Issue No.15, December 1994
Issue No.15, December 1994
| FROM THE HEADTEACHER
The last weeks of this term have been much overshadowed by the tragic death of Matthew Poole in Year 10. I was pleased to be able to provide a venue for his funeral and we estimate that nearly 600 people were present. We have also held a memorial service for Matthew for our students. We have opened a memorial fund and will be. discussing with his parents what form that memorial might take. Anyone who wishes to contribute please send your donation to your son's/daughter's tutor. Monday saw a superb performance of Handel's Messiah at the school. I am sure everyone who attended was impressed by the quality and sheer joy of the performance. It made a fitting tribute to the immense contribution our Director of Music, Christopher Pratt, has made to the school and the affection in which he is held was clearly shown by the warmth of the reception at the presentation of an award for 25 years service with Surrey, nearly 20 of them at Therfield. Presentation Evening will be on Friday, 6h January 1995 when Mr. Peter Polycarpou will be guest of honour. He is the actor, playwright and songwriter, currently best known for starring in Birds of a Feather on television, as Sharon's ne'er-do-well husband but his career includes two years with the RSC Company and he has also played the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera. He was one of the original members of the Les Miserables company and also played a leading role in Miss Saigon. On accepting our invitation to attend be commented "this could be my most challenging role. I am looking forward to it!" This term we say farewell to Bridgette Phelps - formerly Head of Drama - who has been with us since January 1990. She contributed to such diverse productions as West Side Story and The Insect Play and was a star in many a staff pantomime! She is now moving away from the area and we wish her well. Miss Julia Steele will be joining the Drama Department in January. Best wishes too and congratulations to Beth Harris, Head of Drama, and Lee Tattershall, Head of History & Politics, who, get married at Christmas. I have had the first indication of our numbers for September entry. At present there are 259 first choices for Therfield, which means that yet again we are over-subscribed and reflects the continuing esteem in which Therfield is held by parents. Pupil Achievement 21 of our Year 121-13 students took part in the National Mathematics Competition last month in which 23,695 candidates from 749 schools take pail. The top 40% are awarded certificates. Congratulations then to James Inge, Nicola Smith, Anne-Marie Hewitt and Chris Wylie who earned silver certificates and Geoff Saunders, Darren Cahill, David Maycock and Claire Hanson who gained bronze. Elizabeth Cornfield from Year 9 has been filming this month in the Franco Zefferelli production of Jane Eyre - no escape for Elizabeth she plays a schoolgirl! Last month she recorded a BBC Radio play starring Wendy Craig called Comfort Herself and over Christmas can be seen in the BBC TV production of Hard Times which has Alan Bates in the lead. Tracey Bloomfield, from Year 10 has gained herself a place in the British Rankings for women's pole vaulting and has been offered a place in the SE England Junior Squad (Under 20's) for special training at Crystal Palace. Tracey only took up pole vaulting 10 months ago. IMPORTANT REMINDER - school closes at 1.00 pm on Tuesday, 20 December. The new term starts on Tuesday, 3rd January `95. Please note also that school will be closed to pupils on Thursday, 16th March '95. Staff' will be involved with In-Service Training that day. GENERAL NEWS There will be another Educational Cruise in April 1996 available to the present Years 8, 9 and 11. Places to be visited are Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Crete and Greece. Mrs. Nicole Jones is the Cruise Leader and invites anyone interested to an evening at the school on Monday, January 9th at 7.30 p.m. to meet a representative of Discovery Cruises. Do you remember a particularly wet and windy day early this month - our Year 9 footballers triumphed over the weather conditions and a strong George Abbott team from Guildford to win 4-2 and go through to the quarter finals of the County Cup. Our U16 Mixed Badminton team of Anna Hanson, Kate Luke, Sarah Butler, Mark Johnson, James Luke and Stuart Avery took part in the opening round of the National Schools Tournament last month and finished third in a very strong group which included several County players. The School Newspaper 'The Green Bottle' has been published this week and offers some forthright opinions on a number of topics such as Glyn School and its selection policy and whether examination results showed that girls were cleverer than boys. In a more iighthearted vein are interviews with pupils and members of staff and a competition to match staff names to pictures of some 'beautiful baby' photographs. At 30p it is good value and deserves Support. This is the first edition from a new editorial panel. If your son or daughter reports that certain members of staff have been walking the corridors and muttering to themselves - it could be that they are desperately learning their lines for the annual Staff to Pupils Pantomime which will be performed on Monday afternoon and on the last morning of term.. This year it is Snow White's turn to be featured and the production has, once again, been masterminded. by Mr. Cox and Miss Harris. There will be a Drugs Panel Evening on Thursday, 16th February '95 at 8 pm when a Panel made up of a Police Officer, a GP, a member of the District Drug Advisory Panel, Health Promotion Schools Co-ordinator and School Nurse will be here to answer questions and give advice. The Home & Food Technology department would like to thank all those parents who supported their 'Christmas Extravaganza' on Tuesday. As part of their GCSE course the pupil's had to promote a mini-enterprise and they offered for sale goods and items designed and made for their food and textile studies. The hall looked very festive and the stallholders were kept busy. Although the main aim of the exercise was not to make money it looks as though the enterprise will break even - an additional bonus for our food and textile entrepreneurs of the future! We asked one of our Year 9 pupils to review the performance of Messiah for us. Here is what James Redman has to say: "On Monday, 12th December, Therfield School choir, orchestra and invited soloists and musicians performed The Messiah by G.F. Handel, followed in the second half by his Miniature Symphony. The whole evening was master-minded by the Head of Expressive Arts Faculty, Christopher Pratt, who was presented at the end of the evening with a token of appreciation from Surrey County Council for 25 years' service in music across the county. The solo parts in The Messiah were sung by Sarah Jane Dale (soprano), Rachel Yelland (mezzo-soprano), Jeffrey Stewart (tenor) and Philip O'Brien (baritone) with Elaine Whitehead as leader of the orchestra and James Wood on the continuo. Foyer music was by Therfield Recorder Group directed by Leah Perona-Wright and delicious refreshments were served in the interval. The whole evening went tremendously well, and a big thank you was extended to all who took part by Mr. Reddin, Headteacher, with special thanks to Chris Pratt for his inspiration and enthusiasm. A selection of well-loved carols ended the evening's celebrations of Christmas". Those parents who saw their sons and daughters getting ready for the Year 11 Ball must have been impressed by their smartness - those of us working late at school were equally impressed! Staff and pupils put a lot of time into the organisation of this event which was much enjoyed by all who attended. DATES FOR YOUR DIARY |