Taylorian

Societies and Activities

Charity Drive and Geography

Junior Geography Society There has been a real buzz around Junior Geography Society this year. Building on the success of events from last year, the Autumn Term saw trivia quizzes on Geogussr and Sporcle, where teams were pitted against each other. In Geography Week, Daniel O’Shea (Upper Sixth) organised a treasure hunt where teams raced around the school answering geographical questions to reveal a sequence of clues; the overall winners were Monty Halkerston, Rohan Gahli, and Karim Obaydi (Upper Thirds). Several Junior Geographers were also highly involved with Geography Week, especially the fairtrade chocolate tasting and open technology afternoons. Following the success of their trip to Pembrokeshire, the Upper Thirds were invited to a talk by speakers from Flooglebinder, to help build new perspectives on sustainability. One of the highlights of the year must be the earthquake-proof building challenge, where students were given a budget and a range of materials to purchase, to create a structure to best protect a chocolate egg from breaking. The best earthquake protectors were Hrim Dave and Pravav Geography

Senior Geography Society This year the Senior Geography Society has been ably led by Charles Waddington and supported by Dylan Patel, Sebastian Mansfield and Ari Moneke, who have delivered an exciting programme of events. As well as discussing screenings and talks by committee members, the society has welcomed various speakers including Zohair Din OMT, who spoke about his dissertation which explored the geographic representation of dystopian cities in video games; Mike Lakin, MTS parent, who discussed the difficulties the UK faces with energy security and the transition to clean energy; and the Headmaster, who gave a fascinating talk on the history of the School site and local area, illustrating how traces of the past are visible today. As part of Geography Week in November, SGS organised ‘The Chase’ quiz competition, based on the popular TV show, with pupils from all year groups competing against Mr Westcott, the Chaser. It was an evenly matched event, with both the pupils and Mr Westcott winning two rounds each. Geography Week also saw the day when the world’s population reached 8 billion, and pupils documented the occasion by taking a selfie in front of the big screen in Geography at the precise moment the world population clock hit 8 billion. Mrs S. R. Burnham

temporary eviction of the boys sleeping outside the Maths Office. The earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in February, killing thousands and displacing millions, prompted us into urgent action: we held an assembly to raise awareness of the issue, launched a mufti day, and held a House coin race, enabling pupils to part with their spare change and provide much-needed donations for the Disasters Emergency Committee. We held a fair for the King’s Coronation in the spring to raise money for Dogs Trust, and activities included the ever popular ‘Sponge the Teacher’; it is fair to say that Mr Simpson was the most (or perhaps the least) popular teacher and was soaked by the end. We would like to give our thanks to Mrs Omert as well as our Co-Heads, Charlie Leigh and Lachlan Sergeant, for all their hard work in organising events and deciding on which charities to support. Guy Denne, Daniel Self and Amar Sethi (L6th)

Mangalagiri (Thirds). Mr D. A. Westcott

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