NEWS

Week ending 15th March 2013

LETTER FROM THE HEAD Dear Parents You have read before in my newsletter the importance I place in this school being part of the Girls Day School Trust. This is for

many reasons, among which are the sense of a common purpose and direction amongst the schools, and the development and

sharing of best educational practice to ensure the best schooling for our girls. In addition to this, the pooled financial resources

of this organisation mean that we can plan ahead for the future with confidence. I am delighted that the Trustees of the GDST

have just approved my business case for the complete reroofing of both the Junior and Senior School buildings at an estimated

cost of £2.5 million. The present roofing materials and structures date from when the school moved to its present site in 1966

and, as such, they are showing their age. There would be little point in pushing ahead with other major refurbishment projects if

the roof is leaking so, whilst not the most glamorous of jobs, it is essential that the work is carried out. In addition to the roofing

itself new insulation will be installed and there will be concrete repairs made as each section of the school buildings have been

reroofed. I expect the work to begin in the summer holidays and am confident that it will enhance the buildings considerably.

Today is Red Nose Day and CHS is doing its bit to help raise money for this very worthwhile cause. The mufti effort has been

very impressive with a huge amount of red being displayed around the school as well as some very fetching “onesies” and a

number of fund raising events are being well attended. This morning’s assembly helped to raise awareness of the very real and

pressing needs of others less fortunate than ourselves and ended with a trailer for the special video featuring members of staff

doing silly things to the soundtrack of this year’s Red Nose Day charity record. Much hilarity ensued in the Lecture Theatre as

the film was shown on a number of occasions for a small donation from those girls watching. Looking outward and developing

our sense of global citizenship is an important element of the girls’ education at CHS and today’s activities can only serve to

heighten these sensibilities.

I have been hearing lots of fascinating tales from our Year 9 girls after their Take Your Daughter to Work day on Wednesday of

this week. It is quite clear that the girls gained an awful lot from their experiences in your workplaces and that the experience

has added to their awareness of what the world of work entails. Many thanks to all the parents who took their daughter to

work; we feel this is an important element in our careers education programme.

I know that the Year3 and 4 girls have been working very hard on their final preparations for their production of The Wind in the

Willows and I am very much looking forward to attending their performance tonight. It is always good to see the younger pupils’

talents being showcased and then to see that talent grow and flourish in later years as they make their way up through the

Junior and Senior schools. I am sure that I will see the stars of future plays and concerts in tonight’s performance.

Tomorrow afternoon, some of the Junior staff will be running an Easter themed Craft and Games session for children aged 2 -5.

This follows the very successful Christmas activity for the same age group and forms part of our programme of activities for all

ages that are open to both our pupils and to others within our local community.

Yours sincerely

D Leonard CROYDON HIGH SCHOOL Old Farleigh Road, Selsdon, South Croydon, Surrey CR2 8YB Tel: 020 8260 7500 Fax: 020 8260 7461 E-mail: info2@cry.gdst.net www.croydonhigh.gdst.net

JUNIOR SCHOOL

ART CLUB EXHIBITS AT THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM The girls in the Art Club have been painting pictures with the theme Fragile Future, for the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation competition. Just before half term we were very excited to hear that seven girls have had their work chosen, from around 1,500 entries, for an exhibition at the Natural History Museum in March. The girls are from Years 4 and 5 and we are very proud of them. Congratulations to Alexia Apostolov, Kit Bradshaw-Haydock, Mia Sherley-Dale, Layla Janmohamed, Phoebe Marchand, Sophia Patterson and Anna Pamfil and to Mrs Oatway who teaches them.

SENIOR SCHOOL

CAREERS MASTER CLASS EVENING Last Wednesday evening, 6th March, we held our very first Careers Master Class Evening. This has built on the success of our Biannual Careers Convention, held last year, extending the depth and variety of Careers Education and Guidance offered here at Croydon High. Over 150 girls and parents from years 9-13 were able to hear talks from our 14 visitors. Our delegates came from very different but nevertheless, interesting career areas. Some were representing a whole range on their own. For example Ms Liz Forrai and Ms Sally Marks represented

at least 12 career areas on their own, the former discussed working in multi-national environments and the latter in broadcasting and politics, being a Surrey County Councillor. There were a number of old girls, parents and friends of Croydon High too, their names and range too numerous to mention. All seminars were well attended and well received. Many students and parents found the evening both interesting and informative; some parents were even tempted to try a new career themselves! I would like to thank all those involved, but especially the delegates who gave their time freely and my fantastic Year 11 helpers.

LUNCHTIME CONCERT IN ST MATTHEW’S REDHILL

Thank you and congratulations! That was a "classy" concert and so enjoyed by our audience today. Lovely concert this afternoon at St Matthew's. The girls sang and played their instruments beautifully. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to them!

Just some of the emails received by Mrs Cohen after the Chamber Choir’s annual Lunchtime Concert in St Matthews’ Church, Redhill. The programme included Kuhlau’s Rondo for Four Flutes, Mendelssohn’s Konzertstücke No. 1 for Two Clarinets and piano, as well as nine songs sung from memory by the choir; five of them sensitively accompanied by Ellie Bunce (Year 11) on the piano. One of the highlights was ‘Days with April’, written by Molly Harris (Year 12) for her AS exam, but the standard of the whole concert was exceptionally high.

BOOK CORNER

The Paladin Prophecy by Mark Frost - Mark Frost has written a thrilling sci-fi-come-Hogwarts fantasy. Fifteen-year-old Will West, on his parents’ advice, has always been careful not to draw attention to himself. One day he slips up, coming top in a nationwide exam. He is offered a place at ‘The Centre for Integrated Learning’ where he finds himself caught up in a mystery which could result in the destruction of mankind. Fortunately his own special abilities (speed, intellect and mind-control powers), a group of gifted friends – Ajay, Nick, Brooke and Elise – and a guardian angel called Dave, help him out of many a tight spot. A suspense-filled and entertaining story for teens.

MFL SPELLING BEE FINAL TO CELEBRATE GDST 140th ANNIVERSARY On Tuesday 5th March Ms Díez and a group of nine students went to Cardiff for the day to take part in the MFL Spelling final. They started the journey at 6:00 in the morning and it took four hours to get to Howells School. The girls didn’t complain at all; on the contrary, they spent part of that time revising for the contest. They had to learn 140 words in the target language; were given the words in English; had to translate them and then spell them as fast as they could in one minute. We were really pleased with the results.

· Year 9 Spanish Priya Patel, Fariha Baba and Hannah-Louise Vine came third in a close contest with Sheffield. Priya Patel had the second best individual score of all Year 8 and 9 Spanish students with an astonishing result of 21 words spelled correctly in one minute.

· Year 8 German Damini Patel, Emma Westray and Lucy Wingrove came also third. They had to spell the longest words in the contest ! (Umweltverschmutzung) 19 letters

· Year 8 Spanish Nayna Patel and Amelia de Lima (unfortunately Samantha Martin was sick and couldn’t come and Amelia had to do two turns) came first in the Year 8 group but also the Spanish group triumphed as the group with the most words spelled in three minutes (50 words)

THEATRE CENTRE BRING TOMORROW’S WORLD TO CHS Mrs Webb’s Year 10 GCSE Drama group were extremely lucky to see a preview performance of Theatre Centre’s Tomorrow’s World on Tuesday March 12 in the school hall. Tomorrow’s World is a collection of three plays that Theatre Centre are developing in partnership with students on the BA Acting and Actor/Musician courses at Rose Bruford College, and visited Croydon High to get our students’ feedback. The shows use promenade theatre (where the audience move around the space and interact with the performers) as Theatre Centre are thinking of how to use school halls/sports halls in innovative ways. The plays have been written

in response to the question: how will young people shape the future?

Then Spoke the Thunder by Steven Bloomer Set in the near future, it has been raining for 40 days and nights with reports that the storm will get worse at midnight; the play focuses on Jimmy and his sister Celeste and how they cope in the storm. Slings and Arrows by Gbemisola Ikumelo What would have happened if the 2011 riots hadn’t been quashed? Drawing inspiration from Hamlet, this futuristic adventure imagines a world of two societies at war: adults and children. Rise Up by Lisa Evans The Freedom Riders were a group of students, black and white, who rode the buses across the southern states of America, breaking the rules of segregation. It is a story of ordinary young people becoming a civil rights movement in 1960s America which crossed racial boundaries, took on the

establishment and changed the world.

After watching the three performances, the year 10s discussed several questions with the performers and Theatre Centre’s artistic director, Natalie Wilson. ‘The performances were fantastic – full of energy - and with the audience inter-mingling with the action, it felt like we were really involved in everything that was happening.’ One of the questions was “which play would you like to see more of?” There was a really mixed response to this, with the class’ opinion split between Then Spoke the Thunder and Slings and Arrows. A really exciting hour of theatre, which has certainly given our Year 10 students some interesting and creative ideas. We are so pleased that Theatre Centre contacted us to give them some feedback on their work, and look forward to welcoming them to CHS again in the future. Mrs E Webb

INTERMEDIATE KANGAROO QUALIFIERS The European Kangaroo Foundation is an international organisation based in Paris which organises the Europe-wide European Kangaroo. The name sounds strange, but recognises the fact that the European organisation was inspired by the Australian Mathematics Trust. Each year over three million school pupils across Europe (and beyond) take part at various levels. So when students sit the Kangaroo they are part of a huge European community of Maths students. Each year, pupils from all three year groups sitting the Intermediate Challenge are invited to sit either the Grey or Pink European Kangaroo paper dependent on school year. These are one-hour papers with 25 multiple choice questions, taken by pupils from over 30 countries worldwide. The Pink Kangaroo is for pupils in Years 10 and 11; the Grey Kangaroo is for pupils in Year 9. This year Kira Pandya, Year 11, and Philippa Baliman, Year 10, have been invited to sit the Pink Kangaroo paper on Thursday March 21. Congratulations to both girls and we wish them all the best.

A REMINDER TO Y11 PARENTS Please may I remind you that if your daughter is not returning to Croydon High School in September, we require written notice to Mrs. Leonard by the end of this term in order to avoid being charged a term’s school fees in September.

WHOLE SCHOOL

PLEA FOR HELP FROM THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT Do you work in a STEM (science, technology, engineering or maths) career? Would you be willing to mentor Year 12 students working towards their Silver and / or Gold CREST (Creativity in Science and Technology) Awards? Currently, one girl is working towards her Gold Award and six are working towards their Silver. Whilst an external mentor (working in a STEM field) is advised for Silver projects, it is mandatory for Gold. The role of the mentor can be summarised as follows:

• Review with students the progress made on a project at regular intervals and countersign the CREST Profile forms as appropriate (the frequency will depend upon availability of the mentor) • Act as a sounding board for ideas and proposals • Offer guidance and advice on project process (planning; research, methodology and so on) • Mentors can either meet students face to face, or via electronic means (Skype; email; telephone) • All communication between mentor and students should be supervised by teachers • Mentors don't necessarily need to work in the exact field as the project topic as their input will be largely on project process, although it could be an advantage

The Gold Candidate (who does require a mentor) is researching 'Anti-Wrinkle creams - do they really work?'. She is looking at the factors involved in ageing, biochemical processes, the 'science' behind the anti-wrinkle cream claims etc. The Silver candidates are researching a variety of topics including cancer research, the brain and phobias, animal adaptations and whether levels of health / nutrition are linked to area and / or finances. NB the mentors do not need to be expert in these particular fields. Please contact Miss Egan-Smith (m.egan-smith@cry.gdst.net) for more information.

SPORTS RESULTS

SPORT EVENT AGE GROUP RESULT

Netball vs St Andrews U16B Won 12-4

vs Harris Crystal Palace U12B Won 8-0

U13B Won 14-1

Croydon Tournament U13A Won tournament

U13B Won tournament

Gymnastics Surrey floor and vault U9 Fifth place