Autumn 2013

Croydon Highlights

Alumna TV producer Farrah Jaufuraully

joins Prizegiving celebrations!

CROYDON HIGH SCHOOLOld Farleigh Road, Selsdon, South Croydon, Surrey CR2 8YB

Tel: 020 8260 7500 Fax: 020 8260 7461 E-mail: info2@cry.gdst.net

Life is never dull at Croydon High…which is just the way it should be. Our school is constantly buzzing with activity as the girls and the staff work together in academic studies, extra-curricular activities, sport, music, drama…the fascinating fabric of school life! Every year, we say, is busier than the last and this certainly seems to be the case this last year as alongside all the usual activities we have undertaken major refurbishment projects in the Junior and Senior Schools.

Refurbishment of the Junior school has continued, following the new playground, classrooms and inspirational 4D room that were completed in the last year. Our Nursery girls are now enjoying being in their brightly decorated new surroundings, complete with floor to ceiling windows and a smart new entrance – with a lift to enable disabled access – and an undercover buggy park so their younger siblings can stay dry at pick up and drop off time! The Music and Drama suite has had a fantastic makeover giving them lots more practice and performance space.

At the same time, work has been continuing in the Senior school, with bright modern ‘breakout areas’ designed for the girls to use in their break times and the creation of a comprehensive careers and research room being moved to the centre of the school, next to our new Learning Resource Centre. Less exciting, but equally important is the full re-roofing project that is underway to ensure that the entire school is kept well protected as winter approaches. We are very fortunate to have the strong financial backing from the GDST to enable us to consistently maintain standards and facilities in the way that we want to.

I hope you will enjoy reading some of our news. If it inspires you to come and visit, then we would be delighted to see you. Friends and Alumnae are always welcome – contact Karen Roe at ivylink@cry.gdst.net to arrange a visit. If you are interested in the school from an Admissions perspective, please contact Sue McGeown on admissions@cry.gdst.net.

Welcome to the latest update on all the exciting happenings at Croydon High School

LATEST REFURBISHMENTS

What a wonderful evening we enjoyed as girls and parents, guests, staff and Governors came together to celebrate GCSE and A Level successes. We welcomed back Farrah Jaufuraully as our guest speaker. Farrah left Croydon High in 1996, armed with A Levels in English, French, Biology and Politics. She went on to Middlesex University, with a passion for journalism and film already ignited, and studied for a degree in Film and Media and Cultural Studies. Entering a highly competitive, fast moving world, Farrah has more than held her own and now has over 10 years’ experience producing a wide range of television programmes for the BBC, Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel, including the award-winning medical series Embarrassing Bodies. Describing herself as ‘well-travelled and determined’ – particularly after back

packing alone across six continents – Farrah is another example of a Croydon High girl who has really gone places, demonstrating that with hard work and resolve, as well as talent and the benefits of a good education, the world of work can be a fascinating place.

Mrs Leonard was supported in her annual report with accounts from Ione Drage and Katie Tomsett about the EPQ and Go-on programmes. We also enjoyed some excellent performances on piano; clarinet; Follow your Dream from the Middle School Choir and a drama vignette. We look forward to hearing from the class of 2013 in the future about the great times which lie ahead of them.

A CELEBRATION OF GCSE AND A LEVEL SUCCESS

RUNNING FOR GBCongratulations to Year 11’s Charlotte Rhule who represented Great Britain in an international athletics event on Saturday 21st Septemebr. She was the youngest competitor in her U20 1500m race and finished a very creditable 6th. To reach such a level at Charlotte’s age is a remarkable achievement and we look forward to celebrating her future success whilst wearing GB colours!

RUGBY SUCCESSCongratulations to Sophie Hodges 9D and Erin Rochester 9D who have been selected to play for Surrey Rugby U15s. Last weekend they competed in the London and SE U15s divisional festival and reached an impressive second place.

CHS EQUESTRIANS - THE FIRST DAY WITH HORSES

by Jennfer Year 8As we all stepped into the minibus we were ecstatic. Lots of people in the minibus had never got to experience horse riding before. They were in for an exciting journey as we were soon to find out. As soon as we first met our horses we fell in love. The instructor showed us that horses get scared too and we sensed it in their eyes! As soon as I got on my horse I felt connected to him. It was like I was always meant to ride a horse! Trotting was very bumpy but we had to learn to not hurt the horse so we rose and gently sat down again. Each week I am agitated and itching to get to the next lesson!

MAKING A SPLASH IN DIVINGCroydon High’s Jessica Riley recently competed

in the East Region Senior Women's Divingevent where she won the following events:

3m Women's event1m Women's eventWomen's Synchro event

The staff from the SSF running the workshop were fun and enthusiastic, ensuring students from each school had the opportunity to work together, share ideas and show some work in progress.

Although the size of the stage was a little daunting, the girls gave a superb performance, and were given advice from the SSF staff on how to improve their use of space for dramatic impact. We were pleased to hear that the Secombe are keen for students to take a full role in their productions, so we will be able to offer girls interested in lighting and sound the opportunity to run these on the night.

The SSF is an outstanding opportunity for our students; to creatively interpret Shakespeare’s plays in a professional theatre is something truly unforgettable. If you would like to come along and see them on November 15th, contact the Box office on 020 8770 6990.

HIS WORDS, OUR PLAY! This year, Croydon High School are hitting the Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF). The SSF is the UK's largest Youth Drama Festival. Over 1,000 schools will be performing 30-minute abridged versions of Shakespeare’s plays in 125 theatres across the UK. Our Year 10 GCSE Drama students are bravely tackling Macbeth. It will be their first piece of assessed practical coursework, as well as the opportunity to perform at the Secombe Theatre in Sutton on Friday November 15. On Friday October 4, the cast, accompanied by Mrs Webb and Mr Healy, journeyed to Sutton to participate in a cast workshop run by the SSF. The session allowed our students to become familiar with the stage and working space at the Secombe Theatre, as well as giving them new dramatic techniques to help them explore creative ways of presenting Shakespeare on stage.

WHAT EXACTLY IS VALUE ADDED?The school has been working extremely hard to develop the way in which our girls think, to make them more independent, to encourage them to take academic risks in the classroom and not panick when they see ideas presented in unfamiliar contexts. Our whole thinking skills agenda (the most recent manifestation being the weekly Thunks) is designed to enable our girls to perform at a higher level than might have been expected from baseline tests, in other words for the school to add real value and inspire its already bright and talented pupils to reach even greater heights of success. We were delighted to learn that Croydon High School, as well as performing well in headline league tables showing A*-B percentages, achieved the best value added measure across the whole of the GDST. This is a real affirmation of all the innovative work that we have been doing, and of the efforts of the girls, their teachers and parents.

YEAR 7 HISTORIANS GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY!Our Year 7 History students began a project at the end of this half term designed to allow them hands on experience of dealing with historical source material. Breaking away from the sterile environment of textbooks and the internet, our girls were plunged into the real world of historical archive material. Donning the now infamous white gloves, our girls were let loose in the school’s own historical archive in order to investigate aspects of the history of CHS. The aim of this project is to get the girls to feel and examine ‘real’ History, testing and utilising the key historical skills they had learned since the start of term and learning to present these findings as part of a class historical debate on the ‘changing face of schooling at Croydon High'.

Since September 2013 all Year 7 girls have been part of an innovative History curriculum which seeks to place key historical skills and a unique tailored content at the heart of a new course on the rich history of the GDST and Croydon High, set against the wider backdrop of national and international events such as the fight for female suffrage, the home front during the Second World War and the social challenges of the 1960s. Our aim is to break free from the traditional confines of the established Key Stage 3 National Curriculum and give our girls a syllabus reflecting their own history and the history of women in Britain.

The school’s archive is a unique resource and one whose true potential has not yet been fully realised. At CHS we are fortunate to hold not only archive materials from CHS, but also from the GDST stretching back over 150 years. We are grateful to our Alumnae community who have contributed to our archives, some will also visit to speak to the girls about their experiences. If you would like to be involved please contact us via the Ivy Link:

ivylink@cry.gdst.net

JESSICA WINS GDST POETRY COMPETITIONWe were delighted to learn that Year 13’s Jessica Payn was the winner of the Senior section of the prestigious GDST-wide poetry competition, the Laurie Magnus. The Laurie Magnus Poetry Prize was established by his widow in memory of Laurie Magnus who was a GDST Council member from 1907, and Chairman from 1929 until his death in 1933. He also authored The Jubilee Book of the Girls’ Day School Trust (1923). Congratulations to Jess and we hope she spends her £300 prize wisely!

Marsupial Meditatio

ns

Shall I compare th

ee to a kan

garoo?

Thou art more liv

ely and, for s

ure, more fu

n;

Thy winning wit a bubblin

g brew

Of aphorism, alleg

ory and pun.

Marsupials ju

st hop whilst thy mind vault

s;

They lounge an

d frolic in the afte

rnoon,

With mental power full of m

any faults

Whilst thy ath

letic mind oft m

akes me swoon!

Let me applaud thy iridescent brai

n

And scorn the senseless

hopping of our fri

ends,

Their fur appealing but

their minds inane.

For such comparison

s I make amends

By vowing ever

to bestow my heart

On one from whom I’ll never b

e apart.

ART SUCCESSCongratulations to Millie Year 2 and Rebecca Year 4 who were amongst the Young Art 2013 winners. Their pictures were exhibited at the Royal College of Art in Kensington, one of the most prestigious venues in Britain. Young Art was started 22 years ago and is now the largest annual Exhibition of its kind in London where young artists have the chance to exhibit their work in aid of Cancer Research UK.

THE SELF ESTEEM WALLFollowing an assembly on self-image, Mrs Webb asked the school to share their favourite motivational phrases so that, as strong intelligent women, we strive to have more confidence. The response has been fantastic – students have been popping into the Drama Studio all week with their ideas.

Here are some favourites:“Be you, because everyone else is

taken.” from Aleksa Grzesik“I’m beginning to measure myself in

strength, not pounds, and sometimes in smiles.” from Lucy Robbins

“In all 900 years, I’ve never met someone who is not important.” (from Dr Who),

from Lucie Stranack

So, if we’re having one of those days we can pop into the Drama Studio and take some inspiration from these many uplifting quotes.

THUNKSPart of the enrichment we offer at school is our desire to see the girls being independent thinkers. The Thinking Skills initiative has been active for two years now and, with the addition of the Go-On and Go-Beyond programmes, we are seeing girls relying less on their teachers and more on themselves. “Thunks of the Week” – a team of girls in the 6th Form pose open questions, to which there are no right answers, to give parents the opportunity to discuss and explore with their daughters. There is also a link to The Day, an online pupil newspaper that presents a number of topical issues to provoke discussion and debate. Letters received recently from universities, in respect of last year’s Year 13s who attended interviews, reported on the girls’ ability to think outside the box and respond to that unexpected question that went further than their core A Level studies.

Year 7If we borrow every book in the library is it still a library?

Year 8

Can you have a

friend

you don’t like

?Year 9

Is the future clo

ser than it was

this time last

year?

Year 10Could you ever learn too much?

Year 11

Is something boring because of

it or because of y

ou?

Year 12/13"Equal opportunities" is laudable but can the "underclass" ever overcome its genetic inheritance?

??

?

GDST YOUNG LEADERS CONFERENCE by Katie Year 13

From Friday 27th to Sunday 29th September, 132 Prefects and Head Girls from 25 GDST sixth forms across the country were involved in an ‘Apprentice’ style challenge, at The Royal High School, Bath. The Conference is designed to help build the skills that prefect teams need to succeed – such as teamwork, communication, time management, presenting, negotiation, problem solving and financial management.

On arrival, we were sorted into competing teams and tasked with working together to design a fundraising event and marketing campaign to boost awareness of one of four national and international charities – Plan UK, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, youth homelessness charity Centrepoint and The Wildlife Trust. On the last day each team presented their final work to a judging panel, including GDST Chief Executive Helen Fraser, BAFTA winning producer Linn Waite and representatives of the four charities, as well as all the students who had taken part.

Needless to say, the pressure was on as we had very little time to come up with an idea, conduct market research on shoppers in Bath, create a promotional video, work out a cogent budgeting plan, and create a persuasive pitch- all whilst working with girls we had never met before.

At the conference, we also heard from inspirational female speakers, including Dame Claire Bertschinger (the nurse and activist whose work in Ethiopia in the 1980s inspired Bob Geldof’s Live Aid campaign) and Ann Francke (Chief Executive of the Chartered Management Institute), learning about their own working lives and the skills they needed to succeed. I think I speak for the whole prefect team when I say I learned a lot about working as a team, and also about the importance of good organisation. Overall the weekend was a great success, and we're very grateful to our Head of Sixth Form Frau Mester, everyone at Bath, and the GDST for making it possible.

On 26th September the Music Department held its first concert of the year with 16 musicians from Years 10 to 13 displaying their talents in some high quality performances. Six very proficient pianists enjoyed performing on the Boston Steinway and they were intermingled with four vocal soloists, three clarinetists, a flautist, a violinist and a double bass player. The music was varied, ranging from Scarlatti to Taktakishvili and Year 11’s Larissa and Tanya performed their own GCSE compositions. The appreciative audience thoroughly enjoyed their hour’s entertainment and are already looking forward to the next musical event, which is the annual Chamber Music Festival held in the Senior Hall on November 7th at 7pm.

MUSICAL EVENTS

The Ivy Link is a way of bringing together the alumnae, parents and other friends of our school. Whether you join to make new friends, to reconnect with old friends or just to keep in touch with what is happening, we hope that The Ivy Link will help you stay involved in the life of Croydon High

OTHER EVENTS

Fashion Show

Fri 15 - Sat16 November 7pm

Entrance Test

Sat 23 November 9am

Daisy Pulls it Off

Thu 28 - Fri 29 November 7pm

Winter Fair

Sat 7 December 12noon

Class of 2013 Reunion

Thu 19 December 4pm

Gym and Dance Display

Thu 6 - Fri 7 February 7pm

Careers Convention

Wed 12 February 7pmPlease contact ivylink@cry.gdst.net

for further details

Chamber Music Festival Thursday 7 November 7pm St. Cecilia’s Day Concert

Wednesday 20 November 7pm Junior Carol ConcertFriday 5 December 7pmSenior Carol Service

Tuesday 17 December 7pmInformal ConcertTuesday 14 January 4.30pm