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| News Archive |
Top Of The Bench
For the third year running, Chigwell was one of the top four schools in Essex taking part in the final of Chemistry Mastermind at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford. The Chigwell team had earned its place in the final by successfully winning through two earlier heats of the competition and beating 19 other schools, including Bancroft’s and Woodford County High School. The team, consisting of Marianne Schönle, James Mulholland, Rhea Gupta and Neha Patel, performed extremely well and eventually won the competition. Chigwell will now represent Essex in the National Final at Imperial College next year. |
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Christmas Concert
All parents, Old Chigwellians and friends are warmly invited to the Christmas Concert on Thursday 8th December at 7.00pm in New Hall. Among the many delights planned for the evening, MVI student, Isabella Bird, will be performing the 2nd and 3rd movements of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2 in F with the First Orchestra. The Symphonic Wind Band will display their full power and colour in a concert overture, “Antares”, before unleashing “Earthdance”, a modern musical evocation. With seasonal refreshments and further musical entertainment, the evening will be a relaxing and enjoyable occasion. Please do come and support the pupils in their hard work throughout the term. |
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Getting Ready For Charity Week
On Tuesday 29th November, during assembly, Ms Charlotte Terry, Community Fundraiser from Haven House, gave a talk to our students about the fantastic work and range of services that her charity strives to provide to children with life-limiting conditions. After the talk, James Harrington presented Ms Terry with a cheque of over £1,100, a sum which he raised for Haven House by single handedly organising the Charity Gala Evening last week. Our students are now getting ready for more fundraising next week when they will work very hard to raise money for local and national charities. |
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Royal Award
Today HRH The Earl of Wessex officially opened the Grange Farm Centre which adjoins the School. As part of the visit, he made a small number of presentations to local school pupils for outstanding achievement. Grace Boxall in the Removes was presented with a certificate For Outstanding Bravery and Being An Inspiration To Others. Following her illness, Grace has set up her own charity, Smiles With Grace, to raise money for children and their families going through similar ordeals. |
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Operation Christmas Child
A record 121 shoeboxes were donated by pupils in the Junior School to the Samaritan’s Purse Relief organization for Operation Christian Child. Operation Christmas Child works by taking gift-filled shoeboxes from one of the local drop off points, such as Chigwell School, and hand delivering them to children in need, asking nothing from them in return and with no regard to their background or beliefs. |
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Charity Gala Evening
We are delighted to announce that James Harrington (Year 11) has raised over £1,100 for Haven House by single handedly organizing a Charity Gala Evening on Friday 18th November in the School Drama Centre. The 120-strong audience enjoyed excellent music and drama performances including a fantastic Michael Jackson’s dancing routine by Sean Morse (also Y11). During the interval James conducted an auction of prizes that included a signed shirt kindly donated by Tottenham Hotspur’s goalkeeper, Mr Bradley Friedel.
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Barcelona Football Tour
During the October half term, 31 Fourth Form pupils took part in a Football development tour to Barcelona. The group stayed in the resort of Santa Susanna and had access to the hotel’s excellent football facilities, which included two 3G Astroturf pitches. The tour included a trip to the magnificent stadium of Camp Nou, mornings training at the local beach and playing six matches over three days against local teams (CF Bufala, CD Almeda and AD La Llantia) who were all extremely hospitable and each had excellent facilities. The Spanish teams played some excellent football, which highly benefitted our players who showed great progression throughout the trip. In the final two days the boys visited Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium, home of RCD Espanyol, and took part in a training session with the Espanyol Academy coaches. |
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Landscapes by Paul Eardley
The Art and Design Department are delighted to host an exhibition of landscape paintings in the Senior Common Room by Mr Paul Eardley, the Head of Biology. A man of many talents, he has only recently started to paint with some inspiring and compelling results. Mr Eardley says of his work "because of my interest in the infinite variety of the natural world, landscapes have always been one of my favourite forms of art". The exhibition opens on Friday 18th November and closes on Friday 9th December. |
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A Mural for Tallis House
Five Middle Sixth students, Connor Templeman, Amanda Bacon, Rosie Barrett, Martha Buttress and Sophie White, spent some of their recent half term holiday creating and painting a mural to help provide a more stimulating environment for residents suffering from Alzheimer’s at Tallis House (Care Home), Waltham Abbey. Connor said: “We were pleased with how the mural turned out. It was done as a volunteer project over a couple of days which we spent in the company of the residents around us. To look back on it now, seeing the residents with something pleasing to look at and brighten their day, gives us all great satisfaction." |
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Full England U16 Hockey Trials
Over the half term break, Conor Caplan and William Godfrey, represented the Saxon Tigers Hockey Team, (a combination of selected players from the South East and East of England), at the Futures Cup. The Futures Cup is England Hockey’s flagship tournament for elite junior performers and is held annually at Cannock hockey club. In addition to providing the boys with an opportunity to compete against the best players in the country, the tournament is also used as a selection event for National age Group Squads, namely England U16's and U18's. Both Conor and William, playing at inside forward and full-full back respectively, produced several eye-catching displays throughout the event, including William scoring in successive games. Their performances did not go unnoticed by the selectors with both boys being invited to attend England U16 trials at Lilleshall National Performance Centre on Saturday 26th November. |
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The Sean Williams' Exhibition
On Friday 21st October, the Art and Design Department will be holding an exhibition in the gallery featuring paintings and drawings by Sean Williams who will be giving an illustrated talk about his work from 4.30pm to 5.30pm. A drinks reception and private view of the exhibition will follow in the gallery soon after the talk. All parents and pupils are warmly invited to attend. As well as exhibiting widely, Sean Williams was recently selected for the prestigious Marmite Painting Prize. This is a national competition that champions the best contemporary painting in the UK.
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Prep and Primary Schools Music Festival
Chigwell’s fifteenth annual Prep and Primary Schools Music Festival took place on Saturday 15th October when the School welcomed nearly 100 children under the age of 11 from over seventeen local prep and primary schools for a day of fun music-making. The day provided children the opportunity to perform in a large orchestra, receive specialist orchestral coaching from visiting tutors and music scholars and sing in a chamber choir. The day culminated in a packed-out Celebratory Concert for parents, family and friends. The day was an enormous success. |
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Victorious U14 and U15 Girls' Hockey Teams
The U14 and U15 Girls' Hockey teams took on Queenswood Girls School at Chigwell on Saturday 8th October. The U14s played first, dominating the game in the midfield with great links from Captain Megan Wells through to Alisha Evans on the wing. A strong defence, lead by Imogen Padwick and GK Hannah Leiper, and creative play up front led to secure a 3-0 win. The U15s followed their juniors and came flying out of the blocks allowing the Queenswood players no time at all on the ball. A solid defence was the foundation of this great team performance. Georgia O’Connor’s vision and skill showed superiority in the match, playing some great ball through to the forwards and beating the opposition in a skillful and determined fashion. The first half saw many shots flood the Queenswood’s goal and the Chigwell girls were unlucky not to go into the interval with a lead. The 2nd half saw an even game, but the girls finished off with excellent defensive play and the match ended 1-0 to Chigwell. |
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ISFA Cup News
Chigwell’s 1st XI Football Team is through to the 2nd round of the Independent Schools’ National Cup after beating ACS Cobham on penalties on Wednesday 21st September. Neither team could find the net after extra-time and both defences were solid throughout. Tom Fellowes, in goal for Chigwell, made two great saves in the first half, whilst the ACS Cobham goalkeeper had to be alert to keep Connor Templeman’s efforts out. Flynn Prevost missed the first penalty for Chigwell, but Gabriel Inch, Rory Taylor and Joshua Banfield held their nerve to score theirs. ACS Cobham missed their fourth penalty to tie the shoot-out 3-3. Captain Joe Chappell stepped up and found his penalty saved although he was relieved to see Tom Fellowes save the fifth ACS penalty as well. Ben Avery and Connor Templeman scored penalties consecutively and Chigwell went through after the seventh ACS penalty flew over the bar. |
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U11 Netball and Football Festival
Only days into the new school year, primary children from across Essex and the surrounding area gathered at Chigwell School last Saturday for the annual U11 Football and Netball Festival. With thirty two football teams and twenty five netball teams, the large campus was packed with activity with over five hundred competitors and numerous supporters and teachers. The emphasis was on encouraging the children at this early stage in the season to develop their skills but most importantly to enjoy the sport that they were playing as part of a team. Headmaster, Mr Michael Punt, who presented medals at the end of the event, commented “This is one of my favourite events in the school calendar because it brings so many schools together at Chigwell. There is a mixture of healthy competition and mutual support between the teams, and the spirit in which the many matches were played was excellent. All of those involved should feel very proud.” |
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Chapel Choir at Pembroke College Chapel
On Sunday 11th September, the Chigwell Chapel Choir sang Evensong in the chapel of Pembroke College, Cambridge, in a service led by the College Dean, The Revd Dr James Gardom. The Chapel Choir is one of eight choirs from the School and is conducted by the Director of Music, Howard Ebden, with Organist Simon Winters. The Choir performed with great presence, poise and professionalism singing “Introit - Locus Iste” by Anton Bruckner, “Responses and Collects” by Humhprey Clucas, “Psalm”, setting by Herbert Howells, “Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D” by George Dyson and “Anthem – Beati quorum via” by George Villiers Stanford. |
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Karren Brady
Chigwell School Sixth Formers were delighted to welcome Karren Brady to the School for a Question and Answer session on Thursday 8th September. The Vice Chairman of West Ham, former Managing Director of Birmingham City, current Non-Executive Director of Arcadia, Sport England and Mothercare, answered a host of questions on her career and business in general and gave advice to students hoping to follow her success. She also spoke of her desire to see more women in senior positions in business. In 2007, Karren Brady was named Business Woman of the Year and is particularly well known for her role as Lord Sugar’s assistant on the BBC series, The Apprentice. She is pictured with Chigwell Head Boy, Joe Chappell, and Head of School, Sophie Halls who commented that ‘It was inspiring for us all to discover more about such a successful life story and it gave us an idea of the drive and ambition needed to be a high achiever in business today’. |
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Smiles With Grace Raises £9,000 For Charities
Since her fantastic recovery from a brain tumour, Year 9 student Grace Boxall decided to do something to help others and formed her own charity, Smiles with Grace, which supports a local charity, The Dream Factory, Great Ormond Street Hospital and the research fund of her neuro-surgeon, Dominic Thompson. On Saturday 3rd September Grace organised a sponsored 18km walk from her home in Buckhurst Hill to Great Ormond Street Hospital. The day was a huge success with 80 people taking part in the walk, including Grace and fourteen other Chigwell pupils and four members of the teaching staff. To date over £9,000 has been raised with more to come! If you would like to make a donation please visit the website www.justgiving.com/smileswithgrace , click on the ‘make your page’ link and follow their instructions.
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Chapel Choir at Pembroke College
Chigwell School Chapel Choir, conducted by Director of Music Mr Howard Ebden, will sing Evensong at Pembroke College, Cambridge, on Sunday 11th September at 6.15pm. Parents, Old Chigwellians and friends of the School are all welcome. Booking is not required. |
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GCSE Results
Chigwell students celebrated their GCSE results on Thursday 25th August. 92% of all grades were at least a B, 68% of all grades were at A or above and one third were at A*. Amongst the successes were Elle Shum who achieved eleven A* grades, Stuart Innes and Rachel Maton both gained ten A*’s, Annalise Armitage, Rickesh Bedia, Jack Kempe, Haroon Hussain and Jessica Maton all achieved at least nine A*’s and in all thirteen students, out of the year group of eighty, achieved eight A* grades or more.
Headmaster, Mr Michael Punt, commented “This year group have worked hard with their teachers and can feel proud of the grades that they have achieved in rigorous academic subjects. The vast majority will now be beginning their A level studies at Chigwell and we wish them and the others who will be joining them every success in the next exciting phase of their education.”
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A Level Results
Students and teachers have been celebrating some of the best ever A level results. Over half of all grades awarded were at least an A grade and 84% were either A*, A or B. Of the year group of 84 students, 27 achieved at least 3 A* or A grades, 10 achieved at least 4 A*/A grades and 2 gained 5 or more A*/A grades. Meanwhile Lower Sixth students achieved the best AS result ever with 54% of results at A grade and 76% at grade B or higher. Of the year group of 87 students, 38 achieved at least 3 A grades and 19 achieved at least 4 A grades. Headmaster, Mr Michael Punt, commented “I am thrilled that so many Chigwell students have achieved such high standards, enabling them to move on to exciting university courses. They and their teachers have worked very hard and our aim is always that each individual achieves the very best they can. These Sixth Formers have also contributed a great deal to the wider life of the School and we wish those who are leaving every success for the future." |
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Chigwell 1stXI v Afghan Refugees
On Monday 11th July, for the second year in succession, Chigwell School entertained the Afghan Refugees Project Team, part of the unique cricketing organization, Cricket for Change, whose president is former test and Middlesex cricketer Phil Tufnell. C4C use cricket to transcend the major urban racial groups, black, white and Asian, young people with disabilities and give these under-privileged youngsters the chance to make a positive impact on their lives as individuals and on their communities.
Chigwell batted first and were 191 all out in 38 overs with Neil Morse top scoring with 75, supported by Edward Sibley, 25, and Tom Gibbs, 25 not out, against some keen Afghan bowling and fielding (the opening bowler has already trialled with Surrey 2nd XI). The Afghan batting was less secure and they were bowled out for 76 with Tom Gibbs taking 4 for 23, Chris Stephens 2 for 11 and Azhar Merchant 2 for 3. Captain and wicket keeper Billy Wells took a hat trick of stumpings and two catches, to complete a 115 run victory. |
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Speech Day 2011
The Guest of Honour at Speech Day on Saturday 9th July was Sir Richard Dales, former pupil, current Governor and former British Ambassador to Norway. He spoke to a packed audience about his time at School, his career in the Diplomatic Service and the importance of taking advantage of all the many and varied opportunities available to pupils at Chigwell. Sir Richard’s prize-giving followed two services for Junior and Senior pupils, held in St Mary’s Church, at which the preacher was the Right Reverend John Gladwin, the recently retired Bishop of Chelmsford. |
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1stXI Cricket Thrilling Victory v MCC
Chigwell School 1stXI cricketers defeated the MCC for the second time in three years in a thrilling 4-wicket victory in a one-day-match that was delayed by rain on Friday 8th July. The MCC batted first and declared on 169 for 8 leaving Chigwell 40 overs to get the runs on a slow rain affected outfield. Chigwell’s bowlers all kept things tight despite bowling with a damp ball with Joe Samuel 2 for 17, Chris Stephens 2 for 34 and Asim Shamsudin 2 for 35. The chase was then on with Neil Morse leading the way scoring 80 from 54 balls sharing a crucial 5th wicket stand of 54 in 30 minutes with Tom Gibbs, who scored 21, to overhaul the target in 33 overs. |
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The Rocky Horror Show
The Chigwell Drama Centre was packed on Friday 1th July for a one-night-only performance of The Rocky Horror Show. The musical was directed by A level student, Matthew Lovett, and the actors had all just completed their GCSE or A levels. The show was outstanding and all money raised will go to local charities, including the Chigwell Riding Trust. |
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Cupcakes Tea Party at Jubilee Lodge
On Friday 1st July, a group of pupils, accompanied by Director of Music Mr Howard Ebden, spent the day at Vitalise Jubilee Lodge where they first entertained guests with their singing and then chatted to residents whilst serving cupcakes for the afternoon tea party. Vitalise is a national charity providing short breaks (respite care) and other services for people with disabilities and the School has a long association with the charity based at Jubilee Lodge. There are great volunteer work opportunities as well as inspirational ways to support the important work done by Vitalise. For further information, please visit the charity’s website on: http://www.vitalise.org.uk |
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Young Chigwellians at the ISGA Junior Open
Thomas Clapham and Harry Butler took part in the Independent Schools Golf Association Junior Open on Monday 27th June at The Shire Golf Club.
The competition is open to all Independent Schools in the country and 40 schools were represented this year. Mr Jerry Morris, who accompanied the pupils, said that "they were a credit to the School, both played very well on this challenging championship course with Harry posting 2 over net and Thomas 4 over net." Out of the 58 players, Harry came 11th and Thomas 19th.
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Chigwell’s First at Lords
On Friday 17th June, the 1st XI team — through the good offices of Master i/c Cricket, Mr Frank Griffith — was invited by the MCC to play in a Twenty Twenty match, together with Eton College, against the MCC Full Ladies XI team, which included six England’s internationals plus Australia’s and New Zealand’s internationals. The 1st XIs were given a tour of the ground and lunch in the players’ dining room above the Long Room, while the Eton College players were dismissed for 93 runs in 16 overs. Sadly, heavy rain prevented Chigwell from taking the field, so instead they received two hours of coaching in the MCC Indoor School. This was a wonderful experience for the 1st XIs, some of whom may never again have the opportunity to play at the headquarters of cricket in their careers. However, Mr Frank Griffith is hoping that Chigwell will have the honour of being invited again next year in what he hopes will become an annual fixture at Lords. |
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Swimming Success
We are delighted to report that four Fourth Form students made it through to the IAPS National Swimming Finals on Saturday 14th May at Crawley Leisure Centre. Jordan Stack came third in Backstroke (32 seconds) and Max Albert came fourth in 25 metres Butterfly (16.03 seconds). In addition, Jordan Stack, Max Albert, Barney Walsh and Tom Clapham came tenth in the Medley Relay. This was a tremendous achievement as the Finals involved schools nationwide and competition was very tough. The four boys are not only swimmers, they also represent the School at Cricket and Hockey, and Jordan plays Rugby for Essex. We are very proud of them. |
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Chigwell Team in National Maths Final
A team of four pupils from Chigwell School will be competing against teams from across the United Kingdom for this year’s UK Team Maths Challenge Trophy. The team was runner-up in the Regional Final held at Bancroft’s School and won the opportunity to compete in the National Final at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London on Monday 20th June. 1500 schools entered the competition and 96 have qualified to take part in the final.
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Jazz Evening Raises £1,123 For Charity
The Swing Band and Jazz Evening on Saturday 7th May raised a total of £1,123 in aid of the Nordoff Robbins Charity, a charity that specializes in music therapy for disabled children and adults. The Swing Band, under the direction of Mr Peter Robson, played superbly and even succeeded in getting some guests dancing on the floor. In addition, there were some fantastic jazz songs by many of our accomplished singers accompanied by the staff band.
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Charity Art Show
This year the Charity Art Show will be supporting Chigwell Riding Trust for Special Needs. The theme for the exhibition is ‘My Essex’ and there will be an amazing variety of artworks on sale. The private view and sales evening will take place on Wednesday 11th May from 6.00pm to 8.30pm. The exhibition will then open to the public from Thursday 12th May to Friday 10th June. If you would like to view the exhibition, please email Mr Edwin Aitken (eaitken@chigwell-school.org) to make an appointment. |
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U14s Win Silver Medals in National Boys’ Hockey Finals
We are absolutely delighted to announce that on Thursday 5th May the U14 Boys’ Hockey team came runners up in the National Finals of the National Schools Championships. This is indeed one of the School’s best ever sporting achievements and places Chigwell in the top two schools for hockey in the entire country. |
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Musician of the Year 2011
The Young Musician of the Year Competition, one of the most important musical occasions of the year, took place on Thursday 5th May. Eleven students were selected to play in the final and, amidst much excitement, the adjudicator, Mr Ian Ryan, crowned Marianne Schönle as the Senior winner and Gopal Kambo as the Junior winner. Alexander Hammond and Aaran Vijayakumaran were awarded the Highly Commended prize. The other finalists were: Hana Edwards, Sarah Chamberlain, Faith Inch, Katie Marshall, Oliver Albert, Heather Cook and Beatrice Moore. |
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Charity Jazz Night
The Charity Jazz Night will take place on Saturday 7th May at 7.00pm in New Hall. It will feature performances by the Staff Jazz Band, the School Swing Band and much more. Tickets will be available from the School Reception from Tuesday 26th April. |
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Chigwell School Chemists Strike Gold
Three A level Chemistry students won the regional heat of the National Schools' Analyst Competition held at Queen Mary University of London on Thursday 31st March. Joe Gidney, Sophie Halls and Tiffany Shum completed a complex practical over nearly three hours to analyse the manganese content in a sample of steel. Across the UK, 280 schools took part in 18 regional heats and just one winning team from each is being put forward for the National Final at Reading University in June. Chigwell Head of Sixth Form, Mr Andrew Long commented that “The students worked very effectively together and were praised for their teamwork as well their individual contributions. We are incredibly proud of their achievement in such a prestigious event in the face of stiff competition.” |
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Linda Newbery visits Chigwell
The award-winning novelist Linda Newbery gave a talk to over one-hundred Year 9 students in New Hall on Monday 28th March. Ms Newbery briefly described her childhood in Epping and Loughton before moving on to the focus of her visit: her story ‘The Shell House.’ This widely praised work was inspired by the author’s childhood memories of Copped Hall and charts the parallel journeys of two young men a hundred years apart, centring on their twin struggles with religious faith and their own sexuality. Ms Newbery showed her audience photographs of Copped Hall as it was and as it is today and emphasised the significance of the First World War poets in her writing. Afterwards, she answered questions on themes and characterisation. |
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U14s Reach National Hockey Finals
On Friday 25th March, Chigwell’s U14 boys’ hockey team won the regional play-off against Egglescliffe School (Middlebrough). After losing 4-3 to Ipswich School a week earlier, Chigwell had finished runners-up in the East of England Final, while Egglescliffe had finished runners-up in the North Region Final. Thanks to goalkeeper Jonathon Robson, the team was able to keep the score 0-0 in the first half, however, Chigwell came out far stronger in the second half, when the players were given the lead by captain Conor Caplan. This opened the floodgates, with Sam Poulter scoring twice in succession, thus putting the game out of Egglescliffe’s reach as the match finished 3-0. The final whistle was met with huge excitement as the boys realised what they had achieved
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Girls' Football Festival
On Friday 25th March, forty girls participated in the U11 Girls’ Football Festival which was run by Mr Creag Lawrence, Mr Sean Smith (ISFA Football Development Officer), Micky Payne (England ‘C’ team Coach). Ms Dunia Susi (England Women’s International & Birmingham Ladies FC) took part in the coaching sessions. The girls learned basic techniques, played 4v4 matches and had a wonderful time. Chigwell will host two more festivals in the summer term for Years 5, 6 and 7. |
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Young Human Rights Reporter
James Harrington has been shortlisted for the final of the Amnesty International Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year competition.There were nearly 1000 entries from across the UK and James made it to the top 10. The competition invited young people to write about a compelling human rights issue and James focused his entry on child poverty. James said that he was very surprised but thrilled to learn that his entry had reached the shortlist. |
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Chigwell's Top Physicist
Jakub Sanak was selected to proceed to Round 4 of the British Physics Olympiad. This means that he is now in the last 16 from a field of 2,000 of the country’s brightest sixth form physicists. He will attend a four-day Easter residential course at the University of Oxford at the end of which five of the 16 students will be chosen to represent Britain at the International Physics Olympiad in Bangkok. |
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Choral Concert at Brentwood Cathedral
This year’s annual Choral Concert at Brentwood Cathedral on Saturday 19th March saw over 100 singers taking part from Chigwell School and 20 pupils from Loyola Prep School. The choir set the scene with Handel’s “Zadok the Priest” and this was followed by Mozart’s Flute Concerto No 1 in G Major (K313) with a wonderful soloist performance by last year’s Musician of the Year winner, David Albon (flute). After the interval the audience was treated to Rutter’s “I will lift up mine eyes”, Górecki’s “Totus Tuus” and a fantastic rendition of Rutter’s “Gloria”, which bowled the audience over as the choir took full advantage of the Cathedral’s acoustics. |
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The Open Art, Design and Technology Exhibition
The Open Art, Design and Technology Exhibition this year hosted the work of 14 local prep and primary schools whose pupils submitted a wonderful selection of artefacts, making a vibrant display in the Art Centre Gallery. A well attended private viewing was held on Saturday 5th March, when all the exhibiting children and their parents came to view the exhibition. |
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The Real Inspector Hound
Stoppard’s ingenious comedy was given a sparkling performance by eight expert actors on Thursday and Friday last week. Tom Kennedy gave a suitably leary performance as the astute but randy Birdboot, playing the audience with real skill, while Ben Hiam played the neurotic Moon, giving a performance of exceptional quality. The more stereotyped characters were played with panache by: Nicole Abbott (Felicity Cunningham), Dominic Came (Simon), Amelia Hunt (Cynthia Muldoon), Pippa Mistry-Norman (Mrs Drudge) and Matthew Lovett, whose comic ability with the wheelchair was impressive, (Major Magnus Muldoon). Cameron Randall gave a side-splittingly funny cameo performance as the manic Inspector Hound. Simon Martin had a quiet, if uncomfortable snooze on stage as the dead body, Higgs. The play was particularly well attended on the Friday night by a supportive and suitably entertained audience. |
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Youth Speaks
Chigwell School entered four teams in the recent Rotary Youth Speaks competition. The team with Juliette Aliker, James Harrington and Alex Bromwich won the area round and were runners-up in the district final. Juliette’s speech on “The Social Network” was widely praised while Alex won best chairperson in the regional final. James gave a witty vote of thanks. Coached by Mr Lonsdale, the team was accompanied to the regional final by Mrs Boughton. |
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Alan Stubbs
Alan Stubbs, an up-and-coming poet, and brother of the Deputy Head of our Junior School, gave three talks to the Williams Project on what he thinks poetry is, and what he thinks it's for. His talk was illustrated by several of his own poems, including the Arvon-prize winning ‘A Philosophical Provocation’, an intriguing attempt to describe a tree in ways which take the reader through various stages of reality: from literal ‘scientific’ truth, to wonderfully rich ‘poetic’ sounds and images, to surrealism, and on to using the tree as a metaphor for the very attempt to describe itself - and all in 16 lines! Other poems included “To Ithaca”, the only poem Alan has deliberately ‘constructed’, written for his daughter’s marriage. It’s a haunting piece which uses the Japanese ‘kesa’, a formal garment made from reused silk, as an image for the ceremonial strength and deep-rootedness of marriage itself. |
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Another Hockey Success Story in Dublin
Over four days during Half Term, sixteen members of the U13 Boys Hockey squad visited Dublin and played three matches against the strongest school and club sides the city has to offer. Of the three matches played, the boys won two and lost one. After disappointingly losing 6-0 to Monkstown Hockey Club in the first match, the team responded with a deserved 5-3 win over Pembroke Hockey Club. However, the highlight of the tour was undoubtedly the final match against St Andrew’s College, one of the top sporting schools in Dublin. The game was played with incredible passion by both teams and the final result was again a 5-3 win. Mr James Stedman, Chigwell’s Head of Boys’ Hockey, said that it was one of the most enjoyable games he has witnessed since working at Chigwell. Daniel Whitehead was awarded man of the match for two electrifying 50m runs and the goal of the tournament was scored by Tom Martin who was at the back post to finish a brilliant team goal. At the end of the tour many awards were presented including players of the tour to Jamie Colton and Sonal Ohrie. The most improved player awards went to Kayden Chahal and Henry Gard and ‘team player’ of the tour went to Tom Clapham, as he typified the boys’ excellent competitive attitude throughout. Harry Butler finished top goal-scorer with three goals, while Payaam Kapur was declared ‘Goalkeeper of the tour’ despite originally coming on tour to play on pitch! |
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Record Biology Olympiad Results
Chigwell School Middle Sixth Biology students have achieved the best results ever in the National Biology Olympiad Competition involving 2,850 top A level biologists from 337 schools. William Porter and Ashneel Dubb were commended; Nwachukwu Uzo was highly commended; Siyin Liu gained a bronze award placing him in the top fifteen per cent, and Alastair Morton a silver, which puts him among the top ten per cent. Hannah Matson was awarded a gold medal, which not only places her in the top five per cent but also means that she now competes in the next round for selection for the UK team which will participate in the international competition to be held in Taiwan. |
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Dr Simon Singh
As part of the Williams Project series of lectures, on Tuesday 8th February, science writer, TV presenter and academic Dr Simon Singh MBE gave two talks to our students in the Library. Simon’s talks featured an explanation of the ‘credibility spectrum’ as a filtering process with which to separate the competing claims of myth and fact, relating to a controversial subject such as Climate Change. Simon Singh recently won an important libel ruling at the Court of Appeal over claims he made regarding the work of the British Chiropractic Association, and has written extensively on the subjects of cryptology, mathematical formulae and the history of the universe from the perspective of key players in the field of cosmology. |
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U13 Boys’ Hockey Essex Champions
On Wednesday 9th February, the U13 Boys' Hockey team competed in the Essex rounds of the National Schools Hockey Cup. The tournament, held at Redbridge Sports Centre, involved Chigwell playing six matches against a variety of different schools in Essex in a ‘round robin’ format with the top two schools qualifying for the East rounds. Chigwell won five of their six matches, scoring 26 goals and conceding only three. The crucial game was the last one, where only a victory against Felsted would do, and, after being 1-0 down, the boys responded brilliantly by winning 3-1. The team now qualifies for the East rounds as Essex Champions, so defending the trophy that the current U14s won last year. This is a fantastic achievement and one the boys can be very proud of. |
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Art+ visit to Prof. Ken Howard’s studio
An Art+ group of enthusiastic and curious pupils recently set off across London to visit the studio of the famous artist Prof. Ken Howard, OBE, RA. The students were struck by the beauty and tranquillity of Prof. Howard’s studio —located just a few steps away from the busy shopping area of Earl’s Court — and found themselves surrounded by many wonderful paintings, some huge, some small, some finished, some still in progress. The artist talked about his life, his compulsion to make art and the fact that an artistic career is often not about talent alone, but the commitment one makes to practise every day. He also answered a wide range of questions about painting techniques and his working process from our keen and perceptive young Chigwellians, while his wife, Dora, provided them with a generous spread of refreshments. After the talk the group set off to see Prof. Howard’s exhibition, ‘An Artist’s Odyssey’, in Bond Street, displaying pictures inspired by the artist’s travels to Switzerland, Crete, Santorini, Italy and coastal England. It was a fantastic day out, enjoyed enormously by both pupils and staff who were grateful to Prof. Ken Howard and his wife, Dora, for making them feel so welcome. |
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U16 through to ISFA Shield Semi-Finals
The U16 Football team is through to the semi-finals of the ISFA U16 Shield with a 4-0 victory over Frensham Heights. In a very competitive and well-fought game on 2nd February, Darren McQueen opened the scoring with a header from a corner, however, Frensham should have equalised with two chances from close range. Chigwell then scored two goals before half-time both coming again from McQueen who finished clinically after excellent work from Conor Smyth. Frensham came back strong in the second half and tested the Chigwell keeper, however McQueen scored his fourth goal to kill off a determined Frensham side. This was an excellent performance by the whole U16 side and all four goals were created by good passages of play by the whole team. Chigwell will play Chilton Cantelo from Yeovil or Ditcham Park from Hampshire in the semi-final. |
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Linguistics Olympiad
50 years after Russia organised the first Linguistics Olympiad for school pupils, University College London arranged the UK’s first only last year, and Chigwell was one of 50 schools to participate. On the 2nd and 3rd February we participated with greater numbers in the second year of the competition. Pupils were asked to analyse words and sentences from totally unfamiliar languages in order to deduce rules and meaning. In the basic level event students may work in teams, and a handful of our older students entered the more demanding advanced level. Thanks must go to Mr Paul Fletcher, for organising our entry again this year in this contest: we hope it inspires the students who took part to appreciate language learning for the specialised and fascinating skill it is. |
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Krispy Kreme sale raises £349 for charity
Following her work in Fiji last summer, Sixth Former Sophie Halls organised a cake sale to raise money for the charity Rustic Pathways. The organisation is helping the Narayans in the Momi area of the country rebuild and upgrade their homes following the tornado last year. Thank you to all those who supported Sophie and helped her raise £349. |
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The Williams Project students meet Dr Frances Wood
Dr Frances Wood (Curator of the Chinese Collections at the British Library) gave three consecutive talks in the Library on Wednesday 26th January to our Williams Project pupils. Dr Wood spoke about China today, the speed of change, and how the legacy of the first emperor still lingers. Using photographs from her own time as a student in China during the Cultural Revolution, as well as pictures of ancient manuscripts, she spoke volubly and impeccably across a huge range of topics, fielding a large number of perceptive questions from the curious. Many of Chigwell’s Chinese students, and friends from Kingsford Community College (for whom Frances was a bit of a celebrity), were there. A fantastic evening, and we are looking forward to our next speaker, Simon Singh.
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Essex Champions
The U14 boys’ hockey team recently defended the Essex title won last year as U13s. They did so in a spectacular fashion, winning all six games including beating Bancroft’s, Forest and Felsted. Notable performances came from Conor Caplan and Ben Good while Matt Rutherford managed to score a hat trick in one game from centre back! The U14s now qualify for the East Rounds after Half Term as Essex champions. |
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Oxbridge Candidates
Congratulations to the Chigwell students offered places at Oxford and Cambridge this year (pictured underneath our founder, Samuel Harsnett). Cambridge has offered places to Amelia Hunt to study Architecture at Newnham, as well as Engineering places at Trinity and Corpus to Andi Reci and Kuba Sanak respectively (both of whom, in addition, were placed in the top 50 nationally in the recent British Physics Olympiad). Yixian Chen (Mathematics, St Anne's) and Nicholas Dixon (History, St Hugh's) have been offered places at Oxford. Nicholas also won the St Hugh's Julia Wood Prize for historical essays, and the school's own Howard Essay competition, with an essay from which he'll be giving a lecture later this month. Chigwell has a long tradition of outstanding academic achievement, particularly at these two ancient universities, and we are all as proud of these intelligent and industrious students as must be our founder. |
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British Physics Olympiad
We are delighted to announce that five students of our students achieved awards in the prestigious British Physics Olympiad. From a field of almost 2000 of the county’s best sixth form physicists Jacub Sanak and Andi Reci achieved gold medals and now move on to the final stage of selection for the British team. There was strength in depth from the Chigwell students, with Nwachukwu Uzo achieving a silver medal, Yixian Chen a bronze and Omar Williams a commendation. |
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Beth's first full England cap
Beth MacGregor, Chigwell's first full ladies international cricketer received her England cap from team captain Charlotte Edwards during the course of the first of the Twenty Twenty internationals on the recent tour of Sri Lanka. |
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Mandarin Language Course
Sixth formers at Chigwell School have enrolled in a basic language course in Mandarin Chinese offered by the Modern Foreign Languages Department once a week after school. Taught by Ms Wei Zhang, a Chinese teacher based at the Confucius Classroom Centre at Kingsford Community School, the aim of the course is to give students a good grounding in spoken Mandarin. Amongst other subjects, sixth formers at Chigwell this year are applying to university to study Japanese, Russian and Mandarin. |
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Peter Tatchell
As part of the Williams Project series of lectures, on Tuesday 7th December, the world-famous human-rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, gave two talks to our students in the Library. The Australian-born British activist attracted international attention for his attempted citizen’s arrest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and for protesting against the Pope’s visit to Britain this year. His talks covered areas relating to the war on terror, civil liberties and laws relating to equality. Peter Tatchell has been campaigning for freedom, equality and democracy since 1967. |
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The Crucible
This year’s Senior School Play on 2nd-4th December was Arthur Miller’s disturbing drama of persecution and vengeance, “The Crucible”. Directed by Mr Joe Maingot, the play was produced with minimal set but full use of costumes. Act One was preceded by an eerie masked movement sequence representing the naked dancing in the woods alluded to in the text. This set the tone for the drama that was often heightened by the sound of the famous “Carmina Burana” cantata in the background. There were some passionate performances from the lead and supporting roles, and the famous courtroom scenes provided the infamous group hysteria that was so effective on stage. However, as well as all the mystery and darkness there was also the heart-felt human drama of a husband and wife who are torn apart, something that the lead roles evoked with genuine emotion. |
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Target 2.0
The Chigwell “Monetary Policy Team” competed in the regional heats of the Target 2.0 interest rate challenge organised by the Bank of England on 26th November. A total of eight schools took part in the competition. The Bank of England Interest Rate Challenge gives teams of students age 16-18 the chance to take on the role of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, assess economic conditions and the outlook for inflation and tell panels of judges what monetary policy they would set to achieve the Government's inflation target of 2.0%. The Chigwell team included Adrian Leibovitch (team captain and spare capacity analyst), Dominic Came (demand side specialist), Jamie Hoffman (cost push theorist) and Tom Kennedy (quantitative easing expert). The Team gave an exceptional presentation which resulted in them being placed into 2nd position behind King Edward Grammar. The judges stated that Chigwell’s presentation was outstanding, dynamic and was the best that they have heard for a long time. Speaking without notes our students demonstrated detailed assessment and humour in their talk.
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Two Internationals
Not many schools are fortunate enough to have pupils representing their country, but two Chigwell pupils have been selected to play for England this half term. Middle Sixth former Beth MacGregor played in all three Twenty 20 internationals against Sri Lanka and England won all games. In the first, England won by eight wickets with Beth bowling three overs, 0 for 13; in the second, England won by seventeen runs and Beth bowled two overs 0 for 11 not out; and in the third, England won by 89 runs and Beth bowled four overs 1 for 18. In addition, Upper Fifth former Darren McQueen has been selected as a member of the England U16 squad which will be travelling to play Northern Ireland in the Victory Shield next week. |
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Junior School Concert
The Junior School Concert took place in New Hall on Thursday 25th November in front of a very appreciative audience. Over 120 pupils were involved in a great variety of choirs and instrumental groups. The Junior Wind Band and Junior Orchestra were excellent, too, and along with five solo performances from music scholars, Hana (clarinet), Prayaam (violin), Tom(trumpet), Natalie (cello) and Brooke (flute), the audience was also treated to a Clarinet Quintet and String Trio. Well done to all those involved and many thanks to both pupils and staff for all their hard work.
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Youth Courts and the British Justice
As part of the Williams Project lecture programme, Mrs Juliet Boughton and Mr Alan Russell returned to Chigwell on 23rd November, this time with fellow-magistrates Mr John Boughton and Mrs Maureen Emmett. There were two sessions, both involving preparing students to be the 3-person Bench, Defendant, Witness, and Prosecuting and Defending barristers, followed by a formal trial, with the Bench retiring before delivering their verdict. The case was cleverly chosen to allow some doubt, but was this doubt reasonable or not? Was the evidence against the Defendant sufficient to convict? Our pupils were well coached, and performed impressively; perhaps several careers began on this day |
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Juvenes Translatores
Five of our Sixth Form linguists were selected to take part in the European Commission’s ‘Juvenes Translatores’ competition on Tuesday 23rd November. The translation contest, now in its fourth year, was set up to promote young people desire to learn foreign languages. Learning languages brings people closer and allows a better understanding of other cultures. Hundreds of secondary schools across Europe took part in the competition at the same time as our crack team gathered for its translation work in the library. The winners will be invited to an award ceremony in Brussels next April. |
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Tartuffe
The Middle Sixth Form Drama students offered a very entertaining lunch-time showcasing their current work on Monday 22nd November. ‘Tarfuffe’ by Moliere is an A level set text which satirises the puritans of its era and provides a riotous comedy of manners. All the five students did extremely well, acting in a very convincing and confident manner. |
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U13 Girls’ Hockey Tour to Holland
Over Half Term, the U13 A and B Girls’ hockey squads travelled to Holland for an action-packed tour, bracing the cold conditions and training hard in preparation for their fixtures against tough local club sides.
The A Team was victorious in the first fixture against Alkmaarsche HC , winning 7-5. The B team, despite leading the entire first-half 1-0, saw the opposition come out all guns blazing in the second-half, and ultimately lost the game 4-1. In the second fixture of the Tour, against HV de Terriers, despite the girls’ positive attitude and evident desire to win, the B team was very unlucky and lost the match 4-3 whilst the A Team secured a 7-1 victory against the Dutch colts. In between fixtures, the girls took trips around Holland and visited many places of cultural interest, such as Anne Franks’ house. |
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Taylor Gershon
In the summer, Taylor Gershon represented Great Britain at Futsal (5-a-side football) in Denver, Colorado, for the Maccabi Games. These are sporting events held every year for the Jewish community and are the equivalent of the Olympics. Taylor’s team won Gold in the final against Mexico, winning 2-0. Taylor said that he really enjoyed the chance to represent Great Britain in this unique competition and is now looking forward to representing Great Britain in the European Maccabi Games, which will be in Vienna in July. |
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Valencia Football Tour
Over the October Half Term break, 17 LV boys went on a football development tour to Valencia, Spain, for six days. The tour was based at the Valencia Club de Futbol’s superb training facilities on the outskirts of the city where the boys were coached by the Valencia academy staff up to 4 hours a day. The boys played two matches against local opposition and unfortunately lost both, however, the improvement shown in the last game was quite considerable and the boys were certainly much more confident when in possession of the ball as the hard technical practices had well and truly worked. The boys were also fortunate enough to see the champions league match between Valencia and Rangers, where the hosts ran out 3-0 victors in an impressive display of technical superiority. |
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The New Sixth Form Coffee Shop
The new Sixth Form Coffee Shop, in the refurbished Swallow Room, has opened and has proved to be very popular with students. Many have taken advantage of the coffee and snacks on offer, or simply gathered to relax in the new venue. It opens at 7:30am each morning. |
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GCSE Remarks
We are delighted to report that Amanda Bacon and Alex
Hartland, as a result of remarks, have now achieved 10 A*
grades at GCSE, joining Oliver Albert, Isabella Bird,
Sophie Halls, Pippa McKenzie and Jodie Spencer who
also achieved that feat. In addition Shreenidhi
Subramanian joins Megan Coates, Daniel Edison and
Tiffany Shum with 9 A* grades. This means that out of a
year group of seventy seven, forty-two students achieved
9A*A grades or better; 45% of all grades were at A* and
80% were either A* or A. We are immensely proud of
these students and our teachers who worked so hard to
achieve such fantastic results. |
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‘The Poetics of Space’ Art Exhibition
The Art and Design Department are delighted to present
the exhibition ‘The Poetics of Space’. The exhibition, which
opens on 21st October till 15th December, will be the first
event of the new Chigwell Arts Programme (CAP) and will
feature a series of painted and photographic works by
Sharon Wales and Simon Duff. Sharon Wales and Simon
Duff work collaboratively using a range of media and we
are thrilled that Miss Wales has recently joined the Art
Department as a teacher of Senior School Art and Design. |
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The official opening of the new kitchens by Michel Roux Jr
The new kitchens were officially opened by celebrity
chef Michel Roux Jr. on Tuesday 21st September.
Michel Roux Jr., whose restaurant, Le Gavroche, is one
of London’s most well loved culinary establishments,
has recently been an expert judge on the professional
edition of BBC’s Master Chef and has also appeared
on Gordon Ramsey’s Hell Kitchen. He has written
numerous books on classical French cuisine and he
is widely respected within the industry. Staff and pupils
at Chigwell were delighted that he was able to take a
break from his very busy schedule to officially open the
new kitchens. Michel Roux Jr. chatted to junior pupils,
who queued for his autograph, and everybody
appreciated his warmth and friendliness. He then
stayed for lunch and a reception before going back to
his restaurant in Mayfair. We thank him for making the
opening our new kitchens such a perfect day! |
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ISFA Sixes
The 1st XI Soccer Team reached the last 8 of the ISFA National Six-a-Side Tournament recently held at Repton School. After drawing their first match with Kimbolton, Chigwell secured excellent victories against St Bede’s, Manchester and Lancing College, but lost to the hosts. The team secured a draw in its final group game against RGS Newcastle, which meant it finished 2nd in the group of 6 and ensured passage through to the main cup competition. A strong St Bede’s, Hailsham side proved too strong in the quarter-finals, however, Chigwell went away pleased with its performances throughout the day. This was a perfect conclusion to the pre-season training, which saw over 35 boys in attendance whose hard work and attitude particularly pleased the School’s Football coaches. |
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GCSE results
For the fifth year in succession, Chigwell GCSE results are the best ever. 44% of all grades were A* and 79% were either A* or A grade. 100% of grades were grade C or higher. There were many individual achievements but out of the 77 boys and girls, five (Oliver Albert, Isabella Bird, Sophie Halls, Pippa McKenzie and Jodie Spencer) all achieved 10 A* grades; five more (Amanda Bacon, Megan Coates, Daniel Edison, Alexander Hartland, and Tiffany Shum) gained at least 9 A* grades and in all seventeen students achieved eight A* grades or more.
We are extremely proud of all of these students who really have achieved a fantastic set of results in some tough subjects. They have worked hard with the wholehearted support of their teachers and their success is well deserved. We look forward to working with these young people as they begin their A levels as well as with the other students who have chosen to join them in the Sixth Form at Chigwell.
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A level results
Students and teachers were celebrating A Level results, published this morning. 16 % of grades were A*, 51% of grades were A grade and more than 80% were between A* and B. Of the year group of 84 students, 28 achieved at least 3 A* or A grades, 13 achieved at least 4 A*/A grades and 3 gained 5 or more A*/A grades.
We are very proud of these students who deserve this success. It is always pleasing when the hard work of students and teachers comes together to deliver results that fulfil students’ potential and enable them to move on to highly selective university courses. Nearly 1 in 10 students will be taking up places at either Oxford or Cambridge and others will be pursuing a whole variety of opportunities that befit their interests and talents. We will miss this year group and wish them every future success and happiness. |
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Speech Day 2010
Old Chigwellian Nick Laws, who recently won the BAFTA Film Award for producing Fish Tank, was the guest speaker on Speech Day on Saturday 10th July. Nick Laws, who was at Chigwell from 1970 to 1976, started his film career as a Post Boy at 20th Century Fox in London and then worked his way up in the Industry as an Assistant Director and Producer of Feature Films. He has worked on a range of pictures, from A Passage to India to the BAFTA winning documentary-drama Touching the Void. He has also worked on five feature films with Michael Winterbottom, including The Claim, a Western set in the American Goldrush. YES was his first move into Production Management followed by Bridget Jones - Edge of Reason, The Constant Gardener and Blood Diamonds, just to mention a few. Although his work-base remains in London, he is currently living in South Africa with his two children and his helicopter flying instructor wife, Jennifer. In his most well-received speech Nick Laws said that in one’s life there are occasions when one’s integrity is challenged, however a school like Chigwell gives one the values to determine what is right and wrong. |
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Beth MacGregor
We are delighted to announce that Beth MacGregor has been called up to play for the England Women's Cricket squad for the five match series against New Zealand to be played between 10th and 20th July. Beth is the first player from Essex to be selected for the full England Women's squad and the promotion follows her selection last summer and earlier this year for the England Women's Cricket Academy. In March Beth went to Bangalore in India with the Academy side where they played matches against local teams, received specialist training in conditions where the next Women’s World Cup is due to be played and took in some IPL games involving the Royal Challengers. In addition, Beth has been chosen as a senior member of a combined England Academy/England U17 team to play matches against Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands in the European Women’s Championship in early August. |
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The Risham Sarao Prize awarded to Rachel Bradley
Rachel Bradley, who came first among the 23 Sixth Formers who achieved the Chigwell Gold Award, will be the recipient of the Risham Sarao Prize on Speech Day. The Chigwell Award was established last year in order to acknowledge and praise our Sixth Formers’ achievements and their many contributions to the community, something that often goes unnoticed. The Gold Award is bestowed to the students who have completed four sections: volunteering in community service, acquiring work experience, completing a personal development course and a physical challenge. Rachel excelled in all these sections. |
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Chigwell in National Hockey Finals
On 21st and 22nd April, Chigwell U14 Boys’ Hockey Team competed in the National U14 Schools Hockey Championships, having qualified as one of the top two teams in the entire East of England region before Easter. This was the first time ever that a Chigwell hockey team reached a National Finals competition and the boys acquitted themselves well, winning one, drawing one and losing two of their four group matches. In the process Chigwell scored seven goals, with Conor Caplan and Andrew MacGregor getting two each. Captain Will Godfrey, Albert Padfield and Josh Banfield were the other boys who can say they scored a goal at the National Finals! This ensured Chigwell finished third in their group so securing a top six finish. |
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Musician of the Year
The Musician of the Year Competition took place on 30th April with the finalists playing in front of an outside adjudicator, Mr Lee Ward, who is Director of Music at the London Oratory School and President of the MMA. David Albon (flute) was the senior winner, playing the ‘Scherzo’ from Prokofiev’s ‘Flute Concerto’, and Marianne Schönle (piano) was the junior winner, playing a piece by Tchaikovsky, ‘Doumka’. Beatrice Moore (violin) and Chris Wilson (jazz piano) were both highly commended. The other four finalists were Heather Cook (recorder), Gopal Kambo (piano), David Al-Mudallal (drums) and Yuriko Hijikata (violin). |
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Shehab Khan meets Labour VIPS
On 25th April Shehab Khan was invited to attend a Labour Party conference at Westminster by Sam Tarry, who is the National Chair of the Young Labour Party. At the conference he heard several speeches by many Labour personalities, including Gordon Brown. After the speeches Shehab had an opportunity to mingle with all the speakers and meet Gordon Brown,Yvette Cooper, Sidiq Khan and Ed Miliband with whom he chatted for half an hour.
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Lord Sugar
Sixty Five pupils between the Third Form and the Removes met Lord Sugar who came into school for a question and answer session. For over an hour they bombarded him with excellent questions about his business, how to be successful, his involvement in football and the current economic situation. We hope that a few future captains of industry were inspired by what Lord Sugar had to say. |
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Steven Sweet at the London Marathon
Sixth Former Steven Sweet joined celebrities, athletes and fun runners in the 26.2 miles London Marathon. He completed the course in 3 hours and 55 minutes. Although he missed his target time of 3 hours and 30 minutes, the amount he raised for charity, over £1700, cheered him up no end! |
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Fun Day, Sunday 9th May
Fun Day, Sunday 9th May
Everybody is invited to join the Family Fun Day and Run on Sunday 9th May. All funds raised will go to charities supported by the School. Attractions will include craft stalls, delicious food, merry-go-round, a bouncy castle and a gladiators’ ring.
Please download here the Sponsorship Form.
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Our excellent ISI Inspection Reports
Chigwell School is celebrating two excellent inspection reports.
Click here for summary and report downloads. |
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Spelling Team raises £600 for Cancer Research UK
On 11th March, the Third Form Spelling team presented a cheque for the magnificent sum of £600 to Mr Richard Witney, a representative from the local branch of Cancer Research UK. The money was raised through the efforts of a large number of pupils from the Third Form who were sponsored for their spelling tests, encouraged and supported by their parents and English teachers. |
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U14 Boys' Hockey Team through to National Finals
On Tuesday 9th March the U14 Boys’ hockey team made it through to the English National Schools Championships National Finals. It is the first time ever that a Chigwell School team, boys or girls, has gone so far in the premier national hockey competition in England. Having won their group in the East Rounds at the end of February, beating renowned big hockey schools such as Bedford School and The Perse on the way, the team travelled to St Ives in Cambridge to compete in the East Finals. The task was simple: come in the top two out of the three remaining teams and qualify! And they did it, beating Gresham's 4-1 and qualifying in the second position. Runners-up medals were collected and the team will represent the East of England in the National Finals in the first week of the summer term.
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ISFA U9 Football Festival
Chigwell hosted the first U9 Football Festival on Friday 5th March in glorious spring sunshine. The event was a great success with over 70 boys participating from four local Prep Schools. The pupils were divided into four groups and trained in ‘skill stations’ over the course of the afternoon. FA Tesco Skills Coaches from the Essex Team, under the leadership of Mr Matthew Joseph, put the boys through their paces and, at the same time, encouraged them to enjoy the game. The children gained confidence from 4v4 matches and also acquired new friendships with boys from other schools.
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Brentwood Cathedral Concert
Over 140 Chigwellians—among pupils, parents and staff—and 20 pupils from Loyola Preparatory School took part in the concert at Brentwood Cathedral on Saturday 27th February. The Choir set the scene with Brahms’s “How lovely are thy dwellings” from his German "Requiem" and this was followed by a wonderful performance of Mendelssohn’s “Hear my Prayer”, with Nina McMillan, winner of last year’s Chigwell Musician of the Year Competition, as soprano soloist. However, the highlight of the evening for many was Karl Jenkins’ dramatic and moving piece “The Armed Man”, which proved to be a very popular choice for both performers and audience alike. There were also some very impressive solo performances from within the Choir and everyone who took part, not least Director of Music Miss Amanda Lapwood, should be congratulated. |
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U13 Essex hockey champions
On Wednesday 24th February, the U13 boys’ hockey team won the Essex rounds of the Yazoo National U13 Schools Cup and qualified for the East Rounds as Essex champions. In a round-robin tournament the boys won all their matches, including beating Bancrofts 4-0, Coopers Coburn 3-0 and, in what turned out to be the final, they beat Felsted 2-1, having been 1-0 down, with both goals coming from Conor Caplan. This is the first time that any Chigwell team has qualified as the best in Essex and the boys deserve huge praise for the quality of their hockey and the consistency of their performances throughout the day. |
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JS raises £3,100 for the Haiti Earthquake Appeal
We are absolutely delighted to report that £3,100 was raised in the Junior School on “Silly Hair Day”. The funds raised will go to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal. Donations included two West Ham tickets in the Directors' Box with dinner, which were sold to the highest bidder and one pupil raised almost £200 making and selling bracelets. Students and teachers enjoyed colouring their hair and sporting various eccentric and colourful wigs, all agreed that it was a fantastic way for raising money for the people affected by the Haiti earthquake. |
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Jazz evening
Those who were lucky enough to be at the annual Swing Band and Jazz Evening on Saturday 6th February enjoyed a wonderful evening of music-making. Following some fabulous numbers on the piano by our very own Head of School, Chris Wilson, the Swing Band had everyone’s feet tapping, and even succeeded in getting some people up to dance! In addition to these numbers, there were some fantastic jazz songs by many of our accomplished singers accompanied by the staff quartet, who also performed its own pieces.
With the informal setting of tables, a bar and a dance floor, this really was an evening to relax and catch up with friends and, most importantly, £881 was raised in aid of the Nordoff-Robbins charity, which specializes in music therapy for disabled children and adults.
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Chigwell's promising cricketers
Cordelia Griffith and Beth MacGregor, pictured here at the Super 4s Tournament in Wellington last August, are continuing to reaffirm their position as the best young cricketers in the country. From 27th March for two weeks, Cordelia will be touring South Africa with the England U17 Team, whilst Beth, who has been selected as a member of the England Women's Cricket Academy squad, will be attending a High Performance Training Camp in Bangalore, India, between 13th and 26th March. Beth is attending her second year at the Essex Academy and Cordelia is in her first year of the Essex Emerging Players Programme. On the boys’ cricket front, Saf Imtiaz has also been selected to attend the Essex Emerging Players Programme. |
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Oxbridge-bound
We are delighted to be able to report that eight Chigwell students have been given conditional offers by Oxford or Cambridge Universities. Those who hope to take up places at Oxford are: Wojciech Bazant (Mathematics, Somerville College); Yunlin Chen (Mathematics, Balliol College); Joshua Ding (Electrical Engineering, St Hilda’s College) and Xiaolu Liu (Engineering, St Catherine’s College). The Cambridge-bound candidates are: Oliver Midgley (Politics, Psychology and Sociology, St John’s College); Felicity Osborn (Theology, St John’s College); Egor Tsiaulouski (Engineering, Magdalene College) and Christopher Wilson (Land Economy, Fitzwilliam College). Headmaster, Mr Michael Punt, commented that a total of eight students corresponds to 10% of our Year 13 and we are very proud that once again such a large proportion have gained offers from these highly selective universities. Year on year, the competition for places becomes ever fiercer and the success of these students is a tribute to their hard work and ability as well as the preparation that they have received from their teachers.
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New Head of Junior School
When Mrs Jenny Gwinn, Head of Junior School, announced that she was going to retire at the end of the summer term, we knew that her successor would have a tough act to follow. We had a large and strong field of applicants and were delighted to appoint Mr Simon James who is currently Head of Junior School at Rossall School, Lancashire. Previously he was Junior School Director of Studies at the King’s School, Chester, Head of English at Cheadle Hulme Junior School and teacher at The King’s School, Macclesfield. Mr James visited Chigwell at the end of last week and spent time meeting with existing and prospective Junior School parents and staff. He is married to Jill and they have two daughters, Freya (aged 8) and Phoebe (8 months). They are looking forward to the move south and to meeting as many Chigwell families as possible in the near future. |
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The School Shop Sale
Mrs Beverley Levitt, the School Shop Manager, is delighted to inform all parents that a huge sale will start on 1st February, until 5th February, from 12:00pm to 5.00pm. Many items will be greatly reduced.
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Debating Competition runners-up
Sam Jones and Jonathan Lloyd-Evans were the runners-up in the Epping Forest Schools Debating Competition held on 20th November at Chigwell School. As holders of the handsome cup donated by Mrs Eleanor Laing, MP, it was Chigwell School's pleasure to host this year's Epping Forest Schools Parliamentary Debating Competition. In what was described as the best competition in the last ten years, our students were runners-up to a formidable team from Debden Park School. The audience of around fifty, mainly teachers and parents, were very impressed by the high standard of debating, as were the judges.
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Lessons with Mozart
Nicholas Dixon was approached by Golden Radio, an independent production company, to play the 18th-century English composer Thomas Attwood in a dramatised documentary. Lessons with Mozart tells of his time as Mozart’s student, and is based around a manuscript showing details of how teacher and pupil worked together. In a reconstruction of their exchanges, the two composers discuss aspects of music theory. Attwood was only nineteen when he started studying in Vienna, so an adult actor would not have been appropriate; also important was the ability to make sense of the musical vocabulary. The documentary was heard on BBC Radio 3 on Boxing Day. |
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David Albon
Miss Amanda Lapwood, Director of Music, is delighted to report the success of David Albon, one of Chigwell’s MVI Music Scholars. David is first and foremost a flautist and following his success in the Essex Musician of the Year Competition last year, he has now been offered a place to study at the Birmingham Conservatoire next year. He has also received reserve offers from The Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music. We congratulate David on these fantastic achievements and look forward to watching his career progress! |
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Football in the snow!
Games-time carries on as usual at Chigwell, despite the continuous snowfall! Our LII, UII and III Form boys were able to play football yesterday, January 12, thanks to our Grounds Manager, Tony Barrett, and his team, who cleared three 7-a-side fixtures for the boys to use. Chigwell must have been one of the few schools in the country able to play on a grass pitch not covered in snow! |
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Junior mathematicians
Mrs Linda Joughin is delighted to report that four of her UII pupils, Shomi Basu, Lauren Keiller, Anand Bahri and Prakash Singh, have reached the finals in the Primary Mathematics Challenge Competition. More than 94000 took the paper in November 2009 and our four young students have been invited to display their mathematical abilities in the final, which will be held on Wednesday February 3rd. |
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Snow Patrol Hero
Despite the heavy snowfalls of the last days, Chigwell is one of the few schools in the area that is open for business. This could not have been possible without the dedication of our fantastic grounds, porters and maintenance team and people like Mr Paul Cook (pictured) who were up and working at 5.00am to ensure that the School’s quads, car parks and paths were cleared before the pupils’ arrival. On the first day back from the Christmas vacation, 7th January, two thirds of the pupils arrived for lessons together with all the teaching and support staff. This is what makes Chigwell outstanding. Well done, everyone! |
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Little Shop of Horrors
Emily O’Connor writes: “The Drama Department’s latest project, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’, directed by Ms Amanda Bailey, was an outstanding achievement. The impressive live band, conducted by Miss Amanda Lapwood, was the foundation for a fantastic musical. The chorus line’s choreography was incredibly entertaining and Jack Pewsey’s catchy and realistic dance moves added to the infectious atmosphere of the night. The acting was excellent with star-performances from Nina McMillan, as the vulnerable and beautiful Audrey, and Ryan Peterson, as the adorable Seymour. Impressive performances also came from Ben Hiam and Ben Connor, whose brilliant acting abilities enhanced the musical further. What also made the night so memorable was the set and technical production under the expert guidance of Mr Andy Hill.” |
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Top of the bench
Four very promising chemistry students worked extremely hard and qualified for the final of the 2009 Chemistry Mastermind Competition held at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford on December 3rd. The team (Tiffany Shum, Abhijit Jha, Marianne Schonle and Albert Padfield) performed well under pressure and were narrowly beaten by Colchester Royal Grammar School. Dr Alan Osborne, from the Royal Society of Chemistry, presented the students with their prize. |
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Musical talents
Hana Edwards and Gopal Kambo have been selected, amongst fierce competition, to take part in the London Symphony Orchestra's 'Next Generation Scheme'. In total only 15 students, who demonstrated exceptional musical potential, were selected nationwide and they will spend four creative days per year training with LSO musicians, under the supervision of the scheme's Creative Director. At the end of their first year students will perform in the LSO “On Track Celebration Concert” at the Barbican. |
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Christmas Concert
The Christmas Concert on December 3rd was a huge success, with audience carols adding to the festive spirit! There were some outstanding performances from the main groups and choirs, with perhaps the Orchestra’s performance of Stravinsky’s ‘Berceuse and Finale’ (from the Firebird Suite) being a real highlight. Very impressive solos were given by a number of our scholars and the Chamber Choir did well to perform music entirely different from the pieces sung in the beautiful candle-lit Advent Procession just three days earlier |
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Theatre Trips
The English Department has had a busy November. The entire LV were taken to see ‘An Inspector Calls’-- the JB Priestley’s play that deals about social responsibility -- at the Novello Theatre in the West End. All classes are studying the play for their GCSE Literature coursework. The MVI A-Level English students travelled to the Arcola Theatre to watch a modern and grisly adaptation of Thomas Kyd’s ‘Spanish Tragedy’, to help them better understand the elements of gothic revenge tragedy being studied for their A2 examination. Finally, a group of LVI students travelled to the Barbican Centre to watch ‘Bright Star’ to help them in their study of Keats’ poetry, which is on the AS syllabus. The film tells the tragic story of the last two years of the poet’s life. |
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Junior School Concert
New Hall was once again full to capacity for this eagerly-awaited evening of music-making on Tuesday 17th November. The audience was treated to a wonderful variety of music, from the Junior Orchestra playing Scott Joplin’s ‘The Entertainer’ to the Third and Fourth Form Choir singing ‘Adiemus’ from Karl Jenkin’s ‘Songs of Sanctuary’. It was a delight to hear so many young people performing in a Chigwell Concert for the first time, not least the First Form Choir. There were some wonderful solos from our new Music Scholars, too, and we now look forward to the next Junior Concert in the Summer Term. |
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Katie Marshall's musical achievements
We are delighted to report that Katie Marshall won a Piano Solo Class at the Southend Music Festival for 13-16 year olds on Sunday 22nd November. Katie, who is only 13 years of age, played Brahms’ Rhapsody in G Minor, which she had performed a few weeks earlier at one of the School’s Prom Concerts. |
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U13 reach the ISFA IAPS National Final
The U13 Football team reached the final of the ISFA IAPS Six-a-Side Tournament, which was held at Shrewsbury School on Sunday 22nd November. The team had already qualified for the finals after winning the regional tournament held at King’s School, Ely, last October. Chigwell drew in the opening game against Moulsford, but then won the next four games to finish top of the group and ensure passage into the semi-final, which they won 2-1. In the final, Chigwell came up against a very impressive Parkside School who won the final tie 3-0. Chigwell should be extremely proud of their achievement in reaching the national final after two very long journeys and playing in torrid conditions in both tournaments. |
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African Art Day
Chigwell School junior pupils were given the unique opportunity to experience and learn from the fascinating art of African Tribal Sculpture thanks to a special workshop run by Mr Peter Wengraf, who visited the School with his travelling mini-museum on 18th November.
Mr Peter Wengraf, who is the Director of Arcade Gallery Wengraf in Devon, brought into New Hall a varied collection of authentic traditional sculptures, masks and artefacts, which were all displayed for the children to look at and touch. The first part of the workshop consisted of an illustrative talk about the ancient civilizations and tribes that populated Africa and how the people used the artefacts in their daily lives and rituals. In the second part of the workshop the children drew the artefacts from close proximity. |
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Chigwell Intelligence!
Sir David Pepper, KCMG, (OC), gave a brilliant talk on British intelligence operations to students and staff in the Drama Centre on 12th November. Sir David Pepper retired last year as director of the British intelligence agency, GCHQ. After leaving Chigwell he gained a doctorate in theoretical physics from St John's College, Oxford, and joined GCHQ in 1972, working in intelligence operations. In 1995 he became Director of Personnel. In 1998, he transferred to the Home Office, returning to Cheltenham in 2000 as Director of Finance, and taking over the role of Director in April 2003. He was knighted as a KCMG in 2005. |
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French and Spanish speed-dating
GCSE students from Chigwell and Kingsford Community School, Beckton, took part in a speed-dating style speaking practice event in New Hall after school on Thursday 22nd October. French and Spanish students had to answer a series of questions, spending five minutes with each other and being marked for their content, pronunciation, accent and originality, with prizes for highest scorers. This was one of the first of many planned joint initiatives between the modern languages departments at Chigwell and Kingsford Community School, which is a specialist Languages College. Head of Languages Mr Simon Coppell and Kingsford’s Head of Languages, Mr Gene Aidam—who was himself a Chigwell pupil from 1989 to 1996—said to be delighted with the event which was a perfect example of an independent and a state school working closely together on a very practical and mutually beneficial activity. |
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Budding poet: Jack Stannard
Middle Sixth students, Jack Stannard and Patrick O’Hanlon, hosted the Festival of the Spoken Word on Thursday 22nd October in the Drama Centre. There was certainly a huge amount of talent displayed, however, the audience favorite performance was the reading of one of Jack’s own poems . Jack is indeed a very promising poet and recently he was awarded a prize —at a reception in the Royal Festival Hall —as one of the 85 poets in Foyle’s Young Poet of the Year Award 2009. The fashion magazine Vogue has also chosen Jack for one of its features on young people who will shape the next generation. We all look forward to reading more about this talented young student. |
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Emma Hollis in Iceland
We are delighted to report that Emma Hollis added a silver medal to her already impressive medal tally after a strong performance on the second day of competition at the European Paralympic Swimming Championships at Reyjkavik on 19th October. Emma came second in the 100m breaststroke, knocking over two seconds off her personal best and smashing the British record. Emma, who last summer was promoted to the British Swimming Development Squad, hopes to qualify for the World Championships and the 2012 Olympics. |
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Chigwell Girls' Hockey Academy
Mr Glenn Kirkham coached Chigwell Girls’ Hockey Academy first session on Tuesday 13th October. Mr Kirkham was England hockey captain for 2006-07 and currently he is serving as vice-captain. He also teaches sport at the Perse School, Cambridge, and participated at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where the Great Britain Hockey team finished 5th. The Girls’ Hockey Academy is a new initiative set up with the aim to develop and improve the skills of our most promising senior hockey players who, potentially, could represent the School at county level. The next two academy sessions will be coached by the following two hockey professionals: , Mr Leroy Phillips (South African international) and Mr Ali Bray (OLHC Men’s XI Captain and OLHC Women’s 1st XI Coach). |
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Election fever
Election fever struck Chigwell Senior School last week with two sets of elections. Some pupils were standing in the Epping Forest Youth elections while others were competing for seats on the Chigwell Senior School council. There was a high level of turn out and voters were able to exercise their democratic right in polling booths supplied by the Epping Forest Youth Council. The results will be announced shortly. |
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Yasmina Siadatan ……. you are definitely hired!
Apprentice winner, Yasmina Siadatan, gave an exclusive talk to a large audience of students and parents in the Drama Centre on Thursday 1st October. Yasmina talked about her life and the experiences that made her what she is today. A graduate from LSE — she hugely enjoyed her time at university and grammar school prior to that—she stressed the importance not only of grabbing all the opportunities that a student’s life has to offer, but also of getting the right balance between having a great social time and producing good work. After her talk, Yasmina answered a multitude of questions from the floor and at the end the audience was left with no doubts that Lord Alan Sugar hired a real diamond. And the secret of her business success…as Yasmina said: “Business is about a simple formula. Make more than you spend. That’s what I do, I keep business simple and it works. I am good at it.” |
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The most promising cricket player of the year
We are delighted to report that Beth MacGregor’s contract with the Essex Cricket Academy has been extended for a further two years. Following her performances for the England Women's Academy team v Best of Europe in August, Beth has now been selected for the England Women's Academy winter squad for 2009/10. Other Essex players chosen are Lauren Onajafe and Jo Cook. In addition, following a nomination from the ECB, Beth has been chosen to receive The Cricket Society's 'Most Promising Young Woman Player of the Year Award'. |
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UXI Football & Netball Tournaments
Chigwell School hosted its annual U11 Football and Netball Tournaments on Saturday 26th September. It turned out to be a glorious sunny day with the many spectators enjoying some superb football and netball. 25 teams from local schools competed in the Football Tournament, which saw good quality football being played in a six-a -side format. St Aubyn’s were the eventual winners when they beat St Anthony’s in the final on penalties. 24 teams competed in the Netball Tournament. The standard of play, as always, was impressive and it was fantastic to see over 200 girls play a total of eight games each over the course of the morning. The final stages of the competition were very close, however, it was a real pleasure to be able to award the trophy to The Ursuline Prep School as they had not won the competition before. Second place went to Woodford Green Prep School and third place to Park School for Girls.
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ISFA Six-a-Side Tournament
On Sunday 13th September, Chigwell School hosted the Independent Schools Football Association National Six-a-Side Tournament. Thirty-two teams from around the country, including teams from Manchester, Newcastle and Jersey, competed in eight groups of four with the top two progressing through to the Cup competition and the remainder going through to the plate competition. Chigwell came 2nd in their group and was defeated in the last 16 by a good Hampton side. Bradfield College was the eventual winner of the cup competition, beating Bedford Modern School in the final. ISFA officials were very grateful to Chigwell School for allowing them to use the facilities of the School and the day was considered a huge success. |
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GCSE results
Chigwell GCSE students had every reason to celebrate having achieved the best ever GCSE results, breaking the records set in the last two years. 72% of grades were either A* or A, and 99% of results were between A* and C. The vast majority of the 65 boys and girls in the year group have every reason to feel proud, however, particular congratulations go to Hannah Matson, who gained 10 A* grades, to Amelia Hunt, Ben Hiam and Nicholas Dixon, who gained 9A*s or better, and to Alastair Morton, Benjamin Connor and Adrian Leibovitch who have 8 A* grades or better. The Headmaster commented: “ I am delighted that once again Chigwell students have achieved these excellent results and that for three years in a row, GCSE results have got better and better. These young people have met ambitious targets while taking rigorous subjects that will stand them in good stead for study at A level and beyond. However, I am very aware that the results would not have happened without the talent, dedication and sheer hard work of students and their teachers and I am very pleased for them all.” |
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A Level results
Students and teachers were delighted with the excellent A Level results. 53% of grades awarded were at A grade and 79% were either A or B. The pass rate was 99% and of the year group of 86 students, 30 achieved at least 3 A grades, 11 achieved at least 4 A grades and 4 gained 5 A grades.
The Headmaster, Mr Michael Punt, commented “We are always delighted when students work hard and achieve the results that they deserve. Many of these students have led very busy lives at Chigwell and have contributed much to the wider life of the School. With these results many are moving on to their chosen university courses, including eight who will be going to either Oxford or Cambridge. I am very grateful to all the teachers who have worked so hard to help and encourage them so well, and wish the students every continued success and happiness”.
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Grace's race for life
Grace Boxall, who will be joining Chigwell’s Third Form next September, did something amazing. She took part in Race for Life in Epping Forest on 15th July and raised the incredible amount of £2,400! |
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Darren McQueen's winning goal
Darren McQueen (Rem) scored one of the two goals that made his U16 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. team the winner of the Schwan Tournament in Minnesota, USA, on Sunday 19th July, 2009. The tournament, sponsored by Puma, is one the largest youth competitions in the world and it must have been absolutely thrilling for Darren (who is only 14 and the youngest player in his team) to have been selected to play in such a prestigious competition and to score a goal in the final, thus ensuring that the trophy went to the 'Spurs'. |
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Chigwell's Essex Young Musician
We are delighted to report that David Albon (LVI) got through to the semi-finals of The Essex Young Musician of the Year competition, winning a prize for one of the best U18 performances. David, who played the flute in this competition and would like to be a professional musician, entered the preliminary round with the piece Syrinx by Debussy and Fantasie by Faure; at the semi-finals on 5th July he played the 1st movement of Sonata in G minor by J.S Bach and Concertino by Chaminade. |
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Speech Day 2009
Speech Day on Saturday 4th July once again gave us a chance to come together as a community of pupils, parents and staff and recognize the qualities in each other that make Chigwell School the unique and vibrant place that it is. This year’s guest speaker was Ben Shephard, OC; today he is a very popular GMTV anchor presenter. His presence and speech made the event a very special and happy occasion. He spoke with great confidence, remembering the time when he was a Chigwell music scholar and what he learnt then that contributed to make him the person he is today. In particular, he told the 1,500-strong audience of a piece of advice given to him by music master Mr Michael Bradley, which is something that still serves him well in his profession today, and that is to always strive to prepare and research well in advance in order “not to get things wrong” – as opposed to try and “get things right”. |
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¡Hola! ¿ Qué tal?
The after-school Spanish class for adult beginners has proved very popular amongst our parents, thanks to the indefatigable teaching of our Spanish Assistant, Miss Verónica Rodríguez. Head of Languages, Mr Simon Coppell, is delighted that so many parents have become model students of “ el idioma castellano” and, thanks to Verónica, the class will continue next month. |
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U9 Cricket
The U9 Cricket Team played its first match of the season on Monday 11th May against South Loughton Cricket Club. The match was thoroughly enjoyed by all the boys involved who demonstrated excellent sportsmanship throughout. |
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Family Fun Day
The Family Fun Day and Run on Sunday 10th May raised over £2,200 net for the local charities supported by the School. It was a very enjoyable day with Top Field bristling with many attractions, including craft stalls, delicious food and drinks, a merry-go-round, a bouncy castle and a gladiators ring! |
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The Charity Art Exhibition
The Art Department is pleased to announce that the School annual Charity Art Exhibition this year will be supporting Haven House Hospice. The private view and sales evening will take place on Thursday 14th May at 6.30pm and everyone is most welcome to attend it. The majority of the works in the exhibition, submitted by parents, pupils and friends of the School, is for sale for the price of £10 per piece; a selection of works will be auctioned on the evening of the private view. |
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Musician of the Year 2009
The most important occasion of the year for Chigwell School music scholars, the Musician of the Year Competition, took place on Thursday 30 April. All music scholars auditioned to an outside adjudicator (Mr Martin Palmer, Director of Music at Truro School) during the day. Eight scholars were selected to play in the final and, amidst much excitement, Mr Palmer crowned Marianne Schonle as the Junior and Nina McMillan as the Senior Chigwell Musician of the Year. Beatrice Moore and Chris Wilson were highly commended. The other 4 finalists were David Albon, Katie Marshall, Sophie Ogunyemi and Tiffany Shum. |
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Life’s Work Well Done
We are delighted to report that Nicholas Dixon’s first book was published recently. The book, “Life’s Work Well Done”, is the history or Nicholas’ previous school, St Aubyn’s, and has entailed five years of extensive research in several archives. Nicholas, who is also St Aubyn’s official archivist, not only enjoys writing and contributing with his articles to national papers and history journals, but he is also a very talented music composer. His “Cello Quartet in G” delighted the audience at the last Chamber Concert. |
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Scouts conquer Cul Mhor!
A party of Remove Scouts, with Mr Chris Lord, Mr Richard Parry and OC Mr Neil Taylor, climbed this 2,785-foot- high mountain in the far north of Scotland, as part of their Easter Expedition. The whole party, including more from the Removes and IV Form, and accompanied by Mrs Jackie Osborne and Ms Pam Rex, also ventured on overnight hikes into the wilderness, and attempted to find Britain's most remote war grave, where a Lancaster came down in bad weather in 1941. Mr Parry took them fishing for brown trout, and they visited a series of caves where prehistoric man sheltered. They also visited Elphin, with which the Chigwell School Scouts have a long association. |
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Musical extravaganza
Six schools including Chigwell and East 15 School of Acting joined forces with the local Rotary Clubs to stage a diverse musical show in aid of a good cause. “Youth Makes Music” took place in New Hall on 6th March and raised £1,600 for the Rotary Clubs’ charity “Polio”. The show featured various songs from musicals to Mozart’s arias, to the delight of a full to capacity audience, which included Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing. |
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The School of Night's Students
A group of talented 3rd year students from East 15 School of Acting paid homage to theatre guru Ken Campbell, who died last August, with a highly energizing performance of Poltroonery Knight in the Drama Centre on Friday 20th March. Ken Campbell, who studied at Chigwell from 1952 to 1959, was a hugely talented actor, writer and director renowned for his avant-garde theatre work. At the end of the performance, one of the students, Alex Marieka Hanly, was declared the most innovative act in the show and presented by Headmaster Mr Michael Punt with a prize sponsored by the School. |
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U11s win 5-a-side tournament
The U11 football team won the Woodford Green Prep 5-a-side competition on 18th March after defeating Coopersale Hall in the last stage of the tournament. The team played four matches in total and all the squad’s members played outstanding football throughout. The star- players were: Chris Coveney, Tayo Felsted, Jevan Rana, Tom Martin, Harry Butler, Harry Jennings and Daniel Whitehead. |
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U13 IAPS Netball National Winners
Chigwell School U13 Girls' Netball team qualified for the national IAPS finals, which took place at Roedean School, Brighton, on Saturday 14th March. Eighteen teams qualified for the last stages of this competition and Chigwell, having played ten matches, were declared national champions, beating Felsted in an exciting final. The girls were wonderful ambassadors for the School and fully deserved their success. |
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Chigwell’s pupils sing for HM the Queen
On the 9th March a small group of singers from Chigwell School were privileged to take part in the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth by singing before HM the Queen and HRH Prince Philip during their visit to Marlborough House on Commonwealth Day. The singers, comprising members of the IIIrd and IVth Forms, had been rehearsing diligently since half term to learn the song by heart. The performance was relayed throughout the State Rooms where some 500 visitors and dignitaries were to gather for the reception. When the great moment arrived and the Queen, along with Prince Philip and accompanied by the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Mr Kamalesh Sharma and Mrs Sharma stood and listened attentively to the performance and seemed genuinely appreciative. The video may be viewed on the Commonwealth website, http://www.thecommonwealth.org/ |
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Oxbridge bound
Chigwell School is delighted to announce the success of eight Middle Sixth students who gained conditional offers at Oxford and Cambridge universities. This represents 10% of the year group. It is a tribute to the ability, commitment and competitiveness of the pupils concerned, with pride of place going to the Law and Mathematics candidates. |
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James Harrington interviews David Cameron
Chigwell School pupil James Harrington, aged 12, displayed great interviewing skills when he was invited to meet the shadow PM, David Cameron, in his office at Westminster. James was able to ask the Conservative leader a whole range of questions and probe his party’s views, from the long-term strategy to stop knife and gun crimes to plans to improve education and healthy eating in schools. After the interview Mr Cameron showed James personal photos and recalled that when he was James’ age he watched Margaret Thatcher and thought she was right regarding the big issues. |
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Dance Show
The Dance Show involved pupils from both the Junior and Senior School performing a variety of dancing styles. It was a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to choreograph pieces to music themselves and display their skills in a formal setting. |
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Hockey Achievers
This year has seen the biggest ever representation of Chigwell School pupils in the Essex hockey squads. The boys and girls in the photograph have all been selected this season in either the Essex or Essex development 10 to 13 year olds’ teams. After the completion in October of the School’s floodlit all-weather pitch, hockey at Chigwell is going from strength to strength. Head of boys’ hockey, Mr James Stedman, believes that “with a core of players having represented Essex in most age groups across the Junior School and with more and more boys and girls playing club hockey down the road at The Old Loughtonians, the future of Chigwell hockey looks extremely promising. I congratulate all the pupils who have been selected to represent their county and I wish the very best of luck to those who still have tournaments and matches to play”. |
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Chigwell's Mandarin Club
Head of Modern Languages, Mr Simon Coppell, is delighted to announce that Chigwell’s Mandarin Chinese after-school club is up and running under the tutelage of Ms Ma Yan. The Mandarin classes, for pupils from 11 to 18 years of age, started at the beginning of the Lent Term and will run till the end of the academic year. The participating students who are divided into two groups, juniors and seniors, not only study the language but are also given a flavour of the culture and have a go at tai chi, paper cutting, calligraphy, cooking and dancing amongst other aspects of Chinese life. |
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Beth MacGregor's Cricket Achievements
Chigwell School student Elizabeth MacGregor had an excellent year as captain of the Essex Cricket U15 team. Selected to join the Essex County Cricket Club Academy last November, she was nominated “player of the year” for captaining her side. A genuine all-rounder, “Beth” was also an integral part of the full Essex Women's side that won their division of the County Championship and was placed in the top 20 performers in the whole Country for both batting and bowling. If that is not enough, for the third year running, and despite being only 15, she has been selected as a member of the ECB Junior Super Fours Squad for U19 Girls. |
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Chris Wilson and all that Jazz...
Chris Wilson was a runner up in the final of the Sibelius Student Composer of the Year competition. Chris entered the jazz category with a modern composition titled Ace of Spade. People across the country voted online for their favourite composer and the winner was decided by a combination of opinions of professional judges and public votes. To be a runner up in such a competition is therefore a huge musical achievement. |
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Aminah and Felicity at the annual ASE Conference
Aminah Khan and Felicity Osborn gave a presentation at the annual Association for Science Education Conference on Wednesday 7th January at the University of Reading. Their talks were delivered to delegates from 25 nations during the plenary session of the Conference’s International Day. The Sixth Formers shared their experience of working in Africa last summer: Felicity spent a month working with orphans in Uganda whilst Aminah went to help with inoculations programmes in Ghana. |
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DoE Gold Award for three Chigwellians
Three Chigwell School former students were the recipients of the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award. Andrew Barratt, Jonathan Albon and Max Kempe, who left Chigwell last Summer, attended the presentation in St James’s Palace and received the award from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh himself! The Duke of Edinburgh Scheme is well regarded by universities and employers and we are very proud that these three students have received this prestigious award. |
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Chigwell duo inspire Essex Hockey
We are very proud to announce that Cordelia Griffith and Jessie David played
for the Essex U14 team that won the East of England Hockey League
Championship. Jessie was one of the team’s leading goal scorers. The finals
were played at Redbridge Leisure Centre on Sunday 14th December, when the
girls’ team beat Hertfordshire (2-1) and Lincolnshire (10-1) and won the
Championship. |
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Heated Debate Winners
Sixth Formers James Crouch and Jan Indracek were declared winners of the
Epping Forest Schools’ Parliamentary Debating Competition and presented
with a trophy after a heated public debate over the motion “this house
believes that capitalism is dead”. The other students involved in the
competition were from West Hatch, Davenant, St John’s and Debden Park
schools. The judging panel included Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing and
Elspeth Bond, Headmistress at Theydon Bois Primary School. Mrs Laing said
that the debating motion was a particularly difficult one for the students and
yet the standard of debate was high; all students had clearly worked hard on
their research and delivered enthusiastic and well thought out speeches. |
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Billy Wells Soccer Success
Billy Wells was chosen as Captain of the Independent Schools F.A. Under 16 South in their match on Sunday against their counterparts I.S.F.A. North at Shrewsbury School in Shropshire.
Subsequently, Billy was selected for the full National I.S.F.A. U16 Squad for training at their camp in Lilleshall National Sports Centre, and that includes a match against Shropshire F.A. in mid December. This is a tremendous personal achievement for Billy and for soccer at Chigwell School.
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Blood Wedding, the Senior School Production
The Senior School production of Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Blood Wedding” aimed and succeeded in creating a strong visual and physical performance. Aided by imaginative choreography and flamenco music, the production became embedded in the red earth and fierce heat of Andalucia. It was a huge success, running for three evenings, from 3rd to 5th December, to a full house. |
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Advent Procession
The candle-lit Advent Procession, on Monday 1st December in St Mary’s, started with the Chamber Choir singing the Introit, “Adam lay ybounde”, as a kind of overture, and culminated with “The Matin Responsory”, heard in the depths of darkness. The Procession then moved from West to East, together with the spreading of light throughout the Church. Once again, this was a moving occasion, symbolically portraying the revelation of Christ as the light of the world. The Church was packed with Old Chigwellians and parents who enormously enjoyed the performance by our Chamber Choir. |
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Junior School Concert
New Hall was once again bursting at the seams on the evening of the Junior School Concert. The audience was treated to a wide range of music, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, sung by our youngest choir, to a highly professional performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons ‘Autumn’ and ‘Winter’, performed by our Junior Orchestra. There were also some very accomplished solo performances by our new music scholars and it felt good to see that Music in the Senior School will be in safe hands for many years to come! |
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U11 Girls Hockey - IAPS Tournament
Ten U11 girls from Chigwell School attended the South Region round of the IAPS Hockey Tournament, held at Queenswood School on Wednesday 26th November. The girls, coached by Miss Amanda Lapwood, played some superb hockey throughout the day and won all six of their matches, gaining a total of 18 points and finishing as the top team in their section. This means that they will now go on, along with three other schools, to represent the South of England in the National Finals that are taking place on Wednesday 3rd December at Queenswood School. |
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The All-Weather Pitch Formal Opening
Chigwell School’s new state-of-the art floodlit all-weather pitch was formally opened on Tuesday 4th November by Mr Ben Shephard (OC) and Mrs Thelma Sullivan. The celebrations started at 3.15pm in the Drama Centre Foyer with a drinks reception for over 150 donors, followed by the cutting of the ribbon at 4.15pm and the inaugural hockey match played by Chigwell’s 1st XI girls and boys teams and watched by a crowd of parents, staff and well-wishers. |
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Mr Creag Lawrence's NY Marathon
We are delighted to report that Mr Creag Lawrence completed the New York Marathon in 3 hours and 41 minutes, this is a huge achievement. Mr Lawrence ran the marathon to raise funds for a primary school at Inungur, near Trichy in Tamil Nadu, South India. Anyone wishing to sponsor Mr Lawrence for this worthy cause should visit the website http://www.justgiving.com/creaglawrence |
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Netball and Hockey Tour
Over the October half term holiday, a group of thirty-one girls set off for Salou, near Barcelona, to embark upon a five-day hockey and netball tour. The girls, who are all in the Third and Fourth Form, took part in training sessions run by SET Sports Masterclass and as a result they all saw their skills improve tremendously. The hockey team played a match against a local club side, Terrassa, which is regarded as one of the top clubs in Spain. Special awards were given to Cordelia Griffith and Sophie Al Mudallal, as players of the tournament, and to Lauren Drabwell and Saira Rafiq, as players who most improved in hockey and netball respectively. |
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Football Tour to Valencia
A group of 18 U15 students spent the first week of the Half Term holiday training and playing at Valencia’s “Club de Futbol”. Our players found themselves training on the pitch adjacent to the one occupied by Valencia CF’s first team. Coached by Valencia CF Academy coaches, our boys’ football skills improved enormously during the week. They played two matches against local Spanish opposition and enjoyed a tour of the impressive Mestella Stadium |
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Music Festival
Chigwell hosted the 13th one-day Music Festival for 7 to 10 year old pupils from both the School and several local Preparatory and Primary schools on Saturday 11th October 2008. Music teacher Miss Felicity Leach looked after the Orchestra and Miss Amanda Lapwood, Chigwell Director of Music, was in charge of the singing. More than 120 children took part and it was wonderful to see them enjoying themselves so much whilst making music and learning new musical skills in the process.
All children had the opportunity to play in a large orchestra or to rehearse and perform a variety of songs. All instrumentalists and singers also joined together to sing the final piece. The day of music making ran from 10.00am to 6.30pm with a closing concert at 5.30pm attended by the budding musicians’ parents and friends.
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Netball Champions
Nine girls from Chigwell School attended the first round of the East Essex County Trials in September and seven of them were selected to go through to the 2nd round on 5th October. Congratulations to Jessie David and Cordelia Griffith for being selected for the Satellite Academy (which is the full U14 Essex Netball Squad) and to Lauren Drabwell, Juliette Aliker, Francesca Cummins and Sophie Bishop who were selected for the U14 Essex Development Squad. |
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The King’s Cross Poet in Chigwell
The acclaimed poet, Aidan Andrew Dun, also known as the King’s Cross Poet, came to Chigwell School on Monday 6th October and gave an unforgettable and enlightening, three-dimensional talk to our Sixth Formers and members of staff. Whilst listening to his lecture the audience embarked on a journey; aided by projected images and the sound of Mr Dun’s guitar and magical voice, the listeners travelled through time: 1973 when Mr Dun experienced what can be described as an epiphany, a revelation, and, still a teenager living in the King’s Cross squats, knew his calling for poetry, and further back, to 1873, when the French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine lodged in a hotel in King’s Cross, just round the corner from the 1973’s squats. Mr Dun’s poetical journey is well grounded in the history of poetry, from Dante’s Divine Comedy to the French symbolists and Blake, and in the “spiritual” geography of King’s Cross. He is not just a writer of poems, but a scholar and a modern prophet. |
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MacMillan Coffee Afternoon
The MacMillan Coffee afternoon in Chigwell’s New Hall on Friday 3rd October was a huge success and raised £1,063 (net) for cancer research. Miss Avani Hurribunce, who chairs the School’s Charities Committee, said that the School was hugely grateful to all the parents, Friends of Chigwell, pupils and dedicated members of the committee for their hard work. |
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House Music 2008
The House Music competition on Friday 19 September was a high-energy, most enjoyable event with New Hall packed and Swallow's House winning once again this year. Their House song was Mamma Mia, both the song and the dance routine went down extremely well with the audience. The event raised a nice lump sum for our charities and we hope to send £1,000 to the Birthmark Trust. |
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A class on nutrition
Chef Mr Andrew Walker and nutritionist Ms Angela Ducker gave a class on eating the right food to our Junior School pupils. The children thoroughly enjoyed the lecture, especially when it came to the practical side of the lesson and were asked to taste chef’s exquisite, delightful sugar free all-fruit ice creams! |
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Our fastest bat-girl
We are delighted to report that Cordelia Griffith has won the Nat West U12 Girls Speed Stars Final. The event took place at Lords Cricket Ground on Saturday 13th September. She was presented by Michael Vaughan, Stuart Broad and Beth Morgan with a medal and a signed cricket bat (England V New Zealand). |
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U11 Netball Tournament
On Saturday 13th September 24 teams entered the annual U11 Chigwell Netball Tournament. As always there was much excitement and with all teams playing eight matches in total, some superb netball was on display throughout the morning. The standard of play in the top section was extremely impressive and some very close matches were played, however the overall winners of the tournament this year, for the fist time, were Coopersale Hall. Chigwell's A team came 5th, coached by ex England Netball International and Captain Miss Amanda Newton. |
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U11 Footbal Tournament
On Saturday 13th September, Chigwell School hosted its annual U11 Football Tournament. The format for this year was changed to 6-a-side and 25 teams from 22 local primary schools competed in the event. The standard of football was extremely high and this was commented by staff, parents and referees alike. The Ursuline School from Brentwood faced The Daiglen School in the final match and, after a tense 13 minutes of normal time and extra time, the match had to be settled on penalties. Unfortunately there could only be one winner and a fine save by The Ursuline’s keeper in the shoot-out resulted with the latter team winning the competition. All players had a fantastic day and excellent sportsmanship was shown throughout.
The participating schools were: Coopersale, St Aubyns’, The Ursuline, St Anthony’s, Snaresbrook College, Forest, Christchurch, Eastcourt, Brentwood, Park School, Bancroft, Fairlop, Edward’s House, St Cedd’s, Woodford Green Prep, Avon House, Hereward, St Helen’s, Manford Primary, Theydon Bois Primary and Loyola. |
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Running the NY Marathon for a worthy cause
On 2nd November, 2008, Mr Creag Lawrence will be running the New York Marathon to help raise funds for a primary school in southern India. He is hoping to run the marathon in 3 hours 30 minutes. He was drawn to this project because of the existing links between Chigwell School and the Beacon Literacy Education Service Society (BLESS) School at Inungur, near Trichy in Tamil Nadu, South India. The school at present accommodates children of primary school age, many from among the poorest families in the region. The most recent school building was built with funds raised by Chigwell School in memory of Tim Pruss, (an 18 year old former pupil who died in a tragic accident). As the children grow, there is the need to expand the school up to secondary level. Funds are also required to cover the cost of salaries of teachers and equipment. Money is donated through the Bede Griffiths Charitable Trust, a UK registered charity which supports social work projects in south India. People in India are passionate about education as they know that it is the most important force for changing lives and creating opportunities. Please sponsor Mr Lawrence to help bring education to some of the poorest children in India. |
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Trip to Iceland
The second Sixth Form trip to Iceland in July was a great success. On arriving the students went straight to the famous blue lagoon and bathed in its warm, mineral waters. The students then travelled to their log cabin accommodation in the wilds of Iceland’s remote countryside. The second day they visited two of Iceland’s most famous waterfalls. They then took an internal flight on a small aircraft to Heimaey, the island where a volcano erupted in 1971. They also took a boat trip to see the puffins on remote islands, visited a geothermal power station and saw the famous hot water geysers. The students experienced landscapes that they had never seen before and many were awe struck by Iceland’s great beauty. |
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Chigwell’s star golfer
We are thrilled to report that Jessica Kaimakami came 2nd in the U13 at the Stowe Putter on August 21. She was presented with her prize by the cricketer Allan Lamb, who was the guest speaker. It was a fantastic day, apart from Jessica being stung by a wasp on the 5th hole! Jessica’s handicap has now gone down to 6, this is a huge achievement for her age. She has recently played the national course, Wentworth, in only 4 over par! Again, this is fantastic for her age! |
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Summer Trip to the Ardeche
32 Forth form and Remove pupils enjoyed a week's activity holiday in the Ardeche region of the South of France during the school holiday. Accompanied by Mr Chris Mills, Mr Creag Lawrence, Miss Miranda Weeks and Miss Emily Hinchcliffe, the pupils enjoyed numerous adventure activities including climbing, abseiling, mountain biking, zip wire and archery. Two excursions took place during the week to Avignon and the beach, but by far the most memorable part of the trip was the two day descent of the Ardeche river in canoes, the excursion also included an overnight 'bivvy' under the stars. |
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JS Summer Football Course
During the last week of the summer holiday over 40 junior school pupils enjoyed four days of football coaching at School. Coached by Mr Creag Lawrence, Mr David Richbell and Mr Kevin Rimmer, the pupils learnt new skills, enjoyed many games and mini tournaments. All pupils showed great enthusiasm throughout the week, whilst Imogen Padwick (year 6), Oliver Morgan (year 4) and Jay Sasdev (year 6) picked up the 'Players of the Course' award as they showed great sportsmanship and effort throughout the week. Well done to all pupils who took part on the course. |
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Alex Segal, OC- West End Theatre Debut
Old Chigwellian, Alex Segal, makes his West End Theatre debut this week as one of the Producers of the Tony Award nominated comedy 'Well', starring Academy Award, Golden Globe & BAFTA nominee actress Sarah Miles. The European premiere of the play begins performances on 4th September 2008 and runs till 27th September 2008 at Trafalgar Studios in Trafalgar Square, London. After leaving Chigwell in 2005, Alex studied at the University of Portsmouth before training at the prestigious Central School of Speech & Drama. His first foray into professional theatre came at Kevin Spacey's Old Vic Theatre earlier this year. For more information on how to book for 'Well' please visit www.theambassadors.com/trafalgarstudios. |
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2008 GCSE results are the best ever
Chigwell GCSE students had every reason to celebrate this morning, having achieved the best ever GCSE results. 35% of all grades awarded were A* and 71 % of grades were A* or A. From the year group of 71 boys and girls, there were many individual successes but particular congratulations go to Richard Collier who achieved 10 A* grades; Vanessa Albert, Jack Pusey and Christopher Wilson who gained 9A*s or better and Christopher Briggs, Louise Russ and Katie Smith who had 8A*s or better.
Mr Michael Punt, Headmaster, commented that “We are very proud of all those students who worked so hard to achieve these excellent results and very grateful to their teachers who supported them so effectively. Gaining top GCSE grades has become increasingly important for candidates who will be applying for the most selective university courses but in the meantime, these students can look forward to their A level studies with confidence ." |
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Record A Level Results – Again!
Students and teachers were delighted with the record A level results this year. 56% of grades awarded were A grade, 85% were either A or B and the pass rate was once again 100%. Of the year group of 99 students, 34 achieved at least three A grades and 20 gained four or more A grades. Maria Listra was one of the best ten students in A level Drama and Theatre Studies for which there were 12,487 candidates, and former Head of School Michael Wilson was amongst the top ten out of 3,398 entries for A level German. Michael Punt, Headmaster, said: “We are very proud of all our students' collective success. They have achieved excellent academic results enabling them to move on to the university course of their choice and seven gained the grades that they needed to take up their places at either Oxford or Cambridge. On top of this, many have contributed a great deal to the wider life of the School and involved themselves in a whole host of activities outside the classroom. We wish all former pupils every success as they progress to the next exciting phase of their lives and we thank their teachers for their dedicated hard work and support.” |
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Young Geographer of the Year Runner Up
As one of the runners up of the Young Geographer of the year Competition, Andrew Barratt was invited to attend an award ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington on May 27. The highlight of the day was a lunch with the professors of this prestigious Society and meeting Mr Pen Hadow, who has contributed much in the world of geography and has recently returned from a polar expedition where he measured the thickness of the ice sheet, which apparently is getting thinner and thinner. More than 1,800 participants took part in the competition, so Andrew's achievement is significant. He also won a selection of Dorling Kindersley books,Ordinance Survey goodies and computer software for the School. Andrew has written two articles for the GCSE Geography Review Magazine, achieved full marks on a recent A Level geography paper and looks forward to taking up the offer to study geography at the University of Bristol in October. |
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The BBC School Report Project Award
On Friday May 16, four Junior School pupils, accompanied by Mr Jason Porter and Miss Elle Barrs, went to the BBC TV centre to receive an award for the BBC School Report Project (this scheme uses plans and materials from the BBC website and, with the support from BBC staff, teachers help students to develop their journalistic skills). Only 15 schools received an award, out of the 294 who registered, so this is a huge achievement for all the Chigwell Junior School pupils who took part in the project . Our pupils met the Deputy Director General of the BBC, Mr Mark Byford and Mr Adam Fleming from Newsround, as well as Mr Gethin Jones, Blue Peter presenter, among other famous people. They also visited the newsroom and saw some news readers from BBC News 24. |
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Chigwell’s IAPS Swimmers
Four U13 girls, Sarah Dudley, Hannah Jerman, Marissa Posnett and Andraea Posnett, competed in the IAPS National Swimming finals which took place in Crawley on Saturday 3rd May. Hannah Jerman qualified for the 50m butterfly, Sarah Dudley swam in the 50m breastroke final, coming 6th, Andraea Posnett swam in the backstroke final and Marissa Posnett in the 50m freestyle. Both Andraea and Marissa swam superbly, gaining a bronze medal. All four girls also swam in both the medley and freestyle relays. The girls came 5th overall in the medley relay and managed to knock a huge 7.5 seconds off their previous time. In the freestyle relay they came 6th in the final and knocked 7 seconds off their personal best time. Congratulations to the girls for doing so well at this hugely prestigious event, for working so hard on their preparation and showing such high levels of enthusiasm, commitment and support for one another both in the run-up to the event and at the finals themselves. |
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Musician of the Year
The eighth Musician of the Year Competition held on April 24, reached the highest standard ever, not least by our Junior Competitors, many of whom set the standard at Grade 7 and above. The adjudicator, Mrs Maggie Donnelly, Director of Music at the City of London School for Girls, had the unenviable task of choosing the eight musicians (from all the 34 auditioned) who performed in the prestigious final in the evening. However, all competitors throughout the day should be congratulated on their very polished performances. After much agonising, Mrs Maggie Donnelly awarded the Junior Musician of the Year to Beatrice Moore and the Senior award to David Winters, with Becky Briggs and Chris Wilson both being highly commended. The evening was a huge celebration: not just of the very high standard of music that was on show, but also the wonderful atmosphere amongst the musicians at Chigwell, who are very supportive of each other. |
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The Bunburies Cricket Charity Match
The rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of all the pupils, staff and parents who worked so hard to make a huge success of the annual cricket celebrities’ match on Sunday April 27. The fundraising event helped to raise £5,000 for the children’ s charity, Barnardo’s. The Bunbury XI this year included well-know personalities from the worlds of sport, TV and radio. David English, Sam Fox, ex-Arsenal Perry Groves, actor Bradley Walsh and cricket’s heroes, Devon Malcolm and Mark Ramprakash, were among those taking part. Chigwell’s Headmaster’s XI beat The Bunbury XI in a well-contested match. We are most grateful to all the staff, parents and pupils who helped before and on the day and of course to Mr Nick Tester, who master-minded the whole event. |
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Mr Kazuo Ishiguro’s talk to Sixth Formers
Mr Kazuo Ishiguro, the acclaimed contemporary writer, gave a most interesting talk to Sixth Formers, staff and pupils on Tuesday 22nd April in the Drama Centre. Mr Ishiguro’s novels are widely read and hugely enjoyed by many readers (and translated in 20 countries). Since his debut novel in 1982, A Pale view of the Hills, he wrote An Artist of the Floating World (Whitbread book of the year in 1989) and his third book, The Remains of the Day, was also filmed and won the Booker. Other three successful novels followed, The Unconsoled in 1995, When we were Orphans in 2000 and Never let me go in 2005. The perfect use of language, the sense of mystery and the metaphorical framework of his stories are some of the elements that distinguish his remarkable work. However, what perhaps struck the audience most were his charisma, modesty and accessibility and willingness to share with our pupils some of secrets of his trade. He also gave good advice to those who may wish to follow his muse in creative writing. Chigwell felt very privileged for his visit. |
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Fun Run raises £1,600 for charity
The wonderful Chigwell’s annual Fun Run took place on Sunday 20th April and totalled £1,600 for local charities. Mrs Gill Punt started the race (four laps round Chigwell’s extensive 70 acres playing fields) and the winner was one of our parents, Mr Ronald Daniel. It was good to see so many parents, staff and their families enjoying the day.
Those who did not run had good time browsing the many stalls in New Hall, eating delicious cakes made by parents, playing crazy golf and shooting bows and arrows. We are of course grateful to all the parents, pupils and staff who worked very hard to make a success of the day. |
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U13 Cricket Tour to Dubai
Mr Nick Tester, together with Mr James Stedman and Mrs Jenny Gwinn, led a group of 18 U13 pupils to Dubai, for a week long cricket tour, as part of their pre-season training. The tour incorporated three matches against local opposition on three different wicket surfaces of concrete, grass and Astroturf, in temperatures ranging between 33°-36°C.
On the first day the group went to the Abu Dhabi stadium to see Yorkshire v Sussex, a game in the Arabian Cricket Challenge which also included Lancashire and Essex. The pupils watched from a VIP box, had a training session in the nets and then met all the players, including England internationals Darren Gough, Chris Adams and Luke Wright. What a great start to the tour!
On the second day the group played their first match in the beautiful surroundings of Zabeel Park, but on the unfamiliar surface of concrete! Despite losing the match, impressive performances came from Albert Padfield and Sid Koak.
On the third day the group travelled to the 27,000 capacity Stadium in Sharjah to play against the Dubai Academy. Chigwell bowled economically for most of the first innings before some big hitting from the lower order led the Academy to 142-5 off their 25 overs. Cordelia Griffith, the only girl in the team and the current Essex girls U13 Captain, impressed with two maiden overs in a row at the start of the innings. In every game Cordelia played, the opposition coaches remarked how impressed they were with her cricket. Safwaan Imtiaz, (Essex boys U11 cricketer of the year last season) hit a majestic 50, an innings of class in baking hot conditions. Dominic Higgins and Sag Kugathansan also made valuable runs, however, Chigwell fell just short, losing by 20 runs. In the afternoon the group was invited to Delhi Private School in Sharjah to participate in a 6-a-side tournament to mark the retirement of the school’s Headmistress. The players were divided into three different teams and the shorter format of the game seemed to inspire them. One of our teams, captained by Asim Shamsudin, got through to the final, played under floodlights at 8.30pm, and was awarded a trophy. Individual players’ trophies were also awarded to Safwaan Imtiaz, Sag Kugathansan and Nickolai Aoun.
The final match was played on Astroturf against Delhi Private School, Dubai. Nickolai Aoun top scored with 29 but the best innings came from Neel Chudasama, who batted with great maturity and growing confidence. The opposition were initially restricted by some tight bowling from Alex Morrow and Jason Driver, however, some late hitting meant the opposition won with three overs to spare.
The last day was a tourists dream when the group visited the Wild Wadi water park, home to the world's second biggest water slide, next to the famous Burj Al Arab 7* hotel. This was followed by a 'dune bashing', 4x4 ride over the desert dunes. The day ended at the desert safari camp where the pupils were able to experience some of the local Arab culture, including the chance to have a henna tattoo, a camel ride and enjoy a belly dancing show!
The tournament made all the participants fully appreciate the passion for cricket in the United Arab Emirates and our pupils made an excellent impression wherever they went. It really was a fantastic week for cricket! |
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Brentwood Cathedral Choral Concert
This year's Chigwell School annual Choral Concert was once again held at Brentwood Cathedral ( for the 3rd year running) on Saturday 1st March. with Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate being performed with real professionalism by our music scholar from Estonia, Maria Listra. Miss Felicity Leach conducted the Exsultate. On the menu for Chigwell Choral Society was Haydn's Creation; members of our choirs, alongside staff and parents, sang with real energy under the baton of Mr Michael Bradley; the soloists were Charlotte Mobbs, Thomas Hobbs and Stuart Young and the Apollo Sinfonia performed flawlessly. |
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We are delighted to announce that many of our pupils once again took part in the Stratford Festival of Music and Drama and there were many notable performances in this, though the one person who must be named is Marianne Schonle, one of our music scholars, who not only won her category, but was then invited to perform in the Festival's Musician of the Year competition which she won, despite competing again students of 18 when she is only 12!
This is a truly remarkable achievement. |
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Swimmers' success
The School is delighted to announce that six junior pupils entered the IAPS swimming competition at Bishop Stortford on February 4 and the results were:
Sarah Dudley came 1st in Breast Stroke, Marissa Posnett came 1st in Free Style, Andraea Posnett came 1st in Back Stroke and Hannah Jerman came 2nd in Butterfly. Sarah, Marissa and Andrea also came 1st in both the Medley and Free style relay with Hannah Jerman as the fourth swimmer. Alex Barnard came 3rd in Breastroke and Katie Marshall came 4th Freestyle
They will have to wait until March to hear whether they have made it through to the national finals. |
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The Hans Woyda Maths Challenge
Our Mathematics Quiz team, comprising Yuqing Zhang, Xiao Qian Lin, Andrew Liddell, Alastair Morton and Neroshen Mohan, has performed extremely well to reach the Quarter Final stages of the Hans Woyda Inter-Schools Mathematics Quiz competition. Our mathematicians won their group matches against local rivals (Bancroft's, Forest (tie) and Ilford County High School) to reach the knockout stages and then defeated Notting Hill and Ealing High School to set up a tense battle against Merchant Taylor's School (the same team that knocked them out at the same stage last year). If the team could secure victory in this quarter final it would, in all probability, set up a semi final match against hot favourites Westminster. A prospect that our team would savour! |
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U11 IAPS Hockey Tournament
On February 19 our U11 Hockey Team took part in the South East IAPS Tournament which was held at Haileybury School. The boys started against the eventual winners, Greshams Prep, and unfortunately lost 4-0 after having arrived 2 minutes before they were due to start. Results improved over the next two games with a 1-0 victory against Woodford Green Prep with William Sibley striking home and a 2-1 victory against South Lee School with the impressive Edward Tyler bagging a brace. These results ensured the team finished 2nd in their group and qualified them for the Cup competition and the top 8 of 16 teams. Chigwell drew their first game of the cup competition with their best performance of the day. Chigwell had much of the possession and the boys were extremely unfortunate not to win the game against St Andrew's. Defenders Jamie Colton, Matthew Higgins and Ravi Taheam engaged in some strong tackling which left goalkeeper Daniel Mahoney as a mere spectator in the match. Joint Captain Chris Halls showed some excellent skills in midfield. Buoyed by the performance, Chigwell knew that a victory in their last two games would probably send them through to the semi-finals of the competition and more importantly a place in the national finals. But despite creating chances against two strong teams, the Abbey School and Culford School, the boys lost both games by 1-0. This meant they had to settle for third in their group and 5/6th place overall. However, this was a great achievement considering the calibre of the opposition and the fact the boys had had only two games and no training sessions before the tournament. Hugo Blogg, Tom Turner and Ben Good also represented the team. Mr Creag Lawrence said: “ All the boys conducted themselves in a dignified manner throughout the day and were a credit to the School.“ |
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Remembering the Holocaust
Pupils and teachers attended an event organized by the Holocaust Educational Trust at the Imperial War Museum on February 5. They met Mr Ed Balls MP (the British secretary of state for children, school and families, who announced recently that two students from every high school and college should visit death camps in Poland and then speak to other students at special programs) Mr Lembit Opik (the MP of Estonian descent) and Holocaust survivor Mr Zigy Shipper. In the photo: our students with Head of Sixth Form, Mr Andy Long and hero and holocaust survivor Mr Zigi Shipper. |
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Junior Success in Science Competition
A team of four Upper Two scientists took part in the annual Forest School Junior Science Competition on Feburary 6. Our pupils competed against 21 other schools (both independent and state) and won second place, just ahead of Forest School! The winning team was from Gidea Park Primary. The children had to unravel three sets of chemistry-based tasks, working with bunsen burners, chemicals and common sense. Their technical observational and cooperative skills were tested throughout the afternoon. In addition to achieving second place, our team came back with a gift book each and a jointly held prize of a working, remote controlled model helicopter. |
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U13 Football News
The Under 13 A Football team played Brentwood School in the Semi - Finals of the ISFA Cup competition on Thursday, 24th January at home. Both teams had battled through a number of rounds to reach this stage of the competition. Brentwood started the match as clear favourites as they had three academy players and are a much larger school than Chigwell. Our team, however, played with tremendous spirit and determination and started the game well, they gave absolutely everything and never gave up despite eventually losing 3-0. Well done to every player involved in the squad. There is no shame in defeat when you show the commitment shown by every Chigwell player and with this sort of attitude they will win a lot more games than they lose. |
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Oxbridge bound
Eight Sixth Formers are celebrating because they have received offers of places from Oxford or Cambridge universities. Mr Andy Long, Head of Sixth Form, said "This is an excellent achievement and a real tribute to the hard work of these students, their teachers and tutors. Competition for places at Oxford and Cambridge becomes more fierce each year and eight students constitutes 9% of those who applied for university". Jessica Beagley, Georgia Clegg and Yuqing Zhang have offers to read Physiological Sciences, Philosophy & Theology and Mathematics respectively at Oxford University. Whilst Joshua Freedman, Jamie Macpherson, Neal Patel, Meera Ragha and Michael Wilson have offers to read Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Land Economy, Theology & Religious Studies and Law respectively at Cambridge University. |
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Snowhite raises £ 2,100 for Birthmark Support
Members of Chigwell School staff, directed by Sixth Formers James Masters and Louise Fowler, put on two performances of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the end of last week. They played to packed houses and raised £2,100 for the Birthmark Support Group. Snow White (Year 3 teacher, Mrs Helen Russell) and the Handsome Prince (Head of Government and Politics, Mr Dror Yuravlivker), together with the two directors are seen here presenting the cheque to Sophie, a representative of the Group. |
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Government League Tables
In the latest version of the Government league tables for secondary schools in England it would appear that Chigwell School has achieved a figure of 33% of pupils gaining 5 or more GCSEs, grade A* to C. The reason for this is that the tables specify that the five must include GCSE mathematics and English. Last summer, for the first time, our Upper Fifth pupils took the International GCSE (IGCSE) mathematics examination. This qualification, although highly thought of by universities and employers, is not included in Government league tables. If it were, our figure would be 100%.
We are committed to providing the most appropriate examination courses for our pupils and we moved to IGCSE mathematics, like many other comparable schools, because it provides a more interesting and challenging course for our students. Many Chigwell pupils go on to take A level maths and we find IGCSE a better preparation for this. We will continue to choose courses that stretch and enthuse our pupils and we will not be bound by league tables.
Headmaster Mr Michael Punt, Deputy Head Mr David Gower or Director of Studies Mr Neil Saunders would be happy to discuss this matter further. |
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Torch Trophy for Mr Ken Richbell
We are enormously proud to announce that Mr Ken Richbell, our splendid Head Porter and Caretaker, received the Torch Trophy Trust award from the Duke of Kent on Thursday 29th November 2007at the Army and Navy Club in Pall Mall. The Trust , founded in 1949, provides small Bursaries to assist volunteers in sport and presents Awards to individuals who have been identified as making an outstanding contribution as a volunteer in their chosen sport. The President of the Trust is Sir Bobby Charlton.
Ken was nominated by Buckhurst Hill Junior F. C., where he has been an active member since 1995, initially as a parent watching his son train and play at the club, but gradually becoming increasingly involved as assistant manager to the team in 1997, after which they won their league in season 1997/1998. Ken's constant enthusiasm and dedication came to fruition when he was voted in as Chairman of the club in 2000, when he was determined to make the club one of the best in Essex.
Shortly after his election the club faced closure as a result of an arson attack on the ground. Ken immediately embarked on the enormous task of rebuilding and restructuring the club by designating a significant amount of time and work to raise £500,000 from various grants, authorities and foundations, to enable them to purchase the land and build a new clubhouse. Thanks to Ken the club is now recognized by the FA Charter Standard and has a gold accreditation given by The Essex Sports Clubs.
Apart from his involvement in the training and development of the players, Ken can also be found contributing as groundsman, refereeing other local matches, sitting on various management and found raising committees and being the club's child welfare officer, a truly committed volunteer in every sense. |
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