NEWS
Week ending 1st March 2013
LETTER FROM THE HEAD Dear Parents As we approach the latter stages of the academic year, through my assembly, I asked the girls to re-evaluate the progress they have made so far in their learning and to think about having a positive and healthy attitude to enable them to maximise progress through to the end of the year. I reminded them that it is not too late to make great leaps forward in their learning and it is in this spirit that we move forward to greater achievements. Talking of great achievements, I have been absolutely amazed by the quality of the presentations given by Year 13 girls as part of their Extended Project Qualification this week. Their subject knowledge and ability to understand and communicate very complicated content was extremely impressive, as was their ability to answer questions after their presentations. I have no doubt that these girls will achieve extremely high marks for their hard work which will add valuable UCAS points to their CVs. At the other end of the Senior School our Year 7 girls produced some fantastic models of castles for their History “Blood and Stone” project and I was really impressed by the quality of the models themselves and their accompanying portfolios. The girls had all put a great deal of time and effort into the whole process and Mr Divall, Head of History, commented on how much they had learned about medieval life from the process, much more than they could have done from just reading a textbook. The same is true of the cakes that have been produced in recent weeks by girls studying geographical topics such as plate tectonics and karst (limestone) landscapes. As we move into March our Year 12 and 13 girls have their mock examinations to sit next week. I trust that they have been preparing for these in an effective manner and that they will listen very carefully to the advice given to them by their teachers afterwards. The mock examinations are a valuable opportunity for teacher and pupil to identify strengths and weaknesses to enable teaching and learning, in the run up to the public examinations, to be as effective as it can be. At A Level this is vitally important so that we can celebrate with the girls when they receive grades which enable them to proceed to the next stage of their careers. The Sixth Form Parents’ Evening acts as an important element in this process and I look forward to seeing many parents there in a week or so. The half term holiday was very busy with successful trips to Bonn and the French Alps adding another dimension to the education of those girls who went, and with a lot of work being done at school to further improve the facilities we offer. The refurbishment of the Art Room is well under way and work in the Junior School continues at pace. The school garage is now in use and we had a lot of trees trimmed to ensure light levels are maintained, as well as to address safety considerations. As you know the school buildings were built in the 1960s and, consequently, the flat roofs are suffering from their age. I have just completed a business case to have the entire school re-roofed and this has been sent to the GDST Council for their consideration and, hopefully, approval. Being part of the GDST means that such extremely expensive work can be conducted without impacting on the budgets set aside for teaching and learning; given the current financial climate this places CHS in a very strong position to plan for the future and for other projects to enhance the educational offer to our girls. Yours sincerely
D Leonard CROYDON HIGH SCHOOL Old Farleigh Road, Selsdon, South Croydon, Surrey CR2 8YB Tel: 020 8260 7500 Fax: 020 8260 7461 E-mail: info2@cry.gdst.net www.croydonhigh.gdst.net