HEADMASTER’S LETTER
JULY 2015
T0 PARENTS
Dear Parents We celebrated many of this term’s highlights at Speech Day on Saturday and, therefore, this letter is relatively brief. However, at the end of another very busy term and year, thank you for all your support and encouragement, and I hope that you are pleased with the progress that your children have made at Chigwell this year.
Contents Page 1
Middle Sixth Leavers’ Party Summer Concert
Page 2
Speech Day and the Summer Ball
Page 3
Speech Day and the Summer Ball
Page 4
Drama
Page 5
Alec Osborn George Prior
Page 6
Activities Week Head Start
Page 7
Examination Result Days Sports Day
Page 8
School Shop Staff News
Page 9
Friends of Chigwell – A message from the Chair, Mrs Purnima Sen
Middle Sixth Leavers’ Party
It was good to bid farewell to the Middle Sixth leavers and their parents on Monday evening. They gathered for photographs, had a service in Chapel followed by a bbq in New Hall and on the Swallow Lawn. If students have not done so, please could they email their personal contact email address to gpunt@chigwell-school.org
The
Development Office maintains contact details of Old Chigwellians so that we can stay in touch with former pupils and will let them know about O.C. events
Summer Concert Following on from the excellent Jazz Night, the roof of New Hall was once again raised at the end of term Senior School concert. A packed audience was entertained by a diverse programme ranging from Chigwell All Stars, Fusion Group and Big Band to The Flute Group, Wind Band and First Orchestra, as well as soloists Faith Inch and Gopal Kambo. The Middle Sixth Leavers aptly completed a wonderful evening of music. Thank you to all pupils and staff for producing such a memorable evening.
1
Speech Day and the Summer Ball
Once again, Speech Day was a real celebration of the last year at Chigwell. Guest of Honour, Mr Michael Marshall Smith O.C., who is an author, spoke extremely well about pupils ‘knowing who they are’ and many parents and pupils asked for a copy of his speech which is attached with this letter.
On Friday, the preacher at the Pre Prep and First Form service was Professor David Hatch, a former anaesthetist and current member of the Magic Circle who made use of his magical talents during the service. On Saturday, Father Tony Chantry preached at the Junior and
2
Speech Day and the Summer Ball On Saturday evening the annual Summer Ball took place and this was particularly well attended this year by parents, friends and students who are leaving this summer.
Senior services. Fr Tony is also an Old Chigwellian and he has led our Roman Catholic Masses at school for well over a decade. He is stepping down as General Supervisor of the Mill Hill Missionaries but we hope to stay in touch with him as he continues his missionary work in some of the poorest parts of the world.
3
Drama The Junior School production of Peter Pan was outstanding. A huge cast, with the lead roles shared by several actors, performed in front of three full audiences in
the
Drama
Centre.
Many
congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to pull off such a professional production. Meanwhile, last week members of the Sixth Form performed in the Drama Scholars’ Play, Can’t Pay Won’t Pay. This was a hilarious, fast-moving production of the well-known play by Dario Fo and the students involved worked very hard to pull off the performance in a very short space of time.
4
Alec Osborn Alec
Osborn
represented
George Prior the
Many congratulations to George who
Independent Schools national U15 side
rowed at Henley recently. George rows
at a tournament held at Manchester
for the Globe Rowing Club and he
United’s training ground, Carrington.
competed
The four team tournament involved
comprising two Globe rowers and two
Manchester United, Burnley, Aston Villa
from the London Youth Rowing Centre.
and ISFA. Alec played against the three
This was in the adult section and the four
other Academy sides in shortened forty
rowers came fourteenth out of twenty-
minute matches. The ISFA side fared
eight. Later this month, George will be
well, losing 3-1 to Manchester United, 2-
competing in the British Championships
1 to Burnley and drew 1-1 in their final
in Strathclyde in both a pairs and an
game against Aston Villa. This was an
eights boat. He only just missed out on
excellent experience for Alec and he
the Great Britain trials but is training
thoroughly enjoyed testing himself
extremely hard for many hours each
against some of the best U15s in the
week. His coaches have commented on
country.
how
in
much
a
his
composite
performance
boat
has
improved and we will follow his progress with interest.
5
Activities Week Pupils from across the School took part
the standard curriculum. For example,
in a variety of activities and trips during
Pre Prep children built dens and sang
activities week. At this time we aim to
songs around the camp fire, in French;
give experiences that extend beyond
there
were
Duke
of
Edinburgh
expeditions and activities, trips to Mersea Island, the Isle of Wight and the Lake District; pupils volunteered at local care homes and there were numerous other activities here and elsewhere.
Headstart The science department encourages
awarded a place at Aberdeen University,
students to apply for Headstart courses
Luke Piper will be going to Bristol
which inspire future engineers and
University
scientists. If successful, students get an
Newcastle University; all three students
insight into university life, talks with
will be taking part in engineering
current university students and staff, as
courses. Emma Cadman will be studying
well as the opportunity to work on
engineering at St. Mary’s College and
projects at the university. This year, five
Lauren Keiller will be learning more
students
about science and engineering at UCL.
have
successfully
been
awarded places on Headstart courses at
and
George
Prior
Congratulations to all five students.
top universities. Max Albert has been
6
to
Examination Results Days A Level - Thursday 13th August The arrangements will be as follows: •
At 6.30am results will be sent electronically to students
•
From 7am onwards Mr Neil Saunders, Mr Andrew Long and I will be available in school for advice or help
•
Between 10am and 10.30am, Middle Sixth students should come into school to collect hard copies of their results and accompanying letter
•
Between 10.30am and 11am, Lower Sixth students should come into school to collect hard copies of their results and accompanying letter – they will also need to confirm their A2 subject choices
•
The Middle Sixth photograph will be taken at 11am
Requests for Access to Scripts and Re-marks can be made through Mr Paul Fletcher and for the Lower Sixth requests for photocopies of scripts need to be made before Friday 21st August. GCSE - Thursday 20th August The arrangements will be as follows: •
Between 10am and 10.30am the Upper Fifth should come into school to collect their results and accompanying letter – they will also need to confirm their AS subject choices
•
If, post results day, the student makes an agreed AS subject change they must complete the summer work for this as well as their other AS subjects
•
The Upper Fifth photograph will be taken at 11am
•
At 12 noon results will be published electronically to students and parents for those unable to come into school
Once again, requests for Access to Scripts and Re-marks can be made through Mr Paul Fletcher.
Sports Day Despite the slightly inclement weather our annual sports day took place with fierce competition, excellent commentary and plenty of whole-hearted support from those in attendance. Thank you to the Friends of Chigwell who worked so hard throughout the day to provide refreshments and to raise funds.
7
The School Shop Please note the following arrangements for the School Shop over the summer break: 8th to 17th July
Closed for stock take
21st, 22nd, 23rd July
Open from 10am to 3pm
28th, 29th, 30th July
Open from 10am to 3pm
4th, 5th, 6th August
Open from 10am to 3pm
10th to 14th August
Closed
17th to 28th August
Open from 10am to 3pm
31st August onwards
Open as usual from 12 noon to 5pm
Staff News As I mentioned in my speech on Saturday, we are saying farewell to several members of staff. Mrs Juliet Boughton is retiring, as is our Archivist, Mrs Marian Delfgou. We send both ladies our very best wishes and we do hope that they will stay in touch. Three other members of staff, Mrs Nicola Jones, Mrs Jenny Murray and Mr Jamal Muse are moving on to new schools and we wish them all well.
I hope all Chigwell families have a
With best wishes
wonderful summer and the opportunity
Yours sincerely
to take a well-deserved break. Leavers will hopefully stay in touch with us and we wish those going on the choir tour to Spain and the hockey tour to South
Michael Punt
Africa a very safe and enjoyable trip; we look forward to hearing all about their experiences on the pupils’ return.
8
Friends of Chigwell – A message from the Chair, Mrs Purnima Sen And another year passes by with our Friends of Chigwell team at the helm! By September 2014, we, as a team, were fully functional and each one of us had their role fully understood and having spent a year focussed and committed to our small cause, we were raring to go. The year started beautifully with the usual fayre at the inter-school annual football and netball event. In November we had our most popular event of the year, the annual firework night, making a profit of over £5,000. This was followed by the usual Christmas school discos and the Christmas Fayre. 2015 took off with the Easter egg hunt in the Pre Prep, which is always very popular with the children and also is a non-ticketed donation by the FoC. Theatre trips to the west end this year included Memphis, Cats and Matilda! These events are held purely to get our parents, families and friends together rather than simply to make money, although on this occasion we made just over £100 altogether. February saw us selling drinks to the Old Chigwellians and getting to know our alumni. We also tried our hand at something new this year and did a couple of nights running the bar at the music and drama events. Following this, we held film nights at the Pre Prep with 101 Dalmatians and A Night at the Museum 2. Finally, last month we had a great sports day and the 7am start to the 4.30pm finish ran beautifully – the weather was threatening and we finished clearing up just in time for the heavens to open. In financial terms, this was a semi successful event with us making £1,700 in revenue. We never seem happy when we do not raise the stakes year on year and were down nearly £1,200 on takings last year, but who can guarantee the weather? In conclusion, I am delighted to say that the FoC have raised £30,800 since September 2013, which is £7,000 lower than we raised last year. This has made us a profit of £10,269 which is £5,000 lower than last year. However, none of this would have been possible without all your help. The FoC members are, of course, a triumph with their fantastic efforts, energy, time and uncompromising commitment, and without them we would certainly not be as successful. We cannot forget the teachers and the support staff who help with printing, supplying, moving, providing relentlessly to all our demands. And last, but certainly not least, a big thank you to all parents of the School who contribute a huge amount by supporting our events – you make the Friends of Chigwell the successful fund raising charity that we are and I call on you to help us challenge this years’ takings. So I request you, the parents, to help us turn things around next year and by volunteering, donating, attending, do your bit to help us raise further funds while having fun at the same time.
9
Term Dates 2015 Michaelmas Term First day: Thursday 3rd September Half term: Saturday 17th October to Sunday 1st November Term ends: Wednesday 16th December 2016 Lent Term First day: Thursday January 7th Half term: Saturday Feb 13th to Sunday February 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