Issue No.6, March 1994
Issue No.6, March 1994
| FROM THE HEADTEACHER
Mr. Andrew Wilcock will be joining us after the Easter holidays as deputy head Key Stage 4. Mr. Wilcock comes to us from Holy Trinity school., a comprehensive near Crawley where he has been head of Upper School. He is married, with a baby daughter, an old boy of Whitgift School, Croydon and a graduate in Economics from Trinity College, Cambridge. His interests include most sports, the theatre and cinema, and his local church where he is a Reader and lay preacher. We say good bye to Mrs. Christine Graham who is leaving us to become Head of Maths at Carshalton High School for Girls. We wish her well and thank her for all her good work in the Maths department since joining us in September 1990. SPECIAL REQUEST Please do label school clothes. We get a vast amount of 'lost' uniform brought to the office and if it is named we can return it to its owner. AUCTION OF PROMISES Socially this was a triumph and the good news is that the magnificent sum of £2,700 was raised. Many thanks to Jan Cheeseman and her helpers with a special mention for the eye-catching black-and-white presentation! EXCHANGE NEWS The 11 students from Riom who had an Exchange with our 5th Formers had an enjoyable two weeks here. M. Boucry said they were particularly pleased with the Drama Day arranged for them by Miss Harris. Drama and English apparently figure prominently in their course. Reports suggest that the French students found the quaintness of our pub names quite enthralling - the Leg of Mutton and Cauliflower creating the need for a certain amount of research of an evening! THANK YOU Many thanks to those parents who responded to Mrs. Hodgson's request for help in the Careers Library and to Mrs. Shannon's plea for fabric, copies of Which and a dressmaking 'body' - these requests have now been met, though Mrs. Shannon could still do with more up-to-date copies of Which. SPORT The U15 team also went out at the semi-final stage, losing 4-0 to Thamesmead. Better news from the U13s who beat St. Andrew's 12-0 in a friendly! Fiona Eagle and Gareth Dickinson ran for Surrey in
the English Schools Cross Country
Championships in which 2000 youngsters took part. Fiona was the
sixth girl home for Surrey and Gareth was 75th overall and fifth
for Surrey . Claire Hanson has been selected to be one of five Surrey girls to take part in the Inter-Counties Badminton tournament at Nottingham University later this month. Antony Unitt, who is in Year 11, successfully defended his Surrey Junior Clay Pigeon Shooting title, which is open to contestants under 15. Antony scored 81 hits out of a hundred, almost beating the adult winner. TESTING YOUR KNOWLEDGE Our team displaying a pleasing depth of knowledge led from the first round only to get pipped in the eighth and final round by the more aggressive use of the buzzer by the home team from W. Sussex. Many thanks to Liz Bird, our deputy chairman of Governors, who spent a lot of time coaching the team and agonising with them during the contest!! Quizzes and puzzles seem to he in the air this month - Richard Guy, Richard Crooks, Claire Hanson and Tom Hannen as reserve had an enjoyable time at Teddington Studios before defeating a team from the Metropolitan Police in the new BBC 2 Quiz All in the Mind . Those of you who watched them must have noticed they had the highest score of the week. The Science department took teams of six from Years 9, 11 and 12 to Surrey Schools Problem Solving Challenge. The brief was to make a self-propelled cart to transport a tube of polo mints using only materials provided. We didn't win but Year 11's cart was admired for its artistic appearance and mechanical ingenuity - unfortunately its axle did not go round when testing time arrived. Robert Prowse (Y8), Amy Hunter (Y9), Richard Guy (Y10) and Jon Skull (Y11) represented the school in a Chemistry Quiz for Young People organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry. They didn't win but felt they gained useful experience for a determined challenge next year! On March 17th 25 pupils were invited to the Royal Institution, Piccadilly which houses one of the oldest and most famous lecture theatres in the history of Science to hear lectures given by two eminent Scientists. Prof. R. Catlow spoke on 'How Atoms Fit Together' and Prof. D. Phillips on 'Chemistry in the Atmosphere' both of which touched on concepts in N.C. Levels 9 and 10. Pupils and staff who attended described it as "an unusual and interesting day". AIMS ON DESIGN : James Inge in Year 11 has been selected as one of 24 to go forward to the final stages of the Arkwright Scholarship. This is funded by industry to encourage pupils to take Design Technology at A Level and is the first year that this national award has been open to state schools. The preliminary stage consisted of a rigorous two hour exam set by an assessment panel. 53 schools took part. The scholarship offers £500 to the candidate and £500 to the CDT department over the 2 years. Kim Heide also of Year 11 is reserve. POETRY : Becky Papworth of Year 7 won first prize in the Annual Poetry Competition run by the Surrey Advertiser of Guildford. Becky's poem 'The Washing Machine' won her a cash prize and some tapes for the English department. MATHEMATICAL MINDS : Last month 31 Year 10 pupils and 20 Year 9 pupils took part in the Sharp UK Intermediate Maths Challenge - a national competition for students in Years 9, 10 and 11. Therfield received 31 certificates overall with Stephen Ross in Y9 achieving a Gold award and the best score in our school. Gold awards also went to Alison Lowe, Nicholas Taylor and Richard Guy and we were awarded 10 silver. and 17 bronze certificates. Maths with a difference were experienced by 39 Year 8 pupils accompanied by Mrs. Cain, Mr. Horder and Mrs. Graham when they spent three days at Southcoast World in Bognor. Here they tried out a variety of Maths related activities. MUSIC : The 'Spring Concert' will be staged by the Music Department on April 28th and is to be accompanied by an Exhibition of Year 10 Art work, THANKS TO THE FRIENDS : The new Multi- Media computer station is causing a lot of interest among pupils. A generous donation from the Friends was used to buy new equipment that is able to play the very latest CD Roms. EASTER BREAK : SCHOOL FINISHES AT 1 p.m. on 30th March. Pupils return on April 14th [INSET Day for staff on 13th]. APRIL DATES : |