No. 4: 11/12 End of Spring Term 29 March 2012 Dear Parents Within

No. 4: 11/12 End of Spring Term
29 March 2012
Dear Parents
Within this mailing are grade cards for Years 7-11 as well as Sixth Form reviews for this half
term. In addition, I have enclosed revision booklets for Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 which will provide
a framework for revision as we rapidly approach the examination season. I trust these will be
helpful and provide a further spur to encourage hard work in the lead up to your child‟s Key
Stage 3 or GCSE examinations.
This being the fourth grade card of the year, you and your son or daughter will have a very clear
picture of both successes and possible areas of concern. Please contact any of your child‟s
teachers should you wish to do so. All grades marked 6 or U will mean a teacher will contact
you. Please review this grade card and pencil ideas into prep books for targets next term. Tutors will discuss these targets with pupils in the first few days of next term.
For many of our students, this Easter holiday must be a time of study and revision. I especially
encourage all GCSE and A level students and their families to put revision high on their list of priorities for the Easter break. The summer term will be a busy one. Examination details will be in
the summer calendar or sent separately for GCSE and A level students.
Young Enterprise
This week saw our two teams, Urband from Year 10, and Khrysos, from the Sixth Form, compete
in the finals of the North Surrey Young Enterprise programme. Both teams did wonderfully well,
Year 10 winning a judges Special Award and Khrysos winning both TV advert and Best Company.
A flyer advertising Khrysos‟ product, the Pholder to be used to safely hold a mobile phone whilst
charging, is included in this mail out. I hope you can support the Young Enterprise programme
by considering a purchase of one of these units, designed, manufactured and sold by Khrysos.
New nurses in the Care Centre
I am very pleased to confirm that Mrs Keryn Shepherd and Mrs Jacqui Coppellotti will continue in
their roles as School Nurses in the Care Centre. (Please speak with either nurse if your child
needs their care.)
Summer Meeting
Summer Meeting is an important event for this School and it is a compulsory school
day. We look forward to having all pupils present to show their parents, families and
friends their achievements from this year. Summer Meeting is to be held on Saturday 7
July 2012.
PTA Olympiad, Saturday 12 May
Please put this date into your calendar for this important school fundraising day which
will be filled with activities.
Plant Sale, Saturday 26 May
This wonderful event raises money for the Student Council and also gives us an opportunity to purchase beautiful, healthy plants at very competitive prices. Please come
along.
I wish you a very happy and restful Easter and I look forward to welcoming students
back to the new term beginning Tuesday 24 April 2012 at 8.30am. The 2011/2012
school year will finish at 12.00 on Thursday 12 July.
Yours sincerely
Mr J Insall-Reid
Headmaster, Senior School
News from this term
Once again this term has been a busy and productive one. Here are some of the highlights from
the term.
Various activities have been held including Y7, 8 and 10 parents‟ evenings; Y12, Y11 and Y10
media study trips to the BFI in London; Y8 art trip to Tate Britain; Y8 drama trip to see The Lion
King; A level textiles trip to London; music scholars recital and piano tea; Lower Sixth UCAS
evening; Y9 drama trip to see The Thirty-Nine Steps; AS literature and language conferences;
World Book Day; Y10 and Y11 sexual health talks; Sixth Form philosophy and ethics conference
trips to London; French exchange; Y11 GCSE and A level drama showcase performances; Y9
and Y10 debating final; Y7-Y9 speech and drama concert; Richmond History Association balloon
debate; house music competition; Lower Sixth higher education fair. Y7 and Y8 charity prom;
Y10 work experience day and culture trip to Portsmouth; Y10-Sixth Form Young Enterprise North
Area Finals; Y11 and Sixth Form enrichment afternoon and the ski trip 2012.
Young Enterprise North Surrey area finals
This week the North Surrey finals of the Young Enterprise programme were held. Claremont Fan
Court School was represented by Urband, a Year 10 company and Khrysos, Sixth Form company.
Competition was fierce, 15 YE companies took part, presenting to over 200 guests and judges
with prizes available for trade stands, promotional videos and use of social media.
Urband, who sold personalised
silicone wristbands, were specially commended for their use of
social media and won a Judges
Special Award of £50 for their
overall approach to the competition.
Khrysos who designed, manufactured and marketed their mobile phone holder – Pholder for
the second time won best TV advert and a prize of £100
Tension was high when the prizes were announced for best overall company. The winners
were Khrysos! They were awarded the trophy for Best Company, a cheque for £200 and all
company members won a ticket to Thorpe Park.
We are immensely proud of all students who have worked so hard since September on this
programme. Khrysos will now participate in the Surrey finals in Guildford on 1 May.
Please show your support for this YE company by following Pholder on Facebook or Twitter,
(re-tweet if possible please), or ordering one of their phone holders from www.pholder.co.uk.
Sixth Form trip to Berlin
In February, thirty-two Sixth Form students and
five members of staff departed for an enrichment trip to Berlin that included visits to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, the Pergamon
museum, the BMW motorcycle plant, the
Reichstag and an Olympic stadium tour. The
students also had the opportunity to see the
main tourist attractions of the city including the
Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and of
course the remnants of the Berlin wall. In the
evenings there were visits to the cinema, tenpin bowling and a stage show set in a traditional style German theatre.
French and Spanish exchange trips
Also in February a group of sixteen Year 9 and Year 10 students returned from an eight-day
exchange visit to our new partner school in Paris, Sainte Croix de Neuilly, in Neuilly-sur-Seine.
This was the first visit of this new exchange and it was a great success. Our students were
matched up with French students for the week, experiencing life in a French family, and we
also used the time as an opportunity to visit central Paris.
French exchange trip
Meanwhile, twenty one Year 9 and 10 students participated in a week‟s exchange with the
„Colegio Europa‟ in Barcelona. During the week our pupils participated in a range of activities
both within and outside of school, varying from a Spanish dance class to day trips out to the
many tourist attractions that Barcelona has to offer. Highlights of the week included a guided
tour of the La Sagrada Familia cathedral and the infamous Nou Camp football stadium which
proved particularly popular, and lunch in Parc Guëll overlooking the city. In the evenings and
over the weekend our pupils spent their time with their Spanish exchange partners immersed
in the culture and speaking as much of the language as possible.
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
The Duke of Edinburgh is well under way with walks and overnight camps being held this term
at both bronze and silver level.
Congratulations to those
who travelled to the
Beacons for a 26.1 km
hike in fabulous weather.
DofE Gold Training, Brecon Beacons National Park
Critical Thinkers on Current Issues!
Inter House Debating Competition Year 9 and 10 Finals
Wednesday 14 March 2012 held in the Sports Hall
Congratulations to all pupils who took part in these finals! They treated us to some very high
quality performances showcasing all that is best in the cut and thrust of lively, informed debating. Clearly the teams had done thorough preparation in advance and spoke very confidently
and convincingly in front of an audience of Years 7, 8, 9, and 10 – a total of approximately
320 pupils and staff. Year 7 and 8 pupils received an object lesson to follow in their own competition which will be staged at the start of next term. The shields were presented to the winning teams by the Assistant Head, Mr Trump, and Mr Longman, the competition organiser.
The results were as follows:
Year 9 Motion: “That the Internet will produce nothing but a generation of lazy, surface skimming ignoramuses.”
Proposers Norwood [Sam Thornton, Sasha Ward-Smith, Matthew Shah]
Opposers Radnor [Riley Latcham, Marcus Lorde, Charlie Myers[]
Chairperson
Jack Delaney
Year 9 Motion: “That the Internet will produce nothing but a
generation of lazy, surface skimming ignoramuses.”
Proposers Norwood
[Sam
Thornton, Sasha Ward-Smith,
Matthew Shah]
Opposers Radnor
[Riley
Latcham, Marcus Lorde, Charlie
Myers[]
Chairperson
Jack Delaney
Best Speaker [N] Sasha WardSmith
Best Speaker [R] Marcus Lorde
Winners Radnor
Runners Up
Norwood
Year 10 Motion: “That parents should be held responsible for the crimes of
their children.”
Proposers Esher
[Zak
Phillips, Cameron Mills,
Lauren Flynn]
Opposers Longcross
[Hannah Swarbrick, Sophie Stiewe, Jamie McKinley]
Chairperson
Alex
Carver
Best Speaker [E] Cameron
Mills
Best Speaker [L] Jamie
Mackinley and Sophie
Stiewe
Winners
Longcross
Runners Up
Esher
Mathematics News
Four capable mathematicians, Young Kyun Kim and Hangyul Kim from Y9 and Alexis Childs
and Ho-Sung Kang from Y8 attended the regional final of the UKMT Mathematics Team Challenge at St Olave‟s Grammar School, Orpington. Hangyul and Young Kyun settled immediately
to the generous heap of difficult maths problems in their preferred attitude of silent concentration, while the irrepressible Alexis, fresh with invention and curiosity, and Ho-Sung, the team‟s
terrier, fast and competitive, checked and challenged and learned.
By the end of the afternoon, with
many of the other thirty teams sitting in exhausted stupor, the
Claremont team, who had been
quick throughout the day, now
accelerated through the final relay
round. The field was a strong one,
so fifth place overall was a welldeserved reflection of an excellent
team performance and one which
maintains Claremont‟s steady rate
of upwards progress in this competition since we first took part in
2005.
This was a great event, certainly
challenging and definitely fun.
Claremont Mathematics Team
Music School
The Music School played host to a group of students from the Upper Junior and Senior
Schools and also their families for the latest in our series of informal Instrumental Tea concerts. This time it was the piano that was featured and we were delighted to hold this event for
the first time in the Great Room where our full concert Steinway is now housed.
We were also treated to a polished recital given by our talented Music Scholars. We
were entertained by a very
wide-ranging repertoire from
Average White Band to Bartok
on electric guitar, violin, drum
kit, piano and voice.
Music Recital
House competitions
Tuesday saw the return of the house music competition for all budding Senior School musicians.
We were delighted that Mr Graham Stack again took time out of his busy schedule to adjudicate the event. Mr Stack works as a professional musician and is a well known arranger for
many artists such as Kylie Minogue, Tina Turner, Take That, etc and has worked very closely
with members of the X-Factor television team.
There were seven sections in which students were able to demonstrate their musical skills
and each of the above sections had two age groups (Junior for Years 7 – 9 and Senior for
Years 10 – 13).
Overall Winners:
Orchestra Strings:
Woodwind/Brass:
Piano:
Guitar:
Drums:
Singing Solo:
Singing - Ensemble:
Diba Behzad-Noori (Norwood)
Rika Nishimura (Radnor)
Joint First: Will Richards (Esher)
Hannah Schomberg (Norwood)
Joint First: Lara Fenocchi (Longcross)
Theo Normanton (Norwood)
Diba Behzad-Noori (Norwood)
Charlie Cooper (Esher)
Ollie Franckeiss-Moor (Longcross)
Joe Arksey (Norwood)
Joint First: Jeremy Stack (Longcross)
Justin Tambini (Norwood)
Jamie Sellers (Radnor)
Joint First: Henry Jenkins (Norwood)
Amelia Berry (Radnor)
Joint First: Emma Walker (Norwood)
Sasha Ward-Smith (Norwood)
Joint First: Sophie Stiewe and Louise Deane (Longcross)
Harry & Theo Normanton, Peter Speer (Norwood)
Alex Allman-Varty and Milo Gammond (Radnor)
Overall, the standard was very high with different musical styles being played on a variety of
instruments within each section.
Norwood are to be congratulated in coming first with 48 points, followed by Longcross with
33, followed by Radnor with 31 and Esher with 22 points.
It has been another exciting term for the School Houses. We have had the music competition,
won by the musically gifted Norwood. We had the engineering competition which involved
building a structure out of newspaper and masking tape to see who could hold the most textbooks. This resulted in a draw between Longcross and Radnor, both holding six books before
collapsing. This term also saw the first jigsaw competition take place on the JGC stage during
lunch. This fierce competition was quite the spectacle involving an MC and a remote cameraman projecting images to a big screen for all to see. Both students and staff enjoyed this event
which was won by Esher.
The aim of these house competitions is to introduce a competitive yet friendly environment and
give every student an opportunity to contribute to their house in a wide variety of activities. As
the students participate, we hope they develop a sense of belonging and pride in their House.
The Heads of Houses urge all students to get involved and try something new.
We have many enjoyable House competitions coming up next term: the film competition, the
swimming gala, the quiz, and House teams Tug o‟ war are some of them.
Well done to everyone who got involved in house competitions this term.
Engineering House Competition
Jigsaw House Competition
Young Chef Competition
Another nail biting round of the Rotary International Young Chef competition took place on Saturday 25 February. Having won the area heats of this competition, Eleanor McChesney was
there to participate in the District Finals, Merton College, Morden.
Competition was fierce and 12 year old Eleanor found herself head to head with seven other
students who were in the main 16 years old, two of whom were catering students at Merton College.
The standard of food produced was
incredible and tension was high as
we awaited the judges‟ decision. Eleanor was overjoyed to be
awarded the second prize, winning
a plaque and W H Smith vouchers
as well as the personalised chef‟s
tunic and hat that all entrants were
given.
Eleanor is now through to the next
round of this prestigious competition
which will be the Regional Finals,
held in Brighton on Friday 30 March.
Eleanor McChesney, Young Chef Competition
History news
Thursday 15 March saw Claremont students attending the annual historical balloon debate run
by the Richmond and Twickenham branch of the Historical Association. The event took place at
Putney High School for Girls and we took two teams, both of whom had to argue why their chosen person from history deserved a place in a sinking hot air balloon. In the under 14 category
Theo and Kieran argued for Alan Turing, whilst in the under 18 students, Alex, Louis and Ellie
argued that in fact Abraham Lincoln should stay in the balloon. Both teams were praised for
their good historical knowledge, preparation and answering of questions and, although they did
not win, an interesting and enjoyable afternoon was had by all.
Sports News
Girls’ PE
The Girls‟ PE department have had another busy term of sport: the girls have played 74 fixtures and 16 tournaments in lacrosse and netball. As well as the continued commitment, enthusiasm and progress the girls have shown, here are some of the highlights this term. Senior
lacrosse played in the National Championships and after a day of gruelling games qualified for
Division 2 play offs the following day. This was an improvement from last year. They also got
into the finals of the Small Schools Championships. The match had to go into extra time and
golden goal where they lost out to Rendcomb. The 1st netball team played some very high
quality matches; winning against Reeds 34-21, Charterhouse 17-12 and narrowly losing
against Kings College 23-24. The Heathfield Lacrosse Tournament was also a success with
the U15 and U12 team coming second and the U14 team winning. The U14 team also won the
Plate of the Surrey County Lacrosse Tournament. Some good netball wins include: U14b 11-1
v Box Hill, U13A v Notre Dame 9-7, U12A v St Teresa‟s 18-4. Well done to all the girls who
have played netball and lacrosse during the two terms. The level of involvement has been fantastic.
Boys’ PE
Football Reports Spring 2012
This season the 1st X1 found it hard going against tough opposition losing all games before
half term. However in the second half of the term, we had a decisive victory against
Hurtwood House winning 6-1 with Kester Insall-Reid scoring a hat trick. This was followed
by a creditable draw against Hampton U16 A‟s . We played Charterhouse B and won 1-0
with Min Ki Jang scoring the winner. In a tightly fought match against ACS we managed a 11 draw with Arun Joshi drawing us level in the second half his second goal in two games
after coming back from injury. The team has improved tremendously over the course of the
season, not having lost a game this half term. The season will finish with a trip to Brighton to
play Dorothy Stringer, a team they last played in Year 7.
The U14 boys football team have had a fine season winning five games and losing only
two. There has been a hatful of goals, notably from Joe Arksey who bagged four hat-tricks
and narrowly missed out on the overall School goal scoring record. Of course, coming
close to the goal scoring record was only made possible by the creative midfield work of
Jack Delaney and Max Taylor, well supported by the wing play of Theo Watt. In defence
Euan Watt again proved ever reliable and formed a solid partnership with Harvey Gillett
who, new to the position, became one of the most improved players of the season. Two
memorable games stand out; the first match of the year away to Salesians College when
the lead changed hands several time before Claremont stamped their authority on the game
in the second half with some free flowing football that was capped off by a fantastic final
goal from an overhead kick by Euan Watt. The second is the match away to Glynn when,
despite going four goals up, the defence came under immense pressure in the second
half. Ben Huntley in goal gave his best performance of the season, pulling off many fines
saves including two penalty stops, to keep Claremont on top in the game. Well done to
everyone who has been part of the squad this term for making it a memorable season.
The U13 team started the season with no regular goalkeeper but with a willing squad of fifteen players. Not having a regular keeper meant that outfield players had to step in when
required and this made it difficult to develop a settled team. The players who stepped up this
task performed a sterling job under difficult circumstances and should be congratulated for
their willingness and hard work. Each game saw an improvement in the overall team play as
players adjusted from the individual play during break times to learning to work as a unit.
There were flashes of potential for future years but these were not enough to avoid some
heavy defeats against schools with much greater numbers of boys in their year groups. The
whole squad should be congratulated for their perseverance, especially Jake for taking on the
role of captain and his help in preparing the team.
REMINDER NOTICES
Cycling and helmets
With the spring weather coming, it will be good to have more pupils cycling to school. All
cyclists must wear a helmet and cycles are to be ridden with care at all times and parked
securely in the Upper Junior School Close during the day.
Bus ticket purchase
Should your child require a seat on the buses in an emergency, tickets must be bought
from Mrs Bale at reception before the end of the day.