ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY VISITS OUR SCHOOL

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1 Fortnightly News years anniversary ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY VISITS OUR SCHOOL On Tuesday 23rd June, the school was honoured to welcome Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. He spoke to the whole school in assembly and was given a tour of the school. Mr Smith s Year 10 RS class were given the wonderful opportunity of being part of a Question and Answer session and they certainly came up with some very interesting and at times controversial questions for the Archbishop.

2 Page 2 Zaker, Sameer, Billie, Emmanuel G, Daniel G and Waissur in 8.18 interviewed the guests and Vasco in 8.7 filmed the event. You can read about Harry Waddingham and one of his pupils holding the school photograph Visit by the oldest living Tenisonian On Wednesday, 17 th June Tenison s was privileged to be visited by a former Head of PE, Mr Waddington, who started working at the school as a PE teacher after he left the Navy at the end of the Second World War. He is due to turn 99 years old in October. He remembered all the details of his time at Tenison s and we learned a lot about the history of the school. Also joining us were Old Boys, former Tenison students, who used to be pupils of Mr Waddington. They also had a lot to share. Question and answer session Where the boys discovered that the school used to have a gun cupboard! (used by the Army Cadets)

3 Page 3 Our journey to the service at St Paul s this morning started early. On our way to St Paul s we viewed a number of architectural attractions, including the Shard and the Gherkin. When we finally arrived at the St Paul s. We were astounded by the number of people who attended. Commemoration of the There were a lot of people Bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo 18 th June 2015 By Michael Adjei 8.7 In my previous History lessons we have studied about the Battle of Waterloo in We learnt how significant this battle was. Ms Appavoo, Mr Melvin and I partook in the special commemoration service at St Paul s Cathedral this morning. We were invited to learn more about the remarkable battle between British, Prussian and Russian forces against the French. The two key leaders were the Wellington and Napoleon. In addition to this event, my class has been involved in an E Book project. This has been run by the Waterloo 200 organisers. This was organised by Ms Appavoo and Mr Macrory. It involved a plethora of other schools and included having to write about a particular soldier who participated in the Battle of Waterloo. We had to provide information on the soldier that could easily inform people who are interested about the soldiers.

4 Transcript summary of the interview with Mr Waddington What subject did you teach? Mr Waddington was the Head of PE. Just like today he used to take students to Motspur Park. However, he would take 130 children at a time. Mr Waddington left the Navy after the war to teach at Archbishop Tenison s School. He taught PE, physics and maths. Later on he became Head of the PE department. Mr Waddington surprised us by telling us that he taught Mr Melvin s father. Mr Waddington led the school marching band. The band was run at the top of the school building and in the hall. There was a boy called Davis who was very good at drumming and really enjoyed taking a lead in the band during practice. Is the uniform the same? Yes it is. Apart from the House ties that have now changed. Every things else was the same. Students did have a cap with their school badge pinned on. The peak of each cap was a different colour to represent the school houses.

5 What were the punishments for misdemeanours? Students had to write lines after school for small infractions. The prefects gave Friday evening detentions. The Head Master would run Saturday detentions at 9am. The worst punishment was getting caned. This happened to most students at some time in their school career. The female teachers would not cane boys, instead they would send them to senior teachers to punish them. Sometimes students would have to wait till the next day knowing that they might be caned. The students did not sleep well on those nights. Interesting facts that we learnt about the school The old boys who also visited told us that there was a rifle range in the basement of the school. This was established to support the work of the cadets. Soon after the Second World War students were encouraged to be ready for enlistment when they were called up to join the military services for compulsory national service. Boys had to join the armed services for two years after they left school. Stored in the school was an armoury with two machine guns. Live rounds of ammunition and rifles. Students would regularly take part in rifle shooting practice. The Old Boys that visited us commented that the experience of firing a weapon sounded fun, but in reality was quite challenging, especially as the kick back for firing could leave their shoulders feeling sore. During the Second World War the whole school population were evacuated to Reading to avoid the bombing in London. During this time the school was badly bombed and the main building was destroyed. It had to be rebuilt in The evacuated students were not in one school in Reading, but divided up into a range of schools. During this time the school was used as a fire station to help put out the many fires that arose from the bombing of the area during war. The PE department at the stop of the school was the last area to be fully rebuilt. After the war when students returned, they had their PE lessons in the Oval Cricket Ground. Mr Waddington had to be very careful to ensure there was no damage and the boys did not get up to any pranks. On one occasion he found a school cap thrown up very high and lodged in the light fittings above. He never found out who had committed that act. The Oval grounds men who had to get the cap down were not impressed. It must have been quite a throw. It was a fascinating afternoon. We all, students and teachers alike learned a lot about what it was like to be a Tenison s student 60 years ago.

6 Page 4 Dates for your diaries School closed Friday 3rd July The school will be closed to pupils on 3rd July for an INSET day in conjunction with teachers from St Marks Primary School. Monday 6th July Sports Day This event will take place at Tooting Bec Athletic Ground. Students should arrive in school as normal with their PE Kit. We are expecting to be dismissing pupils from the Oval at when we return. Lower school prize evening, Thursday 9th July Staff are currently being asked to nominate prize winners in years 7, 8 and 9 for the forthcoming awards. Activities week last week of term, commencing 13th July On the Monday, we will have a whole school pageant to commemorate the 330th Anniversary of the school On Tuesday through to Thursday, all students will be involved in a wide range of trips and activities. On Friday 17th July, the last day of term, we will conclude another successful year at ATS with our usual end of term rewards assembly followed by form parties. Students will be dismissed around 12 o clock. Arrangements for September School re-opens for years 8 to 11 on Thursday 3rd September. Year 12 enrolment is also on this day. Year 13 enrolment will be on Friday 4th September. New year 7s, which for the first time will include girls joining ATS, will start on Tuesday 2nd September.