Issue 124 29th September 2004
Issue 124 29th September 2004
| FROM THE HEADTEACHER
Examination Results Once again Therfield students performed outstandingly in all exams. 98% of grades at 'A' Level were A-E with 70% being at A-C. Poppy Stagg, Gabriel Villar, Jordan Clifford and Sarah Pemberton all achieved four A grades each and are now heading for their Oxbridge colleges. Other students who achieved excellent grades are Sophie Lelong, John Crozier, James Day, Emma Bush, Melanie McKee, John Collins, Heather Miller, Caroline Turner and Stephen Vogado. At GCSE, 75% of students who took the exams attained 5 A*C, again significantly above county and national averages. Many students achieved the maximum of ten As and A*s but as a school we are equally proud of all those students who achieved grades that reflected their personal best. Special mention goes to 16 students who achieved all A or A*, these are; Kathryn Greenwood, Robert Leay, Gillian Fox, Joseph Newman, Sarah Morris, Benjamin Thomas, John Andrews, David Patel, Amy Chandler, Adam Francis, Joe Bennett, Tom Down, Benjamin Newton, Joanna Yearley, Lindsey Fraser and Hugh Rankmore. It is also worth noting that a significant cohort of our Gifted and Talented Year 10 students attained A* and A grades in General Studies. At Therfield we welcome students of all abilities and teach all of our students for examination courses. Students are entered for public examinations if they have demonstrated effort and commitment and completed the necessary coursework, irrespective of likely results. We are particularly proud, therefore, that our GCSE and A level results are consistently above the national and county average. In our OfSTED inspection of March 2004, standards were identified as a significant strength of the school with boys and girls achieving well above the national average in national tests and examinations. This is a reflection of a number of factors, amongst them, the quality of our teaching, our school's ethos that promotes high expectations and our strong links with parents. Attainment in 2004 at Key Stage 3 was the highest in the school's history with 85% of students in Mathematics, 88% in Science and 93% in English achieving Level 5 and above. This figure is a Imost 20% above the national average. At Level 6, these figures were 71%, 52% and 50% respectively; again well above the national average. Surgery Date I will be available on Wednesday, 6th October from 5pm to 7pm to meet with parents who have any concerns or issues they would like to discuss concerning the school and their son/daughter. Please phone my PA, Mrs Jo Devonshire, on 01372 814432 to arrange a time. Open Evening Our open evening for prospective new parents looking for a secondary school place in September 2005 will be held on Wednesday October 13th. Please pass this information to anyone you know whose son or daughter will be changing schools next year. Please note: School will close on the 13th at 1.10pm to give time for displays etc. to be organised for the Open Evening. On Thursday 14th October students will register at 9.40am. On a Musical Note For the first time, the Music Department entered students who have been learning as part of the Year 7 Band, for Graded Music examinations with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Our congratulations go to the following students: GRADE 3 15 students from the Lower School Singers will be singing at Guildford Cathedral on Sunday 17th October at 3pm for the United Education Service, all are welcome to attend the service. Visit to Boppard The annual trip to Germany that marks the end of Year 7 for 44 of our youngest students was again a great success. With our coach setting off at 6.30 am, we were on the road in France by 10am and arrived in Boppard in time for our evening meal at the hotel, 12 hours door to door. It is a beautiful location, right on the bank of the Rhine, with its river traffic ploughing up and down, and of course, surrounded by vineyards. Our visit happened to coincide with the Boppard street festival, in which the Rhine promenade was full of stalls, food and drink kiosks and live music. The festival finished up with a spectacular firework display, set off across the river. We looked round the town, took the chair lift up on to the hills and got stuck in a thunderstorm, which none of us will ever forget. We went shopping to Koblenz, the confluence of Rhein and Mosel, and went swimming in the wonderful open air pool. We visited the Marksburg, an intact medieval castle overlooking the river, stood on the Lorelei, looked around the quaint little town of Rudesheim, visiting its musical museum and taking another chairlift over the vineyards, ending this great day with a 2 hour Rhine cruise. And then finally we were treated to an authentic Chinese meal on the last night at the hotel, and with most of the packing done we had our own home made disco, expertly presided over by Miss Marrill and Miss Starling, with Mr Evans and Mrs Reeves keeping refreshments going. Speeches were made and everyone thanked everyone else for making it a success. The staff team and the students themselves were a pleasure to be with. Roll on next year. MFL Exchanges Letters of information and application forms are now available for the French Exchange to Nantes (Ms Ensum), and the German Exchange to Munich (Ms Buckell). They are open to anyone in Years 9, 10 or 12 who study these languages. Key Stage 4 Parents Meeting A meeting was held in the school hall on Wednesday 22nd September for parents with students starting Key Stage 4 (Year 10). The event was extremely well attended by parents and students. Mrs Willman and Miss Wraight spoke about the curriculum over the next two years, and the need to put a lot of effort into Year 10, as Year 11 is largely taken up with revision, work experience and study leave. Coursework contributes to a large percentage of marks in some subjects so spending as much time as possible on these is a great way to gain extra marks. Two sixth formers, Kelly McGrath
and Emma Rees, spoke informatively of their
experiences in their GCSE years. They said that regrettably
there is no way round it - you must attend all lessons! Mrs
Willman also stressed that any absence from school is not easily
made up, and reiterated the importance of regular attendance and
the need to catch up on any missed lessons promptly. High Ashurst Activity Days Once again our annual Year 7 team building exercise took place at High Ashurst. Children from 21 different primary schools made up this Years year 7 intake. This event is an excellent opportunity for them to make new friends. The exercises they take part in are designed to enhance team work and to pose personal and collective challenges. All the students had a wonderful time and returned to Therfield with a great sense of achievement. Science News - Yomi Williams and Pratik Rao carried out Nuffield Bursary placements during the summer holidays. Yomi went to the University of Surrey to study the effect of vitamins on bone structure, He said "I was able to gain an insight into the application of Science in the real world, rather than being limited to the classroom environment." Pratik's placement involved the study of medical physics. The Year 13 biologists attended a 3 day field trip to Pagham Harbour last week to study ecology as part of their coursework. The trip was thoroughly enjoyed by all, except perhaps Yomi Williams who fell in the mud! All of the students successfully carried out their investigations and will be writing them up over the coming few weeks. Crimestoppers On 28th September all Year 8 students took part in the David Graham's Natural High School Tour 2004 event. This involved educating students in a fun way about the dangers of taking drugs and how to ensure they live in a safer community. Thanks to the Crimestoppers team and Surrey Police. The afternoon saw students taking part in football, dancing, singing and logo competitions. Many important issues were delivered in a very interactive way. The school have copies of drug information booklets entitled Know your child - their habit, their life. If you are interested in receiving one, please contact the school. Parenting Classes All parents are invited to participate in a ten week programme of parenting classes due to begin before the October half term. The sessions will consider how best to handle difficult behaviour in young people. We hope also the classes will be supportive confidential and practical. For further details please contact Liz Noble on 01372 818123. Cashless Society Please do not send your son/daughter into school with large sums of money for them to manually put onto their cards. If at all possible please send them in with a cheque. Cheques placed in the box in the Dining Hall by 9.30am will be credited to a student's card by lunchtime. Please put the students name, tutor group and card number on the reverse of the cheque and make it payable to 'Surrey County Council'. When sending payment into school for trips etc. we ask that wherever possible these payments should be made by cheque. Student Post Copies of the school calendar and details of clubs and out of school activities have been sent home with students. Copies have been put onto the school website. Recruitment The Admin. department wish to establish a list of casual staff who would be able to work at short notice. The key skills required are; a very good working knowledge of Word and an excellent telephone manner. The job will involve helping with all admin. tasks and could mean having to work under pressure to meet deadlines. For further information please contact Tricia Barker on 01372 818123 ext. 262 The Home School Agreement All Home School Agreements should now have been returned to school. If you wish to have a copy to refer to one is available on the school website or you can contact the school office for one to be sent home to you. Mathematicians please take note The senior Maths challenge is coming up on 9th November. Maths Equipment Please can students make sure that they bring all the equipment they need to lessons, especially a calculator. All items are available to buy from the Resource Centre. Cars in Dilston Road None of us want the risk of an accident to a child in Dilston Road or anywhere else at the start or end of the day. Children should be dropped off on Kingston Road or at the side gate on Cleeve Road as this will reduce the amount of traffic at the school as the students arrive or leave. This is particularly important on days when the weather is not good as children will tend to rush and visibility may be worse for drivers. Valuable possessions The school cannot take responsibility for students' possessions brought to school. It is worrying to see students with Mobile Phones and i Pods that are far too expensive to be flaunted in a school community. There is a pay phone at school should students need to make phone calls. Second Hand Uniform Second hand uniform is available from the Finance Office any Monday, Wednesday or Friday between 9.30am and 2.30pm. Please call to arrange a time for viewing. Kenya RUSH Project .... Many thanks again to all those who have supported Liz Noble in her endeavours to fund the RUSH self help project in Kenya. This summer 1500 people received "free" medical treatment at the clinic in Kakamega. Over 500 people were able for the first time to have their eyes tested and the dentist pulled over 100 teeth. It was quite a day. Local pharmacies donated drugs to supplement those purchased with money from Therfield. The boarding house for AIDS orphans is nearing completion and the focus of fund raising in the coming months will be to pay for plumbing, plastering and paint. The crops planted earlier this year are now harvested so those "mamas" widowed by AIDS and bereft a year ago have now food in the store and considerable pride in their shared achievement. As well as the promised chickens Liz was able to pay for five bicycles which younger RUSH members will run as local "taxis" (poda poda). A cycle ride through town costs about 20 pence and half of this fare will go back into the project to pay for school fees. Parent Governors There are five vacancies for Parent Governors. Nominations must be received by the closing date of 5th October. If you require any further details please contact Dawn Dodd at the school on 01372 818123 ext. 366. Parents Prayer Group The group meets twice a term and the next meeting is on Monday 11th October at 8pm at the school. A warm welcome is extended to all. More information from J Poole on 01932 865476. Shoeboxes for Romania We are again collecting shoeboxes containing Christmas gifts to send to Romania this term. These shoeboxes are so very gratefully received by those most in need. Full details of contents and last delivery dates are detailed below. Many, many thanks. Dawn Dodd, Clerk to Governors. LINK ROMANIA FAMILY SHOEBOX APPEAL Craft Fayre The Friends of Therfield Annual Craft Fayre takes place this year on Sunday 28th November from 10am to 4.30pm. This is a very popular event and a great opportunity to buy some unusual and special Christmas presents. Refreshments will be available throughout the day. Therfield Ball Here is a link to an invitation to the Friends of Therfield Enchanted Christmas Ball. The price of the ticket includes a 3 course dinner including wine, entertainment and dancing. This is one of the Friends biggest events and is always popular. Tickets are limited so please reserve them early to avoid disappointment. For further details please contact Tricia Barker on 01372 818123 extn. 262. Thank You We would like to say a big thank you to Tony Greetham and his team who have worked very hard on fitting the new kitchen in the Admin. corridor. Thank you also to MFI who donated the kitchen to the school. DATES FOR THE DIARY Future Dates |