Chs newsletter 24th june 2016

NEWSLETTER

24th June 2016

LETTER FROM THE HEAD Dear Parents As we approach the end of the academic year the school has been very busy with events and activities, both in and outside the classroom. The Sixth Form biologists have spent two days at Juniper Hall conducting fieldwork whilst four girls went to a women ambassadors’ conference at GDST where they were addressed by the US ambassador to the UK. In addition we held an Oxbridge evening and the Year 10 girls spent an afternoon experiencing Sixth Form life and subjects that are not available until Year 12.

And, whilst all this activity was going on, I have had the pleasure of reading many of the girls’ reports which clearly show the efforts that have been made by so many to make substantial progress in their studies. th

The 4 annual PTA Golf Day took place last Friday and it was good to share a very pleasant day with a number of parents and friends of the school. My thanks go to Nick Lipczynski who once again organised a very successful day. This year we were playing for a new award – the “Ivy Leaf” – which is awarded to the best female golfer. Mrs Beck won this year and I would encourage you to enter next year.

Last Saturday’s Ivy Link annual lunch was a really marvellous occasion with over 80 alumnae gathering at their school to share memories, catch up with old friends, enjoy a delicious meal and have a look around the school buildings. I was delighted to have so many fascinating conversations with old girls ranging in age from their forties to their eighties and to see the same spirit in all of them. After the lunch I was delighted to make a presentation of flowers to Angie Peters who was recently awarded the MBE for services to education and children’s services and, in particular, her extensive voluntary work with the NSPCC. Croydon High girls are noted for making a difference for the better in the wider world and it is gratifying to see this being recognised once again.

The Family Fun Day, again organised by the very hardworking PTA committee, was a really tremendous event with a genuinely palpable sense of community all afternoon as many families came to take part in the variety of activities. I, and all members of my Senior Leadership Team, were led to the stocks to have wet sponges thrown at them and the opportunity was taken up by a large number of girls! Many thanks to those who helped before, during and after the day to make the event such a success. I would also like to thank all the parents who contributed to my leaving gift; I was overwhelmed by your generosity. The afternoon is symptomatic of the sense of fun that permeates so much of what the school does and this continues into next week as we prepare for the “Night at Café CHS” next Friday. We are promised an evening of music and drama that will live long in the memory in a very light hearted programme of songs and sketches. All this while our year 7 to 10 girls are enjoying a disco and bbq over at the Junior School. These events occur at the end of a week which is totally crammed full of events as we celebrate the end of a very successful year. Tuesday sees the Sports presentation evening where the sporting endeavours of our girls are recognised while Wednesday’s Summer Concert promises to be a lively carnival of music making and dance with a Brazilian samba theme. On Thursday we have the opportunity to say farewell to our Year 13 girls at their Graduation Ball. At this point I am not quite sure how I am going to survive to the end of the week!

Before we get to next week I am looking forward to watching the Year 5-6 production of “Aladdin” this evening. These annual events are always a highlight of the year, particularly so for Year 6 who will be leaving the certainties of the Junior School and looking forward to life in the Senior School.

After a week of pretty appalling weather it is, at last, improving just in time for our large group of intrepid silver Duke of Edinburgh Award girls as they hike across the south of England for four days. All the best to them as they embark upon this adventure.

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

JUNIOR SCHOOL

AN EXCITING TRIP TO NETTLECOMBE

On Monday 13th June, Year 5 embarked on an exciting trip to Nettlecombe. We were staying for a week and were buzzing with anticipation. It was a long journey but Mr Garrard kept us entertained. We stopped for lunch at a service station and then resumed the journey. When we finally reached Nettlecombe Court it exceeded our expectations greatly. The building was enormous and was 400 years old! After settling down, we had a tour of the entire building. We became familiar with many rooms, including the pantry where we prepared our packed lunches. One of our favourites was the common room, where we ate our cake and listened to a story in the evenings. We enjoyed the afternoon of fun team games, had dinner and went to our rooms for a much needed rest.

Over the next few days we did many activities. A few of my favourites were: mammal trapping, following the River Horner and going to the Rocky Shore. In mammal trapping we each had a trap which we filled with the favourite foods of small mammals. We hid them well and in the morning we checked for mammals. We did in fact find three wood mice. Another fun activity was at Dunster Castle. We learnt all about life in the Victorian era below stairs, whilst acting as maids and hall boys. Afterwards we did some shopping in Dunster village. The trip was a brilliant experience and we all learnt something new, whether about Dunster Castle or how to make your bed! When we followed the River Horner, we went to different sites and investigated the flow, size and depth of the river along its course. Going to the Rocky Shore, we looked at sea life on the lower, middle and upper shore. We stroked some anemones and held crabs.

THANK YOU FROM THE ECO CLUB

Thank you for all your donations towards the Eco Club stall. With your children's’ help, we have turned lots of unwanted CDs into sun catchers which are now in place in the Early Years Garden. Also a massive thank you for all the Owlbert entries; they were amazing and so creative! It was very hard to choose the winners. Well done to Zadie Chandler (1M) and Ananya Musuvathy (4T), winners of the KS1 and KS2 competitions and to our four runners up: Annabel Hunter (reception), Poppy Somers (2J), Penelope Pelling (3T) and Aashka Patel (4M).

TACKLING TESSELLATION

On Monday, Year 4 came to the Senior School to learn all about tessellation from the Year 8 girls. After some fantastic PowerPoint and MyMaths presentations prepared by Year 8, the Year 4 girls were given shapes to tessellate. There were sharks (or piranhas), symmetrical shapes and dogs and cats. The Year 4 girls confidently tackled these tessellations and showed that they clearly understood what tessellation is, thanks to some excellent teaching and help from the older girls. The enthusiasm from both teachers and the pupils was plain to see. Many thanks to Ms Nowitzke and Year 8 for preparing such a fun afternoon. A few comments from Year 4: Isabella: ‘I found it interesting that so many shapes could form a new pattern together.’

Lexi: ‘You could turn the shapes around to help them tessellate. I enjoyed sticking them.’

Sophia: ‘There were so many different ways of fitting the shapes together.'

Leonie: ‘It was fun!’

SENIOR SCHOOL A ‘MAGICAL’ TRIP by Y8 Choi Lui

On Tuesday, the whole of year 8 went to the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studios. It was an amazing experience and it just reminded us how lucky we are to be able to go and see the magic of Harry Potter first hand. We explored the exhibition in cross-form groups which helped us get to know each other better. Some of us flew broomsticks and learnt how to wield a wand – green screens and CGI did hel p! It was also an opportunity to learn more about set design and construction. The trip was a fun way of being able to research deeper into the designing process of Harry Potter. We saw how ideas on a blank piece of paper transformed into a model to a set of an incredible film. Over the next few weeks we will be designing and building our own stage sets. Our visit has helped us understand the task better and will hopefully give us some inspiration. All in all, it was certainly a ‘Magical’ trip.

LOVE IS LOVE by Y12 Olivia Ricketts

On the 17th June, the whole school sat down for an assembly with the horrific news of the Orlando shooting, that had occurred five days prior, fresh in their mind. The assembly was presented by Miss Moore, Head of RS, who aimed to explore the theory that love is love and that it has no labels. Her powerful speech made her assembly stand out amongst others, as every girl was both engaged and shocked by the events. The assembly focused on the Orlando shooting which was the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman and the deadliest incident of violence against LGBT people in U.S. history. The CHS students became a human flag of solidarity as they reflected on the importance of spreading love by writing on a slip of coloured paper a powerful message to show how they felt. One girl wrote: “This is not a solo event or new brand of hatred. The events in Orlando are a result of a culmination of ignorance, intolerance and inaction. Now is the time to acknowledge this and act for the better”.

EURO 2016

Year 7 and 8 have been tracking the Euro 2016 tournament in English lessons during the last week after selecting their teams in the sweepstake. The girls are completing cross-curricular tasks on the tournament that include composing a new national anthem, designing a stadium and a new kit, writing a match report and biography and filming their own advertisement to promote the championship. On Wednesday, year 8 combined with year 5 students to explore the language used by football pundits and to stage their own "match of the day" programme through role-play. The girls interviewed each other in role as players from the tournament. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs and we are looking forward to collaborating again next week.

WOMEN OF THE FUTURE PROGRAMME by Y12 Olivia Ricketts On 22nd June, four girls from the Year 12 were invited to their second Women of the Future Event. The girls were lucky enough to hear a speech from the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Matthew Barzun, at the AVIVA Building in London, where they were joined by over 50 girls across the capital. Barzun got the girls to delve into their concerns and hopes for the US, with the floor mirroring the girl’s passionate frustration towards the lack of gun control in the US. Another highlight for them was hearing Barzun’s perception of the US Primaries and the influence the media have on the Presidential election. However, the final exercise saw everyone on the floor fully engaged in a powerful debate over whether a ‘Hands on’ or ‘Hands off’ approach was most effective in future US politics.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME

by Y12 Sophie Haden-Scott, Georgia Weaver & Lauren Kite

On the 16th June our A Level drama class went to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time at The Gielgud Theatre. Placed in the upper circle, we had a perfect view of the incredible black box created for this adaptation of Stephen Haddon’s novel. The play used many special effects in order to portray the mind of Christopher, our protagonist. This unique production was enhanced by LED lights built into the set, compartments in the walls of the stage, a moving back wall, trap doors and physical theatre. One of our favourite moments was the end of Act 1 when the old fashioned children’s trainset that Christopher has been adding to throughout the action came to life with lights and movement to show his journey to London. Christopher has Asperger’s Syndrome and the director’s intention was to show the audience how this affects his interaction with other people. The play included reference to Maths A Level which was humorous due to us being in exam season! Overall, the play was innovative, exciting and emotional- a brilliant production and we would definitely recommend it.

LOST PROPERTY - SENIOR SCHOOL

We will be holding a lost property showing on Tuesday 28th June. This will be the last chance for girls to claim uniform and other lost belongings after which, items will be donated to various charities.

BOOK CORNER

One by Sarah Crossan (Winner of the 2016 Carnegie Award) Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, joined at the waist. At the age of 16, when home schooling is no longer affordable, the girls start attending the local school, not knowing whether they will be accepted or treated as freaks. Later they discover that this is the least of their worries; they soon have to make a difficult, lifechanging decision. Told from Grace’s perspective, this powerful novel, written in verse, packs a punch – it’s about identity, love and unbreakable bonds.

CARNEGIE GROUP MEETS AMY MCKAY (VIRTUALLY!)

On Thursday 16th June the enthusiastic Carnegie Book Clubbers ‘met’ the co-ordinator of the Carnegie Medal Awards and ex-Judge, Amy Mckay. We suffered from a few technical difficulties but, when Amy was unable to hear us, Jessica Man came to the rescue, texting all our questions to her.

Amy commented that this year’s shortlist was particularly exciting as there was something for everyone, from historical fiction to fantasy to the psychological thriller. Her words of advice to the girls? Read widely, beyond your comfort zone – and enjoy the experience. A tip as to who might win the Carnegie Award? – not a chance! We held our own quick ‘Carnegie Referendum’ in which girls voted for the winners.

Tensions were high on Monday when results were revealed via a live webstream in the LRC. 9 of the 14 bookclub members had voted for the winner of the 2016 Carnegie Award, Sarah Crossan’s One, a moving novel about conjoined twins. The Amnesty Honour Award, given to the novel which best illuminates human rights and freedoms, went to Robin Talley’s worthyLies We Tell Ourselves, based on the civil rights movement in the USA. Our bookclub members thoroughly enjoyed shadowing the Carnegie books and participating in all the related activities including a short story competition on the theme of ‘Journey’. Although we didn’t win a national prize, we gave Maya Patel our own CHS award for her moving story of her Grandfather’s journey, both physical and emotional, from Uganda to the UK in 1970.

A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE by Y8 Emma Cahill

The opportunity to work with the Year 4 girls was memorable, great fun, and (of course) educational, for both ourselves and the girls we taught. We were first put into groups of fours; this gave us the chance to work with people who we don’t usually socialise and work with as much, which made this experience even more memorable.

For the next two lessons we worked together to produce an effective outcome. We did this by using shapes, given by Ms Nowitzke, which tessellated, to make our own creative tessellations that the girls then went onto using when they practised for themselves. My group and I also made a PowerPoint giving the girls inspiration and examples of amazing different tessellations. Before the girls came from the Junior School we were all pretty nervous, but most certainly excited. Everyone then soon arrived and we began teaching our lessons and quickly began to feel a lot more confident and comfortable after each girl seemed incredibly eager to learn. On behalf of every girl in year eight who was fortunate enough to gain this experience of working as a teacher for the day, we’d all like to thank Ms Nowitzke and all the Junior School teachers for organising this.

WHOLE SCHOOL SPORT Athletics

Tennis

EVENT/ OPPONENTS Croydon Schools Finals

AGE U8 -U11

English Schools – regional finals

U12-U13

St Bede's

U13

RESULT st Congratulations Amelia Middleton 1 place th 800m & Orrin Blair 4 place rounders throw.

Well done also to finalists Juliana Gadd, Miranda Merrison Galvin & relay team Lauren Baldwin, Abigail Daly, Rianna Mohindra, Francesca Zanelli & Jessica Hunter rd Kaitlyn Klass 3 place shot put rd Olivia Thompson 3 place 1500m st Tamia Meggie-Graham 1 place 200m rd Anna Kassim 3 place 200m Won 12-0

PTA GOLF DAY

A record number of 32 golfers arrived bright and keen for the annual CHS golf day at Woldingham Golf Club. Despite the threat of showery, stormy weather, the morning proved to be dry but cloudy and therefore an ideal opportunity for a display of quality golf. Bacon sandwiches and coffee greeted the golfers before a double tee-off starting at 8:30am. The course was in superb condition, which in most cases matched the excellence of the golf. This year saw the inaugural Ivy Leaf Trophy kindly donated by Sue Hornsby for the best ladies player and won on 33 points by Sue Beck. The nearest pin by Dave Heppard, and the longest drive by Simon Beck – we trust the Beck's have a large trophy cabinet. The annual vase was won by Matt Bradley, with Ian Taskiss 2nd, and Simon Beck 3rd. As ever, a great day out, with over £700 raised for the PTA. Here’s to the next year – keep an eye out for the date when it is announced.

Well done to Year 10 Leah Watkins and Jemma Denman who competed at the London Youth Games representing Croydon in the handball competition held at the Copper Box.

IVY LINK SUMMER LUNCH

On Saturday 18th June we welcomed over 80 guests for our annual Ivy Link lunch. This year, we welcomed a large group from 1971, celebrating the 45th anniversary of leaving school. Some admitted to pre-reunion nerves but all agreed that once they were together it was as if they had never been apart – even those who hadn’t seen each other for years! The lunch was delicious and the wine flowed and there was a happy buzz of reminiscences and lots of laughter. Following the meal, Mrs Leonard gave an update on school news, and then introduced the Prefect team who each spoke about what they hoped to do once they leave the Sixth Form. The girls were on hand to give tours of the school; there were many positive comments on how bright and welcoming the classrooms are and how the facilities have improved. We have received a number of warm letters and emails thanking us for the day and commenting very positively on the atmosphere, the welcome and, particularly, the current CHS girls they met.

SPORTS DAY 2016

FUN DAY NOTICES

Please go to juniors for any lost property - a child's bag, glasses and a child's coat were left behind. Please bring back any blue or pink tokens that you may have taken home after the Fun Day by mistake. We will leave a pot in the junior reception for children to deposit them from Monday. Thank you.