THERFIELD NEWS Issue No.66 May 1999

SUCCESS - As you will see from this Newsletter, Therfield has been very successful in many different spheres. I am hoping that our students are going to be equally successful in the GCSE, GNVQ and 'A' level exams being sat now.

BUDGET PROBLEMS - I mentioned previously that along with many other schools, we have a budget shortfall which has resulted in some courses not being run. Attached to this letter is one from the Chairman of the Surrey Secondary Heads Council outlining our concern about the budget and how important it will be to ensure that next year's budget is better. Please read it carefully and take whatever action you feel appropriate. This time next year it will be too late if you find that your youngsters' class sizes have increased and hoped for courses are no longer available.

ROSEBERY & GLYN SCHOOLS -Those who have been Therfield parents for some years may remember the campaign that we put together to try and prevent the selection of pupils by ability at these schools. This policy is very damaging to surrounding schools. The opportunity has arisen again to challenge this practice and I shall be writing a separate letter to you shortly.

PARENT GOVERNORS - There are two vacancies for Parent Governors for Therfield. One vacancy will be to take account of new legislation which comes into effect on 1st September 1999 and one to fill a vacancy which arises on 1st December. A letter inviting nominations will be sent to all parents on June 8th.

INFORMATION - A public set of Governors' minutes are kept in the Clerk's Office at school should any parent or member of staff wish to read them.

CONGRATULATIONS - to Thomas Marshall in Year 11 who has been awarded an Arkwright Scholarship to further his studies in Design and Technology. The award is worth £500 a year, half of which goes to Tom and half to the school's Technology Department. This is the fourth occasion that a Therfield pupil has been successful in attaining one of these prestigious scholarships which are designed to boost the study of engineering-design subjects at 'A' level and beyond. The Board of adjudicators expressed themselves as being 'extremely impressed' by Tom's overall ability.

MORE CONGRATULATIONS - to our team of six Year 10 students - Stephen Dugdale, Howard Ebison, Arran Flowerday, Hannah Poole, Eric Reynoids and Sarah Waldman - who won £1 500 for the school in a competition organised by the Surrey branch of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Therfield beat St George's School, Weybridge in the final and again the judging panel expressed themselves as being 'most impressed' with the standard of presentation by our pupils. Their brief was to think up ways to improve an area of the school and they settled on designing a futuristic dome entitled 'Teko Park' which would be environmentally friendly and yet provide for social and educational activities.

WRONG DATE - Next year's Year 11 go on a week's work experience from Monday, 18th to Friday, 22nd October - apologies for the incorrect date given on the information letter. We do need the financial support of parents if work experience is to run so please do reply to the request for contributions.

GOODBYE TO SCHOOL - the reality of the end of compulsory schooling came for our present Year 11 when they started study leave on 12th May in readiness for their GCSE exams. A formal and a not-so-formal leaving assembly was held and some tears were shed even though most will be coming in for revision lessons and meeting again at exam time. It is pleasing that so many will be returning in September as students in the Sixth Form to take either 'A' levels or GNVQ and then go on to higher education or employment.

MATHS BY THE SEA - 47 Year 8 pupils visited Seaton in Devon on a three-day residential stay to study practical aspects of Mathematics. Activities included - estimating heights of the cliffs, estimating the speed of students travelling down the flumes into the swimming pool and investigating angles involved during a game of snooker. This is an annual venture by the Maths department and much enjoyed by the students. On returning to school, even they admitted that Maths can be fun!

SCHOOL UNIFORM - The Friends will be holding a sale of second-hand uniform at the school from 2.30pm to 4.30pm on Tuesday 6th July and the main Uniform Shop for new uniform will be at the school from 4pm to 7pm on the 6th and 7th July. Mrs Hodgson is always pleased to receive donations of uniform, especially those items bearing the Therfield logo.

EURO-ELECTIONS - Posters are already appearing around the school in support of candidates for the History Dept's mock Euro elections on June 10th.

SIXTH FORM EXCHANGE - All Y12 and Y13 students doing 'A' level French next year will have the chance to go on an Exchange visit from 19th-27th October - make a note of the date as it runs into the half term holiday. Mr Boucry will have more details soon but such an Exchange is of great benefit to 'A' level studies. The French are expected to visit us in February or March 2000, outside the school holidays.

FRENCH VISITORS HERE - The 23 strong party from France spent an enjoyable week here. They arrived to uncertain weather and a windy day was spent in Brighton. However, subsequent visits to London where Madame Tussauds, the National Gallery, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and St Paul's Cathedral were on the itinerary took place in warmer, sunnier, conditions. Now our English participants are looking forward to their return visit starting 9th June.

PRAYER GROUP - The next meeting of the Parents Prayer Group will be held on Wednesday, 16th June at 8pm at the school. This is a change of date from the 30th. If anyone has a special request for a prayer, please call Jill Poole on 01932 865476. All are welcome to attend.

READING CHALLENGE - A group of dedicated readers drawn from pupils and staff have embarked on a special reading programme to shadow the renowned Carnegie Children's Book Awards. The five books which are on the shortlist for the Carnegie Medal have to be read by the volunteer readers by 14th July. Miss English is arranging for the readers to meet weekly to issue and swap books and discuss impressions to date. A vote will be taken for 'best book' to coincide with the verdict of the official panel of judges. 500 schools have been asked to 'shadow' the award this year to help promote the National Year of Reading.

CHARITY BENEFITS - Thanks to the generosity of Friends Provident and the profit making acumen of Mr Wheatley's Year 13 Business Studies students, Barnardos has received a cheque for £303.37. Friends Provident agreed to stake the students with £120 and challenged them to run a company or invest the money and pay any profits to charity. A company was set up to provide services within the school and organised a Year 7 Disco, washed cars, helped in the Common Room and went on to make a healthy profit.

AFRICA EVENING ON 30TH JUNE - Year 7 students are busy preparing for this popular event which includes a fashion show of garments made and designed by pupils plus music, dance and suitable food. The popularity of this event in past years has meant that on a hot night, temperatures in the main hall have become a little too realistic and so the show will have two sessions - Norbury & Polesden pupils will perform first and Juniper & Leith pupils second with a common time in between for sampling the food and visiting the exhibition. A letter about tickets will go home by 'pupil post' after half term. More information from Mrs Shannon.

FUN DAY - Following last year's very successful Football World Cup Fun Day we are planning to repeat the theme again this year with the Cricket World Cup. This will take place on Friday 9th July with tutor groups representing one of the top eight teams in the Cricket World Cup. Elimination games of Quick Cricket will be played in the morning with teams being made up of boys and girls, with the finals being played out before the whole school in the afternoon.

FRIENDS' SILENT AUCTION PLEA - at the recent Silent Auction, someone kindly donated a German GCSE CD-ROM. Unfortunately, the buyer found that the CD-ROM was missing from the pack! This is clearly a simple mistake and the Friends would be enormously grateful if the donor would contact Ann Jenner on 275172 or Liz Reynaud on 843777 or simply drop the missing CD into school for collection.

SOMETHING TO SELL? - If anyone has anything to buy or sell the Friends' Newsletter has a new 'Small Ad' section. Cost is £5 per advert and the next Newsletter goes out in June - Ann Jenner (275172) is the contact.

ATHLETICS - Therfield teams acquitted themselves well at the recent meeting organised by the English Schools Athletic Association as part of the TSB Cup. The Junior Boys tied for second place with George Abbott School, the Junior Girls came third, missing second place by only four points; Intermediate Boys team were placed second and the Intermediate Girls third.

In the District Sports two days later our athletes again performed well, coming first in the Intermediate Boys section and fourth in the Girls. In the Junior section we came second in both boys and girls team events.

BADMINTON HONOURS - Christopher Langridge, Year 9, is now the official No 2 for England in the U14 Badminton rankings. In a recent Rising Stars competition he lost 21-17 in the final to the No 1 seed. Chris and his regular partner, Matthew Honey, won the U 1 4 doubles.

BETTER LATE THAN ... One of our Year 10 language groups have just heard that they are the winners of the 1998 'Going Places' competition organised by the publishers William Nelson. It was when they were in Year 9 that they worked hard on and submitted a project in French entitled 'Mystere Ville'. They will take up the main part of their prize -a visit to the Europa Centre for Modem Languages at Hornchurch - when they are in Year 11! The school receives £250 worth of text books plus a large dictionary. Commenting on Therfield's entry, the judges said "It was superbly and imaginatively presented. The quality of each piece of work indicated how much the students enjoyed the project".

IN THE RIVER - All of Year 7 plus a number of staff donned their wellies and, with a mind to get wet, took part in a Geography field trip to West Humble and the River Mole. The trip introduced in a very real way the Summer term topic of 'Rivers and how they shape the landscape.' For many the high light was wading in a 'cool' River Mole hunting for a selection of mini-beasts that would provide clues as to water quality - blood worms proving a popular favourite! Others measured the oxbow lake, working out water velocity and channel generating, clinometers were used to find out the shape of flood plains. All good practical work which should enliven Geography lessons in the weeks to come.

BOOKS FOR CRISPS! - Many thanks once more for all the tokens from crisp packets. So far we have ordered a total of 60 books, which would have cost between £4 and £10 each. So cutting up all those messy crisp packets was well worth it! Books can be ordered until July - so please do continue to send them in.

MUSIC and DRAMA - On June 21st a number of teachers will be parading their talents in the Teachers' Concert which is being held to raise money for the Samba Band planned for next year. Little Shop of Horrors is the main drama-music production of the year and will be held on 15th-17th July. Described as 'a riotous spoof of 1950's B movies it is filled with excellent music and theatrical surprises'. Details re tickets for both events will be coming home via pupil post shortly.

REGATTA WINS - Three more trophies were won by members of the Sailing Club when they competed at Island Barn Regatta recently. David Manders, Year 9, with Sixth Formers, Andrew Bowen, Richard Lawrence and Neil Ferguson wore the main winners. On Friday 25th June, the Club holds its annual Sponsored Sail and barbecue at Papercourt Sailing Club, Ripley starting at 5pm for the sailors and 7pm for the BBQ. This is the Club's main fundraising event of the year. They hope to have a 'parents boat' this year and motor boat rides around the lake can also be enjoyed. Last year the event raised £950, which was spent on new Enterprise Sails. More information from Mr Stewart at school. The Club would also be delighted to receive any suitable items for tombola prizes.

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