Issue 22 Friday 7 July 2017  
Dr McNerney writes....

I cannot believe that the end of term is upon us already. We have had a great last week of term, recognising everyone’s achievements at Celebration Afternoon and the Year 8 Awards Dinner. It is wonderful to have these times to reflect on how much progress all of the boys have made, because of their hard work.

I would like to wish everyone a really happy summer and offer all of our leavers the very best of luck. Our Y8 pupils have had a magnificent year, with places won at Harrow, St Albans and Eton respectively for Pahal Jariwala, Vincent Hudson and Henry Wareing, on top of the results announced for the rest of Year 8 earlier this year. We also say a fond farewell to other boys leaving for different schools and countries, and to some of the staff who are leaving to retire or to go on to new challenges. In particular, I would like to thank and congratulate Dr and Mrs Lee for twenty years of outstanding service to our school. We will miss them hugely, and are enormously grateful for the legacy that they have left us.

Finally, I would like to thank the staff for their tireless work this year and the parents for their unending support of the school. In particular, thank you for the numerous shoes and ladies’ garments (!) that have been donated for our trip to Uganda tomorrow. These items will be very much appreciated by the local people of Jinja.

Best wishes

Dr. Karen McNerney | Head of School

PREP NEWS
PRE PREP Y1-Y2
The MANOR
SPORTS
aRT
mvp mip
house
diary dates
DRAMA
LITERACY
PA
MATHS
DIARY DATES

Monday 04 September
Staff INSET Day

Tuesday 05 September
Staff INSET Day

Wednesday 06 September
Term Begins for Boys
All Y3-8 Sports Trials (Rugby & Hockey)

Thursday 07 September
Reception Parents' Information Meeting 09:00 - 10:00
Y1 Parents' Information Meeting 14:30 - 14:45

Friday 08 September
Staff & Parents Coffee 08:00 - 08:30
Nursery Parents' Information Meeting 09:30 - 10:30      

Monday 11 September
All Extra Curricular Activities Commence
Year 4J Swimming Commences

Tuesday 12 September
U12 & U13 THL Hockey Training

Wednesday 13 September
Year 4S Swimming Commences
U13A & U12A Hockey v Berkhamsted (a)

Thursday 14 September

Pre-Prep Pirate Visit.
Y5 Classics Visit to Verulamium

Friday 15 September
U11A & U10A Hockey v Chesham Prep (h)
 
Sunday 17 September
U10 Westminster Football Tournament (a)

Monday 18 September
Appreciating Animals Farm – Nursery and Reception
Dedication of the Term – New Barn Theatre 17:00 - 17:30

Tuesday 19 September
U12 & U13 THL Hockey Training (MTS)

Wednesday 20 September
U12A Rugby v Caldicott (a)
U13A Rugby v Caldicott (a)

Thursday 21 September
U9AB Rugby v Haberdashers' Aske's (h)

CONGRATULATIONS          CONGRATULATIONS
Filippos Kyriakou (7J2)
Amin Mirza (4G)
Adam Muneer (7N1) and Sahil Shah (7L1)
Luka Hinton (6N2)
             Hasan Khan (7W3)
            Oliver Browne (6W1)
            Raeef Mohammadi (4M)
HOUSE NEWS  
Busy couple of weeks

Year 8 brought the house down with their production of ‘An Italian Straw Hat’ before enjoying their Leavers’ Weekend away. Parents, boys and staff all enjoyed the Celebration Afternoon of awards. Hasan Khan 7W3 won the Watson Cup for most house points in the Summer term whilst Raiyan Qureshi 8N1 was awarded the Gullan Cup for most house points this year. Newton won the House Cup for the term. Johnson were House Athletics champions, Newton won the House Cricket Shield and Y3-8 Table Tennis and Wren dominated Tug of War.         

We enjoyed welcoming Year 4 pupils to their new Tutor Groups and we thank Jody Spear for her contribution as English teacher and Co-tutor in Wren House. Mr Denham becomes N3 Tutor in September, Mrs Ly W1 Co-tutor and Mrs Nicholas W2 Co-tutor. Our final thanks are for the House Captains/Vice Captains as another busy House year ends. Who were the winners? Everyone.                                                                                                                                                         

Top 10 in The Prep School for the Term

10

Chris Joseph 7J1, Sahil Shah 7L1, Jacob Payne 7L3, Jacob Siler 7N3, Shay Thakrar 7L3

9

Rahul Patel 7J3

7=

Marcus Whiting 3G & Noah Moser 6N2

5=

Luka Hinton 6N2 & Raj Shah 8J1

4

Leo Osman 5L2

3

Raiyan Qureshi 8N1

2

Rohan Choudhary 7W3

1

Hasan Khan 7W3 WINS THE WATSON CUP

Top 10 in The Prep School for the Year

10=

Manvir Singh-Obhrai 4M & Jack Groves 5W2

8=

Rahul Patel 7J3 & Thomas Groves 8W3 & Rahul Patel 7J3

6=

James Keeney 8N2 & Luka Hinton 6N2

5

Hasan Khan 7W3

4

Leo Osman 5L2

3

Sahil Shah 7L1

2

Raj Shah 8J1  

1

Raiyan Qureshi 8N1 WINS THE GULLAN CUP

3G won the Coronation Shield for most house points in Years 3-4 and W3 won the Coronation Cup in Years 5-8 as top tutor group.                                                                                                                     

Heads of House

SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM
From the SLT Corridor

It hasn’t been very long since our last newsletter but it has been a busy time for the boys and staff with a multitude of events. We’ve enjoyed a wonderful Year 8 production of ‘An Italian Straw Hat’, a Classics Reading Competition, Celebration Afternoon, An Evening of Poetry and Prose and the annual Year 8 Awards Dinner – and that is just the last ten days! 

Our Year 8’s were a real credit to the school on their annual pilgrimage to the legendary Butlin's weekend. As a senior leadership team we would like to thank all the staff involved in organising these events and for their exceptional dedication throughout the year. Thank you to all the parents who come to these school functions and support us.

It is a real privilege to watch our boys learn and grow as the year progresses and it is wonderful to celebrate their many achievements. We truly believe that every single boy has achieved great things this academic year. 

We would like to commend the following boys who were nominated by their teachers for their outstanding work this term:

Alexander Meikle Pebe (4M) - Latin
Tife Abolade (5J2) - Science
Jacob Payne (7L3) - Science
Charlie Marshall (7N3) - English
Anzarshah Khan (3G) - Art
Tom Groves   (8W3) - Geography
Hasan Khan (7W3) - English

At this time of year we can’t help but think of our leavers. We wish them all well in their new schools and would encourage them to come back and share their successes with us in future years. 

We wish you and your families a restful summer break, safe journeys and much fun and enjoyment with your sons. We look forward to welcoming all the boys back on Wednesday 6th September for what promises to be yet another incredible year here at Merchant Taylors’ Prep.

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

NEWS FROM PRE-PREP
Pre-Prep News

Who can believe that we are once more at the end of an academic year? The year has literally flown by and I can honestly say that I am extremely proud of all of the boys’ achievements this year. Celebration Day, this week, was a lovely way to recognize everything that the boys have accomplished and it was particularly nice to see how many parents appreciate the wonderful things that the boys have done this year. As always, the boys’ successes are down to their own hard work with a massive input from their teachers and parents. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the teachers and parents for their unending support of the work of the school.

This week we have also had the Y2 Presentation of Certificates, a time when we say well done, and sadly farewell, to our Year 2 pupils as they get ready to move to Year 3. They are more than ready for the new challenges that lie ahead but we will miss them in Pre-Prep!  During the Presentation it was announced that Kayden Sawani is this year’s winner of the Harvey MacGregor cup for showing a caring attitude and generosity of spirit. I have included a photograph of him looking very happy with his cup.

Sadly, there are always goodbyes to say at this time of year and I would like to say farewell and thank you to Mrs Payne and Mrs Hall who are leaving to start new jobs after working so hard for us at the Manor. We will all really miss you! I would also like to send good wishes to Mrs Regan-Smith as she starts her maternity leave and I am looking forward to soon having lovely news to report. We are also sadly saying goodbye to our lovely Mrs Martin, who has cared for so many boys during the 17 years that she has been with us at Merchant Taylors’ Prep. She has been a valued member of the whole school community and has always tirelessly supported all school events. We have hugely appreciated everything that she has done for us over the years and she will be greatly missed. We wish her every happiness for the future as she starts her retirement.

I would like to say an enormous thank you to everyone who has contributed so generously to the Jinja Educational Trust. Dr McNerney, Mrs Steed, Mrs Hall, Mr Westacott and I will be leaving for Uganda this weekend and we will bring you news in September about how your donations have been put to good use.

Finally, on behalf of all of the staff, thank you sincerely to parents for their end of year gifts and kind words about our work. We wish you all a very happy summer!

Mrs S Funnell | Head of Pre Prep

 
SPORT 
The Latest Technology in Bowling Machine Arrives

MTP became only the second school and first Prep school to have a TrueMan bowling machine. It is all the rage with all the county sides. The latest and most extravagant item from Bola's line features the impressive LED bowler display, and numerous programmable sessions via tablet. This also means the coach can operate by the batsman's side, no more shouting from 22 yards away!

Our year 6's were the first to try it out. Whilst the boys did not recognise a lot of the bowlers as many were from before their time, there were a few they recognised: Stuart Broad, Mitchell Johnson & Monty Panesar amongst them.

Krish Patel Year 6 Captain said 'The visualisation made it so much easier to see the ball from the machine. And it was excellent to sort of face Mitchell Johnson'.

Mr Horne | Director of Cricket

Sports Day Results
Sports days began in the first half of term with a wonderful morning of team events for Pre-prep. Years 3 and 4 also enjoyed what was their first full track and field sports day, when they competed in recognisable events This year saw an exciting development in summer athletics with our Y5-8 boys coming together to compete in our first ever House Sports Day held over at the senior school athletics track. The weather was almost perfect for athletes and spectators with more records broken this year than in any other year previously. MTP records have now been recorded in all events, with some outstanding  team and individual performances. Wren House were eventually victorious on the day with all teams having competed and managed their own events. With enormous support from parents and house tutors, this truly was a highlight of the year in the sporting calendar.

Records below and photos to follow...

Y7/8 Events

Cup

Record Holder

Existing Record

Winner 2017 (*note if this is a new record)

Time/Distance

100m

Hayes

Lucas Johnson

12.82s

Sohan Mukherjee *NR*

12.78s

200m

Haider

Ayush Chavan

28.28s

Sohan Mukherjee *NR*

27.53s

400m

Page

Praneil Singh

1m 11.93s

Tom Groves

1m 14.19s

800m

Souloglou

Praneil Singh

2m 47.03s

Jonathan Read *NR*

2m 40.66s

1500m

Ferres

 

 

Aran Sangha *NR*

5m 22s

High Jump

Laycock

Lucas Johnson

1.37m

Jonathan Read

1.35m

Y8 Long Jump

Souloglou

Ayush Chavan

3.91m

Oliver Johnson *NR*

4.35m

Discus

Oshima

Sebastian Constantine

23.20m

Sohan Mukherjee

21.9m

Javelin

Westley

Sachin Patel

24.55m

Om Chavda *NR*

26.52m

Shot Putt

Canada

Praneil Singh

9.50m

Om Chavda

8.38m

4 x 100m

Hardcastle

 

 

Wren *NR*

59.66s

4 x 400m

 

 

 

Wren *NR*

4m 48.65s


Y5/6 Events

Cup

Winner 2017 (*note if this is a new record) All New Records

80m

Machado Sprint Cup

Munachi Nnatuanya  11.09s

200m

Princewill 200m Cup

Oliver Browne 29.97s

400m

 

Oliver Browne/Georgios Kyriacou 1m 18s

800m

Celebration Day Award

Georgios Kyriakou  2m 54s

1,500m

Celebration Day Award

Oliver Browne 6m 22s

High Jump

Pegler Cup

Tyler Horsfall 1.20m

Long Jump

Shah Long Jump Cup

Alexander Andelkovic 3.50m

Discus

Celebration Day Award

Sanjiv Vadera 18.10m

Javelin

Willems Javelin Cup

Aryan Sodha 17.80m

Shot Putt

Celebration Day Award

Ishaaq Rather/Krish Patel 6.68m

4 x 100m Relay

Jordan Centenary Relay Cup

Wren  1m 5.93s

4 x 400m Relay

 

Wren 5m 33.37s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year 3/4 Events

Winner 2017

2017
Result

Record Holder

Existing Record

50m

Tobi Alade

7.57s *New Record*

Tobi Alade (Year 3)

8.37s

400m

Tobi Alade

1m 20.15s *New Record*

Jack Groves

1m 22.03s

High Jump

Amay Mohan/Ishan Olsen

1m 15cm

Jai Satheesh

1m 18cm

Long Jump

Ishan Olsen

3m

Dhaya Thind (New Record)

3.13m

Discus

Taran Seekatz

22.45m

Shyam Pankhania

26m 40cm

Cricket Ball Throw (Y3/4) New 2017* 

Roshan Patel

28.75m *New Record*

 

Torpedo Javelin (Y4)

Did not take place 2017

 

Jai Satheesh

16.50m

Shot Putt

Zakariya Karim

10.9m *New Record*

Giorgos Kyriakou/Jai Satheesh

9.90m

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW RECORDS BEGAN IN 2016 WHEN NORTHWOOD PREP BECAME MERCHANT TAYLORS’ PREP *ALL PREVIOUS RECORDS HAVE BEEN ARCHIVED
Mr D Todd | Diector of Sports
Thank You
As we come to the end of another fantastic year of sport, the Sports Department would like to take this opportunity to thank all pupils and parents for their efforts and support throughout the year. There have been many remarkable achievements this year across all sports: THL victories in Y7/8 and a first ever Joint MTP & MTS Hockey Tour which ended unbeaten, Y5-8 Sports Day & Y5 Larkin Shield Football Tournament held at MTS for the first time, Y6 Rugby at Allianz Park, 1st XI Cricket in the last 8 of the National Cup again, to name just a few. None of this would be possible without the support from parents, and a huge thank you if you have managed to come along and support your son too. We would encourage the boys to stay active during their time off which will only help them to hit the ground running in September. Swimming, Cycling, Cricket/Football in the garden… we’d encourage all boys to find something they enjoy and have a go at over the Summer. We’ve spoken to all boys about the importance of maintaining the fitness they’ve worked so hard to achieve this year. Autumn term brings us in to Hockey and Rugby season in the Prep School, and an introduction to more new sports in the Pre-Prep. Enjoy your holidays from all in the Sports Department.
Mr J Denham | Sport Coach
PARENTS' ASSOCIATION
Happy Holidays from the PA.

We have thoroughly enjoyed organising various fun filled events and bringing our MTP family and friends together this year. 

We would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the highlights of the PA events that have taken place over the past year:
Fireworks Spectacular:  Hot Chocolate, mulled wine and a truly spectacular display of fireworks made our first flagship event a night to remember.  Keep your diaries free for next year’s spectacular to be held on Thursday 2nd November 2017
MTP/MTS Christmas Fair:  We were excited to run our first collaboration with MTS. Our Scalextric table was a huge success; there wasn’t a quiet moment all day!  We are proud to say that we helped raise £7,400 for New Hope Watford.
MTP Quiz Night:  Back due to popular demand,  boys across the school enjoyed a friendly and competitive evening with their families and peers.
Summer Carnival:  Our first flagship fun family day out. A day to remember with rides, a police car, stalls, face painting and lots more to entertain children of all ages.  A fantastic day that raised £2,500 for both Michael Sobell and The Francis Terry Foundation.

It goes without saying the PA’s numerous cake sales and mufti days are ever so popular and these will continue to run throughout next year along with our uniform sales (more information to come).

Please don’t forget to hand in any uniform that your son has outgrown into the school office to support uniform sales next year.

Dates for the diary for the next academic term:
29th Sept 2017 – Mufti Day
1st October 2017 — Every year the school has a great turn out to support the fun run. If you want to be part of the MTP team register under Merchant Taylors’ Preparatory School in the Moor Fun Run website
2nd November 2017— Annual fireworks spectacular
7th Dec 2017 - Christmas Concert
11th Dec 2017 – back by popular demand the Christmas Secrets Room!
A huge, heartfelt thank you for your continued support. We wish you a great summer break!

Best wishes,

The MTP Parents’ Association
     
ART

Prep School Artwork

Mr D Roach | Head of Art and Design
MATHS
United Kingdom Maths Trust (UKMT) Junior Maths Challenge (JMC) and follow-on rounds

At the start of term, all of our Y7-Y8 pupils, along with many in Year 6, sat the Junior Maths Challenge competition. Certificates arrived in the second half of term and were presented to the boys who were awarded one by the UKMT. The Junior Maths Challenge is aimed at pupils in Year 8 or below in England and Wales, Year 9 or below in Northern Ireland and S2 or below in Scotland. The challenge involves answering 25 multiple choice questions in one hour and is sat in school under normal exam conditions. Pupils fill in the answer sheet in B or HB pencil and the Challenge is marked by UKMT using an optical mark reader.

The top 40% of students nationally receive a gold, silver or bronze certificate in the ratio 1:2:3 and each institution receives a Best in School certificate. Around 1200 of the highest scorers are invited to participate in the Junior Mathematical Olympiad. Following a successful pilot in 2015, a further several thousand pupils from across both year groups are invited to sit the Junior Kangaroo paper. This is a one-hour paper with 25 multiple-choice questions and, like the JMC and JMO, sat in school.

Quite a few MTP boys just missed out on a Challenge certificate and we wish them a better outcome next year. The Challenges extend into senior schools with Intermediate and Senior events, and there are also Team Challenges.
[Within each section, the results below are in alphabetical order]

Year 8
Gold Certificate
Pahal Jariwala
was also awarded Best in School, Best in Year 8 and qualified for the Junior Kangaroo follow-on round (results not yet received at the time of writing)
Neil Prabhakar also qualified for the Junior Kangaroo follow-on round
Harry Williams also qualified for the Junior Kangaroo follow-on round
Jonathan Read

Silver Certificate
Ameya Dabral; Thomas Groves; Ronak Patel; Raiyan Qureshi      

Bronze Certificate
Niam Bhattacharya; Lukas Blom; Ankit Chadha; Arjun Gill; James Gray; Raj Shah; Henry Wareing                    

Year 7
Gold Certificate
Sahil Shah was also Best in Year 7
Aarav Chadha                          

Silver Certificate
Oliver Johnson; Christopher Joseph; Hasan Khan; Max Little

Bronze Certificate
Om Chavda; Rohan Choudhary; Amaan Kassam; Duncan Mallett; Charlie Marshall; Adam Muneer; Samuel O'Tuminu; Sahil Patel; Rahul Patel; Niels Redman; Aran Sangha; Shay Thakrar; James Ward

Year 6
Gold Certificate

Aayush Pandit was also Best in Year 6

Silver Certificate
Anish Bharadwaj; Luka Hinton; Siddhanth Kheria; Paasha Mohammadi; Krishav Sehdev; Krish Thakrar; Sid Tiwari; Rhys Varma

Bronze Certificate
Munachi Nnatuanya; Aryan Sodha

Mr B Westacott | Head of Maths

LITERACY
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This term Year 7 has been studying Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and, to help bring Shakespeare to life, the boys took to the stage to showcase their understanding and interpretation of the play itself.  The culmination of this resulted in a ‘Shakespeare showcase’ at Merchant Taylors’ School where all Year 7 students from both the prep and senior school joined forces to perform an abridged version of the play in the Headmaster’s garden. To celebrate the true meaning of midsummer parents were invited to bring a picnic and blankets, and to sit back, relax and enjoy the play. The evening celebrated Shakespeare’s continuing relevance to modern day society whilst enabling the boys to experience the text outside of the classroom. I was incredibly impressed with the maturity and determination with which the boys approached the task. The Year 7s worked extremely hard in preparation for the showcase and this was clearly evident in their wonderful performance.

Miss J Spear | English Teacher
SPEECH AND DRAMA
An Italian Straw Hat

Congratulations to Year 8 on their uproarious production of Labiche’s classic French farce ‘An Italian Straw Hat’, which played in The Lalani New Barn Theatre last week. In 1850’s Paris, Monsieur Fadinard is desperately trying to get married at the same time as replacing a lady’s straw hat - which his horse has accidently eaten - without alerting his in-laws or her husband. Hilarity ensues. The Y8 boys rose majestically to the technical challenges of our first farce to play the New Barn Theatre stage, confidently portraying a colourful range of hysterical characters with maturity and flair. Assured and stylish performances entertained two busy evenings of parents, friends and relatives as well as a school matinee to the delight of MTP pupils and staff. Mrs Toumanova’s exquisite stage design effectively provided a versatile range of settings – a lounge, a bedroom, a hat shop, a Duchess’ chateau and a Parisian street. A gorgeous array of period costumes, props and furniture completed the atmosphere of old France, with the resourceful Mr Harper generously aiding in set construction. Audiences were transported in time as The Lalani New Barn Theatre was transformed into the social whirl of nineteenth-century Paris.

Evocative stage lighting was delivered by professional designer Mr Dymock, while Mr Watson expertly stage managed the production from the wings assisted by Mr Winn. The Year 8 boys themselves served as lighting operators as well as the assistant stage crew. Mr Edwards and Mr Smith supplied a vibrant musical soundtrack to accompany the stage action, while assistant directors Mrs Smith and Mr Smith are also worthy of praise for their tireless creative support. Additional thanks to Mrs Nye for props and the huge staff team who also assisted the production backstage and front of house. But the last word must go to our superb company of Year 8 actors, who wowed us with their passionate ‘Oliver!’ two years ago and who impressed us once again with their commanding performances of warmth, wit and imagination. It was another unforgettable evening of spectacular entertainment in The Lalani New Barn Theatre, from a hugely talented ensemble of Year 8 boys who have a wealth of dramatic experience and ability to offer their new schools. Goodbye and good luck, boys!

Spencer Hinton | Head of Speech and Drama