HEADMASTER’S LETTER APRIL 2019
T0 PARENTS
Dear Parents Welcome back after the Easter break. I hope you have had a very happy Easter and that pupils are looking forward to the new term ahead. As the following pages illustrate, various school activities have taken place over the holiday and we hope that pupils have found these enriching.
Contents Page 1
Grace Miller Time to Help UK Improvements to the Site
Page 2
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Page 3
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Page 4
Trip to Iceland
Page 5
Trip to Iceland
Page 6
Trip to Greece Summer Ball
Page 7
British Biology Olympiad 2019 Speech Day
Page 8
School Fixtures Staff News Exams Blue Calendars And Finally
Grace Miller
Congratulations to Grace who gave a pow-
erful and moving interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about living with cystic fibrosis.
Time to Help UK
Thank you to the Middle Sixth students who raised £1,000 for the Syrian refugee crisis by participating in the Assassination Game, run by Mr Shakil Chaudhary. The winning assassin
was Jasmine Iley.
Improvements to the Site Once again, the holidays have provided
the Sports Hall has been created. Work on
opments to the school site. The former
good progress is being made. As the pho-
base for marketing, development and ad-
think it is the first time that so much
the opportunity to carry out various devel-
the old school roofs has continued and
school shop has been converted to a new
tos illustrate, this is a large project and we
missions; resurfacing work has taken place
restoration work has taken place together
in various locations and artificial grass has
on several buildings, the oldest of which
been laid around the children’s play area.
dates back to 1629. It will be good to see
There has been work on the oldest boilers
the scaffolding come down in the next
and a new office in
couple of months.
1
Duke of Edinburgh Award Over the holidays, seventy-three Remove
training, equipment, camp craft, route
pupils attended one of the two training
planning exercises and navigation. The sec-
days and practice expeditions for their
ond phase was the practice expedition
DofE Bronze Award. The training days
where the group completed a one day-one
began at school with lectures on equip-
night expedition under remote supervi-
ment, camp craft and route planning exer-
sion, covering a 15km route on the River
cises. There then followed a 12km walk in
Chelmer, camping close to the river at
the Hainault country park area when pupils
Hoemill Lock. The groups are now fully pre-
carried all their equipment. On return to
pared to tackle the qualifying expedition in
school, the groups pitched tents and used
June where they are planning to paddle a
the cookers to make a hot drink. The two
section of the River Thames from Lechlade
practice expeditions were based around
to Abingdon.
Skreens Park near Roxwell. On arrival,
Eighteen other pupils from the Lower
pupils had their equipment checked and
Fifth, completed their DofE Silver walking
they completed a detailed route card. They
training and practice expedition at the
were then dropped off at different start
Kent scouts activity centre near Maidstone
points and completed an unaccompanied
on the edge of the North Downs. The first
18km walk back to Skreens Park, although
days were focused on navigation training,
staff met with the groups at various check
camp craft, equipment, and route planning
points along the way. The groups pitched
exercises and navigation training on the
their tents, cooked their evening meals,
North Downs where the pupils covered
spent a night in their tents and then
17km on each day. The groups were re-
cooked breakfast the following morning.
motely supervised and made all the navi-
The groups are now fully prepared to tackle
gation and route planning choices. They
their qualifying expedition during Activities
are now fully prepared to tackle the quali-
Week.
fying expedition in June where they are
Six Lower Fifth pupils completed their
planning an adventurous route of 60km on
DofE Silver Canoe training and practice ex-
the South Downs.
pedition. The first two days, at Fairlop Wa-
ters were focused on paddling skills, rescue
2
Duke of Edinburgh Award
3
On the third day of the trip, the students
Trip to Iceland
took in the attractions of the capital Reyk-
At the start of the Easter break, fifty-two
javik. Among these was the Hallgrimskirkja
Sixth Form students travelled to Iceland for
Church, which is one of the most iconic
the annual geography trip. On the first day
buildings in Iceland, modelled on natural
of the trip, they visited a number of beau-
rock columns found throughout the coun-
tiful waterfalls including Seljalandsfoss,
try. One of the final stops was the Blue La-
which spills 60m over a former sea cliff, now
goon a spacious bathing pool fed with
sited far inland due to isostatic rebound.
silica-rich geothermal seawater drawn
insight into the impacts of the 2010 Eyjaf-
thoroughly enjoyed the trip and were a
One of the most impressive sites on the trip
iour.
They then visited the Lava Centre to gain
from a 2,000m deep borehole. The students
jallajökull eruption on the local community.
credit to the School in terms of their behav-
was Sólheimajökull, or ‘sun house glacier’,
which has been retreating since the end of
the 19th century at a rate of around 100m per year. On the second day, the group vis-
ited Gullfoss. These double falls drop
around 33m then plunge into a mile-long gorge and is one of Iceland’s most photographed waterfalls. They also visited the
site of Geysir, a spouting hot spring that
gave its name to all the world’s geysers and although it does not often spout nowa-
days, its neighbour ‘Strokkur’ erupts every
10-15 minutes reaching a height of around 30m. Later, the group travelled to Thingvel-
lir, where Iceland’s parliament was estab-
lished in 930AD. The site straddles the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge, its rift valley forming
where the Eurasian and North American
tectonic plates pull apart at an average of
3cm a year.
4
Trip to Iceland
5
mainland Greece, at Epidauros. It was won-
Trip to Greece
derful to see the enthusiasm of every pupil,
Over the first week of the Easter holiday,
especially when they began to recite classi-
thirty budding classicists from the Removes
cal texts centre-stage. With the flight home
to the Lower Sixth, travelled to Greece to
approaching rapidly, it was time for one last
enrich their knowledge of the classical
visit, this time to the ancient city of Corinth
experience ancient Greece in its truest form,
stop for lunch consisting of traditional
world. The six-day trip allowed students to
and the stunning Corinth Canal, with a quick
bringing their studies to life and giving them
Souvlaki. Again, it was great to see pupils so
plenty of opportunities to explore the histor-
eager to try something new whilst away.
Theatre of Thorikos and then battled
outstandingly well-behaved, and that they
ical sites freely. They began their trip at the
The staff commented that the group were
through the wind and rain to reach the tem-
were a true credit to the School at all times.
ple of Poseidon at Sounion. After a night’s
rest, the group spent the entire second day exploring the key sites of Athens such as the
Acropolis, the Olympic Stadium and the Agora. It was a stunning day that let the co-
hort discover these world heritage sights in
their true intended beauty. The next few days were a whirlwind mixture of travelling
around the mainland and experiencing
some of the most stunning sights in all of Greece such as Delphi, Olympia, the modern
town of Nafplion and the largest theatre in
Summer Ball
A ticket order form and details of the Summer Ball to be held on the evening of Saturday 6th July are being been
sent out by e-mail. This is always a very popular event and you are urged to apply for tickets as soon as possible as
they are allocated on a first come first served basis.
6
British Biology Olympiad 2019
Chigwell. The questions extend across a
wide-ranging syllabus and the aim is to
challenge the very best biology students.
The results were very good with three of the team achieving medals. Congratulations go to Becky Morgan who achieved a
silver medal; Poppy Bradley and Piers
The British Biology Olympiad is run by
Daniel who were awarded bronze medals;
the Royal Society of Biology for A level
Julia Lasiota and Maddy McCormack who
biology students and over eight thousand
were highly commended; and Haaris
students took part in the competition
Anwar and Simren Patel who were both
this year including a team of thirteen from
commended
Speech Day
The programme for Speech Day and its related activities will follow the usual format: Friday 5th July
2.15pm Pre Prep, Lower I and Upper I Service in St Mary's Church
Saturday 6th July
9.45am Junior School Service at St Mary's Church
3.30pm Pre Prep, Lower 1 and Upper 1 Garden Party
11.15am Senior School Service at St Mary's Church
2.30pm Speeches and Prize Giving in the Marquee
The Guest of Honour at Speech Day this year will be Dr Charlie Laderman who left Chigwell in 2005. He studied History and Politics at the University of Nottingham and went on to complete a PhD at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He was later a Research Fellow at Peter-
house College, Cambridge, and is currently a lecturer in International History at King’s
College, London. His research focuses on the United States and its relations with the wider world. We look forward to welcoming Charlie back to Chigwell.
The preacher at the services on Saturday morning will be Dr Diana Lowry, retired local GP and now a Church of England Lay Reader attached to the Epping District Team Ministry. The
preacher at the service on Friday afternoon will be Reverend Gary Scott.
7
School Fixtures
And Finally
students have important public exams, we
many events that will take place over the
During this busy time of year when many
I look forward to seeing you at some of the
would appreciate your continued support in
next few weeks.
encouraging your sons’ and daughters’
With best wishes
commitment to sporting fixtures throughout the term.
Yours sincerely
Staff News
Michael Punt
We are delighted to welcome Miss Jayne Burton as Director of Marketing and Admis-
sions. Jayne joins us from British Medical Journal and we hope she will be very happy
here.
Exams
Most pupils will have exams over the com-
ing weeks, either internal or external. They
should have received clear guidance about how and what to revise but we do appreciate that this period can be stressful. As al-
ways, if you have any concerns please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Blue Calendars
As usual, the Trinity Term calendars are
being distributed to pupils who should also bring home a copy.
8
TERM DATES 2019 Half term: Term ends:
Saturday 25th May to Sunday 2nd June INSET Day Monday 3rd June Wednesday 10th July
Michaelmas Term Staff meetings and INSET on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd September First day: Wednesday 4th September Half term: Saturday 19th October to Sunday 3rd November Term ends: Friday 13th December