Celebrating Chinthurst 2022–23
CHINTHURST SCHOOL
HEAD’S WELCOME
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am delighted to welcome you to the latest edition of our annual magazine, Celebrating Chinthurst. It is a small window into the children’s exciting and varied school lives throughout the academic year and I hope their happiness and sense of fun shines through – as this is the true essence of life at Chinthurst. In March, we were visited by the Independent Schools Inspectorate who conducted a rigorous three-day assessment of all aspects of our educational provision and spoke to children, parents and staff about their experiences at Chinthurst. We were judged to be ‘Excellent in all areas’, a fantastic reflection of our academic excellence, opportunities beyond the curriculum and emphasis on happiness and fun. The inspectors recognised that wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do here and evident in all areas of the school. Teaching staff are excellent communicators as well as being empathetic, patient and kind. They develop close relationships with the children to make them feel safe, loved and ready to learn, and the inspectors acknowledged the overwhelming success of this holistic and nurturing approach to pastoral care. Sport is one of Chinthurst’s many strengths, providing the children with high standards of coaching and opportunities to represent the school, as well as helping to establish within them resilience, teamwork and a lifelong love of exercise. Here, boys and girls have the freedom to choose which sport they participate in, without being constrained by gender norms (a programme we pioneered in 2021) and they play in competitive teams that reflect a true gender mix. We were delighted to be named School of the Year 2022 in the Sporting Achievement category in acknowledgement of this groundbreaking approach. We were particularly proud as this is an award usually only given to senior schools! The children continued to excel in academic performance this year, and our Year 6 leavers – the wonderful class of 2023 – all moved on to their recommended senior school, many with scholarships across a range of subject areas. Importantly, they left us as engaged learners, excited for the next step and with strong foundations for a happy and fulfilled future. It has been a wonderful 12 months of interesting learning and fun activities for the children both inside the classrooms and outside in the fresh air. School life has continued to be enriched by an exciting curriculum, cutting-edge technology, visitors, trips and a range of creative and sporting opportunities for all of our children – from Early Years right through to the final year of Upper School. This breadth of experience alongside excellent teaching ensures that the children get the very best start in life and shapes them into inquisitive, enthusiastic and thoughtful individuals who are excited to take on the challenges of senior schooling and beyond.
Cathy Trundle Headteacher
CELEBRATING CHINTHURST
WELLBEING AT HEART
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t Chinthurst, we know that happy children can achieve amazing things. Our Wellbeing at Heart programme supports the children’s understanding of how their minds and bodies work and gives them the skills to navigate life’s inevitable ups and downs. The Zones of Regulation framework is an important part of this and helps the children to recognise their emotions and builds strategies to help to regulate them according to the situations they are in. Scout, Chinthurst’s very own wellbeing dog, is extremely popular with the children. She comes to school every day with Miss Trundle and loves being part of the fun. She has lots of jobs to do like listening to readers who might need a bit of encouragement and having cuddles with children who are feeling a bit sad. She is gentle and kind and makes everyone smile!
CHINTHURST SCHOOL
ADVENTURES OF EARLY YEARS
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ur youngest children enjoy a packed timetable of activities including specialist teaching in drama, music, sport and languages, and they spend a great deal of their time learning through play outdoors. Storytelling forms an integral part of the day at this stage and sparks the children’s imaginations in lots of ways. Reception particularly enjoy re-enacting some of their favourite stories together out in the playground in the summer term. Drama and music lessons are often the highlight of the week for everyone and exciting interactive games are designed to develop confidence and self-expression. There is always plenty of fun and laughter to be heard during the sessions and the children love to sing and play musical instruments.
CELEBRATING CHINTHURST
ADVENTURES OF EARLY YEARS
CHINTHURST SCHOOL
CHARITABLE GIVING
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haritable giving is an important part of Chinthurst’s values and philosophy and has an overwhelmingly positive impact on children, improving their feelings of self-worth, self-esteem and empathy. We allocate time within the curriculum to discuss the needs of others and think of ways to support people. Each year in their Houses, the children decide which charities they would like to support. Year 6 plan a business enterprise sale in the summer term, donating the proceeds to their chosen charity (which was Neuroblastoma UK this year).
The children have loved taking part in national giving days too, like Children In Need, Comic Relief and Sports Relief. As a school, we have supported local charities – The Children’s Trust, Place2Be and Stripey Stork. The children have donated food to the local food bank as part of the Harvest celebrations and the school donated textbooks to a fantastic charity called Books to Africa.
CELEBRATING CHINTHURST
WORLD BOOK DAY
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he children came to school in a wonderful array of creative costumes to celebrate World Book Day 2023 with a magnificent range of authors and genres being represented. Everyone excitedly shared their reasons for choosing their book characters with their classmates.
CHINTHURST SCHOOL
OUTDOOR LEARNING
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t Chinthurst, we take the children’s learning outdoors whenever possible. Children learn best when they are having fun, and lessons outside are always memorable. Concepts can be taught in relevant and practical ways and often children can grasp concepts outside that they have had difficulties with in the classroom. Presenting tasks and problems outside allows for discovery and exploration in a way that only nature can deliver. Time spent outside also boosts wellbeing and woodland skills sessions build independence, resilience, confidence, problem solving and creativity.
CELEBRATING CHINTHURST
DAY TRIPS
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earning can be brought to life in imaginative and fun ways by outings to interesting places that link with the children’s topic work, and this year has certainly been packed full of exciting trips to enhance learning. Lower School children enjoyed going to stunning Leeds Castle, beautiful Wisley Gardens and exciting Drusillas Zoo. Upper School were fascinated by Juniper Hall, Kew Gardens, Bough Beech and Newhaven Fort. Everyone had a marvellous time and came back with smiles on their faces, tales to tell and a deeper understanding of the subjects they were studying.
CHINTHURST SCHOOL
YEARS 4 & 5 RESIDENTIAL TRIPS
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ear 4 had a fantastic time on their residential trip to Blacklands Farm. They enjoyed lots of exciting activities including dayand night-time hikes, den building and a challenging ninja crossing. The teachers were delighted with the children’s independence, teamwork and sense of fun. Year 5 set off in the sunshine for their much-anticipated, three-day residential trip to Croft Farm. They experienced an exciting range of activities including paddle boarding, kayaking and climbing, all sprinkled with a dusting of water fights to keep cool. Singing around the campfire was an evening highlight and the children came home with many memories of a wonderful trip.
CELEBRATING CHINTHURST
YEAR 6 RESIDENTIAL TO FRANCE
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ear 6 enjoyed a marvellous language and activity-filled, cultural five-day residential trip to France. Nestled amidst picturesque landscapes, the Château de la Baudonnière became their home for the week, whilst providing the perfect backdrop for an immersive French experience. The children enjoyed orienteering, breadmaking, treasure hunts (which involved unravelling clues and solving riddles in French!), tasting escargots and having picnics on the sands of Mont St Michel. It was a transformative adventure where cherished memories were made and we hope the children built a love of the French language for life.
CHINTHURST SCHOOL
ART AT CHINTHURST
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e value a breadth of curriculum at Chinthurst and know that tapping into children’s creativity is essential for their overall academic success. The study of art provides a valuable change of pace to learning and requires children to think and express themselves in a different way. Throughout the year, Year 6 were inspired by artists across the world to come up with some unique and engaging work. Using all the skills built up over the past few years, they produced the most beautiful self-portraits which reflected their wonderful creativity.
MUSIC & DRAMA
CELEBRATING CHINTHURST
STAR WARTS
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arents, friends and family members were thoroughly entertained with a spectacular performance from Year 6 in their production – Star Warts: The Umpire Strikes Back. It was literally and figuratively out of this world! The children’s performances were outstanding, with many of the audience members commenting on the excellent comic-timing displayed, way beyond their years. Their performance skills were phenomenal, and their enthusiasm and energy on stage, electrifying!
“This is West End standard!”
Year 6 Grandparent
CHINTHURST SCHOOL
CHRISTMAS PRODUCTIONS
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lasses from Nursery to Year 2 performed a wonderful array of Christmas plays to packed audiences of parents and friends in the run up to the Christmas holidays. The children had been rehearsing their parts for many weeks and learning lots of songs and actions to go with them. On the day, they spoke clearly and sang beautifully, giving everyone a lovely festive start to the Christmas period. They dazzled us with their abilities and everyone looked fantastic in their bright and sparkling costumes.
CELEBRATING CHINTHURST
CHRISTMAS PRODUCTIONS
“The Christmas shows are always a wonderful way to begin the festive season.” Mrs Burton
CHINTHURST SCHOOL
DRAMA & LAMDA
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AMDA exams are designed to develop life skills, such as clear communication, self-confidence and teamwork, and many children throughout the school have oneto-one LAMDA drama lessons with our Drama Lead, Mrs S-T. The children’s exam successes are always outstanding and this year was no different. An amazing 163 children entered exams and 93 per cent were awarded distinctions with the rest gaining merits. Four Year 6 pupils took Grade 5 acting exams (an incredibly high level for their age) and were all awarded distinctions! Every year group from Little Chicks upwards have weekly curriculum drama lessons and as the children progress through the school, their confidence, performance and presentation skills grow. Classes are always interactive and lots of fun and the children rehearse and perform in assemblies, concerts and productions throughout the year.
CELEBRATING CHINTHURST
MUSIC AT CHINTHURST
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e have a thriving peripatetic music programme covering a wide variety of string, brass, woodwind and percussion instruments. There are choirs, bands and ensembles for the children to join and plenty of performance opportunities. Curriculum music lessons are great fun and classes learn to play the recorder, ukulele, violin and keyboard as they move up through the school.
SPORT
CHINTHURST SCHOOL
LOWER & UPPER SCHOOL SPORTS DAY
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ower and Upper School Sports Day was an exciting event with lots of good-natured House rivalry and plenty of laughs. In the morning, Lower School children enjoyed running races, sack races and an egg-and-spoon race, culminating in an exciting House obstacle relay. The children tried their very hardest and there were excellent performances all round. In the afternoon, it was Upper School’s turn to compete with 70 track events taking place alongside the long jump, high jump and javelin, and, of course, the keenly anticipated House tug o’ war for each year group. It was a fantastic afternoon of athletics, teamwork and outstanding sportsmanship. Well done to Raleigh, the overall winning House for 2023.
“You could feel the Chinthurst spirit as the children cheered each other on in the House relays!” Mr Mussellwhite
CELEBRATING CHINTHURST
NURSERY SPORTS DAY
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he Nursery children were raring to go on the morning of the muchanticipated Nursery Sports Day. Parents lined the field to watch them running, jumping, throwing and even trying out a relay race. Everyone was immensely proud to see how well they tried each event and the fun they had participating with their friends.
CHINTHURST SCHOOL
TEAM SPORTS AT CHINTHURST
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port is at the heart of Chinthurst with children having the choice to take part in a wide range of different games. We have specialist sports coaching, which enables us to focus on the specific needs of each child, supporting or challenging them so that they can succeed to the best of their abilities. Rugby, netball, football and cricket are our main sports and are offered to both boys and girls. We believe in opportunity for all, and gender is not a barrier to participation at Chinthurst. You will see girls playing in rugby fixtures and boys in hockey matches, and everyone plays cricket in the summer. In recognition of this, we were thrilled to be named School of the Year for Sporting Achievement, a national award that usually goes to senior schools. There is so much more to success at sport than winning alone. It is about participation, inclusivity, leadership and teamwork. That is why we have a comprehensive fixtures programme ensuring that every child has the chance to represent their school. Optional Saturday sport sessions are an ideal way for the children to build upon the coaching they have received during the week and are also lots of fun. Parents are able to enjoy a bacon sandwich on the side lines whilst the children enjoy being out in the fresh air, developing their skills with their friends. This year we had another fabulous Multi Sports Week when external sports people provided additional sports coaching and the children had the chance to try out a wide range of different sports.
“Sport at Chinthurst is all about fun, inclusion and choice!” Mrs Atkinson-Hunt
KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH US As Celebrating Chinthurst illustrates, we are an extremely active school with a host of activities happening throughout the year. To keep up to date with school news, please visit our website or join us online: ChinthurstSchool chinthurst.school
Chinthurst School, Tadworth Street, Tadworth, Surrey KT20 5QZ 01737 812 011 | admissions@chinthurstschool.co.uk www.chinthurstschool.co.uk