Issue 133 29th June 2005
Issue 133 29th June 2005
| FROM THE HEADTEACHER
I am delighted to report that the school has attained Sports Specialist status. I will be writing to you early in the new academic year to update you on what this will mean for Therfield School but in the meantime I would like to extend my particular thanks to Mr Garner, Mr Batchelor and Miss Buckell who have done so much to ensure the success of the bid. I would also like to thank you for the contributions that you have made either through the Friends of Therfield or the Trust Fund. These have helped us to raise the fifty thousand pounds necessary to support the plan's capital project. On 20 July, I will be attending a celebration hosted by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, David Bell, to celebrate our school being named as one of the top forty-five secondary schools in the country based on our inspection report of March 2004. The following have been identified as key priorities for next year's school development plan: Priority 1: To
implement a budgetary strategy that: Priority 2 To
support the Every Child Matters (ECM), Personalised Learning and
New Relationships Agendas through the effective harnessing of
New Technologies. This will include consideration of Priority 3 To ensure
that the new buildings project, Sports College capital build and
other accommodation developments: Priority 4 To ensure
that our school offers a curriculum that challenges and supports
all of its students and that this is reinforced by: Priority 5 Ensuring
that our deployment and training of teaching and support staff: Priority 6 To ensure that our post-16 students benefit from the best practice outlined in our other eight Priorities for Development Priority 7 To
develop systems for monitoring and self evaluation that enable
us: Priority 8 To ensure
that our attainment of Sports College status enables us to Priority 9 The marketing of Therfield School at both 11-16 and post 16 level I would welcome the view of parents on these priorities either by dropping me a line or by contacting my PA, Mrs Jo Devonshire on 01372 814432. Africa Evening Once again a highly successful Africa Evening took place in the main hall with temperatures reminiscent of the continent itself in summer. All of Year 7 were involved with their African Fashion Show, playing their musical instruments, displaying their African Themed Art and ICT work and singing numbers from The Lion King. "This evening has made me very happy" said one student, but happiness did not end in Therfield that evening. Thanks to your generosity the happiness will continue in Kenya. The Juniper/Leith population donated £142.95 while the Norbury/Polesden population raised £287.97. "Thank you" to all who contributed. Duke of Edinburgh's Award It has been a busy term for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award in school. Twenty-three Year 10 Silver participants perfected their navigation and campcraft skills on the practice expedition in Wales. They put these to use on the sunny south coast on 24th-26th June and completed an extremely successful qualifying expedition. Our large Bronze group of nearly 80 Year 9 students worked hard to complete their practice expedition on the North Downs and are now preparing for the qualifying expedition on the South Downs from 16th to 17th July. All participants should be working hard to complete their Service, Skill and Physical sections of the Award by December so they qualify for the January awards ceremony. Sailing Away The annual sponsored sail took place on Friday 17th June at Paper Court Sailing Club, Ripley. Despite the delayed start due to a thunderstorm, the sailing proved to be good with some exciting - racing. First place went to Alex Thomas and Michael Snow. This year it was a special event as we were celebrating the fact that Mr Stewart started the club 28 years ago. Besides the current members and their parents there were also a large number of past members and their parents present. People travelled from all over the south of England and two people flew down from Scotland for the evening. At the Prizegiving several past and present members gave their thoughts about how sailing has influenced their lives and thanked Mr Stewart for his dedication which made this possible. Mr Stewart was presented with a photo-album of the sailing club throughout his time at Therfield, a model gaff-rigger sailing boat and a trip on a traditional sailing boat. We hope that he will enjoy his 'sailing holiday' without thirty Therfield students to look after! French Exchange Thirty six students from Years 9, 10 and 12 plus 4 staff spent a week with host families from 14th to 21st June in Vertou, near Nantes in West France for the return leg of this year's French Exchange. Activities included a Treasure Hunt and a visit to the local market in Nantes. A trip to the Futuroscope Theme Park for breathtaking rides, a visit to the 'Italian town' of Clisson and a picnic on the beach on the island of Noirmoutier, off the French coast. The week culminated in an invitation to the Town Hall where we were warmly received by the Mayor of Vertou. It was a thoroughly enjoyable week, with Therfield students acting as excellent ambassadors for our school and country. Roll on next year's Exchange! Visit to the Royal Institution On the 17th June a group of nine Year 8 students spent the day with Mrs Foley at the Royal Institution in London. After showing suitable awe at the spectacular faqade, they were given a series of three lectures on Relativity, Symmetry and Famous Mathematicians/ Scientists. Despite the soaring temperatures, they tackled tasks set within each lecture enthusiastically, and were impressed by the theory of stretching time. Although their entries for the quiz did not win, they tried hard and worked well in their teams. Throughout the day, their behaviour was a credit to the school. The nine students were Chris Barker 8CEV, Jordan BelgraveWarner 8CEV, George Brooks BCEV, Hannah Cheney Lowe 8CEV, James Finch 8BTS, Michelle Joyce 8AOS, Steph Leyland 8ABA, Ellie Pattison 8ABA and Duncan Stuart 8CRG. Shortage of Maths Teachers As you probably know there is a currently a shortage of qualified Maths teachers, both locally and nationwide. One way to increase the numbers of qualified teachers is to encourage people with Maths Alevel to enrol as mature students to study Maths at university. The Mathematical Sciences department at Oxford Brookes University is campaigning to encourage anyone who has a Maths A-level and is thinking of returning to study to consider a degree in Mathematics. Anyone interested can get further information from our website http://cms.brookes.ac.uk/maths/index.php or by contacting Clare Stone. Street Sports Fancy mountain boarding, climbing, dry slope skiing, building your own raft, open canoeing and taking part in skateboarding workshops? Mole Valley Leisure are launching their new summer activities for young people between the ages of 11 and 18, giving them the opportunity to do a different activity every day! For more information and booking forms, telephone Helen Woodland Youth Development Officer on 01306 879178 Centre Opens
LEARNING PERFORMANCE EDUCATION CENTRE are delighted to announce
the opening of their new Education Centre, Week commencing 6th
June 2005 01883 334551 Kenya Calling Liz Noble is currently in Kenya, she has been keeping in touch and below are extracts from one of the letters she has sent to the school. "You won't be getting many messages from me - it's taken 26 minutes to get to the point where I could begin to type. Expect the computer to crash at any .. second and then the joy of starting all over again. Dis Na Afreeka!! I'm OK and happy to be here and busy in the school and at the clinic. Yesterday in the hospital (giving blood) the conversation ranged around and landed on education as a topic. Education is expensive, they all agreed. We watch the blood pooling into a plastic bag on the floor. Try ignorance says the doctor. Then you will know education is cheap! The primary school that we talked about last year is now up and running and five classes of the smallest children you have ever seen stand to sing a song for me. "Good afternoon visitor" and then a round of In and Out The Dusty Bluebells. All rather surreal as there are surely no bluebells here. Stay to cook the lunch in a smoky shack at the back and then agree to teach teachers for the next six weeks. There is not much I can teach these teachers. They are working in the semi dark in rooms that are partitioned sections of an old Ministry of Works canteen and have nothing but chalk and a black board to work with. The children repeat everything and follow all contributions with "Thank you Teecha" Nevertheless this is a school and children are learning who were not learning before and, more to the point everyone of them gets a cooked meal every lunchtime. Many turn up at weekend and during holiday times crying for food. Job Vacancies Attendance Officer and
Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) coordinator.
Student Welfare Officer This role is to provide First Aid for sick students, administer medicines and maintain medical records. You will often be the first line of contact for pastoral issues, liaising with staff and external organisations. Excellent IT skills will be needed. Training will be provided but experience of dealing with young people and administering First Aid would be an advantage. As a member of the admin team you will also be required to perform various admin duties. For the above positions you should be happy to work in a busy environment under your own initiative, have good communication skills, a sense of humour, excellent IT skills and be able to be flexible. Hours 8am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday, term time only plus 2 weeks. To include a half hour unpaid break. For further details and an application form please contact Tricia Barker on 01372 818123 Ext 262. Closing date for applications - 15th July 2005. Pay grade Surrey A2 £11397 to £13103 pro rata Catering Assistants required to start as soon as possible. Please contact Christine Stedman on 01372 375089 for details. Last Lines Price Increase for School Meals Student meals will rise with inflation from 15 September 2005. Secondary school meals will rise to £1.55 Sainsbury's Vouchers Thank you to all who have sent in your vouchers to the school. We have over 25,000 which is tremendous. The PE department will be putting these to great use and will let you know in a future edition what has been purchased. There is still time if you have any vouchers at home for them to be sent in and added to the total. Lunch Cards Please can all cheques for September be received by the end of this term. Cheques should be made payable to Surrey County Council and dated 1st September. We cannot guarantee that cheques received after this date will go onto the student's card in time for the beginning of term. Dates for Your Diary How to Contact Us
Therfield School, Dilston Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 7NZ school website www.therfield.surrey.sch.uk |