Brentwoodian 2019

78 This year saw a dramatic change to the House system, with the advent of the House Weeks supporting the two major events of the year, House Music in September and the Track and Field competition at the end of the summer term. South House had a very successful and enjoyable year in this new format. This year’s House Captains have written about the events below, starting with Matz Kiernan’s report on the House Music Competition. The House Music Competition was a fiercely competitive night, with South House landing the fourth position on the podium. We opened the night with a beautiful PartSong rendition of Can’t Buy Me Love , which was led by the incredible Tara Jones in which she focused on creating clarity and dynamics within our song. Next up was our amazing Ensemble arrangement, not only conducted by Tara Bartell but also arranged by her. It was a medley mix of a number of OASIS songs, titled: Mad For It . Ryan Fedi bashed out the drums whilst Cerys Jenkins accordingly blew her piccolo in tune; an outstanding turn out from our trumpet player Jack Williams followed, strongly supported by saxophonist Jessica Mills. Tara’s brother, Connor Bartell, also shared the spotlight with his solo rifts on bass guitar. How could we forget the amazing Cyndy Alima on piano, accompanied by Liza Yeh and Alex Lockyer on strings. We scored a confident 36 points out of 40 in this category. Finally we ended the night on a major highpoint; this year’s Unison was the classic hit Hooked on a Feeling written by The Blue Swedes, led by Owen Jenkins and Harriet White. The song was a showstopper, scoring almost full marks. The judge credited us for having creative actions and immense energy throughout. Overall, we didn’t take home the trophy but we came back feeling a sense of pride and inclusivity within South House. West Week, held in December, was one of strongly contested events. On Monday, House Debating was in full swing with both Grace Mernagh and Isabella Codling taking first place in their debate. With our Middles boys placing 3rd and 4th respectively, South overall finished 4th. A special mention must go to Toby Kidd’s valiant effort though not placing where he had hoped - he still perfectly represented the House in the Seniors’ division.  On the Tuesday, West House hosted a school Spelling Bee where Jacob Leslie and Nat Hughes managed to do especially well. This was an extremely difficult competition but South House managed to place 3rd due to their great contribution. Wednesday’s Christmas Art Challenge saw many students participate in a widely exciting and creative event. Tara Jones spearheaded the event and although as a whole, the House came 5th, the level of art present on display was impressive. The artists had to recreate a still life portrait of West Head of House, Joey Grogan, dressed in a Christmas jumper and decorated with elf ears and glitter. Overall, the event was a huge success.  Finally, on Thursday, West House put on a great event with the Brentwood Pub Quiz. The turnout was spectacular with around 30 members of the House taking part. Special mention to Jess Mills (Lower Sixth) Grace Parrish (Upper Sixth) and Michelle Kafe (Upper Sixth) however the star of the show was the team of Cyndy Alima and Cerys Jenkins in the Fourth Year for their outstanding effort in the event. Overall, South comfortably took 3rd place to round off a fun and exciting West House Week.  By Ryan Fedi South House hosted their House Week in February, laying on a range of fun and competitive events. We had many successes throughout the week. Twenty-four students from our House competed in a variety of activities, including table tennis, Countdown and scrabble. Starting the week off our senior team of Tom Ridgwell, Megan Beardwell, Grace Parrish, Lucy Twyford, Toby Kidd, Harrison O’Shea and Manjot Somal played table tennis to come 2nd for the Seniors. Our Middles team of Nat Hughes, Aston Leaver, Shafi Hassan and Christian Mootoo and our Junior team of Grace Mernagh, Dmitry Molostvov, Harry Lee, Will Pepper, Abhinay James and Cyrus Khorsjid helped the House gain 3rd place overall for table tennis. Countdown was a new and exciting event with Nat Hughes, Michelle Kafe and Adona Aseerwahtham also helping gain 3rd place for the House. House Scrabble was a competitive event and our students Finlay Hughes, Michelle Kafe, Adona Aseerwatham and Alice Moorhouse worked hard to gain 4th place. Well done to all the students that gave up their time. By Grace Parrish & Tom Adams North House charity week was an incredibly successful one for South. Finishing in the top half of every event was an astonishing achievement for the House as a whole, showing how solid commitment throughout the House leads to tremendous success for everyone involved. There were notable performances from the Lip Sync team consisting of Fourth Year boys Izie Binitie, David Opaniran, Michael Kafe, Nick Sehmbi and Christian Jeronimo. Huge success was achieved by the entire House in the swimming event, resulting in victory overall for South across all sections. Squash was another opportunity for the mighty South to showcase their talent, with 3rd position being achieved overall. What a week for everybody belonging to South, excellent commitment and perseverance by all those involved led us to great things. Well done to all! By Harrison O’Shea SOUTH inclusivity for all! house motto