The Spinney Centre where the Humanities subjects are based and taught made an excellent base for the Humanities Week that Year 9 has recently
experienced.
This new departure took on from the Play in Three Days that has been a feature
for past Year 9’s at this time of the year. The week began with visits to
Cheddar Gorge to go potholing and caving, Old Sarum, Salisbury Cathedral, where
they climbed the spire, Corfe Castle, Swanage Steam Railway, Bovington Tank
Museum, Maiden Castle, Wardour Castle, and the Museum of Army Flying at Middle
Wallop. In addition, one group had the chance to research Dorset food and drink,
visiting Woodlands Dairy, Long Crichel Bakery and the Home farm shop in Tarrant
Gunville. They made bread, and saw yoghurt and cheese being made, travelled on
an open top bus and on a steam train, and climbed Jacob’s ladder. These wide
experiences then provided plenty of material for the next two day’s work to
create a sort of Wessex Tourist Office with displays and photographs,
presentations and costumes, a home-made WW1 tank and even a mock up of a Cheddar
cave in the Spinney Centre. On the Thursday evening parents and staff were
invited to come and see what Year 9 had been doing, to get an idea of tourism in
Wessex, to sample some food and drink from the area and to enjoy a background of
music provided by Red Raddle. 28 staff and 90 pupils were involved in the
project and what emerged was a fitting humanities baptism for the Spinney Centre
with some truly powerful cross-curricular project work.The second landmark for Clayesmore this year is our return, after 25 years, to Head Masters Conference membership. This has already proved to be of great benefit in terms of the guidance and information that I receive from headquarters and I have been to some excellent and most worthwhile meetings already. This is something that has given many members of staff a great deal of pleasure, especially those who have taught in HMC schools before coming to Clayesmore. It is impossible to overstate the seal of approval that HMC membership gives the school.
Last summer’s A-level results were the best on record. A 99% pass rate with 29% of the passes at A-grade, and a combined A & B grade statistic of 51% was very pleasing. Eight sixth form students gained three A grades or more, including Sarah Farley, who achieved 5 A grades and who has already completed the first year of her Veterinary Science course at Liverpool. I am sure all of you are only too aware of the discouraging situation that faces all applicants for Veterinary School and Medicine. How pleased we all were to hear earlier this year that Ben Smith, who had endured setback after setback last year in his quest to gain a place at medical school, finally won a place at Birmingham and will start in the autumn.
At GCSE, there was a similar story to that at A-level with a record pass rate of 82% and with many more A* and A grades than ever before.
We hear much these days of other examinations that have some form of equivalency
in terms of GCSEs. This is giving rise to a most misleading impression that
maintained schools are improving more in terms of their GCSE results when
compared to independent schools. Thus, the OCR Certificate in Call Techniques is
worth half a GCSE, the ABC Certificate in Wired Sugar Flowers or in Aspects of
Multi-Cultural Fashion has a value of a single GCSE, the CAG Certificate in
Salon Reception is worth 3 good GCSE passes. And then there’s the NOCN
Intermediate Diploma in Popular Music Practice which is worth 5 GCSE’s all in
one dollop. And all of these things are being used to massage the performance
statistics. Not to be left out, however, let’s remember that the
well-established and very good European Computer Driving Licence has a value of
2 GCSE passes, and the BTEC diploma in Public Service that some of our CCF
cadets have worked towards has four. Well done to Henry Bailey on gaining a
Distinction, and Ben Merrell and David Turner for their Merits. Four more senior
cadets have almost completed the diploma. Congratulations to Angad Rekhi in Year
10 who has completed his ECDL in less than one year. Don’t let your year 11 sons
and daughters tell you they haven’t had time to do theirs! LAMDA and Music
exams, all of which have deserved recognition for many years and have strong,
well-established bona fides, all have theirs with Grade VIII Distinction on an
instrument, being worth 3 A-grade GCSEs.Those of us who know Mr Jamie Reach will be completely unsurprised that under his enthusiastic leadership the Maths department has gone from strength to strength this year. He has worked tirelessly and with enormous energy to make certain that this is so. Though he wasn’t Head of Maths at the time, we should be pleased that 73% of last year’s Year 11 passed A*-C at GCSE compared with the national figure of 51%. We will hear much of Clayesmore Maths under Jamie if his ingenious Maths Day for Year 6 pupils is anything by which to judge the situation. 6 Year 6 pupils from 6 of our feeder Prep Schools took part in a day of mathematical adventure. They built egg timers, estimated the area of lawn that might contain 1 million blades of grass, amongst many other engaging puzzles. One boy told his teacher that it was the best day he’d ever had, and a girl from Highfield School told her mother that Clayesmore was the school for her and she wanted her to visit it immediately.
I’m sorry that it is often the case that our overseas pupils have frequently flown home early and miss Speech Day. This small but distinctive group of Clayesmorians may be entered for any of 7 internationally recognised exams established by Cambridge University. This is the first year that we have been a centre for the International GCSE and it has been excellent to be able to offer our overseas candidates this much more appropriate course. Five overseas students from the Upper 6th took the essential IELTS exams in May in order to satisfy their prospective universities of their English ability. All achieved or exceeded the grade band to which they aspired and qualified for the university of their choice. A big thank you to our unsung heroines, Mrs Felicity Pattenden and Mrs Valerie Clarke Brajuha for their work with these pupils.
Our prospectus opens, as I am sure you are aware with the words, “Clayesmore is
a school with a distinct sense of magic about it.” How appropriate therefore
that Rob Heale, Head of Business Studies should arrange a visit by the
world-renowned magician and entrepreneur, Marvin Berglas to mark the opening of
the new Business Studies department. Perhaps the real magic was spun by Rob
himself and his colleague Dr Fran Thomason who achieved an excellent 57% A and B
grade pass rate at A-level last year. Well done to our Chemists whose A-level candidates achieved four A grades and a B last summer. A big thank you to Head of Science Alan Jancis who has assumed his role as Examinations Officer, managing a most complex task without fuss or stress, but a painful back from moving tons of examination scripts and papers. Hero of the Chemistry Department this year, I am sure Alan will agree, is Craig Owens who has not been accepted into some form of advanced membership of Aston Villa, but has, in fact, completed his PhD from the University of Southampton. Many congratulations to you, Dr Owens!
After a nomadic year last year, with their classroom block demolished to make way for the new building, our geographers are better pleased than almost anybody with their new facilities. Roger Denning believes that there is growing evidence that pupils are taking responsibility for their own learning, inspired by the ICT-led emphasis on enquiry-based learning. More pupils than ever are coming into the department outside normal lesson time in order to work on their own. This would be a good moment to say a very fond farewell to a young teacher who has played her part to the full in Clayesmore life these last six years. Miss Sally Bull has taught Geography, ICT and Physical Education, run the girls hockey, coached netball and tennis, and has been a most dependable resident and non-resident house tutor in both King’s and Wolverton over the years. She has initiated and organised two very successful overseas hockey tours, and this year has been in charge of extra-curricular activities. She has played her part here to the full and we will all miss her very much indeed. Sally is going on to run the girls hockey at Kimbolton School where we hope she will be valued and treasured as much as she has been here. Good luck, Sally. Thank you, too to Miss Mary Telford, leaving us for Haileybury College, after two years English teaching at Clayesmore.
Farewell, too, to Steve Page, who, for this last year has been our Buildings and Estates Manager. Steve came to us full of ambition and has seen through some excellent projects. Indeed, he has a busy summer ahead. Very sadly, Steve’s new baby son, Toby, was born in the New Year with very serious medical problems, so much so, that Steve needs to work closer to his home in Beaminster so that he can support his wife and family more readily. We’re all sorry that Steve’s career with us has been cut short, especially in such sad circumstances, and we wish him well in his new post.
Modern Foreign Languages at Clayesmore are going from strength to strength.
Bucking the national trend, we have 30 students studying French, German or
Spanish in the Sixth form with a year-on-year increase in each of the last 5
years. The 45.3% A* or A pass rate in French compares with a national figure of
just 18.1%, and the overall pass rate in French of over 95% is not far off
double the national figure. A staggering 70% A*/A pass rate in German eclipses
the national figure of 18%. Well done to Samantha Cooper who was awarded a
prestigious German government scholarship last summer to spend 4 weeks studying
German and German culture in Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich together with
25 other international students of German from all over the world. Good luck to
Tom Miles, who has a conditional offer to study French and Russian at Oxford.In September, Mr Mark Fraser will relinquish his responsibilities as Head of English but will take on a more enhanced role as Director of Drama which I believe will scale new heights. I am very grateful to Mrs Barbara Britton who will lead the English Department next year. She has great expertise in this area and I know the department will flourish in her charge.
Next year we will see the launch of the Mystery Cycle, a new event in the Clayesmore cultural calendar which will take place on Sunday 27th November. Pre-Prep, Prep and Senior Schools will come together to perform eight short plays (the senior school contribution being one play from each house) which will tell the same biblical tale as those of mediaeval times though in an abbreviated form. The major production in the Spring Term next year will be Carlo Goldoni’s ‘A Servant to Two Masters’ - a hugely funny play with swordfights, mistaken identities, misunderstandings and lots of slapstick.
In the musical calendar we look back on twenty concerts or events. Evelyn Glennie’s recital was something very special and we hope to match that with another top event next year. I am sure that as some of us look back on other highlights such as the Messiah, the Concert Band concert that inspired that wonderful gift of £12,000 for charity, the wonderful performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors in the Red and Green Concert, and the recent Café Cabaret, the pupils probably regard the House Music Competition and the Live Aid Concert as two of their favourites. Good luck to Keith Pigot as he leads the Concert Band and Chapel Choir off on their trip to Venice tomorrow.
I made a special mention of the CCF in the newsletter at the end of term and we are moving into more enlightened times next term when CCF becomes optional in Year 11. I won’t say more now other than once again to congratulate Major Steven Smith and SSI Colin Evans and the other members of the staff team on their achievements this year. They have all gone off to Penhale where, I am sure, they will have another great camp. Colin Evans’ trip to India was another major highlight for many pupils and parents and though some were struck by very debilitating sickness on the way home.
Whilst in India, the group visited and donated funding to the Cosmos Institute and the Ghurkha Trust in Darjeeling. We have had some excellent charitable activity this year. Even as we speak, Year 9 pupil, Alistair Budzynski is undertaking a 24 km bicycle ride in aid of the parents’ house at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. Altogether, our pupils have raised nearly £6500 for charity this year. Congratulations to Jess Groeling who has done so much to encourage us to think of others. Well done to Wolverton for their wonderful concert in aid of the Tsunami victims. Well done to King’s girls for drawing our attention to Make Poverty History this week. We will be making a donation to Michael Morpurgo’s charity, Farms for City Children, to thank him for giving up his time this afternoon.
The Sports Development Group has had another great year with 15 regular members participating in two early morning and one afternoon session. The Lanzarote trip was another triumph and a further visit is planned for December. Athletics has gone from strength to strength and is an area in which Clayesmore pupils have done themselves proud with teams outstripping by far the performances of pupils from much larger independent schools. Nick Fradgeley qualified for the Inter Counties Championships in High Jump, came 2nd in the Dorset Schools High Jump and qualified for the SW Schools Championships coming 1st and beating his personal best by jumping 1.95 metres. Aaron Davies, who qualified for the Inter Counties Championships in Steeplechase, went on to win at the N Dorset Inter Schools Championships and has been selected for the SW Schools Championships. Stefanie Blomquist is just back from orienteering for Great Britain in the Czech Republic where she came 47th out 77 in her age group.
The highlight of the girls’ hockey season was the tour to Netherlands at the end of a season marked by some very competitive games. The U14 girls’ team is the one to watch next year and shows much promise.
The rugby teams enjoyed plenty of success with the 1st’s achieving 8 wins in 11 games and some powerful performances against much larger schools such as Bishop Wordsworth’s and Dauntsey’s. Luke Dyckhoff and Ben Young represented Dorset and Wiltshire at U17 and U16 level respectively. Again, the U14’s look very promising achieving some runaway victories.
Boys’ and Girls’ tennis has improved over the season. Riding has taken on a new lease of life and the team enjoyed the inter-schools event at Wiltshire College. Well done to Lorna Boyd on producing the best dressage test and also to Imogen Judd and Sophie McCrow on some outstanding individual performances achieving 8th and 7th place respectively out of 100 entries in their class.
There have been two firsts in the Sailing this year. Well done to Devine who won the newly awarded Andrew Rimmer Trophy, and for the first time, we competed in the Southern Schools Team Racing Regatta.
Swimming has continued to flourish and improve with pupils competing at club, county and national levels. The highlight was the gala against Canford whom we beat for the first time, breaking lots of records and personal bests as we did so.