Sutton Views - March 2010 (45)

The Voice of Sutton Valence School

Edition 45 March 2010

SUTTON VIEWS ISI Report An extract from the Headmaster’s letter to parents

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was delighted with the inspectors’ comments and findings and I know that they were terribly impressed with both of our schools. I cannot resist quoting from the reports and I start with the conclusion from the Senior School’s report:

Exemplary governance, perceptive leadership…and a dedicated, well-qualified and pastorally aware teaching staff are together creating a friendly, stimulating environment, which nurtures strong growth in pupils’ selfawareness and self-esteem. The school succeeds in its aim to provide an all-round education which focuses on pupils’ welfare and personal development, as well as encouraging good academic progress.

Pivotal to this success is the exemplary commitment of the staff to the education and care of their pupils. Standards of pastoral care are high and procedures for child protection are outstanding. A broad, challenging curriculum, flexibly delivered to suit the needs of all pupils, is enriched by an outstanding range of co-curricular activities, which constitute a major strength of the school….The quality of boarding provision is extremely high, with many day pupils keen to sample the experience.

The Preparatory School’s report was equally glowing and we were truly delighted that our Early Years Foundation Stage provision (KG-Y2) achieved the highest rating possible, that of outstanding,

as it had done previously when inspected

by Ofsted. I quote from this report: A fine academic education is provided for all pupils, for whom a supportive and stimulating environment is provided. Throughout the school, including EYFS, pupils achieve a good base of knowledge, skills and understanding. The good standards of teaching in all parts of the school, with frequent instances of outstanding teaching, especially in EYFS, enable significant advances in learning. A high-quality academic education within a broad and balanced curriculum gives opportunities for pupils to explore and develop their talents in a safe and attractive environment… Good teaching resulted in good behaviour in all the lessons observed…[and] small class sizes throughout the school enable teachers to spend considerable time with individuals to provide them with support and encouragement…The quality of the pastoral care in the school is outstanding and the provision for the welfare, health and safety of the pupils is good… The quality of the relationships between staff and pupils and amongst pupils is excellent… The school meets very well its aims and aspirations.

Champions of tomorrow

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Platonic Mathematicians Page 3

Godspell

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As you can see from both of these quotations, our schools have much of which to feel proud.

Continued on page 2.

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

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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 1

Sutton Valence School Continued from Front Page.

However, there are things that we can do better, and the recommendations from these reports help guide us as we formulate our next development plan.

Both reports state that the schools have many strengths and no significant weaknesses, but there are recommendations that have been made which can be viewed in the full copy of the reports posted on the school website www.svs.org.uk and at www.isi.net for you to access and download.

The Kingdon Society

Daniel sails into GB place

ho is Kingdon? James Durant Kingdon was Headmaster at Sutton Valence from 1864 – 1883. Before coming here he was a prizewinning Head Boy at St Paul’s, London, and then went on to Trinity College, Cambridge. He was ordained Deacon in 1857 and after leaving the School went on to become vicar of Loose church.

His time at Sutton Valence was described by the Clothworkers’ Company as a ‘golden age’.

With this distinguished background he was an obvious choice to lend his name to the new society for Academic Scholars, set up by Bruce Grindlay, Headmaster.

ongratulations to Daniel Discombe (Year 6, Prep) who will be sailing in the Optimist Class against Southern Ireland. Good luck!

“We have 35 full Academic Scholars at Sutton Valence”, said Mr Grindlay, “who have been rewarded with this distinction by being in the top 10 – 15% of entrance

As you would expect, The Senior Management teams at both schools are taking on board these next steps and indeed we have begun to address many of them already.

Bruce Grindlay G

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examination candidates and by performing well in their interview with me.

We expect all our students to take their academic studies seriously, but this is even more true of Scholars.

The Kingdon Society will give them opportunities to listen to and speakers question from a range of backgrounds, which will, I hope, stimulate and extend their thinking beyond the classroom and their curriculum subjects.

We recently held the first meeting for Senior Scholars in my house when they heard from Mr George Vulcan, a holocaust survivor. I was very impressed with the polite and considered way that intelligent questions were put to Mr Vulcan, both during the meeting and over the refreshments afterwards. I am looking forward to the meeting for Junior Scholars on 23rd March.”

A string of successes alented musician Lara Bowles (Year 5, Prep) has been selected to play violin with the National Children’s Orchestra. She auditioned last October as part of a ‘Play Along’ day held by the Orchestra in Cambridge, but learned only recently she had been successful in gaining a place.

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She will now play alongside some of the South’s top young musicians when they meet once a month at regional orchestra practice and get to meet other youngsters from all over Britain at the annual Summer school and concert, which is this year being held in Berkshire.

Lara started to play the violin at the age of four, inspired by her elder brother Fraser, who plays the ‘cello. She has

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lessons from David Holmes, Head of Strings, and recently passed her Grade V with flying colours. However, not content with one instrument, she took up the viola a year ago and has already passed Grade IV. At the same time, she started to learn to play clarinet and has now attained her Grade 3. A few months ago, she began playing the piano and has already passed Grade 1!

Mrs Bowles said: “Lara showed interest in music from an early age and now absolutely loves it. She just can’t get enough.”

Incredibly, she also has time to ride her pony – although Mum admits to doing most of the horsey chores.

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Platonic Mathematicians!

Champions of tomorrow arry Keep (3rd Form) and Summer Carroll (his partner, who attends Swadelands) have been declared ‘Champions of Tomorrow’ after dancing away from a top national contest with a clutch of major trophies.

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They battled through snow and severe weather to Blackpool’s Winter Gardens for the Junior Beginners’ heats of the competition. After an exciting day (in which they each won two very large trophies) they returned to Kent in the early hours with the framed ‘Roll of Honour’ and trophies for winning both the Latin and Ballroom events. utton Valence Prep School children will testify that maths in Year 6 is both challenging and enjoyable. For many of them their Year 6 maths experience starts with an exam, for before they even seem to have had the chance to say hello to their new form teachers and settle into their new classrooms and routines, the 11+ is upon them and then the mathematical juggernaut keeps rumbling onward throughout the Michaelmas term as they prepare to take the entrance exam to the Senior School or other independent secondary schools in January.

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For many, their favourite mathematical day in the week is a Thursday. The luxury of a triple lesson enables the lesson to be dedicated to investigations and practical mathematical activities. If you visited one of our maths classrooms then you might come across children moving furniture, acting out scenarios to solve problems, or they might be drawing diagrams to help arrive at an answer.

Last week one of the classes was faced with the dilemma of the New York Chief of Police who had to find a solution to patrolling the city streets with the fewest number of officers. Tables were positioned to represent each city block, solutions were suggested and acted out, diagrams were drawn to illustrate possible combinations of officers on patrol on any number of city blocks and eventually the Chief of Sutton Views: March 2010

Police had his answer. The children were then challenged to write the algebraic formula that provides the solution to the problem for any number of city blocks.

This week the children got friendly with shapes. Scissors and paper were flying as they constructed a variety of three dimensional shapes, each it seemed with a name nigh on impossible to pronounce. Faces, vertices and edges were counted, tables completed and conclusions drawn about the tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and the icosahedron. These aesthetically pleasing shapes, named after the Greek philosopher Plato, stimulated much higher order mathematical discussion and formed the perfect starter for greater explorations into the realms of geometry.

They are the first junior couple to achieve the double in this top national event, as dancers tend to be stronger in one or the other, but not both, according to dance teacher Karen Day, of Grafty Dance Club, where they train.

Harry’s father Dan Keep (Head of Design and Technology) said, “This is a great accolade for them and their teachers and they are, quite rightly, very proud of themselves. It was a great achievement, especially as they have only been dancing together for about eight months!”

You know our children enjoy their maths when the first thing they want to show you or tell you about when they arrive in the morning is their maths homework!

Deborah Smith G Director of Studies

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Godspell ‘Godspell’ was performed to full houses and great acclaim in the Baughan Theatre.

David Booer was outstanding as Jesus with his sincere delivery of lines and beautiful singing voice. James Anderson and Joshua Greaves also caught the eye with their total commitment, boundless energy and ability to change the mood of a scene in a moment. The singing was led with considerable panache by a group of 3rd to Sixth Formers, too numerous to mention here, and it was great to see such a large, snappily-dressed and animated chorus.

Tilly Tasker’s set design really caught the eye. Praise must also go to the crew for their impressive lighting and sound.

Finally, Mr Horley’s band dressed, played and jammed with style.

All in all - a great event!

24 hour ski marathon and England selection team of pupils and parents, including 15-year-old William Thompson who has just been selected for the English schools ski squad, took part in a 24 hour charity ski marathon in January.

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William, Miles Sutton, 15, and his 17 year old brother Ben and Tim Dorning, also 15, formed a team of eight ski enthusiasts to participate in the day and night race at Villars, Switzerland on Saturday and Sunday, 16 and 17 January.

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They were raising funds for Disability Snowsport UK, a charity supporting disabled skiers and snowboarders. The team required 1,000 Swiss Francs (£620) in sponsorship to enter the race, but in the end raised that and more, thanks to £950 from fellow pupils, donated from a recent Mufti Day event. At the last count the whole event had raised in excess of £125,000!

was over a mountain circuit it was quite tough. We hoped to ski at least 230 kms between us but in fact we came 35th out of 75 teams having skied 465.6 kilometres.

We were all exhausted!”

For William, whose favoured ski event is the slalom and giant slalom, it was a useful warm-up before joining the English Schools ski squad in Norway in February, training for the world inter-schools ski race.

William said, “We took it in turns to ski through the day and night, and as the race

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Lent Term Head of School, Ben Sutton would like to start with a brief quote from some famous person called Einstein. ‘Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts’

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There are so many topics that I could choose to talk about today. I could encourage you to work hard and get straight A*s at both GCSE and A Level. I could tell you all to take pride in your work, to go to school and work flat out every day and merely live for that next homework!

But I would not be able to speak these words to you with full belief behind what I am saying. I would not expect you all to go and get tens of A*s after my speech! After all, I would be a hypocrite! I am not where I am today because of these morals. I would like to tell you a little about my journey through the school, and how I believe that I have learned from my many experiences here at Sutton Valence.

On the first day of my time here seven years ago, I wandered into my tutor room very nervous and feeling very far out of my depth. I stared around in awe at those ‘big kids’, the people in the Fifth Form and above, this was such a large change from the school that I had just come from. Now that I am at the top of the school, I realise how we forget how much bigger we actually are. I never once dreamed that I would be standing up here in front of the school when I first arrived here. However, as I progressed through the school, my confidence grew and I began to thoroughly enjoy the experience and challenges of secondary education.

Following these first years came the Third Form. This was a year filled with confusion and a sudden influx of unfamiliar people. The work load increased drastically and I suddenly realised that I was at school to work, not just to be with friends.

However, despite the increased workload, a door opened to the Combined Cadet Force. CCF has played a vital role in making me the person that I am today. In my opinion, without the skills I learned during the four years of my CCF career, I would not be standing here in front of you

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now. The years of CCF took me to some very unfamiliar places, removing me from my comfort zone, testing me countless times. In June 2008, before receiving my GCSE results, I went on a leadership course to Frimley Park in Surrey. I went on my own, not knowing what to expect, and in all honesty I was scared to death at the prospect of going to an army base without anyone I knew. However, in actual fact, this course ended up being one of the greatest things that I could have done with my holiday, because I met so many good people, and I was able to make new friends and learn at the same time. I feel that if I had gone with a friend, I would not have enjoyed myself as thoroughly as I did without one.

Though you may all be sitting in front of me thinking, “well what does this have to do with me?” Some of you may think that so far all I have done is read out my life story! My point here is that despite the number of times you have all heard this, the opportunities here at Sutton Valence are near unbelievable. The education that we are receiving here at Sutton Valence is incredibly impressive, it is far more than a mere education. This is life experience.

Very few people can say that they have been provided with the education that we have been, after all, all of you sitting in front of me are what make Sutton Valence the amazing place that it is.

Returning to my original quote from Einstein, I hope that some of you understand now why I included this quote in my speech. We are able to count the number of A*s that you may have got at school, but the experience of education that can be gained here at Sutton Valence to make you into a well rounded individual can never be counted.

Peter Brodie once quoted, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.” So I prompt you, if you want to work hard then do so. These times here at Sutton Valence will be the best of your life, or so we are told! These are years of little responsibility, where you can grow to be the person that you want to be.

Make the choices you want to make, so that you can sculpt the outcome of your education.

Do the things that you want to do because you want to do them.

Choice is a powerful motive in life; use it to your advantage.

A Bumper Crop! he Prep school are delighted to have cultivated a fine crop of Year 6 pupils this year many of whom who have gone on to win best in the Sutton Valence School show!

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The children pictured have swept the board with a large range of academic, creative and sporting awards. In all the prep school pupils have bagged nine academic scholarships; three academic exhibitions; an art scholarship and an art exhibition; two drama scholarships and one drama exhibition; four music scholarships and one music exhibition and two sports exhibition. A fabulous achievement of which we are all very proud.

Deborah Smith G

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Isaac Sings His Way to a Scholarship ongratulations to Isaac Lordon, age 7, who is one of five boys from all over Kent to have gained a scholarship to St Edmund's School, Canterbury, for September 2010.

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The Master of Choristers holds voice trials to select the boys who will start as choristers in Year 4 the following September. The cathedral only has 25 choristers at any one time, aged 8-13, so it’s a very competitive process, as he has to pick just a handful from many applicants.

In addition to their normal school life, the choristers sing the services at Canterbury Cathedral on 6 days a week and take part in all the special events at the cathedral. They also go on trips abroad (recently a two week tour of America), regularly appear in concerts and make recordings and television broadcasts - lots of hard work but lots of fun too!

Isaac said, “I am very excited. I have already met some boys whom I have made friends with and there are lots of fun things to do in the boarding house.”

Alexia Bracewell G

What shall I do when I leave School? common question from our pupils and the wide spectrum of careers now available to young people makes the whole question even harder to answer. However, at Sutton Valence we aim to educate and guide pupils in making their decisions and managing transitions, preparing them for the opportunities and responsibilities of life.

Careers education helps our pupils develop the knowledge and skills they need to make these choices right for them.

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To enable pupils make their own informed decisions, we have a comprehensive and easily accessible Careers Library (within the main school library) and careers software on the intranet. I am always available to offer careers guidance during the school day and I work in close liaison with Connexions (Kent schools careers service), who visit every Friday morning to see any pupil who wants an appointment. Sixth form can “drop in” over the lunch period with no appointment required. In addition we have a careers webpage which features all the

Careers education starts with the first form when tutors are provided with worksheets and games in PSHE sessions teaching them about different jobs, and goes on up the school with the 5th Form learning about the importance of work experience, writing their own CVs and interview techniques. Psychometric testing, at a preferential rate, is on offer to the 4th Form which helps pupils identify their own skills and personal qualities.

Sixth formers are guided and supported through the intricacies of applying to University on line by Mr Wyles and Miss Draude. Career workshops, visits to University Fairs and a Careers Convention all raise the awareness of careers within school so that when our pupils finally leave school for university or employment, they have an understanding of all that is available to them.

Christine Carter G Head of Careers G

Boarding at Sutton Valence School is Top of the Form! he School has been given top marks

by Ofsted in their report on the quality of our boarding provision.

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Of the five criteria used to judge the School’s boarding facility we gained two ‘outstanding’ ratings (exceptionally high quality standards) and three ‘good’ (provision is seen to be strong).

Head of Boarding, Bob Carr, said, “Boarding at Sutton Valence is very much about students having a ‘home from home’ within their house. All are encouraged to contribute to the house community where they gain an understanding of students from other cultures and year groups. The

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latest news relating to university courses, sponsorship and job opportunities.

structure of boarding life ensures that there are specific times when all students are engaged in productive academic work and are then free to enjoy activities within the house or in the sports hall or swimming pool. I am delighted that the commitment and hard work of the Houseparents, Tutors, Matrons, cleaners and other staff who make boarding such a success for our students has been recognised by this report and also by the recent ISI inspection.”

A full copy of the inspection report can be viewed on the Ofsted website www.ofsted.gov.uk

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