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The
Beechwood Lion Summer 2017
Fun Night 2017 – for more BPSPA news, see page 7
From The Headmaster The buzz of another Beechwood Park Speech Day, with quotations abounding from The Good Schools Guide past and present, defines just how much your children have achieved this year in School, out of School, district-wide and nationally. I have never been to a Speech Day with so much to celebrate but also with such a sense of anticipation. My thanks go to all of our staff, and in particular our new staff, governors and BPSPA who have had such a significant impact on all that the School has achieved this year. My particular thanks go to our new Bursar, Tim Blad and to the rest of the Senior Management Team for coordinating such a rich and complex educational programme.
‘It is of course’ as Lord Lucas, editor of The Good Schools Guide, says ‘people that make for the quality of a school.’ and we feel very fortunate to have pupils who meet the challenges that we set them with such vigour. We are fortunate too to have such a creative staff who day by day demonstrate the Growth Mindset in their teaching, always striving to be better and engage children in new and exciting ways. Our supportive and dedicated parent body don wellies and waterproofs to brave the ‘cataracts and hurricanoes’ of November weather in support of our atmospheric Bonfire and Fireworks Night and dedicate a year preparing for the biggest and loudest party in Hertfordshire. Our governors, some of them new to the board, bring their own expertise in guiding and supporting the development of the School. All of you play a huge part in our combined success and, as I said at Speech Day, your energy and enthusiasm for all that we do in support of pupil progress lie at the very heart of our industrious beehive. All that remains at this late stage of the
Speech Day Plenty of Buzz and Fizz were around at the Beechwood Park Speech Day this year – and not just at the lunchtime picnics. There was the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our energetic, enthusiastic and talented pupils and encourage them, in the words of visiting speaker, Richard Harman, to follow their dreams.
The Headmaster spoke of the ‘Beechwood Buzz’ which lies at the heart of our industrious beehive. Head Pupils Sam and Will acknowledged, rather appropriately and poignantly, in the words of Take That, ‘We’ve come so far…but we’re not invincible’. Together, we make Beechwood buzz!
summer term, with reports written and the festivities nearly over, is Fun Night and the end of term farewells, not that we will be idle over the summer! There is a Music Department extension including a brand-new Music Technology Suite, Apple computers, a new Ensemble Room and Recording Studio with additional storage and practice space to finesse, ICT development projects, classroom refurbishments and of course preparations for the start of the new academic year! Thank you for all of your commitment to this extraordinary school. Have a great summer and we all look forward to seeing your children in September. With best wishes, Yours,
EDWARD BALFOUR HEADMASTER
20 is Plenty!
JULIA ROUSE
This term pupils and their parents were greeted back to School with some engaging signs positioned along the drive to the School. The new signs, the culmination of a brainstorming session by staff and children, depict the 20-mph speed limit in a myriad of novel ways. The signs are not designed to detract from the serious message of speed awareness, far from it, they simply intend to draw attention to the speed limit whilst making the journey up the drive more entertaining and educational for passengers, eager to reach their final destination!
LOUISE PAGE
The newsletter of Beechwood Park School, Markyate, Hertfordshire AL3 8AW
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Life Long Ago Year 6 at Mountfitchet Year 6 visited Mountfichet Castle, a reconstructed medieval Motte and Bailey castle, which aims to give students a sense of life in a castle during the 11th century. The on-site House on the Hill Toy Museum contains a wide range of toys dating from the 1890s to the present day. Everyone had a fantastic day exploring both the castle and the toy museum. However, feeding the tame animals that roam free around the castle was a particular highlight!
ANGHARAD GRIFFITHS
Fire of London
Dinosaurs!
This term, Year 2 learnt all about the Great Fire of London and explored the topic across the curriculum. They acted out scenes from the Great Fire of London in drama, then, in preparation for the Great Fire of Beechwood created a ‘net’ using a square, a rectangle and a triangle to make their own house, ready to burn. Meanwhile in Art they made their own timber framed houses using the only spare timber in the classroom - lolly sticks! When the Great Fire ‘ignited’ the whole year gathered on the back lawn and made a human chain to pass buckets of water to extinguish the Great Fire of Beechwood!
MIA BLOOMFIELD
The hushed silence of the Performance Hall was broken by the roar of dinosaurs. Years 1 and 2 were lucky enough to meet Chewy, the Allosaurus, and Millie the T-Rex! Despite both dinosaurs being carnivores, no fingers were eaten in the taking of photos! Millie, who at only six years old, is not nearly fully grown very much enjoyed the Beechwood Park grounds!
WENDY RODEN
Mischief Managed This term the boarders enjoyed a ‘Harry Potter Evening’, The Great Hall, grounds and cellars of Beechwood Park lending themselves perfectly to the purpose. The evening began with an enchanting feast put on by the magical kitchen staff. Butterbeer flowed, pumpkin pasties were devoured by the dozen, and even Ron Weasley’s favourite sandwiches (corned beef) were consumed with a supernatural hunger. With a mystical haze of potions floating over the long table, and in the light of Beechwood’s very own floating candles, the newly formed Hogwarts houses found that despite their magical abilities, they could not escape prep. After the Houses had battled it out on the Quidditch pitch, the sandwiches, pyjamas, milkshakes and duvets with Harry Potter on the big screen was much needed, thus bringing the evening to a close.
TOM KENNEDY
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Latin Plays The annual Ludi Scaenici are the highlight of the Classics calendar and this year our Senior pupils and visiting Year 8 pupils from the Priory Academy in Dunstable did not disappoint. They treated us to some exceptional performances enhanced, in many cases, by rather creative costumes. Learning a script is hard enough, but to be able to perform in correctly-pronounced Latin, which is delivered with depth and feeling is no mean feat, and the performers had obviously worked very hard under the auspices of the truly inspirational Mrs Anderson to reach such a level.
Thank you to Mrs Alex Broadbent and Simon Tetlow (#oldbeechwoodian) who travelled from Uppingham School for the unenviable task of singling out a winning play.
LOUISE PAGE
Viking Day Year 4 had been eagerly awaiting Viking Day so that they could finally transform themselves into ‘real’ vicious Vikings! Adopting Viking names such as Hogni Hot Nose, Grundi Bloodaxe, Groa and Solvieg, they greeted the fearsome but friendly Viking, Thorulf Hammrsson. The children were treated to a very entertaining day-long history lesson where they learnt about everyday life as a Viking, played Viking board games, learnt how to trade like a Viking, finishing the day off with the all-important weapons display.
CHRIS KNELLER
Performance
PAGE X Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare going strong…after 401 years! Beechwood Park Senior Department children - with the aid of wooden swords, long black cloaks and some feathered caps - brought Shakespeare’s immortal words to life yet again. Scenes from Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream were performed by Years 6, 7
and Top X, together with some wonderfully uplifting monologues and duologues. Yes, Shakespearean language is challenging, but his timeless messages still enthral our children. This year, Edward (7AE) won the Shakespeare Heaphy Cup for his inspirational Henry V, while 7B2 won the best group performance with their scene from Romeo and Juliet. Special mention was made by the adjudicator, Mrs Bridget
Homage to the Movies
LAMDA 44 pupils from Year 2 to Year 7 took LAMDA exams in early June. LAMDA continues to be extremely popular and 70 pupils in total have taken LAMDA Acting exams during the academic year 2016-17. Pupils had the opportunity to show their exam pieces to their parents during a special lunchtime performance.
Year 3 performed their Dance & Drama homage to the movies - an eclectic selection including Lego Batman, Beauty & the Beast and Sing!
Manton, of superb performances by Kieran (7AE), Euan (7LHH), Danny (Top MSR) and Jack (Top GW). There was a standing ovation for Mrs Mary Miller’s contribution to the children’s English learning over the years of her teaching at Beechwood.
JUDITH MCMULLEN
Lion King In preparation for the next epic School production, Disney’s The Lion King, Mrs Davidson has been busy in the DT room creating some amazing masks. Not a straightforward technique by any means. First she makes a model from clay, then takes a mould from this in silicon and plaster. This is then recast in resin before being painted. An intricate process with some stunning results.
LAURA HEGARTY
JULIA ROUSE
Choir Tour to Belgium On the first day of the Easter holidays, 35 children (from Years 5 to Top) and I, along with Mrs Bliss, Mrs Jarvis, Mr Packer and Mr Vockerodt, travelled to Belgium for the ‘Choir Tour’. On the first day we visited ‘Choco Story’, in the centre of Bruges to feast our eyes and our stomachs and then on to Onze Lievre Vrouwekerk Church, where the choir excelled themselves with a selection of both sacred and secular music, including music by Rutter, the Little Jazz Mass by Chilcott and a medley from Les Misérables. Afterwards, the sun shone and a nearby huge sandy beach beckoned where the children were able to cover themselves in sand, play ball and relax. The following day we visited Tyne Cot War Cemetery – a very moving experience, made more poignant when the children, sitting upon the large memorial in the middle of the
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cemetery, asked if they could sing. The sound of ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’ echoing across the Cemetery from their beautiful voices is a memory I shall treasure for ever. In Ypres the children had a chance to enjoy the amazing acoustic of St Martin’s Cathedral. From here we visited another chocolate emporium before arriving the Menin Gate where the crowds gathered to hear the choir sing ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’ while wreaths were laid. The children were stunning – both in their behaviour and singing and many people came up to us commenting on how beautiful the choir sounded. On Monday we visited a theme park with the wonderful name of ‘Plopsaland’. The sun shone and we were all whirled around on ride after ride - a superb way to end an incredible tour.
JANE LODGE
Reception Superheroes Reception enjoyed coming in to School dressed as their favourite Superhero, playing Superhero games, creating Superhero pictures and even making Superhero potions using a variety of ingredients.
Beechwood Park School’s Newsletter
PIPPA ROXEN
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If You Go Down To The Woods… Forest School for Everyone! We finally got there; every year group in the School has experienced Forest School this year! Woodlands to Year 4 pupils are lucky enough to experience regular Forest School or Outdoor Explorer sessions but our older students have had to wait a while to join in with the fun. Year 5 enjoyed a special day in the Forest School with addition of Music and First Aid sessions! Year 6 created bird feeders with Mrs Davidson, Aboriginal Art with Miss Wilks and learned Forest School crafts. What makes good fuel for a fire? Year 7 had to work as a team to collect fire wood
and start their own fire; their challenge was to use a Fire Steel and 1 piece of cotton wool to get it going and keep it alight for 5 minutes (easier said than done!) Top Form demonstrated their citizenship skills by helping with some maintenance work before whiling away the afternoon whittling sticks and reminiscing about their days at Beechwood Park. We managed to wipe out the entire stock of marshmallows from the local supermarket as everyone needed to experience toasting one on the fire!
BECKY LE BAS
Welly Boot Camp The inaugural Year 3 Welly Boot Camp which took place on ‘Outdoor Classroom Day’ was an enormous success. Despite the excesses of the British weather, the Beechwood Park children rose to the challenge and once again exceeded all expectations during this camping experience in the School grounds. After a BBQ supper we lit a fire in the Forest School fire pit and the children drank hot chocolate, toasted marshmallows and ate S’mores! The new day dawned and by 6am the children were chatting and laughing in their tents. We would like to say an enormous thank you to the staff and Top Formers who helped and encouraged us to make this such a successful camping experience.
A Taste of Forest School A Forest School session for parents coincided with a glorious May day. The sun shone, the birds sang, the rabbits, squirrels, bees and butterflies were out and about. It was wonderful to hear parents talking about the benefits of Forest School to their
THE YEAR 3 TEAM
children’s physical development, their understanding of nature and the seasons as well as a chance for them to follow their interests, enjoy more space and socialise with their peers in a positive environment. One parent even going as far as to say that Beechwood Park’s Forest School had been a key factor in deciding to send their child here! A parent working-party also joined me this term to help develop our wonderful environment. We painted the shed, laid bark chippings, lopped off branches and sawed down spindly trees! In addition the industrious group made a lovely set of rustic shelves, a bug hotel and some beautifully decorated material which will be made into bunting. A huge thank you to all.
@25before25 Having read an interesting article by journalist Emma Rosen in The Telegraph earlier in the year, I invited Emma who is trying out 25 careers before she turns 25, to Beechwood Park to experience life as a Forest School teacher. Emma spent a session with Year 2 in the woods and got involved with whittling and square lashing as well as learning to identify some of our trees with the help our very knowledgeable pupils. Find out what Emma thought about her experience on her website: 25before25.co.uk
BECKY LE BAS
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‘In The Spotlight’ & ‘Out And About’ En Garde!
British Science Week
We were delighted to be able to host two Olympic fencers; Marcus Mepstead (Team GB) and Enzo Lefort (France) for a day of filming around the School grounds. The two fencers had both very recently returned from major tournaments in Tbilisi and Shanghai. At our School they were taking part in a promotional film for leading Fencing Equipment Manufacturer, Leon Paul’s, new state-of-the-art wireless fencing system. Top Former, Archie, who recently reached the finals of the IAPS Fencing Championships was invited for a Q&A and photo session with Marcus and Enzo. Leon Paul were also hugely excited by the opportunity to use Beechwood Park as a location; they are a world-renowned company and with a factory tour, equipment demonstrations and some masterclasses all possibilities in the pipeline, we were delighted with this chance to develop the link.
KYLIE-PAUL LE BAS
Sky Sports Film at Beechwood We were delighted to host Sky Television in the final days of the Lent term for the filming of an interview with Saracens club captain and England International Brad Barritt. This was used to preview the final stages in the Champions Trophy. Our Year 4 pupils were thrilled to be invited to interview Brad Barritt; this was followed by an inspiring training session with him where the girls and boys were able to gain lots of insight into the wonderful world of rugby. There was yet more excitement in store as pupils were able to spot themselves when the film was released.
JAMES BARRINGER
Isle of Wight Year 5 enjoyed some lovely weather and the best that the Isle of Wight has to offer. ‘Mrs Pilkington’ at Osborne House instructed them in Housekeeping for Queen Victoria, ‘Sir John’ at Carisbrooke Castle taught them about jobs which they might have had in times gone by, along with some obligatory weapons training! The ever-popular walk across Tennyson Down was enhanced by a swift westerly and culminated in the annual headstand competition. Campers of the week were Lana (5B) and William (5B), but all the pupils were so well behaved and a delight to be with.
RACHEL RIDLEY
Skern Lodge We had another stunning week with the Top Form at Skern Lodge as part of their Post Common Entrance programme. The pupils were fantastic, the food was brilliant and the tuck shop was a particular favourite! Stand out activities were the Rib Donut Ride and learning to surf. Coastal traversing was exciting and eventful, particularly when Ben and Freddie made a habit of falling in!
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The Science Department was delighted to hear that Willow (6CD) won ‘runner-up’ in the British Science Week poster competition for her age group. Thousands of pupils entered this national competition and Willow’s poster, depicting the differences between night and day, was selected by the British Science Association to go forward to a public vote. Willow received an amazing prize of a technical Lego set as well as a copy of Roald Dahl’s – George’s Marvellous Experiments book. Many congratulations to Willow.
KATIE DIAMOND
Saracens Inspire Woodlanders Woodlands Nursery pupils were excited to have the chance to take part in a rugby training session with Ian Peel, a Woodlands father and Saracens Rugby Coach. This was an amazing opportunity for the children and will hopefully inspire them towards a lifetime love of rugby and produce some budding 1st team players for the future!
KYLIE PAUL LE BAS
IAPS Fencing Silver Medal Fencing has been going from strength to strength this year and our Fencing club has doubled in size. Archie (Top GW) has made great progress with his fencing and was selected to represent us at the IAPS Fencing Championships at Millfield School. Archie participated in 4 hours of fighting, had 10 wins out of 10 which got him through to the final where he was narrowly beaten. We were delighted by this outcome which has paved the way for us to take a full team next year.
KYLIE-PAUL LE BAS
Links with CoStA
We had an eventful night, camping on Hartland Point with collapsing tents and the week culminated in the 1st Annual Beechwood Park Table Tennis Championships – winners Will and Amir.
TOM MCKENZIE
Daniel McDonald, Lead Junior Performance Coach at CoStA has run a swimming club for pupils in Years 1 to 4 throughout this academic year. The aim of the sessions is to give children added experience, confidence and skills, which will enhance their swimming.
CLARE LECKIE-HARBORD
Beechwood Park School’s Newsletter
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Sport Bedford Sixes Success There was sunshine and success in equal measures when our U11 six-a-side Cricket team took part in a tournament hosted by Bedford School. Our team played a total of seven matches with a fabulous outcome; they won 4 of the matches, tied in 2 and lost just 1. Notable wins were recorded against Northants County, Heath Mount School and Bedfordshire County teams leading to Plate Final victory. Congratulations to Herbie, Miles, Toby, Henry S, Christopher, Henry P and Jasper.
MARK RIDLEY
Athletics County Champs For the first time, Beechwood Park entered the Herts Athletics County Championships, which took place at Jarman Park. It is a senior school event and is extremely competitive. Six of our pupils took part, Edward Y7 (Long Jump), Kieran and Edward Y7, George and James Y8 (200m) and Euan Y7 and Robert Y8 (1500m). All of these pupils gained personal bests and it was a wonderful learning experience for them.
KYLIE-PAUL LE BAS
Cricket Review We have had a fantastic cricket season. Our U11, U12 and U13 teams all played in the county cup cricket tournament, the U12 and U13 teams did particularly well getting through several rounds to make it to semi and quarter finals respectively. The first team have had a great season winning the majority of their matches and we were delighted when all four senior teams made a clean sweep at the notoriously challenging Haileybury fixture.
MARK RIDLEY
ISGA Golf Beechwood Park took part in the inaugural ISGA Junior Stableford Competition, which was held at the Sunningdale Heath Golf Club on Monday 8th May. Representing Beechwood were George (Yr5) and Eddie (Yr5) and their combined scores gave Beechwood a very creditable joint 6th place out of a tough field of 20 schools from all over the country.
CHRIS KNELLER
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Sports Days Our Sports Days have all been hugely successful. Woodlands Nursery kicked off proceedings with a most enjoyable morning of games which included ferrying cups of water – and getting pretty wet! Junior Sports Day entertained with old favourites such as the sack race and egg and spoon race. We noted some very quick runners in the sprints which bodes well for our future athletic achievements. Middle Department Sports Day was action packed as usual in both the field and track events. Cameron broke the Year 4 300m record with a time of 56 secs. Another record was broken on Senior Sports Day; Lily recorded 3 mins 11 secs the Year 7 800m. Congratulations to Saunders who won Middle Department Sports Day and to Stewart who won Senior Department Sports Day.
Skilled Skiers Our pupils have been in action this term, competing twice at The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead. Firstly at the ISA Indoor Ski Championships in association with BISS Racing where our A team finished 5th and our B team 8th in the Mixed Open event. In May our skiers were back in action racing in SATIPSKI National event. The U11 boys (Jack D, Arthuro S, Hugo L and Ben W-S) finished 8th out of 13 schools. In our U11 girls’ team (Annabelle W-S, Annabel W, Evie F and Freya H) Annabelle W-S finished 10th out of 23 competitors, and Annabel W was just behind in 12th place. Well done to all the skiers this year and a big thank you to all the parents who have helped get a Beechwood Park Ski team up and running. ALEXIS HAMILTON
Rounders Review The girls have enjoyed an excellent summer term of rounders. The U9s had a clean sweep of wins, with all three teams winning in some really competitive games. The U9As finished the term undefeated, having beaten Manor Lodge, Berkhamsted and Kingshott, and drawn against an incredibly strong Heath Mount side who had won all their games up until then - both sides displaying some exceptional fielding. Well done to all the girls from Y3 to Y6 who have much improved their grasp of rules and tactics and developed their batting and fielding skills.
ALEXIS HAMILTON
KYLIE-PAUL LE BAS
IAPS Swimming Finals Six Beechwood swimmers made the journey to K2 Centre in Crawley, where our U12 medley team Kieran, Alasdair, Jack & Max) competed in the relays finals, and four swam in the individual finals. The relay team recorded an exceptional PB of 1:08:31 and were placed 6th overall. The individuals followed: Alasdair in the U12 50m freestyle, Henry in the U13 25m butterfly. Josh and Kieran swam the U12 and U13 50m backstroke and both made it through to swim the final, where Josh finished 8th and Kieran 6th. Well done to all of the boys who took part!
CLARE LECKIE-HARBORD
Girls Kwik Cricket Festival Beechwood Park hosted an inaugural Girls Cricket Festival. We welcomed three sides from Chesham Prep, Edge Grove and Westbrook Hay to learn the game and compete alongside our own team with a Kwik cricket format. Each team consisted of 8 players, with all players batting in pairs for 2 overs and every player rotating around fielding positions to learn all positions. Well done to the Year 4, 5 and 6 girls who represented Beechwood and who are all members of the Thursday after-school cricket club: - Maia, Poppy, Eleanor, Emily, Olivia, Sophie, Jessica, Annabel and Holly.
ALEXIS HAMILTON
PAGE X From the BPSPA A Summer of Superb Events As always the summer term is full of wonderful events and 2017 is no different. I think we’ve managed to celebrate the end of this academic year in quite some style!
BPSPA & Charity News
Lolly Stall We welcomed back our lovely lolly stall this half term. Thanks to the summery weather the stall was inundated with enthusiastic customers. Thank you to Laura AndersonSmith and her team of helpers.
The Venetian Masked Ball Our summer ball marked the high point of the festivities of this summer term thanks to the hard work of Debbie Priestnall and her incredible team. With a glamorous masked theme, incredible décor and a brilliant band, 400 guests danced the night away. The evening can be summed up in the words of the Headmaster who announced it was the best ball he had ever been to! Fun Night Fun Night raised the tent roof with a fabulous circus theme. The organisation of Fun Night is taken on by Year 3 parents and we are very grateful for the hard work they have put in to make this event such a success. Thank you to Helen Davies and her team as well as to all the wonderful parents who have given their time to organise and run stalls.
House Charities The Beechwood community has been working extremely hard this academic year to support the chosen House Charities. Saunders stepped up with a wonderful challenge to raise money for Help for Heroes. They sold Smarties tubes to all Beechwood Park pupils and asked them to eat the contents, fill the tube with coins and then decorate the tube with a military theme. The results were incredibly imaginative, the tubes were full and Saunders House raised over £1,000 for their charity. Sebright had the fantastic idea of recycling clothes and fabrics and donating the money raised to Save the Children.
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Looking forward Our first social event of the new school year will be the popular Quiz Night on 7th October, hosted by last year’s winning team. We are holding our Family Photo Days again on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th September. The school photographs are individual photos and so we are delighted to be able to offer family mini shoots in the school grounds with Ian Scott Photography. Bookings can be made via the BPSPA website. Other dates for the diary include Bonfire Night (Saturday 4th November), the Christmas Wreath Making Workshop (Monday 11th December) and the Christmas Fayre (2nd December). As always we need volunteers to help run these events – please do get in touch if you can spare some time to help. Don’t forget that the BPSPA section of the school intranet is a great resource for photos, information and news. We also have a Facebook page (class reps can add you if you aren’t already a member) and an active twitter account providing up to the minute information. Piles of donations were delivered each week and taken away to be weighed. To encourage more involvement, Sebright cleverly introduced a competitive element between the Houses with some very positive results! The total raised by Sebright was £727 and they themselves were victorious in their inter-House competition. Stewart chose to support SOS Villages and, thanks to a suggestion from the House members, came up with the idea of making small cardboard houses. These were filled with money and put together to make model villages. Again this was an inter- House competition and £755 was raised. In addition, Ben Buckton, one of our visiting music teachers, has embarked on an amazing venture to cycle the 500miles from west to east across Canada in support
A note of thanks There are so many people who help put on all of these wonderful events for our school community organised by the BPSPA. We are incredibly grateful to all the parents, members of staff and my wonderful committee (Louise Lynes, Emily Southcombe, Nadia Davis and Pippa Ridout) who offer their time, support and donations – we couldn’t do any of this without you. At this time of year, our class reps move on and on behalf of the BPSPA I would like to thank them for all their help and support over the year. We are looking forward to meeting the new reps at our welcome drinks for new parents and new reps on 12th September. Good luck to everyone who is leaving us at the end of the year and best wishes for the next stage of your adventures. Wishing you all a very happy and relaxing summer holiday and looking forward to seeing you in September!
HANNAH GRAY, BPSPA CHAIR
of this charity. We wish him well! There are 300 million children in the world for whom walking with shoes is a rarity. Tudor therefore decided to help by supporting Sals Shoes and donating used, loved or outgrown children's shoes to children worldwide. Some House members decorated their own shoes and donated them once they had starred in the Beechwood Park Fun Run. Other pupils left their shoes at School on that day and headed home barefoot to symbolise this issue.
MAIRI MACNAUGHTON
Beechwood Park School’s Newsletter
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Moving On, Moving Up… BPSPA, Alumni and House News Alumni News It is always lovely to hear from our leavers #oldbeechwoodians and to follow their progress. Will Stewart (BPS 2003-12) Head of School at St Albans School, 2016/17. Will left Beechwood with both Academic and Music Scholarships to St Albans School. Will says: “I have lots of great memories from my time at Beechwood Park. In terms of best, tricky to choose… Either coming 5th in the National Prep School rugby tournament, or Madame Bliss’ and Mrs Anderson’s eccentric teaching styles! I have really enjoyed my year as Head of School. My best memory is definitely when I gave a speech at our Prefect Dinner. I’ve come to enjoy public speaking, and that particular one went down very well. It was a great night overall to celebrate all the work that the prefect team had done through the year. I am taking A Levels in Maths, Further Maths, R.S, and Economics, and I want to study Maths and Philosophy at Bristol, with Edinburgh being my insurance. At the moment I have no idea what I want to do after uni, and I am trying to take it one obstacle at a time. Results day is next on my list, so fingers crossed!” Katie Rouse (BPS 2004-11) Head of School at St Albans High School for Girls, 2017/18. Katie says: “I have so many fond memories of my time at Beechwood. Something that really stands out is the school production of the BFG. I, along with some friends, was in charge of the shadow puppets. We couldn’t really see what was going on and I think the puppets performed some gravity-defying stunts… but from our side of the screen it looked fabulous! More recently, though, I have enjoyed seeing more of my old friends from Beechwood. We have spent a lot of time reminiscing about “the good old days” - cross country as an alternative games option when it was snowing (!) and just the general homely atmosphere of the school. I have just completed a term now in my role as Head Girl. I really enjoyed ‘Founders’ Day’, which was our official “handing over” ceremony at St Albans Cathedral. It was a really welcoming start for me and the other officers - I’ll be sad when we hand over to the next officers in March 2018. I have a feeling it will come round all too soon! I am taking A Levels in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Geography and I am interested in studying Engineering at university.”
Benjamin Craig (BPS 2004-13) Deputy Head of School at St Albans School, 2017/18. Ben left Beechwood with both Academic and Music Scholarships to St Albans School. Ben says: “It is very hard to pick a favourite moment at Beechwood because there were so many! But I think it has to be the year 8 cricket tour to Barbados, closely followed by the trip to Skern Lodge. I have very fond memories of my whole time at Beechwood whether I was running a race on sports day or playing music in a lunchtime concert. I have only just been elected as Deputy Head of School, but I am really looking forward to being an ambassador for the school, and being a positive role model for the younger years. Oh, and the free parking space – obviously! I am currently taking Chemistry, Biology, Maths and English for A Level, and have just finished my AS exams. I’m still not entirely sure what I want to study at university, but I am currently looking at Natural Sciences as a possible course.” Demi Tuinema (BPS 2007-14) Demi left Beechwood with a Sports Scholarship to Berkhamsted School. Demi has recently had huge success on the sports field, qualifying for The English Schools’ National Championships in both the 200m and High Jump. She can’t do both (!) so she has chosen to compete in the 200m in the Championships in Birmingham on 7th & 8th July – we wish her well! She has also qualified for the National Schools' Pentathlon (hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put, 800m) having achieved 3rd place in the regional competition.
Post Common Entrance
The end of their Common Entrance Exams heralded a new lease of life for our Top Form. Released from their revision sessions and exam practice, they enjoyed a wonderful programme of fascinating and informative talks and workshops put together for them by Mrs MacNaughton. They drew up business plans in the Dragons Den – many thanks to Mr Davies and Mr Smith for their expertise and judgement. They exercised their own judgement in the Magistrates Court, ably guided by Mr Osman and scrutinised the evidence with the Forensic Scientists. They listened with fascination to the aptly named Mr Mountain who recounted his adventures in conquering Everest and enjoyed watching Dr Edwards as he donned the gear required for climbing at altitude. Mr Stroud captured their imagination with tales of Ghost-Catchers and their paraphernalia, and the trip to the Houses of Parliament did not disappoint. Many thanks to our talented parents who gave up their time to engage and inspire!
Please check the School’s website for more information: www.beechwoodpark.com
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JULIA ROUSE