Park Post
Autumn 2018
The
From The Head
Welcome to the latest edition of The Park Post – a round-up of all that has been going on in this busy term when we have been happily reunited as one school at The Park, Chilton Cantelo. As you will see from the variety of news items in our second edition; from our youngest pupils to our older students, everyone has been involved in a huge range of trips, visits and experiences outside of the classroom, in addition to the stimulating and engaging lessons I have been privileged to see on my Learning Walks around the School.
This term we remembered with the rest of the country, those who lost their lives over 100 years ago in the First World War, at our Remembrance Service. It was a first for some of our students, who have been learning campanology as an activity, as they joined our visiting team to ring the half-muffled bells before the service.
Among the qualities that we value highly at The Park are the sense of camaraderie and teamwork that we see exhibited daily in our Park School community. A true sense of supporting and helping each other, as well as celebrating each others’ success, can been seen in many of the features in this magazine. The team spirit exhibited in The Park’s Got Talent was heart-warming, and it was most notable that everyone cheered the winner and her House in the true spirit of Respect and Friendship, that is a mark of our School. Our thoughts are now well and truly focused on Christmas and I would like to extend a huge thank you to Mrs Banks and her PTA
team for organising our fabulous Christmas events. The beautiful Christmas decorations are also making our lovely Manor House look even more gorgeous and festive for the end of term and beyond in preparation for our first Christmas Market on Sunday 16 December. Do come and join us for your last minute gifts!
Our Carol Service ends the term in the traditional manner and reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas, which is reflected in this list of “Christmas Gift Suggestions” by Owen Arnold:
To your enemy – forgiveness To an opponent – tolerance To a friend – your heart To a customer – service To all – charity To every child – a good example To yourself – respect.
I hope you all have a very happy and blessed Christmas & New Year with time to relax and read our Park Post!
Jane Huntington Head
Independent Co-educational Day & Boarding 4-18
News round up
Lest We Forget
On the Friday closest to Armistice Day the whole school joined together for a Remembrance Service Assembly in St James' Church. Hymns, poetry and a moving Last Post gave us a quiet moment to reflect and to give thanks to those who lost their lives in conflict and, additionally to those who serve today.
The church had been decorated by one of our local Governors, and the Pre-Prep pupils lent a hand with the creation of a beautiful 100 Years poppy wreath. Accompanied by the peeling of church bells expertly rung by pupils who had been learning the craft in our afternoon enrichment programme; the event truly brought together the whole school community.
On Armistice Day itself, Park School pupils took part in the parade through Yeovil town centre.
Luke, Daniel and Head Boy Chris paraded with the army cadets. Kammy our Head Girl laid our wreath at the war memorial.
Made the Grade GCSE
A-Level
The Park School Y11 students achieved well at the end of last academic year with 84% of grades at 4/C and above in their GCSE subjects (versus a national average of 66.9%). This is despite more rigorous exams and the uncertainty over the grading system, which added extra pressure for students and teachers.
Former Head Boy Jibreel took up his place at Manchester University to study PPE having achieved excellent A-Level results with A*AA in Religious Studies, History and Economics. Head Girl Emma achieved Distinction* in her BTEC Sport and Double Distinction* in Forensics; she has gone on to Bournemouth University to study Forensic Science.
Individual subjects fared very well with those students taking the three individual sciences gaining 100% 9-5 grades. There were also 100% 9-4 grades in subjects across curriculum and students and staff are to be congratulated on this confident response to the new exams.
Other highlights include AAB for Kate who is now at Lancaster University as a Computer Science and Mathematics undergraduate. Byron has taken up his place at Exeter University to study Business Management, other students are studying Engineering, Interior Design and Life Sciences.
Harvest Festival
In October, we held our annual Harvest Festival in St James’ church, which was beautifully decorated with boughs of apple tree by local Governor, Mr Kerton.
The whole school community contributed to a bountiful collection of donated provisions for The Lord's Larder, which is part of Yeovil Christian Support Trust. 2
What can modern forensic methods teach us about History, Miss? Fabulous Floella ‘Comes to Yeovil’
Parents and grandparents will remember her from her days presenting Play School, but Baroness Floella Benjamin had so much more than children’s television to share in her one-woman show that came to Yeovil as part of the Literary Festival this October. The Park School was proud to sponsor her talk based around her fascinating book ‘Coming to England’ which describes her life growing up in Trinidad and how her parents brought her to live in England full of hopes and dreams. Now a life peer she is a positive role model who dedicates much of her life to campaigning. Following the show, Olamide and Mrs Huntington had the opportunity to meet Floella (and Humpty!) “It was a privilege and a joy to meet Floella in person. I felt I knew her already from watching Play School with my sister – and indeed my sister still has a Humpty Dumpty – just like hers!”
It was with some trepidation that Year 7 students entered Mrs Richards’ History room early in the term, as they were confronted by crime scene tape across the door, and around the classroom. Mrs Richards, dressed in a ghostly white Forensic Investigation suit, stood adjacent to, what looked like, a dead body beneath a sheet! Thankfully, nothing sinister was afoot… It was only Mrs Richards’ unique way of introducing key history skills to the students: establishing the importance of asking questions; forming an hypothesis; and using evidence to uncover the past! The students are now putting their newly acquired skills into practice by investigating real historical mystery.
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News round up... Elizabethan Blind Date
Year 8 historians have been thinking outside the box this term in order to understand why Queen Elizabeth I refused to marry. They did this by participating in a dating event in which each suitor and 'his' adviser attempted to persuade Elizabeth that he was her best choice. This was usually demonstrated through the giving of gifts including wine, jewellery, flowers, cake and even money, accompanied by poetry, singing and dancing and the reading of speeches. Year 8 attacked this task with gusto with some hilarious performances in class and Mrs Richards very much enjoyed being wooed!
Let’s Love Languages
In the spirit of full immersion, Year 9 followed a language and culture theme throughout a whole day to mark this year’s European Day of Languages. Drawing upon their own pool of skills, they taught mini-modern language lessons to Year 8 in the morning and in the afternoon they received Hindi and Portuguese language lessons from Kammy in Year 13 and Dr Mort.
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Throughout the day students also took part in a Dutch Art project and prepared and tasted new European food. With a smattering of Spanish flamenco dancing in the mix, there surely was something for everyone to enjoy and learn!
Alumni Shares Passion for Pattern
Former Park School student Sarah Beaufoy returned to school this term talk to our Year 11 GCSE Art & Design cohort.
After studying A Level Art at The Park, Sarah went on to study Surface Pattern and Textiles at Bath University. Sarah brought in some of her work including sketchbooks, textiles and garments and answered lots of questions put to her by our group of enthusiastic students. This
kind of visit from former pupils is invaluable for inspiring students to make the connection between their studies and the potential next stages of their own higher education or career path. Thank you Sarah for a really interesting and inspiring session.
Park’s Got Talent
At the end of November, a week of House heats culminated in The Park’s Got Talent Final. Heaps of talent was revealed amongst the pupils including soulful singers, drummers and athletic dancers. Caitlin (Year 9, Slessor) triumphed on the day with her moving vocal performance of Andra Day’s "Rise Up". Congratulations to Caitlin and thanks go to Mrs Rawlings for stepping up as an independent judge.
The Pilgrim’s Progress
Pupils and teachers in our Prep School were treated to a lively production of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress from Oddments Theatre Company this term.
Design a Logo
The story of Christian compares life to a journey and this retelling was especially for children, helping them to discover how their lives are impacted – for better and worse – by the people they choose to listen to. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the performance which followed a morning of theatre workshops aimed to help build self-confidence and encourage the audience to think about the consequences their actions may have on others. We look forward to welcoming Oddments back next year.
This term, Mrs Briggs’ Art Club members were invited to submit their designs for a new logo. The brief was to create a design that could be used to represent The Park, Chilton, in promotional materials for the hire of the building & grounds out of term time. After due consideration, Ollie D’s design (Year 8) pipped the other entries at the post for its simplistic yet accurate representation of the manor house. Well done, Ollie. The judges would very much like to commend the other entries, it was a very difficult choice.
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Prep School round up...
Sums and Seeds
Hanging Around
Our Pre-Prep pupils have been harvesting sunflower seeds and counting them in their Maths lesson.
This term, Mrs Bourne arranged for our Pre-Prep and Prep pupils to visit Yeovil Fire Station to learn about fire safety in the home from Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service. They also found time to learn how to use some of the equipment.
Apple Pressing
Tasting Days with Chef Rob
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Chef Rob takes his job very seriously and is passionate about introducing our pupils to new flavours and cuisines. This term he’s been celebrating the mushroom and took time to encourage some of Mr Allen’s class to try the exciting varieties of fungi you can safely eat. With mixed results…
Pre-Prep pupils visited Mr Kerton’s Farm next door and watched some apple pressing, sampling delicious apple juice before it is turned into cider.
Sports round up...
ISA Dance Competition
An excited group of students from Years 7, 8 & 9 travelled to Reddam House School this term to take part in the ISA’s inaugural dance competition.
New grounds, new curriculum map, new kit available, new enrichment programme. It certainly has been an exciting term in the PE department. Every pupil in the School has the offer of 120 minutes of curriculum PE and many have chosen more beyond that with the varied sporting activities available via the enrichment programme. We are seeing healthier pupils enjoying participation in a variety of sports. Lessons and clubs are the foundation for learning new activities and it has been so pleasing to see over fifty pupils represent the School in a wide variety of sports. Hockey, Rugby, Swimming, Cross-country, Badminton and Football have all seen wins, draws and losses this term. Notable performances came from Libby P (Y9), Abbie W (Y11) and Hollie W (Y8) during the SW ISA Regional Swimming rounds where they were selected to swim for the SW team at the Olympic pool in London, and the Year 8 Rugby team who, as I write, remain unbeaten this term. Inter-House Cross-Country An unseasonably sunny afternoon in October saw the whole School participate in the Inter-House Cross-Country event to secure points for their Houses towards the Stunt Cup. Displaying the usual Park School sportsmanship, all House teams, across the year groups, put on an enthusiastic run in front of the many parents, grandparents and families, who turned up to watch. The eventual ‘winners’ were Müller out in front with 142 points. But there’s all to play for throughout the remainder of the year!
The girls performed brilliantly and worked hard to learn a routine in only three weeks. Unfortunately, no trophies made it back to The Park, but we were extremely proud of them and their performance. It was a fantastic experience for all. Many thanks to Mrs Baimbridge for her inspiring choreography and energy, as always!
Duke of Edinburgh
Students preparing for their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver Awards started the term with some short walks from Chilton into the surrounding countryside, concentrating on micro-map reading, learning to pack rucksacks, writing route cards and cooking filling meals on a Trangia. A busy term! 7
Special Visitors
There's a great advantage to being closest neighbours to RNAS Yeovilton, and that is that they make sure to drop by with Santa's Elves just before Christmas. The whole school turned out to welcome the Wildcat helicopter carrying Santa's helpers who took time to pose for photographs, bringing gifts and festive cheer to The Park pupils and teachers alike.
Dates
for your Diary Spring Term 2019 Friday 4 January Sunday 6 January Monday 7 January Friday 15 – Sunday 24 February Saturday 16 – Saturday 23 February Monday 25 February Monday 5 April
Inset Day Boarders Return First Day of Term Half Term Ski Trip to Artesina, Italy Term Resumes Easter Service - Last Day of Term
Summer Term 2019 Tuesday 23 April Wednesday 24 April Monday 6 May Friday 24 May – Sunday 2 June Monday 3 June Friday 12 July Saturday 13 July am Saturday 13 July pm
Inset Day / Boarders Return First Day of Term Bank Holiday Half Term Term Resumes Last Day of Term Speech Day & Prizegiving Summer Picnic at The Park
Christingle
Year 4 hosted a lovely Christingle service in St James' Church which was enjoyed by many parents and grandparents who also joined us for afternoon tea before the service.
The Park School Chilton Cantelo Somerset, BA22 8BG
01935 850555 admissions@parkschool.com
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