HEADMASTER’S LETTER JANUARY 2018
T0 PARENTS
Dear Parents I hope you have had a peaceful Christmas and I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year. Pupils will hopefully be returning enthused and reinvigorated for the first term of 2018.
Contents Page 1
Christmas Inspire Service at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster
Page 2
Calendars Charities Week Staff News Careers Opportunities Chapel Choir in Broadgate Senior Mathematical Challenge
Page 3
Dining Hall Old Chigwellian Events
Page 4
Friends of Chigwell – A message from Mrs Sarah Innocent
Page 5
Bad Weather
Christmas Inspire Service at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Shortly before Christmas the Chapel
Honourable James Brokenshire MP,
at St Margaret’s, Westminster Abbey,
The service was conducted by the
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Choir helped to lead the stunning service
Reverend Dr Fiona Stewart-Darling,
known as Christmas Inspire, which is in
Priest Vicar. Based in Chelmsford, Kids
aid of the charity Kids Inspire. The
Inspire works to support some of the
congregation included some seven
most vulnerable young people across
hundred people, and readers included
Essex, many of whom have had to cope
Vassos Alexander (BBC sports journalist
with huge trauma in their lives. The
and presenter), Dr Michael Scott (author and
Associate
Professor,
and
businessman)
service raised £6,000 to support their
Warwick
work as well as other charities.
University), Levi Roots (musician, chef and
the
Right
1
Calendars
Chapel Choir in Broadgate
As usual, calendars will be distributed via Houses and there will also be spare copies at Reception. Please do encourage your sons and daughters to take advantage of and contribute to the broad extracurricular programme, particularly if you sense they are less involved than they might be.
The Chapel Choir also supported the ICAP
charity day in Broadgate. This prompted a member of the public who works in the area to write to say that he was so
impressed by what he heard that he left his desk several floors above the performance, to come to hear more in person.
Charities Week
Thank you to all pupils and parents who supported charities week so heartily at the end of last term. The total raised was approximately ÂŁ3,500 and this will be shared between our selected charities.
Senior Mathematical Challenge
Staff News
students gained a bronze, silver or gold
Congratulations
to
students
who
performed so well in the Mathematical
Challenge which is run by the UK
Mathematics Trust. Ten Middle Sixth
We welcome Mrs Lucy Standen who joins us a Learning Support Coordinator following the departure of Miss Sarahjane Grimshaw in October.
award with gold going to Nikita Litovchenko, Ellie Li, Jane Jiang, Jerry Zheng and Lance Lan. Jane, Jerry and Lance
Our congratulations go to Mr Andrew Lewis and his wife Amy on the arrival of their daughter Amelia Rose-Ann, a baby sister to Ava.
now
qualify
Mathematics Olympiad.
for
the
UK
In the Lower Sixth, fifteen students were awarded bronze, silver or gold with gold going to David Vepkhvadze, Aleks Bulira, Nikola Stanchev, Adrianna Wojtyna, Alex
Careers Opportunities
Barnes, Darie Ducu, Ryan Huang, Ann Xu
As I mentioned in my last letter, if any parent would be able to provide work experience, we would be delighted to hear from you. This can be extremely useful for students at the top end of the School.
and Vito Yang. Darie, Ryan, Ann and Vito also qualified for the Olympiad.
Congratulations to all who performed so well in this challenging competition
2
Dining Hall
If you have not already done so, I hope you will see the new extension to the Dining Hall
which will provide valuable extra space at lunchtimes. Extending older buildings is never straight-forward but I hope you will agree that the modern extension has been carried out sympathetically.
Old Chigwellian Events I was lucky enough to attend three events for Old Chigwellians over the
holidays: one was a Christmas lunch for O.C.s who get together every month;
another was a gathering of 2017 leavers
who returned from university, and then there was a group of fifty-seven O.C.s of different ages who attended the
Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. We hope very much that Old Chigwellians will stay in touch with the
School when they leave and also that they will continue friendships formed at school.
3
Friends of Chigwell – A message from Mrs Sarah Innocent Last term was a busy one for the Friends
and teddies. All of your support has
was won in great style by the prefects; the
last term and in January the committee
contributed to the FOC raising ÂŁ10,954
of Chigwell. We hosted a quiz night which
and School will meet to decide how to
younger children bopped and threw some
spend the money that we have raised.
shapes at the Pre Prep disco; fireworks
night was a blast; and we rounded off the
Keep your eyes peeled for future new and
term with mulled wine and mince pies,
exciting events for 2018. If you would like
along with homemade cakes and
to get involved with the FOC please do
chutneys, at the Christmas Fayre.
get in touch.
Thank you to all parents who have
Lewis.innocent10@icloud.com
volunteered supporting these events to
Best wishes to you all for a very Happy
enable them to happen, to those who
New Year.
have donated time, bottles, chocolate
4
Bad Weather As I said in my last letter, in the event of heavy snow or ice please consult the school
website (www.chigwell-school.org) for confirmation of arrangements for the school day. We would always be very reluctant to close the School, but are mindful of the safety of pupils and staff.
I look forward to seeing you at the various events that will be taking place over the next few weeks.
With best wishes Yours sincerely
Michael Punt
5
TERM DATES 2018 Lent Term First day: Half term: Term ends:
Thursday 4th January Saturday 10th February to Sunday 18th February
Trinity Term (Easter Day is 1st April) First day: Wednesday 18th April Half term: Saturday 26th May to Sunday 3rd June INSET Day Monday June 4th
Wednesday 28th March
Term ends:
Wednesday 11th July