Over the first few days of the October half-term break, the school became an international conference centre, with our Heads of Secretariat, Toni Alao, Zara Aspland, Caitlin Robinson and Thomas Mullen and their team welcoming several hundreds of pupils and staff from schools in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, Romania, Japan and California. There was a definite sense of excitement and purpose across the campus as students gathered in their committees to take part in a range of debates on topics such as the question of the threat from Artificial Intelligence, the question of reform of the IMF and World Bank, the question of phasing out non-renewable energy production, the question of the freedom of the press, the question of the regulation of outer space, the question of gender equality, the question of the role of the UN in ensuring international humanitarian rule of law, amongst other pressing global issues. Manha Chaudhry (Ambassador), Archer Stephen, Kalan Sharma, Joseph Soya-Bongay, Rayhaan Kufuor-Gray and William Watford represented Guyana, whilst Keira Rudich (Ambassador), Tulsi Patel, Angeline Biju and Lana Lam represented Japan. Jessica Patel, Katie Steele and Alexei Vorontsov led the Media team who produced fantastic videos and our unique MUN’s Got Talent show with the new addition of Taskmaster, for all participants to enjoy. Elena Buckingham and Elspeth Gardiner led the Press Team who produced four excellent editions of The Delegate, our MUN Newspaper. We had a very strong team of Chairs, leading the debates and guiding the delegates in committees: Logan Hatchwell-Wray (Special Political Committee 1), Jamie McDowall (Special Political Committee 2), Emilie Marshall-Tate (Special Commission on AI), Thomas Grehan and Vasily Van Vloten (Environment), George Skinner and Joseph Venkatasami (Human Rights 1), Raza Ali Jafri (Human Rights 2) and Ehaan Nadeem (Disarmament and Security 2). Kira Diakiv and Johan Prinsloo were very impressive Presidents of the Security Council, leading the debates on the construction of resolutions on the crucial questions of Gaza, Ukraine and Kashmir. Along our main conference, a group of students took part in a trial in the International Court of Justice, a memorable experience for Dominique Shved who was one of the Judges on the case. Our Senior Officers led the conference with unwavering professionalism, kindness, generosity and diplomacy – congratulations to Zakariya Ali-Hughes, Oliver Bennett and Rohan Phillpot, our wonderful Presidents of the General Assembly and Zoë Spellings and Uliana Tokolova, our incredible Secretaries General, for all their hard work. Thank you to all the students who took part and all the staff for their assistance. A special mention to Mr Kay and the Design and Technology Department for the fantastic new placards they created for our General Assembly.
Reigate MUN Conference 4th October 2025
On Saturday a group of Royal Russell pupils attended the 29th Reigate MUN Conference. Vasily Van Vloten, Omer Babur, Tulsi Patel, Dominique Shved and Rayhaan Kufuor-Gray represented Greece, with Jacob Wu in the Security Council whilst Hugo Mozley, Ethan Wallin, Noura Haq and Emilie Marshall-Tate represented Palau. This was a fantastic opportunity for our first time delegates to contribute on a range of current issues in committees and the general assembly and put into practice their debating skills, developed in our weekly sessions. All delegates got involved through speeches and points of information and on his very first conference, Vasily received the Highly Commended Delegate Award. Congratulations Vasily! Logan Hatchwell-Wray gained a valuable experience as Deputy President in the Historical Security Council and Rohan Phillpot displayed excellent chairing skills and true professionalism as Deputy President in the Security Council. This was a very successful start to our MUN season and we look forward to hosting our 43rd Royal Russell International MUN Conference later this month (18th-21st October).
Royal Russell pupils attended the 30th edition of the Haileybury Model United Nations Conference. After the opening ceremony and a lobbying session on Friday evening, our pupils took part in a range of debates in their respective committees until Sunday afternoon before the final General Assembly and closing ceremony. Throughout the two days of debates, all delegates took the floor, either to make a speech or a Point of Information on a range of topics such as The Question of strengthening global efforts to combat nuclear smuggling, The Question of eco-terrorism, The Question of debt-trap diplomacy, The Question of forced marriage, The Question of freedom of speech in conflict zones, The Question of the Security of Critical International Network Infrastructure or The Question of politically motivated arrests arranged for prisoner swaps amongst other global pressing issues. Logan Hatchwell-Wray made an impressive 16 Points of Information and 2 speeches in the Environment and Ecology Committee as well as submitting two resolutions and an amendment. Johan Prinsloo was equally highly involved in the Security Council with a staggering 25 Points of Information, 7 speeches, 2 resolutions and 14 amendments submitted. Well done to Marcus Leung who made 4 speeches, 5 Points of Information and submitted a resolution and 5 amendments, whilst Thomas Grehan made one speech, 7 Points of Information and submitted 3 amendments. All our delegates made the most of this experience and worked collaboratively and supportively. Zoë Spellings and Rohan Phillpot were absolutely exemplar in their positions as Chairs in the Economic and Social and Human Rights Committees, displaying true professionalism. Well done to all our delegates, representing Pakistan (Ehaan Nadeem, Johan Prinsloo, Logan Hatchwell-Wray, Thomas Grehan, Jamie McDowall and Marcus Leung) and The Netherlands (Oliver Bennett, the Ambassador, Zakariya Ali-Hughes, Dominique Shved, Joseph Venkatasami and William Watford). Our delegates’ hard work and involvement led to a fantastically successful conclusion with several awards being given: Congratulations to Johan Prinsloo and Logan Hatchwell-Wray who received the Highly Commended Delegate Award, to Marcus Leung who received the most prestigious Award for Distinguished Delegate for the second consecutive year and to the Delegation of Pakistan for receiving the Distinguished Delegation Award, the highest prize, collected by Ehaan Nadeem, their Ambassador.
The Hague International Model United Nations Conference 2025
In January a group of Royal Russell delegates attended the 57th International MUN Conference in The Hague. On Tuesday morning, around 3200 delegates coming from 200 schools from around the world gathered at the World Forum, in the heart of The Hague, the city of Peace and Justice, home of the International Court of Justice. Our Royal Russell pupils embraced the opportunity to get involved in intense lobbying, networking, resolution building and debating on topics such as the Measures for the transparency, accountability, and oversight of Artificial Intelligence Systems, Measures by the UN to better support Non-Governmental Organisations’ work, The situation in Haiti, The question of working conditions and standards of safety in factories, Promoting technological development of Artificial Intelligence as a facilitator of peace or Measures to give access to citizenship, education, and justice for women worldwide, amongst many other pressing issues. Uliana Tokolova, our Ambassador for the delegation of Mali, and Zoë Spellings delivered great opening speeches in the Disarmament and International Security Committee and the Human Rights Commission respectively whilst Oliver Bennett (Economic and Financial Committee), Kira Diakiv (Legal Committee) and Dominique Shved (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee) took every opportunity to make points of information and take the floor to make speeches during the debates. Johan Prinsloo, our former Secretary General at the October Royal Russell IMUN conference, led a successful debate as main submitter on his comprehensive resolution in the Special Political and Decolonization Committee. The conference concluded with an uplifting closing ceremony where Ambassadors proudly carried their delegation flag to the cheerful sound of drums and applause. Congratulations to our delegates in their successful participation at this prestigious event.
On Monday 2 December 2024, 11 Royal Russell delegates attended the 17th Benenden MUN Conference, representing Brazil (Zachary Devlin, Raza Ali Jafri and the ambassador, Ehaan Nadeem), Haiti (Joseph Soya-Bongay, Rayhaan Kufuor-Gray, Rishi Kamdar and William Watford as ambassador) and Japan (Thomas Grehan, Logan Hatchwell-Wray, Kira Diakiv and the ambassador Zak Ali- Hughes). This was a fantastic opportunity for new delegates to get involved in a range of debates on topics such as Preventing an Arms Race in Outer Space, Mitigating the Economic Impacts of the Brain Drain, Prohibiting the Production of Diesel Cars or the Question of Violence in Haiti, and for all participants to further develop their public speaking skills whilst meeting pupils from other schools. Johan Prinsloo and Uliana Tokolova were also a credit to the School, chairing the Security Council and Historic Security Council with great professionalism. Another successful conference to conclude the 2024 MUN programme.
42nd RRSIMUN Conference
Over the first few days of our October Half Term break, the School became an international conference centre, where 650 guests were warmly welcomed by our Student Secretariat team, led by Jasmine Rihal, Finlay Fowler, Emily Hayden de Carbonnières and Max Cufley. With pupils and staff coming from 33 different schools in the UK, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Greece, France, Spain, Romania, Italy, Germany and California, our conference truly is an international event.
Pupils debated in ten different committees on world issues such as the question of the threat from Artificial Intelligence, the question of State election interference, the question of money laundering, the question of fair and equitable preparation for the next global pandemic, the question of violence against women, the question of universal healthcare, the question of free and fair elections, the question of freedom of the press, the question of the impact of global warming, or the question of rebuilding Gaza amongst many other important topics.
Whether first-time or more experienced delegates, Joseph Venkatasami, Keira Rudich-Goodbody, Manha Chaudhry, Archer Stephen, Zachary Devlin, Kenneth Peskett, Ollie Bennett, Maanik Manchanda, Ehaan Nadeem, Kira Diakiv, Lauren Hunton, Hillie Stubbs, Phoenix Wu, Dominique Shved, Rayhaan Kufuor-Gray and Thalia Jinadu embraced this great experience and debated with panache in their respective committees. Tahnee Dione and Lauren Silvera worked hard as judges in the International Court of Justice, running alongside our debates.
Our Press Team, led by Katja Windle and Elspeth Gardiner, produced four fantastic editions of our MUN newspaper, The Delegate. The Media Team, headed by Ella Redman and Lara Davis, was equally busy with the running of MUN’s Got Talent, the filming of the General Assembly and ceremonies, the Royal Russell game show night and many other aspects of the conference. Abraham Kawa, Rohan Phillpot, Marcus Leung, Isaac Hayden, Izzy Jones, Winnie Wang and Emilie Marshall-Tate successfully chaired their committees. As for our Senior officers, they have shown once again the School at its best, with Emma Portman and Doris Vucinic presiding over the Security Council, Raashmi Niranjan, Zoë Spellings and Uliana Tokolova, our Presidents of the General Assembly and last but not least, our Secretary General, Johan Prinsloo. They led the conference with maturity, professionalism, warmth and kindness.
Congratulations to all who took part and supported this fantastic event.
To start the 2024-2025 MUN season, a group of Royal Russell pupils attended the 28th Reigate MUN conference on Saturday 5th October. Uliana Tokolova and Rohan Phillpot did a fantastic job as Chairs in the Special Political Committee and Environment Committee respectively. Our first time delegates, Isabel Gironella, Abraham Kawa and Tea-Maria Gabara seized the opportunity to get involved in debates on the Question of the Colonisation of Outer Space, the Question of ensuring the Prevention of Genocide in Conflicts, the Question of the Protection of Minority Languages amongst other pressing world issues, as did Emma Portman on the Question of the Recognition of the State of Palestine, representing Japan in the Security Council. More experienced delegates Doris Vucinic, Mahalea Mitchell and Marcus Leung, were equally impressive in their tackling of current challenges. Congratulations to Marcus whose resolution was debated and passed in the Economic and Financial Committee and for receiving the Highly Commended Delegate Award, representing Nigeria. This certainly is a successful start to MUN for Royal Russell, ahead of our 42nd International MUN conference later this month.
The Hague International Model United Nations Conference 2024
Last week, a group of Royal Russell pupils attended the 56th International MUN conference in The Hague, one of the key United Nations cities, where around 3000 delegates from all over the world gathered to debate on the theme of ‘Peace, Law and Justice’ and develop their public speaking skills in a very special environment. Our pupils successfully represented the Maldives through their participation in the lobbying process and debating of topics such as the Question of the Chagos Archipelago, the Question of Working towards the elimination of crimes against women and girls committed in the name of honour, the Question of Development of sustainable agriculture practices in the context of a green economy or the Question of Strengthening the role of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) amongst many other current global issues. Congratulations to Johan Prinsloo, the ambassador of our delegation and delegate in the Special Political & Decolonization Committee, Izzy Jones in the Environment Commission, Doris Vucinic in the Administration & Budgetary Committee, Zoe Spellings in the Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Committee, Daniel Petkov in the Legal Committee, Uliana Tokolova in the Disarmament & International Security Committee, Tahnee Dione in the Special Conference on Peace, Law and Justice, Isaac Hayden and Keira Rudich in the Human Rights Commission and Rohan Phillpot in the Economic and Financial Committee. All delegates were actively involved in their respective committees, making speeches, points of information and submitting resolutions. Well done to Uliana and Doris whose resolutions got passed in their committees.
RRSIMUN 2023
After school finished on Friday 13th October, all the teams gathered to transform the site, ready to welcome all our visitors the next day for the start of our 41st RRSIMUN Conference. On Saturday our Student Secretariat Team warmly guided hundreds of pupils and staff from 38 different schools who had travelled from 10 different countries to attend our conference. Over the next few days, pupils debated in eleven different committees current issues such as The question of the expansion of NATO, The question of nuclear in a low carbon economy, The question of gender equality, The question of reparations for slavery, The question of advancing the role of women in leadership and political participation, The question of justice for war crimes amongst many others, and The Question of Artificial Intelligence in the Crisis committee. The sun shone on all participants as they represented eighty member states of the United Nations. Our Royal Russell Chairs led their committees with professionalism and openness. Well done to Winnie Wang, Raashmi Niranjan, Caprice Walsh and Francesco Licheri. Our Heads of Secretariat, Conor Morris, Jasmine Rihal, Nadra Webb and Fabio Marmarchi, ensured the smooth running of committees. Hollie Taylor and Tahnee Dione and their Press Team produced four fantastic new editions of our MUN Magazine The Delegate. Poppy Clements and Will Press and the Media Team are to be commended for all their incredible work in the production of a game show, filming and streaming of the General Assembly, Opening and Closing Ceremonies and of course our very own MUN’s Got Talent event. Our Senior Officers made our school very proud with their commitment, thoroughness and diplomacy when leading the General Assembly and Security Council. Congratulations to Iris Nuredini, Secretary General, Jiya Desai, Mark Ben Mikhelson, Johan Prinsloo, Presidents of the General Assembly, Lucas Easton and Alexander Chesters, Presidents of the Security Council. Well done to all our delegates who represented Cyprus, Jamaica and Syria and a special mention to Rohan Phillpot who received the Distinguished Delegate Award in the Social and Humanitarian Committee.
Reigate MUN 2023
On Saturday 7th October, a group of nine pupils attended the 27th Reigate MUN conference. Archer Stephen, Joseph Soya-Bongay and Zachary Devlin represented Germany in the Historical Security Council, Disarmament and Security Committee and Social Humanitarian Committee respectively. Doris Vucinic, Rohan Phillpot, Mahalea Mitchell and Manha Chaudhry represented France in the Security Council, Environment, Health and Social Humanitarian Committees. As Chair of the Crisis Committee and Vice-President of the Historical Security Council, Mark Ben Mikhelson and Johan Prinsloo showed great professionalism, a week before officiating at our Royal Russell IMUN Conference as Presidents of the General Assembly. The conference was a perfect opportunity to start the MUN season for our pupils, whether first-time or more experienced delegates.
Last weekend, a group of Royal Russell students attended the 28th Haileybury MUN Conference. They represented the Republic of Korea and Jordan in the Disarmament and Security, Ecology and Environment, and Conference Special Committees and the Human Rights Council. This was a great opportunity for our students to develop their public speaking skills and debate topics such as the Establishment of the use of biological weapons in warfare, Improving the monitoring and management of natural disasters, Combating intolerance and discrimination against persons based on religion or beliefs and The rights of protestors, amongst many other current issues. Congratulations to Winnie Wang, Caprice Walsh, Nana Otchere-Darko, Alexander Chesters and Mark Ben Mikhelson for taking part. A special mention to Rohan Phillpot who was taking part in his first MUN Conference and received the Distinguished Delegate Award.
This week, a group of Royal Russell pupils attended the 55th edition of The Hague International MUN Conference. The Hague is a key United Nations city, home of the International Court of Justice, hosting the biggest MUN Conference in Europe and welcoming this year over 150 schools from all around the world.
Around 2500 pupils were greeted in the World Forum by a recorded video message from the current Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, wishing them a fantastic conference.
Congratulations to Iris Nuredini, our Vietnam Ambassador and delegate in the General Assembly’s Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee, Mark Ben Mikhelson, in the General Assembly’s Disarmament and Security Committee, Lucas Easton in the General Assembly’s Economic and Financial Committee, Johan Prinsloo in the General Assembly’s Special Political & Decolonization Committee, Francesco Licheri in the Special Conference on the future of Borders, Aman Niranjan and Winnie Wang in the Human Rights sub-commissions 1 and 2, for their participation in this unique event.
This was a fantastic opportunity to debate topics such as, Legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, Designing a universal code of ethics for tourism, Measures to eradicate forced labour and end modern slavery, The question of territorial sovereignty in Antarctica, Protecting the right of LGBT+ people and The question of countries building walls and other forms of barriers, amongst many other global issues. This was also a perfect environment to develop public speaking and diplomatic skills as well as making new friends.
On Monday 5th December, 9 Royal Russell students attended the 15th Benenden MUN conference, representing France (CJ Coleman-Benjamin, Alexander Chesters, Johan Prinsloo), Canada (Jeffry Tang, Nana Otchere-Darko, Joseph Venkatasami) and the French Polynesia (Daniel Petkov, Zoe Spellings, Caprice Walsh) in the Security Council, Human Rights Council and the Health, Economic and Financial, and Social Humanitarian and Cultural Committees. Whether experienced or first-time delegates, our students were a credit to our school and got involved in debates on topics such as the foreign intervention in conflict areas, the question of brain drain with the migration of skilled human capital to developed countries, the question of pharmaceutical regulation, the protection of labourers in the manufacturing industry and the question of protecting the professional freedom of journalists. Congratulations to all participants.
