Keith Hayward, Professor of Criminology at the University of Kent, will speak to the Liberal Studies group on Friday 4th May. His talk, entitled 'Consumerism and Crime', will focus on issues relating to youth crime and make reference to last summer's riots.  
 
Professor Hayward's visit will conclude this year's Liberal Studies programme. The following guests kindly accepted invitations to contribute to the programme in the 2011/2012 academic year:  
 
Claude Piening, OC and Senior Director at Sotheby's gave a talk entitled 'What makes art valuable?' on Friday 14th October.  
 
Dr Paul Rennie, Head of Context in Graphic Design at Central Saint Martin's School of Art, spoke on 'Visual literacy' on Thursday 3rd November.  
 
Roger Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, reflected on 'Eighteen months of coalition government' on Friday 25th November.  
 
Dr David Corfield, Head of Philosophy at the University of Kent, gave a talk entitled 'Learning how to learn: the history of science' on Friday 2nd March.  
 
Dr David Laven, Associate Professor of History at the University of Nottingham, spoke about 'The role of the university in the twenty- first century' on Tuesday 20th March.  
 
In addition, students interested in the Liberal Studies programme attended a lecture given by Professor Richard Vinen, King's College, University of London, on 'Thatcher's Britain'. This event took place on February 23rd and was hosted by KC but organised by the Historical Association.

This will be the first school production to be able to rehearse in the school's brand new drama studio. There was great excitement as Mr Andrew Williams was handed the keys to this very well resourced studio. "Drama at Kent College is thriving and this will add a whole new dimension" said Mr Williams as he showed people around the new studio which has all the technical support of a full stage.

Congratulations to Rebecca Weston Year 13 who was selected to play for England in the recent 4 Nations Hockey Tournament in Hanover, Germany (over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend).  
England u18 Girls played a fiercely contested match vs Germany on Good Friday and were narrowly beaten 2-3. In their 2nd game on the Saturday they competed brilliantly against an awesome Dutch team who are the reigning European champions. At half time they were trailling 1-2 but in the 2nd half the Dutch moved up through the gears to run out comfortable 7-2 winners. In the third game on Easter Sunday the English fought really hard to earn a deserved 3-3 draw against a resolute Spanish team. This all meant it was England vs Spain again on Easter Monday for the bronze medal. In this game the English played their best hockey of the tournament to draw 3-3 again. This took us to penalty ficks which we eventually won in sudden death 4-3. Rebecca was selected for all four matches and had a solid tournament.

SEDECIM WIN TOP CHOIR KENT 2012  
The competition began one dark evening back in January,  when Sedecim recorded 5 songs for their entry in the first round of Top Choir Kent. There were 16 entries altogether and Sedecim were delighted to be chosen as one of the 8 finalists.  
Since then they have met together for several extra rehearsals in addition to their regular Friday lunchtimes and they have worked incredibly hard, learning their programme from memory and sorting out the choreography for each song.  
 
The Final took place on Saturday 31st March in the Shirley Hall, Canterbury. After a long evening, when the finalists each performed a 10 minute programme, Sedecim were announced as TOP CHOIR KENT 2012. They were the judges' unanimous choice. The chairman of the judges, Dr David Flood, who is Organist and Master of Choristers at Canterbury Cathedral, praised the musical ability of the choir and the breadth of music they performed.  He said: 'Sedecim is a young choir achieving at an enormously high level.'  He added: 'This was a balanced and refined performance'.  
Sedecim were awarded the Brett Top Choir Kent Trophy and they will now be granted a performance at this year's Canterbury Festival as their prize.  
For more information go to www.topchoirkent.org  
Highlights from the competition will be broadcast on Radio Kent at 1pm on Good Friday and 6am on Easter Sunday.  
Sedecim's next performance will be on 21st June in the Marlowe Theatre. They will be joined by Kent College Choristers, Kent College Junior School Choir and children from 5 local primary schools. Don't miss this wonderful opportunity to hear our award-winning choirs and to raise money for East Kent Hospitals' Mammography Appeal. Tickets are available from the Marlowe box office.  

John Inverdale the well known radio and television broadcaster who works for the BBC, mainly covering sporting events visited Kent College last week. He gave an entertaining after dinner speech to a dining hall full of 85 talented young sports men and women. He talked about his involvement in journalism, the Olympics and the determination needed by those who want to succeed join their chosen area.  
 
After an excellent three course meal John presented the sport prizes for each of the major winter sports:  
 
Awards;  
 
Rugby:  
 
Players' player; Peter Reynolds  
 
Coach's player: Thomas Sayer Y13  
 
Girls' hockey;  
 
Players' player: Annabel Carter  
 
Coach's player: Rebecca Weston  
 
Boys' hockey:  
 
Players' player: Philip Roe  
 
Coach's player: Jack Balsdon  
 
Netball:  
 
Players' player: Chloe Moxam  
 
Coach's player: Eva Barwick  
 
The whole evening was a great event and congratulations must go to the Director of Sport for his organisation.  

On Thursday 9th February, over 30 pupils in Years 7 to 9 took part in the Inter-House Drama Competition as part of International Arts Week. Each house was given a Japanese Myth to interpret and perform on the evening - with brilliant and, sometimes, hilarious outcomes. Each house produced excellent high standard work - impressive considering that they had only been working on the pieces for 3 short weeks. Many of the audience commented that the pieces were powerful with wonderful movement sequences. The performances ended with a short devised piece by the Year 10 GCSE Drama group - a powerful reflection on Hiroshima.  
 
Well done to Chaucer who won the competition, and many thanks to our adjudicator Richard Andrews - Director of Kent Youth Theatre - who commented that he was "I was particularly impressed by the commitment of all participants and look forward to seeing even more exciting theatre work at Kent College."

Sedecim took part in a stirring Diamond Jubilee Celebration Concert of music and prose commemorating the Queen's accession to the throne at St Mary's Arts Centre, Sandwich. This was a good opportunity to perform some of their programme for the Top Choir Kent Finals as well as leading the audience in some patriotic hymns. The audience of 200 was very appreciative of their contributions to the evening and they now have a new set of fans amongst the citizens of Sandwich

Kent College, Canterbury already has an extremely active Charities Committee. Over 30 pupils gather together each week to select charities to be supported and to dream up exciting ways of raising money. In the past five months the school has raised over £10,000 for its chosen causes (including local, national and international charities - Porchight, MRDF, Pilgrims Hospice, Action for Children and Smile UK). Members of the group have now also taken the exciting step of being inducted as the newest branch of Interact - the schools arm of Rotary International. The school Interact Club is sponsored by Chestfield Rotary who recently invited all the members of the group to a special inaugural dinner at Chestfield Golf Club. The new President of the Kent College Interact group, Carmen Arquero (a 6th form boarding student from Madrid) gave a speech which was warmly received by both fellow students and the large number of Rotarians from a number of local clubs who had gathered for the celebration.

We are delighted to report that Sedecim are through to the Final of the Top Choir Kent Competition. This will take place on 31st March in the Shirley Hall at The King's School, Canterbury. To obtain tickets go to the website at www.topchoirkent.org.

Please see the attached programme for Arts Week 2012