Scissorum Issue 188 February 23 2018 · Scissorum Issue 188 ... King of the Piste – Martin Nemec...

ScissorumIssue 188

Merchant Taylors’ School

MTS boys hit the slopes

September 29 2017

Weekly Newsletter 23 February 2018

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From the Head Master

Half-term saw two very different trips, both to Italy. There was a Classics trip to Naples and a ski trip to the Dolomites - I was delighted to hear how impressively the boys conducted themselves and, as the photos inside will attest, to see that they enjoyed themselves immensely. In sport, our hockey players went on a tour to Bath with our Upper Thirds joining forces with Year 8 pupils from MTP. The strength

of MTS junior hockey certainly whets the appetite in terms of our senior sides in the years to come.

The musical output of the school is a constant source of pride and testimony to the great skill and endeavour of our Music Department. Two of their charges, Yasar Cohen-Shah and Moses Ng, gave a joint organ recital at St Lawrence Jewry in the City, performing a varied programme

of music ranging from Bach to Leighton - many congratulations to them both. Then, on Wednesday evening, some of MTS’ most accomplished ensembles lit up the Recital Hall with some genuinely stunning performances.

This WeekMerchant Taylors’

MTS’ star organists give a recital at St Lawrence Jewry in the City over half-term

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Organ RecitalOver half term Yasar Cohen-Shah and Moses Ng gave a joint organ recital at St Lawrence Jewry to a large and appreciative audience. This recital was one in the School

Series which serves to bring the best of the upcoming and coming organists to a wider audience. They performed a varied programme of music ranging from Bach to

Leighton, and both rose to the challenge of playing an instrument many times larger than the organ in the Great Hall with great confidence and style.

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Brij Kantaria (L6th) writes: Among the many valuable opportunities on offer at Taylors’ is the chance to embark on a plethora of career insights, which can help to inform our futures as students.

Over the half-term break a group of eight Lower Sixth travelled to Canary Wharf to gain an understanding into the world of finance at Citigroup’s offices. Upon arrival, the cohort was awed by the sprawl and energy of this financial hub, eager to learn more about future career prospects in the City.

The afternoon entailed a number of meetings in a Citi boardroom where both specialists and trainees in various parts of the bank spoke to us about their daily jobs. These divisions included equity derivatives, CMOs, foreign exchange trading and private banking, to name a few. They invited us to ask lots of questions about what they do on a day-to-day basis in the bank or information on applying for Citi programmes. In particular, we learnt that going into banking does not require any specific qualifications, but rather a passion to excel in whatever it is one does.

In the last session we had the opportunity to meet one of Citi’s Head of Equities Trading. It is fair to say that we were all inspired by his enthusiasm for trading and his wealth of experience in the field.

He presented us with the predicament of what to choose

when either offered £10, or taking £20 with the toss of the coin, where, if you lose the toss you take nothing home. From this we understood the importance in taking managed risks in the financial markets, where the main stratagem revolves not around how much one could gain, but about how much one is prepared to lose. Of course, using this theorem the most rational move would be to take the £10, knowing that the average gain from choosing the second option would also be £10, but with the risk of losing out. This example could also be applied to other real life financial decisions that we might perhaps one day have to make.

The afternoon concluded with a tour of Citi’s trading floor, an

extraordinary experience, which demonstrated the lively atmosphere of working in the financial sector.

Overall the day was incredibly informative, and our thanks go to Mrs Andrews and Mrs Armstrong for organising the event as well as all the Citi staff who gave up their time to speak to us. I personally found this insight day incredibly useful to me as I start to consider career prospects, and would recommend it to anyone who gets such an opportunity in the future.

Could you offer a career insight to a group of our MTS 6th Formers? If so, please contact Mrs Armstrong or Mrs Andrews in Careers to discuss on [email protected].

Lower Sixth visit to Citigroup


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During the February half-term, 26 Third Formers took an early flight to Naples, to discover the ancient world of the Cambridge Latin Course textbook. Disembarking, we zoomed straight to the Archaeological Museum, and boys were astonished to see the preserved artefacts taken from Pompeii. The collection also contained some of the colossal Farnese marbles, other examples of which can be found in the British Museum.

The next day was crammed with sights and activities to appeal to young scholar-athletes. Briefly stopping at the palatial Villa Poppaea, boys marvelled at the still-vivid frescoes, before we made our ascent of Mt. Vesuvius, breaking through the rain clouds. The afternoon brought the highlight for many, as we explored an uncharacteristically empty Pompeii, a city buried in ash in AD 79 and still now only half excavated. Highlights included original graffiti and the house of Caecilius himself.

The final day brought the best of the weather and the hidden gem of Herculaneum, another preserved city. The boys were moved by the human tragedy as they saw skeletons of people gathered at the coast, trying to escape the eruption. Later, we lunched in sight of the volcanic beach where the writer Pliny met his end.

The boys were attentive and enthusiastic throughout the trip, and the spark of classical interest may have been ignited among the ashes of Pompeii.

Classics Trip to Naples

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During the February half-term

41 students and 5 members of

staff headed to Italy for a great

week of skiing. We stayed in

the fabulous Hotel Betulla in the

resort of Madonna di Campiglio,

a picturesque resort sat high in

the Dolomite mountain range.

The weather and conditions

were perfect throughout, with

perfect snow for the whole week

and numerous days of brilliant

sunshine. The boys received some

good instruction and all the boys

made great progress in their skiing.

This year evening activities

included Mr Greenaway’s world

renowned quiz, where winners

“King Colin” marginally beat the staff team. We also had a film night where we watched inspirational winter film “Eddie the Eagle”. At the end of the week awards were also awarded by Mr Rogerson:

King of the Piste – Martin Nemec Zero to Hero – Avi Shah True Grit – Ethan Horgan-Smith Best Dressed – Ari Moneke Papa Ski – Olly Carter Best Crash – Kailen Takhar Top Bloke on Tour – Puneet Patel

Everyone made it back to the UK in one piece and overall the boys acquitted themselves very well. The trip was as good as it was because the boys made it so - well done all!

Italy Ski Trip

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The annual Bath Tour has combined the best of the prep and senior school year 8 hockey pupils helping build comradely, links and friendship. After coming up against a strong Dauntsey’s outfit and losing the game 8-0 the touring side recovered well and begun to click as a unit. The tour took place from Friday to Sunday and saw the touring side compete against the best of Bath, a renowned hockey hub, with some outstanding hockey schools:

• Dauntsey’s (8-0L) • KES bath (7-2W) • Prior Park (4-1L) • Walhampton (Touring side) (3-2W) • Monkton Combe (3-2L) • Beecham Cliff (8-1W)

After a tough start the touring side

found their feet. Oscar John was

outstanding, scoring 3 against

Walhampton, after the side had

gone 2-0 down. The touring side

included:

1. Joshua Odegbami

2. Theo Russell

3. Michael-Daniel Laryea-Adu

4. Oscar John

5. Rishi Thapar

Mr Penny and Mr Todd were both

impressed by the pupils’ attitude

and ability to gel. With a number

of pupils narrowly missing out on

the tour, the competition for places

at the junior age groups are now

at an all-time high. The boys also

enjoyed an evening of Six Nations

followed by a very well-earned visit

to Nando’s on the Saturday.

U13 Merchant Taylors’ Prep and Senior School Combined Hockey Tour in Bath

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Junior hockey in the Northwood area is on the up, with the 3rds and U3rds beating KGS, Reed’s and Ipswich among other high profile names.

The Prep School and St John’s hockey are also on the rise and the talent coming through will be exciting to see, especially with the MTS 1st team already

now competing with Whitgift and the other top hockey schools in the country.

Junior hockey success

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Senior Geography SocietyPhoto Competition

The whole school were invited to take part in our photo competition and we had an overwhelming number of entries for both categories: Urban and Rural. Well done to all who submitted a photo – here are just a selection of some of the best. Rohan Day was the winner of the ‘Urban’ category and Thomas Hattam was the winner of the ‘Rural’ category – both will receive vouchers as their prize; the rest shown here were all highly commended and will be displayed in the Geography Department.

WINNER RURAL CATEGORY Thomas Hattam

James Combe

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Oliver Powell Tuck Neel Gokal

Joseph Mitchell James Haywood

Nikhil Kapadia Thomas Hattam

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WINNER URBAN CATEGORY Rohan Day


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Tuesday in half term for Fifth formers usually involves a very early start at midday and some casual essay writing till midnight. Not for these Fifth formers. Twelve boys were invited to attend a lecture at Queen Mary, Univeristy of London, on Dickens’ style. The lecture was delivered by Professor Peggy Reynolds - a popular participant on Melvyn Bragg’s In our Time BBC Radio 4 show - as part of the undergraduate English BA at the university. The lecture was followed by the boys taking

part in an undergraduate seminar run by Dr Huw Marsh, convenor of the narratology module on the undergraduate degree. Dr Marsh was so impressed with the boys that he told them, at the end of the seminar, to skip A Levels and come straight to university.

Of course, no trip worth its salt would have skipped the chance to top off the intellectual feast with a brief two hour stop off at a reputable burger establishment. So ...we did.

“Skip A Levels”: Fifth Form take part in undergraduate degree course


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In recognition of their effort and academic progress the following boys have been awarded Head of Section Distinctions. Congratulations!

Head of Section Distinctions

Upper School

Thorpe, Luke Senthilkumaran, Selvan Holt, James Haskurti, Ronan Garella, Sarthak Davies, Jonathan (Jonny) Birdi, Neville Atkinson, William Aggarwal, Sameer Ricciardiello, Joseph (Joey) Patel, Kailen Lee, Dong Ha Harris, Jenson Davey, John (Jack) Broomhead, Adam Bailey, Thomas Amin, Kishan

Middle School

Morgan, Joseph (Joe) Rodriguez, Issey Wright, George Patel, Ryhan Patel, Jayme Khawaja, Aman Judge, Taran Brook, Harry Remani, Shaan Ali Chaudhry, Hamzah Zamin Ali, Imran Sardana, Samir Pattni, Rishi Florent, Barnaby Mehta, Rahil Merali, Ammaar Brown, Patrick Hearn, Arun

Junior School

Yaqoob, Ali Watson, James Shah, Raj Shah, Mirren Roopra, Jay Odejinmi, Ayotunde (Daniel) Meshram, Atharv Gokal, Neel Carruthers Hintze, Guilherme Burns, Marcus Wilkinson, George Shah, Syan Sasitharan, Aran Patel, Aayaan Oyenekan, Nile Oke, Ikenna Ng, Moses Bonnett, Samuel (Sam) Ali, Seraj Weir, Leo Tajima, Sota Siddiqui, Faiz Mistry, Akshay Leigh, Charles (Charlie) Khaddaj, Sammy Kendall, Han Se Juttla, Yuvraj Hawkes, Jake Bist, Aryan

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This week, half of the houses competed in first heat of the house chess competition. There were many tense and exciting games but in the end two houses were successful in progressing to the next round of the competition. The final scores were:

Hilles 5–0 White Spencer 3–1 Mulcaster

The second heat will be on Thursday 8th March at 1.45pm in MA32. The matches are against Clive v Walter and Manor v Andrewes and the winner of these will progress to the semi-finals with Hilles and Spencer.

House Chess Heat 1

Last Friday we had our first story-

telling session of this term. It was

all about love and the scene was

set with candles and a book of love

poems. We heard from both staff

and boys alike, with stories about

communist Russia and Ancient

Greece, self-made and well known.

Laughter was heard and nails were shredded as funny and scary stories were told. There was good food and drink, and everyone tucked in, filling themselves. The library staff were “delighted to host” and decked out the library brilliantly.

A few phrases used were “I’m

coming back for the next one”

and “I wish I had a girlfriend”. A

few stories were fiction and the

ones that weren’t had an effect on

everyone, either heartening them,

or flicking worried looks across their

faces. It was an amazing event and

remember: all you need is love!

Love is in the AirRaj Shah (4ths) writes:

‘BBC News School Report’ is a national project which encourages students to produce their own real news reports. Reports are made on national, regional, local and in-school news; students choose the topic. BBC School Report at MTS runs as a 4th Form activity. In this club, students decide on what to report on, then research the topic, interview people around school, photograph, record and write-up. To read more of our articles, go to https://kshockley5.wixsite.com/mtsbbc

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MusicMerchant Taylors’

The Recital Hall was the venue for an evening of superb chamber music on Wednesday evening, featuring some of MTS’ most accomplished ensembles.

Yasar Cohen-Shah (violin), Matthew Cooper (viola) and Nicolas Alvanis (cello) have been playing together as a trio for 4 years and their experience showed in a keen sense of ensemble as they played the second movement of William Alwyn’s String Trio. Their performance was followed by the Thomas White Singers, eight of MTS’ most dedicated vocalists, who combined fine a capella singing, musical awareness and excellent

communication in a sensitive rendition of one of Mendelssohn’s male voice motets. Next came the Clarinet Quartet in which Jake Bamber, Joshua Winyard and Ben Hunt were joined by Harvey Lidstone making his debut on Bass Clarinet. They began with a bespoke arrangement by Damon Robb of Bach’s ‘Little Fugue’ – a challenging piece requiring considerable independence of parts and followed this with Clare Grundman’s lively ‘Caprice for Clarinets’.

MTS’ newest chamber group, a string trio comprising Willem Redman and Rohan Kothari on violins and Jude Collings on

Chamber Music Concert

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cello, debuted with an assured performance of Borodin’s Trio in G minor. One of Mozart’s early string quartets was up next – the Allegro from K. 157 – played by some of MTS’s finest string players including Jack Wu and James Parfitt (violins), Theo Berenzweig (viola) and Oscar Khan (cello). The evening was brought to a triumphant end by the Wind Quintet: Jack Wu (piano), Toby King-Cline (oboe), Ben Hunt (clarinet), Xavier Stavrou-Long (horn) and Demetri Alvanis (bassoon). The four wind players and pianist brought out the beautiful melody of Mozart’s K. 452 Larghetto with ease.

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Sixth Form trip to Cuba February 2019

Please email Mrs Lemoine (EJL) asap to indicate interest

Looking Forward Merchant Taylors’

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Looking Forward Merchant Taylors’

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SportMerchant Taylors’

U14 Performance Team: Regional Finals 2018

MTS vs Langley 0-0 (Draw)

MTS vs Ipswich 2-2 (Draw)

MTS vs Perse 3-0 (Loss)

MTS vs Bedford 3-0 (Win)

After over almost a month after

their last fixture against Reeds

School the U14 Performance side

went into the Regional Finals with

an uphill challenge.

They managed to put together

some impressive performances

but failed to qualify after a poor

performance against Perse school.

Some notable performances by

Daniel Odejinmi and Ashin Shah. Player of the tournament went to Mayowa Temowo who was outstanding at centre back.

The Sports Programs at the School:

10 of the pupils that represented the Performance team at this Regional tournament were in the U12 age group two years ago that lost every match bar one.

To have qualified out of the county tournament and almost qualify through from the Regionals is credit to the pupils involved and the attitude hey have shown, which has had a huge impact on their development.

An exciting age group, some fantastic hockey played and some

crucial lessons to build on as they compete for a spot in the U16 performance squad next year.

Match day squad:

1. Ashwin Shah 2. Nabil Hassan 3. Mayowa Temowo (Player of the tournament) 4. Lawrence Farr 5. Javier Fraga 6. Guganeshan Muralitharan 7. Daniel Odejinmi 8. James Kenney 9. Harry Bridgewater 10. Matthew Crow 11. Tom Groves 12. Amaan Patel 13. Alex Jones 14. Marcus Hills 15. Dylan Patel 16. Oliver Hamilton 17. Zayd Ahmed

Hockey

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U14 Performance Team: Regional Finals 2018

v John Hampden Grammar 2nd XI

Won 3-2 Scorers: Aryan Dave, Dominick Mahon, Rishi Pattni. MoM Oskar Ford

‘Never give your opponents any extra motivation.’ Wise words from Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee. You want them to be complacent, and for you to start the contest with the edge psychologically. Michael Phelps would train with every negative comment taped to his fridge, to steel his resolve on his way to gaining more gold medals than any other Olympian. This old adage was again proved true on a balmy evening on the MTS astros,

as the 2nd XI were told they were ‘just the 2nd XI.’ The implication was clear: we would provide little challenge. Before the sun set, MTS had comprehensively outplayed the John Hampden 1st XI and in doing so, laid down a marker as to what this team is capable of in the upcoming games.

A fired up Chris Loftus led his team onto the pitch, the determination palpable amongst the squad. A cagey opening quarter showed that there was undoubted quality on both sides. John Hampden were keen to occupy a deep, defensive formation, with plenty of men

Hockey

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behind the ball, and had sufficient

poise to play a patient hockey

game, waiting for the counter

attack. MTS play a more attacking

style, with quick passing scything

through opponents; this match-up

of styles made for an impressive

spectacle. A break-away from our

opponents saw them surge into

our ‘D’ and a deft shot rippled

the netting. They wheeled away,

whooping. MTS gritted their teeth

and waited.

The first half consisted of

tremendous hockey, with MTS

gradually dominating their

opponents in midfield. Mahon

stepped up constantly and

threaded passes through to our

skilful inners, whose range of

passing began to wear down their

heavily guarded defence. Nicholls

and Ingate were beginning to run

the show in their half, creating

enough of a chance for Dave to

make it 1-1. At the whistle, a deft

combination, starting all the way at

the back with Sardana setting up

the move, led to Loftus threading

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a pass into the area and finding Mahon’s stick, who guided it into the bottom corner. 30 minutes in and ‘just the 2nd XI’ were leading by a goal. Even Mr Husbands was doing a jig on the sideline, impressed at the entertainment.

The second half saw a sustained assault on our defence from their skilful midfielders, who were eager to run at pace and try to break us down. Some magnificent defending from all players saw us weather the pressure, with Ford in goal – a worthy MoM – make some superlative reflex saves that very much kept us in the game. MTS worked the ball out of the back and Patel and Poole were constantly looking to harry their half back and start the counter. The depth of players in the squad is extraordinary, with pace to burn. Ingate deserves the plaudits for turning their player so sharply, the opponent fell over and stayed there for 10 seconds, seeing stars, whilst MTS were all keen to show their skills and beat men one on one, with skill, a sideways pass or simple pace on the outside. A third goal, courtesy of Pattni, ensured we finished the match 3-2 victors. Some matches are satisfying for the way the team plays; here, the attitude and skill levels of the MTS boys, and the atmosphere, meant it was one to savour. Arrogance lost to gentlemanly determination here. Bring on Watford.

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v Westbrook Hay U13A

Won 45-25 Scorers Zaki Akbar (4 Tries), Max Duce (1 Try), Oscar John (2 Tries), Theo Russell (1 Try), Quino Wang (1 Try) MoM Josh Odegbami

With a limited number of boys in Y8 Westbrook Hay asked to play a reduced 10-a-side fixture at A-team level and perhaps rued the decision as the Junior 1st team dominated the opening exchanges scoring five unanswered tries. With a keen and bulging bench,

substitutions were made aplenty

and some of the early coherency

ebbed away allowing the visitors to

reduce the gap to just three scores

at the interval.

The home side tackled well

throughout with Theo pulling off a

monster try-saver in the corner but

Westbrook Hay still managed to

notch two more tries after the break

to make the score 25-20 before

MTS found the right combination of

players to pull away once more with

the game ending 45-25, thanks in

no small part to four tries from the

powerful running of Zaki.

Individual scores though were well

balanced by some really pleasing

team efforts constructed by a

squad of natural games-players who are already playing multi-phase rugby that belies their years. The ability to keep the ball through multiple phases demands that the ‘breakdown’ is won and it is the tireless and technically excellent work in this area that sees Josh pick up the MOTM vote.

Team/Level

U12B

Won 35-30 MoM Faaris Ahmed

As the U12B team lined up for their first ever match there were no nerves on display, only a quiet confidence. This confidence turned out to be well placed as within just minutes of

Rugby

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the kick-off a wonderful team move saw them cross the whitewash for the first try of the game.

What followed was typical 7s match, frantic defence, superb running and the occasional moment of individual brilliance as both sides swapped tries going into half time 3 tries to 2.

The second half once again started with an early MTS score but was quickly followed by Westbrook striking back. Monjola Akinola was unfortunate not to score a

hat-trick on the wing as time again desperate Westbrook defence pushed him into touch.

As legs began to tire the strength and power of Folu came to the fore and he scored an excellent individual try. The moment of the match went to Austen with a deft little chip over the oncoming defence that, but for an unfortunate bounce, would have left him through under the posts.

With five minutes remaining the U12Bs finally stretched their

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lead to 7 tries to 4. Wonderful organisational play by Faaris, ably supported by Harry, David and Ayaan meant that the win now seemed secure. Westbrook showed commendable spirit and refused to accept defeat, coming back strongly to score two tries in the final two plays of the game. Fortunately for MTS it was too little too late and they came out narrow victors, 7 tries to 6.

A fantastic first game with much for the boys to be proud of. I look forward to seeing them continue to improve.

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v Bedford Modern School

Team 1st IV

Loss 114-115 MoM Jamie Graham

The 1st IV played away at Bedford Modern in an incredibly close match. In the singles, BMS’s terrifically talented top two won their singles matches with ease, whilst the MTS numbers three and four (Jamie Graham and Nikhil Kapadia) were dominant in theirs. This resulted in an overall advantage to

BMS of just one point. The doubles were even closer overall - finishing tied - though the result of each individual game was clear-cut with no losing side gaining more than six points. In the end, and in spite of significant MTS pressure, BMS were able to maintain their lead to the end, finishing as deserved victors.

Fives

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Scissorum Issue 188 February 23 2018 · Scissorum Issue 188 ... King of the Piste – Martin Nemec...

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