Sutton Views - December 2011 (50)

Edition 50 December 2011

SUTTON VIEWS The Voice of Sutton Valence School

Primary Orchard Run Senior School Highlights

Page 5

Mr Wolfman saves the day Page 8

Sweet Charity

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On a foggy November day, 300 children from local primary schools converged on the Preparatory School to Continued on page 2

Information A member of the United Westminster Schools’ Foundation Registered Charity No. 309267 Founded in 1576 by William Lambe

Sutton Views December 2011

For information about Sutton Valence School or to request a prospectus, please contact:

• the Admissions Office at Sutton Valence on 01622 845206 or email enquiries@svs.org.uk • Sutton Valence Preparatory School on 01622 842117 or email enquiries@svprep.svs.org.uk

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Continued from front page compete in the inaugural ‘Orchard Run’ cross country event.

Hollingbourne, Brunswick House, Bredhurst, Smarden, Egerton and Pluckley Primary Schools, along with the Prep School all fielded teams from Years 3 to 6. There were some very creditable individual times, but in the final reckoning the Prep School were team winners.

The boys and girls from each group ran together, starting from the School’s sports field and going up the hill into the orchard.

Running through and around the orchard and back to the top of the field, where they

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could have seen the finish line, if it wasn’t for the fog! By the time they had gone around the football pitches and netball courts to the finish, they had run a long and muddy mile.

Mr Will Fuller, Head of Boys’ Games, said, “All the children did extremely well, despite the conditions. The supporters had a great time cheering them on to the finish. It was a fantastic start to the cross country season, with a sense of pride and achievement for all the children. The day went very smoothly, though we did have to wait a long time for two competitors to come home; apparently they had found the apples in the orchard too tempting to pass by!”

Sutton Views

London exhibition for budding School artists

Eight of our students were selected to have their work displayed in the prestigious SW1 Gallery in London for the fifth annual Foundation Art Exhibition. The schools of the combined trust of The Grey Coat Hospital Schools Foundation and United Westminster Schools use this occasion to showcase the best work of the five schools supported by the trust: Queen Anne’s, Caversham; Emanuel School, Grey Coat Hospital School and Westminster City School, all in London and Sutton Valence School.

Manager of SW1, Owen Ward, himself a talented artist and who previously worked at Sutton Valence, said, “The combined trust

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includes schools from both the independent and state comprehensive sectors, who work together to bring to the gallery work of a surprisingly high standard. So high, in fact, that the event has on many previous occasions been mistaken for a mixed show by professional artists!”

The Sutton Valence School contribution was formed from paintings by Hannah Bateman and Claudia Chiappini, who left in the summer, Charlotte McVarish, Cal Summers, Ben Woodmansee and Hannah Royer, all Upper Sixth and Luke Easter and Anastasia Toynbee, both Lower Sixth.

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Nick Gorman, Head of Art, was delighted with the opening night, saying “The exhibition offers students, who are the potential artists and designers of the future, a unique opportunity to present their work to the public in a prestigious gallery in central London. It gives them a chance to experience the excitement of showing their work in a professional context, with the added possibility of selling to the public!”

Prep School has new Director of Studies Richard Johnson, Head of the Prep School, is delighted to be able to announce that Rachel Harrison is joining the Senior Management Team as Director of Studies.

“Rachel”, he said, “is a great asset and will bring a different perspective to what is already a strong team. As a parent of two children going through the School, she greatly values what happens here, but as an experienced teacher she has insights into how we can make our teaching and learning even better.

“and work to ensure that standards continue to rise. Any improvements we make should not be apparent to the children, but should be evident in the way they move through the School exceeding their expectations of themselves. I want to engage their curiosity and instil in them a love of learning so that they leave us with confident independence.”

Rachel has been at the Prep School for eight years, having previously taught at Hunton Primary School. She is married to an Old Suttonian and, coming from a teaching family, has always known this is what she wanted to do.

“I hope that I can help the School build on its incredibly strong base”, she said,

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Sutton Views

Senior School Highlights this term Congratulations to: Hugo Pearson-Wood, Lower Sixth, who has been picked for the UK Tetrathlon team; at 17 the youngest by over four years;

James Aburn, Lower Sixth, who won the youth category in the British Championships for artistic roller-skating and was then selected for the Cup of Europe;

Richard Cantillon, Fifth Form, for achieving his Master Scuba Diving qualification; the highest one can attain at U18;

Malcon Chen had his photograph selected for the finalists of Photographer’s Forum Annual Spring Photography Contest. Only 10% of the 1400 entries were selected;

Annabelle Blake and Charles Court, Second Form, passed Grade 1 Theory of Music with Distinction. Laura Horley, First Form, passed Grade 4 Trumpet. Jessica Grindlay, Second Form, passed Grade 5 Theory of Music with Distinction. Emily Vernon, Third Form, passed Grade 6 Clarinet with Distinction and Joshua Greaves, Upper Sixth, passed Grade 7 Piano;

Emily Royer, Fifth Form, who, in addition to playing County Junior and Ladies golf, has been invited to join the England Girls squad;

Ben Crossley and George Poland, Fifth Form, who have been selected for Kent U16 Rugby;

Cristina Paca, who left in the summer, gained the highest mark in the UK for A Level Psychology, winning the British Psychology Society’s prize; Katie Latter, Emily Vernon, Georgie Ridge, Sasha van Diepen, Evie Barclay and Stephanie Weir, Third Form, who were AEGON Team Tennis Division 2 Winners; Eddie Bridle, Third Form, who during the summer became the youngest ever competitor to win the Cherub class in the National Sailing Championships (Eddie’s dad is crew!); Team Goldsworthy (Simon, Upper Sixth, his brother and father) won the Hever Triathlon Relay out of 200 competitors; Anna Baker, Fourth Form, has been selected for U16 England Hockey trials. She also represents East of England in the U15 Saxon Tigers squad; Harry Keep, Fifth Form, who, with his

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partner, is currently ranked 10th nationally for U21 Ballroom and Latin and 4th for Youth 10 Dance (Ballroom and Latin); Andy Thomas, Upper Sixth, who attended the Rocky Mountain Cadet Summer Training Camp and was awarded Best British Cadet, achieving the highest overall mark for the leadership and challenge activities. He held the position of Deputy Commanding Officer for the final parade, the highest position a British cadet can hold. As a result, this year he has been invited back as an Instructor!

Crossflags Signals course at Blandford; Alex Allsebrook and James Aburn, Lower Sixth, underwent their gliding scholarship at RAF Kenley and won their silver wings for flying solo.

The Shooting Team, comprised of Miles Sutton (Captain), Tom Latham, Dominic Murray and Harry Pawlik won the Falling Plate Competition at CADSAM. They were the best CCF team and became Divisional Champions for the third successive year. In addition, Anthony Bromley won best U16 shot and the Gallery Shoot, with Harry Percival winning the Snap Shoot; Max Harrison who recently achieved the ranking of 11th in Junior Ballroom at the British Nationals;

Callum Mathieson who won Ballroom and Latin Solo classes at the National ISTD Finals and then came fourth in Ballroom couples and second in Latin couples;

Peter Bannister, Upper Sixth and member of the U18 and U21 GB Kayak squad, has been confirmed as a bearer for the Olympic Flame on its journey from Deal to Maidstone.

U16 Girls Indoor Hockey team won the County Final; James Marriott, Upper Sixth, who has gained a Choral Scholarship to Portsmouth Cathedral; Oliver Aucamp and Guy Thomas, Fourth Form, who passed their

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Sutton Views

Bisley 2011

Magical day for Year 1 On Wednesday 12th October Year 1 went on their outing to the Enchanted Forest at Groombridge Place. We walked alongside a magical stream with trees lining the paths. The children discovered faces on some of the trees. Those who had been before remarked that they were not on the same trees and that the faces moved. Katy thought that the trees listened and heard us coming and let each other know to be still.

We crept into an opening in the woods with an adventure walkway and discovered skeletons and skulls and various types of boats. Dragons and pterodactyls guarded the ponds and dinosaur bones littered the ground.

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Packed lunches were happily consumed and then it was up to the top of the hill to creep up on the Indians and discover the fort above the Indian Spirit! On our way back downhill we tried very hard to keep quiet so that we would see some fairies and the owners of the tiny doors to houses on the side of the lake.

It was an amazing adventure, made even more magical when a deer bounded across our path; the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

Chris Lovelace

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Mr Wolfman saves the day!

Henry Hankin, Year 4, has always loved art and all aspects of drawing. During half term Henry entered a competition in The Times (for under 16s!) to draw an imaginary comic superhero. In a twist on Little Red Riding Hood story, Henry created a wolf superhero who, instead of eating the little girl, protected her from an evil Granny!

Henry’s cartoon showed four pages of a story starting with Red Riding Hood being sent to see her Granny by her mother. In the woods, she met the Wolfman who warned her about the Granny’s evil intent to eat her, but Red Riding Hood didn’t believe him. Luckily for her, Wolfman followed her and saved her

from being eaten by wrapping Granny’s mouth with super sellotape!

“I really like Mr Wolfman”, said Henry.

“He’s a real man, but when people are in trouble he comes out of his sewer as a wolf superhero to help them.”

There were hundreds of entries, but only four winners, of which Henry was one. His prize was an afternoon’s drawing masterclass in London with renowned cartoonist, Kev Hopgood, who draws for Marvel comics. The whole family went up to London at the end of half term and Henry had a truly wonderful time drawing with an expert.

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Sutton Views

Duke of Edinburgh boosts employability It is becoming clear that a good set of A Levels may not be enough to secure a place at university, or indeed a job. Even with fantastic GCSE grades, it would be unwise to rely on results alone; pupils need to make sure that they stand out in as many other ways as possible. It would be prudent then to enter Sixth Form showing involvement in aspects of school life which foster attributes that universities and employers say make a positive difference in the selection process.

Demonstrating that pupils have embarked upon a course of ‘life skills’ development activities could make the difference between them getting their preferred university place, or later, that all important job interview.

So what are these attributes and characteristics that are so valued as key determinants by employers? Those that were rated most highly in a recent survey of major employers were not surprisingly: leadership, teamwork, self-motivation,

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communication, confidence, consideration and the ability to learn. But what is interesting is, that when asked what they considered to be the most important activity undertaken in school which delivered these skills, the overwhelming first choice was the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Sutton Valence has long valued the benefits of the D of E programme. The challenges that pupils face, the adventure and fun they have along the way to gaining each of the three levels not only gives them valuable skills and a perspective on life that is attractive to future universities and employers, but enriches their learning in the classroom and therefore their results.

Glen Millbery, Director of ICT, who coordinates the scheme said, “We are very fortunate to have an extraordinarily successful Duke of Edinburgh section at Sutton Valence. 160 pupils are registered,

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many of whom are also in the CCF, where activities complement the requirements of the D of E Awards. At a recent Headmaster’s Assembly, Mr Grindlay was delighted to hand out 13 certificates, which brought the totals for this term alone to 19 Bronze, 8 Silver and 2 Gold Awards. We are looking forward to a record year!”

Boys beat girls in the 11+ Year 6 pupils celebrated their best ever results in the Kent 11+ test this term. 46% of the year group passed (the Kent average is 25%), with an average mark of 401; 11% better than the pass mark of 360.

The highest achievement came from four of the 22 pupils who took the test, who all gained maximum points. They were: Michael Mahoney, Keiran Stephens, Rebecca Mumford, and Tamsin Potter.

Richard Johnson, Head, said, “Contrary to national concerns about girls outperforming boys in exams, our results do not reflect this. Indeed, this year, the top scores were achieved equally by boys and girls, with the girls’ average pass mark being 397, against 406 for the boys; comfortably above the threshold for some of the most selective grammar schools. I am delighted that our pupils have been able to achieve such fantastic results; well done!”

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Adding Value – dispelling the myth Sutton Valence has a justifiably excellent reputation for its co-curricular programme, but perhaps wasn’t quite so well known for its academic achievements. Whilst it is true that we have a broad intake, making it difficult for us to compete with more selective schools, we must not forget that a community is made up from a diverse group of individuals. We know that one of our greatest strengths is to add value to a pupil’s exam grades, whatever their ability and we value all of our community and happily admit that every one of us has strengths and weaknesses.

This year has seen our value-added data (compiled by Durham University) reach new heights. For example, at A Level each pupil gained on average a significantly higher grade for every subject they sat. This means that, if our pupils put in the effort, they will be rewarded with better results than they were predicted to get when they joined us. This allowed students to gain places at some of our country’s top universities: Cambridge, Imperial College, Bristol and Sheffield to name but a few.

These recent figures put Sutton Valence in the top 21% of all schools, for those subjects we offer at A Level; an extraordinarily, complimentary position for a school with pupils of mixed ability. If all can do better by being part of Sutton Valence, then the School is providing a first-rate education.

Sutton Views

Tea and Coffee for all!

Break time has become a more pleasurable experience this term for our Sixth Form students. A significant legacy from an Old Suttonian has meant that the old tuck shop could be renovated into a café to rival any on the high street.

Development Manager, Helen Knott, said, “Tom Chastain attended Sutton Valence for only one year, in 1954, coming here from the USA as an ESU student. In later life, he became a rancher and investor and was heavily involved in his family’s charitable foundation. Tom had many happy memories of the School and the friends he made and having no surviving family wanted Sutton Valence to benefit from his will. In TC’s we have been able to create a calm, comfortable space where Sixth Formers can relax and socialise over newspapers and a cup of coffee and parents can meet for match teas.

It will be a lasting tribute to Tom and his generous gift to the School.”

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The café is furnished with leather sofas and co-ordinating bistro tables and chairs, with art by pupils on the walls. The state-of-theart coffee machine grinds fresh beans to make anything from espresso to latté.

Although staffed by the School catering department, the students help run the café.

At the opening ceremony, performed by John Evans, President of the Old Suttonian Association, Marcus Newman, Head of School said, “The café is packed every break time. We are very lucky to have such a great place to meet our friends.”

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Circus comes to Prep!

On Friday 7th October, Mylo the clown came to visit the Reception children! Our topic this half term has been ‘The Circus’ and we have been learning about all of the different things which happen in the Big Top. Mylo began the day with a whole school assembly, demonstrating his amazing circus skills to a very entertained crowd!

During the day there were workshops with each Reception class where we learnt to balance peacock feathers, spin plates, juggle balls, roll hoops, and much more! When the children were not learning with Mylo, they were very busy making circus masks and hats, and making popcorn! A great day was had by all!

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Sutton Views

Two new faces in the Bursary!

Simon Fowle took up post as Bursar in August this year. Simon, whose role includes acting as finance director and strategic advisor to the Governors, joined from Burgess Hill School for Girls, Sussex where he had been Bursar since 2006.

Educated at Clifton College, Bristol and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, his previous experience includes 13 years as a serving British army officer, three years as general manager of Oxford University’s department of physics, and senior management posts within the defence and science industries.

He said, “I have been impressed by the School’s solid foundations, both in terms of finance and its plans for the future. The School is clearly well equipped in all aspects with talented teaching and support staff who only have the pupils’ best interests at heart.

The family has been made very welcome, particularly the twins who are really enjoying life at the Prep School.”

At the beginning of term, Julie Vicary joined as Estates Bursar. Julie has worked for twelve years in the field, having held a similar role at Ashford School, but latterly at the Countryside and Land Association headquarters in London.

“I’m delighted to be back in a school environment”, she said. “I really missed working with people at all levels and there is such a feeling of community here. The support staff are some of the best I’ve worked with and from day one, it’s felt like home.”

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Charity is Sweet ‘Fantastic’

‘Very slick, fro m singing and dancing to lig hting and sou nd’

‘Huge energy, maturity and talent from the leading characters’

‘Great fun’

‘You could have been in the West End’

So said the audience after the opening night of Sweet Charity, the School’s production this term. The cast included pupils from Second Form to Upper Sixth, with some of the leading roles being shared on different nights; such was the talent to choose from.

Andrew Brook, Head of Drama, was delighted with the performances saying, “Sweet Charity’ is not the best known of musicals but it has lots to offer. I chose it for its big dance numbers, male and female lead roles, humorous dialogue and energy. On seeing it again I knew I had to do this show.

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