Headmaster's Letter - October 2022

Headmaster’s Letter to Parents

Dear Parents

I hope the half term has started well and you are enjoying the extended time with your children. It is a pleasure to report on all the events that have taken place during this busy half term. I have been impressed with, not only the number of events that have taken place, but also the range of opportunity that pupils have been able to engage with this term. It has been a busy term and I hope that pupils find time to enjoy a well-earned break over the coming two weeks. We look forward to seeing them when they return in November.

Best wishes

Damian King

Damian King Head dking@chigwell-school.org

Contents

Page 1Academic FestivalI

Page 2 University Applications EPQ/HPQ

Page 3Science European Day of Languages

Page 4National Poetry Day

Page 5 Football Williams Project

Page 6 Girls’ Hockey

Page 7 Girls’ Hockey

Page 8 Individual Sporting Successes Staff News

Page 9Music Boarding

Page 10Drama Clive de Boer

Page 11 New Sports Centre Gopal Kambo

The 2 Johns

Page 12A message from the Chaplain

Academic Festival

A new event called the Academic Festival entered the School calendar this year which looked to showcase the best of the 6th form pupils’ work that had taken place outside of the formal curriculum and lesson time. This included presentations of pupils’ work for the Howard and Mitchell Essay Competition, and showcases of the various societies including the mainstays of our offerings, those being the Medical Society, LGBTQ+ Society, Feminist Society,

International Relations Society and Mythos Club alongside Clubs in Robotics, Board Games, Architecture, Formula 1 and Journalism. We were pleased to welcome pupils, teachers, parents and governors to the event which showcased how pupils take what they have learnt in lessons and develop that into areas of their own interest. We look forward to this becoming a regular event in the school calendar.

University Applications

This is the university application season for the Middle Sixth who have been completing their UCAS forms and, for those looking to apply to competitive universities, sitting their admissions tests. Some of those tests have already taken place with the others happening during the half term break. We are pleased to see so many pupils applying for competitive universities with twenty-five applying at the last count. We wish them luck in their applications.

After half term, on 9th November there will be an interview practice morning at Woodford County High School for Girls for Middle Sixth medical applicants. Following this, on 11th November there will be an afterschool talk about a career in Law from Simone Pearlman. We are also looking forward to two ‘Meet the Future’ talks next half-term from ‘young Old Chigs’: Quentin Wu (PPE graduate and trainee lawyer) and Laurence Brooks (journalist and producer).

November sees the start of our new Degree Apprenticeship Application Support programme. Aimed at Middle Sixth students who are considering applying for a Degree Apprenticeship

alongside their UCAS applications, sessions will cover what apprenticeships entail, where to find them, what employers are looking for, mock assessments and interviews, and how to prepare for work. Run in conjunction with the AIM Group, it is hoped these sessions will support those students interested in earning while they learn and help them stand-out in the ever-growing competitive field of Degree Apprenticeships.

EPQ / HPQ

Earlier this month we held the EPQ and HPQ presentation evening. This event was an opportunity for pupils to present their projects to small groups and demonstrate their depth of knowledge about a topic. This year there was a wide range of projects extending across medicine, law, history, politics, economics, popular culture and space exploration. In addition, Roujia W exhibited her artwork exploring Marian iconography in Chinese Catholic Christian art and Charlotte R presented her composition based on the serialism technique. We congratulate all the students that took part.

Science

Twenty Year 8 students successfully achieved their bronze CREST awards for their science investigation into the effect of the height of a rollercoaster on the motion of a ball bearing completing a loop the loop. The students worked in small groups to suggest a hypothesis and plan their practical, identifying the different

variables and any risks. They worked well together to safely conduct their practical and test their hypothesis, drawing graphs of their results and completing a conclusion. Students then wrote a short report of their findings to submit to CREST to successfully achieve their bronze award.

European Day of Languages

The Annual European Day of Languages is a well-established national event to raise awareness about language learning and linguistic diversity. We ran the event over a week of events that included a Year 7 themed bake-off competition, taster session in Italian and Portuguese, and encouraged pupils to think about using other languages in their everyday lessons from Maths to Geography.

National Poetry Day

Earlier this month we celebrated National Poetry Day on the theme of the environment. Comedy performance poet Neal Zetter delighted each KS2 class in turn with his fun workshops in the Junior School Library. At the same time, the Fourth Form enjoyed a visit from former Australian Poetry Slam Champion, Philip Wilcox, whose performance involved much audience participation! Creative workshops with each class later in the day produced some memorable, funny and moving poetry from pupils. The Third Form used National Poetry Day to kickstart their own poetry slam, learning poems on the environment in groups, to perform in front of their peers. The grand final

between forms will take place after half term. Meanwhile, Senior School pupils encountered poems displayed around school and teachers were encouraged to read a poem to their class at the start of each period of the day.

Football

It has been another great start to the year for school football. Unfortunately, the ISFA sixes did not run this year due to the passing of The Queen so the School retained the plate as previous winners in 2021. The U13s and U15s continue to progress in their relative Cup and Shield competitions this year, and we look forward to reporting about their progress in the Christmas

Williams Project

The Williams Project is a society aimed at intellectually curious pupils, an opportunity to stretch themselves and broaden their horizons. At the start of term we welcomed Dr Rob Calder from Kings College London, who works on an esteemed Addiction Journal and is researching the causes and characteristics of drug addiction. We debated the credibility of the Peer Review process in producing scientific knowledge. From various questions, Dr Calder attempted to tie up a few loose ends and provided us with further research on topics students discussed such as: genetic underpinning of addiction, reversing addiction, withdrawal being different among different people and neurodiversity and addiction (brain structure

newsletter. The U11s have had an unlucky run in both the ISFA and IAPS competitions being knocked out in both in the semi-finals. In the recent St Aubyn’s U10 tournament, the school lost on penalties to the eventual winners, St Edmunds, in the semi-final. KS2 football club on a Thursday is as popular as ever with over 80 boys playing every week.

makingpeople more susceptible) - a fascinating and very understudied area.

Our second visitor was Adam Goldstein, ex-Chigwellian. He currently is a drama therapist/youth worker and does teaching improvisation alongside stand-up comedy. To add to the complexity of his credentials, his other career is coaching American football at Oxford university, where he also graduated from. This was a very niche and curious presentation on how your unconventional for British landscape passion can shape your personal life and become a career. A great show of how to build resilience and find ways to accomplish set goal, providing we can both compromise and take risks.

Girls’ Hockey

The girls’ hockey term began with great promise and much earlier than usual, in mid-August, with the newly introduced pre-season training for the Upper Fifth, Lower Sixth and Middle Sixth year groups. The sessions were well attended and approached with real purpose. The 1st team took this early momentum into the Independent Schools Hockey Cup (ISHC) match against Highgate which they won, however Godolphin & Latymer proved too strong in the next round, making use of their experienced England and National League players. The U18 National Cup was hosted by the School on the newly upgraded hockey Astro pitch. We were unable to score enough goals to overcome Coopers or Brentwood on home turf, but again played with courage and determination. The U16 National Cup

afforded a great opportunity for our talented Upper Fifth and Lower Fifth year groups to demonstrate their talents. Mature and confident displays against local rivals led to the girls winning the Essex County round of the competition. Convincing wins against Brentwood and Chelmsford County High School netting the girls the shield on goal difference. The U14s acquitted themselves well at the U14 Essex tournament. The U13s were outstanding at the Independent Association of Prep Schools tournament at Ipswich school. The U12s are one of the most promising year groups in the school, further building on a strong foundation laid a few years ago. The U12 A team is currently

unbeaten and there is considerable ability across the A, B, C and D teams. The U11s competed at the IAPS Tournament recently and played some tough games against strong opposition. The team will return to compete in the Essex Schools Tournament so we wish them well for this. The U10s had their first fixture recently where they took part in the New Hall Tournament. They drew three games that were very competitive, and lost two by only a single goal. This was an impressive performance for their first 7-a-side fixture against some tough opposition. We would continue to encourage the U10s to attend after school training to develop their skills. As always, the junior school teams, up to and including Year 7, are organised to give the opportunity for every child in the year group to play competitive team sport.

Individual Sporting Successes

We are delighted to be able to congratulate various pupils on playing sport at representative level. Well done to Sally C who has been awarded Essex Cricket Women’s U18 Player of the Year. This followed a hugely successful season where Sally finished top wicket taker and third highest run scorer in a team that finished runners up in the ECB Royal London 40 over competition (36 counties competing). In addition, she has also been asked to join the regional Sunrisers Emerging Players Programme the next step on the women’s professional players pathway.

Emily H has been successful in selection for both the U13 Essex netball and hockey squads which is an outstanding achievement. Emily also plays cricket for Essex.

Staff News

We are delighted to welcome Mrs Angela Patrikios as our new Director of Marketing and Admissions, and Mrs Diane Gillen who has joined the team of Teaching Assistants. We hope they will both be very happy here.

There have been some internal appointments. From the beginning of

Well done too to Joshua D, India H-H, Isla O’D and Rosie R who are all swimming for the Essex squad and have achieved some excellent PB’s in the pool already this season.

Once again, we have individual successes with school pupils representing football academies: Blake I (Tottenham) and Sonny W (Ipswich). Special mention to William S who trialled and played for Leyton Orient U18s which is the first time this has happened in School history. There has also been a large group of U13s put forward for trials with the ISFA U13 representative side.

We continue to monitor Charlie C’s success in golf. Most recently we were delighted to hear that he had won the Under 18 National Championship, Champion of Champions at Woodhall Spa.

November, Mrs Harriet Corey will take up the post of Admission Registrar and Mrs Elizabeth Galea will be taking over as Procurement and PE/ Games Administrator and also acting as Common Room Administrator. Miss Emma Thorogood (teacher of geography) also takes on the role of Head of UCAS.

Music

We were pleased that this term we were able to welcome back our House Music Competition and the evening lived up to the hype and expectation in every way. If you did not have a chance to attend the event, then a recording of it can be found HERE. For those who are not familiar with the House Music format, there are 3 items to the event; Item 1, the ‘part song’ was an arrangement of ‘Rolling in the Deep’. We were heartened to see so many pupils participating in this item with many Houses taking opportunities to incorporate solo lines. Item 2 presents the opportunity for Houses to write and perform ensemble arrangements; performances included Swallows’ with ‘Cooler than Me’ by Mike Posner, Penn’s with Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’, Caswalls’ with ‘A Great Big World’ by Rockstar, and Lambourne with ‘Use Somebody’ by Kings of Leon. The well anticipated Item 3 finely choreographed unison sounds, where all members of the house perform, were ‘Club Tropicana’ by Wham, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen, ‘Living on a Prayer’ by Bon Jovi and an ‘Abba Medley’. The event was compered by our very own Mr David Gower, along with Molly M and Rayn I-A, and adjudicated by Mrs Rebecca Barnett, Learning and Education Director for the Aurora Orchestra, South Bank. The overall winner for the House Music Competition 2022 was awarded to Penn’s.

Boarding

Fourteen new international boarders joined the Lower Sixth at the start of the academic year and they have been settling into their boarding and day houses, quickly becoming an integral part of Chigwell community. They have been kept busy with a variety of trips and events as part of a busy induction programme. Highlights have included a bowling trip with their mentors, a day in central London to an Escape Room and a day trip to Brighton. Most recently, we enjoyed a James Bond inspired Casino Night which was a fabulous opportunity to dress up and celebrate the end of a successful first half term. Some

boarders will be remaining in the UK for the half term, staying with guardians or host families, while others will be travelling home. We wish them all safe travels and a well-deserved break. The school welcomes about three polish boarders each year via a programme called the United World Colleges Polish Scholars Scheme which operates across many independent schools in the country. This year was the 30th anniversary of that programme and the School was invited to the Polish Embassy in London to receive an award for having generated the most number of medics through the programme than any other school over the last 30 years.

Drama

This half term the drama department went to see the much acclaimed, “Life of Pi” at the Wyndham Theatre starring Nuwan Hugh Perera. Adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti from the novel by Yann Martel, this was a multimedia production that made great use of puppets to bring the animals that are at the heart of this drama to the stage.

Upper Fifth and Middle Sixth alike very much enjoyed this production and are currently writing about it in their exam preparation work. The Middle Sixth drama classes also attended the production “Burning City” by Punch Drunk, in Woolwich. This was a fully immersive exhibition created in a

Clive de Boer

Sadly, former Chair of Governors and Old Chigwellian, Clive de Boer passed away at the end of September. Clive became a Governor in 1995 and served as Chair from 1999 until 2013. During this time he worked with three Headmasters, Tony Little, David Gibbs and Michael Punt. Clive will be remembered as a true gentleman, kind, patient and generous, and he will be sorely missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with Clive’s family including his daughters who all attended Chigwell School – Mrs Anne-Marie Shaer (1989-1991); Mrs Marie-Claire de Boer

warehouse in which the audience could wander around for hours finding new rooms, corridors, instalments and stumble across drama relating to the myths and legends of the Trojan conflict. GCSE make up students enjoyed their annual training day with Rosemarie Swinfield, author of “Stage Make Up”, our text book for GCSE Make Up. This trains students in how to use stage make up and prepares them for their forthcoming GCSE practicals. Finally, one Upper Fifth class performed a devised piece called “The Dinner That Goes Wrong” just before half term. It was a joy to watch and the audience laughed their socks off.

Rowland (1993-1995); and Mrs Colette de Boer (2000-2002)

Gopal Kambo

Some of you may have seen Old Chigwellian, Gopal Kambo who was singing with the Chapel Royal, for the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey.

New Sports Centre

The new sports centre is well underway and on schedule and we look forward to its opening in autumn 2023. We have started information morning for parents regarding the progress of the build and also our vision for the future of sport. We look forward to welcoming more parents in the coming weeks.

Please consider supporting the project and learn about unique ways to give ways for your generosity to be recognised. speak to Mr Scott Franssen, Director of Philanthropy on 020 8501 5769 and sfranssen@chigwell-school.org.

The 2 Johns

The School welcomed an external company called ‘The 2 Johns’ to talk to pupils about online safety. Their talk was really interesting, along with a webinar they gave for parents during the evening. For those of you that were not able to listen to the webinar, but are interested in what was shared, here is a link to their presentation. It is requested from the 2 Johns that that the webinar is not downloaded or saved to devices. https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/6xP9U16MXTenKk2wsOf0Y6ejvvESc8Vq4KL4h8 kFxXsNZb2pPiTL3y6Z1OwRdSr9.11XBCenpGsVK4EMO

Best wishes

Damian King

A message from the Chaplain

In the summer my family and I moved from Radley College, where I served as Senior Chaplain for ten years, to Chigwell School. Yvonne, my wife, is a school nurse with incredible experience and we have two children – Catherine and James. Catherine is working her way through her PhD Studies whilst James has just completed his degree in Theology at Durham University. I have been serving as a minister in the Church of England for 25 years where I spent 8 years in Chester Diocese where I was a rural priest and served as Chaplain to His Grace, The Duke of Westminster; 5 years as the Rector of St Andrews Church in the University Town of St Andrews and School Chaplain. Throughout my time I have served as an Army Chaplain with the British Military; firstly with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, then the Rifles and I have just been appointed Chaplain to the Royal Yeomanry (light cavalry). My interests include cricket and golf and I have a passion for the British countryside and walking; Yvonne and I completed the coast to coast walk a couple of years ago.

I also love art (especially landscape art) where I completed my PhD, a number of years ago, in Theology and Art. One

strange fact about myself is that I ran the London Marathon and completed the training at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in the same year – something that I would not like to repeat today! I am looking forward to serving the community of Chigwell School and I look forward to getting to know the environment better.

With blessings David

The Revd Dr David Wilson CF