The Park Post, issue 5

winter 2019

The

Park Post School Choir Sings for BBC Somerset Our Music department was thrilled when the school choir was asked to sing at a Carol Service to be recorded by BBC Radio Somerset for broadcast on Christmas Day. Our choir is a frequent contributor to events at St John's Church in Yeovil and sang

three pieces in the programme including popular favourites Silent Night and I Wonder as I Wander. Our singers took the lead in the congregational carols, and Year 10 student Lucy sang beautifully the solo verse for Once in Royal David's City. Well done to all in the choir and to music

teacher, Mr Rice. 'I am very proud of the choir who performed exceptionally well this evening. This was a fantastic opportunity for our singers to take part in a regionally broadcast event and the school was delighted to be asked to take part.' Mrs Huntington, Head.

BBC Somerset Christmas Celebration 2019 at St John's Church, Yeovil We are on:

Independent Day School 4-18

News round up

Academic Successes GCSE Our Y11 students achieved 91% 9-4 (A*-C) in their GCSE subjects at the end of last academic year. They worked hard and took the advice of their teachers in approaching the more rigorous GCSE exams with thorough application and focus. In individual sciences 100% of students scored 9-5, and 77% gained five or more 9-4 grades in subjects including Maths, English and Science. Many individual subjects gained 100% pass rates including Drama, Food Technology, Art, English Literature and BTec Sport. It was an excellent year for which students and staff are to be applauded.

A-Level Once again Sixth Formers achieved 100% pass rate at A-Level with 81% of exams taken graded A*-C. Leavers secured places at universities including Manchester to study Electrical and Electronic Engineering, UWE for Psychology, Reading University to study Law, Essex University for Business Management and University of Twente in the Netherlands to study Computer Science.

Harvest Time

PTA News

The village of Chilton Cantelo gratefully received the School’s generous contributions to the Lord’s Larder at the recent Harvest Festival at St James’ Church.

Families who attended the service were treated to a moving anthem by the School Choir and students in Years 7 and 8 reciting the topical Diary of a Church Mouse by Sir John Betjeman.

Baby News

We wish Mrs Baimbridge and her husband all the very best for the birth of their first child in January. We look forward to baby updates and to welcoming Mrs B back to school after maternity leave.

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We'd like to thank the PTA for the fabulous work they do to organise events and raise money for the school. This term the team has put on a Barn Dance, a Macmillan Coffee Morning, Christmas Fayre and Afternoon Tea with Santa and Reindeer. So much enjoyed by the whole school, in total just shy of £2.000 has been raised this term. The PTA is fundraising for a 2D cutter for the DT department and some woodland play equipment.

Thinking Caps On‌ Our careers team invited Army personnel from Bovington Camp into school earlier this term to talk to years 10 and 11 about careers. We are thrilled to report that our visitors commented on the positive attitude of our students and how engaged they were in the problem solving and team-building activities the Army put them through. These included circuit design, constructing a wheelbarrow, building the tallest tower and code-breaking. We look forward to welcoming our visitors back next year.

Biscuit Bauble Challenge

One of the most popular activities this term has to have been the biscuit decorating competition organised by Mrs V-I, who is sadly leaving The Park School at the end of term. With strict limits on time and resources, pupils were challenged to be their most creative in decorating a biscuit bauble.

Congratulations to Olivia (Y7) who scooped the top prize with her expressive snowman and to the four runners-up Isobella (Y7), Elisha (Y8), Caitlin (Y10) and Iris (Y10) whose entries proved the most festive to the judges.

Competition entry fees are donated to this year’s school charity Guide Dogs for The Blind.

Tommy in the Trenches WW1 Medicine, Tommy in the Trenches and the Rise of Hitler were amongst the discussions had by Y9 and Y10 historians during their immersive visit to Bovington Tank Museum. The

real-life exhibits allow the students an understanding of this time in history adding an extra dimension to their learning and understanding of the subject.

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News round up

A Poster for Peace

Our talented Y8 art students scooped 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes in the annual Yeovil Lions Club Peace Poster Competition 2019.

In first place, Taryn chose to represent this year’s title ‘The Journey of Peace’ with a colourful image of a tree through the seasons. Her picture now goes through to the SW Regional competition.

Tom (2nd) and Helena (3rd) will have their pictures displayed in the Art room, along with a copy of Taryn’s. Congratulations all!

Charity Pup-date

This year’s nominated charity for House fundraising is Guide Dogs for the Blind and earlier in the term we welcomed representatives from the charity into school to launch the project.

Iris, who has been puppy walking for 35 years, and Alistair, who has sight-loss, explained the importance and role of the Guide Dogs and how they could make a huge difference to the life of someone who has sight-loss or visual impairment.

Our target is to raise £1,500 and a Just Giving page has been set up to make it easy for people to donate allowing for tax relief. justgiving.com/fundraising/theparkschool There is also a collection pot in reception. We look forward to a year of exciting fundraising activities from each House.

Mrs Richards, Head of Houses

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This year’s school Christmas card was cleverly designed by Y10 Silver Arts Award student Alice W who drew (literally) inspiration from the manor house building. Her drawing was created on her ipad on which she brought the building alive with clever seasonal touches.

New Trees Planted

On the initiative of Mr Allen in our Prep School, 420 indigenous tree saplings were delivered to school this term supplied free from the Woodland Trust as part of their Trees for Schools scheme. Our two Eco Clubs, Forest School and our Pre-Prep Department kicked off the planting in October and with much assistance from Mr McCourt our Groundsman, the last few were planted at the end of term. You can see the saplings now in their new home alongside the rugby pitch and the public footpath.

Half a point

wins the day!

Science in Action

Congratulations to Shaftesbury House who won the House Singing competition – pipping Slessor by just half a point.

Livingstone were up first and gave a good rendition of the mandatory song Jessie J’s Price Tag, finishing their performance with a shower of money over the judges which sadly turned out to be fake! Muller followed and strong vocals by Penny led a lively rendition. Shaftesbury added actions and rap vocals by Lucy which gave their performance a snappy feel. Slessor’s performance was well-choreographed and made everyone smile.

The second half provided an opportunity for the Houses to show off their individuality.

Livingstone gave a worthy performance of Take Me Home Country Road accompanied

by Mr Cudworth on guitar. Muller performed the popular This is Me! From The Greatest Showman and again, Penny proved a great asset. Shaftesbury took a very different approach and with much staff involvement and several props gave an impressive and funny performance of (Is this the way to)

Amarillo? Last to perform was Slessor with an upbeat number from High School Musical titled Together. Slessor was the only House to split into parts and attempt some brave choreography including Jake performing a backflip. Mrs Baimbridge’s enthusiasm had the judges worried that we might end up witnessing a live birth too. This last performance was certainly entertaining especially as whilst singing ‘Together’ the dance moves revealed that the performers were anything but ‘together’!

It was a fun yet enthusiastically competitive afternoon and lovely to see so many students getting involved. Well done to everyone. All House points will go towards the Stunt Cup presented at the end of term.

Thanks also to Mrs Rawlings for adding her expertise to the judging panel.

Mrs Richards, Head of Houses

Mr Gill and Miss Safadi had fun demonstrating many properties of dry ice in joint Physics and Chemistry lessons. A real treat for the Sci-Fi SFX fans who enjoyed watching their imaginary cauldrons in class.

Snails

Not so sure how keen these few were to try snails at our European Day of Languages in September!

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Prep school round up A Day at Gore Farm

Prep School pupils had a thoroughly enjoyable day at Gore Farm this term learning how the farm works in harmony with the local habitat and how it is adapting to climate change.

Going to the Zoo

Pupils in our Prep School visited Bristol Zoo to learn about exotic animals and conservation. Here are some of their thoughts…

Grace “I like the aye-ayes because they are so adorable with their dish-like ears. I also liked seeing the enormous snakes. The python especially. I even got to touch and stroke one – luckily it wasn’t dangerous! It was a red and black striped milk snake.

Albie “I liked the gorillas the best because they were so funny but I lost my hat in their enclosure. I hope they didn’t eat it!!”

Toby “I liked the lions the best because they roared really loudly! Apparently you can hear them up to 5 miles away.”

Roald Dahl Day

At the start of the school year, our Prep School took part in Roald Dahl Day by dressing up as their favourite character from his books.

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George “I couldn’t believe how revoltingly stinky the house mice were!”

Helena “My favourite animal was the slow loris because it looked so cute and its eyes were so huge but its bite can kill you!”

Joseph “I loved watching the giant jumping rat from Madagascar when we went into the Twilight Zone because it so mesmerising and hypnotising.”

Louis “I went last year and it made me laugh when the lions snored so loudly!”

Sports round up...

Another busy term in the PE department in which we have enjoyed establishing our curriculum again with the highlight teaching Year 9 and 10 girls to tackle in rugby - It's fair to say some have enjoyed it more than others!

The school has participated in both girls' hockey and boys' rugby fixtures across a range of years, the occasional football match (more next term), ISA swimming trials and the Yeovil area cross-country. I want to thank all the students for committing themselves to represent the school and the many parents who have collected them later in the evening.

House cross-country opened our year of house sport events and we couldn't have asked for a better afternoon following the horrendous rain. All students who completed the course earned valuable points for each of their houses. Livingstone took the first prize that day and with it a new school record for Joe in Y10. Next term, we will compete in netball, football and basketball leagues across the district.

Outside of school sports, congratulations to Holly, Laura and Ryan who all qualified for the ISA Schools swimming gala at the QE Olympic Centre in November. Unfortunately, Ryan had to bow out owing to injury. We are also hugely proud of Y10 student Joe who was awarded Best U15 boy at the Yeovil Olympiads Athletics Club 2019 awards in October.

Prep Sport

The Prep School had a very successful term of sport in which the children have thoroughly enjoyed representing the school in a number of tag rugby and hockey fixtures. Teams put in a lot of effort during training sessions and really exceeded themselves during match fixtures resulting in an unbeaten season. I would like to thank the parents who joined us to watch matches; your support is very much appreciated. Next term the children will have the opportunity to compete in a number of football, tag rugby and hockey fixtures.

Mrs Guthrie, Director of Sport

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Mr Allen

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Christingle

Years 3 and 4 hosted a charming Christingle service to mark the beginning of Advent with confident singing and thoughtful words on the meaning of the celebration. They lit up St James' church, Chilton Cantelo with their candles in oranges which they had crafted themselves. Thank you to Mrs Fisher for directing the service.

Carol Service

This year's Carol Service proved a fitting end to the school term with readings from pupils throughout the school and led by parent governor Revd Ron Martin. The choir, performed the carols they had sung earlier in the week at the BBC Carol Service demonstrating how well they had filled the church. We also enjoyed an exemplary choral performance of In The Bleak Midwinter by the new parents' choir, led by Mrs Huntington and

Dates

the ringing of the St John's bells by the school bell-ringing club. Mr Rice, Head of Music, praised the school choir "You have been an example of how to perform and behave. Your singing has reached and moved people and your voices will be forever in St John's with those from down the ages."

for your Diary

Spring Term 2020 Friday 3 January Monday 6 January Monday 17 – Friday 21 February Friday 3 April

Summer Term 2020 Tuesday 21 April Wednesday 22 April Friday 8 May Monday 25 – Friday 30 May Saturday 11 July

INSET Day First Day of Term Half Term Easter Service – Last Day of Term Inset Day First Day of Term Bank Holiday Half Term Speech Day and Prizegiving Last Day of Term

Spring Term 2020 Open Mornings:

Wednesday 12 February 09.30 - 11.30am Thursday 19 March 09.30 - 11.30am Please book your place with our Admissions Office in advance in order that we can tailor the visit to your child's individual needs. Call 01935 850555 or email admissions@parkschool.com

Festive lunch

In the last week of term chef and his team laid out a festive spread for the whole school to enjoy!

The Park School Chilton Cantelo Somerset, BA22 8BG

01935 850555 admissions@parkschool.com

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