HEADMASTER’S LETTER
T0 PARENTS
CHIGWELL SCHOOL
DECEMBER 2015
SEASONS GREETINGS Dear Parents Once again we find ourselves at the end of another busy term in which pupils have achieved a great deal. I am delighted at how settled new pupils appear to be in the School but also at how much all pupils have contributed both collectively and individually. What follows is a mixture of highlights from the last few weeks.
Contents
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
Girls’ Hockey Girls’ Hockey Boys’ Football Boys’ Football
Page 5
Good Schools Guide Review Mock Medical Interviews
Page 6
Samuel Jones
Page 7
Music Shop
Page 8 Page 9
Music Drama
Page 10
Drama Sixth Form Centre
Page 11
English Department Bad Weather
Page 12
Landays University Offers
Page 13
Translation Workshop
Page 14
EPQ & HPQ Staff News
Page 15
Old Chigwellian News Wonderful Weaving
Page 16
Performance of Independent School Pupils – Stories In The Media
Page 17 Page 18 Page 19
A message from Purnima Sen (Chair of FoC) Reminder Chapel
Girls’ Hockey It has been another very successful term
astonishing. Many of the current squad
for girls’ sport with hockey leading the
were 2nd XI players last year, and they
way this term. The 1st XI have managed
have fought their way into the 1st and
the incredible feat of playing all of their
rightfully kept their places too. One of
regular weekly fixtures unbeaten this
the most pleasing aspects is the variety of
year. A first for a 1st XI squad here at
names on the weekly score sheets. The
Chigwell School.
The season finished
attacking flair and depth to the squad
with a flourish of results; a 2-2 draw
have been very pleasing and have made
against a very strong Bancroft’s side,
their style of hockey exciting to watch every week. The senior girls continued this good run of form into the indoor season where the Chigwell ladies were crowned
Essex
U18
Champions.
Following this, they represented the county at the regional finals, where they finished a credible 4th in the South East of England. Outside of school hockey, Alice Melvin has reached the dizzy heights of coming back from 1-0 down to beat
U18
Forest 3-1 and ending the season with a 3-
performance centre for talented hockey
1 win over Brentwood. The development
looking to progress through to the
and progression of this squad since their
England set up.
summer tour to South Africa has been
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NAGS,
which
is
a
national
Girls’ Hockey The 2nd XI ladies have had a pleasing late run
selected for U15 JRPC tier 1 and following
of form towards the end of the season
this Charlotte was selected for JRPC tier
beating Mill Hill, Bancroft’s and drawing
2/HIPAC.
against Forest. With an enthusiastic and
hugely as the season has progressed.
talented U15 year group moving through to
With a squad of over 20 girls training
senior hockey next year, the 1st and 2nd XI
every week, selection was rotated to give
squads only look to get stronger in the future.
everyone a chance to play in the ‘A’s. In addition to these teams, Chigwell has
In the middle school, the U15s have won
fielded U15B and U14B squads for
all their matches this season, racking up
fixtures this year. This is feat we are very
an incredible 27 goals and only conceding
proud of, providing competitive fixtures
4. They are currently in the quarter finals
for anyone that wants to be involved with
of the Independent Schools Hockey Cup,
team sports.
and play this in the New Year. This is an incredibly talented squad with Stevie Southall, Venetia Bailey and Chloe Stack being selected U16 JRPC and the latter two progressing to tier 1.
The U14s have developed
Charlotte
James-Pajwani and Zoe Wright were
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Boys’ Football Since half term, the senior elevens have
Tommy Redhead is still involved with the
had mixed fortunes. Injuries have
national U15A squad and Jake David is
certainly impacted on team selection with
currently playing at the next level down
the 1st XI, which in turn has meant that
with the B squad. Eight of this squad will
the 2nd, 3rd and 4th XI’s have been
join up again with five U16s to play in the
weakened. More recently, the 1st XI have
ISFA small schools cup against Harrodian in the New Year. This will be a last eight encounter. The U14s have progressed nicely since half term. They have recorded some wins, but more importantly they are playing with more cohesion as a team and they are certainly working harder. This year’s group has an exceptionally large squad of thirty-six pupils. This is very impressive bearing in mind there are only forty four boys in the year group.
managed to record impressive victories against Brentwood and Forest. The 2nd XI
The U13s and U12s went on a very
also managed to record a season ending in
successful Barcelona trip over the half
a win against Forest. Alec Osborn (U16) narrowly missed out on selection for the national ISFA side, following the final South v North trial game. The U15s have had another successful season winning all regular season matches and just missing out on a national ISFA semi-final after losing to Brentwood 3-1. The last sixteen away match against Dulwich College was one of the season’s highlights with a 3-0 win.
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Boys’ Football tour and six matches against local Barcelona clubs. Back at school, Elliott Betts has been selected to represent Herts and Essex in the regional festival to be held at Shrewsbury School over the Easter holidays. The U11s have had a wonderful season. Having been crowned the West Essex champions they then went on to play in the Essex cup alongside fifteen other district winners. Chigwell managed to qualify as one of the two tournament winners which means that they now go on to represent the county in the London counties cup to be played in March. Of course, they have also qualified for the
term. The boys were fortunate to watch
national IAPS 7-a-side finals to be held
Barcelona at the Nou Camp, which also
next May at the national football centre
included a stadium tour. The boys also
at St. George’s Park.
had two coaching sessions from the U16 Espanyol coaches, an Espanyol stadium \
Two of our younger pupils are currently playing at academies – Oliver Irow and Louie Gibbons.
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Good Schools Guide Review The Good Schools Guide contains reviews on over 1,000 schools and last month we were visited so that the review of Chigwell could be updated. You can read our new entries here: Senior School Here Junior School Here
Mock Medical Interviews A group of Upper Fifth Chigwell and Beal students came together recently for an evening of mock interviews, as practice for their selection to study medicine at university. The interviewers were either
Old Chigwellians or parents who work in medicine and they kindly gave up their evening to put students from the two
become a doctor commented: "It was an
schools through their paces.
Each
extremely helpful evening, not only due
student had four interviews, each
to the educational experience, but also
followed by helpful feedback which they
the relationships formed between the
discussed with each other. Middle Sixth
Chigwell
student Kayden Chahal who hopes to
counterparts."
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medics
and
their
Beal
Samuel Jones individual pairs battling it out, and the team event where countries competed. Samuel played in the Under 18s for both events. He reached the quarter finals in the open losing to a Spanish pair but this does mean that he can say he is one of the top 8 pairs in the World. In the team event, GB lost to Spain (who went on to win) in the semi-finals.
They
subsequently beat Paraguay to come 3rd and collect a bronze medal. This was a superb achievement and huge congratulations go to Samuel.
Samuel Jones represented Great Britain in
Padel
at
the
U18
World
Championship in Mexico City recently. This was an outstanding accomplishment especially as he was selected a year young.
Padel is typically played in
doubles on an enclosed court a third the size of a tennis court. It is scored in the same way as tennis and the balls used are similar but with a little less pressure; the main differences are that the court has walls and the balls can be played off them in a similar way as in the game of squash, and that solid, stringless racquets are used.
At the World
Championship there were two separate competitions. The open, which was
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Music Part of the busy musical programme was the Senior School concert. evening
began
with
the
The Senior
Orchestra’s wonderful performance of Finlandia
conducted
by
Bradley
Saxophone Quartet and the Fusion Group. Big Band closed the first half with five pieces including Eye of the
Winand. The beautiful voice of Stacey Cockram preceded the excellent
Tiger
and
a
festive
Frosty
the
Snowman. After the interval the Chapel Choir once again uplifted New Hall to a magnificent height with Ave Verum Corpus by Mawby, followed by a Christmas flavour with Bethlehem
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Music Down by Warlock. There followed more
feature of our pupils, who demonstrate
Christmas numbers by the lovely Flute
the perseverance and independence to
Group directed by Susan Fitzgerald,
succeed.
interspersed by Chigwell All Stars, piano,
There was also the outstanding Advent
violin and clarinet solos. Yet another
Procession in St Mary’s Church, the
evening of musical talent closed with the
traditional service conducted partially
magnificent Symphonic Wind Band.
by candle light, which marks the start of the season of advent.
We were
delighted to see many parents and friends at the Christmas service this week as we came together to celebrate the festive season. Next week, the choir will be performing at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey, for their annual charitable concert, Christmas The Fourth Form and Remove Prom
Inspire.
Concerts have again proved the desire
include David Walliams, John Altman,
and depth of talent for music in the
James Brokenshire MP, Eleanor Laing
School. The sheer diversity of skills and
MP, Ruthie Henshall and Oliver Jochim
talents on show has been an admirable
from the cast of Billy Elliott.
School Shop Over the Christmas break, the shop will be open at the following times: 17th to 22nd December 2015: 10am – 3pm 23rd December to 1st January 2016: CLOSED 4th January onwards: 12 noon – 5pm
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Special guests taking part
Drama monologues and duologues in new, slick format supported by light, sound and front projected scenery. Emily Webster was awarded the prize for Highest Lamda Mark 2015. Towards the end of November, the Lower Fifth GCSE groups performed their first devised pieces exploring themes of mental illness and adoption. These were four pieces devised and created by the pupils themselves who offered acting, light, sound, costume and make up. Well done to all who
Since half term, the drama department has
hosted
E15’s
Second
helped to produce a range of serious
Year
and comic shows that entertained us
Expressionism performance. This was a
over two nights.
truly experimental, modern drama involving dance, physical theatre, rap and live music. All students taking GCSE and A level drama attended and thoroughly enjoyed the shows. Next, the Middle Sixth performed their two devised pieces based around the themes of Civil Rights and Guilt and Repentance. These were two highly inventive shows that mixed styles as diverse as Berkoff, Artaud, Brecht and Le Coq to make a striking double bill of modern experimental theatre. The Lamda Showcase dazzled us all with some fantastically polished
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Drama Finally, the Senior School Play, “Electra” was performed last week to full houses who enjoyed a very modern adaptation of Sophocles’ tragedy with dance, song, stage fighting and some highly intricate use of light and sound. A remarkable performance was given by Odette Clark in the title role, summoning up some convincing emotion and demonstrating a truly impressive feat of memory. Well done to all.
Sixth Form Centre If you have walked across Top Field recently, you will have seen that work on the Sixth Form Centre has been progressing well and we should soon see the building taking shape above ground. We aim to be using the new centre in September 2016.
10
English Department This has been another busy but exciting
used to the very nature as a ‘Problem
term for the English department. Ms
Play’.
Charlotte Nairac organised a cross
educational
curricular day for Fourth Form students
students, which has already enhanced
which complemented their unit of work
their writing.
on detective fiction. Mr Kevin Farrant delivered workshops to the students about crime in sport, Mr Ian Goddard presented a set of seminars looking at crime in history which asked the students to explore how crime can be specific to a socio-historical context and visiting author Neil Arksey spoke to the students
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about how he writes about super sleuths. At the other end of the School, the department arranged for the Globe’s Education team to visit the School and conduct three workshops with our students. These sessions illuminated the students’ understanding of a variety of issues from how iambic pentameter is
Bad Weather As in previous years, in the event of heavy snow or ice please consult the school website www.chigwell-school.org for confirmation of arrangements for the school day. We would always be very reluctant to close the School, but are mindful of the safety of pupils and staff.
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This was an outstanding opportunity
for
the
Landays In English this term, the Removes have
originally sung aloud and not written
been reading and writing about the
down but, today, landays are composed
literature of conflict. They have read
as text messages and on social media.
poetry from the First and Second World
Distributing the landay online also allows
Wars and journalism concerning conflict
the composer to remain anonymous and
in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Vietnam,
safe from political or violent retribution.
Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Remove Swallow’s have set themselves
Students have also written critically and
the challenge of composing landays with
creatively on art from areas around the
a Christmas theme. Below, are some of
globe in which conflict has taken place or
their offerings:
is ongoing. Working in small groups, the
Waking up. Tinsel around the house.
Removes have created their own
Presents under the tree. The feeling of
magazines which include personal
excitement.
responses, journalistic writing, art
Holly Lawrence
critiques, speeches and creative writing – all on the topic of conflict.
Christmas is a time for celebration.
Towards the end of the term, Dr Gillian
Christmas is a time for love and
Groszewski’s class explored the landay, a
jubilation.
poetic form originating in Afghanistan
Madeleine McCormack
which is enjoying a revival amidst the ongoing conflict there. The landay is a
Baby Jesus crying in his crib.
22-syllable,
Crying for the lives that are lost, crying
2
line
poem
which
traditionally explored the themes of war,
for the dead.
love, separation or grief. The landay was
Isabelle Dickinson
University Offers Chigwell students have been receiving some really good offers of university places and I hope these will continue to come through.
Please encourage your sons and
daughters to keep tutors and Mr Andrew Long informed of offers, even if the news comes during the Christmas period.
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Translation Workshop Twenty students of languages, along
After the plenary, the group divided up,
with a sprinkling of guests from Forest
studying in turn passages from ‘Le petit
and Brentwood, attended a translation
prince’ by St Exupéry and a novel by the
workshop led by Julian Evans and Ros
contemporary writer Michel Déon.
Schwartz, two extremely experienced
Specific problems were aired and
professional
have
discussed in detail within the sub groups
produced English versions of more than
and with the two leaders. In a final
eighty books between them.
plenary, there was a Q&A session and
The meeting started with a plenary in which
the opportunity for students to ask their
translators
who
own questions about the afternoon’s
both the visiting experts spoke about what makes translation so difficult but at the same
work and about careers in translation.
time so fascinating. We were told how the
Perhaps most interestingly of all, by the
curiosity of Cinderella’s ‘glass’ slipper came
end of the afternoon one thing had
about as the result of a translator’s confusion
become abundantly clear to all the
over the homophones vair and verre in
participants: whatever their skills in
French. We also heard that the Italians see
foreign languages, a thorough mastery
the inside of an egg as red whereas the
of their own was absolutely essential for
French see it as yellow. (Fortunately, we
any translation to be truly successful
English have the word ‘yolk!’)
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EPQ & HPQ Chigwell students have once again been
obesity should be funded by the NHS,
delivering
EPQ
while Jessica Lester examined the Saxon
The Higher Project
poem known as ‘The Wife’s Lament’ and
their
presentations.
HPQ
and
Qualification (equivalent to half a GCSE)
its portrayal of women.
and Extended Project Qualification
standard was extremely impressive, and
(equivalent to half an A Level) require
we look forward to seeing the topics that
students to design, research and produce
the next cohorts choose to pursue for
a project on a topic of their choosing –
their HPQ and EPQ projects.
The overall
and at the end of it, they must deliver a talk about how it all went. This year’s students got to grips with some challenging questions and demonstrated deep knowledge and understanding as a result of their research. For example, amongst the many excellent projects, Isma’eel Zia tackled the controversial topic of whether the treatment of
Staff News Two members of staff will be getting married over the Christmas break. We send our very best wishes to Miss Miranda Weeks who will be marrying James; from January, she will be known as Mrs Baldwin. We also send best wishes to Miss Michaela Smith who will be marrying Jonathan; she will be known as Mrs Chan.
In the New Year we will be welcoming a number of new members of staff. • Mr Andrew Bruce will take over from Mr Creag Lawrence as Head of Football – Creag recently left to take up a position with the FA. • Miss Celeste Cassell joins us as a teacher of chemistry taking over from Dr Tracey Martin who is retiring. • Miss Jessica Froome will be a Teaching Assistant in the Senior School and she takes over from Miss Laura Wallis who is going to be working and living in Canada.
We welcome Mr Ken Mulligan who joins us as Health & Safety and Compliance Officer, taking over from Mr Ian Clark who is retiring after working with us for the last twelve years.
We hope all new colleagues will be very happy with us.
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Old Chigwellian News Of all the schools I have known, Old Chigwellians are amongst the most keen to remain in touch with the School and each other. We have been working hard to strengthen the O.C. network through the development office because we are aware of the wealth of contacts that could be used to guide current and past pupils beyond school. By 6th December I had eaten two Christmas lunches, both in the company of O.C.s who had kindly invited me to join them at their gatherings and we have an O.C. recent leavers’ party next week. It is important to us that Chigwell pupils enjoy their time at school and remain in contact with each other when they leave – sometimes maintaining friendships for life. You may be interested to read the latest edition of the O.C. Mitre which is sent to O.Cs annually and gives a taste of the O.C. community of which current Chigwellians will become a part when they leave. OC Mitre
Wonderful Weaving Next term, Mrs Claire Tilbrook will be running
four
workshops
called
Wonderful Weaving. If anyone is able to donate balls of wool, ribbons threads, etc. and old CDs, it would be very much appreciated.
15
Performance of Independent School Pupils – Stories In The Media You may have read articles in the press this term that suggest that independently educated pupils perform less well at school then at ‘the best state schools’ (Spectator and Daily Telegraph) and under-achieve at university (HEFCE and Cambridge International Examinations). These reports have been discredited by the Independent Schools Council and HMC. In summary: •
Prior attainment is the biggest predictor of degree success among UK undergraduates
•
Independent school pupils have higher prior attainment at A level and so, on average, get better degrees – 82% 1sts and 2:1s, compared to 73% for state school students
•
Last month the HE funding council by mistake published these two figures back-to-front, having added up a statistical table incorrectly
•
This led to many damaging newspaper headlines such as ‘Top Degree? You probably went to a state school’.
•
The British Cohort Study report from the Institute of Education led by Professor Francis Green studied 11,000 people born in 1970. This research shows that attending a private school is powerfully predictive of gaining a university degree, and especially a degree from an elite institution, while grammar schooling does not appear to confer any advantage. Independent school pupils now aged 42 had the highest salaries because they had performed well academically – not because of the old boy network or self-belief. Independently-educated men earned a
third more than state-educated colleagues with the same social background and cognitive ability by the age of 42, women a fifth more. “The source of private schools’ advantage remains primarily their ability to deliver better academic performance.” The study concludes: “Compared to their peers at comprehensives with similar backgrounds and cognitive attainment at ages five and ten, privately educated cohort members had 1.7 times the odds of gaining an ordinary degree, and over three times the odds of an elite degree. In contrast, there was no statistically significant advantage of attending a grammar school.” •
This is supported by a recent Social Market Foundation report which showed that independent schools consistently add more value at GCSE and especially A-level than maintained schools – something which is also supported by the recent ISC exam results research. And because they achieve good A level results the pupils are more likely to go to good universities.
•
Therefore, in contrast to the headlines, independent school pupils get better exam results than pupils of the same ability, go to better universities, get better degrees and do better once in employment.
What does this mean for Chigwell pupils? Firstly, I hope that all will be ambitious for the future but equally, they need to work hard and take full advantage of the opportunities they have here in order to maximise chances of success. Nothing should be taken for granted!
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Friends of Chigwell – A message from Purnima Sen (Chair of FoC) I cannot believe that it is end of term
children do here and I am so thankful
already and as the days get shorter and
that as part of the FOC I feel very much
nights colder, as I leave for work in the
included in this wonderful community.
dark and arrive back in the dark, I can feel
As I write this note, it gives me time to
that festive spirit and the fact that
reflect on what it means to lead the PTA
Christmas is in the air already.
of such a large and prestigious school. I
In terms of donation, this term the FoC
am humbled in the first instance with the
pledged a sum of £10,000 towards the
confidence placed in my team and myself
school canoes which will benefit all the
by the Heads of School and then there is
years of the School in its new outdoor
a sense of pride for what, we as a team,
curriculum and we also managed a small
have achieved.
sum for the flooring of the astronomy
Christmas is a time for families, for
dome. In terms of fund raising, we have
reflection, for thankfulness and I feel so
nearly got through what is the busiest
very grateful that my children go to this
term in the PTA calendar. We started
wonderful school and their futures are
with a wonderful fireworks night in
being influenced by such wonderful
November, where we made £6,000 in
teachers, such great minds and such
profit and then the buzzing School
loving individuals. I know I will, and I
Christmas Fayre last week where we
hope you all will too, get a chance to use
made £1,800. Our work here is not done
this time to be together with family and
yet though and before the term ends we
friends and reflect on how hard we
will be running the school discos for the
parents work throughout the year. I urge
Pre Prep and the KS2 sections. Last
you
weekend my co-chair Rohini Paul and I
to
feel
a
sense
of
shared
achievement that in doing so we have
wrapped presents for all the staff in
given our children the best start in life by
Chigwell School who support the FoC; I
sending them to such a wonderful
am overwhelmed by the help, support
institution that is Chigwell School.
and encouragement I receive from
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and
everyone at Chigwelll. The feeling of
a successful 2016 ahead.
community echoes in everything our
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Reminder Please can pupils be aware that when they return to school on Thursday 7th January, we will be starting on a week B.
Thank you for all your support once again this term. I hope all families manage to have some time off together over the festive season, although I know that some students, particularly those with public exams in the summer, will want to use part of the holiday to carry out some revision. I look forward to seeing you again at the start of 2016.
With best wishes
Yours sincerely Michael Punt
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Chapel together in gratitude; whether you are religious or not. It is a simple story of a baby who is born into poverty and homelessness, whose parents are simple people living in a land controlled by a cruel dictator. And yet this baby grows up to give us some of the finest teaching to ever come from a human being. There is a wonderful atmosphere at Chigwell
Teaching which simply calls on humanity to
School during “Charities Week”. The place is a
live in harmony, to care for the poor, to live in
hive of activity with cake sales, sponging (such
peace and harmony, to work for justice.
bravery sitting on a chair outside the Chapel
Teaching that confronts evil not with
waiting for the next cold wet sponge to be
retaliation but with selfless love.
thrown at you), waxing of male volunteer legs
Maybe the money raised during charities week
(ouch!), and, the buzz of a fayre on Friday as
will enable another family, another child, to
the Junior School lay out their stalls of biscuits,
grow up knowing love and peace and
games, raffles and challenges. I always feel
harmony; grow up to share words that bring
that this is Chigwell at its best, everyone doing
healing instead of hate, hope instead of
their bit to make the week a success and to
despair. Then the story of Christmas becomes
raise as much money as possible for the
our story of gratitude and the world is a better
charities that we are supporting. These
place for the birth of a baby some two
charities represent the homeless, the sick,
thousand years ago!
those with disabilities and those in poverty. It is a reminder of how fortunate we are; and, it is
May I wish God’s peace and blessing upon you
a reminder of what a difference we can make
and your loved ones this Christmastide.
through working together in order to do something for others.
Father Simon
Our final Chapel theme has been “gratitude”. It is one of those concepts that we can easily lose sight of. It is so easy to look at what we don’t have rather than be thankful for what we do have. As we approach Christmas it is good to be reminded of a story which brings us all
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Term Dates 2016 Lent Term First day: Thursday January 7th Half term: Saturday Feb 13th to Sunday Feb 21st Term ends: Wednesday March 23rd 2016 Trinity Term First day: Monday April 18th Half term: Saturday May 28th to Monday June 6th Term ends: Wednesday July 13th