Damian Blake, Executive Chef for Holroyd Howe, with the help of Head Chef Chris Bicknell and his team, produced a sushi demonstration and tasting session during lunch in the Dining Room on Monday 14th May.

Pupils and staff were invited to see how the ingredients are brought together to make the finished dish and to taste the result. Some pupils were even given the opportunity to help the chefs!

After a spontaneous tea-party in Edward House one Sunday afternoon, an overseas pupil tried out a recipe given to him by his mother and needed a few others to judge how it tasted; from this, a seed of an idea began to grow. What if every House was given the opportunity to bake its own chocolate cake and have it judged by others in a competition? This is how the first Inter-House Chocolate Cake Contest began!

The competition took place on the last weekend of April and was heartily entered into by many talented bakers from across the school. Every House was given a budget and free-choice of their recipe, to please those with a love for cocoa! The Food Technology building was opened especially for this occasion on Saturday and there was a fantastic, fun and creative atmosphere as the Houses came and went producing their master pieces.

The 'Indoor Rowing' race, which takes place every year on the lawn outside the Staff Common Room, was again eagerly anticipated, with 20 rowers from each team going head to head over 5,000 metres on the two rowing 'ergo' machines throughout the day.

Over 100km in all, an unbelievably close finish saw the staff win by just 1.6 sec (i.e. less than a length (about 6m)). This was despite excellent times from Jan Kraus and Luke Wytcherley in particular. They both beat the 19 minute barrier, Luke with a fantastic time of 18 minutes and 23.7 seconds (that's 1 min 49 secs per 500m).

Mr. Mike Henry, Head Tennis Coach at the West Surrey Tennis Club, has this term started providing coaching for the school’s tennis teams as well giving private individual lessons for both boys and girls who are seeking to improve their tennis skills. Having recently returned from Portugal where he has been coaching for the past 5 years, he is keen to help develop tennis in the school and to promote the game at all age levels.

It is always encouraging to see so many pupils playing tennis at this time of year, despite the very inclement weather! This term the senior boys are participating in the Surrey knockout competition, the Rootham’s Cup, as well as in the Surrey League, and in June will be competing in the national Youll Cup at Eton College. We wish them every success! If you would like more information or would like to contact Mr Henry directly regarding individual or small group lessons, then please e-mail him: mikehenry_ws@yahoo.co.uk.

Cricket, elephants, charity donations, leopards, historic Buddhist temples and temperatures into the high 30’s were all features of a memorable two-week tour to Sri Lanka embarked upon by King Edward’s School U15 players at Easter.

During their stay in this most beautiful of countries, the boys and staff were fortunate to experience trips to the Pinnawala Elephant orphanage, white water rafting at Kithulgala, the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, a safari in the Yala national park and visiting some of the sites which were affected by the 2004 sunami. For most of the tourists, a visit to the Agape childrens’ home for orphans was a highlight and we were delighted to play our small part by donating cricket kit and other clothing to help with their ongoing daily efforts in looking after 85 young people. It is hoped that, just as King Edward's have done with similar projects in Malawi, Thailand and Namibia, we might be able to build a practical link with the inspirational Pastor Dayaratne and the project he has given his family life to. It was fantastic to see our young people so visibly moved by the positivity and happiness demonstrated by the children who, in comparison, seem to have so little of material wealth.

Mr Hansford, who died peacefully this week, was Headmaster at King Edward’s from 1969 to 1980.

Our condolences go to John’s wife Dorothy and his family.

It can be found under Studying / Subjects / Science (or click on the photo on left) and it will keep you up to date with the latest spring news as the school's beautiful campus comes to life after the winter lull. Thanks to Mr Clive Saunders, Head of Biology, for keeping us all informed in his very own version of 'Spring Watch'.

Provided by the school's Parents' Association (KESPA), the duck house provided the perfect shelter from which about fifteen young ducklings appeared over the Easter holidays.

They were photographed when only about a day old, seen swimming across the pond on a sunny afternoon, carefully managed by the female that had sat on them for about 28 days. Unfortunately, since the photos were taken, they have disappeared, so pupils returning this week will be completely unaware of their existence.

The Championships, held at Marlborough College, consisted of pupils from all over the UK, playing for their respective regions. King Edward's were therefore well represented with three girls included in the South East's team of 11. They were Sophia Steiner, Anna Heins and Nadia Poulteney.

The Championship was a round robin format, with each team playing each other once. With five regions represented, there were therefore four games. The South East won its first game reasonably comfortably over the Home Counties, winning by 3 goals to 1.

On 10 March, over 200 pupils from schools across the UK including King Edward’s own Kanan, Olivia and Tze-Yin, gathered at the headquarters of the International Maritime Organization in London for UNA-UK's inaugural Model UN schools tournament: Uniting the Nations.

The theme of the tournament was making a reality of the Olympic Truce and pupils found out how difficult it is to get nations to agree. Kanan, Olivia and Tze-Yin defended their positions well and narrowly missed getting their amendments accepted. They were a credit to the School.

A service of thanksgiving took place in St. Bride's Church, in the heart of the City of London and was attended by a large number of pupils, as well as staff and dignitaries from the City, including the Lord Mayor Locum Tenens, Sir David Howard.

The service was brought to life by the School's choir as it sang the anthems 'Gloria' by Vivaldi and 'O Though, the Central Orb' by Charles Wood, led by Stephen Pedlar, the School's Precentor, in his last Bridewell Service before retirement. Reports from the congregation were that the choir sounded magnificent - a fitting tribute to his many years of work as the School's Director of Music and more recently as choir master.

Tickets are available for the lunch, which will take place at Northbank Restaurant in the City of London, on Monday 5th March, from 12pm to 3pm - all are welcome.

Tickets may be reserved by emailing info@northbankrestaurant.com and include a pink champagne reception, lunch and three fashion shows accompanied by live music. Tickets are £70 per person.

Twenty four pupils, including those on Sports Scholarships, have been invited to join the Programme which gives pupils an opportunity for further development outside of the school's usual sports programme.

The Programme concentrates on the physiological and psychological development of players, but also includes talks and discussions on issues such as nutrition, hydration and what makes a successful athlete. The Programme is co-ordinated by Dan Abraham, who has considerable experience on working with elite footballers both in the professional and amateur game. The Programme uses both the school's sport staff as well as outside expertise.

A Lower Sixth pupil, Devon, was already a fan of art history, but was impressed with how Slinn made the lecture fascinating for everyone. She writes...

“In my opinion art in itself is an exceptionally interesting topic; but trying to make it interesting for a group of sixteen to eighteen year olds could prove a hard job! However, Professor Anthony Slinn proved me wrong as he talked passionately to us about artists from the twentieth century including household names such as Picasso, Monet and Lichtenstein, as well as his own work.