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Lent Term Newsletter
March 2009  From the Headmaster
There have been many exciting events this term, duly noted in this latest Newsletter. However, prior to expanding on trips, visits and fixtures, we must congratulate our Yr. 6 cohort and associated staff on a fantastic set of 11+ results.
Following a strong Yr. 6 group last year and 17 scholarships, added pressure was on the class of 2009 to perform. This they did with bells on securing 21 scholarships to competitive independent secondary schools in the process. A huge vote of thanks to all members of staff who, over the years, have contributed to the development of our Yr. 6 children and, of course, a congratulatory handshake and pat on the back to the children themselves for grasping opportunities offered and meeting challenges set so positively. Well done! A full list of results and destinations is attached.
Aside from the 11+ process, events throughout the Lent Term were varied, challenging, informative and rewarding.
Yr. 2 had an interesting visit to the Museum of London, Docklands, in February as part of their London topic. They had a fascinating guided session in the ‘hands on’ Mudlarks Gallery as well as an unscheduled coach tour of Docklands.
One of the early assemblies was organised by Lucy Heyman, Lily Davies and the other Yr. 6 Guides on the subject of ‘Thinking Day’. There are now about 40 girls in the school who are Rainbows, Brownies or Guides, as well as four adult leaders, and the majority remembered to wear their uniform for the day, promoting much interest from their peers.
At the beginning of March, the Reception classes experienced their first school visit by coach. They had a wonderful time at the Polka Theatre watching ‘The Jolly Postman’. They were mesmerized for an hour and a half by the exciting performance and then happily ate their school packed lunches before returning to school. Well done to all the Reception children for exceptional behaviour.
On 19th March, the Year 3 children enjoyed a trip to the National Gallery. This term they have been studying the work of various artists so it was a great opportunity to view some of their masterpieces first hand. As they got off the coach when they arrived in London they proved to be the first tourist attraction of the day. An American tourist was quite taken with the ‘little green uniforms’ and their ‘impeccable behaviour’. During the morning they walked around the gallery in groups visiting works from artists such as Seurat, Van Gogh, Renoir, Turner and many more. After lunch, their guide Za Za talked about three paintings depicting Greek Myths. The children have been learning about Greek Mythology during their history lessons on the ancient Greeks and Za Za was suitably impressed with the way they were able to answer all her ‘tricky’ questions! Unfortunately the return journey was a little more eventful than the outward journey had been and after a patient two hours they arrived back at school exhausted but with some fond memories of a very enjoyable visit.
At 5.30 am on a drizzling March morning, the whole of Yr. 6 and five bleary eyed teachers arrived at school to start a PGL Explorer visit to Hardelot in Northern France. They spent 4 days enjoying a mix of PGL activities and cultural experiences which ranged from camp craft to visiting a boulangerie, a night trail to wandering through a French market. The children had the opportunity to taste snails, frogs’ legs and handmade chocolates. A visit to the World War 1 cemetery in Étaples made the Yr. 6 studies seem very real. Everyone returned home tired but bubbling with enthusiasm. A huge thank you to Mlle Hicks, M. Sanceau, Mme Coupe and Mme Styles for all their hard work, merci beaucoup to Mme Colwell for organising and arranging the trip and, of course, thanks to the Yr. 6 children themselves who were a credit to the school and great company.
Meanwhile, Yr. 5 enjoyed a two day visit to Bowles Outdoor Centre in Tunbridge Wells. Here they experienced canoeing, rock climbing, skiing, abseiling and the low ropes course. They are to be congratulated not only on their achievements but also on the way they conducted themselves.
Yr. 4 ended the term with a flurry of activity. They visited the Thames Barrier visitor centre to enhance their topic on ‘Rivers’. The children enjoyed a lovely riverside walk with an excellent guide who explained the history of the Thames Barrier and how it has protected London from flooding over 100 times since it was built. Their second outing, on 17th March, was to Eltham Palace to link with their history studies on the Tudors. Again, they had a bright sunny day and the guides really helped the children to imagine what life was like during Tudor times. They looked for lots of evidence and learned about court life in the Palace. Their third visit of the term was to the Reform Synagogue where Tina Higgins really brought the beliefs and traditions of Judaism to life. Her enthusiasm and sense of humour made listening and learning a real pleasure and gave the children an interesting insight into the Jewish way of life.
St. Christopher’s children once again excelled at the Bromley Speech & Drama Festival. 136 children from Yr. 2 – Yr 6 participated in categories ranging from choral speaking, verse speaking, verse speaking duet, solo acting and prepared reading. All the children gave a wonderful performance but, more importantly, they were excellent ambassadors for the school. Every child gained a high mark and they brought back a handful of medals – 4 bronze, 3 silver, 3 golds and Yr. 2’s the Langdale Cup for choral speaking. Particular congratulations must go to Christopher Sharrock who gained not only a Distinction but the highest mark awarded during the Festival.
Many thanks to Mrs. Rudge for all her tireless support and effort (especially on Mothers Day!) and of course to the children who had prepared for the Festival during many of their school lunchtimes!
The ‘marathon’ that was the concert for Yrs. 4-6 included the orchestra’s debut (which was superb after only 7 or so rehearsals), 64 confident solo performances and an excellent contribution from our 60 strong choir. All the children joined in at the very end to sing together showing a real sense of enjoyment (and some great dance skills!).
The concert for Rec. – Yr. 3 was also a great success. 47 individual soloists (all with a smile on their face), a rap, Yr. 2 recorders, Miss Atkinson’s recorder club and some fabulous singing from all of the children contributed to a very enjoyable afternoon. A special thank you to Miss Hamill for all her efforts with the children and of course to Mr. Mobbs for organising both concerts.
Fingers crossed for those children who have taken music examinations this term and are awaiting the results.
On Sunday 1st March the choir was invited to perform at a concert in St. Mary’s Church, Shortlands. They helped to raise £700 for SOS Children’s Village in Bethlehem. The children sang beautifully!
On Wednesday night, the Year 6 classes delighted us with their performance of ‘Twelfth Night’ in the original Shakespearean language. They had been treated to a workshop by Shakespeare 4 Kidz earlier in the term to explore the story. They mesmerized us with their mature vocal delivery and understanding of the text. Enchanting performances were given by everyone. R.S.C. eat your heart out! Many thanks to Miss Hicks, Mr. Sanceau and Mrs. Rudge for all their support and encouragement of the children in what was a truly outstanding production.
On the chess front, the 2nd Kent qualifying leg of the Chess Champions League Tournament for Schools was held at Langley Park Boys School on 28th February. The team of Sebastien Santhiapillai, Thomas Martin, Tim Viney (Capt.) and Jack Cernoch finished 5th out of 18 meaning that they qualified for the Minor Schools finals for the first time. The Minor Schools finals are for teams who are outside the top 8 but inside the top 16 schools for Chess in the Kent, South East London, Middx., Sussex and Surrey areas. Isabelle Santhiapillai and Amy Tullis formed a team with St. David’s Prep. School to finish a creditable 16th in the competition. It was a good performance by everyone. Well done!
Following school tradition, Mrs. Lesley Colwell once again very kindly organised our Annual Easter Egg competition. The children entered in large numbers and with their usual enthusiasm. The winners were:
LKG Max Dugard
r.u. George Collins
UKG India Hansra
r.u. Polly Martin
REC Oliver Tomlin
r.u. Daniel Curtis
Yr. 1 Edward George
r.u. Sofie Williams
Yr. 2 James McGruer
r.u. Bethan Evans
Yr. 3 Sophie Reilly
r.u. Angus Harrington
Yr. 4 Zayn Rahman
r.u. Sam Hutchings
Yr. 5 Georgina Davenport
r.u. Esther Keegan
Yr. 6 Amelia Barling
r.u. Imogen Younge
Headmaster’s Choice – Oriel Holmes.
On the football front, the boys have had a topsy turvy term. Excellent starts by all age groups were met soon after by lapses in concentration and the rub of the green. U11’s started with an impressive 1-0 victory over Eltham followed by two matches which were thrown away in the dying seconds – 2-2 away v. Colfe’s and a 1-1 draw with St. Dunstan’s. U.10’s unfortunately didn’t live up to expectations. A win against Breaside was their only victory but they still have the Eltham Tournament to come at the time of writing. Good luck boys!
U.9’s, on their day, can beat anyone but on many occasions left their talent in the changing room. A 3-0 win over Royal Russell and a 3-1 win over Breaside were the highlights of the term!
U.8’s started off the term on fire with victories 3-2 against Breaside and a stupendous win over Colfe’s. The rest of the term lacked goals and the remaining matches finished with draws. However, the team possess great potential for the future.
A big thank you to Mr. Myatt and Mr. Johnson for their input.
The girls have had fewer matches this term due to the short term, entrance examinations, two residential trips and the bad weather. U.8 A&B teams, who have been undefeated, have made an excellent start and show much promise for the future. The highlight for the U.9 team was being silver medalists in our own tournament. They finished ahead of JAPS, Farringtons, St. Dunstan’s and St. Olave’s and only lost 1-0 to Alleyn’s, the eventual winners. Well done girls! The U.10 A team have just kept their unbeaten record in matches but some have been very tight. In the Farringtons Tournament, they reached the semi-final and played Bromley High School. At full time, the score was 5 all. Unfortunately, the ‘golden goal’ did not go our way and we therefore finished joint third out of ten schools. The U.10 B team have improved enormously and have been equally successful. Although the U.11 B&C teams have had an excellent record of wins, the A team have lost the consistency of previous years. They have, however, recorded good wins against Oakfield, Breaside and Babington House. Earlier in the term, the girls entered the X Country event at Farringtons. Well done to Lavinia Hann who came second in the U.8, Chloe Landymore who came fourth in the U.9, Catriona McSorley who came third in the U10 and Katie Mills who won the U11. There was an average of 35 competitors per event.
Thank you to Mrs. Styles and Mrs. Mitchell for their hard work and enthusiasm.
House netball winners were Blyton and house football winners were also Blyton. Congratulations and well done to everyone in the Prep. School for supporting their houses so enthusiastically.
After a bit of confusion regarding the donations for Readathon, we have now sent our final amount of £1,931.55 . Many thanks to you all for your patience and co-operation regarding this.
Our charity this term has been BAAF and we have raised just over £550. Next term we will be supporting St. Christopher’s Hospice and participating their sponsored walk at the end of May. We already have nearly 100 walkers registered in the school team. It is not too late to join us so please do sign up.
Our zig-zag banner seems to be doing the trick! You may have also noticed that the hours for the zig-zags are now continuous throughout the school day. Please do not park on them or in/over the school drive or access road to the flats.
May I politely inform you that summer uniform is required next term, i.e. summer dresses/white socks for girls and short sleeved shirts (no ties) and long grey socks for boys.
Prep. School boys are reminded that cricket whites are needed next term. Yr. 3 boys may wear white shorts and white t.shirts but for Yrs. 4-6 cricket trousers and shirt are needed. Jumpers may be slipovers or long sleeved but should be plain white with light blue/dark blue trim. It is not compulsory for the boys to have their own cricket bat/pads as we have an ample supply at school. However, if your son does choose to use his own equipment please make sure that it is clearly marked.
Yr. 3 girls will require athletic shorts (house colour stripes can be obtained from Mrs. Styles).
Swimming next term will be for Yrs 2,4 & 6.
Our new website is currently under construction. If anyone has any objection to their child’s photograph appearing online, please notify the school office.
Have a fantastic holiday, good luck to the ski party and a safe return for everyone on 21st April.
A.V.
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