Issue No.150, January 2007
Issue No.150, January 2007
| From The Headteacher, Mrs Susan Willman
This is an exciting time for Therfield. We are continuing to develop our curriculum to provide as personalised an education as possible to meet the needs of all our students. We have introduced more challenging courses for academically able students and have over 20 students following vocational interests through college links or on work experience. Our new building has been completed and offers us outstanding facilities to support the excellent work of the Music department as well as improving our general teaching areas. I will be inviting parents in to view these facilities during this term. The Drama department has achieved great things in the past year receiving a number of prestigious awards for the students’ production of Grimm Tales. Our Sports College Status is making a real impact on the school and the community. Nearly half of our students are involved in one of the many activities aimed at developing personal qualities and leadership skills. More than 200 children from local Primary Schools joined us in November in a dual celebration of Therfield attaining Sports Specialist Status and the launch of the Mid Surrey School Partnership. The £150,000 Sports College Capital project has been completed, students now have access to a Fitness suite, a PE computer room and there are new changing facilities. I believe the best way to support your son or daughter in fulfilling his or her potential is for school and parents to work closely together. I am keen to hear your views and for you to be involved in Therfield’s development. I will be looking to increase opportunities for this to happen and I would be grateful to hear of your suggestions. One particular issue which I would ask for your support in now is that of uniform. As you are aware students in years 7 to 11 at Therfield wear school uniform, most students look smart and there is a strong degree of parental support for this. However, it is not unusual for students at times to test the boundaries and try to incorporate non-school uniform items or to “adapt” the way they wear their uniform. This can bring students into conflict with staff and have a negative impact on the very positive relationship that students and staff generally enjoy at Therfield. We also appreciate that as a parent it is sometimes difficult to counter the “but everyone else” argument that your son or daughter may use. We will be speaking to students about the importance of wearing uniform correctly and reminding them that non-uniform items may be confiscated. We are grateful for your continued support in this matter. We have also had our school production of Grease, which was a tremendous success. Over 90 Students from Years 8 to 11 performed to packed audiences on each of the four nights. Students and staff worked extremely hard back stage and front of house to ensure the success of each evening. I will be holding a surgery for parents after school on Wednesday 21st February, between 5pm and 7pm. Please contact my PA Jo Devonshire on 01372 814432 to make an appointment. I am looking forward to continuing to work with you in the coming years. Together we can ensure that your son or daughter enjoys, and is successful in, his or her time at Therfield. Win Our Prize of the Month As a way of monitoring the readership of the Therfield News we would like you to acknowledge that you have read this copy by emailing us on office@therfield.surrey.sch.uk We will then enter you into this months Prize Draw. We would welcome your comments about the newsletter, are there any features you would like to have included perhaps? Would you like to receive the Therfield News by email? This month’s prize has been sponsored by Eden Florists and is a £20 voucher to spend at Eden’s. Sports College Update The Mid Surrey Sports Partnership which is hosted at Therfield, has now expanded across every state school in Mole Valley and Guildford. This phase of our programme was launched at George Abbott School, Guildford on the 1st December. Students from schools across the borough were invited to take part in a day of sport and the event was attended by many dignitaries including Clare Strange, the GB wheelchair basketball star and Anne Milton, Conservative MP for Guildford. It is very exciting for Therfield to be supported in PE and Sport across such a massive family of schools. The £150,000 Sports College Capital build is now complete and has been handed over to the school. Girls are now able to use their new changing rooms, they are a fantastic facility and hopefully they will provide students with a much more pleasant environment in which to change. Funding has also been used to expand and redecorate the boys' changing rooms and the redevelop the old girls' changing rooms into a new fitness suite and a PE computer room. It has been a busy term for the SC Community programme, there has been another ten week block of Total Football on a Friday night. Once again it has been supported by over fifty youngsters from the local community, they have shown great commitment to still be playing at 10pm every week. The programme has acted as a springboard to launch a new football club in North Leatherhead, initially the team will be for U17s playing friendly matches but when the new pavilion is completed on the Kingston Road recreation ground it is hoped that more teams will be created. The Sports College programme is very proud to be acting as sponsors for the team and has purchased the club's first kit. In partnership with Hoop to Hoop a community basketball programme has been taking place every Wednesday evening throughout November and December. The highlight of the last weeks was the Community Leadership day at High Ashurst. This gave the opportunity for a group of local residents to spend the day developing their team work skills on the high ropes, challenge course and archery. The day was very positively received if not supported by the English weather! Since Christmas we have been running an ICT course for senior residents of Leatherhead Common, hopefully this will be a social opportunity and a way to develop the skills to use the Internet and email. Many of our programmes have very kindly been supported by volunteers from the local community, if you would like to volunteer or would like more information on our Community Programme please contact Mr Batchelor on 01372 818123. Parents’ Evenings Invitation letters are sent out at least 3 weeks in advance, replies must be returned no later then 1 week before the evening. If your letter is lost please send a note to the School Office with your child’s name, tutor group, the names of the teachers you wish to see and the session you wish to attend, either 4pm to 5.30pm or 6pm to 8pm. Please note appointments are made electronically. Thank you.Parents’ Evenings Invitation letters are sent out at least 3 weeks in advance, replies must be returned no later then 1 week before the evening. If your letter is lost please send a note to the School Office with your child’s name, tutor group, the names of the teachers you wish to see and the session you wish to attend, either 4pm to 5.30pm or 6pm to 8pm. Please note appointments are made electronically. Thank you. Matched Funding Does your company have a matched funding scheme? This is when an employee fundraises for a charity and the employer has agreed to match any funds raised. Suzanne Cocks, a parent at Therfield School works for Barclays Bank who operate the matched funding scheme. Suzanne has successfully raised funds for the Primary School attended by her sons and is now happy to organise an event for Therfield School. If you would like to help Therfield in this way please ask your company if they run this scheme and contact a member of the Therfield Trust via the Main Office on 01372 818123 for further details. Grease is the Word Well it certainly was the word at Therfield in January. The atmosphere was electric at the four packed performances. Over 100 students took part and helped out back-stage as students were double cast. Each night the cast threw themselves into their roles and wowed the audience with their singing and acting talents. As part of the build up a mufti day was held to promote the production, when students and staff wore specially designed T Shirts and Polo Shirts. The front of house staff, organised by Mrs Wingrove, sold over £700 of raffle tickets, £795 of programmes and posters and nearly £400 of sweets! Laser Display Over 170 students were treated to a specialist light show from the Light Express Roadshow. Some breathtaking optical engineering, not normally seen outside research labs, was displayed. Students were shown how infrared and visible light can carry information over large and small distances. Without these lasers we would not have the World Wide Web today! The show also gave students insight into Physics at University and to careers in research. Year 10s get the job at UnumProvident! In January, twelve Year 10 students experienced a rare opportunity to be interviewed by real managers from a real business. Our intrepid Therfield team had to apply for a job either as a Retail Manager or as a Civil Engineer where they had to really sell themselves on their application forms. They set off, in business attire, to the offices of UnumProvident (Income Protection provider) in Dorking. The committed pupils gave up their lunchtimes and attended after-school sessions held at Therfield prior to the event to provide some guidance on handshakes, posture and body language among other interviewing techniques! Part of the experience was to carefully plan their route and get to their destination on time. Some found this more difficult than others. One student was stopped by a policeman who was checking for truants! The unlucky Matt Bingham had all the answers and produced the school number so that when phoned, we could confirm his activity was educational and authorised! There were also train delays and rain, and this was all BEFORE they had been interviewed! They all managed to get to their interviews and although nervous, were commended by the UnumProvident employees for their professionalism and acumen. Of James Barnes, his interviewer said “James answered my questions thoughtfully and was able to give a good account of the way he felt that a customer should be treated in a shop.” Other comments included praise on their appearance “Very well dressed in a suit. [He had a] polite and professional manner.” (comments on Joseph Hamilton). Of Tom Pearsall the interviewer wrote “I would hire him!”. In general the students were commended for their professionalism and all were told they interviewed well. But what did the students learn? “At the start of the interview I was quite nervous….I found the
experience very worthwhile for when I have a real
interview.” Sam Billings, Year 10. Well done to all those students who attended this event, they did themselves and Therfield proud! Our grateful thanks of course, go to UnumProvident and their employees, who gave up their valuable time and provided such a huge learning experience for these lucky students! For more information on Enterprise Learning or if you think you might be able to provide a similar experience please contact: Miss S Sykes (01372 818123) ssykes@lhead.therfield.surrey.sch.uk Year 9 Science SATS Booster Sessions These will start after half term and take place every Tuesday at lunchtime and every Thursday after school. Ordering School Uniform Lester Bowden, the school uniform supplier, is now able to accept orders online. By logging on to their website www.lesterbowden.co.uk and clicking on to the schoolwear page, there is now a link to the ordering facility. This is a secure ordering site. You can also log onto www.therfield.surrey.sch.uk and follow the link found there. They aim to dispatch the same day, via first class post, which should then be delivered the next day. Hundreds Club At the Friday and Saturday performances of Grease the Hundreds Club draws took place. This club is run by the Trust, for each £100 raised £40 is handed out in prize money. The remaining £60 goes to the Trust to purchase those extra things not covered by the school’s budget. Spend a pound or two each month and your chances of winning are much better than the National Lottery! Numbers can be bought by Standing Order, cheque or cash to a maximum of £10 a month. Further details and a form please contact Mr Eddleston on 01372 818123 or click on Hundreds Club. Kew it was Cold! Year 10 students recently visited Kew Gardens as part of their Geography studies. The following are extracts from the trip reports of two of the students: ‘Kew Gardens is a scientific conservation area that has many plants growing in artificial environments, such as tropical and dessert. The first artificial environment we went into was the ‘Princess of Wales Conservatory’ which has a dessert environment. Plants here have to cope with long periods without water and extremely high temperatures, this means that they have to adapt themselves in ways to either prevent or reduce water loss.’. Chris Sharp 10PPI ‘I had a very enjoyable time learning about plants that smell of feet and aloe vera with its sticky gel. We saw the biggest seed, that only grows in the Seychelles and the fastest growing bamboo. We also saw the cactus plant that disguises itself as rocks. Becky Deacon 10LCY Parents Prayer Group The group meets twice a term at the school. The dates for this term are Monday 5th February and Monday 5th March at 8pm. A warm welcome is extended to all, especially to any new parents who might like to join us. For more information please ring J Poole on 01932 865476. Therfield School Trust News We are delighted to announce that the Trust, thanks to your valuable donations, has donated the final £10,000 to school in order to complete the final phase of the new Music building, the recording studio. The Trust has been a major sponsor of the project together with three other charitable trusts. We hope that it will be completed by the summer term. We are pleased to welcome Mrs Katie Cork as our new Treasurer, who takes over from Robin Eddleston. We are now looking for a Secretary to join us to attend the
monthly Trust meeting and deal with agendas, minutes and
administration concerning the Trust constitution. Of course we
would also welcome your ideas for future fundraising initiatives. Change of Date Please note that the dates for Year 9 National Curriculum Tests have changed and are now from 8th to 11th May 2007. Second Hand Uniform We have a large selection of second hand school uniform including blazers and jumpers available at very good prices. If you require any items please come into school on any Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Dates for Your Diary
Early Closures School will close at
3.15pm for Parents' Evenings. The dates of these are: Letters If you would like copies of any letters listed below please contact the Main Office 01372 818123
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