Issue No.46 July 1997
Issue No.46 July 1997
| FROM THE HEADTEACHER
May I wish you on behalf of the school a very happy and safe summer. Personnel - One of the sadnesses of any end of school year is that we have to say farewell to many students and also a number of staff. Mrs Pass (Head of Modern Languages) is taking an early retirement to allow her to train for the ministry in the Methodist Church. Mr Cummings (Senior Teacher and Head of Sixth) takes up one of the most prestigious Deputy Headships in the county at George Abbott School, Guildford, Mr Tattershall (Head of History & Politics) has been appointed as Head of Sixth Form at Cheam High School. Mr Tilley who has taught Maths at Therfield for 23 years is retiring from teaching, but I am delighted to say that he will be continuing with us to organise all the public examinations - a task he has done brilliantly over recent years. He has been ably supported in this by Mr Crayford who is also retiring this summer. Miss Bate has been promoted to Head of Geography at St Peter's in Bournemouth, Mrs Bailey is moving to the Technology Dept. at George Abbott, Mrs Charles is joining the Science department at Bishop Reindorp School, Guildford and Mrs Templeton is leaving for further study and the legal profession. We also say goodbye to Mrs Inge who has given invaluable help to Learning Support. Between them they have made a huge contribution to the school and many many young people have had their life chances improved by their work. I wish each of them every happiness for the future. Also leaving are some key non-teaching staff. Mrs Bunyan (Admin. Officer) has laboured hard to help keep us from bankruptcy. Having achieved it thus far she is also taking early retirement. We also say farewell to Mrs Wyatt who has been a Science Technician at Therfield for 17 years. We send best wishes to Miss Swietoniowska, Miss Perrett and Mr Marshallsay all of whom are getting married in the summer holidays. The school is fully staffed for September and I shall tell you of the new staff in my first Newsletter of next term. I will mention here two who are joining us. Ms Ann Fearon is taking over the role of Head of Sixth and Senior Teacher. She is a very experienced teacher of History and Sociology and has been Head of Sixth at St Bede's School at Redhill. (They have 290 in the Sixth Form). Also joining us as Head of Year 8 is Mrs Marshall, again a very experienced Home & Food Technology teacher, who has been a Head of Year at Matthew Arnold School, Staines for the last eight years. Extra-Curricular - Another important change that will happen in September, is that I have asked Mr. Cox (presently Head of Year 10) to take on a new role. Therfield is rightly proud of its rich extra-curricular life and I have asked Mr Cox to take on the responsibility of developing clubs, visits, teams, productions and concerts, to ensure even more students benefit. School Rules - In September you will all receive a copy of the revised Guide to the Code of Conduct and School Rules. This is the outcome of a major initiative within the school and has involved many meetings, consultations and discussions with pupils as well as staff. Drugs - At the request of Surrey Police and in common with other schools we are sending home a Drugs Guide which will be issued to all Surrey pupils. The Guide gives telephone numbers for those wanting free and confidential advice. Therfield in Bloom - we are so pleased with the improved appearance of the school grounds that we entered the schools section of the Mole Valley in Bloom competition. Four Inspectors came round last week and although we didn't win they were very impressed with the enhanced environment. The Tempest - Imagination allied to teamwork conjured up a magical production of The Tempest which played to full houses on all three nights. Ever smiling 'reps' from holiday companies greeted us on arrival, the excellent cast - with a special mention for Tim Stanley as Prospero - kept up the tempo of the performance. Music, costumes, make up, stage design were all superb - as were the immaculately served refreshments at the interval. The Alternative Tempest - there are many stories to come out of the Great Storm of July 8th - from the enterprising Sixth Formers who used strategically placed chairs as makeshift stepping stones, to Mr de Little who was so quick on the draw with his camera that he provided a graphic front page for the Surrey Advertiser, to the students rehearsing for The Tempest who made good use of the storm noises provided by Mother Nature, to our Head of Sixth Form who decided to walk home rather than add to Leatherhead's traffic chaos and promptly fell to his armpits down a storm drain and finally to Malcolm Jones, our Site Manager, whose Army training clearly prepared him for such an emergency as he supervised the cleaning up, clearing out and keeping back the flood waters as well as the pumping out of 4 feet of water from the boiler room! GNVQ - Students gave an interesting and varied presentation of their work on July 4th. All 15 students gained certification this year with 7 achieving hard earned Merit passes. Africa Evening - Our reporter is Ben Arnold of 7JBI who writes : "Therfield Kids Go Africa Crazy - lots of subjects have all been part of the Africa Topic. The project has been going on from Christmas. The Africa Evening (the end of the topic) was filled with dazzling costumes and eye catching jewellery. This year was special because the school hired an African drummer to tutor some of the children. The evening was full of music and costumes, instruments and jewellery made in Technology lessons. The Art aspect was about the pottery and statues on display. The evening ran smoothly and the children enjoyed it. The refreshments were also African, served with lots of the favourite tropical fruits. The History department displayed many of the projects prepared by the children". Well done Ben and all concerned on the night which, once again, proved highly popular. Switzerland - as part of their A level Geography studies, 32 Sixth Formers and their teachers went to Switzerland for a week. They looked at the effects of glaciers, the natural vegetation of the area, tourism and the growth of local settlements such as Sion and Zermatt. Unfortunately, the spectacular sight of the Matterhorn was obscured by cloud but, nevertheless, all reported having an enjoyable time as well as gaining invaluable experiences for their exams. Sailing - Therfield were presented with the Pearne Trophy for School of the Year at Surrey Schools Hayling Island Regatta on 3rd and 4th July. We also won six other trophies. School of the Year represents achievement over the whole of the sailing year and we were pleased to win it back from the Royal Grammar School Guildford who narrowly beat us last season. Richard Guy was Seaman of the Year, and David Richardson, Crew of the Year. Swansea - A coach full of Year 10 Combined Science students fitted in plenty of action and learning during their three day trip to Swansea. On the opening day they saw how cider was produced at Bulmers in Hereford, then went 100 feet underground following the coal and ironstone seams of the Big Pit mine, attended a summarising lecture and then took part in a badminton tournament. On the middle day they visited Port Talbot iron and steel works, and followed the progress of the ores as they arrived by ship from all over the world, through the impressive blast furnace and fiery cauldron the size of a house until the rolling out of the steel into massive coils took place in the mill building. Lectures, computer use and sifting the sands of Swansea Bay to measure and analyse variations in sea shells prepared everyone for ten pin bowling in the evening. The journey home included a visit to Cardiff docks, the Techniquest Science Centre and a lecture in the Planetarium. Comment from a pupil "We managed to do so much you would think we had been away for ages". Charity - A total of £3864.50 has been raised this year for the four House Charities. The Sixth Form 'Breakout' on the 17th resulted in plenty of initiative being shown. Milan, Ostend, Calais and the Isle of Wight were among the stopping places. Further details of money raised and adventures recounted when all sponsorship has come in. Foreign Travel - Year 7 pupils were given a taste of a school visit abroad when 40 went to Koblenz in Germany for four days and 40 to Dieppe in France for three days. Plenty of exciting and entertaining tours were arranged and everyone was encouraged to try out their language skills. Sports Day - Polesden House, closely followed by Leith, were this year's winners over two days of good competition when 11 new school records were set. Emily Parker in Year 7 led the way with 3 individual records plus a relay and Joshua Noble in Year 10 broke the long jump record which had stood for 16 years. Main winners were - Year 7 - Alex Christie, Emily Parker; Year 8 - Grant McMurray, Hannah Alexander, Year 9 - Tristan Blood, Sarah Dear, Year 10 - Joshua Noble, Louise Burnell. Cricket this year was plagued by the weather but our Year 7 team reached the final of the County Cup Plate Competition before losing to Wilsons School. In the Leagues we have been in the top two for every year group and reached the finals of all six-a-side competitions. Netball & Hockey - we have fielded 11 teams for these sports showing the depth of talent and interest and in district tournaments our U12s finished 3rd and U14s second. Thank you from the PE staff for all the Sainsbury vouchers you collected - we amassed a staggering 14000! IT are also grateful for the Tesco vouchers - they have enough for a digital camera. Bus travel - In an effort to help transport needs on the first day of term - 3rd September - the bus and coach from Cobham & Oxshott will run 1 hour later than usual to enable pupils to arrive for 10.30 am. However, the 676 from Tadworth cannot be altered and will run at the usual time. For all other routes, parents should contact the appropriate bus company for up-to-date times. New pupils - for two days earlier this month, pupils who will be starting at Therfield in September were given the opportunity to sample life - and lessons - at secondary school. They settled in happily and were eager to take part. It was nice to get letters from some parents saying how their children had welcomed the experience and were looking forward to September. Congratulations to Vicky Cannons of Year 11 who has achieved the Footsie Award with Surrey Youth Dance Company. This is awarded to the young dancer who is adjudged to have made the greatest progress since joining the company. One of the prizes is a training session with a stage and dance school. Resource Centre - over 9000 books have now been catalogued using the computerised Heritage System. This is of particular benefit to pupils as it uses a 'keyword' system. Whereas most library catalogues search by author title or keyword in the title, this system can have as many as 30 keywords for each book -an invaluable help when doing research for projects. DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: |