July 2008

Dear Parents,

It has been a busy and successful term for the school. Thank you for your generous support of our activities. The important dates for your diaries for next term are listed in the calendar, which is also enclosed. Pupils will be given their own copy on the first day of next term.
 

ACADEMIC

The results of the Chemistry Olympiad, which was taken in February, are as follows:
Seb Helliar, James Puddicombe and Sam Freeman achieved Bronze. Tom Leger, Rachel Holden, Joshua Daymond achieved Commendations.

Andrew Melzer has been accepted onto the University of Cambridge Senior Physics Challenge residential course from late June to early July. This aims to develop problem solving and experimental skills through laboratory classes and other activities at the Cavendish Laboratory. There are only 25 places available nationally, so he has done very well to gain entry.

David Rowell has won a prestigious Arkwright Scholarship. There were 733 applicants nationally for 220 awards.

L6 formers Max Taylor and Peter Harrison-Prentice entered the translation competition run by the German School in London, for which they had to translate part of a novel. They qualified for the last round, i.e. the last 15 of all those who entered nationally, including some professional translators.

Mr Ricketts took a team of Lulu Chrupek, Anna Krafft, Lewis Molyneux and Tom Senior to the Salters' Festival of Chemistry at Plymouth University. They finished 3rd of 15 competing schools and won £25 for the department.

Rowena Caine has had a short story, Death Row, published in the Young Writers' Forum.

ARTS

MUSIC

The results of the March 2008 Associated Board music examinations contained 41 passes and various impressive performances, including: Tom Leger Grade 8 distinction violin, Sam Freeman Grade 8 merit trumpet, James Cole Grade 8 pass trumpet, Richard Robbins Grade 8 pass violin, Hannah Partridge Grade 7 distinction viola (143/150), Olivia Hampsher-Monk Grade 5 distinction theory, Lucy Harrison-Prentice Grade 5 distinction alto saxophone.

The Middle School concert in the main hall was well attended.  The Middle School Choir and Junior Orchestra, both under Mrs Williams' baton, were stunning. Jazz Band 2 gave a spirited and stylish rendering of a couple of jazz standards. The Concert Orchestra brought the evening to an impressively powerful conclusion with the James Bond Theme. Interspersed with the larger groups were a number of solos and GCSE composition performances. It was remarkable how professional many of these compositions were. These included remarkable pieces by Rowena Caine, Charlie Taverner, Brittany Harris, Sophie Hopkins and Luke Hamlin.

The seventh annual Water Aid concert given by the school took place at St David's Church. The concert opened with a stirring trumpet trio: Britten's Fanfare for St Edmundsbury, directed by Mr Brian Moore, which was played from three different parts of the church. Mr Julian Sutton's Chamber Choir was in sublime form, singing pieces by Tallis, Byrd and Viadana in the first half and Lennon and McCartney and the beautiful Sleep by Eric Whitacre in the second. The Chamber Orchestra played two movements from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons (Summer and Winter), with Richard Hobson on great form as the solo violinist. Mr Brian Moore's Brass Ensemble played another three-group piece, this time a canzona from Gabrieli's Sacrae Symphoniae. Mr Andrew Gillett's String Quartet of Tom Leger, Richard Hobson, Hannah Partridge and Michael Dawson played a spirited canzonetta by Mendelssohn. There were impressive solos from soprano Harrie Dumenil (O mio Babbino Caro) and tenor Richard Robbins (It was a Lover and his Lass), and the latter and Rowena Caine performed her GCSE composition Dance the Night Away. The Symphony Orchestra closed the evening with a majestic performance of Mussorgsky's Night on a Bare Mountain and selections of music from the Pirates of the Caribbean score.

The Jazz Concert was thoroughly entertaining, as ever, on 28 June. Mr Bowen's Impro Group (Harriet Beasley, Will Bickerton, Rob Knowles, Noah Mosley, James Puddicombe, Mike Vallance and Joe Watson) gave another accomplished performance, with two sparkling sets, and Mr Painter's Senior Jazz Band played three numbers with great polish.

On Saturday 5 July the musical year concluded with a splendid Chamber Concert at St Peter's Church, Budleigh Salterton.  The Chamber Choir and Orchestra, the String Octet and the Vocal Ensemble gave sublime performances on a poignant occasion for those leaving the school. Highlights included Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, with soloists Richard Robbins and Tom Leger, several senior pupils' own compositions and Harrie Dumenil's exquisite soprano solo.

DRAMA

In the A2 Theatre Studies moderated pieces, the U6 Drama group performed remarkably well, with Nick Littler, Richard Robbins, Jack McFarlane-Shopes and Lizzie Tolson performing extracts from Twelfth Night, The Plough and the Stars, Waiting for Godot and their devised piece The Wise Father. Penny Gunter, Jo Stuart, Pete Davidson and Kate Mead produced plenty of poignant and comic moments in their extracts from Twelfth Night and The Ashgirl and their devised piece A Party for All Occasions, written by Penny, was a well-crafted amalgam of different acting styles and genres. Alice Hawkins and Richard Hills-Ingyon worked together very harmoniously in their more offbeat pieces The Chairs, Sauce for the Goose and their own Two Sets of Wings.
 
Penny Gunter's play Always Mine, for which Vicky Glanville was Assistant Director and Noah Mosley wrote the musical score, was presented to great acclaim at the Barnfield Theatre. The entire cast was drawn from the Exeter School Sixth Form. This was an impressive achievement for Penny and her cast in their A level term!

DESIGN TECHNOLOGY

The annual Design Technology exhibition was well attended and featured an interesting range of imaginative design solutions, as well as plenty of practical products. Mr Moon's AS and A2 Textiles pupils Gaby Watson, Iona Cairns and Alice Hawkins displayed impressive couture skills. Particular highlights at GCSE were Ben Guest's flower-inspired lamp, Mike Walker's coffee table, Chris Towl's solar powered water feature, Tom Cherrett's use of crescent shapes in his music stand and James Collett's card table; at AS, Tom Rainey's glider and Amanda Tanner's jenga-inspired coffee table stood out. At A2 two boys followed their interests: George Greed made a cricket crease marking device and Rob Knowles an electric guitar.

SPORT

ATHLETICS

Following their success in the Exeter and East Devon athletics match, the following took part in the Devon Athletics Championships at Exeter Arena: Alec Wheatley - Junior Hurdles, Tom Gaisford - Junior Long Jump, Chris Needs - Junior Javelin, James Collett - Intermediate 400m, Kirsten Berggren - Intermediate Javelin.

The House Athletics competitions were much enjoyed by all, in fine weather. The overall event was won by Acland House. In the year group competitions, the Victores Ludorum were Harry Thomas (3), Henry Thompson (4), Tom Gaisford (L5), Ollie Bedford (M5) and Will Bedford (L6) and Victrices Ludorum were Katie Taverner (3), Natalie Filor (4), Chloe Collin (L5), Samara Lawrence (M5) and Abi Collins (L6).

CANOEING

U6 former Tom Sharpe represented the Great Britain men's Junior team at the ICF World Cup Canoe Marathon 2008 in Brandenburg in mid-June, right in the middle of his A levels! He won the K2 event and was 7th in the K1.
Canoe Club continues to go from strength to strength. This year we say a sad but fond farewell to a strong team of U6 paddlers, some of whom started their kayaking way back in the 3rd form, with a 1 Star beginner's course, progressing to the Norwegian Alps in the summer of 2006, and culminating in a 4 week expedition to Peru in 2007!

We have a very able and enthusiastic team of paddlers in the current M5. A strong and keen group of paddlers in the L5 are well on the way to the 3 Star WW award.  The Canoe Club's next big adventure will India 2009, an expedition to the magical and remote Buddhist Kingdom of Ladakh, with a team of 14 pupils from the current M5, U5 and L6. The climax will be a kayak descent of the Zanskar river - a 6-day river journey through the "Grand Canyon" of Asia.

CRICKET

	P	W	D	L
1st XI	6	3	0	3
2nd XI	4	3	0	1
U15	9	3	0	6
U14	9	4	0	5
U13	8	5	0	3
U12	13	11	1	1

This season has been a success with improved weather conditions compared to last year. However, once again the last week of the season was heavily affected by rain, with the King Edward's Bath Fixture and the MCC games being cancelled. The two main successes have been the U14 reaching the County Cup semi final and the U12 reaching the County Cup final.
The 1st XI has had good wins against West Buckland and Queen's Taunton bowling both teams out for under 100 runs thanks to tight bowling putting the opposition under constant pressure. More recently the team enjoyed a superb win against Plymouth College chasing down a run total of 153.
The U15 XI has had a difficult season because of availability, however, they managed to win their first two rounds of the County Cup beating both Tiverton High and Axe Valley before losing in a well fought game against Blundell's.
The U14 XI progressed to the semi final of the County Cup beating St. Luke's and Exmouth along their path and unfortunately losing to Blundell's.
The U13 XI has had a very busy and successful season in which they beat Blundell's in a 30 over game by 29 runs. However, their most outstanding performance was against Bramdean when they restricted the opposition from getting 9 runs off 5 over's to win by a single run.
The U12 XI have had an outstanding season being unbeaten in their Saturday block fixtures and most notably reaching the Final of the County Cup beating Blundell's in their path. Unfortunately, the team lost to Torquay after scoring 170 with the bat.
This season's young cricket professional has been Mr Gary Chappell (OE), our former 1st XI captain.

 Representative Honours:
 Devon U12: Gillam Crouch, Anthony Dibble 

EQUESTRIANISM

Rob Trobridge has been selected to ride for the England junior equestrian team in both of this year's friendly internationals.

GOLF

During the Easter holiday at the OE Golf Championship at Crediton the school beat the OEs in their separate annual challenge by 72.5 to 67.5 points. Due to other sporting commitments, an almost totally different team took on West Buckland School at High Bullen Golf and Country Club and recorded a second victory.

HOCKEY

At the national hockey finals, Izzy Smith and Jocelyn Trayler-Clarke (U17 girls) and Chris Furby and Jack Pritchard (U15 boys) represented their respective Devon sides in April. Devon finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. The U13 girls played in the West of England mini-hockey championships at Millfield (who won the event) in April. They lost most of their matches narrowly, but had a good win against Cornwall. Amelia Sydenham has been selected to attend an England Hockey U14 High Performance Assessment Camp at Loughborough University in July. Michael Walker represented the West of England U13 hockey team in a tournament at Nottingham from 20-22 June.

LIFE SAVING

Congratulations to the Life Saving squad, run by Mr Davidson, which has won the Royal Navy Cup in recognition of the high number of participants who have completed their training at the school this year.

ROUNDERS

	P	W	D	L
U12 A	5	5	0	0
U12 B	1	0	0	1
U13A	6	3	0	3
U13 B	2	0	0	2
U14 A	5	3	1	1
U14 B	3	0	0	3
U15	3	3	0	0
U16	1	1	0	0
U18	2	1	1	0

It has been an enjoyable and successful term for rounders. We started the season with a close match against Mount House, Tavistock in the 1st round of the National J.E.T. completion losing by 13-13½. Alex Dudley was outstanding in fielding and batting, scoring 6 and a half rounders.
The U12 rounders team shows much potential and has won all four matches so far. Katie Taverner, Lauren Dixie and Verity Ashford have shown particular promise.
The only match our U14 A team has lost was against Plymouth College U15 A team and two of the matches the U14 B team lost were against A teams from other schools.
 
Representative Honours:
England U15: Alice Johnson
England U14: Amelia Sydenham

SHOOTING

At the recent South West Open Shoot held at Okehampton, Mike Snell, Sam Huish and David Rowell performed very well, winning over £50 in prize money. David finished 1st in the C class (prone), Sam was 3rd in the B Class (juniors) and Mike was 1st in all his events in the B Class (adults and juniors).

Mr Donne took his team to the Mere Cup shooting competition on Rogiet Moor in South Wales. The team retained the trophy for another year!

SWIMMING

Swimming Club has been running all term with the 4 sessions each week being well attended, even the ones at 7.15am. Galas have been held against St Margaret's, The Maynard, Blundell's, Trinity School, Queen's Taunton and Plymouth College  with victories over St Margaret's and Trinity. The club sessions will continue to run in the autumn term as long as weather permits. We are planning a 12hr sponsored  relay swim in aid of The West of England School and  The Community Project for the Namibia expedition on Saturday 13 September, with four teams, one from the Upper School, one from the Lower School a Staff team and an Expedition Team. Parents are welcome to participate.

BOYS' TENNIS

This year most of the matches played were close, with some results hinging on just one game or just one set. The teams played some fine tennis and there were intriguing tactical contests. Mr Lowles praises his teams' athleticism and talent. The clubs on Tuesday and Thursday after school were very well attended, with all 16 courts in use some weeks. The tournaments run at Exeter School were also popular. The first team of Edwin Cawthron, Freddie King, James Coutts-Tucker, Alex Turner, Joshua Howard and Tom Leger deserves a special mention.

GIRLS' TENNIS

Our senior girls had a very good win against West Buckland at the start of term, the U18 1st V1 won 9-0 and the 2nd V1 won 5-4. In the 1st round of the Aberdare Cup our U18 1st 1V lost 2 matches to 4. Lucy Rutledge won her singles and Lucy and Sabine Taylor won their doubles. The U15 girls played in the Team Tennis League, they lost to a strong Stoodley Knowle team and had a very close match with Torquay Girls' Grammar School, drawing 3-3 but losing 26-28 on countback of games. The U13 girls have reached the semi-final of the Division 1 Team Tennis League by beating West Buckland 28-25 on games and narrowly losing to Blundell's. We lost to Blundell's and West Buckland but beat St Margaret's in the U12, U13 and U14 age groups, drew at U18 and lost at U15.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

TEN TORS

The 1633 Challenge took place from its base at Runnage Farm, near Postbridge over the weekend of 26/27 April. Mr Lines was the highly efficient and unflappable organiser and five 35-mile teams got safely through the exercise by 1 p.m. on Sunday. The 45 and 55-mile teams also trained on a longer route. The main Ten Tors Challenge took place over the weekend of 10/11 May and was a great success, in fine weather. Our thanks go to a most dedicated and committed team of staff and parental trainers. In the absence of Mr Moss-Gibbons following surgery, Mr Lines was ably assisted by Mr Mason and Mr Harris.

35 miles:
Kirsten Berggren, Ed Bower, Wilf Gilbert*, James Hawkins, Ben Honey, Tom Tresidder

45 miles:
Matthew Franklin, Josh Johnson, Lilidh Matthews, Henry Renninson, Max Taylor, Freya Young*

55 miles:
Lucian Cawthron, Tom Colville, Peter Davidson, Josh Daymond*, Jamie Probert, Joe Watson.
(*=leader)

M5 former Chris Furby also completed the 45-mile course with the 1st Bovey Tracey scout group.

Blackdown Hikers: (35 miles)
Jamie Conn, Freddy Crawford, Amy Glanvill*, Josh Jenner, Ben Lock, Hugo Marino

Okement Ramblers: (35 miles)
Julian Bryant, Henry Holmes, Jamie Hignett*, Lucy Mason, Ollie Stephenson, Seb Sutcliffe

CCF

A team of cadets went to the national finals of the RAF Ground Training competition at RAF Cranwell. They finished 6th nationally and were amongst the final 144 cadets from some 10,000 participants.

Congratulations to Mr Donne and his shooting team, who have again won the RAF national Assegai trophy. The team also finished 3rd in the Ffennell A trophy, shot on match rifles, and 3rd in the Ffennell B trophy, shot on service rifles, for which all Commonwealth CCF contingents may compete.

The biennial CCF Inspection was a major undertaking, as ever. The Inspecting Officer was Colonel Munro, lately of the Parachute Regiment and a Territorial Army soldier, who is Deputy Commander of 43 (Wessex) Brigade. He was met by a Guard of Honour at school before departing to visit the Army on Woodbury Common, the Navy sailing off Exmouth and the RAF and RN DoE cadets elsewhere on the common. He inspected and addressed a formal parade at the end of the day.  Major Proctor of Wessex Brigade joined the CCF officers and others associated with the contingent for a very nice dinner in the Butterfield Hall in the evening, at which Dr Chapman also spoke. The contingent has, unsurprisingly, been awarded the top reporting category of "Above Average".

Mr Donne took 24 cadets to meet other cadets from Robert Gordon's College, Aberdeen at Summer Camp, RAF Odiham and the trip was rated as "awesome" by all concerned. Highlights were air experience flying, loading into "live" rotors-running Chinooks and being flown to the Nitex, a full day live firing on the range, Quality work experience, DCCT laser training range and excellent visits such as to The Dogs, Survival and Small Arms flight. In all a total of over 90 flights were achieved despite having a further 48 lost for breakdown.

DUKE OF EDINBURGH

Mr Clark, Dr Houghton, Mrs Daybell and Mr Mason took this summer's Slovenia M5 group on its Silver award practice expedition recently. The M5 silver Award group was in Slovenia from 2-9 July and the L6 Gold group expedition is between 9 and 19 July.

OTHER INFORMATION

SPEAKERS AND VISITORS TO THE SCHOOL

At a Medical Society meeting, Dr McKenna addressed the general theme of careers in Medicine.

Dr Wilson addressed The Crossing Club on the topic of "Quantum Physics". Crossing Club also met to discuss "The ethics of right and wrong", with speaker Mrs Allen of solicitors Stephens and Scown.

A PSE session entitled What's love got to do with it? was held for the L5 and Mr McLennan, maxillofacial surgeon (and parent) gave a graphic and thought-provoking talk about Oral Cancers to the M5 as part of their PSHE programme.

The L6 Higher Education evening was well attended. Mr Chitnavis hosted an audience of L6 pupils and their parents. The speakers were Ms Mead (Exeter University Careers Service) and Ms Murphy (Exeter University Student Recruitment Manager), who gave plenty of helpful information about the next steps.

The extreme athlete and TV presenter Mr Tim Emmett gave a fascinating talk to most of the L6 and M5 pupils.

TRIPS AND EXCURSIONS

Over the Easter Holidays Mr Willson led the Middle School ski trip (28 March-5 April), accompanied by Mr Daws, Mrs Marsh. Mr Rodgers, Mr Wilcock, Mr Boddington and Miss Pegg. Because of the unusual amounts of snow late in the season this year, 'La Sarenne' claimed as the longest run in the world (16 km) was open for the first time on one of the school's visits to Alpe D'Huez and the majority of the group was able to complete it.

Mr Mason took the inaugural Sixth Form ski trip (22-29 March) of 48 sixth formers and was accompanied by Ms Gimber, Mrs Cloke, Miss Jakes and Mr Clark. He writes: "The resort of Serre Chevalier in Haute Provence had been blessed with perfect conditions, it having snowed 24 hours prior to our arrival and the group were able to ski in sunshine under clear blue skies. All ski groups made impressive progress and particular mention must be made of the beginners' group many of whom tackled the famous black run of Casse de Boeuf before the end of the week. The advanced group was excellent, particularly off piste, but pupils drew praise from the ski school as they were one of the best groups of the season, both in terms of behaviour and of progress made.

Dr Chapman, accompanied by Mr Harris, Mr Clark, Mr Moon, Mr Smith, Dr Page and OE Sally Young, led Adventure Training in Snowdonia accompanied by 3 civilian instructors (1-9 April). He writes: "We had three days of walking in the mountains with weather ranging from truly awful; low visibility driving rain high winds and snow on the ground to the sublime; clear skies and a low cloud base with Snowdon appearing majestically above the clouds. Obviously Snowdon was a 'high point' but the scrambling over Tryfan and descent into the Devil's Kitchen were memorable too.  On the fourth day we went climbing at an outstanding climbing centre and many of the pupils particularly enjoyed trying to climb from one side of an arch to the other on the bouldering wall.  The group then did a low level three day exercise based around the scenario of Special Forces downed behind enemy lines. The high points were the day of survival training where the pupils built concealed shelters and slept in them overnight and also the subsequent day of escape and evasion where they had to make the final rendezvous while an elite guard force hunted them."
 
Dr Foxall took the Music department tour to Southern Germany (3-9 April), accompanied by Mr Sutton, Mr Moore, Mrs Foxall and Mrs McLean. he writes: "The tour was an unqualified success. The performance venues were stunning. Musically our 38 pupils reached the highest standards. They received a standing ovation from a large audience at the famous pilgrimage church, the Wieskirche. It is fair to say the audiences were everywhere astonished - by the virtuoso violin playing of Richard Hobson and singing of Hannah Partridge and Richard Robbins, as well as by the quality of our ensembles - the Chamber Choir, Chamber Orchestra, String Quartet and Trumpet Trio. Apart from visiting churches, the group also had guided tours of Ludwig II's fairy tale castles (Neuschwanstein and Linderhof), Munich centre and the Passion Play theatre at Oberammergau, where they gave an impromptu performance on the snow covered stage. The wonderful scenery in the foothills of the Alps was enhanced by heavy overnight snow and fine sunshine.

From 8 to 31 March, Sam Huish, Tobi Herpoldt-McCrone, Julian Frazer and Michael Snell went on an RAF trip to the Akrotiri base in southern Cyprus. The trip was extremely well received with walks, water sports and some helicopter flying. Section visits to Bomb Disposal, Air Traffic Control and an Explosives Demonstration were also found very interesting.

Field Day saw various groups heading off to destinations far and wide. The 3rd Form went to Dartmoor, led by Mrs Cloke. The 4th form visited The Eden Project, led by Mr Boddington, and the L5 went to London, led by Mr Wybrow, or to the Bovington Tank Museum, led by Mr Dawson or to Dartmoor for an Introduction to Landscape History led by Mr Trelawny. The Duke of Edinburgh award groups were either enjoying high ropes at Go Ape! or on their Silver practice expedition with Mr Clark, Dr Houghton, Mrs Daybell and Mr Mason in preparation for this summer's Slovenia trip. Mr Bone and Mr  Harris took the RAF and RN groups through their Bronze DoE award expeditions. Mr Hunt took a Social Services group with some local senior citizens to visit Bygones in Babbacombe and Plant World at Newton Abbot. Dr Foxall took the Impro Group and Vocal Ensemble to Newton St Cyres Primary School, where they were most enthusiastically received by the whole school. Some of their pupils joined ours on various percussion instruments for the jazz pieces.

The RS department took the whole 4th Form on a valuable "field trip" to visit two different places of worship: The Church of the Blessed Sacrament and Belmont Chapel.

FOES

On 18 April the FOES Quiz, expertly devised and run by parents Mr and Mrs Hawkins and Mr and Mrs  Sharman, was much enjoyed by 37 competing tables and raised funds in aid of school projects. A Junior School Fête was run by members of the FOES Committee after the Sports Day on Friday 20 June.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

The final report from the ISI team following the school's inspection in early March 2008 arrived at the school on 2 June. The report makes good reading and accentuates the school's many strengths whilst indicating some areas for development.

Mr Chitnavis hosted the annual BSES presentation evening in the Andrews Hall. Last year's adventurers Signe Hulbert and Clare Rogers spoke about their experiences and Summer 2008 participant Will Blackshaw explained how to go about applying to join an expedition.

Wednesday 21st May saw the annual Founders' Day service in the cathedral. Canon Honey gave the address. The new Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress joined us for one of their first civic duties. The Music Department did us proud, with performances from the Chamber Choir, Middle School Choir, Junior Choir and the Brass Ensemble. Next year the event will move forward in the calendar to Wednesday 22 April 2009, so that all members of the 7 to 18 school can be present.

The L6 Special Programme, which operated for a whole weel was a great success. The Ethics Conference, organised by Mr Allan, started the week in a reflective mode. Tuesday focussed on presentational skills, with several consultants giving briefings before the L6 designed their own PowerPoint presentations and had interviews with staff in the afternoon. Wednesday and Thursday saw detailed preparations for UCAS, led by Mr Chitnavis and Heads of House, then House Athletics and a Health Issues session led by the School Doctor, Dr Morris, Dr Arshi and Mrs Hawkins. Friday's Business Game, devised and led by Mr Walker and Mr Davidson, ended the week in style. Governors Mr Evennett and Mr Golby were members of the judging panel.

OE John Killoran is performing as Richard III in a production at Rougemont Gardens.

STAFFING

I am most grateful to the members of the teaching staff who are leaving the Senior School at the end of the Summer Term 2008.

Retirements
Mrs Marshall (Modern Languages teacher) after 14 years.
Mrs Shiel (Classics teacher) after 10 years.

Departures to other posts
Mr Edwards is taking up a portfolio of educational consultancy work after 3 years as Head of English.
Biochemist Dr Page is leaving the staff after 1 year to undertake Outdoor Pursuits work.

New appointments to the teaching staff with effect from September 2008
Mr Morton (Giggleswick School) as Head of English. He is a graduate of Oriel College, Oxford and has also taught at Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire. Mrs Metcalf who is currently Head of Biology at Channing School in London joins us to teach Biology and Chemistry, succeeding Dr Page. She is a Natural Sciences graduate of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and a trained Duke of Edinburgh leader.
Mrs Errasti joins us to teach A level Spanish. She recently taught undergraduates at the London School of Economics. Mr Jones, a recent graduate of The University of Wales in Cardiff, will join the staff in a Sports Assistant/Gap capacity next term.

Mr Rodgers steps down from running Collins House after 15 years of distinguished service. Mr Poustie succeeds him as Head of Collins House. Mrs Sail will be his Assistant.

Other Staff News
Congratulations to Mr Chitnavis, who has been elected as Chairman of the Association for Science Education (ASE) for the academic year 2009/10

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Armstrong on the birth of their son Leonard on Saturday 31 May.

SUMMER TRIPS

We send best wishes to the three sections of the CCF for their summer camps: the Army visits Penhale, the Navy Stoke Gabriel and the RAF shooters are at Bisley. From 17 to 31 July our co-educational sports tour will visit South Africa to play rugby and hockey and Will Blackshaw, Henry Renninson, Olivia Hampsher-Monk and Josh  Johnson will be going to Ladakh on BSES expeditions.

NEXT TERM

All new pupils will report on Monday 1 September: Sixth Formers at 9.00am, younger pupils at 10.00am. In addition, some ex-Middle and Lower Fifth pupils will be re-taking certain exams.  On Tuesday 2 September all ex-Upper Fifth pupils now entering the Lower Sixth attend from 9.00am - 12 noon.  The U6 arrangements for 2 September appear in a separate letter.
The start time for the whole school is 8.40am on Wednesday 3 September. Normal lessons will be under way after break, following form meetings and assembly. Sixth Formers must come equipped for Games.

GCSE, AS & A LEVEL RESULTS

The A level results are published at school on 14 August, and the GCSEs on 21 August.  All stamped-addressed envelopes left with my secretary will be posted the day the results arrive. We hope to have individual results available from 9.00am on these mornings.  If you would like results e-mailed, please leave your address with my secretary. AS level results will also be available for the L6 on 16 August, but not until 11.30am.  I am most grateful to our examination officers, Mr Beckwith, Mr Fryer and Mrs Chamberlain for their outstanding work in the administration of the examination system.

May I wish you all a very enjoyable summer holiday?

Bob Griffin
July 2008