Newsletter: 8th July 2010

This month's character quality is... FREEDOM

Final Newsletter of Year
End of Term Arrangements
Good as New Shop opening times
Book of Excellence
Year 7 and Year 8 Inter-House Debating : Year 7 and Year 8 Inter-House Debating
Musical Notes
Senior School Enrichment Week
Gifted and Talented Day

Final Newsletter of Year

This is the final newsletter for the academic year and we wish you all a very happy and peaceful summer. Below is a photograph of our retiring Head Boy and Head Girl and we send them, and all of you who are leaving the School, a very fond farewell and best wishes for the future.

We look forward to seeing returning students and families at the start of the Autumn Term on Tuesday 7 September at 8.30am.

End of Term Arrangements

School will finish on Friday 9 July at the following times:
11.30am - term ends for the Lower Junior School
11.45am - term ends for the Upper Junior School
12noon - term ends for the Senior School

In order to help the flow of traffic exiting the School, the Chestnut Avenue gate will be open and a member of staff will be on duty at the junction of Claremont Drive and Chestnut Avenue to direct traffic.

Buses will leave from the Top Cark Park at 12.15pm.

Good as New Shop opening times

Tuesday 20 July 2.45–4.15pm
Tuesday 31 August 2.45–4.15pm
Thursday 2 September 2.45–4.15pm

Book of Excellence

The last signatories for the school year came to the Principal’s Office this week to sign the Book of Excellence. They were:

Junior School

For keeping an excellent diary at Marchants Hill

Blanca Boffi, Phoebe Leake, Jack Millard, Christin Stiewe, Lauren Van Meeuwen

Excellence in creating a Reading Happiness Metre

Tomas Angelini, Luke Parker

For creating an excellent website for the Rainforest

Ellie Bench, Theo Canham, Tommaso Colvara

For an excellent Ufton Court folder

Joe Kidd, Lydia O’Reilly, Oliver Wilkins

For an outstanding effort in the Study of Ancient Egypt

Oliver Wilkins, Emily Woolford

For an excellent Old Testament Character Production on David and Goliath in RS

Eleanor McChesney, Lottie Rayner, Niamh Wilson

For an excellent Old Testament Character Production on Samson in RS

Julian Hitchcock, Theo Normanton

For a superb Natural Hazards coursework folder

Juliet Ballard, Lucie Culpeper, Lily Murphy, Lottie Rayner, Momoka Tawara

For an excellent Isle of Wight diary

Alexander Allman-Varty, Angus Ellis, Joshua Luther, Holly Morris, Amber Price, Lottie Rayner, Charlie Walker

Senior School

For making an excellent video in his free time on the ‘Take Your Son to Work’ initiative

Ben Murray

For Excellence in the End of Year Drawing Test

Caitlin Barry, Aimee Caine, Alexandra Drenth, Molly Hellman, Matthew Kang, Cameron McIntyre, Suzie Nash, Nathan Phillips, Julian Robinson-Tait, Luke Sikuade, Alexander Stewart, Sophie Stiewe, Dominic Strange, Anna Tawara, Alex D Wilson

For being part of the winning team in the Year Inter-house Debating Final

(see the story below)

Year 7 Gabriel Barling, Lottie Barratt, Caragh Murphy Collinson

Year 8 Caitlin Barry, Jamie Mackinlay, Patrick Wright

Year 9 Harry Normanton, Peter Speer, Lachlan McLennan

Year 10 Colm Bouchez, Tom Butcher, Will Turner

We would like to congratulate these students on their outstanding results and also include all those that have signed throughout the year.

Year 7 and Year 8 Inter-House Debating : Year 7 and Year 8 Inter-House Debating

There was some excellent and spirited debating from the pupils in Years 7 and 8 when the finals of the Lower Senior School Inter-House Debating Competition were held in the JGC on Friday 25 June. They had clearly followed the example of the older Year Groups they had watched debate last term!

The results were as follows:

Year 7

Motion: That society has become too superficial and that image and appearance have taken the place of substance - proposed by Longcross and opposed by Norwood

The best speakers were Caragh Murphy Collinson for Longcross and Sam Thornton for Norwood.

The Motion was carried and the winners were Longcross

Year 8

Motion: That children are growing up too fast for their own good as a result of the influence of the media and the internet - proposed by Radnor and opposed by Longcross

The best speakers were: James Hulls for Radnor; and Caitlin Barry for Longcross.

The Motion was defeated and the winners were Longcross

In each competition the other Houses came joint third as they were eliminated in the first round. Special thanks must go to the members of the English Department who helped with the judging.

Mr R Longman, English Department

Musical Notes

Musical Achievements
We would like to congratulate Momo Tawara and Theo Normanton who both took their Associated Board Grade 1 Jazz Soprano Saxophone exam recently and passed, each gaining a merit.

Year 6 Recital
What a joy it was to sit in the elegant surroundings of the Drawing Room on the evening of Monday 28 June and be entertained by seven very talented Year 6 students who, under the encouragement and leadership of Mr Hitchcock, gave us an exceptional recital.

A wide range of music on piano, soprano saxophone, cello, clarinet and voice was performed to a very high standard. The students also joined forces in an Ensemble to perform some well known pieces from stage and screen. The performers were:
Alexander Allman-Varty – voice
Emma Calligan – voice
Julian Hitchcock - clarinet
Lily Murphy – voice
Theo Normanton – soprano saxophone
Momo Tawara – piano and violin
Catie Upton – voice and cello

We do wish them and, indeed, all of our Year

Senior School Enrichment Week

Following the exams, pupils in the Senior School had an Enrichment Week, 14-18 June.

Sixth Form

Returning from their AS Level study leave the Sixth Form enjoyed a number of day trips during their enrichment week. Monday and Thursday had an academic focus in school on new courses and personal statements for UCAS.

However, on Tuesday they visited Oxford University and had tours around Christ Church College, Brasenose College and Lincoln College where five students and two staff also had a special 45 minute session picking the brains of an admissions tutor as well. In addition, they found time to visit a new exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum and finished the day in style with an hour’s punting.

The next day they spent doing service in the community, working at the Oxshott Scout Centre. Painting the Scout Hut, and clearing the grounds of rubbish and old sawn tree trunks, were the main tasks of the day and their help was very gratefully received. Friday morning saw the students in the Visitors’ Gallery of two separate courts at the Old Bailey to see the workings of the criminal justice system in action. After a swift visit to Westfields for a late lunch, they moved on to a tour of BBC Television Centre to round off a highly beneficial week.

Year 9 Trip to Rome

70 pupils and staff travelled to Rome for their Enrichment Week. It was an easy journey on the British Airways flight and we landed in the Eternal City with temperatures of 35°+. It got hotter as the week progressed!

Pupils had a great time seeing St Peter’s Basilica, the Pantheon and the Forum as well as enjoying themselves at Gladiator School and a virtual tour of the city through the ages.

Everyone was well behaved (even the teachers) and they sampled the delights of Roman cuisine. Perhaps the best thing was spending time with each other and having fun.

The return flight landed at Heathrow on Friday evening, travel sore and glad to be home but having had a wonderful experience. Ciao!

Year 8 Trip to France

I think everyone enjoyed the Year 8 enrichment trip to France this year and there was real excitement as we boarded our coaches on the Monday morning. We crossed via the Tunnel and the adventure began! Checking in 77 students and eight staff is a feat in itself and the students were patient as they were issued their key cards. The most used phrase was then to be “Je m’excuse, j’ai laissé ma clef dans ma chambre “. After a three course meal brought in from a nearby restaurant there was time to look around the market town of Arras.

The following days were packed with activities including visiting the tower and tunnels of Arras, a museum, an aquarium, the old town of Bolougne for a geography field study – conducted in French, of course; after all the work we also managed to fit in a play on the beach. Every evening the students worked in their diaries in French, or English if they were not studying the language. During the visits they completed worksheets and drew pictures to record what they saw – well their Head of Year is an artist!

After all the hard work there was a day at a theme park and no worksheets! We were complimented on several occasions on the good behaviour of all the students as they worked with focus on set tasks. All the groups had a chance to work with each other on the different tasks and so really got to know more of each other.

In the evening there were meals out in nearby restaurants that did not blink an eye at seating and serving 80 plus customers in one go. The students had to relax into the more leisurely pace of French eating. The food was good and plentiful and breakfast was the most popular! Our talent show on the last night was energetic and noisy and we were pleased that we were the only residents at the second hotel!

Year 7 Trip to Kent

Year 7 went to Grosvenor Hall in Kent, a Kingswood Activity Centre, for a five day residential visit. The purpose of the week was to develop team spirit amongst the children and to foster self confidence through a series of activities which involved physical and mental challenges.

All 72 pupils took part in activities such as zip wire, balance beam, circus skills, canoe capsize and the highly popular 3-G swing! The 3-G swing was greatly anticipated by all (including staff) as it required two participants to be attached by harness to a trapeze, whilst the rest of the group pulled them to a height of 15 metres. The rope was then released, and the trapeze experienced free-fall for a few seconds before swinging backwards and forwards. Many children reported a feeling of terror beforehand, only wanting to ride it again immediately afterwards!

The evenings comprised a disco, film night, mini-olympics and a campfire all of which were enjoyed with great gusto. It was an extremely successful week and one which the children will remember for years to come.

Gifted and Talented Day

On the last Monday of school year we held a Gifted and Talented Day. Those pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 with special interests and talents were offered the opportunity to take part in special sessions including Art, Business Studies, Design Technology, Geography, Media Studies and Philosophy.

The philosophers considered deeply and argued about the vexed question of dealing with conjoined twins. The gifted and talented geographers studied the concept of cultural geography – a relatively new type of human geography. Several groups created colourful posters and detailed Powerpoints, whilst others used drama and dressing up out of makeshift costumes to represent their tribes! The artists spent the morning engrossed in making lino print portraits while their business-minded fellow pupils worked out that even they will be paying more tax next year after the Chancellor’s recent Emergency Budget.

The afternoon was split between those who looked into World Cinema, where they watched, questioned and commented on such films as Persepolis (Iranian graphic novel), Spirited Away (Japanese anime), Delicatessen (French), and those who had a more hands on experience making boomerangs in design technology. Judging by the smiles all round every session was meaningful, inspiring and fun in their own way.

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