Beechwood Lion Michaelmas 2019

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Beechwood Lion We loved Beechwood’s inaugural Love-a-Lingo Day! See page 5 for more.

From the Headmaster Dear Parents and Friends, The Beechwood Lion, our very own bumper Christmas cracker, is stuffed to bursting with goodies to share, serving as a festive reminder for us all of all that we have achieved throughout this mammoth term. Pupils, staff, parents and governors have approached this fifteen-week term with the customary creativity and character which has become the hallmark of a Beechwood education. This is Beechwood Park, ‘not a walk in the park’, as one commentator put it recently; another commented that moving from a previous school to Beechwood was like moving from ‘analogue to digital’; both of them good lines!

Whether it is in the remarkable Junior Department nativities, the sparkling onstage confidence of our pupils in the Middle Department Christmas Cracker, or the Senior Department pupils’ modest leadership, amidst their myriad achievements in and out of the classroom, one cannot fail to be impressed by the vim of our community, displacing winter gloom with energy, conviction and authenticity. ‘We are what we are’, our pupils seem confidently to say in their day-

Michaelmas 2019

to-day lives, ‘and we are determined to be the best that we can be, not solely for our own ends, but for the good of all.’ Pupils and staff together demonstrate an aweinspiring Growth Mindset in their approach to School life, buzzing with energy and new ideas as they engage in a dazzling array of collaborations, supporting pupils to develop their skills, talents and self-belief, to stand on their own two feet, to develop confidence and independence, and through this, to work as integral parts of ever more sophisticated teams in support both of our community and communities further afield.

Year 3 and 4 pupils from both Beechwood and Markyate Village School truly raised the roof with their singing at our annual Christingle Service demonstrating that working together with others has such profound benefits for everyone in and outside of the Beechwood bubble. Christmas productions, Advent services, the BPSPA Christmas Fayre, concerts, assemblies and charity initiatives have all brought with them opportunities to strengthen our community.

Our Music Department has excelled as usual with choirs in soaring and melodious voice; the Wow Board, Twitter, Instagram and weekly newsletters all proclaim the diversity, engagement and every-day excellence of this place. The boarders went all ‘Ant and Dec’ on us a few weeks ago, as they took on the ‘Beechwood Bushtucker Trial’ consuming vast quantities of dried mealworms and crickets. Your children are exceptional in their willingness to have a go, and on cold and dark

November mornings brighten up the School with their humour, ‘getting on with it’ and doing it with a smile on their faces.

Thank you for all of your amazing support of the BPSPA Quiz Night, BPSPA Bonfire and Fireworks Night and Christmas Fayre. The former was so popular that we had to turn whole tables away, so get in early next year!

The charities supported by the BPSPA are all hugely grateful for your generosity.

Rachel and Mark Ridley retire at the end of this term after a combined 58 years at Beechwood and we wish them happiness as they set off on their travels after Christmas.

I also thank the charismatic Maria KekiWalton for her outstanding support of the Art Department this term and wish her well in her next role. I am delighted that so many of you met Andrew Dixon, our new Year 5 teacher and we welcome the immensely talented Alice Kelway-Bamber to her full-time role as Head of Art next term as the world turns once again.

Thank you, as ever, for the enormous passion that you put into this wonderful School.

Wishing you a very happy Christmas and every good fortune for 2020.

EDWARD BALFOUR HEADMASTER

Treetops

Coding for Parents

Our new Outdoor Classroom, whose name ‘Treetops’ topped the pupil vote, opened to a trumpet fanfare. ‘Special guests’ cut the ribbon, the Headmaster read a poem, we listened to Mrs Le Bas and the House Captains speak, and shared a prayer to mark the occasion.

The Outdoor Classroom is a longawaited addition to our Forest School.

Thank you to the BPSPA for their tireless fundraising and to our Bursar and Mrs Le Bas for turning a dream into reality.

When I booked a place on Mr Casimir’s ‘Coding for Parents’ session, I actually had no idea what to expect – my children have been discussing coding for years but I didn’t really know what they were talking about! So now was my chance!

We logged-on to a program called Kodu, and with Mr Casimir’s clear instructions I had soon built a ‘terrain’. Instead of the usual green terrain I have seen on Minecraft, mine was pink! I learnt how to place a character onto my terrain and to my amazement I could instruct it to move. The excitement peaked when we found out how we could use coding to make our characters bump into apples to score points! I can see why children enjoy coding and Mr Casimir’s lessons, as I certainly did.

KATIE DIAMOND

LOUISE PAGE

The newsletter of Beechwood Park School, Markyate, Hertfordshire AL3 8AW

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Across the Curriculum Introducing…

Introducing Mr Hollis and Mr Cook - our new heads of TPR and History. Freddie J and Freddie W caught up with them to find out a bit more.

Marvellous Maths Our pupils have been engaging in mathematical challenges with their usual enthusiasm this term. November saw the return of Barvember, a competition which involves daily mathematical problems that can be solved using a bar model. The problems range from those that are fairly simple for younger children all the way to "The Challenge Question", which I have enjoyed challenging staff with as much as our older pupils!

We also enjoyed taking part in the first Maths Week England. For the entire week we had lots of fun with quizzes, Times Table Rock Stars competitions and challenges designed to help everyone engage in the fun side of maths. We even baked some cakes!

Classes from Years 6 to Top Form have been enjoying cracking codes and ciphers in the National Cipher Challenge, which is run by the University of Southampton. Teams from over 700 schools compete in an online race to crack the ciphers and uncover the mystery storyline.

This year's competition is about a saboteur working deep in the heart of NASA!

MARION WRIGHT

Mr Hollis (our new Head of TPR) said that his first impression of Beechwood was an “initial sense of wow”. He mentioned how staff and pupils make a School, and at Beechwood, they have been so welcoming, independent, and helpful. Mr Hollis doesn’t have much spare time for hobbies at the moment as he spends much of his time looking after his baby. But when he can venture out, he enjoys many different sports, including many watersports.

He trains lifeguards during the summer holidays and was interviewed by Sky News for a piece about safety at beaches and swimming pools. If he could time travel, he would travel back to the industrial revolution to be able to appreciate “all of the major changes that have happened in the world in such a short time”

Focus on English This term, we have introduced the Word of the Week to promote literacy and have a bit of extra fun with our collective use of language. Both the Headmaster and Mr. Bullock have squeezed the word of the week into their assemblies, and renaissance man Mr. Griffiths was even caught describing his Colts C football match as ‘tempestuous’ in one of his match reports. So many of the children’s pieces of work are now peppered with these more exotic and rare treats.

Similarly, with the Literacy Focus of the Fortnight, we aim to highlight some of the common errors which are made with spelling,

A Force to be Reckoned With!

In their Science lessons, Year 3 have been investigating push and pull forces and thinking about how these two types of force can make an object start moving, speed up, slow down or even stop. They had great fun creating freeze-frames of everyday scenarios, showing forces in action!

Before Mr Cook (our new Head of History) came to Beechwood, he worked at the British School in Washington D.C. where, in 2007, he met the then President George W Bush who visited the school with The Queen whilst she was in America on a State Visit. He said that he loved being in Washington - his favourite place in the world, apart from home. When he first arrived at Beechwood he quickly realised that it was a very friendly and hardworking School, that the staff are kind and the pupils are very independent. Mr Cook's favourite sport is rugby having played it a lot at school and he really enjoys teaching it. If he could time travel, he would travel back to the First World War as one of his family members fought in the war and he would like to meet them.

iDEA Many congratulations to Top Formers Sophie and Freddie on gaining their Silver iDEA awards. iDEA is the digital and enterprise equivalent of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Bronze is beginner level, Silver intermediate and Gold advanced. The iDEA Bronze Award and iDEA Silver Award are available now, and Gold will be released soon.

PIERS CASIMIR-MROWCZYNSKI

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YEAR 3 TEACHERS

punctuation and grammar. All teachers in the School are supporting this initiative in their lessons and the LFotF has already generated much of language-based chatter around the corridors!

GRAINNE WILKINS

Bawdsey Manor Year 7 enjoyed an energetic and rewarding teambuilding weekend at the beautiful Bawdsey Manor in Suffolk.

Beach walks, formgroup exercises, challenge courses, trapeze, rafting and Jacob’s ladder all made for an exhilarating and memorable weekend.

YEAR 7 TUTORS

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Stars are Born!

Nativity Plays

Year 2 shone as they welcomed the ‘InnSpectors’ in their witty and original Christmas show. Meanwhile, Year 1 confirmed that ‘Everyone Loves a Baby’ in their heart-warming retelling of the Christmas Story. Our very youngest pupils also rose to the challenge.

Reception put on a fantastic traditional Nativity play as they enjoyed the opportunity to perform for their audience and our Woodlanders melted hearts with their highly original and modern take on the Christmas story. Think ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, set in Bethlehem with a sprinkling of Crazy Frogs!

HELEN DALKIN

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Beechwood Park School’s Newsletter

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History Revisited Egyptian Day The long-awaited Egyptian Day finally arrived and the Year 3 corridor was buzzing with Pharaohs, Cleopatras and Mummies!

After being treated to a potted history of the Ancient Egyptians, which included enough wars and murders to excite and entertain everyone, pupils were introduced to Pharaoh Bertie; 'All Hail Bertie Ankh Ra'! and learnt about his life.

Unfortunately for the Pharaoh, he died and had to be mummified – we were surprised to discover which parts of the body the Ancient

Egyptians considered unimportant! Everyone took part in the funeral procession, before a new Pharaoh was named; Lucie, 'All Hail Lucie Ankh Ra'! To celebrate, the loyal subjects were able to take part in a Royal Hunt.

YEAR 3 TEACHERS

Windsor Castle

Provence Trip 2019

The Year 2 teachers were delighted to accompany 63 very excited, knowledgeable, and certainly engaged, children to Windsor Castle. The Union Flag told us that Her Majesty wasn’t at home, but we were still able to act out our own Coronation, Knighting Ceremony and Inspection of the Troops during a fascinating workshop about her life.

YEAR 2 TEACHERS

Battle of Hastings Re-enacted Why is 1066 such a significant date in our island’s story? Well, it was the last time a foreign invading force conquered Britain.

The Spanish and their Armada tried in 1588, Napoleon failed in 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar and Hitler’s Germany lost the Battle of Britain in the skies in 1940. Therefore, 14th October is a huge date historically and Year 5 decided to mark the occasion in the most appropriate way.

Unfortunately, rain delayed the actual 953rd anniversary, and so it was all axes blazing on the following day! Norman waves of attack, William raising his helmet to prove he was alive, feigned retreats, ill-disciplined Saxons breaking ranks, William having his archers fire higher, the fateful arrow in the eye (hard luck, Poppy!) and ruthless William’s (mean Molly) refusal to release the dead king’s body to Harold’s mother. We had it all!

YEAR 5 TEACHERS

During Michaelmas half-term, 29 Senior Department pupils and 6 staff travelled to Provence for the biennial Classics/French trip.

The five days were filled with educational visits and fun learning opportunities.

We travelled to the Roman city of Nîmes, once known as Nemausus, the Roman name. We visited the Maison Carrée, a Roman temple, built approximately 2000 years ago and watched a film on how the great city was built, through years of fighting and the forming of the Gallo-Roman race.

The temple itself was highly impressive, a massive structure with 15 marble stairs leading up to it, for they wanted to be as close to their gods as possible”. Liam 7MC We saw some amazing architecture and engineering. The magnificent Pont Du Gard in particular - really an incredible feat, considering computers weren’t invented, and it was constructed in 5 years, with a workforce of between 800 and 1000 people. The stones are cut so perfectly that it doesn’t need mortar, and is still standing 50 metres high 2000 years after it was built. Freddie Top KLB

The Golden Touch Congratulations to George (Top CLH), whose engaging King Midas Poem was awarded 3rd prize in the Level 1 Creative Writing category of the prestigious annual Minimus Mythology Competition. George is one of seven Beechwood pupils who were entered the competition this year. Beechwood has an excellent historic track record in this inspiring international competition.

MICHELE ANDERSON

Back in Time for Year 4 Year 4 spent a day exploring everyday life as an Anglo-Saxon at the Chiltern Open Air Museum; learning about building methods, brooch making, writing with a feather quill and ink, learning to write in runes on a clay rune stone and taking part in a replica dig. They even had the opportunity to analyse the diet of the Anglo-Saxons by dissecting (fake) ‘poo’!

Two words to explain our trip to the Chiltern Open Air Museum - ‘TOTALLY

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AWESOME!’ My favourite part of today was when we made brooches. Florence We did lots of interesting things. My favourite was playing around with fake poo and we had to identify which time period it was from! We learnt how to make a roof out of wheat and we also learnt how to write different letters and our names in Old English. Isla

Putting on a Show Christmas Cracker Our Middle Department invited their family and friends to join them for their ‘Christmas Cracker’ performances which incorporated a variety of highly inventive and extremely entertaining pieces. The acts, including original sketches such as ‘Name that Yuletide Tune’, positively sparkled with wonderful singing, dancing and general merriment as the children showcased their many talents.

A wonderful collaborative experience.

NICOLA GREENWOOD

Christmas Concert

Love a Lingo Day Beechwood became a veritable Tower of Babel this term with our ‘Love a Lingo Day’. From Woodlands Nursery to Top Form, pupils and staff were encouraged to share their knowledge of world languages and the curriculum took on a truly international flavour.

We also savoured the delights of international cuisine. All around the School, you couldn’t say “Hello” without receiving a “Salaam”, or “Hej”, “Ni Hao” or even a “Jambo” in response!

CAROLYN BREHENY AND FREDDIE W

In the last week of term, parents, grandparents and friends were treated to an exciting assortment of music at the Christmas Concert. The evening included a wonderful variety of pieces from Big Band, Brass Ensemble, Clarinet Choirs, Guitar Groups, Hit Squad, Oboe & Bassoon Ensemble, Percussion Ensembles, Saxophone Ensemble, Strings Ensembles, Ukulele Clubs and Woodwind Band. Pupils had been busy rehearsing all term for what was a delightful festive end to the term.

JULIAN WINN

Inspiring Percussionist We were delighted to welcome renowned percussionist, Gina Hyungi Lee, to Beechwood. During assembly, Gina, BBC Young Musician of the Year semi-finalist 2012, wowed our Middle and Senior Department pupils with her virtuosic marimba playing and received a standing ovation! She then held two inspirational workshops specifically for our percussion pupils who enjoyed trying out new techniques, especially playing with 2 sticks in each hand.

PENNY HARRISON

The Rachel Project Year 7 travelled to Merchant Taylors Prep School to watch a performance of The Rachel Project – a profound and moving play based on the story of Rachel Levy, a survivor from Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. Thank you to Spencer Hinton, Theatre Director at MTS Prep for hosting this event. The project has inspired some wonderful work in our drama and English lessons.

LAURA HEGARTY

Brass & Percussion Concert All 60 Brass and Percussion pupils were involved in a programme which had an African theme, including a piece written by Mr Winn for the staff.

Pupils made their own instruments during their DT lessons with Mr Fox for one of the pieces, and at the concert they used them to perform a mass improvisation, directed by Mr Coleman. Fantastic!

PENNY HARRISON

Diwali Our Reception classes and Woodlanders learnt about Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights! We heard how Diwali is celebrated and learnt a few Indian dance moves as well! We ate Indian savoury snacks and had even more fun with an afternoon full of Diwalifocused activities, including making ‘divas’ (lamps), firework pictures, rockets and colouring rangoli patterns.

SHIRLEY HAYMAN

Celebration of Art It was lovely to see the work of the Middle and Senior Departments coming together in a small exhibition accompanying the Christmas Cracker performance. Year 4 were represented by a textile installation inspired by Van Gogh’s 'Starry Night', whilst Year 5's study of the 1970’s culminated in vibrant group of wall hangings. Meanwhile, Senior Department pupils had worked collectively to produce willow and tissue paper lanterns, which were beautiful and rather festive!

A group of Beechwood pupils from Year 7 and Top Form enjoyed a wonderful day in the Marble Hall and The Watson Art School at Stowe School, where they participated in the Stowe Arts Festival Day. The group joined pupils from other prep schools to learn from a variety of inspiring workshops centred around sculpture, photography, construction and printmaking. It was wonderful to see Beechwood students engaging confidently with other pupils and teachers from Stowe and to see their work exhibited at the end of the day.

This opportunity offered a wonderful insight into senior school art and the promise of what is to come, as our young artists look forward to continuing their creative journeys.

MARIA KEKI

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Beechwood Park School’s Newsletter

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Inclusiveness Rotary Shoeboxes

Excellent News From Excellence Day

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the Dunstable Downs Rotary Club Shoe Box Appeal. Junior Department families donated a staggering 165 filled shoe boxes. The boxes will be transported to less fortunate children in Eastern Europe in time for Christmas.

ZOE CANTLE

Collaborative Christingle

Continuing Our Focus On Keech Steve Albon, Regional Fundraiser for Keech Hospice Care, visited the School to receive a cheque for £20,000, which was presented to him during assembly. In thanking the School, Steve emphasised the reliance that the charity places on fundraising and he highlighted the fact that this donation brings the total sum raised by the BPSPA over the last 20 years, to a staggering £235,000. He explained that Keech does not just provide care at their Hospice in Luton but also in hospitals, in schools, in care situations or in the family home, where their network of community nurses can also provide invaluable support. To put this sum of money into perspective, the total donation from Beechwood Park School has covered the cost of providing six entire years’ support from a Keech community nurse.

JULIA ROUSE

As in previous years, Years 3 & 4 hosted a collaborative Christingle Service with children in Years 3 & 4 at Markyate Village School who came to join in our preparations for the Christmas season.

The children made their Christingles together, celebrated with hymns, readings and prayers, and lit their candles during the service, which was held in The Great Hall. After the service all of the children had lunch together providing a chance to build friendships. It was a pleasure to host Markyate Village School and to make some new friends!

Feed The Vineyard is a church in St Albans which, through its FEED Foodbank, distributes food and essential items to homeless people and those who can’t afford food for their families. We delivered Beechwood’s generous Harvest Assembly donations to FEED this year. Thank you to everyone for contributing to this charity.

FREDDIE (TOP KLB)

Dog Days We have definitely had a ‘dog’ theme in Woodlands this term! We made dog biscuits in our cookery sessions.

Then two guide dogs and their trainers came to the Nursery to talk to the children all about the important ways Guide Dogs help the blind. The children learnt many valuable things and the dogs very much enjoyed their dog biscuits!

Anti-Bullying Week

Woodlanders were lucky enough to have a visit from Carol of Star Signers, who gave them a fascinating introduction to British Sign Language. Carol taught the children lots of different signs; colours, animal names and how to say Hello and Goodbye.

SHIRLEY HAYMAN

We enjoyed seeing odd socks a-plenty in the corridors and classrooms during the whole of National Anti-Bullying week! This sign of support encouraged discussions of inclusiveness, kindness, tolerance and respect during assemblies and PSHE sessions. Just like socks, we are all different too. How boring it would be if we were all the same!

KERRY CLARKE

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BRIDGET MANTON

UNA OATHAM

SHIRLEY HAYMAN

Woodlands Sign Language

With thanks to all of our Beechwood families, we are delighted to announce that we raised a spectacular £4,152.41 for our School charity, Build Africa during our whole School Excellence Day event last term, when every pupil from Woodlands Nursery to Top Form, and members of staff gathered together to celebrate the 'Excellent' outcome of this year’s ISI Inspection.

In addition, we are very pleased that Beechwood has been able to donate £522 to Great Ormond Street Hospital, a charity which Bea (7BM) spoke passionately about during assembly last term.

Woodlands Harvest In their special Harvest Assembly, the Woodlanders gathered to say grace and share the harvest songs that have they have learned with Mrs Goddard in their music lessons.

The children were proud to be able to bring gifts of children’s toiletries for our harvest collection. We have taken the gifts to the neo-natal ward at Luton and Dunstable Hospital where they were very gratefully received. Thank you for your generosity, Woodlands families!

SHIRLEY HAYMAN

Grandparents’ Day We once again welcomed our Woodlanders’ grandparents to the Nursery. They joined in with our P/E, Music and small group learning and we received some super feedback after the event. ‘Such an amazing opportunity for grandparents to get an insight into the magical world of Woodlands!’

SHIRLEY HAYMAN

Sport Jumping to New Heights

County Table Tennis Beechwood once again hosted the U13 & U16 Hertfordshire School Games County Table Tennis Championships this term. With 21 teams representing 16 schools from across Hertfordshire competing in the U13 event and 18 teams representing 15 schools in the U16 event, it was a high-octane day! There was some brilliant table tennis on display and it was a fantastic experience for our U13 team who competed against some very accomplished players. Our boys finished 4th in their group; a position which they should be very proud of.

ADRIENNE HORN

Olympic Park Hockey Some lucky U11s had the chance to play hockey at the Olympic Park - Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre, courtesy of Haileybury School.

The girls received an hour of coaching from Haileybury 1st team players and staff, then they went on to play matches before cheering on Haileybury to a 3-1 win against Epsom, made even more special, as Old Beechwoodian, Devon Pearce was vice-captain.

ALEXIS HAMILTON

Well done to our Equestrian Teams, who recently took part at the NSEA Grassroots Regional Championships. For the Junior Equestrian team, this was their biggest competition yet and they were up against many older riders.

Penny, Rory, Livi and Lola all rode fantastically and were delighted to be placed 3rd in the 60cm and 7th in the 70cm!

Josie qualified as an individual at the NSEA National Championships Eventers’ - a huge event for U19 riders from schools from across the UK. She had a fantastic first round, narrowly missing being placed.

CLARE LECKIE-HARBORD

National Ski Events Our U14 boys’ team recently competed in the ESSKIA National Finals in Norwich.

Arthuro, Jack D, George B and Ben W-S skied well against strong opposition. The following day, and still in Norfolk (!), they competed in the English Schools’ National Open event. A highlight of the day was to spend some time with Chemmy Alcott, former GB skier and Olympian!

Congratulations to Jack D and Arthuro S, who, along with George B (Year 7), have been selected for the Primary ESSKIA Ski Squad 2020. They have been invited to train out in Europe with the best skiers in England.

ALEXIS HAMILTON

Regional Plate Champs Our U13 7-a-side football team travelled to Chigwell for the National Qualifiers, hoping to kick start their season. It was a tale of what could have been, with Beechwood Park comfortably beating two of the final four finalists in the group stages. This was not enough to qualify for the cup competition and the boys went into the plate competition against local rivals Westbrook Hay. The boys’ performances really stepped up a notch and they scored to win the IAPS Plate final. Beechwood Park - IAPS Football U13s 7 a side Regional Plate Champions!

KYLIE-PAUL LE BAS

Freestyling to Gold Congratulations to our talented Year 5 swimmers who took part in the East and South East ESSA Primary Individual Championships. Oliver B won a silver medal in the 50m backstroke and did well in the 100m individual medley; Gigi also won gold in the 50m freestyle and silvers for the 50m breaststroke and 100m individual medley!

What an amazing achievement all round.

CLARE LECKIE-HARBORD

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Saracens Takeover Beechwood Park pupils had a wonderful opportunity to provide the Guard of Honour at Allianz Park to welcome Saracens onto the pitch ready for their victorious match against Ospreys.

It was an extra special day for Alex P, as he also met Eddie Jones, the current England coach.

And Jack and Arthur had the opportunity to celebrate with the Saracens players after the game!

Mr Cook and I were thrilled to meet our hero, Ed Jackson. Ed is a

Golfing Successes Congratulations to George and Eddie who have had tremendous golfing success recently. George was runner up in the Stowe Golf Putter tournament, and Eddie finished a very respectable 13th playing against the top junior golfers from across Europe in the Scottish U14 Championships in the summer holidays Both boys went on to achieve Beechwood’s best ever team finish in this year’s ISGA Radley Putter with a superb 3rd placing and finished a great golf season as runners up in this year’s ISGA Junior Schools Cup competition, achieving Beechwood’s best ever placing in this tournament.

Most recently, Eddie won the British Schools' Southern Open. He had a fantastic round, shooting 7 over par to bring home the trophy for 1st place in the U14 age category.

As a result, Eddie now sits in 1st place overall in the 2019/20 ISGA U15 order of merit.

Congratulations to Jack K-H (6IS) for winning gold in the Hertfordshire Team ‘Sixes’ golf competition. His team of 6 players came top in the league against the other 5 golf clubs in the group. Well done, Jack!

CHRIS KNELLER

former professional rugby player who in April 2017 broke his neck diving into a swimming pool. His story of recovery, having been told he would never walk again, and then his work helping others who have suffered serious injuries, is truly inspirational.

Beechwood Park School’s Newsletter

IAIN GRIFFITHS

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BPSPA and Alumni BPSPA News A warm welcome to the Michaelmas update from the BPSPA and in particular a big ‘hello’ to the parents who have joined the school this term.

I enjoy those first few days of the Michaelmas Term, greeting old friends and welcoming new families into the community. There has been some lovely feedback from many new parents about how they are quickly made to feel at home and how parents across the school are always happy to help answer those initial queries.

Thank you to the Parent Reps who work hard all year, but make a particular difference at the start of the new school year.

This term we have certainly seen some amazing BPSPA projects come to fruition. We witnessed the school gather at the opening of the marvellous Outdoor Classroom. This is a significant project, supported with BPSPA fundraising, which will allow for countless opportunities for varied learning and which will be a lasting testament to the BPSPA for years to come.

This term we also presented Keech Hospice with a cheque for £20,000, a donation that we were able to make following the hugely successful Summer Ball. This money will fund one community nurse entirely for a 6-month period and will make a difference to many families at a time when they need it most.

The events that have taken place this term have also been magnificent.

Quiz Night (a firm favourite) was a sell-out well in advance of the event, and the team worked hard to re plan and accommodate more teams. Sadly, we still had to turn people away! The Performance Hall was filled with laughter for this lovely evening amongst friends. Thank you to Nick, who outdid himself as compere for the event and also to the team who worked behind the scenes with painstaking efficiency and did an outstanding job.

BPSPA, Alumni and House News

Thanks to Sarah Bremner who worked so hard to bring us another Bonfire Night to remember. This is a much loved event, for the children in particular.

And so to the Christmas Fayre.

Once again, the Christmas Fayre team located their fairy dust and magically transformed the school with a buzz of festive excitement. This year, the early frost helped us transform the school into a living Christmas Card, which certainly added to the festive feeling. The proceeds from the Young Entrepreneur Stalls (a fabulous and highly impressive £1,810) will go towards fulfilling some of the Luton and Dunstable Hospital Christmas Wish List and we shall add all other revenue into the BPSPA account for future allocation.

Alumni News Stephen Spender Prize 2019

In November I attended a reception at the University of Notre Dame in London to celebrate winning second prize in the international Stephen Spender Trust poetry translation competition.

It was an amazing occasion. At the reception, I read my translation of Baudelaire’s Les Chats to the attendees and listened to the colourful and emotive poems of the other winners. The breadth of language and culture was a revelation and the global perspective of the competition was inspirational. During the reception, Mme Bliss and I met Mr Maynard who was also a winner in the adult category and I discovered that he had been Director of Studies at Beechwood. It was fantastic to be in such distinguished company and we enjoyed a truly memorable evening. I am now studying French, Spanish, German, Latin and Ancient Greek at St Albans School and feel inspired by the competition to take my language studies further.

JONATHAN WEBB

No Uphill Struggle for Anna Congratulations to Old Beechwoodian Anna Henderson (2003-2010), who has enjoyed a meteoric rise on two wheels, having gone from champion skier to British cycling starlet in the space of a couple of years.

Anna, a former GB junior slalom champion skier made the decision to commit to pro cycling in 2016. In a little over three years, she has achieved World Championships selection, having won a TTT Mixed Relay bronze in Harrogate and finishing 22nd at the World Championship road race. Inspirational!

LOUISE PAGE

The Ridleys

Our final pre-Christmas event this term was the Wreath Making Workshop with Sarah Stuart and, as ever, festive fun and laughter resounded from the Drawing Room as we made professional quality arrangements. Thank you to Pippa for taking on the challenge of diary management and managing to squeeze in this much loved event.

Thank you for your support this year, enjoy the festive break and we look forward to seeing you in January 2020 and who knows, maybe there will even be a few new ideas and events from the BPSPA! SARAH WOODRUFF BPSPA CHAIR

At the end of this term, we wave a fond au revoir to Mark and Rachel Ridley. With a combined total of 58 years (and 2 terms!) service at Beechwood, the Ridleys are somewhat of a Beechwood institution and have been instrumental in so many Beechwood families’ lives over the years; in maths, geography, boarding, Sebright House, the Isle of Wight trip, cricket – the list goes on. We look forward to welcoming them back at Speech Day in the summer term, but in the meantime, I know that you will join me in wishing them all the best for their retirement.

Please check the School’s website for more information: www.beechwoodpark.com

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JAIME PACKER