Ink

The end-of year magazine has been an important , and very much enjoyed, feature of the College since the school began as the Study Centre in 1977. It has grown from a home-produced, typed and photocopied effort to the full-colour glossy "Ink" magazine edited by Mr Budd today.

The following are just a few extracts for you to enjoy. We would love to hear from anyone who has any old school magazines or can recommend further articles for us to print.

ADVICE FOR JUNIORS

The start of September is an important date for all the new students who
come to the School. We were new students last year and we still remember
we were told by our teacher, Mr Midlane, about some school rules in our
first lesson, but we think you'd better listen to some of our own advice
because it could be useful for you.

Let's talk about the lessons first. We expect you will feel quite strange about our classroom block. In each class there are only eight students so you'd better keep quiet because the teacher can see you easily. Every day the teachers will give you at least three pages (homework). If you are a junior you are lucky because you only have to work for one hour in the barn. The barn is the place for the juniors to play in their free time. There is a T.V. and video and you can have a rest on the soft pillows. When you do your prep you will see a large table. This is just for the teacher, so sit near that.

The students' bedrooms are very good. If you live in a dormitory, ask to live in the North one because its nearer the classroom block and the dining hall, but if you are living in a double room, ask to get the one near the barn for the same reason. If you want to keep something that you don't want anybody to know, you've got a locker in your room.

Students have to do sport every day, such as hockey, basketball, cricket and football. Sometimes you will have to walk to the Sports Hall, but usually the teacher will drive the minibus to the pitches. We also have activities. You can choose windsurfing, skiing, horse riding and so on.

In the School all the teachers are kind, but some of them are strict. They won't shout at you or give you punishment until you do anything bad. Don't be shy of playing or talking with other boys. If you have another friend from the same country don't speak your own language in front of the teachers, otherwise they might give you a language detention. If they catch you, you have to read a reading book for 15 minutes.

In free time you can play basketball or football with other boys but they won't say until you ask them. You can go shopping to Somerfield's, Balfour News or Woolworth's. They are quite big shops. If you are tired and don't want to go shopping and buy crisps or sweets, you can go to the tuck shop which is in the barn.

If you want to go to your parents or guardians at the weekend, you can get permission from the Vice-Principal. It is called an exeat. If you are homesick, you don't have to spend your money on a telephone call, all you have to do is say to your parents the telephone number (written on the phone) and tell them to call back.

Normally your free time is after sport, but on Sunday you have lots of free time. You can do whatever you want, but do sensible things like watching television or listening to music if you have some in your room. You can play table tennis, baby football or video games in the barn. If you do not understand something, look at the weekend list.

The Boys Versus Masters Soccer Match

The Grudge Match

This was the one game I had been looking forward to. After scoring four goals for the students last year, I was looking to haunt the staff team again. But thinking back to last year's clash, I knew this game would have to produce something special for us to be able to repeat that success.

We started brightly and had a good opening twenty minutes. Both teams created chances but I didn't really think the staff troubled us in the first half. The first clear chance fell to me, Jesse 'Collymore' Moyo, which, on another day, could have gone in. Teruhiko 'Rednapp' Surihara found space on the right of the pitch after some clever footwork to beat Mr Hill. He then magically let fly a beautiful cross which I met well, but could only manage to head harmlessly over Eduardo 'Tino' Dos Santos' bar. We continued the pressure throughout the half but the staff did well to frustrate us and we went into the interval with a blank scoreline.

We began the second half with less sparkle than in the first. Mr Philip 'Sheringham' Hardaker opened the scoring. He was given a long ball to chase and did well to get in between Juan-Enrique 'Ferdinand' Lima and Sergey 'Kanchelskis' Krokhmal. He lifted the ball accurately over our advancing goalkeeper, Andrei, who, by coming too far off his line, had committed goalkeeping suicide. One nil to the staff. The scoreline suggests that we went to sleep for a while but in fact we kept our heads up. I combined well with Teruhiko 'Rednapp' Sugihara on the right. I managed to drive the ball into the six yard box. Before reaching the goal line my cross was met fantastically by best mate Calvin 'McManaman' Wu, who thunderously powered the ball into the roof of the net past the stranded Eduardo 'Tino Asprilla' Dos Santos. We had worked hard for the equaliser and deserved to be on level terms.

We lost our concentration for a bit after this and the staff had enough experience to take advantage. Again Mr Hardaker was involved in the build up to the second staff goal. He produced an inch perfect cross for Mr Stalley who made no mistake. The unmarked Mr Stalley, one of the most experienced players on the pitch, extended the staff's lead to two, one. We bounced back and did not let them put the game beyond our reach. With just over ten minutes remaining to full time I, Jesse 'Collymore' Moyo, pounced to equalise in spectacular fashion.

I had the ball just on the edge of the penalty area and made space after shaking off my marker, Mr Nunn. There was enough room for me to let fly a bullet of a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner of the net. My team mates and I celebrated the goal with great panache. Eduardo could do nothing but watch helplessly. 'Tino' incidentally had an outstanding match keeping the staff in the game by snuffing out all of our creative attacks. We had now come from behind twice in the game and with time running out for both teams, the score was two each.

There was only about two minutes left. We continued the pressure knowing the match was there for the taking. We had a dramatic opportunity to do so when we were awarded a penalty. Mr Simon 'Diego' Bonelli-Bean, who had been outstanding throughout the match, was judged to have handled the ball after a Calvin 'McManaman' Wu, shot. This was with no doubt the turning point and the highlight of the match.

We were obviously delighted with the decision of ever cool referee, Amorpol 'Win' Sereeveeryakul. Jane-vit 'Psycho Pearce' Laosirichon urged me to tuck the ball into the back of the net but our captain Yoshio 'Cantona' Sasaki, had other ideas. He decided to take the spot kick himself, but he put the ball agonisingly wide of 'Tino's' post. The score remained two each. A golden goal was to decide the greatest match of all.

The staff got back into the game with worn-out legs and survived right up to the last kick of this great clash. We were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position. I fancied myself for this one but I could only manage to kick it tamely towards goal. The staff released Mr Matthias who coolly hammered the ball into the back of the net. Looks of dismay on our faces reflected the obvious disappointment.

Final Score: Students 2 - Staff 3

Scorers: Mr Hardaker (47 minutes); Calvin (55 Minutes); Mr Stalley (60 minutes);
Jesse (63minutes); Mr Matthias (70 minutes).

Staff Team: Eduardo; Mr Ricketts; Mr Woolley; Mr Nunn; Mr Bonelli-Bean; Mr Budd;
Mr Hill; Mr Waplington; Mr Matthias; Mr Hardaker; Mr Stalley.

Student Team: Andrei; Smitthi; Sergey; Juan-Enrique; Jamie; Teruhiko; Jane-vit;
Hyo Hyun; Yoshio; Calvin; Jesse.

Subs: Akhmal; Bak Kyu.

Referee: Amorpol

Cinderella - The Mrs Soskin Version

In December 1997, Year 10 acted the pantomime of Cinderella which was really excellent and enjoyable.

The story was based on an original Cinderella, but Mrs Soskin, who is an expert at dramatising stories, added more fun to it. The ugly sisters, Keisuke Chiba and Andy Wu, made me roar with laughter. Every single action was so funny that I couldn't stop laughing when they were on stage. What I laughed at most was when they were taking off their clothes to sleep: they were trying to be sexy, but it wasn't sexy at all!

Everyone in Year 10 worked very hard to learn their lines, especially Tony who was playing Buttons. As you know, Buttons has to talk and make contact with the audience, and Tony managed to do that without making any mistakes which was really good.

What I particularly liked about this play was the songs. The cast sang with beautiful voices, especially Irene who played Cinderella, and it was great, so I joined them in singing when we were having the singing competition which is one of the characteristics of a pantomime.

Lastly I think this play must have been the funniest play in the Study Centre's history. I would really like to watch it again if I had a chance.

My New Life

When I left my family and left my friends, I left everything I knew to come to this strange place. I was so afraid of the new life and especially afraid because I couldn't tell people what I thought, so I guessed nobody would want to join me, talk to me or play with me. Although before I came here everybody told me 'Don't worry about it, you will be OK'. I thought saying things is easier than doing them. Nobody knew what would happen.

I remember the first day when I didn't know what to do or where anywhere was and I felt very alone, everybody came and told me about the school, about everything. They were very kind to me. If I had some problem, they always gave me a big smile and told me 'Don't worry about it' and then taught me how to do it. I felt they were so sweet.

The second day I remembered a very important thing that I had come here to study English. So I should try to make some English friends. First of all I was very afraid of my English because when somebody talked to me, I couldn't understand what they said, so I just tried to say 'yes' or 'no' to answer them. But when I tried to make friends with English people, if I didn't understand what they said, they would slow down or change to easy words and tell me again and again until I understood. Everyday I heard so much English and I tried to make my words flow together. I think my English is getting better everyday and I think when I finish my study here, I will be able to communicate quite well with everybody.

I'm so grateful to this school. I like everything about it here, especially the people. I will put them in my mind for the rest of my life.

Chinese New Year

I suppose many people know about Chinese New Year, but do many people also know what the customs of Chinese people are then?

The Chinese calendar is different from the western one; the beginning of the western calendar is the birth of Jesus Christ, but that of the Chinese calendar is the beginning of China. So they have different days at the end of the year, and also at the beginning.

New Year may be the happiest time for Chinese people, and we have a lot of customs during New Year. At the end of a year, the whole family used to sit together for dinner and we called it 'Tun Ean Fan'. In Chinese it means 'eat together'. However it would be one of the best meals of the year because we would cook the dishes with the best ingredients and it was also a meal to let the whole family sit together and talk to each other.

At New Year people use their Chinese pens to write some congratulatory speeches on long red paper; they write 'Happy New Year', 'Earn more money', 'Good health' etc. The most important thing for children or teenagers is pocket money in red envelopes. In ancient China some people would put some sweets, or a piece of paper with a congratulatory speech on it in the red pocket. I think this was because some people were so poor in ancient China. But nowadays people usually put some money inside, so children are very happy at New Year.

Some people pretend to be lions or dragons dressed in magnificent costumes go around the shops and light firecrackers. What they believe is that the dragon or lion will give them luck, money and health.

We have special food for New Year such as red cake called 'Chin Doi' and Chinese bread. They are sweet and tasty. 'Chan Dran' are small and fried in yellow turmeric. Chinese bread is white with a bit of red colour on it that looks like a child's face. We also have a box to put some sweets and dried fruit in, separated by a slate.

Although Chinese New Year sounds so good, it is less important than before. I remember my mother telling me that when she was young she and her sister could not fall asleep before New Year's Day had dawned. But generally now, people like Christmas Day more than New Year. Probably the people are much more westernised than before but I hope people remember that they are Chinese.

Sherborne School U16
Basketball Season 2001

This year's main school's basketball team was one of the most unusual teams ever. Why unusual? Well, it's simple. For the very first time ever, in the whole existence of Sherborne School a Girl played in the Boys' basketball team!
She has made a big change in the existence of that school, and certainly a change that no one will forget.
Emma Okano, from Japan, is probably the best female basketball player I've ever met in my life. She is such a great player and has such knowledge of the game. She's so motivated when she gets on court and plays with such incredible determination, I could even say that she plays as well as a boy, she can actually beat most boys at school!
When she entered our basketball team, I was the only one who knew how good she was but the other boys were going to be really surprised when they saw her play. Actually, all of them thought that we'd lose many games because of her. I was sure they would have a big surprise.
We had about 12 matches, and guess what…we won all of them! And most of them were mainly because of a great player known as "Emma". She was marvellous in all her games. Emma's especially good at 3-point shooting, I could even say 'extremely good'.

I still remember one of our matches; it was against Marlborough School. Last year they'd beaten us 'big time'. This year, we all played our best and Emma was AWESOME! She scored about 5 or 6 3-points! Finally, after the all team's effort, we beat them with a points difference of about 60. I think the final score was 99 - 36, which is the basketball team's most comprehensive win of all time!
We were all really glad for having played in such a good season. I am pretty sure that no one will ever forget the Basketball Season 2001, the season, which has marked a new era in the history of Sherborne School.
Christian Johary Rasoarahona (Year 11)

Note: Terry Keng Ming Wong and Carson Cai Seng Liu played in the Sherborne School U14 Basketball Team
Berry Yuk Wah Chan and John Chun Yu Wu played in the Sherborne School U15 Basketball team.