Culford connections summer 2013

Connections www.culford.co.uk

Summer 2013

Speeches, Strawberries and Alice in Wonderland Glorious sunshine heralded Culford’s annual Speech Day on Saturday 25 May, when over 500 proud parents, teachers, pupils and friends of the School watched Guest of Honour, Reverend Doctor Mark Wakelin, President of the Methodist Conference, awarding prizes to pupils for effort and achievement during the past academic year.

He then gave an inspirational speech which encouraged everyone present to celebrate and share their individual talents and qualities.

The prize giving was followed by lunch on the South Front where the orchestra played and guests were able to enjoy an entertaining performance of Alice in Wonderland by Fourth Form pupils on the lawn.

The afternoon saw a variety of displays and events including the annual 1st XI v President’s XI cricket match; the Senior Tennis Championship Finals in the Indoor Tennis Centre; flame throwing in the science department; netball tournament; art exhibition; debating; swimming; a musical concert; and an exciting flight simulator run by the Combined Cadet Force.

The unveiled refurbished Workman Library, the original library to Culford Hall dating as far back as 1591, housed a display of Culford’s exciting plans to build a £2.2million landmark Library at the heart of the school. The day concluded with a strawberries and cream tea on Culford’s South Front.

Culford Connections is a termly newsletter for Culford School bringing together news from the Senior, Prep and Pre-Prep Schools

Academic Prizes awarded this term Benefecits A benefecit is a positive reward for academic success either in a single piece of work, or in several pieces of work, which are very good relative to pupil ability. Benefecits are given out to pupils in F4, L5 and U5 and are enhanced by the award of certificates and book tokens.

Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates are awarded to pupils during the end of term Headmaster’s Assembly and also House Assemblies.

House Merit Cup Family History Prizes Every term the Senior School compares effort levels between Houses in terms of assessment grades, and a cup is awarded to the House which on average shows the most commitment to learning. Fitzgerald House were the winners this term.

Sixth Form EPQ

SILVER AWARDS FOURTH FORM Stephen Cheung Aaron Hird Tatiana Ruleva Christopher Lettin Martin Sharples Alexander Sanderson

F4 F4 F4 L5 L5 L5

BRONZE AWARDS James Barley Max Bickers Martynas Blazys Tino Charambamwe Timothy Hall Vladimir Kalinovskiy Emma Lees Scarlett Neill Lucy Scott Anna Sutton Isabella Taylor Rhianna Walton Henry Yannaghas Mollie Young Charlie Bathe Olivia Barkham George Callaghan Anna Flynn Emily Haydon Eve Holder Gabriella Jones Elizabeth Knight Hannah Littlechild Sophie Owles Charlotte Pimbley Jack Veitch Hannah Vickers Ben Whittaker Holly Whittome

F4 F4 F4 F4 F4 F4 F4 F4 F4 F4 F4 F4 F4 F4 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5 L5

L6 ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE CERTIFICATES Kate Balding Ruth Friswell Frederick Herold

Culford has been delivering the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) for three years. A select group of A level pupils have taken part and the results have been terrific.

This year’s participants are: Sebastian Armstrong (A film on the Malawi Expedition), Harriet Clapp (How to measure the happiness of migrants), Georgina Clark (The relevance of Fairy Tales today), Esther Jacobs (Dream Theories) and Adam Rampling (Why do some viruses become zoonotic?).

Rotary Club Award Harriet Clapp has won the Rotary Club ‘Service Above Self’ award, for her tireless work and excellent service in counselling other Culford students. She was presented with her award at Bury St Edmunds cathedral in April.

In History lessons this term, Fourth Form pupils have been producing family history projects with a wide range of impressive results. Some pupils have found lost relatives; others have found connections to the aristocracy or historical events. Awards were presented to: Eleanor Rushforth, Tatiana Ruleva, Lucy Scott and Henry Yannaghas.

PLT Skills Throughout the last few years, teachers in the Senior School have been promoting PLTS (Personal Learning & Thinking Skills) both within and beyond the classroom.

These skills include Independent Enquiry, Team Working, Effective Participation, SelfManagement, Reflective Learning, Creative Thinking and Tenacity.

Developing personal learning and thinking skills is extremely important, not only to enhance academic enjoyment and success, but they are also essential for the workplace. These skills are evaluated on assessment cards and reports, and to emphasise how important they are to pupils, we have now initiated a range of PLTS awards.

This term's award winners are: Independent Enquirer Tino Charambamwe (F4), Phoebe Howe (L5) Team Worker Alex Waterman (F4), Eve Holder (L5) Effective Participator Scarlet Neill (F4), Bethany Deane (L5) Self-manager James Barley (F4), Charlie Holt (L5) Reflective Learner Cameron Fellows (F4), Ben Whittaker (L5) Creative Thinker Tatiana Ruleva (F4), Martin Sharples (L5) Tenacious Learner Thomas Cobbold (F4), Michael Kimwele (L5) Best in Year Shannon Seed (F4), Kieran D’Lima (L5)

Harriet Clapp

STOP PRESS: Members of Culford Bee Club have taken second prize in the Novice Liquid Honey category at the recent West Suffolk Beekeepers Association Honey Show!

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Culford Connections

Summer 2013

Author Visit

In May, Culford welcomed highly acclaimed author Bali Rai to speak to pupils, both Senior and Prep, about his life and work. Bali is the author of 30 books for children and teenagers including Rani and Sukh which is now a GCSE set text.

He has been nominated for the prestigious Carnegie Award for children’s literature and has won numerous other awards. Pupils were given an insight into how Bali works and why he writes, and were given the opportunity to ask questions of the author before participating in a writing workshop led by Bali himself.

‘Off With Their Heads!’

A superb open-air production of Alice in Wonderland was performed by Fourth Form pupils over two evenings in May. A spell-bound audience looked on as the Mad Hatter, White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat entertained everyone in the beautiful parkland setting, by the willow trees at the edge of the River Cul. Imaginative costume and make-up helped to create Lewis Carroll’s unique characters, which were acted superbly, with the whole year group involved in helping to both direct and stage the play. As if on cue, a cuckoo from a neighbouring tree sang just as the first performance began, and the audience, well prepared with their picnic blankets

and emergency umbrellas, all agreed that performing Alice outside helped make the play one they will remember for years to come.

Even when poor weather forced one of the performances into the Studio Theatre, the production proved no less amusing and effective with the audience, like the Cheshire Cat, cheerfully grinning throughout.

There is some exceptional acting talent at Culford, with an inspiring drama department encouraging pupils to get involved in a wide variety of productions. The department is already planning to take a play to the Edinburgh Festival in 2014 – watch this space!

Bali Rai

Chemistry Olympiad Round one of the UK International Chemistry Olympiad took place in February. The competition, organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry, saw 4,574 pupils from across the country take part. Eight Culford pupils have received awards: Bethan Absolon, Moroti Babayemi, Fiona Devoy, Esther Jacobs, Lily Lv, Katrin Retterath (all U6) and Peter Chrispin (L6) all received Bronze Awards, with Marion Black (U6) receiving Silver.

Culford Connections

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Senior School

Learning about Culford’s wildlife Susan Stone, Suffolk Wildlife Trust Conservation Advisor, came to Culford in June to give a two hour walk and talk about the unique 480 acres on the estate. She explored the amazing fauna and flora that surrounds us with Lower Sixth biologists; and she focused in particular on herons, white clawed crayfish, otters, snakes, Muntjac deer, foxes and the huge array of plant life.

Tennis News Lower Fifth pupils, Maria Andrews and Hannah Vickers (pictured below) successfully defended their Under 15 doubles trophy at Eton in July, and are once again Independent Schools Tennis Association (ISTA) National Doubles Champions.

Preparing for Life after Culford

James Yates, High Performance Manager

At the county finals in June, three Culford teams triumphed to become county champions: the Year 8 and Under Boys (Oscar Cutting, Ed Pomeroy, Harry Haydon and Noah Cutting); the Year 8 and Under Girls (Abigail Callaghan, Rose Thomas, Lowenna Clarke and Matilda Blasdale); and the Year 10 and Under Girls (Maria Andrews, Hannah Vickers, Anastasia Mozhina and Emily Haydon). All three teams now progress to the Regional Finals in September.

The Year 10 and Under Boys team won the bronze play-off match.

Sixth Form pupils have been preparing for life after Culford with a series of events this term covering all aspects of higher education.

A conference at school featured speakers from Anglia Ruskin University, the Cambridge School of Performing Arts and Project Trust covering subjects from money management and gap years to cooking and graduate recruitment.

Pupils experienced campus life at UEA and continued their preparation with a visit to Anglia Ruskin University’s UCAS conference.

Culford Tennis has welcomed James Yates, pictured above, as the new High Performance Manager (who is also Cambridge’s High Performance Manager), to direct the performance programme at Culford. This is an exciting partnership that has received full support from the LTA.

Music Congratulations Associated Board Examination achievements last term: Holly Whittome (L5) Grade 5 Piano Pass, Sophie Owles (L5) Grade 5 Flute Pass, Catherine Howells (U2) Grade 7 Cello Distinction.

Trinity Guildhall Examination achievements last term: Isabel Davies (L6) Grade 6 Singing Catherine Howells

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pass, Gemma Gifford (L6) Grade 6 Singing Pass, Lucy Mason (L6) Grade 6 Singing Merit, Robert Day (U5) Grade 6 Singing Pass, Marissa Preston (L6) Grade 6 Singing Pass, Katie Hargreaves (L6) Grade 7 Singing Distinction and Pip Shepherd (U6) Grade 8 Singing Merit.

Prep School

Celebration Day Friday 24 May saw the Prep School’s second Academic and Creative Arts Celebration Day. Despite the wet weather, which led to the picnics being held in Cadogan Hall and Ashby, the pupils put on a wonderful show. Parents were able to wander round the classrooms where there were lots of displays showing a true celebration of pupils’ academic and creative successes and experiences.

The monologues performed by Lower Third pupils were much-admired and all three showcase concerts proved well-attended and entertaining. No-one could fail to notice all the beautiful art work around the school and there was fun to be had with the flag quiz, French shopping trolley challenge and Latin food quiz.

Prep Pet Service

Fun at the Fair Held every April at Trinity Park, the School Farm and Country Fair gives thousands of Suffolk school pupils a day of food and farming discovery and hands-on opportunities to find out where their food comes from,

see animals and machinery at work and gain some experience and knowledge of the countryside. Highlights of the day for our First Form pupils were watching sheep-shearing and holding some very soft cuddly ducklings.

Paws for Thought An unusual congregation filled St Mary’s Church in May when First Form pupils and their families enjoyed a pet service. The pews were filled with dogs of all shapes and sizes as well as rabbits, guinea pigs and even ferrets. Those children without a pet attended with cuddly toys of their favourite animals. All the animals were very well behaved, appearing quite at ease and offering some enthusiastic yapping during Shine Jesus Shine.

After the final hymn, everyone enjoyed meeting one-another’s furry friends in the sunshine before Housemaster Mr Herd led parents on a dog walk around the lake.

Matters Musical Josh Cope and Evan Sykes (both L3) were presented with their Bishop's Chorister Awards on Saturday 27 April at St Edmundsbury Cathedral. They are pictured receiving this prestigious award, which testifies to talent and commitment, from the Bishop of Dunwich, Rt Rev'd Clive Young.

All the pupils who performed in this term’s concert put on a super show and gained valuable performance experience.

The programme included some beautiful vocal performances, two entertaining saxophone pieces, a first class offering from violinist Christina Storey and several renditions of piano pieces being prepared for the ABRSM's Prep Test.

Music Scholar Josh spoke well about his experiences with the Choir of St Mary's Church and Stagecoach before performing a short piano piece with aplomb.

Evan Sykes, Rt Rev’d Clive Young and Josh Cope

Culford Connections

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Prep Sport

Sports Scholar Spotlight Sports Scholar Nella Walters (U3) has had a fruitful year with some notable achievements to date. Competing for the first time this year in the Mini London Marathon, Nella achieved an impressive fourth place finish in the Under 13 age group, completing the three mile course in an extremely fast time of 17.42 min.

The event, which since 2011 has been the official UKA Young Athletes Road Race Championship, is one of the biggest and most prestigious endurance running events for British youngsters.

During June, Nella competed in the Regional Prep School Athletics Finals, continuing her dominance of the 1500m and winning in a time of 4.54 min. Nella set a new U14 competition record in the process and qualified for the National Finals along with Olivia Allum (L3), who came a comfortable second in the 1500m in a time of 5.15 min, and Max Derbyshire (U2), who showed his athletic promise by qualifying in two events: the 70m hurdles and the long jump. Nella went on to win the U14 National Prep School 1500m race in a time of 4.52 min; she ran a brilliantly tactical race before sprinting off with 200m to go, winning by a clear margin.

Max also ran excellently in his heat of the 70m Hurdles to qualify for the final, in which he finished 6th in a new personal best of 13.05 sec. Olivia finished in the middle of the pack in a time of 5.19 min.

As a result of Nella’s consistently good performances, she was selected to compete in the English Schools Track and Field Championships, along with fellow Sports Scholar Beth Keswick (F4). The Track and Field Championships is the highest level competition that school age athletes can be selected for and selections can be made from within any school or club in Great Britain. The event was broadcast on Sky Sports Three in early July. Nella ran the 1500m in a time of 4.50 min, a new personal best, which was very impressive as she was one of the younger athletes competing. Beth competed in the high jump and cleared 1.49m.

IAPS National Swim Finals

IAPS Girls

Jack Vickers

Eight Prep pupils competed in the National Finals of the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) Swimming Championships and came away with top ten placings.

(U3 - 8th U13 Breaststroke); Isabella O’BrienMiller (U3 - 10th U13 Butterfly); Katie Shea (L3 - 10th U12 Backstroke); and Jack Vickers (L2 - 11th U10 Butterfly). Both relay teams also did very well. The U13 Freestyle Relay (Abbie Farrow, Annabel Heywood, Olivia Nicolai, Nella Walters) came 7th and the U13 Medley Relay (Abbie Farrow, Isabella O’Brien-Miller, Annabel Heywood, Olivia Nicolai) came 4th.

Results are as follows: Chloe-Jeane Parsley (U2 - 5th U11 Backstroke); Nella Walters (U3 - 6th U11 Freestyle); Olivia Nicolai (U3 - 7th U13 Breaststroke); Annabel Heywood

Athletics For the first time, the Under 13 junior girls team (pictured left) qualified for the ESAA Schools Cup competition at Watford in June.

There were some excellent performances culminating in the girls finishing a creditable fifth place. The team had previously won the West Suffolk competition, dominating in most events. The boys team also did well to finish third.

There was also success for the girls Under 12 team, who qualified for the county finals after coming second in the West Suffolk Championships.

IAPS National Golf Championships Joseph Beasant, Charlie Carter and Jude Everitt (all U3, pictured right), travelled to Royal Lytham & St. Anne's Golf Club in Lancashire for the IAPS National Golf Championships.

The course, which is one of the most prestigious in the world, was the venue for The Open Championship in 2012 and will host the Walker Cup in 2015.

The Culford team was the first of over thirty participating school teams to tee off and, after a strong start, the team amassed a half-way lead. The trio’s consistently good play, including a hole-in-one for Charlie Carter, earned them a well-deserved second place finish, with Jude also being awarded individual second place – missing out on the top spot by just two points.

Beth Keswick and Nella Walters

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While awaiting the results, the team managed to fit in a tour of the historic clubhouse seeing Seve Ballesteros’ famous iron used during his 1979 win.

Pre-Prep School

Tattybogle Gallery

Branching Out Following an onsite audit by local environmental and educational charity, The Green Light Trust, Culford is now offering forest school sessions as part of its dynamic approach to education. The endorsement will enable Pre-Prep staff who have been trained in the forest school initiative to provide a comprehensive programme of hands-on learning experiences in Culford Park.

The forest school initiative originates from the Scandinavian Early Years education system, which is renowned as one of the best in the world. The initiative allows children the time and space to explore and develop their curiosity through hands-on practical experiences. Children learn new skills while building independence and selfesteem.

Visit www.culford.co.uk/preprep/galleries for more pictures.

May Day Parents and pupils gathered on the field outside Pre-Prep to watch children from the Country Dance group celebrate May Day in the traditional custom of dancing round the maypole. The early morning sun shone down on 24 PP1 and PP2 pupils as they performed the "Spider's Web" dance, interweaving the ribbons round the maypole to represent a colourful spider's web.

Tennis Success During the summer half term, Culford’s Year 3 and Under team participated in the Suffolk Schools Tennis Competition, held in our Indoor Tennis Centre. The team did fantastically well, beating both Brandeston and Barnardiston Schools 6-0 and went through to the country finals in June, where they played very well, finishing fourth. This was a fantastic achievement for such a young team: Adam Waterman, Max Griffiths, William Anderson (all PP2) and George Williams (L1).

Swimming Gala Culford’s indoor swimming pool was full to bursting with parents and friends for this year’s swimming gala. Every Pre-Prep pupil participated and had a lot of fun, with the Yellow House winning the cup.

Lara Chaplin, Adam Waterman and Cecily Downing (all PP2)

Culford Connections

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Summer 2013

This term the children have enjoyed exploring animals through various stories.

This was rounded up nicely with the summer show based around ‘Handa’s Surprise’ with the children pretending to be animals stealing the fruit from Handa’s basket. We explored the animals native to Africa and learned a special song from Zimbabwe. The children have also enjoyed using the new water butt in the garden to care for the plants and especially to make mud pies. On 21 June parents and siblings joined children and staff for the annual Toddle Waddle to raise money for the Meningitis Trust.

“Pupils and parents alike rate the school highly“ The Good Schools Guide

An independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 years

Senior

AutumnOpenMornings

(ages 13-18)

Sixth Form (ages 16-18)

Saturday 5 Saturday 12 October 10.00am October 10.00am Saturday 16 November 10.00am

01284 385308

admissions@culford.co.uk

Prep

(ages 7-13)

Pre-Prep (ages 4-7)

Friday 15 Tuesday 12 November 10.30am November 9.15am

Nursery

(ages 2¾ - 4)

Saturday 16 November 10.00am

Please contact us for details or to register for any of the above events.

Individual visits are also welcome.

www.culford.co.uk

Culford School, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP28 6TX

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Culford School, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP28 6TX Tel: 01284 728615 www.culford.co.uk Connections 8 Culford