THERFIELD SCHOOL
HEADMASTER'S NEWSLETTER
March 1988

With the Spring Term fast drawing to a close, I would like to bring you up to date with the major news and developments at Therfield. It has been a very productive term, but somehow the pace of change seems to be getting faster. By far the most important development has been in delivering the new G.C.S.E. courses. This has involved an enormous amount of extra work for staff and some very heavy workloads for pupils. I am confident, however, that Therfield's reputation in the field of public examination success will continue.

END OF TERM ARRANGEMENTS
Friday 18th March - School will close at 12.30 for the termly teachers' panel meetings when all the teachers in local schools meet to discuss and plan future developments.
MUSIC CONCERT at the School at 7.30 pm. Do come to this event. There is always a wide variety of music including that performed by Therfield's famous Swing Band.
Wednesday 23rd - School will close at 3.10 pm. (Usual lessons but with Tuesday timings.)
7.30 pm - ANNUAL MEETING FOR PARENTS organised by the Governors. (All parents should have received the annual report on the school sent home with pupils last week.)
Friday 25th - Term ends. As is traditional, school will finish slightly early at 2.30 pm.
Monday 11th April - Summer Term starts.

STAFFING CHANGES
I am delighted to announce that Mr. Love, who joined Therfield at the same time as I did, has been appointed as Headteacher of Rydens School in the North East part of Surrey. Mr. Love has made an enormous contribution to the life and development of Therfield as many pupils and parents can testify. I personally owe Mr. Love an enormous debt of gratitude for all his loyal hard work and support for me. Therfield will miss him very much, but his promotion is very well deserved and we wish him every happiness and success in the future. He takes up his new appointment in April.

The end of term will also see the departure of Mr. Ham (Head of Geography) who has been at Therfield since September 1982. He will be succeeded by Miss Turner who joins the school from Ipswich. Mr. Ham is moving to Australia.

We also say farewell to Mr. Wilson who has been one of the school's Heads of House and a Maths teacher. Other staff departing are Mr. Brewer (Economics) and Mr. Jones who has been temporarily covering in the English Department whilst we have waited for Mr. Holt to join us in April. We wish all our colleagues who are departing a very happy and successful future.

Work has started (last Friday) an the new County Music Centre. This will provide extra music practice facilities for Therfield pupils and should significantly improve the quality of the environment in one part of the school.

Agreernent has been, reached to explore ways of improving our Library provision, and £75,000 has been set aside for this purpose. Architects are currently looking at possible plans.

I have also been informed that £10,000 has been allocated for interior decoration. This work will begin some time after September.

OTHER MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS AND EVENTS
The Government has agreed to fund a major curriculum development project in Surrey. This is called the Technical & Vocational
Education Extension. Staff at Therfield have been very much involved with this, as have the other Mole Valley schools. This will bring significant extra resources to the school (about £150,000 over the next five years). Third Year parents will already have seen some of the new courses on offer.

We were delighted to welcome Baroness Mary Warnock as our Guest of Honour at Presentation Evening on January 7th.

Nearly 1,000 people visited the Careers Convention organised jointly between the school and the Friends. It was a very successful evening and we owe Mr. M. Pfleger an enormous debt of thanks for all his hard work on our behalf.

The Friends have also generously donated £6,000 to buy a more modern and comfortable minibus for the school. Our school would be so much the poorer without the active help and support that we receive from the Friends.

You might be interested to know that eight Therfield pupils will be appearing on BBC Television's "Daytime Live" on Friday 18th March, as part of a Surrey Schools 'Keyboard Orchestra'.

Request for Help
Mrs. Margaret Burnham, our newly appointed Chartered Librarian, is looking for some parents to help her. This could be for an occasional day or two in the holiday helping to catalogue or process books. We are also looking for more regular help at lunchtimes. If you are interested and would like more details please contact Mrs. Burnham at the school.

May I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Easter and thank you for all your help and support of the last term.

Yours sincerely,
TJ Reddin