THERFIELD NEWS Issue 89 27th June 2001

We are the only secondary school in Surrey to be so honoured in the present round of awards. Previously two other secondary schools in Surrey have been granted this much prized accolade. This is a great honour and recognises the excellent work that has been going on at Therfield.

In practice it means extra finance to enable us to work with other schools to share good practice. We have been teamed up with a school outside Brighton for special partnership, but will also be working with other local secondary schools, enabling us to pool the most effective and innovative ways of raising standards.

I could not be more pleased that Therfield has achieved this position at the point at which I retire. It is a great tribute to the hard work and commitment of so many teachers here over a considerable period of time.

The sale will be held between 3.00pm and 4.30pm in the Dining Hall on Tuesday, 3rd July. Any items for sale - clearly labelled with size, price, name and telephone number - should be brought to school as soon as possible. Uniform will be sold on a 50-50 basis and, of course, donations are very welcome. The Friends have sent home a letter setting out full details but if 'pupil post' failed you, then contact Sheena Reeves on 01 372 372531 for more information.

Uniform suppliers, Lester Bowden of Epsom, will be displaying and selling new uniform on 3rd July mainly for new Year 7s and on the 5th for present students, both times from 3.30 to 6.30pm.

The aim of this programme will be to promote instrumental music making and give students the opportunity to try learning an instrument without the financial burden of its purchase and lesson fees.

More details on the way this programme is to run will be sent home at the start of next year. In the meantime, we are looking for second-hand instruments to purchase for use in these ensembles. Obviously the instruments need to be in good condition and we are interested in :

Could anyone who has one of these instruments that they are willing to sell, contact Mr Ben Langford, Acting Head of Music.

Paul came into school on 7^th June to present a cheque for £1021.41 and was quickly surrounded by a wide-eyed group of pupils, many of whom already knew of his successes and others who were impressed when told of them.

Mr Hill, who was head of PE, during Paul's time at Therfield recalled him as being an all-round sportsman who enthusiastically represented the school at a number of sports. Although already making a name for himself as a swimmer he never held back when playing other sports for his school. Paul is now a full-time swimmer having completed a degree in Materials Science at Bath University.

Therfield's other Olympic representative, tennis player Lorna Woodroffe, is now ranked sixth in Britain and will be playing in the singles and doubles at Wimbledon.

The plan is now to have a Therfield Poet Laureate to lead poetry writing and take part in next year's Mole Valley Literature Festival.

14 year old Clare Smith has come fourth in the Creda Cookery Challenge and has won another cooker for the school, one for her family and a mountain bike for herself. The challenge to Year 9 cooks was issued by Creda earlier in the year and Clare ,successfully won through tough regional and semi final rounds before becoming one of nine finalists to compete at the Birmingham School of Cookery.

Also demonstrating good technology skills is Year 11 pupil Collins Ekere, who has become our eighth Arkwright Scholarship winner. Collins joined Therfield in Year 10 from his home country of Nigeria. He had never done any Design Technology work or studied Electronics but very quickly showed aptitude and was soon top of the class in all tests and mock examinations. Collins will be sponsored in his Sixth Form studies through the Arkwright Award and, to Mr de Little's delight, the school will also receive some funding.

They received high praise from the organisers for their helpfulness. 'It was a pleasure meeting such a responsible and enthusiastic group of students' commented the Appeal organiser.

Asked to evaluate the experience, comments from the pupils proved very positive ranging from- 'I found the trip fantastic, a really excellent experience! I'm definitely going next year', 'The best part was meeting new people and learning things about them. It helped us a lot to become more confident and encouraged us to speak more French' to 'Futuroscope was brill!!' and 'I found the trip fantastic'.

The aim was to raise £60 and so cash in on Mr Reddin's offer to put in another £15 if they reached this target. As one pupil commented as the total reached £63.29 - 'we did it. Sorry Sir!'

The Learning Support Department collected around 8000 crisp tokens and have ordered a number of new books. The total is not quite as high as last year due to restrictions put in place by the organisers. We are immensely grateful to all who collected and ask you please to keep the Nestle tops coming in as this scheme is still running.

Foster Carers Surrey's Social Services department is still seeking foster carers for children who are looked after by the County Council. In the past they have found that they have had a good response from parents who have children in secondary school so if you would like to know more, please telephone 020 8541 9600.

New members are always welcome - some digging still needs to be done and help with watering is always wanted. The garden now sports a beautiful new wooden seat donated by the Horticultural Society and this was officially handed over on Friday.

Sports Day - This year the weather was warm and fine and some excellent performances were recorded. Fuller report in the July Newsletter.

Congratulations - Emily Parker in Year 11 has been selected to represent Surrey in the Intermediate Girls' triple jump at the English Schools' Championships to be held at Exeter next month.