Headmaster's Letter - February 2022

Headmaster’s Letter to Parents

February 2022

Dear Parents Despite the challenges presented by Covid, a great deal has taken place over the last six weeks within the classroom and outside. I continue to be impressed by the range of opportunities that many pupils take and how they juggle this with their work commitments. Learning to lead busy lives is important preparation for the future but I am also pleased that those who need some support from time to time do seek it out.

Best wishes Michael Punt

Mr Michael Punt M.A. M.Sc. P.G.C.E. Headmaster mpunt@chigwell-school.org

Contents

Page 1

Governors’ Visitation Day Williams Project FoC Photo Competition Update on Sports Centre University News

Page 2

Chinese New Year

Page 3

Articulation Prize

Page 4

Meet The Future

Page 5

Industrial Cadets

Page 6

Measure for Measure

Page 7

Girls’ Netball

Page 8

Girls’ Netball Women in Economics

Page 9

Boys’ Hockey

Page 10

Boys’ Hockey

Page 11

Drama Easter Cricket Course 2022

Page 12

Music

Page 13

Lower Sixth British Physics Olympiad Challenge Staff News

Governors’ Visitation Day

Update on Sports Centre

As they do each year, Governors spent a day in school visiting lessons, observing activities and speaking with staff and pupils. The feedback has been extremely positive and I am very grateful for the way in which pupils spoke about life here.

You will have seen that the site set up for the final phase of the sports centre development is virtually complete and the groundbreaking ceremony will take place shortly after half term. We are delighted that work is now underway.

Williams Project

University News

Once again, we have had a variety of Williams Project talks including: Climate Change with Jessica Beagley OC, Policy expert in health, environment and climate change (UCL); What is equality? with Ms Linda Bellos, OBE, civil rights activist; and Passivhaus and sustainable architecture with architect Mr Peter Ranken

Middle Sixth students have applied for a variety of courses at a range of selective universities in the UK and overseas. Many universities have been slower to offer places this year and we are conscious that the wait for decisions can lead to a nervewracking time. The universities to which Chigwellians made most applications this year are UCL, Warwick and Nottingham, but we have also had a small number of applications for very prestigious degree level apprenticeships. We will provide more news in due course.

Please do encourage your sons and daughters to attend future talks if they have not already done so.

FoC Photo Competition The Friends of Chigwell are once again running a photo competition. The theme is: Post Covid Hope, Emergence or New Beginnings.

There will be prizes for each category of Pre Prep, Juniors, Seniors and Sixth Form.

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Chinese New Year who returned from university. There was an excellent presentation on China and the way in which the new year is traditionally celebrated.

The boarding community led our celebration of the Chinese Year of the Tiger recently and they were joined by day students and former boarders

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Articulation Prize exploring how the power of an art piece can evoke many responses and pose wider questions in the world that we live in.

Sally spoke about the painting ‘Stern’

by Marlene Dumas to a large audience at The Lightbox Gallery, Woking, Surrey on Wednesday 19th January 2022. Her engaging and captivating presentation resulted in her winning the heat and she is now one of two speakers going forward to the semi-final of the renowned Articulation Prize at the V & A on March 8th, 2022.

Mr Andrew Ellis, Director of Art UK and adjudicator on the day thanked all speakers for delivering such ‘incredible and inspiring’ presentations and for making it such an enjoyable afternoon for all and gave them all ‘hearty congratulations.

He praised Sally for delivering an incredibly impressive presentation without the use of notes, which flowed very well. He additionally praised Sally for giving us a deeper insight into Dumas’ work, into South Africa whilst continuously asking questions.

Sally represented the School in an admirable way showing a dedication to her studies in art, passion for the sciences and philosophy, and

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Meet The Future analyst at JP Morgan. More recently, Mr Andrew Klein (former parent) from Rican Securities gave a talk on property development together with developer Mr Philip Leigh.

The programme of talks has continued this term and included recent leaver Bianca Andrei who, having studied natural sciences at Cambridge, went on to work as an

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Industrial Cadets A group of Lower Sixth students spent two days at the University of Kent working on their gold award projects as part of the industrial cadet scheme. They were supported by mentors and technicians from the university and gained an experience of life as an undergraduate engineer.

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Measure for Measure The English department took students from the Lower Fifth, Upper Fifth and Middle Sixth to see a performance of Shakespeare’s play at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse..

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Girls’ Netball determination to do well and they played extremely well. We have been delighted to field both 4th and 5th teams this season too, showing a real depth of ability among our senior girls.

It has been an enjoyable start to the netball season this year with all fixtures going ahead and no disruptions due to weather. We are thrilled about this, because netball has really suffered as a result of the pandemic, with no netball going ahead properly for the last two years.

The U15s are a fantastic group of people. They have not lost a match yet and achieved wins over St. Edmund’s, Highgate, Forest and Aldenham. They have some very good players and they work effectively as a unit. They also train hard, which then reflects in their match play.

The senior teams kicked off the season with Chigwell hosting a local tournament attended by Bancroft’s, Forest, St.Edmund’s College, Highgate and The Bishop’s Stortford High School. It was an enjoyable morning of netball and gave everyone the opportunity to play lots of matches and have some game time. So far this term, the 1st team have played really well and the results have been pleasing with wins over Forest and Bancroft’s and a loss to Highgate. They have really developed as a team and there has been some great netball played. The 2nd team are developing well too, and despite not winning any matches yet, they have shown great spirit and commitment on court. The highlight for the 3rd team was an extremely narrow loss to Bancroft’s 25-26.

The team showed a real grit and

The U14 team, however, are unfortunately struggling this season.

The cohort is small and, therefore, as a result of varying levels of commitment that then reflects in the success of the team.

The U13s have enjoyed a strong start to the season. They had a positive experience at the IAPS tournament recently reaching the plate competition. They also had a fantastic morning of netball at the Chigwell U13 tournament. Again their skills developed and the teamwork improved as a result of the amount of match time they had.

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Women in Economics

The U12s have been a year group badly hit as a result of the pandemic.

The results have been disappointing but the coaches have said that we need to go back to basics and teach skills that they have missed over the last couple of years. So lots to work on at this age group particularly.

As part of our commitment to exploring diversity and equality, a session was held exploring the question “Why are there so few women in economics?” both in society at large and closer to home. A range of students attended and developed a range of thoughts on the matter including the need for us to showcase more female role models in the profession, challenge stereotypes around working in the City and look to educate pupils earlier in their Chigwell journey about what economics is and how the discipline contributes to people in the real world. We will continue to explore this area to see how Chigwell School can play its part in helping correct this societal imbalance. If you work in economics or a related area and would be willing to talk to the students about your experiences, we would very much welcome this.

The U11s and U10s have been playing Bee netball for the first time. They get the chance to play every position because they rotate around throughout the match. The U11s are a particularly strong year group and they have won all their matches so far. On the return from half term they will compete in the IAPS tournament, which we wish them lots of luck for.

We are very much looking forward to the second half of the term and continuing to develop netball in school.

Please contact Dr Jonathan Chapman jchapman@chigwell-school.org

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Boys’ Hockey team qualified from the U18 Tier 4 county rounds to the Regional Finals at Cambridge University competing against several of the leading schools in the region. One of the team’s biggest strengths has been their teamwork and sportsmanship both on and off the field. Not to be outdone by the seniors, the middle school continue their development and the U15s will compete in their respective county tournament later in the term.

The U14s, however, have gone one further than the seniors and won the U14 Essex County Tournament for the first time since 2016. With an excellent work ethic, high numbers at after school clubs, this team remains unbeaten at half term with more development still to come.

Following two years without competitive fixtures and very little training due to the Covid pandemic, it has been fantastic to witness the boys back out on the astro and playing hockey again. Despite the occasional cold snap, fixtures have come thick and fast and extra-curricular attendance has been at its highest level in recent years. The enthusiasm and the commitment of the boys to date has been infectious, and whilst success is not simply measured through results, there have been several noteworthy performances to date.

In the Senior School, over forty pupils attended 1st and 2nd XI pre-season, which set the tone for the term ahead.

At the top of the School, the 1st XI have been competitive with a young squad building to the future. Despite narrowly missing out to Haberdashers in the England Hockey School Cup, they have performed admirably to date improving with each game played. The 2nd XI continued their recent history by being one of the most successful teams in the School.

The boys’ commitment to school sport has been outstanding resulting in several impressive displays. The

In the Junior School, despite having fewer fixtures in order to focus on their core skills, the pupils have matched the Senior School’s enthusiasm and attended afterschool training en-masse. The Lower One and Upper One pupils have been developing both their technical skills and game understanding through non-competitive fixtures, whilst all the Lower Two and Upper Two pupils had

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the opportunity to play competitive fixtures against local schools including Woodford Green Prep School, New Hall and Forest. One of the highlights of the half term to date was a specialist goal keeper workshop on Saturday morning. All the junior keepers were offered the opportunity to hone their skills with a leading county coach sharing his expertise.

Both the Third and Fourth Forms have their county tournaments just before the half term break and we wish them well in these competitions.

A special mention should also be made of Finn and Harrison’s outside school performances. Representing Old Loughtonians Hockey Club in the England Hockey Super 6’s National Indoor U18 and U16 finals, Finn and his team-mates were crowned national champions in the U18 competition and Harrison finished 3rd in the U16s

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Drama

Easter Cricket Course 2022

This half term in drama, we have had Lower Fifth GCSE devised performances and A Level Middle Sixth scripted performances. The Lower Fifth performed a witty, light hearted farce about a wealthy Victorian couple who repeatedly try to murder one another. Performed to a small invited audience, this was a highly entertaining fifteen minutes of drama created entirely by the students including some outstanding costume design. The Middle Sixth worked extremely hard despite disruptions to rehearsals caused by Covid. Performances included a monologue from Sarah Kane’s “4.48 Psychosis”, duologues from Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” and “Amanda Whittington’s “Be My Baby” and, finally, a fast-paced, slapstick version of “The Thirty Nine Steps” adapted by Patrick Barlow. This was assessed live by a visiting examiner, a process that has not happened since 2020. Well done to all concerned for outstanding performances and outstanding costume design.

We will be running a cricket course on Wednesday 30th March, Thursday 31st March and Friday 1st April 2022.

Each course will consist of three morning sessions from 10am to 1pm and three afternoon sessions from 2pm to 3.45pm.

The course will include: •

An Intermediate Course for those who have some experience and possibly play for their school age group team.

•

Basic Skills for young players starting the game.

The courses will be devoted to creating a sense of achievement, enjoyment and individual appreciation of the game. The children will be under the overall control of the School's cricket professional, Mr Frank Griffith along with qualified English Cricket Board coaches.

For more details, please contact Mrs Tina Page, the Course Administrator, on 020 8501 5711 or tpage@chigwellschool.org

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Music d’estultanza from Don Carlo, Puccini’s Vogliatemi bene from Madam Butterfly and Bizet’s Les Voici! Voici quadrille! from Carmen. We also welcome back our two Musician of the Year winners; Avantika Bharadwaj on the piano and Dominic Tunks on the clarinet, who will perform concertos of Shostakovich and Krommer, respectively.

This half term has been busy with the New Year Concert, the Lower One and Upper One Concert, followed by the Junior School Concert.

These wonderful opportunities have made it possible for pupils to come together and enjoy making music, which is so much what education is about. The concerts may be viewed using the following links:

With the exception of our Live@6 Recitals, we are planning to welcome parents to our live concerts next half term, which include KS3 Band Night on Friday 4th March at 7pm, Lower Two Tea-time Recital on Tuesday 15th March and the Upper Two Tea-time Recital on Wednesday 23rd March at 4.15pm.

New Year Concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= DQBC3CLYUh4 Junior School Concert: https://youtu.be/eX4Go3MDnVQ The LI and UI Concert will be published after half term.

We are looking forward to our Choral Concert in the fabulous Cadogan Hall, Kensington, on Monday 28th March.

The evening will include six of the Chigwell School choirs; Second Form Boys’ Choir, Second Form Girls’ Choir, KS3, an amalgamation of the Third, Fourth and Remove choirs, Chapel Choir and House Music Item 1 massed Choir. The Choral Society will perform repertoire including Verdi’s Vedi! Le Fosche notturne spoglie from II Travatore, Gypsy Chorus from La Traviata and Spuntato ecco il di

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Lower Sixth British Physics Olympiad Challenge Eighteen Lower Sixth physics students took part in the BPhO Challenge recently and were amongst 4,700 of the most able physics students from nearly 300 schools to do so. Eleven were awarded bronze medals, Nick, Cameron, Melody, Olivia, Edwin and Sulaymaan were awarded silver medals, and Radek was awarded a gold medal placing him in the top 18% of entrants. Congratulations to all involved.

Staff News Rose, and we also congratulate Mrs Andrea Lewis and her husband Matthew on the arrival of their daughter Heidi Lynne.

We say farewell to Mr Crispin Mason who has been teaching physics here for just over a year. We wish him every future success and happiness, and thank him for all that he has contributed.

With best wishes

We send our congratulations to Mrs Jenny Leroux and her husband Simon on the arrival of their daughter Léa

Michael Punt

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TERM DATES 2022 Lent Term 2022 Staff meetings and INSET on Wednesday 5th January First day:

Thursday 6th January

Half term:

Saturday 12th February to Sunday 20th February

Term ends: Tuesday 29th March Trinity Term 2022 (Easter Day is 17thApril) First day:

Tuesday 19th April

Half term:

Saturday 28th May to Sunday 5th June INSET Day Monday 6th June

Term ends: Wednesday 13th July Michaelmas Term 2022 Staff meetings and INSET on Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th September First day:

Wednesday 7th September

Half term:

Saturday 22nd October to Sunday 6th November

Term ends: Friday 16th December Lent Term 2023 Staff meetings and INSET on Monday 9th January First day:

Tuesday 10th January

Half term:

Saturday 11th February to Sunday 19th February

Term ends: Wednesday 29th March Trinity Term 2023 (Easter Day is 9th April) First day:

Wednesday 19th April

Half term:

Saturday 27th May to Sunday 4th June INSET Day Monday 5th June

Term ends: Wednesday 12th July