Issue No.80 29 September 2000
Issue No.80 29 September 2000
| Good
News It has been a great if
somewhat soggy start to the new school year. The school's exam
results were the best ever recorded. We could point to:
In one of the unofficial national newspaper
leagues, our 'A' level performance had Therfield as the 30th
highest comprehensive school in the country and ahead of all
our traditional rivals locally! |
| Mr Pratt One
of the less happy aspects about the start of term is that Mr
Pratt, our Director of Music, is still unwell. It has meant
that we have had to rearrange timetables and bring in some
temporary help. The teachers who are helping out are some of
the most talented young instrumentalists from South Africa. One consequence of Mr Pratt not being here is that, sadly, we have had to cancel our plans to put on Oliver. |
| Olympic
Honours Therfield can
proudly boast of having two ex-pupils
competing at the Sydney Olympics. Paul Belk
was the lead off swimmer in the 100 metres freestyle relay
but, unhappily, despite breaking the UK national record, the
team did not make it through to the final. Tennis player Lorna
Woodroffe was selected to represent GB in the
women's doubles with Julie Pullen.
To have two former pupils selected in a squad
of 361 is a considerable triumph and we nearly had a third -
Tracey Bloomfield came close to selection
for the women's pole vault and already has her sights set on
Athens in 2004! |
| New
Trust Fund Parents will have
received a letter mailed to them from me about the new Fund.
If you have not received one, please let us know.
In future, the new Trust set up to administer
the fund would like also to be able to write to you
directly. If you do not want your address passed to them,
please let us know by writing to me at the school. In
addition the Trust is looking for someone who would be
willing to act as honorary auditor for the fund. If you are
interested please contact Mrs Jenny Good, the Trust
secretary at the school. |
| Prizegiving
The Lower School prizegiving
will take place on Wednesday, 18th October with Dr Paul Gray,
Surrey's Director of Education, as guest of honour. |
| Welcome
We welcome a number of new
faces to our staff room this year and count ourselves
fortunate to be fully staffed when so many schools are facing
difficulty. Mrs Susan Willman joins us from Warden Park School in Cuckfield as Deputy Head for Key Stage 4 Miss Sarah Crofts is the new Head of Year 8 as well as teaching English. Other new staff are: Mrs K Daune (Music) Miss R Doonar (History) Miss A Garner (Psychology) Mrs Jenny Gosling (Food Technology) Mr T Hostler (Mod. Langs) Miss K Jones (English) Mr P Ogan (Science) Mr M Pordage (ICT) Ms S Shariff (ICT) Mrs K Stephen (Science) Mr F Tomnie (Science) Miss C Wade (English) Mr A Weekes (History) .. and we welcome back Mrs M Want to the Maths department. |
| Reminder
on times Tuesday, October
3rd is Academic Tutoring Day when pupils come into school for
individual appointments which will be sent home to you. This
is not a day off and pupils should attend in school uniform.
We are always pleased to see parents if they can accompany
their sons/daughters but realise that this is not always
possible. Academic Tutoring Days are also scheduled for 18th January and 25th April 2001. On Wednesday, 11th October school will close at 3.15 pm to accommodate Year 11 Parents' Evening. |
| Youth
Work Thanks to the
generosity of local churches and individuals we have been able
to appoint a Relational Youth Worker. Mrs Sam Coates
began work at the beginning of term providing an additional
counselling facility for those who need it. |
| Recruitment
Time We have had a most
successful year and this, hopefully, will be reflected in our
intake next September. If you know anyone who has a daughter
or son due to start secondary school in September 2001 please
recommend Therfield to them and tell them that our Open
Evening is on 8th November starting at 6.30 pm |
| English
on TV Some months ago a
group of students, then in Year 9, were filmed for a programme
going out on the Learning Zone on BBC 2 in the early
hours of the morning. The film has now been finally edited and
Therfield's contribution goes out on Bitesize Programme 3 on
19/20 March 2001 between 0200-0400. The.first half of the programme is about better writing skills and five of our current Year 10 students - Heather Miller, Lydia Taylor, James Day, David Erasmus and Richard Easton - feature in it. Teacher Miss English wrote the script which gives advice about taking the NCT test in English at KS3 as well as giving tips about improving writing skills and revision. Mrs Cann also features as the 'teacher expert', showing students how to improve and correct their work. This is an interactive programme and students will be able to print worksheets off the Internet to use. The BBC team who came to Therfield wrote to say they were very impressed with the school and our students and are only sorry they were not able to include everyone who took part. |
| Craft
Fair A date for your diary:
Sunday 5th November from 10am until 4.30pm, when the Friends
will be staging their fifth annual Craft Fair. This is one of
the most enjoyable and interesting events to be held at
Therfield. The Friends will be sending you further details
nearer the time. |
| Fabrics
needed Mrs Shannon, Head of
Food and Textiles, thanks everyone who has sent in fabrics.
These quickly get used up so she would welcome more donations.
|
| Parents'
Prayer Group Meetings will
be held this term on Monday evenings - October 2nd and
November 27th at 8 pm at school. All are welcome to attend or
you can request a prayer to be said. Mrs Jill Poole (01932
865476) would be pleased to give more information. |
| Lost
Property Please do label all
clothing and other property - we cannot return items unless
they are clearly marked. |
| Money
in School Please make sure
your son/daughter has 'emergency money' to make a phone call
or to travel home. The Finance Office does not keep money in
school so we cannot give change or lend money. |
| Parking
Plea We are a big school and
we do try not to aggravate our neighbours too much, so please
be considerate about parking when you deliver or collect your
child from school. Dilston Road gets very congested and it is
helpful if some parents use the back entrance at Cleeve Road.
|
| Traffic News While
roadworks are taking place on the section between the M25
roundabout and the road that goes towards Chessington, a
one-way system will operate. Traffic approaching Therfield
will continue on the normal route but there may be delays.
Traffic going towards Chessington will be
diverted via Oxshott so a homeward journey will take longer. |
| Science
Visit 48 Year 10 pupils
found a residential visit to Swansea both enjoyable and
educational at the end of last term. They stayed at the
university, were fascinated by a lecture on cosmology, visited
British Steel, the Welsh National Museum and also saw how
cider was produced. |
| Boost
for Breakfast The decision
to enter our Year 9s for the Creda Schools' Challenge
Cookery Competition has had an unexpected bonus - more
of our pupils are eating breakfast! The Challenge this year
(last year we had a pupil through to the final) is
'Breakfasts' and an early survey showed that out of a class of
25, 13 came to school without having eaten breakfast. Now, thanks to work done on the topic, not to mention the delicious samples being dreamed up, a second survey showed this figure had been cut to 2 out of 25. Mrs Hook praises the enthusiasm of the pupils and help from Maggie Simpkins, Chief Dietician at Epsom Health Promotion Unit. |
| Meningitis
C A series of 'catch up'
clinics are being held in the area for those who missed out on
earlier opportunities for injections. These clinics are for
those born between 31.08.82 and 31.08.94. Further information
from Pupil Welfare Office at the school. |
| Familyline
This is an organisation set
up to help people with family problems - the local number for
it is 0345 567800. |
| Congratulations
Chris Langridge,
Year 11, has been selected to represent the English Schools'
U17 Badminton team in the Danish Cup next month. |
| Venezuela
The trip proved to be a truly
memorable one for all concerned. A fuller account appears in
the Green Bottle and the Leatherhead Advertiser
published a report plus two pictures from the hundreds brought
back by Mr Smith and students. |
| More
Travel Following another
successful Year 7 trip to the Rhine Valley in July, we plan
another, open to all Year 7 pupils (but places limited to 77)
in July 2001. Activities will include a Rhine cruise, visit to Europe's largest private collection of self-playing instruments, a trip in a cable-car through a vineyard as well as time to explore and shop in Koblenz town centre. We have discovered a wonderful little family run hotel in Rhens, where the food and hospitality are excellent - it also boasts its own skittle alley! Letters about the trip will be issued to Year 7 students in October. Other Modern Foreign Language trips/exchanges will include: Junior French Exchange (open to all students taking French in Years 9 & 10) - the French party is here from 12-20 March 2001 and our party is in Vertou from 6-14 June. Junior German Exchange (those taking German in Years 9 & 10) - the German group is here 24-31 March, Therfield to Bergisch-Gladbach 15-22 June. Senior French Exchange (open to Year 12 students taking French) - French party here 6 - 16 Dec. 2000, our party in France 12-18 March 2001. Details have been sent home, more information from Miss Collier (Junior French), Miss Buckell (Junior German), Mr Boucry (Senior French). |
| Governors'
News The Annual
Meeting for Governors with parents of the school
will take place on Wednesday, 4th October at 8.15pm. Reports
from the various committees will be given and as we seek to
make this an informative as well as a pleasant social evening
we are holding it with the Friends of the School, who invite
parents to attend from 7 pm for a 7.30 pm start
to their own Friends Annual Meeting. Report - For those parents who do not receive a copy of the Governors' Report to Parents through 'pupil post', there will be copies available at the AGM. Parent Governors - Since we have received more nominations than vacancies available, a secret ballot will now be held. Information to Parents - Public copies of all Agendas and Minutes of all Governors' meetings are available to view in the Clerk's Office at the school. |
DATES FOR THE DIARY
also see the School Calendar
| 3rd Oct | Academic Tutoring Day Y11 trip to Docklands |
| 4th Oct | Friends' & Governors' AGM for parents |
| 5th Oct | National Poetry Day |
| 7th Oct | Friends' Jumble Sale 1.30 pm |
| 16-20th Oct | Y11 Work Experience Week |
| 18th Oct | Lower School Prizegiving |
| 23-27 Oct | Half Term |
| Nov 8th | Prospective Parents' Evening 6.30pm |