Issue No.75 29 March 2000
Issue No.75 29 March 2000
FROM THE HEAD TEACHER
Becoming a Beacon - The excellent report received from Ofsted means that Therfield has been invited to apply for 'Beacon Status'. Our bid for this important standing in education has been processed and I will keep you informed of the outcome. Good News for MFL - Mrs Hrouda and her Languages team have been jumping for joy this week as news came through that the Lord Barnby Trust have agreed to donate £40,000 towards a computerised Modern Languages facility for the school. This will revolutionise Modern Languages teaching and will offer, among many other initiatives, video links with feeder schools plus video conferencing facilities and ready access to foreign TV programmes. As always, more money still needs to be found but we are immensely grateful to the Barnby Trust for this their second generous donation to the school - they provided £50,000 for the Astro-turf which has proved to be such a valuable facility. A Reminder- Thursday, 6th April is an In-Service Training Day for staff. Pupils are not in school. An ADDITIONAL INSET day will be held on Friday, 14th April, which means that Easter holidays for pupils will commence a day early and school will finish at 1.10 pm on the 13th. The extra INSET day follows the recent recommendation from the Secretary of State for Education that schools should take time to consider the issue of performance management. Champions - Therfield's team of Christopher Langridge, James Molyneux, Andrew Morris and Philip Rippin, all from Year 10, have won the National U15 Badminton Team Championships. They defeated Blatchington Mill from Sussex in the final at Luton after topping their round-robin group. Then, with David Urry and David Swingler making up the team to six, they won the Surrey U16s Championship, beating Tiffin School 7-2 in the final at Wimbledon Squash and Badminton Club, having earlier defeated St.John's School in the semi-final. The good news is they can defend the U 16 title next year! Success at Maths - Therfield entered 74 pupils from Years 9, 10 and 11 in the National Intermediate Maths Challenge and won 12 Gold Awards, 17 Silver and 18 Bronze. This makes a creditable 64% of the entrants who gained a certificate. Three of the pupils - Adam Baxter (Y11), Sarah Waldman (Y11) and Geoffrey Cousins (Y10) gained sufficiently high marks to be selected to take part in the Invitation Maths Challenge in May; Adam also gained the award for 'Best in School'. The other Gold winners were Eric Reynolds, Howard Ebison, Richard Griffiths, Chris Thompson, all from Year 11, and Nicholas Reeves, Toby Hodges, Dan Richards, lan Lyszyk and Adam Harwood from Year 10. This was an excellent achievement in a competition which attracts entries from schools all over the UK. We congratulate all those who took part and hope for similar success from the 100 pupils from Years 7 and 8 who are taking part this week in the Junior Challenge! Maths Can Be Fun - 62 Year 8 pupils plus helpers from Year 12 and staff enjoyed a morning of Johnny Ball's 'Tales of Maths and Legends' at Wimbledon Theatre last week. The centrepiece was a new educational musical for 'Maths Year 2000' which encouraged students not to be afraid of Maths and to enjoy the subject's breadth and scope. Legendary figures from the world of Mathematics from Archimedes, lsaac Newton and Alan Turing were featured and Johnny Ball's breathless presentation of 'stupendous mathematical revelations' proved that Maths can be fun! Worthwhile Visits - The National Power Laboratories opened their doors to over 100 Year 8 pupils as part of National Science Week. Claire Dear of Year 8 writes: "the visit was to help inform young people about Science. On the trip we were taken on a tour around the National Grid Centre where we were shown many interesting things which happen in the factory. Everyone found the trip both enjoyable and interesting and we all came away knowing a lot more facts about Science and all appreciated the efforts the National Grid people had put into the afternoon". Marie-Anne Maskew, also from Year 8, was similarly impressed. She writes: "When we got there we went into a room and a man told us about the National Grid and how it helped people in places like Brazil, USA and Australia. Then we went into a room with lots of machines and the man showed us how they made things safe. After that we split into four groups and went to different places. One concerned pollution and a testing what would happen when salt water was added - there was a big bang and a flash of light. EMC Engineering was about polluting the air with noise waves and light. Number three room was about looking at faults in machinery and how a microscope can magnify small faults. Number four was about how gas was taken out of oil and how indicators were used". All pupils expressed appreciation for the trouble taken by National Grid employees to make the visit interesting and commented favourably on the drink and crisps which completed an enjoyable visit. Water and E-Bills - The deadline for this initiative has been extended to 31st March. Sutton and East Surrey Water Company will donate £5 to the school for every parent who signs up for E-billing. You can do this via the e-mail facility on the website - http://www.waterplc.com Remember to include the name of the school to which the donation is to be paid! The Next Step - A Higher Education Evening is to be held on Wednesday, 5th April at school at 7pm. This will be of particular interest to students - and parents - in Year 12 who intend to go on to further study. A representative from a local university will speak and information on the application process, decision making and finance will be given. Drama Evening - An impressive programme of monologues, duologues and devised pieces was provided by Year 13 Theatre Studies students as they presented work which has formed part of their studies and which will be performed for adjudicators as part of the practical examination. The audience of parents, friends and fellow students had plenty to entertain them in an evening which featured 22 different pieces, ranging from lbsen, Tennessee Williams, Noel Coward and Alan Ayckboum to two short plays devised and performed by the students. Music News - This Friday (31st) the popular Spring Concert takes place, starting at 7.30 pm. All the school's music groups - Main Orchestra, Second Orchestra, Main Choir, Lower School Singers, Swing Band and Stompers - will perform and Mr Pratt promises an 'evening to remember'. Tickets are on sale from the Main Office - £3 for adults, £1 for children - and need to be 'snapped up' promptly. Those who attended the recent Choral Concert will know that the standard of performance will be high and the enthusiasm of staff and students a joy to see. French Exchange - Our Sixth Form students welcomed back their French partners at the beginning of the month. The official programme of visits to Cambridge and London, which included the House of Commons and the City, was supplemented by parties and nights out much appreciated by the French visitors, as they felt it gave them a true insight' into an English Sixth Formers' way of life! The whole visit was a great success and even the weather - which the visitors had been warned about - joined in to make this a successful experience for all concerned. A report on the junior exchange will be given in the April Newsletter. Mufti Day - The school collected a record amount of over £1,000 to send to the Mozambique Flood Relief Appeal as a result of our recent Mufti Day. Keep Collecting - The Learning Support Department has sent off its first order for books as a result of the crisp tokens and vouchers sent in - there are still many books they would like to order, so please keep collecting. The Librarian, Mrs Burnham, is also grateful for the Tesco Computer vouchers and now has almost enough for a computer. Collection boxes can be found in the Resource Centre. The IT Department would like to thank all parents who sent in newspaper and magazine vouchers for free software for schools. The promotion has finished now but we collected the staggering total of 17,700 tokens and so added considerably to our software. Many, many thanks to all those who contributed. Friends Raffle - Tickets have now gone home for the Friends' Grand Raffle, to be drawn on 16th May. Prizes include £150 cash, tickets for Wimbledon, Chessington World of Adventures, Sandown Races and a luxury hamper. Please make every effort to sell - and buy - as many tickets as possible. This is one of the main fund raising events of the year. Support from the Friends is needed as much as ever - not only do they help out with staples such as text books but also 'luxuries' like sports kit and start-up funds for the Samba Band. Lost Property - The situation has not improved. At the end of last week the cupboard was chock-a-block with outdoor coats - many of very good quality. We now make a note of the date when the article is handed in and after some weeks it is disposed of, probably to the school jumble sale. We do not have the space to keep so much 'lost' property indefinitely. Any items which are named can, of course, be returned. Forgotten Items - If your son/daughter phones home to ask for a forgotten book, piece of equipment or sports kit to be brought in, please make it clear to them that they must come to the Main Office to collect it. Lessons cannot be interrupted to hand over forgotten items. Parking Care - The dreaded spectre of clamping has been mentioned in connection with parents parking in Hazelmere Close and Waterfields. The Estate's Housing Management Officer says they don't want to clamp but if parents persist in using the car park - which is for residents only - they may well have to use this as a deterrent. With a school the size of Therfield, parking is a contentious issue and I do ask you, once again, to be considerate to all our neighbours. Court Appearances - Our team of Sixth Formers, having won the keenly-contested London heat, took part in the National Final of the Mock Bar Trial Competition on 18th March. Fifteen other regional champions made sure the competition was tough but the team were quietly confident after winning their first two cases. However, they rather unluckily went down in case number three and so just missed making the grand final. Ms Roberts was full of praise for the team and the way they fought their cases 'with style and professionalism'. Warm thanks to the many parents who volunteered their services; other calls on students' time such as coursework, mock exams and study meant that we were unable to call on everyone who offered but Ms Roberts is grateful for the 'brilliant' support they received. Possible recruits to the senior ranks of legal eagles could be found at Bromley earlier in the month, when Miss Allen took a team from Years 8 and 9 to compete in the regional Mock Trial for lower school pupils. Again students had to play all roles necessary for a trial, this time at magistrates court level. The magistrates came to a verdict based on the evidence put before them, while the judges awarded marks for performance. As most of the proceedings are conducted from memory from briefs studied earlier, it is a formidable task and the verdict that we had lost our case by one point was greeted with some dismay. Special mention should go to Catherine Cannon, Y8, who won a well-deserved special prize for best witness. Arkwright Scholarships - Three Year 11 pupils - Dylan Gifford, Daniel Loughlin and Andrew Madow - have won through the first round of the Arkwright Award and now go for interview at Wellington College next month. 148 schools entered and a total of 433 candidates took part initially. Therfield has a proud tradition of success in this field and we wish Dylan, Daniel and Andrew every success.
Please click the logo to see this. Meningitis Injections - Booklets and forms giving information about meningitis have gone out to Years 7, 8, 9 and 10. Any students in Years 11, 12 and 13 who missed the earlier round of injections and would like to have an injection should go to the Pupil Welfare Office. Japan Day - This was a highly successful cross-curricular initiative which involved all of Year 9. The Japanese visitors who came along to help, entered into the spirit of the day and greatly added to the enjoyment and feeling of authenticity. In Training - A steady tramp around the school playing fields carrying a weighted rucksack and a target of six kms within the hour proved to be all part of the training for 21 students and staff who plan to join the World Challenge Expedition to Venezuela in August. They all survived and can now look forward to the next obstacle - an Army assault course! Skiing News - Following on the success of the February ski trips to Austria and France, pupils in Years 7-10 will shortly receive details of Ski Austria 2001. The dates are 16-24 February, to Kufstein near Soll. Mrs Wingrove is the organiser. Cross Country - Congratulations to Matthew Willsher, Richard Derrick, Craig Hughes, Alice McFadden, Sarah Adamson, Gillian Fox, Rachael Scally and Clare Dear who have been selected to run for Surrey in the County Cross Country Championships. Netball - The U19 team won their pool games in the District Tournament and were beaten by the eventual winners, Parsons Mead, in the semi-final. The Year 7 team also made it to the semi-final in their District event. The PE Department plan to run a trip to the U21 International Match between England and Jamaica at Guildford Spectrum on 5th April. Representative Honours - Sixth Former Oliver Arnell has been selected to represent Surrey in the U19 squad at the English Schools Festival of Football in Suffolk from 25-29th April. Another Sixth Former, Michael Plenty, was selected for the Great Britain U18 Ice Hockey squad in the World Championships in Slovenia last week. Michael played first line defence for England in the recent U17s international against Scotland. Sailing Success - An enthusiasm for sailing built up through membership of Therfield's Sailing Club has stood Cambridge undergraduate Richard Guy in good stead. Richard has been selected as one of six members of the UK Sailing Development Squad to compete in the United States against the cream of US college sailors in June. Richard, who is now in the third year of an Engineering degree at Emmanuel College, has been a leading member of Cambridge University Team Racing Club. He had no background in sailing before coming to Therfield and worked to gain RYA qualifications and competed in regattas from the age of 12. Marathon Run - Miss Lansdown from the PE Department plans to run in the London Marathon on Sunday, 16th April and would welcome sponsorship from parents and pupils. Money raised will be split 50/50 between one of the school's charities and buying sports equipment for St Giles School, Croydon, which is for children with severe learning disabilities. DATES FOR THE DIARY |
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