The King Edward VI School

We were delighted to find out this week that Amy Stokoe has been selected to be part of the ESSKIA team for the World Schools’ Championships in Turkey between 11th and 19th February 2023.

The Team England delegation will be made up of 20 ski racers (plus staff) who have been selected from schools all over the country. A good number will go on to represent England or GB at higher levels in the sport.

 Well done Amy a fantastic achievement.

Former pupil Daniel Dixon has represented Britain at the junior and senior level of triathlon over the last few years. In Hungary last year, he won a junior continental title. As part of the mixed relay team last September, he made his debut in the Hamburg World Triathlon Championship Series.

Now, Daniel has qualified to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. We want to say a huge congratulations to him, and wish him all the luck and success for the future. Well done Daniel!

The King Edward VI School celebrated the career of one of its longest serving members of staff this weekend with two concerts to mark the end of his 26 years at the school.

Robin Forbes – Subject Leader of Music, who will retire at the end of term joined the school in September 1996 and the concerts saw students and staff, both past and present come together to show their appreciation for his work at the school over the last quarter of a century.

The traditional KEVI Summer Concert began with Year 13 student Elizabeth Bennett joining the orchestra to deliver Orpheus in the Underworld Overture.  Elizabeth has been offered a place at Harvard next year to study music.  Performances by the Steel Pan Band, Chamber Choir, Ceilidh Band, Jazz Band and Choir followed, showcasing a huge array of talent from the school.

A second concert at St James Church Morpeth, was filled with contributions from alumni who, over the last 26 years have been privileged to have been inspired by Robin’s teaching.  Many have gone on to professional music careers such as Charlotte Christensen who has trained and performed with the Royal Academy of Music and flew in from Germany to perform Mr Snow from Carousel, whilst Alex Banfield, a British opera and concert tenor who left King Edward’s in 2008 performed Mattinata by Ruggero Leoncavallo.  

Headteacher Clare Savage commented.

“Robin has always insisted that the point of being a musician is to perform, and therefore his commitment to giving every student the chance to play in front of an audience is at the centre of everything he does. The personal loyalty and commitment that Robin has managed to create was evident in every performance on Saturday and it was an honour to see so many students, parents and staff, both past and present, come along to let Robin know how much he means to them.”

Robin’s career has seen him take students on tour across Europe and has included student performances at St Marks in Venice and the Duomo in Florence. The school has also benefited from him leading many varied extra curricular events over the years including Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem as well as traditional Musicals and Carol Services.  

In response to a wonderful ovation, Robin acknowledged the constant support and expertise of departmental colleague Heather Harrison and the many other staff and community musicians who have enriched the breadth and depth of music provision at King Edward’s over the years. His unique talent has been to bring so many young people and adults together to provide a very special experience.  

Success for Edward Gardiner at English Schools Track and Field Championships in Manchester

On Saturday Edward Gardiner was in a relaxed and focused frame of mind meeting the best throwers in England. This was one of the strongest fields of competitors in over 25 years with so many 50m plus throwers.

After 3 throws the top 8 go through to the final and receive a further 3 attempts. Making the cut was always going to be the first challenge as Edward was ranked 9th out of 13 on the day. He built steadily and then unleashed a new PB of 41.95m in round 3 to secure his place in the final.

He finished in 6th place which is an excellent achievement. A very mature performance and a great experience for him.

Edward now has a packed summer of other events including the North of England Championships in Liverpool and English National Championships in Bedford.

On Monday 20th June 2022, our Year 10 and 11 Netball Leaders worked with the Morpeth and Ponteland School Sports Partnership by helping to lead The Commonwealth Netball Festival. This event was hosted at our school for local first and middle schools, allowing students to experience the game of netball and develop their key skills in relation to the game.

All 19 leaders were an absolute credit to our school, sharing their expertise and enthusiasm for their love of Netball. Thank you for providing the younger students with this opportunity and for making it so much fun!

Three King Edward’s students have been selected and offered a position in the Under 16s Newcastle Falcons Academy after attending a recent Northumberland county rugby competition, representing ‘North Northumberland’:

• Max Goodridge
• Alfie Taggart
• Ayhan Yilmaz

This is an excellent achievement for these young men who have been training extremely hard for many years and is a great step in the right direction for their future rugby careers!

We wish them the very best of luck!

We wish both students every success whilst training as part of the North U18 RFU Squad and up and coming trials for the England U18 Six Nations Squad.

Student Alice Randall has been riding for the Pony Club England team at Royal Windsor and she is now also part of the pageant. The last month has been a whirlwind for her as she has been up and down the country for training and competition.

England were Reserve champions in the competition and the team rode amazingly, despite some setbacks. Being part of the pageant was unbelievable and all the Pony Club kids had a role to play in the performance every night.

Alice has been alongside celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Catherine Jenkins and even got a wave from the Queen she was so close! Along with this, Alice was also interviewed by ITV! We are so proud of her and wish her luck in the future. Well done Alice!