Headmaster's Letter - December 2007

Dear Parents / Guardians

This has been a long, exhausting but very positive term.

Where do I begin ? An excellent performance by the Year 10 Rugby Team in the Daily Mail Cup – including beating Reigate Grammar School in the preliminary round. Excellent performances in the District Cross Country Championships and some fine Netball results. In the last few weeks we enjoyed An Evening of Songs and Silliness in the Performing Arts Centre which showed what a reserve of talent we have in the younger years of secondary and with some very talented primary performers.

With Remembrance Day being a Sunday, we had two Remembrance Services on the Saturday to allow all pupils to attend this important annual memorial event. Both Services were dignified and impressive and I still particularly remember the Choir’s performance of “in Flanders Field” - the Anthem written by Mr James Bryant, our Musician in Residence. I am glad to tell you that the Choir will perform this Anthem again on March 6th 2008 at the Lord Lieutenant’s Annual Awards ceremony to be held in our Chapel.

And then there was a Royal Visit - and what a visit it was ! Such visits are timetabled to the nearest five minutes and our President, the Duchess of Gloucester, was scheduled to spend fifty minutes in the school. She finally left after two hours, during which she opened the new extensions on Albert House and Elizabeth House, met Mr and Mrs Williams Mrs Kathy Tomlin, the respective Heads of House, chatted to countless pupils, played table tennis in Albert House (!), and watched a dance display in Elizabeth. In addition she had a chat to Rowan Slaney and Robin Newby, Head Girls, and Siddharth Joshi, Head Boy, met a group of Prefects and talked to many enthusiastic pupils who were keen to talk about the school.

The Ofsted Boarding Report has finally arrived and, as expected, we were graded “good” in every section. Despite this most positive report, we believe we can improve in several areas and Mr Jones, Head of Boarding, has drawn up an Action Plan for implementation over the next few months. Both the Ofsted Boarding Report and the Action Plan are available on the school’s web site.

Over the course of the past few weeks we have been updating the School’s database to enable us to start sending correspondence home to parents/guardians by e-mail rather than by post. This will mean that communication will become much quicker and more effective. It will also be much more environmentally friendly, reducing the amount of paper being sent between School and home.

Some correspondence will still be posted such as Reports and letters home about trips (but only when we require your signature) and any other communication which is more suitable by post. We hope, however, that most day-to-day correspondence will be sent by e-mail, enabling you to know more quickly, what is happening at School. If you do not have access to e-mail then we will, of course, continue to send correspondence home via the post.

Looking ahead: Between now and September 2008 we are planning to build ground floor extensions on Alexandra House and Gloucester House. This will provide computer rooms in both Houses and more recreational space for boarders and day boarders. We are also in the process of applying for planning permission to extend the back of the main school building to provide two new Science Laboratories, two new General Purpose classrooms and a Dance Studio with a sprung floor, which can also be divided into two classrooms. This is a very major building project. It will, in the short term, affect the junior playground and building noise may be difficult in some classrooms. It may also interrupt pedestrian traffic in the centre of the school – in the area bounded by Cornwall House, the Design-Technology Department and the Fitness Suite which is part of the Health Centre building. In the long term, however, it will give us significantly better facilities for this growing school - at the expense of short-term inconvenience.

Payment of fees: From January 2008 it will be possible to pay fees by debit card. We can also take credit card payments but we suffer a 2.304% commission charge which we would need to pass on to you. As this amounts to some £84 based on a term’s boarding fee we don’t expect that many will want to take this option.

The term ended with the traditional Junior Production, Mr Humbug sees the Light, and the Carol Service for Years 3 to 8 as well as a Carol Service for Years 9 to 11 on the Friday morning.
 

Yours faithfully

Paul D Spencer Ellis (Headmaster)