THERFIELD NEWS Issue 123 21st July 2004

As the school year comes to a close we say goodbye to a number of staff. Many go on to promotion in other schools, whilst others seek a change of scene.

Mr Wheatley has been promoted to Assistant Headteacher at St John the Baptist School and Mr Langford, Assistant Headteacher at Prendergast School.
Mr Rolaston, Head of Science, moves to a senior role developing Science specialism at Nonsuch High School.
Miss Cranshaw is to become Head of History at Fulford School, York.
Miss Pears leaves us to become Head of Mathematics at The Priory School and Ms Hall moves to The Ashcombe to be 2nd in English Faculty.
Mr Meadows takes up a teaching position at Central Foundation Boys School and Ms Wade leaves us to travel the world.
We also say goodbye to Mr Cox, Ms Etherington, Ms Fontanals, Mr Forword, Miss Sunderland and Mrs Westerman. The school will miss all of these colleagues and we wish them well for the future.

In addition, Mrs Carriett begins her maternity leave in September and Mr Hill will be on a one term secondment to Bishop David Brown school where he will be working as Deputy Headteacher.
Mr Garner and Miss Buckell will be joining the Leadership Team for one term.

I am pleased to report that the school will be fully staffed next year. I welcome back Mr Digby as Teacher of RS and Politics.
The new Head of Art will be Miss Collins from The Brackenhall School.
The new 2nd in English Faculty is Mrs Elsden, who joins us from George Abbot school.
Mr Hursey comes from Richard Hale School as Literacy Coordinator and Mrs Foley from The Warwick School is the new 2nd in Maths Faculty.
Ms Thomas and Ms Chegwin will be teaching (English), Ms Tilley (English and Media Studies), Ms Honor (MFL), Ms Sykes (Business Studies), Mrs O'Brien (Business Studies and Leisure & Tourism), Mr Bates (IT), Mrs Mogul (Maths) Mr Morren and Ms Lewis (Music), Mr Michelmore and Miss Cortiza (RS, History & Politics), Mr White and Mr Courtney (Science).

I would also like to congratulate the following staff on their promotions: Ms Allen to Head of Humanities Faculty, Mrs Moore to Head of Business Studies, Miss Myers to temporary Head of Science, Mr Knowles to temporary Head of RS, Mr Batchelor to Deputy Head of Sixth Form, Miss Marrill to 2nd in MFL Faculty and Miss Jackson to 2nd in the History Department.

Can I take this opportunity to provide you with a few reminders regarding the school's dress code at Therfield and request your full support in ensuring that your son/daughter returns to school in September in the correct uniform:

Trainers may only be worn for PE and outside at breaks and lunchtimes.
Caps and 'hoodies' are not to be worn on the school premises.
Walkmans and headphones are not to be brought into school.

Students should see their Head of Year on arrival at school if there is any issue regarding their school uniform. Heads of Year can then decide whether or not to authorise any irregularity.

Uniform reminders will be placed in all classrooms so that all students are absolutely clear about the standards expected here at Therfield.

The revised timings for the school day will be:
Day 10 (Week 2) Friday
8.30 Registration
8.40 Skills tutor period
9.05 Period 1
10.05 Movement break
10.10 Period 2
11.10 Break
11.30 Period 3
12.30 Lunchtime
13.20 Warning bell
13.25 Registration
13.30 Period 4
14.30 Staff/non contact and planning time

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a wonderful summer break.

Maths - Sarah Cannon, 8JLW, successfully completed the 2004 Junior Mathematical Olympiad. This is open only to the best candidates from year 8 and below judged by their achievement in the 2004 UKMT Junior Maths Challenge. Just over 1150 candidates of the more than 225,000 who sat the JMC were invited to sit the Olympiad paper.

Two gifted mathematicians from year 7, James Finch and Michael Smith, attended a conference for Year 7 Gifted mathematicians at Guildford University on 9th July. The students had the opportunity to look at the Enigma machine and also looked into the theory behind winning games.

Theatre Company Visit On Tuesday July 6th all Year 8 students enjoyed a lively and stimulating performance of extracts from Shakespeare's plays by the MOPA Theatre Company. Students were able to participate by actually acting, in costume on the stage or by suggesting ideas in workshop sessions. They saw extracts from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear. The performance provided an exciting and enjoyable introduction to Shakespeare's works in performance and also supported work on A Midsummer Night's Dream which most students have completed this year as part of their English course.

Mole Valley Poetry Competition Therfield students featured among the winners of the annual Mole Valley Poetry Competition again this year. At Key Stage 3 Katie Warren and Roula Katoudi from Year 9 won two of the three first prizes and Wesley Cardew-Smith from Year 7 was highly commended.

At Key Stages 4 and 5 Sebastian English, Year 10 and Gauri Chauhan, Year 13, were two of the three first prize winners. There was an enthusiastic response to the competition from students throughout the school. Congratulations to all participants and prize winners and thanks to Mrs Percival for organising the school's entry.

Carnegie Shadowing A dedicated group of readers has been meeting on a weekly basis in the LRC to read and discuss all the entries for the Carnegie Prize for the children's book of the year. As well as reading each other's reviews of the books and accessing the web-site to see reviews written by students from other schools they have downloaded and discussed interviews with authors and designed alternative book covers. Our students finally voted for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon while the children's librarians whose vote determines the awarding of the prize chose A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly. Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful was also very popular and recommended for a summer holiday read. Thanks to Mr Oswick for running the scheme this year.

German Exchange - 1st - 9th July Thirty eight year 9, 10 and 12 students flew to Munich on the 1st July for the German Exchange and spent a week exploring this amazing city in Bavaria, southern Germany. This was the return visit to our new exchange school Willi-Graf Gymnasium.

Despite unusually rainy weather, the group enjoyed all the activities which included a trip to Neuschwanstein Castle, a games quiz in the city centre, a visit to the Olympic stadium and FC Bayern ground, a tour of the Bavaria film studios and a morning in school with their partners. The AS German students who took part, also spent an afternoon at the Dachau concentration camp memorial museum.

There were tears on Friday when the group had to leave their new friends and make their way to the airport, but plans are already being made for return trips to Munich at half term, when many of our students will be going back to Munich separately to visit their partners.

Letters and application forms for the German Exchange 2005 will be available from Ms Buckell in September. Anyone in year 9, 10 or 12 who studies German, can take part in this trip.

Africa Evening -14th July An appreciative audience were entertained with music, a fashion show, a dance routine, African displays and a power point presentation - demonstrating yet again the talent of Year 7 Therfield students. Ice creams and cakes were also on offer. The second performance in particular was a real reflection of the enthusiasm and hard work that goes into making this a popular yearly event. Prizes for the folder competition were awarded and presented by Mr Tuck.

Here are just a few on the things the children had to say about the evening:
"not butterflies but eagles in my stomach"
"my costume was blue all over and had a giraffe on the front"
"the sound of the audience was as though they were on a roller coaster screaming with excitement"
"there wasn't really much on my costume but I was proud of it"
"when 7CPI came on I laughed my head off at Ben because he was the only one singing and he was dancing like mad"
"they had lovely costumes that they had all worked hard on"
"I was worried that I would fall over, my top would fall down or I would forget the dance"
"thank you to all the teachers that helped with Africa Evening"
"Africa evening was great"
"When we came out you went WOW!"
"I was terrified something would go wrong, but it didn't. That's good"
"It was an enjoyable but nerve-racking evening"
"the catwalk was nicer than I thought it would be, even though I was in a group of boys!"
"it was a little overwhelming, but at the end I really got into it and enjoyed it"
"it was really good with everyone all in different colours"
"I was scared at first but then I got on stage and started to enjoy myself"
"I had a fantastic time, shame it ended"
"Mr Pordage and co. were fantastic on the drums and the evening was great"
"my costume was very good"
"I got all the way down the catwalk without tripping over"
"it was really fun and exhilarating"

Fundraising for the RUSH Project has raised so far £310 or 800 chickens, with more still to come. Some of the money will now go towards buying mosquito nets which will dramatically reduce medical bills. Thank you also to all who have donated items of clothing, vitamin pills etc - please keep them coming. A crate will be leaving for Mombassa on 5th August.

Duke of Edinburgh's Award Update
Bronze On 10th/11th July year 9 students completed their Bronze Award Practice Expedition on the South Downs. They walked 24km over the two days carrying everything they needed for the weekend. We were lucky with the weather and were able to enjoy some games and an evening campfire.

They are now preparing for their qualifying expedition which will take place on 2nd/3rd October on the North Downs. They will plan this expedition on Tuesday afternoons in September, so it is essential they all attend.

Silver All Silver participants have completed the expedition section of the Award and should now be writing up their chosen project. Many have nearly finished the other three sections of the Award and should have their Award by Christmas.

Gold Plans are underway to organise our first ever Gold expedition 16th till 19th October on Dartmoor. Meanwhile participants have made progress with the other four sections of their Award. The Residential Projects they have completed have included working with disabled children and a music camp.

All Award participants need to submit their completed Record Books to Miss Kendrick by the start of December to be able to attend the annual presentation evening in January.

Westhumble trip 7/8th July The Year 7s who attended the Westhumble trip on Wednesday 7th July had a fun filled geographical experience! They splashed about in the River Mole measuring the width, depth and velocity. They climbed Box Hill and had a human geography lesson on settlement patterns. In addition they measured an ox-bow lake and river terrace. Great fun was had by all. Sadly the remainder of Year 7 were unable to go on their trip on Thursday due to Mother Nature's intervention when there was a downpour.

Year 9 Fun Day 15th July Year 9 would like to thank all staff involved in the fantastic Year 9 Fun Day. Everyone enjoyed the rounders and tug of war, after which they cooled down with a water fight. Hundreds of burgers and sausages were quickly demolished by the hungry crowd! It was certainly an evening they will all remember.

Year 10 Health Days Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th July saw year 10 students take part in Health Days. The local Police ran one session focussing on youth and the law. Other sessions included studying how stress, alcohol and sexually shared diseases can affect a person's health and how to reduce the risk of experiencing problems.

The P.E. department led an activity which studied the importance of ensuring people eat a balanced diet. Students had the opportunity to show off how fit they are on an indoor cycling machine and to design a new sports energy bar for the sports people of today.

Surrey Schools Sailing Regatta - 5-7th July Two wonderful days sailing off Hayling Island - good winds and nice, sunny weather, but then there was Wednesday! Sadly, sailing was cancelled and we had to return to school. However, the school was awarded the Ken Grace Trophy for them most RYA Certificates gained this year. Once again the students were an absolute credit to the school.

Auction Evening Students who are going on the Outward Bound trip to Sabah in 2005 held a very successful auction evening on Thursday 8th July. A total of around £900 was raised and a lot of fun was had by all!

Book Fair - 9th July Mrs Solomon says 'thank you' to both parents and students who supported the recent Book Fair. The next one will be in November 2004.

Congratulations We are pleased to announce that, following an election for Head students, James Claxton and Louise Noble have been appointed.

End of Term - School closes at 1.00 pm on Wednesday at the end of the Summer term. All students will be given an Information Booklet which gives times and dates for the return to school in September, holiday dates for 2004-5, information about uniform, school rules and other important items. Please 'rescue' this from school bags, blazer pockets etc. as this information is essential.

Results Days - Thursday, 19th August will see the publication of Advanced Level results and Thursday 26th August is the date for GCSE and GNVQ results.

Holidays Holiday forms are available from the Main Office, and must be completed 2 weeks prior to any leave of absence.

Please remember
Please make sure your child has all the items they need for the school day, i.e. lunch or lunch card, PE kit, school books, etc. Items brought into school during the day disrupt school time and should be avoided.

Lunch Cards A reminder about lunch cards - if your child needs to purchase a new card, they must do so before the end of term. The school does not issue new cards to students at the start of each year. Broken and lost lunch cards are not replaced free - there is a charge of £5.

An Important Date - The Governors Annual Meeting with Parents will take place on Wednesday, October 6th. It will, once again, be held in conjunction with the Friends Meeting and so provide an opportunity for parents to meet and mingle and also ask questions.

Prayer Group - Meetings for next term have been arranged on Monday evenings, 11th October and 29th November at 8 pm in room N1.

Lost Property - A reminder please to make sure that all items of uniform and equipment are clearly labelled. A large amount of property gets handed in each day and if there is a name on it then we can return it.

Advance notice - shoeboxes for Romania We will again be collecting shoeboxes containing Christmas gifts to send to Romania early in the Autumn Term. Perhaps you might like to think about providing a box this year? These shoeboxes are so very gratefully received by those most in need. Full details of contents and last delivery dates are detailed below. Could I ask you all to add this to your "to do" lists ? Many, many thanks. Dawn Dodd, Clerk to Governors.

LINK ROMANIA FAMILY SHOEBOX APPEAL
How the Shoebox Appeal Works:
1. Obtain a strong, medium sized shoebox to be filled with items as a Christmas gift for a family in Romania.
2. Fill with items (suggestions below).
3. You may like to include a Christmas card or a family photo with contact details - people do receive replies! Craciun Fericit (Romanian for Merry Christmas).
4. Seal the box securely, gift wrap it and attach the Contents list to the outside for Customs Clearance.
5. For every gift given we ask for a donation towards costs of just £2, which will allow us to deliver boxes directly into the hands of families within Romania.
6. We are pleased to receive boxes from THE START OF THE AUTUMN TERM. To allow us to get them delivered by Christmas, shoeboxes need to be delivered latest SUNDAY 26th OCTOBER.

If you need any advice or assistance, please contact Dawn Dodd on 01372 814462 or Extn 366 at the cchool in September. Please leave your shoeboxes at the School Reception desk between 8am and 4pm.

Suggested Contents:
You don't have to include everything on this list in your shoebox, but all contents must be listed and a list attached to the shoebox:

Please do not include the following which customs regulations in Romania Prohibit:
No dried or tinned food of any kind, coffee, tea, money, medicine or out of date items.

Please take care to strictly adhere to their policies. Thank you.

A reminder of
THE GOVERNORS' ANNUAL MEETING FOR PARENTS
On Wednesday 6th October
Preceded by the FRIENDS' ANNUAL MEETING

In the New Dining Hall

Date for the distant future Saturday 11th December 2004 - Friends of Therfield Ball