Headmaster’s Letter to Parents
April 2021
Dear Parents I hope you have had a happy Easter and, like many of us, are looking forward to the term ahead. Despite the restrictions, I am delighted that various activities have taken place over the holidays and I hope there will be many more opportunities for pupils to be actively involved outside the classroom over the coming weeks. Best wishes Michael Punt
Mr Michael Punt M.A. M.Sc. P.G.C.E. Headmaster mpunt@chigwell-school.org
Contents Page 1
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh Meet the Future To Topknot or Not
Page 2
DofE Bronze Award
Page 3
Girls’ Football Coaching Course Cricket Success for Sally
Page 4
Cricket Courses Music - Upcoming Dates
Page 5
Vietnam War Veteran Headmaster’s Blog
Page 6
Friends of Chigwell Summer Ball
Page 7
New Staff Speech Day
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh The School marked the sad passing of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh with the flags at half-mast. We express our gratitude for the establishment of the DofE award scheme that has taught generations of Chigwell students about outdoor skills, resilience and team work, while making a difference to the community.
Meet the Future
choices. She applies novel methods such as machine-learning and computational linguistics to quantify non-nutritional knowledge about foods. This is so that beliefs about concepts such as “natural”, “homemade”, and “fried” can be considered equally to nutritional information like calories, salt, and saturated fat content. Read more: http://bit.ly/CSappliedpsychology
We recently hosted a ‘Meet the Future’ talk with Natasha Gandhi, a former Chigwell Student, who is in the final year of studying for her doctorate in Applied Psychology at Warwick University. Natasha is currently researching how people perceive and judge food healthiness with the aim of helping the public make better-informed food
To Topknot or Not Sahib auditioned for the production which was filmed in February for the BBC by Drummer Television as part of the Snaps series which covers issues faced by young people in the UK. You can watch the film at
Congratulations to Sahib (IVth Form) who starred in To Topknot or Not. The film tells the story of Jag, a fourteen year old Sikh boy, who grapples with the decision as to whether he should cut his hair to fit in with his friends or wear a turban to honour his family’s values.
http://bit.ly/CBBCtopknot 1
DofE Bronze Award Led by Mr Andrew Bewick, Head of Outdoor Pursuits, we congratulate all our students who recently completed the Bronze DofE expedition. They learnt the practical skills needed to independently navigate a 15k hike and undertook camp craft activities such as pitching tents and cooking. They also developed skills such as group management, collaboration and resillence. Mr Bewick was impressed by how quickly the groups got up to speed, given the impact of lockdown over the past twelve months and praised all involved for completing the award. Read more: http://bit.ly/DofE2021
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Girls’ Football Coaching Course
Cricket Success for Sally
During the Easter break, girls from UII, LII and UI attended Chigwell’s first ever girls’ Easter football camp on our new 3G pitch. They learnt new skills such as passing, control and running with the ball. The girls were fully engaged with the fun skills and games sessions and particularly enjoyed the shooting and finishing to goal. The course has been a great introduction to the summer term, which is flooded with girls’ football fixtures. With girls’ football growing again this year, it bauds well for the future. A big thank you to Mr Steven Moore who worked with the students over the three days.
We are delighted to say that Sally (UVth) has been asked to be part of the Sunrisers Regional cricket Emerging Players Programme for 2021. She took part in four trials over ten hours of cricket (including a session at Lords), against the best under 19s from Middlesex, Essex and Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire, We are very proud of this recognition – well done Sally! “Sally has worked very hard over the past few years and I can see why she has been rewarded! This is the start of good things for her!” – Mr Frank Griffith, Head of Cricket
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Cricket Course Chigwell students of all ages and
the game and an Intermediate Course
abilities took part in a cricket course
for those who already had some
over the break. Led by Mr Frank Griffith,
experience. The courses were devoted
Head of Cricket, and run by qualified
to creating a sense of achievement
English Cricket Board Coaches, there
and enjoyment, as well as team and
was a Basic Skills courses for young
individual appreciation of the game.
players starting
Music - Upcoming Dates Live@6 Thursday 6th May – UII (yr6) Recital 6pm New Hall Monday 10th May – LVth (yr10) Recital 6pm New Hall Thursday 13th May – LII (yr5) Recital 6pm New Hall Monday 17th May – IVth Form (yr8) Recital 6pm New Hall Monday 24th May – Third Form (yr7) Recital 6pm New Hall Tuesday 25th May – Removes’ (yr9) Recital 6pm New Hall Friday 25th June – VIth Form Recital 6pm New Hall Wednesday 7th July - UVth (yr11) Recital 6pm New Hall Young Musician of the Year Tuesday 13th July – final @7pm. New Hall - Adjudicator Mrs Sarah Henderson ABRSM exams Tuesday 6th July and Wednesday 7th July. 4
Vietnam War Veteran We recently had the unique opportunity
University of Kansas before becoming a
to hear from Vietnam War veteran,
history teacher and intelligence officer.
Mr Rick Lorch. His personal story provided invaluable insight into the curriculum we cover for history GSCE. Having a man who was there, making this history happen, who participated in the Tet Offensive and other various tactical
initiatives
performed
by
American troops during the war in Vietnam, was a history lesson ‘live’. This was a story of a disillusioned young man, who luckily for him, re-adapted to his civilian life quickly and studied at the
Read more: http://bit.ly/CSHistoryTalk
Headmaster’s Blog In his new blog series, the Headmaster shares his assemblies delivered to the Senior School. Often themed to current affairs as well his lived experiences, he shares his reflections and draws upon the values we hold as a community. Read more: http://bit.ly/CSheadmastersblog
5
Friends of Chigwell
Pre Loved Uniform Donations are still very welcome. Please leave unwanted, clean items in
Sal’s Shoes
good condition, securely bagged, with any of the School’s receptions. Read more about the FOC: http://bit.ly/FriendsOfChigwell
The FOC’s initiative to generate shoe donations for charity, Sal’s Shoes, was a great success. Supported by the Chaplain, more than 500 pairs were donated by Chigwell pupils. Thank you to Mrs Danielle Connolly (Acting FOC Chair) and her sons – who helped count, clean and pack up all the shoes, ready to be delivered to the charity, as well as to everyone who donated! 6
New Staff welcome
studies and we will also be welcoming
Mr Samuel Topping who joins us as
Miss Joanna Roberts who will be the
Head of Religious Studies at the start of
new Senior Librarian. We hope they will
term. He will be joined by Miss Phoebe
all be very happy here.
We
are
delighted
to
Clark who will be a teacher of religious
Speech Day We are planning to go ahead with Speech Day on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th July, although you will appreciate that we will have to abide by the regulations in force at the time and so there is a chance that arrangements may change. We will keep you informed. The programme will follow this format: Friday 9th July 2.15pm - Pre Prep, LI and UI Service in the marquee 3.30pm - Pre Prep, LI and UI Garden Party at the Pre Prep Saturday 10th July Time to be confirmed - Service in the marquee followed by prize giving The Guest of Honour at Speech Day this year will be Mr Shehab Khan who left Chigwell in 2012. Shehab attended Warwick and Cambridge universities and worked as a political commentator for The Independent. Since 2019 he has worked for ITV News as a political journalist and is co-presenter of the ITV News Politics Podcast. We look forward to welcoming Shehab back to Chigwell.
Summer Ball Further details about the Summer Ball will be sent out in due course.
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Chigwell School’s Charity Runners A team of nearly 50 Chigwell School
true fundraising heroes. The support
parents, staff, and Old Chigwellians
that you provide to CRUK year in
ran in the Royal Parks Half Marathon
and year out is phenomenal, and it is so
on Sunday 11th April for charity again.
greatly appreciated by everyone here at
Due to current government restrictions,
Cancer Research UK. Congratulations
the event became a ‘virtual’ one for the
to everyone who took part in the Virtual
first time in its history.
Royal Parks Half Marathon this year,
The team could run their own route and
thank you for pulling together even
log their performance with the special
during such strange and uncertain
event app. All the hard work and fun
times to complete the challenge and
saw them raise just over £32,000 for
raise vital funds, which will help us to
Cancer Research UK to date.
make faster progress towards our goal of 3 in 4 people surviving cancer by
Organiser, Mrs Gill Punt, commented
2034. I have loved seeing all of your
that this is a wonderful example of our
race day photos so thank you to
Chigwell community rallying once more
everyone who sent some through.
for an important cause during these
Chigwell School, you are a constant
difficult times. I would like to thank all
reminder of why I love doing this job so
those who laced up their trainers and
thank you for everything you do.”
ran or who donated to raise such a
If
superb total. Chelsie
May,
the
you
would
be
interested
in
participating in this event when it takes
Supporter
to the streets and parks of Central
Engagement Executive from Cancer
London in October, please contact
Research UK, said, “Chigwell School
Mrs Gill Punt at:
truly are a force to be reckoned with
development@chigwell-school.org
and you really are a brilliant group of
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TERM DATES 2021 Half term:
Saturday 29th May to Sunday 6th June INSET Day Monday 7th June
Term ends:
Wednesday 14th July
Michaelmas Term Staff meetings and INSET on Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd September First day:
Monday 6th September
Half Term:
Saturday 16th October to Sunday 31st October
Term ends:
Wednesday 15th December
