Issue 119 30th March 2004
Issue 119 30th March 2004
| FROM THE HEADTEACHER
Important Meeting - Parents are invited to a meeting at school on Wednesday, 5th May to hear more about our plans to bid for Specialist School Status. More information will be sent home after the Easter holidays. Help with Further Education - Information about a new grant available to Year 11 students continuing in education in September 2004 will be sent home shortly. It is a means-tested weekly payment made direct to the student of up to £30 and available to those whose family income is below £30,000 per annum. Registration starts soon, so look out for the guidance leaflets or take a look at the website : www.ema.dfes.gov.uk Thoughts on the Diploma - In common with a number of headteachers I give a cautious welcome to the Government's plans to introduce a new Diploma qualification as a replacement for the present system of public examinations. I am especially pleased that this will not be rushed in overnight and, hopefully, due regard will be given to the views and advice from people actually working in schools and administering the present system. The proposed Diploma would mean that study would begin at 14 and include four levels of qualification - entry, foundation, intermediate and advanced. It should carry weight with employers, allow youngsters to progress at different rates and free teachers from being bogged down with too many assessments. The Diploma should also give students the opportunity to work on projects in the community that would help develop inter-personal skills. A valuable introduction could be the Personalised Learning initiative which would help students move schools more easily. For example, if a student wanted to build on language, mathematical, science, technology or sporting skills it should be possible to transfer to a school holding specialist status in that subject. As more information comes through I will keep parents informed. Please Note - School
will close at 1 pm on Friday, 2nd April at the start of the
Easter Holiday. Catering Cards - A reminder that you need to send in cheques to top up your son's/daughter's card for school meals for next term. Make your cheque payable to 'Surrey County Council' and it should be placed in the cheques box in the Dining Hall by 9.30 am. No need for an envelope but it does help to have name, tutor group and card number on the back of the cheque. Meeting the Queen - A number of Therfield students involved with local youth organisations were chosen to meet the Queen during the royal visit to Dorking last week. Richard Nicholas, a former student, who is now in the second year of a catering course at Guildford College, was one of the chefs who cooked for and was then presented to Her Majesty after lunch at Denbies. Richard has recently taken part in the British National Open Championships for young chefs - a prestigious competition which draws contestants from all over Britain and Europe. Help Wanted - Although Mrs Harvey, Examinations Secretary, has a strong team of regular invigilators who help to supervise the public examinations in April, May and June she would still like to hear from one or two more people who would be willing to help. She is looking for 'mature, responsible and calm individuals' and can be contacted on 01372 814463. This is a paid position and hours are flexible. Study Leave - Year 10 students start their study leave in preparation for in-school exams on 21st April. Duke of Edinburgh Award - Interest in this challenging enterprise continues to grow. This term over seventy Year Nine students have signed up for the Bronze Award and are now taking part in a training programme. They will learn navigation, campcraft and first aid skills to help them complete their expedition successfully. Fourteen Year 10s have started the Silver Award after successfully coming through the Bronze stage. They are going to Wales for four days at the end of term for their practice expedition. Our first six participants have enrolled in the Gold Award and are now planning activities and an expedition for next year. Sailing Success - Alex Stypulkowski has been selected as one of two RYA Dinghy Instructors of the Year. This is a prestigious and much sought-after award and reveals a great deal of sailing expertise and commitment on Alex's part. Alex has been a leading member of the school's Sailing Club and acknowledges the tremendous help and support given him by Mr Stewart and Mrs Wingrove. He also instructs at Queen Mary Sailing Club, Ashford and received his award on 6th March at the RYA Dinghy Sailing Show at Alexandra Palace. Testing Times - A reminder that all Year 9 students will be sitting National Curriculum Tests in Mathematics, English and Science in the week beginning 3rd May and in-school assessments in other subjects. It is very important that all students are in school that week. Parents and students may find it useful to visit the Bitesize website or the TV programmes to support revision during the Easter break. Solving Problems - Well done to the Year 11 team of Gillian Fox, Matthew Pemberton, Joe Newman, Richard Wilcox and Paul Williams who took part in the Surrey SATRO Technology Problem Solving competition at Heathside School. They gained third place in their age group out of fifteen schools. Fundraising - Students planning to take part in the Outward Bound Expedition to Malaysia in 2005, are now hard at work raising funds. A jumble sale has produced £100 and a competition for a flying lesson has realised £400. Organisers of the penny walk are flexing their fingers to count their takings, the tuck shop will, hopefully, prove to be a money-spinner and volunteers for litter picking around the school look forward to some financial rewards for their back-breaking work. Playing for Mole Valley - This year's Surrey Youth Games take place at Guildford on 19th and 20th June and the search is on to find young people to represent Mole Valley in a series of sports. All trials and training sessions are free to participants who are needed for athletics, badminton, basketball, girls' football, hockey, judo, netball and tag rugby. More information can be obtained by visiting www.molevalley.gov.uk , phoning Jilly Vincent on 01306 879194 or contact Mr Batchelor for more information. Many of our students have taken part in previous years and found the experience to be a real stepping stone into the next level of sport. Theatre Fame - Charlotte Millar in Year 8 was on stage at Leatherhead Theatre earlier this month as she took part in a well-attended production of Fame. Free Sporting Facilities - Any student who is currently representing Surrey at sport can apply to use Mole Valley sports facilities for free. This initiative is aimed at helping students train for their individual sport and represents a great opportunity to put extra time in building on skills. National Science Week - A varied programme of activities devised by Science staff and led by Miss Myers meant that National Science Week enjoyed a high profile at school. Students took part in construction challenges, quiz sessions, attended lectures at Surrey University, built and launched rockets and watched some colourful chemistry displays. Most challenging, however, was a Science `Whodunnit' run on popular Murder Mystery lines and involving thirteen members of staff as suspects. Would-be puzzle solvers needed to test the reliability of alibis, check fingerprints, examine DNA results and blood group returns and discover what exactly constituted the white powder scattered around the body in the laboratory. CCTV footage revealed the identity of the culprit at the end of the exercise. The whole programme was voted a great success by staff and students alike with feedback from students suggesting that Science Week had been one of the most popular activities of the year. Collection Time - Once again we are collecting Tesco Computers for School vouchers and are grateful for all contributions. Last year we collected - and counted! - 35,500 vouchers which provided a wide range of new equipment. Family Line - If you wish to talk about family problems, feel stressed or are lacking in confidence, volunteers on Surrey's Family Line are there to listen to you. All calls are confidential and free and the number to phone is : 0808 800 5678. German Exchange - A warm recommendation for taking part in the German Exchange comes from Tamsin Baxter in Year Nine. Tamsin recounts the many activities enjoyed by the German students during their visit here and comments - "The beginning was awkward - I think everyone would agree - but by the weekend everyone was getting along like best mates. This has been a fantastic week and I have met some really lovely people. I don't think there was anyone who had a bad partner or a miserable week". The French Exchange students from College Jean Monnet and Lycée la Hedrie arrived at a busy time for us with their visit overlapping with the Ofsted inspection. Nonetheless the Exchange was a fantastic success with students on both sides really enjoying getting to know each other. The joint visit to the Tower of London was a great success and the French group also visited many other tourist attractions. Many thanks to parents and families who hosted the visitors and who got up so early to see them off! The return trips to Germany and France next term are now eagerly awaited. Enjoying Books - A one-day Book Fair was held in the Resource Centre on World Book Day so that students were able to redeem their £1 book tokens. Race Night - An exercise in organisation is embarked on by the Leisure and Recreation group as they present a Race Night at school on April 22. Tickets are now on sale. Sporting Round-Up - As we look forward to the coming Summer term of cricket, athletics, rounders and tennis fixtures, the PE department would like to thank all the parents who have helped staff with transport and given general support so cheerfully during the Autumn and Winter terms. There have been over 150 boys' fixtures in various sports since September and this has involved plenty of travel, coaching and after school commitment. Rugby has gone from strength to strength this year with Rugby Club often being attended by over sixty boys. Some of the highlights include the Year 7s reaching the semi-finals of the Surrey Development Tournament and the Year 7s and Year 9s beating Howard of Effingham for the first time. In Football the first XI progressed to the third round of the English Cup and Year 11 have reached the quarter finals of the County Cup. The Year 10 Basketball team have been particularly successful and have recorded only one defeat this season. Over 300 students took part in the Inter-Form Cross Country competition - winners in their respective races being Evan Dyer, Natasha Firth, Ross McKenzie, Emily Lambourne, Tom Horley, Amie Turner, Vicky Valentine, Danny Ross, Gillian Fox and David Francis. Plenty of commitment and dedication was shown by the girls who regularly attended weekly coaching and training sessions for Netball and the U14s reached the quarter finals of the district championships. Hockey for boys and girls has had a strong following. The U15 boys were particularly pleased with a 4-3 victory over a well-matched team from St John's School and the Year 8s came fifth in a keenly contested district tournament. Lisa-Marie Winteridge has had a successful season in Gymnastics. She has taken part in the Great Britain championships and came fourth overall, having gained a bronze medal in the beam competition. Helpful Talk - A talk and discussion organised by AFASIC (a UK charity concerned with Speech and Language difficulties) will be held at the school on Wednesday, 19th May. The emphasis will be on practical help. More information in the April Newsletter or from Caroline Cloutte 01372 813136. Dates for the Diary |