School Notes 1979-80 As one looks back on earlier school notes, it seems that the first sentence always proclaims the fact that that particular year has been an eventful one! Well, 1980 has been no exception. We have had a number of staff changes during the last school year: Easter saw the departure of Mr. Barnes, who became Head of English at Christ 's School, Richmond, Mr. Edwards and Mrs. Fleming; Miss Gosm an also retired after many years at Raine's. In the summer, Mr. Nice left us to take up the post of Head of Mathematics at St. John's School, Gravesend. We would like to thank him for all that he has done for us during his time here, particularly for setting up the table-tennis club and ins tituting regular competitions. Mr. Monk left us to go to Russia with the British Council, while Mr. Jenkins departed for the United States. We wish them all much success in their future careers, and hope that they will remember the School as it will remember them . The end of the summer term also saw the departure of Mr. Nugent, Miss Wilson and Miss Smith, who temporarily replaced Mr. Barnes, Miss Gasman and Mr. Edwards resp ec tively. We thank them, too, for their contribution to the school. In place of those who have left, we are pleased to welcome some n ew members of staff to Raine's: Miss O'Neill joins the English department, Mr. Willett, the Mathematics and Physics departments and Miss Dolan and Miss Webb-Bourne the Modern Languages department. We extend a particularly warm welcome to our new Headmaster, Mr. Thomas, who has replaced Mr. Stanney after fifteen years at Raine's. We hope that Mr. Thomas will be very happy here.
We would like to congratulate Mr. Bye on his recent marriage, and also Julie Dawkins who succeeded in winning a scholarship to Merton College, Oxford, where she will read French. Mention must also be made of Amanda Mal pass, Lesley Cox and Michael J acobs, who won travelling awards frori1 the I.L.E.A. Well done1 . At Speech Day, last October, we had the privilege to be addressed by the Bishop of Stepney. Ian Crane and Ching Fun Lee played Brahms' Hungarian Dance as a piano duet. Father Oynick returned to address us at our Founder's Day service in May, and the Choir sang two pieces, 'Achieved is the Glorious Work' by Haydn, and 'Panis Angelicus' by Franck. At the Christmas Carol service, again held at the church of St. J ohn-on-Bethnal Green, it was the turn of the junior choir to excel with their rendering of 'Mary's Boy Child' and 'Born This Night'. The services on Ascension Day, Harvest Festival and the last assembly of term were also enhanced by the sound of singing. On the secular side, there have been two musical productions this past year - 'The Pira tes of Penzance' and 'The Wizard of Oz'. Pupils left the premises for the usual field trips, the Geographers and Geologists visiting Wales amongst other places, and the Biologists travelling to Abergavenny. A p arty o f fifth years went h os路 telling in Yorkshire; the second years went to France during the Spring Bank Holiday, while another group visited Sweden in the summer, staying with Swedish families; there was the usuai ski ~ ng hol iday around Christmas time, and in the summer a new departure- a barge holiday o n the Dutch canals. Day trips have been too numerous to record - one that was much appreciated was the visit to Surrey University by fifth and sixth formers considering further education. Visits to concerts, operas, the ballet and the theatre are always very much in evidence. Productions seen this year included 'Scrooge ', 'Twelfth Night', 'Othello'- the Oliver film; and, of course, two weekend visits to Stratford-upon-Avon for the annual Raine's pilgrimage to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Within the school, the house play competitions have continued to flourish at a very high standard, the winning houses being Winterton (junior) and Mann (senior). )n behalf of the editorial committee, I should like to thank all those who have helped to produce this magazine - those who have taken the trouble to write the articles, those who have typed them for us, and those who contributed the photographs and drawings - and, most of all, the staff who help ed in the preparatio n, especially Mr. Blundell and Mrs Darch, without whom none of this would have appeared. Thank you all very much. Alison Harvey, L6D 14