FRIDAY FLYER-Issue 131

Headmaster's Welcome

Welcome to edition 131 of our Epsom Friday Flyer!

It has been a busy week at Epsom as you will see as you read on!

The week started with an assembly on making good choices and being the change that you want to see in the world. The central message was that we can choose to be ‘radiators’ – people who motivate and enthuse those around them, build others up and leave them feeling energised OR we can be ‘drains’. ‘Drains’ sap the energy of others, their cup is half empty as opposed to half full and their outlook tends towards the negative.

The Comfort Society (also affectionately known as the Comfort Crew) then took over the assembly to present to their peers on their plans to help students feel supported and cared for.

The Comfort Society is one of our many student conceived and student led initiatives. Their focus is on wellbeing, mental health and, simply put, comforting those who, for whatever reason, are feeling fragile. To celebrate their first year anniversary they have hosted the first ever Comfort Week and have presented on various topics. Here’s the email they sent out to our students:

Hello hello! ‘Tis we, the Comfort Society of ECiM!

This week, we bring you something different. To celebrate our 1st Anniversary, for the first time since its creation, the Comfort Society is officially hosting an annual Comfort Week for the 2022/23 Epsom Academic Year!

4th November to 22nd November. There will be an interruption from the 18th to the 20th of November to make way for General Election Holidays and other organised sessions.

To make up for it, we will also be hosting a Pajama Slumber Party Social on the 23rd of November (Wednesday). Details for this will be released in a separate email!

Throughout the week, there will be a collaborative educational session held on each day–yes, we’ll be collaborating with some of your favourite societies every lunchtime at the Grayling Center!

Do note that these sessions are for KS4 and KS5 only, so as not to interrupt the very necessary lunches for the other key stages!

The schedule for this week’s events (14/11 — 17/11) are as follows:

1) (14/11) LANGUAGE X COMFORT: Language & Communication w/ Diana
2) (15/11) SPORTS X COMFORT: Anxiety & Competition w/ Youngmok & Jaydn
3) (16/11) SCIENZ X COMFORT: The Science Behind Stress w/ Keira
4) (17/11) VIOLET X COMFORT: An Introduction to Movember w/ Xin Ling & Noh

We are very excited to be able to bring you these sessions for a holistic view on what exactly understanding comfort and being comfortable can look and feel like from different aspects of life. The Comfort Crew hopes that these sessions can also give the boost for people to seek out the help they may or may not know they need if peer-level help is not sufficient aid.

We’ll see you in the next email.
Till then, stay warm and comfy dear Comfort Crowd!

Warm hugs,
The Comfort Crew,
ECiM Comfort Society

We have really enjoyed the sessions that our Comfort Crew have organised and thank them for their care!

Of course, the 15th Malaysian general election (GE15) is being held on the 19th of November 2022 to elect civic representatives for the 15th Parliament of Malaysia.To prompt voter turnout among the Epsom community and for educational purposes, the Humanities Society hosted a session on the ‘Malaysian Political System’. With this presentation, they aimed to provide basic knowledge on the anatomy of Malaysia’s political system, and how it differs from the UK’s political system.

We are very excited to be sending some of our best football players to Phuket soon to compete against other teams representing their schools from across Asia. For our girls teams, Ms Alice Back, our CCA Coordinator and football coach, has arranged a Pizza and Football evening. As with all team sports, it is important for the girls to get to know each other off the field so that they can perform well together on the field. Therefore, Ms Back is hosting a ‘Football and Pizza’ evening at the Pavilion at Epsom College on Monday 21st November. The event aims to promote team bonding and to provide opportunities to students to learn more about women’s football at its highest level. The girls will enjoy their weekly training session followed by eating pizza whilst watching one of the matches from the Women’s Euros 2022! Perfect!

We are delighted to announce that Mrs Garnett and Mr Boyle will take a school trip to visit our sister school, Epsom College UK in April. This was announced in Assembly and the student response was simply wonderful – we are all very excited! Carr boys will stay in Carr House – but in the UK, Granville boys in Granville, Propert in Propert and so on…but all on the other side of the world!! The trip will include sightseeing in London and visiting areas of interest to our students. It will be open to Years 7-10 – more information will be sent to parents very soon.

Many of our Year 13 students have heard back from their chosen universities and are already receiving offers – it is a very exciting time for them!

As you can see, there is a lot going on and this is just a brief snapshot of some of the events this week!

So, prepare yourself something nice to drink, sit back, relax and read on to find out more.

Happy Reading and Happy Friday!

Mr Matthew Brown,
Headmaster,

A Message from the Senior Leadership Team- Dr Simon Cooke

The Importance of Politics​

I teach politics at A Level in Epsom College. Students have to follow global news stories carefully and analyse their importance. We have seen significant events in recent weeks. 

The COP 27 summit was held in Cairo, Egypt. World leaders and scientists met to review the targets set at the critical Paris summit. It is clear that because the 1.5 degree climate reduction target is not being met, time is running out for the global community to take steps to impending climate catastrophe. The G20 Summit is currently being held in Bali, Indonesia. Leaders of the world’s largest economies meet in an open forum, without an agenda, to encourage global cooperation. This year is dominated by the global implications of the global pandemic on international economics, alongside the War in Ukraine, with rising inflation, leading to further hardship, deepening poverty and inequality and tension between states. The world seems very divided despite global cooperation never being more necessary.

The Epsom politics students focus has been on events in Malaysia where the GE15 election takes place this weekend. There is mounting excitement (and trepidation) at the likely outcome, especially because many students will be returning to their home states to vote for the first time. Malaysia has a large youth demographic, in contrast to most western states, and the implications of this on the election results, have added to the unpredictability of the outcome.

The importance of youth participation in politics cannot be overstated. The world faces huge global challenges, but the rise of populism (small minded nationalism), makes these difficult to address. There is widespread cynicism with democracy and politics in general. 

Why bother to vote? If you do not, your voices will be unheard. Politicians seek election and will make promises and respond to the needs of those who vote. The US Senator, George Wallace, was a vicious defender of racial prejudice in the American South. After the 1965 Voting Act opened the franchise (who could vote), he reinvented himself as a defender of the new black voters of Alabama. As a result he continued to be elected, proof positive that if you expect to be heard, vote.

The final word to British wartime leader, Winston Churchill:

Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others”.

A message from Crawfurd House

‘No regrets’

This weekend Rosebery and Crawfurd girls set off for an adventure to the Tanjung Tuan Forest in Port Dickson, happily accompanied by 7 keen staff members. We split into three groups and from there we all enjoyed a walk to Cape Rachado Lighthouse, learnt how to draw a bow at archery, played on the beach, ate pizza; and some students were brave and followed the Bukit Batu Putih path. They climbed the rock at the end of the path and not only gained a fantastic view out to sea but many of them faced their fears due to the tricky climb. As some students debated whether they would climb the rock Mrs Miller introduced one of  her mottos – ‘no regrets’. This persuaded Coco (Yr 9) to give it a go and she was rewarded by her positive attitude and recognises that she is stronger and braver than she might have thought. 

Thank you very much to the staff who made this trip possible and they even, in the rain, brought a smile to the trip. 

Great Golf!

SPORTEXCEL Junior Golf Tour Achievements

Adrianna (Y8 Rosebery) did exceptionally well in her recent golf outing over the weekend.

Adrianna was invited to participate in the UUMISM – SPORTEXCEL Malaysian Junior Golf Tour (Grand Finals) 2022 which was held in Ayer Keroh Golf Country Club, Malacca on the 12 and 13 November 2022.

Adrianna competed in the Girls Under 12 category and was placed third on day 1, trailing 3 strokes behind the 1st placing and 2 strokes behind the 2nd placing. 

Adrianna played exceptionally well on the last day and managed to cut down 5 strokes from her previous day, emerging as the runner up and best Malaysian player overall for the Girls under 12 category.

Throughout Adrianna’s participation in the  Sportexcel Golf competition in 2022, Adrianna was placed 3rd for the overall Order of Merit. Another milestone achieved! It is definitely one of the best and memorable years indeed for Adrianna’s golfing career.

We are so incredibly proud of Adrianna!! Well done!!

Go Nexus!

Another golf achievement from Carr House boy, Nexus Khoo👏🏻👏🏻in UUMISM-SPORTEXCEL MALAYSIAN JUNIOR GOLF TOUR 2022 GRAND FINAL JUNIOR CIRCUIT BOYS C – 5th place.

A Message from the Music Department

Marvelous Music

Over the last two years, Performing Arts have suffered greatly all over the world due to restrictions placed on singing, performing and social distancing. My priority since returning to Epsom from the UK has been to re-engage students in Music and in whole school events such as the recent House Music Competition.

This term has seen the successful return of CCAs such as Studio Orchestra, Choir and Chamber Ensembles together with the continuation of Rock Bands, Theory Club and Private Practice. With the return of so many students to face to face learning, we are now offering almost 100 individual instrumental lessons each week through our experienced team of Visiting Music Teachers, many of whom have been with us since the School opened.

As you may have read about in recent Friday Flyers, the Wednesday before half term saw the return of the Annual House Music Competition. During the last two years, small scale house competitions have been held, such as last year’s House Band Competition, but it was incredible to be able to once again put on a music competition that featured every student in the senior school. Every House was awarded either winner or runner-up in one of the three rounds of Instrumental, Part Song and Unison, showing just how high the standard was and how much effort each House had put into their performances.

The evening began with the playing of Negaraku, as is traditional for all public events in Malaysia, but for the first time at Epsom, the Malaysian National Anthem was played by the Studio Orchestra who also entertained the audience during the break for judging. I was immensely proud, and slightly teary-eyed, to stand up at the end of the evening and thank all of the students, tutors and House staff that had produced such an outstanding evening. This was the evening that everyone had been eagerly waiting for for more than two years and it was a superb achievement by all to put on such a performance.

I have left it to each of the Houses to focus on their own experiences, but I would like to congratulate the winners and runners up in each round on their performances:

Instrumental
1st Place: Granville House – Theme from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Runner Up: Carr House – I Ain’t Worried (When East meets West)

Part Song
1st Place: Propert House – Sh-boom (Life Could be a Dream)
Runner Up: Crawfurd House – Top of the Word/Tonight You Belong to Me

Unison
1st Place: Propert House – We Are Young
Runner Up: Rosebery House – Beautiful Creatures

Overall 2022 House Music Champions : Propert House

What’s next? Over the next few weeks, we have our end of term events for the Prep School and Senior School. The end of term concert for the Prep School on 1st December features performances from students in the Prep School Instrumental Programme and Choirs as well as the Key Stage 2 Orchestra and solo performances. Our traditional Christmas event for the Senior School precedes the annual Christmas Dinner and will feature students in the Studio Orchestra, Choir, Rock Bands and GCSE classes. There is also a special performance by all students in Year 7 and 8.

We are busy planning for next term and the calendar of events includes student performances in our Sunset Serenade and Lunchtime Live series, Valentine’s Open Mic Night, Instrumental Music Competition and the much anticipated return of the Night at the Movies concert.

Please see the Music Department Calendar here for details of all upcoming events.

Mr Russell Crann

Director of Music

A message from Propert House

Propert Musical Success and House trip

Propert House continues to run smoothly with the students settling down quickly after the Half-Term break. The euphoria of the house singing success reported on by Mr Crann only tells a fraction of the story. The boys in the house can be credited with working extremely hard on this house competition. The picture below was taken a few days before the final event during rehearsal and at this point there was some trepidation about our chances of success.

Hard work and practice continued and the finished article really was impressive. The props of glasses and bow-ties added to “the look” and the evening was a great success for our boys. The celebrations afterwards went on for some time with a further rendition of “Life could be a dream” which was another triumph for Propert on the night. 

Our weekend trip to Tadom Hill was really enjoyable for the boys who chose to stay in for the weekend. Nearly all got involved with the rafting and water slide activities and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was a shame that the afternoon was cut short by a thunderstorm. 

The house is now looking forward to the long weekend and the last three weeks of what has been a busy term.  “We are young” and energetic is our motto for the term!

Mr Nick Fowler

Housemaster, Propert House

Que Bella, Callista

Callista has been dancing since the age of  7 years old ( she is 12 years old now) , this is probably her 6th competition in the KLDSA.

She started Lain Dance at the age  of 7 in Feb 2017 and her achievements include: 

  • Champion in Negeri Sembilan International dance sports championship 
  • Champion under Latin Juvenile 1 Solo girl single dance in 1st SDSA Malaysia Open Dancesport Championship in April 2019 
  • Champion in the Latin Juvenile 1 Solo girl single dance in 4th KLDSA Malaysia DanceSport Championship in Dec 2019 
  • Champion of the  Malaysia closed Juvenile C Latin female in Bailando Online Dancesport Championship 2021

Callista’s achievements in The 5th KLDSA Malaysia DanceSport Championship 2022 are as follows:

1st Place in Junior 1 Solo Rumba(1/46 Candidates) 

1st Place in Junior 1 Solo Paso Doble(1/15 Candidates) 

1st Place in Junior 1 Solo Cha Cha (1/67 candidates) 

  • 1st Place in Junior 1 Solo Jive (1/58 candidates) 
  • 2nd Place in Junior 1 Solo Samba(2/33 Candidates) 
  • 2nd Place in Junior All Girls Rumba 
  • 2nd Place in Junior All Girls Jive 
  • 2nd Place in Junior All Girls Samba 
  • 3rd Place in Junior All Girls Chacha 

In the LATIN AMERICAN QUALIFICATION Callista was awarded the Honour in Medal test under The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing Latin American exams and ranked Supplementary and Higher Awards Gold Star 1 Test in June 2022 .

Wow!!! Well done Callista!

Science at Epsom

By Xin Ling Goh

Scalpels at the ready, gloves on, six sheep hearts, 11 A-level biology students.

Dissections and experiments are always exciting events for us as students (perhaps the main reason we chose A level Biology – joke!), and after patiently waiting and exhibiting impeccable behaviour (plus a little bit of unrelentless begging to Ms. Madeley), she finally asked us to get our lab coats—or raincoats—ready for a heart dissection on November 10th. It was an absolute pleasure to apply and link everything we had learned to this hands-on practical after copious note taking and discussion; the heart being a key component of our A-Level Biology Syllabus as we learn details ranging from key features and functions to how it beats through to the cardiac cycle.

A picture of us enthusiastically waiting to HEART-lessly bury our hands and cut through the heart.

Right to Left : Xin Ling, Keira, Mullaiy, Diana, Laekeisya, James, Elliot, Aniq, Marcus, Noh and Jordan.

We began, as with any good practical, by ensuring that we followed the lab’s safety rules, noting the procedure and determining the necessary equipment and aims. We also had a worksheet and tasks to complete in order to reaffirm our notes and ensure proper application of knowledge. This included noting the thickness difference between the walls of the chambers of the heart, the functions of the atrioventricular valves, and the numerous blood vessels in the heart. Attached below are some findings we made and some pictures of us in action! Enjoy!

It was recently Marie Curie’s birthday and so Mrs Louise Madeley, our Head of Science delivered a presentation to inform students and to encourage them to reflect on her life and achievements.


ScienceZ Society

The Science Behind Stress

A recent ScienZ Society session led by Keira, Yr 12  focused on the science behind stress.

This session included discussion with compulsory ‘audience participation’ and collective conversation.Participants were encouraged to take a look at the resources provided below to be able to come to the session better prepared 🙂

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-t1Z5-oPtU&ab_channel=TED-Ed
  2. https://time.com/4243311/hans-selye-stress/
  3. https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/stress-disorder#:~:text=•A%20consistent%20sense%20of,•Involves%20psychiatry%2C%20psychology
  4.  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-is-state-mind/202008/are-stress-and-anxiety-genetic#:~:text=Studies%20have%20shown%20that%20certain,development%20of%20stress%20and%20anxiety.

So, now that you understand all about the science of stress, you can relax and enjoy your weekend!!

Best wishes,
The ScienZ Society