School News Spring 2006

March 2006

Dear Parents,

The Easter holidays are upon us and it is with immense fondness and pride that I shall remember the Spring Term of 2006. The greater part of the academic year is over and we can look back to many examples of creative activity both inside and outside of the classroom.

One of the undoubted highlights for us all will have been the magnificent concert held recently at the Barbican. I am sure you will all join me in congratulating Chris Muhley and his staff, indeed all my colleagues who were involved, and particularly the boys who gave such a wonderful account of themselves. It really was one of those magical moments which brought together the whole school community and created a sense of belonging to an organisation which strives to challenge the gifted boys with whom we are privileged to work and whom we wish to see achieve excellence in all areas.

Inspired by their teachers to go beyond what is just necessary, your sons have continued to give of their very best in all areas of school life, bringing credit to themselves and to you as they develop their talents. I am very grateful to my colleagues for the way in which they insist that your sons meet the highest of standards. So, this term we enjoyed outstanding results for entry to Oxford and Cambridge with 43 boys holding conditional offers. We have done exceptionally well in a number of prestigious national competitions: Habs' boys were runner-up in the ESU Schools Mace National Debating Championship and the Bank of England/Times Target 2.0 challenge and they won the trans-regional finals of the Paperclip Physics competition to name but a few. Some of that success and achievement is recorded in this termly newsletter which will give you a glimpse of the varied life your sons lead at Habs.

This term also saw the publication of the much-awaited and highly affirmative ISI inspection report which will now enable us to focus on the next phase of the school's development. We shall be undertaking the careful and exciting process of identifying the initiatives that will enable Habs to remain at the forefront of the best independent day school education in this country.

We should not forget that for many this holiday will be a time of serious revision; your sons will need to consolidate carefully and relax constructively if they are to achieve the excellent results to which we have become accustomed. I shall close by wishing you a restful Easter break and by thanking you all for your continued help. We are lucky to have such warmly supportive parents who contribute in such a significant way to the achievements of the boys. I look forward as ever to meeting you at the various events we shall be holding next term and beyond.

STAFF NEWS
Following a successful period as Senior Tutor (Sixth Form), I am delighted to announce that Phillip Parr has been appointed Head of Sixth Form to replace Mr Frank Hanbidge who retires at the end of this academic year

Mrs Diana Robertson has been appointed to the newly created post of Registrar to oversee our admissions function.

The Reverend Jane Markby joins us as of 1st September 2006 as School Chaplain and part-time Biology Teacher. She is currently curate at All Saints Church in Edmonton and was previously a Teacher of Science at Latymer School. She studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge (Emmanuel College), where she also completed her Certificate in Pastoral Theology (Ridley Hall).

Mr Paul Whitby joins us from 1st April 2006 as Year 3 Class Teacher. Paul is currently Director of Studies at St John's Preparatory School in Potters Bar and was previously Year 4 and 6 teacher at Berkhamstead Collegiate Preparatory School. He studied Economics at the University of Greenwich and Finance & Management at the University of Exeter.

Mr Neil Ashton leaves us at the end of this term to go back into the world of business.

We will also be saying farewell to two long-serving members of the School Shop, Evelyn Colman and Lynne Croker. Our best wishes also go to Peter Ross who retires after 21 years service.

LEAVERS' DINNER DANCE
This event will take place at the Watford Hilton on 29th June 2005. Details to follow.

WORK EXPERIENCE
Work experience is intended to act as an introduction to many of the important aspects of working life and to provide pupils with a better understanding of some of the more general skills they are likely to need in whatever career they eventually choose. It is considered to be a vital part of the Year 11 curriculum and we expect all boys to have completed a period of work experience prior to entry to our Sixth Form. This year's programme will take place between the dates 19th June - 7th July 2005. It will therefore start immediately after GCSE examinations but will finish before the end of term. Co-ordination of the programme will be handled by our Work Experience Officer, Mrs Sharon Sacofsky.

Pupils are strongly encouraged to secure their own work experience placements and many are able to do so using family or business contacts. The School tries to assist those pupils who, despite their best efforts, have been unsuccessful in finding a placement in their preferred area of work. It is on behalf of these pupils that we appeal to parents to contact the School as soon as possible if they are able to procure any placements. The continuing success of the work experience scheme relies heavily upon the goodwill and support of such parents and friends of the School.

The school would also be grateful to hear from any parent who may be willing to offer a member of our Sixth Form a one or two-week placement during the summer holiday period. Offers of placements in the areas of law, finance and medicine would be especially welcome.

If you are able to offer a placement, or would like to obtain further details of the scheme, please contact Mrs Sacofsky on 020 8266 1716.

CAR PARKING FOR SCHOOL EVENTS
Parents attending school events in the evening, and at weekends, should enter the school by the Aldenham Road entrance opposite Dagger Lane and should park in the coach park as directed by the caretaking staff. The North Drive has a barrier which will allow cars to exit but not to enter the grounds.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Hamilton
Headmaster
_________

SCHOOL NEWS

ACTIVITIES

Bridge

On Saturday 18th March, Mr Marx, Dr Nolland and Mrs Nolland accompanied two teams of four to this competition in Loughborough. A slightly under strength A team, comprising Phil Maton, Nick Kanfer, Meekesh Shah and Punit Shah were disappointed not to qualify for the semifinals of the Schools' Cup and eventually finished 5th of 26 teams in the Plate Competition. An inexperienced B team of Will Hanneman, Basil Letts, Athi Kailayapathivagan and Rohan Sheth performed well and will be all the stronger next year.

Charities

Meadows
Robert Goldstein, Kartik Kumar and Zeus Kanji organised a Staff Charity Blind Date. Mrs Pollock as Cilla invited Mrs Swallow (Northern Lass) to pick either Mr Fenn (odd Frenchman), Mrs Murphy (Essex Girl) or Reverend Lindsay (Old Man) to a date. Divine intervention led to the Chaplain winning round one! In contrast, Mr Metcalfe (a character from Hove) had little option but to choose his favourite Radlett girl (as played by Ms Cook) from Ms Murray and Mr Whalley (two more 'Little Britain' style characters). The Bourne Hall was packed as the excellent show raised in excess of £340.

Sam Freeman (9MA) was central in encouraging his fellow 'Meadowsians' to a Basketball Shoot Out, the boys were sponsored, often per shot (!) and a figure of £640 is finally expected to be raised. It was a terrific effort by all and there were medals for the winners!

Russells
Team Russells Iron Man Challenge, 8R Cinema Event and sweet sale, 9R Dodgeball Tournament and 7R and 8R charity fete has raised £2,200 so far for Teenage Cancer Trust.

School and Community Service

A small party of ten boys from Years 10 and 11 accompanied Mr Barnes on Field Day for a Community Project at Aldenham Park. It is hoped that the voluntary work the boys undertook builds a stronger relationship with our neighbour.

Chess

Habs have been brought down to earth this term with both Habs A and B only being runners up in their respective zones. Both therefore entered the Plate tournament and were unfortunately paired up against each other in the Quarter Finals - Habs A not surprisingly prevailing. They now go on to the Semis and Finals in Nottingham in the Summer Term where they will be clear favourites to win.

The National Rapidplay U14 tournament in Solihull was a tight affair with Habs finishing runners-up.

The Hertfordshire league has suffered due to Hab's dominance in recent years and a belated start to the league in the Summer Term will see only a small number of teams participating. Habs will field a Year 7 team for the U15 division and a Year 8 & 9 team for the U19 division in an effort to make it more competitive.

Akash Jain (7C) scored an impressive 7/7 in winning the British Land Chess Challenge. He and 14 others have progressed to the next stage of the competition.

Debating

Jamie Susskind has been selected for the England National debating team beating of fierce competition. He is one of four on the team who will be competing at the World Debating Championships in Cardiff this summer.

It has been a term of great success. In the ESU Mace competition, Jamie Susskind and Alex Canfor-Dumas won three rounds to become Eastern Area champions and were runners up in the England National Final.

The same team won through two local rounds to join the top 20 schools for the Cambridge University schools' debating competition finals day. After a very successful day they made it to the final four but did not manage to bring home any silverware.

Jamie Susskind and James Fox won through to the Oxford University Schools' competition finals day.
Two teams went to the Durham Union weekend competition where James Fox and Jamie Susskind successfully made it through five rounds to the final and were eventually runners-up.

The inter-house middle school championship was won this term by Hendersons.

Engineering Education Scheme

A team of four L6 boys (Qasim Gulamhusein L6C1, Minsung Ko L6J1, Jeremy Leong L6J2, and Taishi Yamazaki L6H1) have been working on a device to check that plastered walls on building sites are flat within a tolerance of just 3mm. The team were set this Engineering problem to tackle by Holloway White Allom as part of the E.E.S. in October 2005. They carried out a site visit at a construction site in Chelsea to find out a little more before attending a residential workshop, based at the University of Hertfordshire, in January.

They have made great strides by producing 2 working models before going ahead to design and manufacture the final prototype. The boys have also had to write an extensive report documenting their progress, which has just been submitted for assessment. On May 4th the team will travel to Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to give a presentation to a panel of assessors for the Scheme as part of the finale to the activity, the Celebration and Assessment Day.

In recognition of their achievement and hard work each member of the team is likely to be awarded a Gold Award by CREST (CREativity in Science and Technology), a national accreditation scheme recognised by Universities.

Fencing

The Public Schools Fencing Championships were held on Wednesday 22nd March at the Crystal Palace National Recreation Centre. Nine boys were entered in the senior epee tournament and all competed well. Peter Campbell, Paul Hardwick and Aaron Landau made it through to the second round and Aaron was successful in progressing to the third round, which is further than any of our competitors last year. Thanks to our regular coach Jo Maynard for preparing the boys and to Mark Begram who stepped in on the day, as Jo was ill.

The Hague International Model United Nations Conference, January 2006

The boys' performance at The Hague MUN conference was once again excellent. We represented Syria, which was an interesting exercise in itself! As in past years, we punched well above our weight. The boys played a prominent role in each of the committees in which they took part. We managed to pass more of our resolutions than any other single school. Daniel Susskind and Jacob Turner presented their resolutions to the General Assembly and Daniel's will be included in the 2006 resolutions booklet sent to the United Nations. Chris McGeever, Asher Steene, Aziz Ahsan, Nick Collins and Alex Canfor-Dumas also made an outstanding contribution.

The Haileybury MUN took place in mid-March. We sent a record 23 boys, representing countries as diverse as UK, Iraq, Italy and Venezuela. The purpose of this conference is mainly to initiate and induct new delegates, mainly from Year 11 and the L6. In April we will be sending a more experienced group to the St Andrew's International Model United Nations, in Dublin. This is one of the highlights of the MUN year and Habs have much to live up to. The last time we attended we were awarded both the distinguished delegation awards: a feat achieved by only one non-Irish school in the past, Habs (1999)!

Mountaineering Club Trip to Wales 17-19 March 2006

Parties from Habs Mountaineering Club have stayed at Kings Youth Hostel several times before but this time was to be different - the hostel was not fully open and we could only stay if we cooked for ourselves. Mr Hardman and Mr Gilbertson thought long and hard before committing themselves to a weekend of “survival cookery” but eventually decided to “go for it”.

The party comprised four of the “usual suspects”, Sam Hussain (11R1), Alqayam Meghji and Henry Waterfield (both of U6J1), Kristian Parry (L6H1) with Julian Parmar (10R1) joining us for the first time.

The weather was very cold with strong easterly winds and everyone was wrapped up warmly as the party set out from Cwm Cywarch to climb the three most southerly Aran mountains. Parts of the path were covered in verglas (a thin layer of ice) which required careful footwork in places. Higher up the snow cover was patchy and the wind had produced a frustrating crust that supported your weight at times and collapsed at others. It was an energy sapping plod to the first top of Waun Lefrith before we turned to make the steep climb up Glasgwm. This involved negotiating some steep snow slopes and it was here that the ice axes came into use. One slope with a safe run-out was selected for all to practise the art of using the ice axe to arrest a fall.

We sought a sheltered spot for lunch just below the top and then walked to the final point of Pen y Bryn-fforchog before a not so gentle walk (deep snow) back through the pine forests to the minibus.

The self-catering efforts in the evening were pure entertainment with some of the boys in the party learning the importance of preparation and timing to ensure that, let us say, the time gap between different parts of the meal being ready is less than an hour! Lessons learnt, the boys produced a magnificent full-fried breakfast the next morning with immaculate timing!

Sunday remained cold but some sunshine required sun cream and dark glasses. The party walked to the summit of Carnedd y Filiast in the Arenig range before returning to London. Another great weekend of fun and good companionship!

Life Saving

This Club has had another productive term and the following boys have achieved Life Support 1 awards:

Dipesh Gopal L6R1
Mitul Patel L6R2
Ellis Savva L6J1
Parth Shah L6R1

Mrs. Mary-Anne Candy has also joined us from the Girls' School to help with supervision.

*****

JUNIOR SCHOOL

During this Spring Term, we have seen assemblies in which Mr. Holmes led 8J celebrating Pancake Day whilst 7R talked about the theme of 'What makes them happy'. All of the boys had a part to play, be it on the stage or working behind the scenes to make this work.

DEPARTMENT NEWS

Art

Exhibitions
We have had a major Art show this term in the Bourne Exhibition area featuring the work of Richard Corbett (OH). His show included a wide range of paintings, prints, photographs and drawings. Richard works to set themes, often deriving his inspiration for his compositions from music, literature and nature. He makes links with the various moods found in landscapes producing multi-layered prints, which reveal subtle changes in colour, texture and pattern. An informal Private View was held and attended by pupils, parents and staff. The Art department would like to thank Richard for staging such a comprehensive and successful one-man-show.

Lectures
Once again we invited HABS' favourite Art lecturer Professor Anthony Slinn to give us a presentation on the life and work of the Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dali. It was another outstanding talk, and I'm sure that it will inspire this years GSCE and A Level students, in the run-up to their Art examinations next term.

Trips
The Art department have run two trips to the London galleries this term. One to the Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Nearly 40 students travelled to the two Tates on Sunday 19th March, in preparation for their Art examinations. A highlight of the day was the views from the Tate Shuttle boat from the Thames as we made our way from the Britain to the Modern.
A smaller group went to the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery on Field Day. It proved to be a very informative study day.

The Barbican
The Art department also put together a comprehensive selection of Art work by a wide range of students (Year 7 - 13) The highlight of the display was probably the large pieces by members of the lower sixth for the Barbican Music event. Special mention should go to Lucy Jay the Art technician who window mounted the whole display!

Design Technology

Technology Tournament, Bushey Hall School
Congratulations to one of our teams - comprising of Zain Arora (10H2), Chris Jackson (10R2) and Dhylan Baskaran (10J3) who came first in their age group on Friday 17th March. Fourteen Haberdashers' boys from Year 10 took part in a Technology Tournament. Eleven local schools were competing in the competition including teams from Watford Grammar and Merchant Taylor's.

The problem-solving task this year was to design and make a gripping device that could remove a tennis ball from a clear acrylic box and then place the ball safely on a target area 1metre from the box in less than 30 seconds.

Drama

The Drama department has been running like a large repertory theatre this term! January saw performances by the GCSE Drama students: two pieces of devised theatre based on transcripts of First World War letters, songs and poetry whilst another group presented a most exciting physical theatre production of “Beowulf”. Upper 6th Theatre Studies students rehearsed throughout half term and in the following ten days to present their adaptation of David Edgar's “Nicholas Nickleby”. With a cast of 180 characters and lasting over 9 hours in its original form, the 7 boys presenting this for their scripted performance clearly had their work cut out to bring the epic down to what was a most magical 45 minutes of gripping theatre. The students won deservedly high praise and top marks for their efforts.

Two weeks later saw the final plays from the GCSE Drama students: an atmospheric and chilling version of “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” and a devised TIE production that caught the imagination of all the prep boys that were lucky enough to have seen the performance.

During all of this, the AS Theatre Studies students were busily devising an outrageous pastiche of Artaudian theatre for their practical examination. Echoes of the Marat/Sade mixed with elements of 'Come Dancing' and Hitchcock thrillers, resulting in a quite unique but highly entertaining play under the title “Do Not Disturb”! It was a wonderful treat in the last Tuesday evening of the Spring Term.

The following day, the school played host to a graduate dance company from the Liverpool
Institute of Performing Arts. After leading a highly successful workshop with boys during the day, they then performed a programme of five witty and diverse pieces of choreography to a large audience drawn from both the boys' and girls' schools in the evening.

Rehearsals are in full swing for the Junior Play, “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, directed by Nicki Heinen. This is involving boys from Years 7 and 8 and, after some intensive rehearsing in the last week of the holiday, will be performed in the Drama Studio from the 9th to the 11th of May. Casting has also now been completed for Mr. Cox's production of “Beowulf” which is this year's Middle School play. Further details about tickets for both productions will follow next term.

In between all of this, nearly 100 students went to see “The Woman In Black” with the department at the beginning of term. We also managed to catch three productions at the National Theatre including the last ever performance of the original cast in Alan Bennett's “The History Boys” and - an eleventh hour miracle booking - Robert LePage's one-man show, “The Anderson Project”, at the Barbican Theatre.

Economics and Politics

The Economics Society's new committee has held a successful and well-attended seminar on the Economics of Football and is planning similar events, besides preparing the second issue of the society's journal. If you are thinking of contributing an article, please contact a member of the committee.

The Politics Society has had a particularly active term. Sir David Omand, the UK's Homeland Security Coordinator, addressed a large audience on the work of GCHQ. Lord Sutherland, former Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh University, spoke on the House of Lords. Dorothy Thornhill, Mayor of Watford gave a valuable insight into the Liberal Party and local government. Unfortunately, Theresa May and Lembit Opik had to cancel their meetings to attend votes at the House of Commons.

Under Mr. Trinder's guidance our Young Enterprise teams made a very good showing at the Harlequin Centre Trade Fair and, as usual, won several awards. Mr. Briercliffe led a U6 expedition to a conference on US Politics. Dr. Wigley took a joint Boys' and Girls' school L6 team to the London round of the European Youth Parliament at the Foreign Office, where Jamie Day's speeches in English, French, Latin and Ancient Greek caused the organizers to congratulate him by using one of the catch words of that well-known Old Haberdasher Ali G, “Respect”.

Mrs. Shah's Bank of England 2.0 team won its regional heat and so on the penultimate Thursday and Friday of term competed in the national final at the Bank of England, a considerable achievement and a tribute to their ability and effort. After a presentation which combined economics of a very high intellectual level with outstanding verbal fluency and skill, and receiving the plaudits of several members of the Bank of England's senior staff, the team was awarded second place, winning £5000. Congratulations to Praneet Shah (team captain), Anish Acharya, Sagan Shah, and Daniel Susskind. Thanks to Dr. Harnett who helped to advise them.

Our joint Boys' and Girls' school U6 European Youth Parliament team won the EYP's national final in the UK, and so during the last week of term will represent the UK at the EYP's International Convention in Paris, chaperoned by Mr Reid. We expect that they will show the flag and have an enjoyable time in Paris; riots, street demonstrations and general strikes notwithstanding. Best wishes to them.

Mathematics

We would like to congratulate the following boys who were invited to take part in Round 2 of the British Mathematical Olympiad:

Arjun Mehta (L6C2)
Phillip Maton (U6H1)
Jonathan Richman (11S1)
Leo Davidson (11R2)

The UK Intermediate Mathematics Challenge took place on February 2nd 2006. All boys in the Middle School were invited to attend and 206 of them enthusiastically volunteered to stay after school to participate in the event. The results were equally impressive. There were 77 gold, 44 silver and 54 bronze awards. Particular congratulations go to the 57 boys who have been invited to take part in the next round of the competition, 18 of whom will take the Olympiad papers. We wish them well.

During the Easter vacation the L6 double mathematicians will sample the delights of Liverpool in the company of Messrs Hyde, Nolland & Whitaker. We are very grateful to them for running the L6 Mathematics Conference.

Modern Languages

German Department
This has been another busy term for the German Department. In January we welcomed Herr Huttermann and eight Work Experience students from the Matare Gymnasium, Düsseldorf. They were pleased with the hospitality shown to them by the host families and enjoyed their placements with local firms. One boy shadowing a pilot at Elstree aerodrome was given the opportunity to fly over Habs and the South Hertfordshire countryside. Our Sixth Form boys, in return, are looking forward to their visit to Germany at Easter where they will have a week's placement in Deutsche Bank, a hospital, surveyor's office, legal firm and advertising agency amongst others.

In March a group of 16 Sixth Form pupils, accompanied by Mrs. Childerstone, attended a conference in London where they took part in discussions, in German, on AS / A2 topics and current affairs issues.

Professor Robert Vilain, Professor of German at the University of London and lecturer at Christ Church College, Oxford, gave a lecture to our Sixth Form boys. In a most interesting talk he shared his interest in German literature with the boys by reading and analysing a short story by Franz Kafka.

Meanwhile a group of twenty Middle School students are looking forward to their Exchange trip to Stuttgart at Easter. The programme includes trips to Heidelberg, Ritter Sport chocolate factory, the Porsche museum, a Bundesliga football match at one of the World Cup venues and a day spent at Europa theme park.

Spanish Department

An elite handful of intrepid students decided to sign for the Year 10 exchange without really knowing what it involved, nor having any clue where Burgos is. Burgos is a gem of a town in Northern Spain, right on the pilgrims' route to Santiago. It is also the home of El Cid and an outstandingly beautiful cathedral. The trip felt right from the moment we left school. The boys were eager and pleasant, and I was certain they would gel as a group. The trip ran in conjunction with NLCS, and the girls who took part were just as positive about the week ahead. The welcome we received upon our arrival in Burgos was incredibly warm, despite the bitter temperature and it being 11pm. The English students just seemed to 'click' with their Spanish counterparts, and it was quite clear that some new friendships were forming.

Although the students had some free time with the families, the week was quite intensive-there were three days of excursions, and an entire day in a Spanish school. The latter was a real experience for staff and students alike, and we certainly saw how different the two countries are. The best excursion was without doubt was the trip to Salamanca, Spain's most graceful city. The sun came out on that day, and the sandstone buildings glimmered in the winter light.

The students learned an incredible amount from this trip, and gained an insight into Spanish life and culture which no lesson or textbook could ever teach them. They fitted into the daily routine very easily and became very confident in their spoken Spanish. The feedback I received from the host families and staff was extraordinarily positive. The return leg went just as well, and there is no doubt that both parties benefited not only from a cultural and linguistic exchange, but an opportunity to make life-long friends; it appears that some students have been invited back to Burgos this summer.

Music

This Spring Term will be long remembered for the Gala concert at the Barbican. Over 400 performers took to the stage for the musical extravaganza, and the large audience was entertained by performances of extraordinarily high quality. The full age range of the school was represented: year 2 from the Prep through to Upper Sixth formers all performed, showing the depth of musical talent throughout the school. Photographs of the event are available online at http://www.everybodysmile.biz/cjwphotographic/events/

In addition, there were evening and lunchtime concerts throughout the term. The Orchestral Concert took place in the Seldon Hall on the evening of 12th January and saw performances from the three orchestras, the string trio and several violin soloists. The Sheila Watson prize for string playing was awarded jointly this year to Sung Kang (violin) and Robert Davidson (cello).

The Wind Bands' concert in the Bourne Hall took place on 2nd February. The three wind bands, (Concert Band, Wind Sinfonia and Wind Band) performed, as did several smaller ensembles: the Big Band, Jazz Band, flute choir, brass quintet and wind quartet. The senior wind quintet “Got Wind” (featuring Mr Norton) also played, and their piece, The Unhappy Aardvark, was also featured at the Barbican. The Wesley Woodage prize for brass playing was awarded to Marc Hinken (trumpet) and Philip Maton (flute and saxophone) and Christopher McGeever (clarinet) jointly won The Woodwind Prize (awarded here for the first time).

The Keyboard Concert on 22nd March saw fine performances from both senior and junior boys alike. Almost thirty boys played, highlighting once more the depth of musical talent here.

Fridays' Lunchtime Live concert series once again played host to the HABS Big Band at the start of March and there were other concerts given by soloists and smaller ensembles.

Finally, the music department extends its congratulations to Jerome Woodwark, who achieved a strong distinction in his DipABRSM performers' diploma.

Science

In the British Physics Olympiad 2005-6 the following results were achieved:

Maton, Philip Gold
Patel, Sundeep Silver
Woolf, Simon Silver
Afrifa, Kwasi Bronze - Upper division
Green, Jason Bronze - Upper division
Li, Daryl Bronze - Upper division
Thakar, Julian Bronze - Upper division
Batra, Ishan Bronze - Lower division
Chandrasena, Ajantha Bronze - Lower division
Leach, Andrew Bronze - Lower division
Manson, Daniel Bronze - Lower division
Rajkumar, Deluxchen Bronze - Lower division
Suntharalingam, Pirathaapan Bronze - Lower division
Thavagnanam, Tharshan Bronze - Lower division
Agrawal, Akash Commendation
Alimo, Alex Commendation
Hinken, Marc Commendation
Holmes, Michael Commendation
Jain, Rohan Commendation
Maeda, Hayato Commendation
Meghji, Alqayam Commendation
Narula, Herman Commendation
Vine, Adam Commendation

Paperclip Physics Competition
On Tuesday 21st March Kristian Parry, Nehal Shah, Jerome Woodwark and Daniel Winer, all in the L6 won digital cameras and £500 pounds worth of equipment for the Physics Department when they won the 'trans-regional' final of the Paperclip Physics competition. Twelve teams from the London and the South of England tried to put over an aspect of physics in a 5 minute presentation using only items found at home. Our team ably explained the workings of a photocopier and expertly fielded questions from a panel of judges.

The British Biology Olympiad was a great success and our congratulations go to our five candidates all got medals:

Silver medals for Ishan Mehta and Mahiben Marathappu.
Bronze medals for Asher Steene, Aakash Pandya and Omid Alavijeh.

Religious Studies

Jamie Susskind (L6J2) and Daniel Ginsberg (U6M2) were excellent ambassadors for the school when they represented Habs at the annual Hertsmere Holocaust Memorial Day Service, held in January this year at Hertswood School. Students and dignitaries from across the borough shared a service that focused on the theme of “one person can make a difference.”

Mr Lloyd Williams and a dozen of our A level students will be spending a day with the Amaravati Sangha community over the Easter holidays in order to prepare themselves for one of their A2 papers on Buddhism. Sharing a meal, meditating and discussing the Dhamma with the monks and nuns will provide an invaluable insight into the ways in which Buddhists approach life.

SPORT

Rugby

The U12 rugby season has been a long journey but the determination of the boys has seen them improve and finish the term on a winning note. Although often outsized by the opposition, the team have stuck to their jobs well and many times have outplayed their opponents despite losing. A number of the team have made outstanding contributions within the framework of great team performances. Special mention must go to Tom Dean who has led the team by example throughout the term, Charlie Rubin for getting the backs moving forward with skillful kicking and passing, Lewis Stock who was a dynamo in the front row of the scrum and Freddie Ross who tried everything! Next year will be tough, but a solid base has been formed and the struggle through adversity that has characterised some of this season will serve them well in the future.

The U12 B team played 9 games and won 2 and lost 7. Those statistics would normally suggest a gloomy season for any sports team, but in reality, it was far brighter than that. The boys demonstrated a huge amount of enthusiasm and commitment towards training and matches, and every single player in the squad dramatically improved his skills and rugby-playing ability. B team coaches often dread having their best players taken by A team coaches because of injuries, but the squad was so solid that we always managed to field a strong team. We could, and should however, have won more matches. Although we were well beaten in the games against Reigate and St Albans, we came very close to beating Bedford, QEB and Berkhamsted: matches in which we were unable to hold onto the lead. The strong lesson to have come from these games, and the season as a whole, is to not be scared of winning, and fight for victory until the end.

It is quite fitting that our two victories, against St Benedict's and Merchant Taylors came at the end of the season, summing up two terms' very hard work, in which all the boys excelled. Two players were outstanding, however, and deserve a special mention. Paras Shah, the captain, was an exceptional leader and a beautifully skilled player. I shall never forget some of the mesmerising tries he scored. Anthony Tan, the pack leader was aggressive and dedicated and consistently held the forwards together. I imagine that many of the boys to have played in the U12 B team will go move up to the A team as they progress through the school, and I hope that they continue to gain a huge sense of enjoyment and satisfaction from the game as they have this year.

Hockey

Hockey Tour - U15 & U18 Barcelona Tour Jan 06: The U15s & U18s travelled to Barcelona for a pre-season tour along with Mr Long, Mr Yeabsley and Mr Keenleyside. The tour proved to be very successful, playing a high standard of hockey as well as visiting cultural places of interest. Results below:

	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
U18	3	2	1	0
U15	2	1	0	1

Hockey Season 06 Summary to date (including Herts Cup Competition):

	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn
1st XI	18	6	7 (3x Bath trip)	2
2nd XI	8	4	3	1
U16A	12	5	6	1
U16B	6	1	4	1
U15A	13	8	3	2
U15B	7	5	2	0
U14A	14	6	5	3
U14B	8	5	1	2
U13A	5	1	0	4
U13B	5	1	3	1
U12A & B	4	1	3	0

The 1st XI hockey squad started the season extremely well, touring Barcelona. The squad gelled from the start, playing local opposition, Terrasa as well as UK teams, Radley and Reeds. Arriving back for the start of term, well-prepared and without a loss, the senior XI were very confident, comfortably beating Aldenham and Bedford Modern. However, the National Cup Competition was more demanding. Despite losing against Watford GS, Habs managed to draw against the East finalists, Hitchin 3-3 and beat Haileybury 2-1. Following fixtures against RGS High Wycombe and Windsor also proved to be fruitful with some great results and performances. Unfortunately, the month of March proved to be challenging. With other school commitments, the 1st XI starting line-up was inconsistent. The strong hockey schools such as St Albans and Merchant Taylors dominated play and the unsettled Habs team found it difficult to perform.
However, the end of the season was met with the Bath Hockey Tour which was a great finish to an enjoyable season.

The 2nd XI, a team made up in the main of Lower Sixth boys has had mixed fortunes with some notable performances against Watford Grammar, Berkhamsted, Haileybury and Harrow.
At this senior level there is an even greater need for personal fitness and competing right up to the final whistle; if learnt this lesson will stand the Senior squad in good stead for next season.

The U16 A XI have had a most enjoyable season, with a great team spirit throughout the squad. The results have on the whole been very encouraging with some impressive wins against Watford 1-0 in the County Cup and comprehensive win 2-0 against Merchant Taylors. However, there were a couple of fixtures where the team failed to convert the many chances they created and as a result we lost the game. Arun Kumarathus has been a fantastic Captain leading by example both on and off the pitch ably supported by his two very skilful Vice-Captains, Amish Patel and Joel Ross. The future first X1 will be in good hands with the crop of hockey players entering the sixth form next year.

The U16 B squad have had an enjoyable season. The boys have bonded very well as a squad and applied themselves throughout the season. The season started with a tough away fixture against Harrow in which the team acquitted themselves well against very strong opposition. After a break in the fixtures of over a month the team then drew and lost to St Albans, playing home and away. The team earned a well-deserved victory over RGS High Wycombe. The key players this season have been Anjul Haria, Duncan Jenkins and Mirage Patel who have all played to a consistent level of performance.
I would like to extend my thanks to Sukdeep Sohail, who led the team very well both on and off the field. The squad have been committed to training and have supported the A team throughout this term.

This has been the most successful season for the U15A for the last ten years. We have played 13 games and won eight of them. The team was ably led by Anthony Pieri and the top goal scorer was Tharun Puvaneswaran. I have been delighted by the commitment shown by all the players in the squad both in training and in matches. The season started slowly with losses to both Aldenham and Harrow however beating Watford Grammar in the next match was the turning point. We then had a series of eight games unbeaten. The highlight of the season was perhaps destroying local rival Merchant Taylors 4-0. I feel that every player contributed strongly to the teams display and it would be unfair to pick out individuals. The tour to Barcelona has clearly helped team spirit.

This season the U15 B hockey squad have produced an encouraging set of results, winning six out of eight matches. The most impressive of these wins must be that against Haileybury, with a goal difference of 8! Due to flexibility between the A and B squads, the team often changed between fixtures, however the players adapted well and their efforts have paid off. Our players' physicality was sometimes tested, against the stronger, faster teams and this is what let the boys down in the two matches that they lost. Overall it has been a successful season for the U15B XV and they have been a most enjoyable team to work with.

The enthusiastic and skilful U14 A XI have been a real pleasure to coach. The season started with two emphatic losses to Aldenham and Watford. These results served as a wake up call for the squad to start playing as a team, which they did towards the end of the first half-term after suffering heavy losses in the County Cup and against Hitchin. A 4-1 win against Berkhamsted started the ball rolling with the team then achieving the feat of eight games undefeated. Highlights were wins against Kimbolton, Haileybury, Bancrofts and draws against very strong teams from Dr Challoners and Merchant Taylors. The season ended with an emphatic 3-0 win over St. Albans on Saturday 25th March. The team has made superb progress throughout the season and will make a significant contribution in future years to the success of Hockey at Habs.

After an unsettled beginning to the season, with many changes being made for each game, the U14 B squad did very well to maintain concentration winning games against Harrow and Haileybury 4-0 and 7-0 respectively. Defeat to Windsor was a disappointment however the boys have not lost another game throughout the season. All members of the squad have worked very hard to improve their skills as well as their fitness levels and this has seen some very competitive hockey being played. The side has been well captained by Branavan Rudran, who has been an invaluable member of the team.

The U13 hockey squad has had a very promising season. The high skill level has allowed us to compete against much stronger boys, and the attitude of the leading players has really helped the other boys to improve. A narrow defeat to Aldenham has been the only blemish on the A team record. Their best performance was in recording a draw in an abbreviated game against the strong Bancrofts School. The B team played well in a narrow defeat to St Albans, and a number of boys are pushing hard for A team selection.

The U12s were introduced to hockey later on in the term and managed to play a couple of fixtures against St Johns, Northwood and Dr Challoners. It was encouraging to see so much enthusiasm for hockey as well as some promising stars for next year!

Soccer

Summary of results: (as at 27th March 2006)

1st XI
The tour to Brazil last summer provided many of this year's squad with indelible memories and a sense of anticipation for the 2006 season. The focus was clearly on retaining the Crusader Cup, won in a thrilling final against Rugby School last March.

The Cup group games saw comfortable wins over St.Edwards and Radley, although Berkhamsted and Bedford proved tougher opposition, with Habs prevailing each time by the odd goal. Other tough games in the first half of term included a hard fought 1-0 win away to Bedford Modern, and the team reached the break with a 100% winning record. This soon evaporated after the holiday when collapsing 4 - 1 to Merchant Taylors, but the team rebounded in fine style to reach their third successive Crusader Cup final by defeating Oundle 2-0 in the semi-final.

The final itself, at Rugby Town F.C., saw Habs face Rugby School in a repeat of the previous two finals. With many chances in the first half, Habs should have led convincingly at the break, but a late goal from a strengthening Rugby side saw the trophy slip away.

Goals have been in plentiful supply, with L6 regulars Josh Hearne, David Dinkin and Rob Clements contributing over 20 goals between them. Captain and Goalkeeper Adam Nathan was unlucky to miss part of the season through injury, but still proved an inspirational figure. A sound defensive unit of Brazil tour veterans coupled with much competition for places in midfield have made for an outstanding team spirit and much optimism for the future.

2nd XI
A 12-0 opening victory set the tone for another successful season for the second team. Lakshman Ruthirapathy had an outstanding season, proving too much to handle for most of the opposition. To date the team have secured 6 wins, three draws and suffered just one defeat at the hands of Aylesbury Grammar School.

The highlight would be a comeback from 3-0 down with 15 minutes to go from an under strength team to secure a 3-3 draw, this really demonstrated the strength in depth within the squad this year. Alex Canfor-Dumas, Charlie Norton, Jake Gilbert, and Luke Bullen all ably took the captaincy at some point. A fine crop of players from the lower sixth gives reason for optimism for next year.

3rd XI
To date the 3rd XI has enjoyed its best season for several years, winning 5 out of 6 matches and scoring 24 goals into the bargain.

After home victories against Bedford Modern and Highgate and excellent away wins at Berkhamsted, Radley and Bedford, hopes for an undefeated season were high. Unfortunately in the most recent fixture, due to injury and other conflicting events, a depleted side lost to an accomplished Latymer Upper team and will need to raise its performance in the final two matches against St Paul's and UCS.

Aqil Sohail has captained the side with authority while Josh John with 7 goals has proved a reliable finisher. Congratulations, however, go to the whole squad for what has so far been a fine season.

Under 16 A XI
The U16A football team has had a very successful season, losing one game, drawing one and winning the rest. The defense has been solid, the midfield has created an enormous number of chances, and the attack has a mixed record of stunning goals and spectacular misses. Matthew Cohen top scored with 10 goals and Myles Anderson and Jeremy Julius contributed many from midfield. However, the season has seen a splendid effort from everyone, for this is a team with no obvious weaknesses and numerous strengths.

Under 16 B XI
The U16B team has had a short season affected by rain and frost, having played (at the time of writing) five games which have yielded two victories (against Highgate and Latymer) and three defeats. The boys have made significant progress both as individuals and as a team this season, many of them not having played team football before. The second half performances against Aylesbury and Bedford U15 showed what they can do when they start believing in themselves, and many of them will become effective performers for the senior teams in years to come.

U11 A
The U11 A Soccer team have faced a challenging season, with their first matches taking place very near the start of term leaving very little time to prepare. Facing well-organised opposition our team has often had to battle hard for possession and has sometimes fallen behind early on in games. However, they have shown determination, and skill, in battling back and performing strongly in the second half of games often against physically stronger boys. The team's best performances have come against Belmont (1-1), Radlett (0 - 0), and Northwood ( 2 -2). Lyall Cukier (6CG), has led the team with enthusiasm, breaking forward from midfield to support the strikers and setting up moves down the flanks.'

Cross Country

Cross country running at Habs has flourished this winter. Under the guidance of its new coach and manager, Mr. Cox, the squad has again reached its old level of success at both regional and County level. The ultimate measure of this was the teams' results in the Hertfordshire county championships at Verulanium Park in St. Albans where Habs runners achieved top ten places in every year group.

It was pleasing to see the return of 'The Goater Cup' senior relay race this year for it's 43rd running. A new course was used, circling the Aldenham Country Park lake and Haberdashers' finest senior team took 3rd place ahead of some of the best cross country schools in the south of England. This team was, of course, lead by the overall squad Captain Andrew Leach who, in his last year at the school has proved to be a role model for the younger runners and whose form has grown as winter got longer.

Year 9 teams are currently in a fierce battle with other local schools including St Albans, Watford GS and Dr. Challoners in a regular league which the schools share the hosting of and the Habs team are currently in 2nd place in the series after an excellent showing on St Albans home turf.

Finally, and on a pleasingly promising note for the future, the Habs year 8 team is continuing to demonstrate that they are one of the strongest year 8 teams in the South of England. They easily won the years 7 and 8 prize in the IAPS championships at home placing runners in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th and 10th! All bodes well for the future of cross country running.

Water Polo

This has generally been a good season for Water Polo teams; with the U19 and U16 teams reaching the Finals of the English Schools Regional Championships, again, and the U15 team reaching the Finals of the Schools Water Polo League Championships.

The U19 team were placed 4th in their Final: although they were under-strength through illnesses, they did not play up to the standard they can produce, and 4th place was all that they could expect, on the day. A look at the list of leading goal scorers, compared with the list of players absent with illness for the Final (Alex Charles, Alex Petrides - key defenders, and Tobias Stedman), shows close correlation. The leading goal scorers were Tobias Stedman 20, Adam Barnes 9.

The U16 team however, came very close to gaining 2nd place, losing out to Royal Manor School, Portland, by 1 goal on goal difference - having gained equal points with them in the round robin league table. All the games in the Finals tournament for this age group were very close, and, on another day, could equally well have gone a different way. It was an excellent tournament, and played in an excellent spirit. The leading goal scorers in this age group were Alex Parker 10, Greg Schey 8.

The U15 team reached the Finals of the Schools Water Polo League Championships, having been undefeated all season. They eventually came 2nd, after suffering their first defeat of the season, to Trinity School, Croydon. The U15 team works from a very small squad, and more players, with good swimming skills, will be welcome to try out the sport. There are no fixtures next term for this age group, so any new player will have plenty of time to learn about the basics of the game, and to get some practices in before the start of next season. The leading goal scorers in this age group were Aaron Winsloe 19, James Devlin 14.

The U14 team have been struggling to establish themselves this season. There has been a noticeable improvement over the term, with the team showing some concept of “shape” on the pitch, and a little more determination in defence. New players, particularly good swimmers, are always encouraged to try out the sport, and there will be 4 fixtures next term for the team. The leading goal scorers in this age group were Alex Kazanjian 6, Max Jenkins 5.

The final fixtures of the season will be played after this newsletter goes to press, but the summary of the results so far are:-

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Goals for	Against
U19	10	6	0	4	47	35
U16	8	5	1	2	38	21
U15	14	11	2	1	57	12
U14	11	2	1	8	14	66
U13	1	1	0	0	17	1

SCS Water Polo

This term boys from the SCS Water Polo (Officiating and Teaching) group have been involved in officiating at all home school fixtures, as well as the British Championships in Manchester, British Universities Championships (Semi-Finals) in Walsall, and the Finals in Nottingham. Each weekend involves a commitment of about 37 hours. The success which these boys make of officiating at such events is shown by the number of requests which we receive for qualified table officials at these, and other high profile events. Requests for future events cover some early tournaments in the ASA National Championships at Crystal Palace, and National Water Polo League Championship weekends at a wide variety of venues around the country.

Additionally boys have been involved in teaching visiting pupils from Chesham Prep School, and pupils from our junior teams. The success of the teaching can be measured by the fact that a number of young children from Chesham Prep are now joining a juvenile team at Amersham S.C.

Badminton

This term the school's Badminton players have continued to do well. The school has again achieved high placings in the Hertfordshire Schools Badminton Association Tournaments. At the end of a series of events Haberdashers' has come first in the U18, U15 and U13 Tournaments. This is the first time the School has won all three age groups. The following boys have participated in the tournaments and won points for the School: Harry Beeson, Alex Gomar, Anjul Haria, Akash Jhunjhunwala, Arun Kumarathas, Suraj Pabari, Hershal Shah, Prag Shah, Suraj Shah, Philip Bagshaw, Basil Letts, Alex Parker, Jake Sanders, Nishil Shah, Richard Tan, Henry Tang, Reehan Adat, Anand Dhamecha, Aadil Hakim, Prasanna Jothibal, Sahvan Karia, Arvind Kaza, Tej Malde, Anthony Meyer, Matthew Mort, Naveen Nandakumar, Kushal Patel, Shanil Patel, Vanit Patel Freddie Ross, Nishanth Selvakumar, Akhil Shah, Paras Shah, Rikin Shah, Sahil Shah, Salman Sheikh, Scott Spurling and Anthony Tang.

Both the U16 and U14 teams performed well in the preliminary rounds of the Badminton England Top Schools Team Tournament, which were held at Haberdashers'. However the competition in the under 14 group was tough and we came 6th. In the Under 16 group our team was stronger and we were equal with Park High School on matches and games won. Park High School went through to the finals by scoring 329 points against our 321. The following boys represented the School: Akash Jhunjhunwala, Suraj Pabari, Alex Gomar, Arun Kumarathas, Basil Letts, Sahil Shah, Craig Waterman and Vanit Patel.

We have had a very successful series of fixtures against Hitchin. It was also pleasing to play our first match against Latimer Upper School.

A special mention must be made of our top three players and their achievements in the U17 National Championships. Arjun Mehta had a good tournament. Kamran Haq reached the quarter finals of the mixed doubles and lost the match against one of the top seeds in three close sets. In the boys doubles Nigel Tao and Kamran Haq reached the semi final losing in a closely fought contest. They therefore retained the bronze medal they won last year.

Our thanks go to Bob Welsh who has done so much to help the boys develop their skills. Dipesh Borkhataria has provided valuable administrative support through his School Community Service.

Swimming

The School U16 team qualified for the “Finals” of the Freestyle Relay Championships, as slowest qualifiers (of 12 teams). On arrival at the leisure centre pool in Macclesfield, we found that some schools had been severely hit by the “flu-bug” and had withdrawn from the Medley Relay Championships. As one of the reserve teams we were invited to compete in the Medley Relay Championships “Finals” in addition to the Freestyle Relay.

The Championships began in earnest at 1.30p.m. The heats of the Medley Relay Championships were the first of our events. The team swam very well, recording a time of 2min 03.75 seconds - which placed them 10th in the Country. The event started, in the Autumn Term, with over 170 entries; so the final position of 10th place is a great achievement. The time which the team recorded in the “Finals” was over 2 seconds faster than the time they produced last term. The boys were very pleased with their performance and this gave them the confidence when they competed in the heats of the Freestyle Relay Finals.

In the heats of the Freestyle Relay “Finals” the team produced a very good swim; setting the 7th fastest time of the day. This was good enough to earn them a place in the actual final, which was the last event of the day. Although they competed hard their overall time slipped by 6-tenths of a second and they finally finished in 8th place - still an excellent result, seeing that they had qualified in 12th place and that every swimmer in the team is eligible to compete in the same age group next year i.e. they were all a year younger than virtually all of their opponents. The times recorded by the swimmers in the Freestyle Relay Championships represented an improvement of about 1.5 seconds over their qualifying time posted last term. A final position of 8th in the country out of 180 entries for such a young team is an excellent result.

The team (for both events) comprised:-

Adam Maxwell (Captain)
Alex Parker
Randal Cliff
Kelvin Wong

As all the boys in this team are one year younger than the maximum permitted for the event; we hope that they will all be back for next year's event, which will be held on Saturday February 3rd in Harrogate.

Swimming Schools' Home Countries International
On Saturday March 18th, James Allchorne represented English Schools in a Home Countries Schools' Swimming International, between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, in Grangemouth, Scotland. In the Senior Boys 200m Individual Medley event James recorded a personal best, but was beaten into 2nd place by the Scottish swimmer, Lewis Smith -- who is a year older than James. James also represented English Schools in the Team Relay event at Grangemouth: the team won this event. The England Team were overall winners of the International. As one of the younger swimmers James should also be able to qualify again next year to represent England, when the event will be staged in Eire.