HM Letter to Parents April 2019

HEADMASTER’S LETTER APRIL 2019

T0 PARENTS

Dear Parents Welcome back after the Easter break. I hope you have had a very happy Easter and that pupils are looking forward to the new term ahead. As the following pages illustrate, various school activities have taken place over the holiday and we hope that pupils have found these enriching.

Contents Page 1

Grace Miller Time to Help UK Improvements to the Site

Page 2

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Page 3

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Page 4

Trip to Iceland

Page 5

Trip to Iceland

Page 6

Trip to Greece Summer Ball

Page 7

British Biology Olympiad 2019 Speech Day

Page 8

School Fixtures Staff News Exams Blue Calendars And Finally

Grace Miller

Congratulations to Grace who gave a pow-

erful and moving interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about living with cystic fibrosis.

Time to Help UK

Thank you to the Middle Sixth students who raised £1,000 for the Syrian refugee crisis by participating in the Assassination Game, run by Mr Shakil Chaudhary. The winning assassin

was Jasmine Iley.

Improvements to the Site Once again, the holidays have provided

the Sports Hall has been created. Work on

opments to the school site. The former

good progress is being made. As the pho-

base for marketing, development and ad-

think it is the first time that so much

the opportunity to carry out various devel-

the old school roofs has continued and

school shop has been converted to a new

tos illustrate, this is a large project and we

missions; resurfacing work has taken place

restoration work has taken place together

in various locations and artificial grass has

on several buildings, the oldest of which

been laid around the children’s play area.

dates back to 1629. It will be good to see

There has been work on the oldest boilers

the scaffolding come down in the next

and a new office in

couple of months.

1

Duke of Edinburgh Award Over the holidays, seventy-three Remove

training, equipment, camp craft, route

pupils attended one of the two training

planning exercises and navigation. The sec-

days and practice expeditions for their

ond phase was the practice expedition

DofE Bronze Award. The training days

where the group completed a one day-one

began at school with lectures on equip-

night expedition under remote supervi-

ment, camp craft and route planning exer-

sion, covering a 15km route on the River

cises. There then followed a 12km walk in

Chelmer, camping close to the river at

the Hainault country park area when pupils

Hoemill Lock. The groups are now fully pre-

carried all their equipment. On return to

pared to tackle the qualifying expedition in

school, the groups pitched tents and used

June where they are planning to paddle a

the cookers to make a hot drink. The two

section of the River Thames from Lechlade

practice expeditions were based around

to Abingdon.

Skreens Park near Roxwell. On arrival,

Eighteen other pupils from the Lower

pupils had their equipment checked and

Fifth, completed their DofE Silver walking

they completed a detailed route card. They

training and practice expedition at the

were then dropped off at different start

Kent scouts activity centre near Maidstone

points and completed an unaccompanied

on the edge of the North Downs. The first

18km walk back to Skreens Park, although

days were focused on navigation training,

staff met with the groups at various check

camp craft, equipment, and route planning

points along the way. The groups pitched

exercises and navigation training on the

their tents, cooked their evening meals,

North Downs where the pupils covered

spent a night in their tents and then

17km on each day. The groups were re-

cooked breakfast the following morning.

motely supervised and made all the navi-

The groups are now fully prepared to tackle

gation and route planning choices. They

their qualifying expedition during Activities

are now fully prepared to tackle the quali-

Week.

fying expedition in June where they are

Six Lower Fifth pupils completed their

planning an adventurous route of 60km on

DofE Silver Canoe training and practice ex-

the South Downs.

pedition. The first two days, at Fairlop Wa-

ters were focused on paddling skills, rescue

2

Duke of Edinburgh Award

3

On the third day of the trip, the students

Trip to Iceland

took in the attractions of the capital Reyk-

At the start of the Easter break, fifty-two

javik. Among these was the Hallgrimskirkja

Sixth Form students travelled to Iceland for

Church, which is one of the most iconic

the annual geography trip. On the first day

buildings in Iceland, modelled on natural

of the trip, they visited a number of beau-

rock columns found throughout the coun-

tiful waterfalls including Seljalandsfoss,

try. One of the final stops was the Blue La-

which spills 60m over a former sea cliff, now

goon a spacious bathing pool fed with

sited far inland due to isostatic rebound.

silica-rich geothermal seawater drawn

insight into the impacts of the 2010 Eyjaf-

thoroughly enjoyed the trip and were a

One of the most impressive sites on the trip

iour.

They then visited the Lava Centre to gain

from a 2,000m deep borehole. The students

jallajökull eruption on the local community.

credit to the School in terms of their behav-

was Sólheimajökull, or ‘sun house glacier’,

which has been retreating since the end of

the 19th century at a rate of around 100m per year. On the second day, the group vis-

ited Gullfoss. These double falls drop

around 33m then plunge into a mile-long gorge and is one of Iceland’s most photographed waterfalls. They also visited the

site of Geysir, a spouting hot spring that

gave its name to all the world’s geysers and although it does not often spout nowa-

days, its neighbour ‘Strokkur’ erupts every

10-15 minutes reaching a height of around 30m. Later, the group travelled to Thingvel-

lir, where Iceland’s parliament was estab-

lished in 930AD. The site straddles the

Mid-Atlantic Ridge, its rift valley forming

where the Eurasian and North American

tectonic plates pull apart at an average of

3cm a year.

4

Trip to Iceland

5

mainland Greece, at Epidauros. It was won-

Trip to Greece

derful to see the enthusiasm of every pupil,

Over the first week of the Easter holiday,

especially when they began to recite classi-

thirty budding classicists from the Removes

cal texts centre-stage. With the flight home

to the Lower Sixth, travelled to Greece to

approaching rapidly, it was time for one last

enrich their knowledge of the classical

visit, this time to the ancient city of Corinth

experience ancient Greece in its truest form,

stop for lunch consisting of traditional

world. The six-day trip allowed students to

and the stunning Corinth Canal, with a quick

bringing their studies to life and giving them

Souvlaki. Again, it was great to see pupils so

plenty of opportunities to explore the histor-

eager to try something new whilst away.

Theatre of Thorikos and then battled

outstandingly well-behaved, and that they

ical sites freely. They began their trip at the

The staff commented that the group were

through the wind and rain to reach the tem-

were a true credit to the School at all times.

ple of Poseidon at Sounion. After a night’s

rest, the group spent the entire second day exploring the key sites of Athens such as the

Acropolis, the Olympic Stadium and the Agora. It was a stunning day that let the co-

hort discover these world heritage sights in

their true intended beauty. The next few days were a whirlwind mixture of travelling

around the mainland and experiencing

some of the most stunning sights in all of Greece such as Delphi, Olympia, the modern

town of Nafplion and the largest theatre in

Summer Ball

A ticket order form and details of the Summer Ball to be held on the evening of Saturday 6th July are being been

sent out by e-mail. This is always a very popular event and you are urged to apply for tickets as soon as possible as

they are allocated on a first come first served basis.

6

British Biology Olympiad 2019

Chigwell. The questions extend across a

wide-ranging syllabus and the aim is to

challenge the very best biology students.

The results were very good with three of the team achieving medals. Congratulations go to Becky Morgan who achieved a

silver medal; Poppy Bradley and Piers

The British Biology Olympiad is run by

Daniel who were awarded bronze medals;

the Royal Society of Biology for A level

Julia Lasiota and Maddy McCormack who

biology students and over eight thousand

were highly commended; and Haaris

students took part in the competition

Anwar and Simren Patel who were both

this year including a team of thirteen from

commended

Speech Day

The programme for Speech Day and its related activities will follow the usual format: Friday 5th July

2.15pm Pre Prep, Lower I and Upper I Service in St Mary's Church

Saturday 6th July

9.45am Junior School Service at St Mary's Church

3.30pm Pre Prep, Lower 1 and Upper 1 Garden Party

11.15am Senior School Service at St Mary's Church

2.30pm Speeches and Prize Giving in the Marquee

The Guest of Honour at Speech Day this year will be Dr Charlie Laderman who left Chigwell in 2005. He studied History and Politics at the University of Nottingham and went on to complete a PhD at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He was later a Research Fellow at Peter-

house College, Cambridge, and is currently a lecturer in International History at King’s

College, London. His research focuses on the United States and its relations with the wider world. We look forward to welcoming Charlie back to Chigwell.

The preacher at the services on Saturday morning will be Dr Diana Lowry, retired local GP and now a Church of England Lay Reader attached to the Epping District Team Ministry. The

preacher at the service on Friday afternoon will be Reverend Gary Scott.

7

School Fixtures

And Finally

students have important public exams, we

many events that will take place over the

During this busy time of year when many

I look forward to seeing you at some of the

would appreciate your continued support in

next few weeks.

encouraging your sons’ and daughters’

With best wishes

commitment to sporting fixtures throughout the term.

Yours sincerely

Staff News

Michael Punt

We are delighted to welcome Miss Jayne Burton as Director of Marketing and Admis-

sions. Jayne joins us from British Medical Journal and we hope she will be very happy

here.

Exams

Most pupils will have exams over the com-

ing weeks, either internal or external. They

should have received clear guidance about how and what to revise but we do appreciate that this period can be stressful. As al-

ways, if you have any concerns please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Blue Calendars

As usual, the Trinity Term calendars are

being distributed to pupils who should also bring home a copy.

8

TERM DATES 2019 Half term: Term ends:

Saturday 25th May to Sunday 2nd June INSET Day Monday 3rd June Wednesday 10th July

Michaelmas Term Staff meetings and INSET on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd September First day: Wednesday 4th September Half term: Saturday 19th October to Sunday 3rd November Term ends: Friday 13th December