Headmaster's Letter - March 2022

Headmaster’s Letter to Parents

March 2022

Dear Parents I hope all pupils, and indeed their parents, can look back at the last half term and feel proud of their achievements and progress in a whole variety of areas. For those with exams next term, the holidays will provide an opportunity to carry out much needed revision but I also hope that this will be balanced with some time to rest and re-charge. I wish you all a very happy Easter.

Best wishes Michael Punt

Mr Michael Punt M.A. M.Sc. P.G.C.E. Headmaster mpunt@chigwell-school.org

Contents Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15

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Ukraine Ukraine Chigwell Pupils Donate 2,000 Books to Charity Boys’ Hockey Boys’ Hockey Netball Netball Netball Cross Country Cross Country Drama Sixth Form Induction Equality Ambassadors Equality Ambassadors ARTiculation Kindness Week Project Qualifications Swimming Epping Forest Youth Council Breaking Ground Duke of Edinburgh Award UCAS Presentation Staff News Chemistry Olympiad 2022 Oxbridge Day Friends of Chigwell Photo Competition Shrove Tuesday Supper Music Music Sign Language Week Sixth Form Induction Brain Tumour Charity

Ukraine across the globe. We can all watch the horrific images of the war in Ukraine on the news but when pupils are worried that their homes will be destroyed, or their parents or relatives will be seriously hurt or worse, or their father might be killed fighting to defend his city, then the war feels much closer.

“I wish I never had to say these words but at five o'clock in the morning on the 24 of February, Russia launched a full-scale war with Ukraine, with Putin calling it a "military operation." It is not a military operation; it is a real war and now I will tell you why.” ….these were the words spoken by Liza, one of our three Ukrainian students, when she led assemblies for pupils in Year 7 and above. She went on to say:

A natural reaction is to ask, what can we do to help? Through those assemblies we hope that pupils now have a greater understanding about what is happening and how Ukrainians and those with family members in the country are feeling.

The School also prayed for Ukraine and our Chapel is open to allow those who wish to light a candle to remember those who are suffering. In a more public gesture of support pupils, and staff, were invited to embellish their school uniform with yellow and blue in return for a donation to the Red Cross Appeal for Ukraine. A collection of gifts to help refugees will follow and, to end with the final words of Liza’s talk: “We, Ukrainians, are grateful to everyone who has been showing their support, who has been offering any help. It has been a very hard time for us, but I

"At five o'clock in the morning on the 24 of February, my parents were sleeping. They would have gone to work that day; my younger brother would have gone to school and at the end of the day they would have all had dinner together. But the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, had other plans. He decided to send his troops to invade Ukraine. So, that morning my parents woke up, not because of the sound of an alarm clock, but from a siren that sounded throughout whole of Kyiv.

The war had started, and no one knew what to do."

Chigwell School is a diverse community with the families of pupils, day and boarding, linked to countries

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together we are a huge power. Слава Україні!”

know we will get through it. I will go back to Ukraine, I will sleep in my own bed and I will meet my friends in the cafes, because we are strong and

You can watch a video of Liza’s powerful talk here

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Chigwell Pupils Donate 2,000 Books to Charity When celebrating World Book Day earlier this month, pupils donated over 2,000 children’s books in support of the London Children’s Book Project. The charity seeks to tackle book poverty in London by gifting books to families with few, if any, books at home. A sincere thank you goes to everyone who donated books to this worthy cause and it

was lovely to see personal notes inside some of the books conveying enthusiasm for the story. Books by Roald Dahl and David Walliams filled a few boxes on their own! The charity was exceedingly grateful for Chigwell’s donation and we hope that we might be able to run similar book drives in future years.

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Boys’ Hockey It has been an incredible term for boys’ hockey in what has arguably been the most successful season since the sport was introduced for boys. Following the pandemic and very few opportunities for pupils to participate in team sport, the pupils have bounced back more committed Junior and Senior Schools, qualified from the county competitions to represent the School at the Regional Finals. The U11, U12, U13, U14, and 2XI all made it through to their respective competitions playing at leading sport venues across the region and performing admirably. To achieve this is a testament to the pupils’ commitment and highlights the

and enthusiastic than ever.

Attendance at extra-curricular clubs has been fantastic and this has included specialist goalkeeper clinics for all senior and junior keepers. This approach has been infectious and created a real buzz around the sport highlighted with over one hundred and twenty junior pupils representing the School in a competitive fixture this term.

School’s ever-growing reputation in the sport.

Two stand-out performances, however, included the U12s playing in the IAPS National Finals at Culford School. Here they played beyond their years producing some excellent performances with wins against

In addition to participation numbers rising, success has been achieved by the progress teams have made on the field. For the first time in the Schools’ history, five teams from across the 4

leading Prep Schools in the country.

This year has possibly made the most progress as a collective with all the pupils in the year playing hockey during Games and many new to the sport since joining Chigwell.

held at Cambridge University Sport Ground. This resulted in the squad heading to the National Finals at Nottingham University Sports Centre.

The boys won their group without conceding and went on to play Reeds School in the final. Despite losing 1-0 in the final the boys were a credit to Chigwell both on and off the pitch and they should be extremely proud of their achievements, finishing as National Runners-Up.

The second stand out performance was from the U14 team. Qualifying from the Essex Schools Tournament as County winners, this group then went on to win the Regional Finals

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Netball

Netball has continued to develop and progress during the second half of the term. The weather has been kind to us this year and we have not had to cancel one fixture.

The Kelsall tournament at Brentwood.

Unfortunately, the team narrowly lost their group matches but beat Kimbolton. However, they were unable to progress to the next round.

The 1st team have had a frustrating second half of term as all of their matches have been affected by study leave, so they have rarely had a full squad available for selection. They lost 14-28 to The Bishop’s Stortford High School, which is a new fixture for us, in February. We then went on to beat St. Edmund’s College 27-25. It was an exciting and well-fought match. They then lost to The Old Chigwellians, which was a very enjoyable morning and so good to see some old girls back on school site.

The match was followed by a lovely afternoon tea provided by Chartwells. Their season finished with

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It was a great team effort and some strong performances despite the slightly disappointing outcome. We would like to thank all the Middle Sixth leavers who have contributed so much to the netball here at Chigwell and we wish them well for the future.

fixtures with varying degrees of success.

The U15s continue to show great potential. They were unbeaten this season except for a loss to

In other senior fixtures the 2nd VII have given some strong performances. They beat TBSHS convincingly, and also St. Edmunds College and The Old Chigwellians.

The season finished with a win against Forest, which was a great result. The 3rd VII had a fantastic match against Bancroft’s which they unfortunately lost 25-26. They then went on to beat Forest 11-9. They have played well together as a team.

We have also had 4th VII and 5th VII

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Haileybury. They have a fantastic team with a variety of talent. They performed well at the Kelsall netball tournament at Brentwood, winning all their group matches. However, they lost out in the semi-final to the eventual winners of the tournament – Brentwood. Congratulations girls on a very positive season.

The U12s have continued to struggle in competitive matches this term. They still have a lot to learn as a group but have shown some progress as the term has gone on.

Despite a difficult season the U14s have continued to fight hard in every match and we would like to congratulate them on never giving up.

Hopefully next season they will attend training more regularly which would obviously help their overall performances.

The House Netball events also took place this term and are always enjoyable afternoons. In the Senior School we managed two teams for most houses which is a first and meant that even more pupils could participate. The Senior competition was won by Lambourne. The Remove/Lower Fifth competition was won by Swallow’s. The U13s was won

by Tudors, the U12s was won by Hanovers, the U11s was won by Stuarts and the U10s was also won by Stuarts.

The U11s are a strong year group. They had a successful IAPS experience and they won the Plate competition, which was fantastic.

Great commitment has been shown by the U13s who did beat St Edmunds College, but were beaten convincingly

by Brentwood and Haileybury.

Unfortunately, the Kelsall tournament was not quite a tournament this year as lots of schools dropped out. But they had a positive experience nonetheless.

I would like to thank all involved in the running and coaching of netball this term.

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Cross Country

girls and boys teams were large and two Year 6 pupils, Emily and Thomas, were selected to run up an age as ‘guest’ runners. The Year 7 girls put in

For the first time, Chigwell School entered the Essex Schools Cross Country Championships, held at Stubbers Adventure Centre. Thirtynine pupils took part across the two age groups which was a fantastic turnout for a first event. The Year 7

a sterling performance, with the top four scoring to be the A team, which came 15th out of forty-four teams.

The B team (next four runners) came 35th overall. Emily ran exceptionally well, coming 15th out of 224 runners; an outstanding performance considering she is a year young! This resulted in 9

Emily being selected for the Essex team. Pia, who is an experienced league runner (coming 1st in the U13 girls Chingford League), unfortunately took a tumble, however she ran extremely well and still came

team 32nd out of firty-two teams with Archie coming 41st out of 249 runners.

The Year 8 boys came 28th and 42nd out of forty-three teams with Yuvan coming 62nd out of a pool of 214 runners. Whilst the Year 8 girls ran well, as there were only three runners they were unable to score as a team.

The group did exceptionally well and for many this was their first event of this kind. We will certainly look forward to entering future events and with many keen and able runners, house cross country in a few weeks should be an impressive event for these two age groups.

22nd which resulted in her being a reserve for the Essex team. The Year 7 boys A team came 16th and the B

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Drama in a rich variety of texts including Greek Tragedy, Shakespeare and classic modern plays such as “Journey’s End” by R.C. Sherriff and “Shakers” by John Godber. The standard was very high indeed showing that despite not having done this assessment for three years, Chigwell GCSE drama has not let things get rusty! Well done to all involved!

This half of term, the drama department has been very busy with A level devised pieces and GCSE scripted performances. In week 8, the Lower Sixth drama A level students performed three 15 minute devised pieces that they had created over the previous three months using improvisational techniques and research. Using the practitioners Brecht and Artaud as their guide, the students produced work focusing on themes such as discrimination, mental health and artificial intelligence. With candidates offering light, sound, costume and set design, these were shows with high production values and a genuinely experimental dimension to them. Well done to all involved in what was an excellent afternoon’s entertainment.

It was great to see the main space of the Chigwell School Drama Centre full once more.

Sixth Form Induction We are planning to hold a Sixth Form induction day on Tuesday 5th July when students will be given a taste of the work that they will be covering in their chosen A level subjects. This is an important day in itself but also the occasion when a unit of A level work is set to be completed over the summer holidays.

The GCSE scripted performances that represent 20% of students’ final GCSE grade are always a tough challenge with a visiting examiner coming to assess all twenty-nine students. This took place on the last day of term to a full auditorium of students and parents. Once again, students were assessed for acting, light, sound, costume and set design

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Equality Ambassadors

The Equality Ambassadors have been working hard in their different committees, providing activities for pupils through assemblies, form time, chapel and House competitions. This term they have opened a mentoring room where Senior School pupils can drop in to have a chat and ask for advice from our trained student mentors.

The beginning of February saw the whole School focus on Respect. Pupils were encouraged to explore respect in different cultures, self-respect, respect for the environment and how we can show respect in School. The EAs led workshops in tutor time and led the assemblies.

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ARTiculation Congratulations to Lower Sixth student Sally who, having won the London heats of the ARTiculation competition held at the V&A, progressed to the national final at the National Gallery. The adjudicator and art historian, Neil MacGregor, praised Sally’s confident presentation on Marlene Dumas’ Stern. Sally came fourth out of the 1200 entries and has been invited to take part in making fine art documentaries in the future.

In March we celebrated International Women’s Day and challenged pupils to break the bias. Charlotte, Lower Sixth student, produced an excellent video where Chigwell pupils shared their experiences of bias and what we can do differently to ensure equality between the genders. Year 7 & 8 pupils had EAs lead form time sessions exploring stereotypes, influential women and how to break the bias.

The Senior School Houses took part in an IWD Speech Competition. The library was brimming with excitement as pupils from the Removes to the Lower Sixth performed a range of poems, raps and speeches prepared during tutor periods. Pupils focused on the theme of breaking the bias and spoke with great maturity and passion. Thank you to our adjudicators Mr Simon Coppell and Ms Charlotte Nairac and congratulations to the winners: Malgorzata and Zaara Lower Sixth Lambourne, Justina Upper Fifth Swallow’s, Rithun and Theo Remove Lambourne and Sofia Remove Swallow’s.

The feminist society organised a cake sale to raising £920.00 for 'UN Women' and 'The Helen Bamber Foundation'.

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Kindness Week

and staff made the following comments: “I think it made the people around me feel good and also me. I will continue random acts of kindness in the future.”

The Chigwell School community came together to celebrate Kindness Week.

Pupils and staff pledged 1000 random acts of kindness. We were encouraged to be a secret spreader of kindness, thank someone, be kind to the environment, help us to help others and be kind to ourselves. The whole school community really supported the event by organizing litter picks, upcycling materials, using carbon free search engines, sending anonymous emails to say thank you, donating to charity and taking some extra time to look after themselves by spending extra time with family and friends or getting a good night’s sleep.

“It made me feel proud. I learnt that being kind gives a good feeling.”

“It made me feel happy and proud. I have learnt that this shouldn't be a one-off thing, we should do this all the time.”

“I received a kindness thank you email which gave me a warm glow inside.

Thank you.”

“I really like Kindness Week and it makes you take the time to stop and appreciate the people around you and acknowledge them.”

When asked how supporting Kindness week made them feel pupils

Well done to everyone involved.

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Project Qualifications Over recent years, the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) and Higher Project Qualification (HPQ) have proved increasingly popular.

Able members of the Sixth Form have taken the EPQ, worth half an A level, in addition to their three or four chosen subjects, and some GCSE students have taken HPQ on top of their ten subjects. Last year, 45% of leavers took EPQ and 34% took HPQ.

Following the success of EPQ and HPQ, current Year 8 pupils were given the opportunity to take a Foundation Project Qualification. Sixteen pupils researched areas including: Alexis - Can diets be unhealthy?; Jessie - Why did Lady Jane Grey rule for only 9 days?; Ramleen - Should the death penalty be legal in all countries?; Dhwani - Does birth order affect your personality and interests when you grow up?

EPQ and HPQ are well-regarded and able, motivated pupils enjoy them.

Essentially, they are independent projects in an area that interests the candidate. The student carries out research, writes up their findings and makes a presentation.

In a superb evening recently, they presented their projects, answered questions and demonstrated real passion for their work.

Many congratulations to the students who worked so hard and to the staff who supported them.

Swimming This year the school entered twenty-one swimmers, our largest group ever, into the IAPS swimming event. This included pupils from U10 to U13 with both individual and relay events. Notable performances came from India, Isla and Joshua in the individual events and the U11 girls (India, Isla, Rosie and Betsy) in the medley relay.

We will hear whether they have made it through to the national finals in due course.

Epping Forest Youth Council Congratulations to William, in the Removes, who has been elected as a Youth Councillor, following in the footsteps of Lower Sixth students Cameron and Zaara.

Across Epping Forest, a total of 4,560 votes were cast for the twenty-five seats which have been filled by representatives of ten local schools. The councillors have pledged that they will give voters a voice on current local issues affecting young people.

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Breaking Ground Earlier this term, pupils, Governors, guests, representatives of McLaren Construction and other key consultants gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Chigwell School sports centre. The breaking of the ground marks the beginning of the construction phase of a project which is the biggest in the

School’s long history. The state-ofthe-art sports centre will significantly enhance the range of sporting opportunities available to pupils, as well as members of the wider community. Details about the centre are given here. Work should be completed in the summer of 2023.

D of E Award

UCAS Presentation

Over the holidays, Remove pupils who are participating in bronze DofE will carry out their practice expeditions in Essex. Lower Fifth pupils preparing for silver will carry out their canoeing expedition training at various local sites whilst those who are preparing for their silver walking expedition will train in the North Downs. We hope all DofE preparation goes well.

A reminder to Lower Sixth students and their parents that there will be a UCAS Presentation in New Hall on Tuesday 26th April from 6pm to 7pm.

Staff News We welcome Mr Shane Hill as a teacher of Design & Technology and we hope he will be very happy here.

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Chemistry Olympiad 2022 Congratulations to our students who completed the Chemistry Olympiad paper just before Christmas. This is a tough competition with lots of content aimed at students who are nearing the end of the A level studies so it is a real challenge for our Year 12 students.

However, Sixth Form students Ethan, Abisitha, Malgorzata, Clyde, Nathan, Zaara, Vivisha and Musa all achieved a Bronze certificate. Victoria, Niklaus, Melody, Michael and Amelia all achieved a Silver certificate and Helen achieved a Gold certificate. Well done to all of those who took part.

Oxbridge Day Top Year 12 students from Chigwell, Barking Abbey and Woodford County High schools came to Chigwell for Oxbridge Day, an event for those considering applying to Oxford or Cambridge.

The half-day event had students and their teachers sharing ideas about how to make a successful application. Sessions dealt with choosing a college, preparing for an interview and selecting the right course. The students enjoyed taking part in taster, university-styled lessons, meeting students from other schools and sharing some tasty meals as well. Afterwards, Sindy from Woodford County High described the occasion online here

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Friends of Chigwell Photo Competition Well done to all the students who took part in this year's Friends of Chigwell Photo Competition. There were dozens of entries from across the School with a brief to capture a post-Covid world, emerging life or new beginnings. Mr Edwin Aitken, Head of Art & Design and competition judge, remarked at the creativity and photographic excellence shown. We are pleased to announce the following first place winners:

Juniors – Abdullah Dover White Cliffs

Pre Prep – Shaylan Getting Ready for Spring

Seniors – Eloise Rediscovering Beauty Outside

Sixth Form – Michael Top of Edinburgh 18

Shrove Tuesday Supper Old Chigwellians gathered for the 154th Shrove Tuesday supper on Tuesday 1st March. This unique event brings OCs of all generations together to enjoy an evening back at School. OCs have met on Shrove Tuesday since 1868, if not before, when Headmaster Robinson first kept records of events at Chigwell..

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Music Our comprehensive program of cocurricular activities has continued with more than thirty-six rehearsals a week, providing opportunities for pupils to explore and develop their appreciation of music as well as preparing for our regular concert series. This half term alone there have been eight performance opportunities for our pupils. A highlight was most certainly our inaugural KS3 Band Night, organized and arranged by Miss Ciara McCarthy and Mr Michael Wright. The concert can be viewed here. In addition there have been recitals by our Remove and Lower Fifth, Lower Two Tea Time Recital, Upper Fifth and Sixth Form, and an Upper Two Tea time recital.

The Spring Choral Concert on Monday 28th March featured O.C.s Avantika Bharadwaj performing Shostakovich Piano Concert No.2 in F Op.102 and Dominic Tunks performing Krommer’s Clarinet Concerto in Eb, Op.36 The programme also gave spotlights to the Chapel Choir, Sing!, Second Form Girls’ Choir Second Form Boys’ Choir, Choral Society and were joined by Schola Cantorum from Loyola Preparatory School. In total the School had more than 210 pupils performing alongside the professional orchestra.

We look forward to bringing more of these opportunities next term.

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Sign Language Week Mr Daryl Blair, our theatre manager, led our celebrations of British Sign Language (BSL) Week. As a native signer, CODA and a deaf activist, Mr Blair led assemblies where he shared his experience of having deaf parents and the history of BSL. He provided activities for tutor sessions where pupils learnt to sign their name, say hello and thank you, and were encouraged to use signing through the week.

Mr Blair told us ‘There are many different sign languages across the world and signs can even be different regionally. BSL is a beautiful language with a rich history. People like Rose Ayling-Ellis and Troy Kotsur show us that a disability doesn’t stop you from achieving success.’

Pupils across the School were actively engaged and commented ‘Before SLW I had a very basic understanding of very simple terms when it came to BSL. However, I didn’t have any understanding of its origins or history that Mr Blair relayed in a clear way. I can now say my name and ask how people they are and I’m very interested to learn more!’ and ‘I enjoyed the assembly and found it really interesting learning phrases like thank you and happy sign language week. It also made me realise the impact that signing can have on someone’s day.’

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Raising Money for the Brain Tumour Charity Middle Sixth student Briony writes: At the end of last August, we received the devastating news that my Mum had an inoperable brain tumour. We quickly realised the desperate need for further research and funding to help people like Mum and so together with my two crazy aunts I will be taking part in the London Landmarks Half Marathon on 3rd April 2022. This is a cause extremely close to our hearts and we would be grateful for any support and donations to the Brain Tumour Charity. Mum would like to thank everyone for their love and support, and she will find it extremely entertaining to watch us suffer the 13.1 miles on her behalf.

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TERM DATES 2022 Trinity Term 2022 (Easter Day is 17thApril) First day:

Tuesday 19th April

Half term:

Saturday 28th May to Sunday 5th June INSET Day Monday 6th June

Term ends: Wednesday 13th July Michaelmas Term 2022 Staff meetings and INSET on Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th September First day:

Wednesday 7th September

Half term:

Saturday 22nd October to Sunday 6th November

Term ends: Friday 16th December Lent Term 2023 Staff meetings and INSET on Monday 9th January First day:

Tuesday 10th January

Half term:

Saturday 11th February to Sunday 19th February

Term ends: Wednesday 29th March Trinity Term 2023 (Easter Day is 9th April) First day:

Wednesday 19th April

Half term:

Saturday 27th May to Sunday 4th June INSET Day Monday 5th June

Term ends: Wednesday 12th July