HM Letter to Parents October 2017

HEADMASTER’S LETTER SEPTEMBER 2017

T0 PARENTS Dear Parents I hope that by now all new Chigwell families feel at home here, caught up in the busy mix of activities that characterises the School.

Equally, I hope that longer-serving families have enjoyed the last seven weeks too and that they have been highly productive. What follows is just a sample of some of the events that have taken place this half term.

Contents Page 1

Open Days

Page 2

Open Days

Page 3

AChapel Choir at St Paul’s Cathedral

Page 4

Prep and Primary Music Festival

Page 5

House Music

Page 6

Boarding Community School Shop

Page 7

Drama Arkwright Scholar

Page 8

Howard and Mitchell Essay Competition PHSE Dinners

Page 9

EPQ and HPQ Staff News

Page 10

Willaims Project Tim Pruss Presentations

Page 11

Chigwell Community Run for Charity

Page 12

Chigwell Community Run for Charity London Academy of Excellence

Page 13

Girls’ Hockey

Page 14

Girls’ Hockey

Page 15

Boys’ Football Twitter

Page 16

Dining Hall And Finally

Page 17

Message from the Chaplain

Page 18

Message from the Chaplain

Open Days

The admissions season began at the end

of September with the main open day.

Thank you to all pupils who represented the School so well, acting as guides and

helpers. Once again, we received many

positive comments from prospective parents.

1

Open Days

2

Chapel Choir at St. Paul’s Cathedral

At the invitation of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the

to perform with such zeal, maturity and

conduct Evensong at the start of term. The

Responses and Psalms resonated with

professional poise.

Chapel Choir returned to perform and

The Shephard

glorious beauty and clarity that exuded

building, with its famous dome, is one of

understanding way beyond their years.

the most iconic landmarks in Europe and it

The Canticles, The Gloucester Service by

was filled with hundreds of visitors from

Herbert Howells, an harmonic stalwart in

around the world coming in to hear the

the Anglican repertoire, was sung with

service.

conviction while the double motet, Faire as

The Choir, under the direction of Director of

the Heaven, provided the controlled

Music Mr Howard Ebden, and organist Mr

beauty and shade required of such a

Simon Winters, demonstrated their ability

colossal acoustic.

3

Prep and Primary Music Festival

Children from a variety of local schools

a scratch orchestra that featured two

Schools Music Festival. Seventy three

Star Wars theme by John Williams. In

fabulous works by I McKenzie and the

came to Chigwell for the annual Primary

addition, all the pupils who were not in

children joined Chigwell pupils and spent

the orchestra had the rare opportunity to

the Saturday rehearsing for a concert at

experience

the end of the day which was performed

different

brass

instruments, a percussion workshop and

in front of several hundred parents and

music technology. The children showed

friends. A one hundred and sixteen voice

amazing concentration throughout the

choir learned and performed spirituals

day’s activities. They made new friends

and songs by Abba, the Beatles and Take That.

playing

and worked together very effectively

Meanwhile, the wide-ranging

to

talents of more than eighty students

produce

remarkably

polished

performances by the end of the day.

were woven together into

4

House Music

The annual House Music competition

staff, especially the praefects in each

Capella performance of ‘Follow that

arrangements and choreography, and

took place recently. Item one was a

House

Star’ by Peter Gritton. The four Houses

who

organised

their

own

was greatly enjoyed by the parents who

treated the song in contrasting ways

packed New Hall to see it. The evening

with Swallow’s being judged the best

also raised £750 which will go to the Tim

for their accuracy and attention to

Pruss School in India.

detail. Item two was won by Penn’s with an acoustic performance of

Seasons of Love from Rent. This was beautifully sung by a choir of ten,

sensitively accompanied on the piano

and grabbed the audience’s attention from the start. The House song in item

three was also won by Penn’s with an old House Music favourite, Blame it on

the Boogie. This meant that Penn’s also won the Barnes Cup for the overall competition.

The evening was the culmination of a great deal of hard work from pupils and

5

Boarding Community

We are delighted that our community of international Sixth Form boarders have

settled in so well. We aim to learn from them, just as they learn from teachers and fellow students at Chigwell. The Lower Sixth student mentors have been particularly supportive and have helped the boarders to feel at home.

School Shop

Over the half term break, the shop will be open at the following times: 23rd to 31st October

10am to 3pm

3rd November

10am to 3pm

1st to 2nd November

Closed

From the 6th November onwards, normal opening times of 12 noon to 5pm will resume.

6

Drama

The drama department began the term

briskly by going into London with the Middle Sixth to see the acclaimed

production of Tennessee Williams’ ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ starring Jack

O’Connor and Sienna Miller. This was a

really fascinating interpretation of the show that was enjoyed by all. Next, it was workshop season for the Lower Sixth who are exploring a range of

theatre styles with visiting actors and

with

professional

make-up

artist

Message’ and ‘Post Mortem’) and Kate

also the author of our course book for

andauthor, Rosemary Swinfield who is

authors such as Kate London (‘Death

make-up. These were really successful

Williams (‘Birds of a Feather’, ‘East

events that helped to deepen the range

Enders’ and many more). The Lower

of professional teaching offered to

Fifth GCSE costume and make up

students in the drama department.

students also enjoyed a day’s workshop

Arkwright Scholar

Congratulations to Abigail Whelan who was awarded a scholarship by the

Arkwright Scholarships Trust. Awards

are given by the charity, following a

rigorous selection process, to students who plan to become engineers. Abigail has sponsorship from Rolls Royce Aerospace Engineering.

7

Howard and Mitchell Essay Competition Congratulations to all the Sixth Form

Woolf’s understanding and application

Howard (arts and humanities) and

develop the concept in her novels? Leah

of Ovidian metamorphosis: did she

students who submitted entries for the

Redmond - Should the NHS inject

Mitchell (science) essay competition.

additional funds into the future of

The winners, selected by a panel of

personalised medicine?

internal and external judges were:

Mitchell Essay

Howard Essay Winner:

Winner: Yasmin Antoniou - The Role of

Tomasz Cienkowski - What

the Placebo Effect in Medicine

happens to Venus when the marble goddess turns metallic? Transformation

Runner-Up: Isabella Clarke - To what

of physical materials and of visual models

extent is anorexia nervosa caused by

in the ‘Metallic Venus’ by Jeff Koons

nature not nurture?

Highly Commended (in name order):

Tomasz and Yasmin will present their

Erin Chakartash - To what extent was

essays at the Howard and Mitchell

Wall Street’s 2008 banking crisis

evening on 21st November.

inevitable? Imogen Osborn - Virginia

PSHE Dinners

Like House Music, the PSHE dinners are another regular feature of the Senior School

Michaelmas term calendar, designed to bring Remove pupils together as they work with the caterers to prepare a meal for parents and tutors. Thank you to all families who supported the dinners and the pupils who prepared them so well.

8

EPQ and HPQ Upper Fifth and Middle Sixth students who have completed their Extended Project

Qualifications and Higher Project Qualifications presented their research at the EPQ and HPQ presentation evening. Topics ranged from

literature to nano technology, psychology to legal history, with a great deal more besides and students shared their conclusions and

enthusiasm with members of the Lower Fifth

and Lower Sixth who have also expressed an interest in taking the qualifications.

Staff News

We send our congratulations to Miss Celeste Cassell and her partner Warren on the birth of

their daughter Freya; to Mrs Yasmin Hizer and her husband David on the birth of their son Zachary; and to Mr Damien Rabbitte and his wife Sarah Jane on the birth of their son

Tristan.

9

Williams Project

Many pupils have enjoyed attending the Williams Project sessions this term.

Speakers have included Rick Findler who is a war photographer, and

Professor Ken Gemes and Dr Andrew Huddleston from the University of

London. If pupils have not attended,

please do encourage them to give the Williams Project a try

Tim Pruss Presentations Each year the Tim Pruss prize is awarded

Rohan Sharad and Erin Chakartash

volunteer work abroad.

Galapagos, Yasmin Antoniou helped in

to one or more students who carry out

volunteered in a community in the

The prize

winner Isabelle Kearin and other

a children’s home in Bali, and Isabelle

students who applied for the award

spent time in Calais with a charity

spoke about their volunteering recently.

preparing food for the refugees there.

10

Chigwell Community Run for Charity The Chigwell spirit was on show as our

Simon

walk or cheer on others, for charity.

said “It is brilliant to once more see the

community came together again to run, Another

massive

team

of

Old

Chigwellians, parents, and staff ran the 13.1

miles

of

the

Royal

Foundation Half Marathon.

Parks

This

stunning central London half marathon, took in the capital's world-famous

landmarks on closed roads, and four of London's eight Royal Parks - Hyde Park,

The Green Park, St James's Park and Kensington Gardens. All the organising, training and running was to raise much

needed funds and awareness for Cancer Research UK.

Ledsham,

Director

of

Communities at Cancer Research UK, team from Chigwell School take part in the Royal Parks Foundation Half

Marathon in aid of Cancer Research UK.

The way in which students, parents, staff and alumni unite behind this common goal each year is remarkable

and it is difficult to overstate the positive

impact that this act of community, togetherness and fundraising will have,

not just on the work carried out by Cancer Research UK, but on the younger generation at the school. Our ambition is that by 2034 we will see three quarters of

11

Chigwell Community Run for Charity people diagnosed with cancer survive the

This is the fourth time that the Chigwell

that you have demonstrated to both

over the last three years it has raised

disease. The support and commitment

Cancer Research UK and active, healthy

lifestyles is an essential part of making this ambition a reality. I hope that you all

feel a genuine sense of pride and accomplishment and what you have achieved and I can’t wait to see what’s

team has taken part in this event and £240,000. We are very proud of our

intrepid Chigwell team who have wholeheartedly given their time, energy

and enthusiasm to raise money and awareness for this very worthy cause.

next for the Chigwell School Team.”

London Academy of Excellence

Like nine other independent schools around London, Chigwell has helped to support this new sixth form college in Tottenham, the aim of which is to provide support for A level students in the area hoping to go on to selective universities. LAET admits

students from less affluent backgrounds, 60% from the most deprived postcodes

around Tottenham. Earlier in the term, some students and staff spent the day with Chigwell students sharing experiences of starting A level.

12

Girls’ Hockey

With the start of another new school

of Kayuki and Karobi Sen demonstrate

season. Last season was one of, if not,

commitment to school and club hockey.

year, comes the start of another hockey

the skills they have acquired through

the most successful season for girls’

The U12s have enjoyed the addition of

hockey and has set the benchmark for

many new girls who have joined the

seasons to come. Not only were lots of

School this year. There have been girls

teams playing at all levels but our 1st XI

who have never played hockey before to

were Essex Indoor and Outdoor Champions

girls who are regular participants in the

and made excellent progression through

sport, but all have worked really hard

national competitions.

and thrown themselves into school

In terms of participation, this year has

fixtures. We have regularly fielded four

again started with the School fielding an

teams from this age group with the A

impressive number of teams for our size.

team in particular being very successful,

In the Junior School, there have been

winning all their matches against tough

thirteen teams from U10 to U13 age

opposition from Brentwood, Forest and

groups, playing in fixtures. The U10s are

St. Edmunds.

still relatively new to hockey and are

The U13s have been very committed to

working hard to develop their skills and

their hockey this year, and through Mr

techniques. They have been very keen

Tomsett and Mrs Bint’s guidance, are

to play their fixtures, with the whole

starting to apply the skills and

year group enjoying fixtures against

techniques they have learnt into more

Forest, New Hall and Belmont. The

effective team play. They regularly turn

U11s, despite being a small year group,

out in large numbers to after-school

have acquitted themselves well again

training on Wednesdays and have been

this year. They had a sleepy start to the

rewarded with improvements in their

season, with both A and B teams losing

performances. They may not have had

to Bedford, but have since then awoke

all the results go their way but they are

with the A team in particular putting in

an up-and-coming year group.

some good performances to beat

The U14s have not only made their

schools such as Forest and New Hall. It

transition from Junior to Senior School

has been impressive to watch the likes

13

Girls’ Hockey

this year, but have also had to adapt to

although they sometimes question

played the previous season. With a

have thrown themselves into it and are

11-a-side hockey from the 7-a-side they large and strong squad of intelligent

players, their team has enjoyed a great start, winning convincingly in their first fixture against Forest.

The U15s have made significant

improvements in their hockey this year.

They have shown a greater enthusiasm for the sport, committed in numbers to training and as a result, are playing

much better. They opened the season with a win over local rivals Forest but

have since lost narrowly to St Edmund’s and

Brentwood.

Despite

being

disheartening, it is pleasing to see that they have stuck with training which will

hopefully help them in their respective Essex tournament.

Last year, as previously mentioned,

was an excellent season for Chigwell’s Senior Girls 1st XI, with this year’s

cohort having some big shoes to fill.

The season started well for the girls with them winning the inaugural Chigwell

1st

XI

Tournament,

convincingly beating their local rivals

Forest, Brentwood and Bancroft’s. The squad has shown a good dedication to both pitch and fitness training, and

14

their participation in the latter, they starting to become a tighter knit group

as a result. A special mention at this point should go to the captain Pena

Iiyambo, who has worked tirelessly to

improve herself as a player and set an example for all to follow in the team.

There has been a lot of learning and

adapting throughout the season, with some tough tactical concepts being

taught which is resulting in progress but not always results. This year

unfortunately the girls finished 4th in a fairly evenly matched and competitive Essex

Tournament

progress any further.

and

will

not

Boys’ Football

We have had a successful start to the

U15s narrowly lost to Ardingly College.

results for the senior sides in the early

will play Haileybury Turnford School in

The U14s remain in the ESFA cup and

2017 season with lots of encouraging

the next round. The U13s won their

part of this term. The 1st XI had notable

IAPS regional tournament and will now

results against Sutton Grammar and

compete in the national finals on 5th

John Lyon. As a very young team, the

November. In the ISFA Cup the U13s

1st XI has worked hard this year and is

reached the fourth round, losing in a

building for the future very nicely. There

close game against Whitgift School.

have been new initiatives such as strength

and

conditioning

and

Individual success has come in the

specialists clinics introduced to improve

involvement of Oliver Irow and Blake

work rate and professionalism of the

Irow continuing at Tottenham Academy

senior sides. More exciting news has

and Louie Gibbons at Arsenal. There

been the introduction of a Leyton Orient

have also been a large number of

coach who has worked with KS2 players,

nominations of Chigwell School boys to

U13 and U14 C teams, and the 4th and

ISFA

5th XIs. This has been of great benefit as

and

Herts

and

Essex

representative teams and we wish all

this will offer more specialised coaching

nominated every success

alongside the extremely strong staff.

The ISFA cup has sprung its usual

surprises with the 1st XI being drawn away at Leeds Grammar. In a close

Twitter

were victorious running out 4-3 in extra

started using Twitter to publish very

fought end to end game Leeds Grammar

As mentioned previously, we have

time. The U16s have got off to a great

brief details and pictures of some of the

events around school, tweeting several

start in the ISFA cup beating a usual

times a week. We now have over 1600

finalist in the first round, Harrowdian

followers and please join them if you

School 4-2, an impressive debut hat

have not already done so by following

trick from Sam Blackshaw having

here.

secured the win. In the ISFA cup the

15

Dining Hall

Work on the Dining Hall continues and, as I write, the roof is going on in the extension linking it to the Swallow Room.

We are looking forward to completion,

the improved space and the return of the Swallow Lawn between the Dining Hall and New Hall.

And Finally

Thank you to all families for your support

over the last half term. I hope the coming

fortnight provides some much-needed time to rest and prepare for the second

half of term. We also hope that pupils enjoy their tour to Madrid, Gold Duke of Edinburgh training expedition in Scotland,

and the philosophy trip to Worksop College. Beyond this, I look forward to

seeing you again on Monday 6th November or soon afterwards.

With best wishes Yours sincerely

Michael Punt

16

Message from the Chaplain

It is remarkable how quickly something

new and slightly bewildering becomes completely normal. Having joined the

staff at the beginning of term the set up at Chigwell seemed designed to catch out

the unwary. Year groups are disguised

under names such as ‘Removes’, ‘Middle VI’ and so on. ‘School Houses’ can be the

places where the boarders live; Harsnett,

weekly treat is to visit the Pre-Prep for an

student groups; Caswalls’, Penns etc.

link with the children’s work in class. All

assembly with the little ones where we

Hainault and Church or possibly the

ably supported by Chapel mascot – Arthur

Context is all important! Eight weeks

the dog!

later it all feels very different and

everything makes sense (mostly). The Chigwell family has a way of drawing new

people in and very quickly feels that I’ve never been anywhere else.

This first part of the Michelmas term has been very busy in Chapel and at St Mary’s with a series of services on PSHE themes

such as individual responsibility, self-

confidence and personal values. Leah

A huge thank you goes to all those who

the feast of Sukkoth and between now

collection this year. Mr Richbell, Sophie

contributed so much for our harvest

Redmond helped us mark Harvest and

Tilbrook and Olivia Drabwell took a

and Christmas we have a planned

loaded mini bus to deliver the gifts to the

programme of student-led chapel talks.

Streets2Homes charity in Harlow. The

Topics will cover charities, social and

staff explained the importance of

moral issues and festivals such as Divali

donations like those from Chigwell to the

and Advent. Each service has readings

work of the charity but more particularly

and prayers led by students from a highly

to the lives of individuals receiving

efficient rota organised by Chapel

support. The school Charity Committee is

Praefect Immy Osborn. On Thursdays my

17

Message from the Chaplain now planning activities for Charities Week in December.

Coming to Chigwell has been a steep

learning curve but very quickly I have realised what a special place this is. We

share a community where people

genuinely care for each other and want

nothing more than the best for students, staff and the wider school family. We are richly blessed.

Rev Scott

18

TERM DATES Half term: Saturday 21st October to Sunday 5th November Term ends:

Wednesday 13th December

2018 Lent Term Staff meetings and INSET on Wednesday 3rd January First day: Thursday 4th January Half term: Saturday 10th February to Sunday 18th February

2018 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

Term ends:

Term ends:

Wednesday 28th March

Wednesday 11th July