have observed the changes that have taken place in the woodland environment and have eagerly awaited the first snowdrops, a sure sign that Spring is round the corner. Each week we listen for bird song and try to identify the birds that we see, so I was delighted by the number of boys who took part at home in the RSPB Bird Watch at the end of January. The boys have also cut up the willow rods that we harvested from the dome in the Autumn to use to make living willow pencils to use in school. The photographs show how successful they were with this!
Literary Festival

This week all the boys in Pre-Prep celebrated Literacy Festival, which is always one of my favourite times of the school year. On Wednesday, we were delighted to have a return visit from Andy and the Theatre of Widdershins. Year 2 enjoyed his wonderful performance of "Rapunzel" and he delighted the boys from the Manor and Year 1 with his "Furry Tales" which included the "Three Little Pigs" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". After these shows he has, once again, inspired us all to be puppeteers. On Thursday, we really enjoyed a visit from author Shweta Aggarwal who delighted us with her story and kite making sessions. Storm Doris provided the perfect weather to enable us to fly our finished kites! We have also had parents coming to read stories this week and I would like to thank the many parents who volunteered to help. It is always a pleasure to welcome parents in to school and the photographs show how much the boys enjoyed listening to the stories they shared. Today, we have rounded off Book Week with a wonderful dressing-up day and it was such fun to see all of the boys in their book character outfits. Well done to the boys who made their own costumes! The boys in Year 1 and Year 2 are now looking forward to meeting Korky Paul next Thursday on World Book Day.

Mrs S Funnell | Head of Pre Prep

VISITS
Y4 Visit Northwood United Synagogue
Year 4 went to the Northwood United Synagogue to learn more about the Jewish faith. We learnt about the different holidays and celebrations, how to speak Hebrew and saw some of the special items linked to the Jewish religion. We were lucky enough to meet the Rabbi of the synagogue who opened up the Holy Ark for us to see the incredible Torah scrolls. The Rabbi was able to answer many of our questions and we left with a deeper understanding of the Jewish religion.

Miss C Marshall | Y4 Teacher
SPORT 
Bath Hockey Tour match report

Overall it was a dream tour. For the first time in four tours the weather behaved! Playing so many games in a short time is tough enough, let alone in adverse weather conditions. The team was treated to a training session from Olympic Gold medallist Hannah Macleod MBE in the morning before they departed, picking up a last few tips whilst being inspired by stories of last summer’s Rio Olympics. The boys have never played together bar a few training sessions, so the results are even more impressive. The keepers were (as the goals conceded tally shows) nigh on faultless. Oliver Johnson kept 6 clean sheets and whilst Ashin Shah did concede he made several outstanding stops, particularly in the Prior Park match, which were truly match saving. Our defenders, Mayowa Temowo, Ankit Chadha, Henry Wareing and Zayd Ahmed were rock solid throughout and almost impenetrable. Their composure and solid passing set the standard for the rest of the team. James Keeney and Nabil Hassan orchestrated in centre midfield with consistently high decision making in key areas of the field. Wide midfielders Guganeshan Muralitharan, Jonathan Read, Amaan Patel and Lukas Blom dominated on the flanks. The forwards Thomas Groves and Marcus Hills stretched the opposition defences to the maximum and were relentless throughout the five matches. Muralitharan helped in rotation up front for the 9-a-side game. I am amazed and proud at how well these two sides came together in such a short time. Their adaptation to each other and the standard they reached was way beyond expectations. All bodes well for MTS u14 next season. I for one will be certainly be keeping a close eye on their progress!

Match 1 v DAUNTSEYS, Friday 5pm
An initial 50/50 possession over the first five minutes hinted at a very close game. But as the new formed MTP/S teammates began to trust one another the attacks came thick and fast. Outstanding saves from the Dauntsey’s ‘giant’ keeper kept us to a 1-0 half time score line as Groves netted a rebound. The second half was much of the same, total control but only two more goals added as the keeper continued to impress. Groves and Muralitharan the scorers.
Final Score 3-0 win

Match 2 v King Edwards, Saturday 9am. Opposition no show!

Match 3 v Prior Park, Saturday 11am
An impressive first half saw forward Groves on the scoresheet again and defender Wareing hit the boards with a thunderbolt from a short corner. The boys were passing calmly and had huge possession. Alas for some inexplicable reason, the second half brought a different MTS. Maybe a touch too confident, boys forgot the passing game and tried to dribble. This enabled Prior to get back into the game. Keeper Shah made a couple of quality saves before Prior eventually penetrated from a rebound two thirds through the second half. MTS slowly improved and created some chances, but it was Prior's half. Doggedly MTS held on for the win.
Final Score 2-1 win

Match 4 v Monkton B, Saturday 1.30pm (included to compensate for KES no show!)
Considering Monkton’s hockey reputation, we were expecting a decent game from their B’s. Alas they were not helped by the inclusion of the C team keeper. An initial high press from them showed good intent. They often attacked in numbers, but could not pass our superb defence and barely had a shot. This also left them out of position. MTS took a 4-0 half time lead without actually playing their best. A better second half saw 5 more added with the keeper actually making a few more saves. Two goals for Hills & Read, with one a piece from Groves, Keeney, Blom, Muralitharan & Patel.
Final Score 9-0 win

Match 5 v Monkton A (plus the top 4 players from fellow tourers Walhampton), Saturday 2.30pm
Having played each other at 1.30 they combined to make a squad of 14. On paper, having never beaten Monkton before and given their hockey reputation, we were underdogs. Despite good results, the coaches felt the boys had more to give. Particularly composure in sticking to the plan and intensity. Challenged to be record breakers, no tour side had reached Saturday night unbeaten let alone winning all matches, the squad did not disappoint. MTS dominated from the start, with composed passing all around the back. Make no mistakes these were a very fit and capable opposition, but they were being outplayed in all departments. Halfway through the half Groves' dogged pressure paid off and he pounced, stealing the ball and slotting home. The Oppo’ tried desperately to pierce our defence but with very little luck, and when they did they got no change from keeper Shah. MTS had the better chances and none more so in the closing minutes when they replaced the keeper with a seventh outfield player, Hills just shaving the outside of the post.
Final Score 1-0 win

Match 6 v Beechen Cliff, Sunday 11am.
The challenge now was how high did this squad want to set the new record? In their path to an unbeaten, all victory, tour was this very competent experienced state school, (their victory over us last year was 11-1!), in a 9-a-side game. Despite the new formation and larger pitch, the boys settled in very well. So well that it was pretty much one sided from the off. Boys were now taking new directives in their stride and executing on demand. The only thing missing in the first 15 minutes was the final pass. Beechen defended with all they had. Eventually we got more clinical and deservedly took the lead. Two more were added before half time. The second half was almost exhibition-like. Goals at regular intervals. Muralitharan bagging a hat-trick, a brace for Hills and Groves, and one for Read, plus an own goal from a powerful cross D pass from Hassan.
Final Score 9-0 win

Mr. Horne (MTP U13A Hockey Coach)

London Marathon 2017

I am pleased to announce that I will be running this year’s London Marathon on Sunday 23rd April, in aid of BRACE, a charity committed to funding research in to Alzheimer’s and Dementia. I am half way through my training as we speak, just breaking the half marathon barrier at the weekend, and hoping to increase the mileage each week from now on!

I am hoping to raise £1600 to support this charity's great work, if you would like to sponsor me then I have an online donations page which you can visit via the link below. Thank you in advance for any donations!

https://www.alzheimers-brace.org/fundraisers/jack-denham-london-marathon-2017

Mr J Denham | Sports Coach


PARENTS' ASSOCIATION
Thank you for your continued support

Our mufti days are always popular with the boys and last term's was no exception. We are pleased to share that through all the boys’ donations we raised a fantastic sum of £543.91! Thank you to everyone who took part and our volunteers who helped with the running of the popcorn, doughnut and hot chocolate stands.

On Saturday 4th March we will be holding our much anticipated Family Quiz Night. If previous years are anything to go by, the evening is sure to be a resounding success with parents and children getting involved in all the fun. Tickets are selling fast and it is advisable to buy your tickets early via Wise Pay for this popular event.  Tickets are priced at £60 for a group of 8, £30 for a group of 4 or £8 per individual ticket. Please contact us if you have any questions and don’t worry if you do not have a team of 8, we can arrange for smaller groups to be placed together.

As mentioned previously, our first Summer Carnival will be taking place on Sunday 7th May.  Please do make a note of this in your diaries – it’s going to be a fantastic family event. Earlier this week you should have received our email detailing how you can help advertise the carnival, hire a stall for your business or even sponsor one of our rides.  Please contact the PA for further information.

Thank you to the many parents and pupils who attended the Book Fair as part of the school’s Literary Festival. We hope that you enjoyed the refreshments that were provided by the PA.

As always, thank you so much for your continued support this year.
Best wishes

MTP Parents' Association

     
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS   
Science Project Perfection

Boys in Year 3 continue to express their intellectual curiosity this time through the medium of information posters.  They were each challenged to think of an interesting and creative way to presenting their learning and research about rocks, fossils and soils using words and images in a poster.  Every boy rose to this challenge magnificently and presented work rich in scientific ideas and colourful presentation.  Well done Year 3!

Mr D Goddard | Y3 Teacher

Y4, Y5 and Y6 get creative in Lab One!
Year 4 Electrical Safety
Year 5 Orrery Project

Not to be outdone by the sterling efforts of the Y3 scientists, Y4 to Y6 boys have been adding to the transformation of Lab1, Miss Burke’s teaching room.

They have produced beautiful, and scientifically rich, posters which have been artfully displayed by Mrs Gadd to transform the lab’s walls into a bit of a scientific wonderland, and a delight to the eye.

Y4 produced posters on Electrical Safety, Y5 constructed creative Orreries (models of the solar system) and Y6 deepened their knowledge of pollution with posters on global warming.

 

 

 

 

 

Year 6 Global Warming
These creations represent a mix of individual and group efforts, and provide our pupils with a way of creatively engaging with Science content, an approach which works well for boys of this age.

Furthermore, the boys love seeing their work displayed in their Science learning room and the context that this adds is invaluable in enthusing and supporting their learning.

Well done Y4, Y5 and Y6 Scientists!

Miss C Burke – KS2 Science Teacher

Pupil of the Month

Pupil of the month for January – All-round collaboration
Oluwatobi Alade 4M
Saavan Patel 5W2
Noah Moser 6N2

Pupil of the month for February -   Independent learning skills
Samuel Sundram 4G
Ryan Ludhra 5N2
Sid Tiwari 6W2

Miss C Burke – KS2 Science Teacher

Online Science Learning
The Science Department values independent use of online resources to further enhance Science learning.
We would once again like to recommend some web-based resources to parents and boys.
TWIG-world.com (https://twig-world.com/) contains short video clips that address relevant Biology, Chemistry and Physics content in an engaging and informative manner. This site is geared more towards our KS3 (Y7 & Y8) pupils, but might also be of value for younger boys who want to extend on their learning from TigTagWorld. Boys should use their school usernames and passwords to log onto TWIG-world.
http://cdn.tigtagworld.com/tigtag/tigtag/prod/static/tigtag_bootstrap/tigtag/images/tigtag-logo@2x.d0bf1f3dad28.png
TigTagWorld (http://www.tigtagworld.co.uk/) is similar to TWIG-world, but the content is geared more towards our KS2 (Y3 –Y6) pupils. The username is npscience and the password is science.
http://cdn.tigtagworld.com/tigtagjunior/tigtag/prod/static/tigtag_bootstrap/junior/images/ttj-logo-500.8726c15bf950.png For our youngest pupils (Nursery to Pre-prep) there is TigTagJunior (http://www.tigtagjunior.com/). The log in details are the same as for TigTagWorld.

The information on these related websites is presented in a concise and accessible manner, and there are also many complimentary worksheets and games.

These resources represent a significant investment by the school, and on top of being a great supportive way for boys of all ages to learn, the more they are used the more value for money we get.

There are also free resources on the web. An old favourite is BBC Bitesize (http://www.bbc.co.uk/education). Your son would benefit from KS2 or KS3 practice questions to aid preparation for assessments, and we suggest a website with free old SAT papers e.g.
e-maths (http://www.emaths.co.uk/index.php/student-resources/past-papers/key-stage-2-ks2-sat-past-papers, http://www.emaths.co.uk/index.php/student-resources/past-papers/key-stage-3-ks3-sat-past-papers). As an added bonus these sites contain previous Maths and English paper.

We are very fortunate to live in an age where we have a wealth of knowledge and learning at our fingertips. Regular access of web-based resources will not only support your son’s Science learning, but also provides a fun way of building on traditional ways of learning. If you have any questions regarding digital learning please feel free to contact your son’s Science teacher.

Mr De Vynck | Head of Science

The Science Team

   
DRAMA
Bugsy

 

Y6 Production of Bugsy

Wednesday 22nd March at 7pm
Thursday 23rd March at 5:30pm

Tickets available through WisePay

Mr S Hinton | Head of Speech and Drama
ART
Y6 Artwork
Mr D Roach | Head of Art and Design
MUSIC
Congratulations

Firstly let me congratulation James Gray who has received a much deserved Music Scholarship to Aldenham.  Well done, James! I would also like to pass on my thanks and congratulations to our musicians who performed in last term’s Music Recitals.  The standard was once again very high and the instruments represented varied.  It is always such a delight to hear the progression our boys make and so "well done!" to all performers.  We await the Pre-Prep Recital and I am looking forward once again to hearing these boys as they begin their musical journey.

Performers included Ishan Olsen, Ayaan Diddee, Arvin Naraghi, Seth-Joshua Chanda, Rishaan Khanna, Yash Kotecha, Ryan Prabhakar, Aarav Mohan, Jayden Thakrar, Henry Wang, Matthew Schiff, Felix Regnard-Weinrabe, Aayush Pandit and Anish Bharadwaj.



Choir Commitments
Our choirs have a number of concerts coming up and I would like to wish our Royal Choir all the best as they sing again to the Serbian Royal Family on March 11th .  The Senior Choir will be singing at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall Concert in the City of London on March 6th as well as singing at the Joint Concert on March 27.  Our Year 3 Choir look forward to singing at Burford House on the 28th March.

Music Exams
The exam cycle has now started and we have 25 boys sitting Music Exams this term.  Our exams will take place on Thursday the 23rd of March.  A timetable will be posted shortly in the Music Department.   Good luck to all boys both internally and externally who have exams. Keep up the good practice.

Individual Lessons
Individual lessons have continued and it has been encouraging to see a continued growth in the uptake of these lessons.  If your son is interested in learning an instrument including singing please contact me, I would love to discuss the options with you.
It has been wonderful to see some boys taking up the option of learning Electric Guitar and Bass this term and Mrs Brammeld our teacher has enjoyed meeting and beginning the journey with these boys. 

Mrs C Hawkes | Director of Music