THERFIELD SCHOOL
HEADMASTER'S NEWSLETTER
March 1989

It seems hardly any time at all since Christmas and here I am writing the termly newsletter for parents at Easter. This has certainly been one of the shortest terms that I can remember.

This last term, despite being short, has been frantically busy. All the pupils in the Third Year have sat examinations and are now well into the process of choosing options. The Fifth Year have taken their GCSE 'Mock' examinations and are now, hopefully, putting the finishing touches to their coursework and beginning their revision programmes for their full GCSEs which begin in May. This has meant a heavy marking load for teaching staff, which coupled with eight parents' evenings will mean that most will be looking forward to their Easter break.

MAJOR EVENTS OF THE TERM
The Royal Opera House Project has culminated for the time being with a large number of pupils presenting their own drama and music at the Royal Opera House before going on to watch a matinee performance of Die Fledermaus.

The School has also had the services of Paulette Collyer who is a professional artiste and dancer to work with the Second Year pupils in the Faculty of Creative & Expressive Arts. She and the staff concerned have been working on themes to bring together pupils' work in art, music and drama.

The term has seen a large variety of trips:

1. Christian Oasis group has run a residential weekend.
2. Sixth Form trip to Russia.
3. A group has visited Heidelberg.
4. A large group went skiing to Austria.
5. Many 2nd Years participated in the Alpine Village Project.

The Easter exchange holiday will see the Sail Training week and the Summer Term will see exchange visits to Denmark and France.

Sporting achievements continue to be gained by our students, with much encouragement from the P.E. staff:

Cross Country - The following pupils have been selected to represent Central Surrey at the County Championships:
Junior Boys: LEE BETTERIDGE; Junior Girls: EMMA SIBERT, CLAIRE POULTON, ELIF KOSEOGLU, SOPHIE LACK; Intermediate Boys: ASA WINDER; Intermediate Girls: EMMA HICKMOTT, CARLA DILLEY; Senior Boys, STEPHEN WINDER, BRIAN WAKLEY.

The School was very successful in the National Cross Country Cup. The Junior and Intermediate Girls' teams finished 2nd and 3rd respectively to reach the Southern Final. They eventually missed the National Final by one position. The Junior Boys also reached the Southern Final by finishing champions of the region with Malcolm Beddows winning the event. Again the team just failed to reach the National Finals.

Stephen Winder was selected to represent Surrey in the All England Championships.

Basketball - The County Leagues are at present still in progress with our U14 and U16 teams performing well. The U16 team reached semi-finals of the County Cup, where they were beaten by only 1 point.

Badminton - Therfield's Girls, Boys and Mixed teams have all reached the finals of the Barclays Bank National Competition at Dacorum Leisure Centre, Hemel Hempstead. The girls' team won and are now National Champions. The mixed team was second and the boys' team was third.

KATE CUNNINGHAM, TRACY SALE (Surrey County Players (1988/89)
EMMA STADDON, JACQUI JUNES.
ALEX BENNETT, NlCHOLAS MAY (Surrey County Players 1988/89)
NATHAN ADDISON, IAN WOODROFFE, STUART MATHESON.

Special congratulations to Alex Bennett who has represented England for the 7th time in Badminton tournaments.

Volleyball - Although the girls' team were beaten in the second round of the National Competition, they were invited to the National Competition where they finished third.

The School Sailing Club have won three trophies at the Surrey Schools Sailing Regatta.

The school has actively been involved in fund-raising for charity. There have been House Penny races, and a hilarious Red Nose Day which at the time of writing has £880 for Comic Relief.

Yet again, the Music Department mounted a superb Concert, which was another reminder of the breadth of talent that exists in the school, and which Mr. Pratt and Mrs. Jackson work, so hard to liberate.

SCHOOL BUILDINGS
After a desperately difficult Autumn Term when the school was very short of cleaning staff, we are now fully staffed and standards of cleaning have greatly improved. There still some way to go but I am hopeful that this will soon be achieved.

The County Authorities have agreed to sand and re-polish all our halls and gyms, and most of the corridor areas are to have vinyl flooring put down. This should significantly improve the environment.

Plans are continuing to build the Resources Area extension with an estimated start date in June/July.

REQUESTS FOR HELP
With the enormous growth of pupils' coursework to be stored for GCSE, we are always looking for reasonable quality filing cabinets. If you know of any which would available to the school (preferably free, or very reasonably priced) please let us know.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
15th March - 12.30 finish for the S.E. Area subject panel meetings .
23rd March - 2.30 early finish on last day of term.
11th April - NOTE! First day of Summer Term for pupils.
13th April - Presentation Evening.
9th May - 5th Year Study Leave begins for GCSE.
11th & 12th May - These will be School Closures. One of these days postpone postponed from last term, the other is one of the two days that the Secretary of State has authorised to be taken before Christmas to support work on the National Curriculum

16th May - GCSEs start.
7th June - Sixth Form Parents Higher Education Evening.
4th July - 12.30 finish for S.E. Area Subject Panel meetings.

May I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Easter holiday.

Yours sincerely,
TJ Reddin