Issue No.28 December 1995
Issue No.28 December 1995
| FROM THE HEADTEACHER
WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PEACEFUL NEW YEAR My thanks to all the parents who wrote to MPs and County Councillors over the proposed budget cuts for schools. The Government announcement of extra money in the National Budget will not do much for Surrey. I will be writing again in the early New Year with requests for further help. School will close at approximately 1 o'clock on Wednesday (20th). The Spring Term starts on Wednesday, 3rd January 1996. I held a meeting last month with local residents to see if we could find a way forward on some of the parking and congestion problems in Dilston Road. Please avoid parking, waiting, setting down, picking up in Dilston Road if at all possible - our neighbours do have a great to put up with! Also, if you do need to drive into school please exit carefully and slowly - traffic from Albany Park Road does have priority. The School Rules do not allow 'extremes of hairstyle'. A few students have recently come with partly shaved heads or 'skinhead' type styles. These are not acceptable for school, and I would appreciate parental support in this area. For some time we have been in contact with the Barnby Trust, a local charitable foundation. They have agreed to give us £50,000 towards the cost of the proposed Astro-Turf games pitch. We are hoping to provide this facility in partnership with Leatherhead Hockey Club. The full cost of the project is about £300,000 and we need to find the balance! However, we hope to get help from the Sports Council and the National Lottery. The provision of such an all-weather surface will be of great benefit to all our sports teams in the winter and particularly to the cricketers in the Summer term. [Lord Barnby was a successful textile manufacturer in the last century. He and his wife lived in Ashtead and, as they had no children, he left his considerable fortune to help educational projects in the locality]. A Reminder : Presentation Evening for the present Sixth Form and those who left in July will be on Friday, January 5th at 7.30 pm. Guest of Honour will be Professor Patrick Dowling, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Surrey. Our Sixth Form Open Evening will be on Wed. 17th Jan 1996. If you know of anyone interested in a Sixth Form place next September do encourage them to attend or to contact Mr. Cummings for a Prospectus. Parents of Year 11 students should come along to hear what the Sixth Form has to offer and there will be the opportunity to meet subject staff and present Sixth Formers. Uniform - Order forms for new uniform can be obtained from the School Office. Enquiries about second hand uniform - to sell or buy - contact Mrs. Hodgson. 20 Sixth Formers took part in the UK National Mathematics Competition recently and 13 received certificates. 26,230 entrants competed from 792 schools and only the top 40% achieve certificates. Richard Jones with a score of 71 achieved gold, with silver going to Anne-Marie Hewitt, Claire Hanson, Russell Holliday, Darren Cahill, Nicola Smith, James Inge and Chris Wylie. Bronze went to David Maycock, Carolyn Burton, Emily Porter, Tom Hicks and Richard Guy. Despite the fog, the mud and the cold, our junior athletes - and accompanying staff - had an exhilarating time at the TSB National Cross Country Championships. The actual course was at Shirebrook, Nottinghamshire and our teams stayed overnight at a Youth Hostel in Derbyshire. The junior girls came 17th out of 24 teams and the junior boys were 14th out of 24. Terry Lyszyk (Year 8) came home 4th in a field of 144 - a marvellous result in such a strong field. The next event for our runners is the popular Holly Run on Sunday at Reigate Priory. Badminton - The U16 boys' team have played extremely well in the English Schools Badminton Tournament. They have reached the third round by beating Maskells School, Tonbridge and Gravesend Grammar School with convincing wins. We now wait to find out our next opponents - one more win and we get through to the Regional Finals held in Coventry in March. Our team - James Luke, Mark Johnson, Stuart Avery, James Nicoll and Mark Wheeler. By all accounts the Year 11 Ball last Friday was a great social success. Thanks to the Friends the Hall was transformed with drapes and a black and white theme was suitably dramatic. A smattering of comments on Monday morning included 'truly absolutely brilliant", "I am so glad I went. None of us wanted it to end", "The hall looked so different - it didn't seem like being at school", "I was a bit scared at first wearing a dinner jacket, but I looked at myself in the mirror and thought -'hey, you look OK'. When I arrived everyone looked so smart and happy.It was really great". About 150 pupils and staff attended - many thanks to Mr. Cox and his team. Any profit made will go to House Charities. On Monday (18th) our Carol Service will be held at St. George's Church, Ashtead starting at 7.30 pm. It is a wonderful evening with plenty of traditional carols to sing - do try and attend. Science & Technology Careers Evening for year 10 students and parents - on 31 st January Mole Valley Education Business Partnership in association with the Careers Service will be holding a series of workshops at Therfield. The sessions will explore career openings in Science & Technology and will also be supported by other local schools and employers. Year 10 pupils should have taken home a letter giving fuller details - if you need to know more contact Mrs. Hodgson. The Friends Committee would like to thank the many parents who devoted so much time and energy to organising the Christmas Fair, running stalls, baking goods, making preserves and donating good for sale. All efforts were well worth while as about £1700 was raised. Friends' Dates for 1996 Diaries - 27th Jan. Barn Dance; 10th Feb. Jumble Sale; 11th May Auction of Promises; 5th Oct. Autumn Ball; 2nd Nov. Craft Fair. More details in Friends' Newsletter next term. LOST PROPERTY: The office still gets too much lost property brought in - particularly jumpers - which cannot be returned because there is No Name. Sometimes pupils come to enquire and get reunited with their property, sometimes they don't. As a New Year Resolution could 'Names on School Uniform' be well to the fore! We also have a remarkable collection of keys, waiting to be claimed. If items such as forgotten packed lunches, musical instruments etc have to be brought into school could they be named and any money placed in an envelope, also clearly named. Therfield's traditional Christmas Party for local pensioners was held as we went to press. The GNVQ students who were mainly responsible for the organisation plus help from other Sixth Formers worked extremely hard to make the afternoon a success. They were responsible for organising transport, tea, entertainment and gifts for over 80 people. The event is much appreciated as shown by the number of cards and thank you letters received in past years. Clothes Show Live - this visit organised by Home & Food Technology saw 50 pupils - not all of them girls! - enjoy a day at the NEC in Birmingham. It was an early start and a late finish but a 'wonderful time was had by all' - so much so that the waiting list for next year has already been started! Many bargains were purchased ranging from ball gowns to lipsticks and as the fashion show this year included many stunning male and female models everyone was pleased! Years 9 & 10 French Exchange - a special plea from Mr. Boucry would parents please return the forms handed out recently + E111s and photos. DIARY DATES: |