HM Letter to Parents Dec 2015

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

6

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

1| Page

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.

11

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.

12

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