Issue No.45 June 1997
Issue No.45 June 1997
| FROM THE HEADTEACHER
Personnel - Mr Cummings, who has been Head of our highly successful Sixth Form for the past four years is leaving at the end of term to take up a Deputy Headship at George Abbot School, Guildford. We say goodbye with considerable regret and in September we welcome Ms Ann Fearon, currently Head of Sixth at St Bede's, Redhill, as his replacement. This term we welcome back from maternity leave, Mrs Hrouda, Mrs Leeming and Mrs Cann. Mr Truscoe, headteacher of one of our main feeder schools, Woodville, is retiring this year. Maths Challenge - Out of 120,000 pupils who took part in the UK Junior Maths Challenge, only 20 got full marks and 13 year old Adam Baxter in Year 8 was one of them. Adam, together with Howard Ebison, Sarah Waldman, Emily Parker, Ian Lyszyk, Dan Richards and Sarah Glass received gold awards We entered 129 pupils from Years 7 and 8 and gained 7 golds, 16 silver and 24 bronze awards in this prestigious competition. Adam and Emily, who is in Year 7, will now go on to compete in the next round - the Junior Olympiad. Still on the Maths theme - the department ran a Saturday Master Class for able mathematicians from local Primary Schools. This was enthusiastically attended and voted a big success - particularly when it came to measuring the bungee jumps of assorted teddy bears! Science Fayre - has been running all this week to much acclaim. Monday saw 80 pupils from local feeder schools and their parents take part in a 'Chemistry can be fun for parents too' evening. Astro Turf - you will probably have read in the local Press that we have been given Lottery funding of £350,000 to help with the provision of a floodlit allweather astro-turf sports facility. We hope that it will be up and running by September. We share the use with Leatherhead Hockey Club and, through Mole Valley Council, the local community. Uniform -The Friends will be holding a sale of second hand uniform in the Entrance Hall from 2-4 pm on Tuesday, 1st July. Items for sale or donations still needed. New uniform can be purchased on Friday, 4th July from 5.00-8.00 pm from a display in the Gym or, as usual, via a form from the Office. There will be a uniform shop for new Year 7 students from 4.00-8.00 pm on Wednesday, 2nd July. Production - the November Musical this year will be 'Salad Days' a happy, lively show about a magical piano. Auditions will be held on 18th July. Reminder that the senior school are presenting 'The Tempest' on 10th, 11 th and 12th July. Tickets are £5 each and the students promise us a show of 'true magic'. GCSE Art Work will be displayed in the New Dining Hall on the evenings of the show. The Duke of Kent was guest of honour at the opening ceremony for the new Halliburton Brown and Root headquarters. Michael Peck, Matthew Roberts and Neil Ferguson, all from Year 10, and suitably dressed in red hard hats and 'Rigs R Us' T shirts took part in a demonstration to assemble a scale model of BP's North Sea Andrew field oil platform. Mouse Mat - some of Year 8 took part in a Design Project to create a Mousemat for use in the IT rooms. The winning designs will be screen printed onto the new red mats and the winners - Ryan Jones, Dean Jessup, Stephanie Cannon, Adam Baxter, Claire Crozier, Grant Wycherley and Paul Allen will be receiving a printed mat for their own use. Writer - Nigel Hinton, author of popular class texts 'Buddy', 'Buddy's Song' and 'Getting Free' talked to Year 9 pupils about his writing. His talk was amusing and helpful and a lively discussion followed. Workshop - a Creative Writing Workshop was held last month for A Level Literature and Language students. Suzannah Dunne, who has just published her fourth book gave an insight into the creative process of writing, the publishing world and an indication of just how difficult it is to succeed. Lockers - rental for the coming year is now due. Details from Mr Cockerill before the end of term. Art Invitation - an exhibition of A Level Art is on view in the Art Block from 6-8 pm on Tuesday. July 1st. Parents of current Year 10 are also invited to view the Ethnic Studies work in the Music Corridor on 30th June and July 1st 6-7 pm. Taster Lessons were on offer to Year 5 pupils from local primary schools during our Events Week which is designed to help youngsters realise that secondary schools although big need not be alarming. Voted in - Linda Hiley and Peter Scottow have been elected as Senior Students for the coming year. Paris - a number of colourful projects have been produced following the visit to Paris by 79 Year 8 pupils and 8 staff to study the geography of the area. The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower gave a fine overall vista of the urban form of the city and they were able to study changing land use via a boat trip along the Seine. Shopping in the Champs Elysées and an exhilarating visit to Disney Land gave a suitable balance of fun to the visit. Religious Studies - the Bicentenary Exhibition of the Quakers in Esher gave Year 10 RS students the opportunity to learn more about this small but influential Christian group. Of particular interest was the display of tapestries depicting episodes in Quaker history. The informality of worship and the steadfastness of Quaker belief were aspects brought home to the students. A chance to look at the historic development of religion in England was given to Year 8 students who visited Stonehenge, Old Sarum and Salisbury Cathedral. Break-Out - It has become traditional for the Sixth Form to raise money for their House Charities in the form of a 'Break-Out'. This year it will be held on 17th July, the idea being that teams of students - 4 per house - attempt to travel as far as possible from school and back in a 12 hour period. They must use their own resources and not spend more than £10 per team - last year one team got as far as Lanzarote! Money is raised through sponsorship and collecting buckets en route. German Exchange - Despite being given frequent evidence that it still rains in England, our German visitors had an enjoyable time. As with our visit to Germany earlier in the year, everyone got on very well and friendships and promises of continued visits show how valuable such exchanges can be. A combined outing to Eton and Windsor was especially popular. French Exchange - it was our turn to return the visit the French paid us last March and there was a lot of excitement when we reached Vertou and some tears when we left! Nantes and its shops proved a big attraction and Futoroscope lived up to its advertising claims on British TV- just great! An energetic day spent with the French hosts on the Atlantic Coast ended with a football match by the river when the ball had to be retrieved by friendly canoeists. It was a successful week as witnessed by many cross-channel invitations for this Summer. Westhumble Fieldtrip - the Geography Department took the whole of Year 7 to the Stepping Stones at Box Hill and Westhumble on two separate days. Pupils measured the River Mole and Oxbow Lake and took samples to test pollution - with a number of sticklebacks being caught it was agreed that the Mole at this point is a very clean river. The Juniper and Leith tutor groups drew the short straw when it came to the weather - it rained so hard that it didn't matter whether pupils entered the river or not! Come and see - a presentation of work by GNVQ students will be held on 4th July between 11.30 am and 2.00 pm. All interested are welcome to attend. Africa Evening - Monday 30th, some last minute polish to dance and drum routines will be provided before Monday's performance via tuition from George Fiawoo of the Commonwealth Outreach Programme. Sponsored Sail - (18th) this is the club's main fund raising event as well as being an enjoyable social occasion. Any tombola prizes would be welcome. Contact Mr Stewart for more details - if you want to sail, watch or just enjoy the barbeque! Cabaret Evening on the 22nd - a happy social gathering for the end of term. Details will be sent home shortly. SPORT Changes to Local Bus Services
from 28th June Route 516 - Revised time leaving Box Hill 08.00
(formerly 08.15). Route 293 - New journey 08.03 Bookham
Station/Fetcham to Therfield replaces AM journey on Route 479.
Also new AM journey from North Cheam (07.55) Epsom & Ashtead
to Therfield PM journey to Fetcham/Bookham Station departs
15.50. DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: |