Box Hill School
May 2021
Latest News
The longawaited return to school On Monday 8th March, we were absolutely delighted to open our doors again to our school community. All the meticulous planning and organisation facilitated a smooth return to our stunning campus, and it has been wonderful to see so many happy, smiling faces during this busy Spring/Summer term as we embrace a new ‘normal’.
Box Hill School and HRH Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh There may be many in the community who perhaps do not know of the full extent of our links to Prince Philip, or the wider Royal Family in general. A great deal has been written on the formative schooling of Prince Philip and the effect that this had on his sense of duty and service. Box Hill School, although only 62 years old, has an important story which plays out in a rich and diverse educational experience, even to this day. Although most families will be aware of HRH Prince Edward’s recent visit to the school in 2018 to open our Sports Centre, fewer will know that HRH Prince Philip opened both our music school (in 2009) and what is now our dance studio (in 1976). He visited the school on other occasions as well. HRH Prince Andrew opened the quad classrooms, and HRH Princess Anne opened the Atwood Boarding House. King Constantine II of the Hellenes, and his wife Queen AnneMarie, are patrons of the school, and have visited several times. There have been several other visits by others over the years, such as when Prince Philip’s brother-in-law, Prince George of Hanover, stopped in for a three- hour tour of the school in the early 1960s. Much of this closeness was born out of the Prince’s passion for the progressive education he experienced at Gordonstoun School and the fact that Box Hill and Gordonstoun were two of eight schools which together founded the Round Square family, which now number 200 schools across the globe. Gordonstoun itself was founded in 1934 by German educationalist Dr Kurt Hahn. Hahn was born in 1886 in Berlin to Jewish parents and after fleeing Germany in 1933 determined that he would continue to educate children to develop independent thought, courage, principle, imagination, generosity, and resolution. Continued on Page 2
Exam Year Groups The summer term is always a nerve racking one for Y11, ISC and Y13 students as they begin their public examinations in various subjects. As we know this year official examinations have been cancelled, however students are continuing to work and focus on their internal assessments and course work. We are so proud of these students for getting their heads down and showing real maturity, perseverance, and true grit with their studies.
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Hahn decided that young people across the local area should have the opportunity to experience his uniquely broad educational model and he created the Moray Badge (which HRH Prince Philip himself gained as a pupil at the school). Such was the success of this programme that Hahn had ambitions for it to be awarded nationally. He consulted with HRH Prince Philip and persuaded him to give his name to what became the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in 1956. All pupils at Box Hill School are required to participate in the Bronze ‘D of E’ Award at Year 9 and many go on to achieve Silver and Gold awards. We are one of the earliest schools to participate in this programme and when we reached the 50th anniversary of our licence a small group of staff and alumni were invited to meet with Prince Philip at the Palace to receive a special award. HRH Prince Philip described his school experience of sailing and hiking in the north of Scotland as being the equivalent of having “additional classrooms”, there to “open the eyes of young people to the wider world beyond school and home”. Pushing oneself outside of one’s comfort zone, getting cold and wet at times, working as a team, meeting new people and doing things away from screens – this is what a Box Hill School education must also be about and we passionately commit to this ideal.
Bedrock Learning Competition During the Spring Term, Year 7 and Year 8 took part in Bedrock Vocabulary lessons and challenge as part of the English curriculum. Box Hill School pupils achieved 120 points to win a Bedrock Star Prize. Congratulations to those who took part. They are rising to the challenge again for the Summer term Good Luck!
Having these opportunities and this legacy is an enormous privilege. We cannot stress enough that our spirit of Holistic Education is equally about what happens outside of the classroom space as well as inside. It has been lovely to see the children outside practising their summer sports in the glorious sunshine. It is our belief that the greatest tribute we can give His Royal Highness is to safeguard the ideal and spirit of the education he so encouraged, and preserve this legacy for generations to come.
Virtual Spring Soiree
A Level Drama
We are delighted to share with you our Music department’s virtual ‘Spring Soiree’ themed around ‘Hope and New Beginnings’ featuring solo performances from some of our students. This was released on the last day of the spring term and can be viewed by clicking the play buttons below.
Our A Level Drama Students took their performance exam on their physical return to school. This year’s exams took a different approach with group performances being put on hold due to COVID. Therefore, students performed a one-to-twominute monologue in front of a small, socially distanced audience of staff which was recorded for their examination.
Programmatic Music Year 7 students have been studying programmatic music this term and have started composing their own pieces of descriptive music. Their compositions must tell a story or paint a picture without using words. They are learning how to explore instrumental timbres to create an atmosphere or mood alongside using music software to record and realise their work.
Summer Production – Alice in Wonderland
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We are so excited to be able to invite an audience into the school grounds for this live outdoor performance on the back lawn of Dalewood House. Tickets will be on sale after half-term.
Kneehigh Drama Workshop
Prop making Year 8 pupils have been enjoying preparing props and creating the set for Alice in Wonderland during their respective Arts activities. Pupils can get involved with many aspects of performing arts at Box Hill School without getting on stage themselves; whether that be sound and lighting, prop making or costume fitting - there is a part for everyone to work together as a team.
We were delighted to welcome Ian Nicholson to run a Sixth Form workshop for Kneehigh, an international touring theatre company. Ian is a freelance Theatre Director from Portsmouth. He trained as a director at the National Theatre Studio, École Philippe Gaulier and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and was Laboratory Associate Director at Nuffield Southampton Theatres. The workshop provided the opportunity for students to practically explore Kneehigh methodologies and practical approaches to text inspiring them to apply these techniques to their own work on Woyzeck by Georg Buchner. The session was fun and lively, focussing on play and storytelling: key elements of Kneehigh Theatre’s work.
Co-Curricular Wednesday afternoon activities are always jam packed. We provide opportunities for both team and individual sports and activities. We encourage students to participate in a range of activities as part of their holistic educational journey. We offer over 50 activities including major sports, Dance, Mountain Biking, Debating, Gardening, Public Speaking, Photography and many more. With golf courses now open, we are delighted to see our students teeing off at Pachesham golf course. They have been having golf lessons, using the driving range to practice their skills and playing on the course.
Sport One of the highlights of this Summer term has been the longawaited return to competitive fixtures. The whole school community is absolutely delighted that these have now been reinstated and it is wonderful to see the sporting camaraderie back on our pitches. Cricket, Athletics, Tennis and Rounders are our major sports for this Summer season. So far, we have played some cracking cricket matches at home and away against schools such as Epsom College, King Edward’s Witley, Claremont Fan Court, Belmont, Duke of Kent and Lord Wandsworth College.
Mountain biking is always very popular providing the perfect opportunity to learn new skills on some fantastic trails near school. Students from years 7, 8 and 9 are being encouraged to try something new with rock climbing, navigating the high ropes course and the zip wire.
The Box Hill dancers shoot their first group video During the Easter break, Year 7 dancers were busy filming a dance routine on location. Whilst working remotely, pupils from our Tuesday afternoon Dance cocurricular activity completed Zoom lessons to learn their choreographed dance. Having then returned to physical lessons, they had a couple of weeks to polish off their routines, finesse their moves and produce their first group video. Take a look at their video by clicking the ‘Play’ icon below.
UKMT Junior Maths Challenge Years 7 and 8 pupils took part in the UKMT Junior Maths Challenge. This Junior Mathematical Challenge is a 60-minute, multiplechoice competition at aimed encouraging mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems.
Box Hill School Dance Company Our Dance Company also filmed a video during the Easter Holidays, which was released to celebrate International Dance Day. The first International Dance Day was celebrated in 1982 and has taken place on the 29th of April every year since. The day is designed to celebrate all genres of dance and tries to encourage participation and education in dance. The Box Hill School Dance Company is by invitation and runs after school providing performance and competition opportunities for students.
Take a look at their video by clicking the ‘Play’ icon.
The Great Year 7 Bake Off Year 7 students demonstrated some fabulous baking skills in our ‘Great Year 7 Bake Off,’ we received some amazing entries!
Maths department celebrate Pi Day Sunday 14th March was Pi Day. We celebrated in School on the following Monday, here is the winner of the reciting digits of Pi competition, Timur K, who recited 40 digits. He is holding his prize of a pair of ‘Apple Pi socks!’
Art, Fashion and Textiles In textile lessons, Year 9 pupils have been stitching their Chuck Close inspired portraits. Chuck Close is known for his innovative conceptual portraiture, depicting his subjects, which are transposed from photographs, into visual data organised by gridded compositions.
To prepare our A Level and GCSE pupils for their Art and Textiles exams, the two departments ran a series of 5 hour sustained work days. These were in place of the mock examinations for Year 11 and Year 13 which pupils missed in January due to COVID-19 when they would have usually completed coursework.
Design Technology The Design & Technology Department has been delighted to announce that their new HPC Laser cutter and two Ender 3 pro 3D printers are now installed and working after a generous donation by a Box Hill parent. Our warmest thanks to them. Mrs Wilson (Subject Lead D&T) and Mr Coates (D&T Technician) and all our DT students are delighted! It is going to make a huge difference to the department and will help to ready students for life after Box Hill in the creative arts, by using industry standard software and understanding the whole CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided manufacture) process. Year 10 GCSE students have been learning how to design using the programmess during lockdown and have had their designs brought to life with the laser cutter!
UCAS Virtual Fair Year 12 students attended a UCAS Virtual Fair, which allowed them to explore career opportunities, talk to universities and apprenticeship providers to gain further insight into opportunities available once they have completed their studies in the Sixth Form. Students also attended live seminars regarding degrees in engineering, psychology and bioscience in addition to workshops based on employability skills and student finance.
DofE Practice Expeditions
Boarders’ Weekend Trip Paintballing
Towards the end of April, pupils took part in their Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award practice expedition. These pupils will participate in their real assessment at the end of June and beginning of July. For the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition pupils partake in two days walking and one night’s camping whereas for the Silver Award, pupils partake in three days walking and two nights’ camping. We wish all our pupils taking part in their expeditions the best of luck.
Boarders’ News Now restrictions are being lifted it is brilliant to see our boarding community making the most of their weekends through organised trips and outings both on and off the campus. Recently, they have enjoyed Laserquest, Bubble Football and an afternoon at Horton Crazy golf, with two students getting a hole in one! GET IN TOUCH Please contact us via admissions@boxhillschool.com WHO TO CONTACT Claire Jordan, Registrar Emma Bushnell, Marketing Manager
Old London Road, Mickleham, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6EA Tel: 01372 373382 www.boxhillschool.com boxhillschool @boxhillschool
Our boarders also have the advantage of seeing the school in all lights… quite literally for one of our boarders, Vithidnu K, who took this stunning image of Dalewood House during some of the rain showers on a dark evening in May.