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1 The six schools related to the United Reformed Church, and a seventh school, the Collegio Valdese, Torre Pellice, Italy, continue to maintain useful contact. Their representatives met in London on 11 June 2001; a further London meeting was planned for June 2002 and representatives of the Governing Bodies, Staff, and Sixth Formers are to meet in Torre Pellice in October 2002. This will be the first time that a Schools' Residential Meeting has been held outside England. 2 In constantly changing and challenging circumstances the Schools remain conscious of their particular foundation and the obligations which flow from it. They take these seriously and they are grateful for the contributions which can be made towards the education of the children of ordinands, ministers and related workers, and others in the United Reformed Church. In this connexion, representatives met representatives of the Milton Mount Foundation, and in this connexion too the Schools acknowledge the renewal, for a further three years, of a grant towards sixth form scholarships at any of the schools, to the children of Grocers, Chemists or Commercial Travellers, under the auspices of the Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust. 3 The Schools present the following reports for the Session 2000-2002. Caterham has had another successful year, and we are pleased to see significant developments in our boarding facilities; the refurbishment is just being completed. We are delighted by the number of pupils who are URC Ministers' children, as clearly this is part of our foundation, which we wish to maintain. Within the ethos of a rounded education academic progress has been maintained with the second best ever results at A level and best ever GCSE results. It is the balance of the academic with the opportunity for music, drama, sport, and a sense of values, which are at the core of the Caterham experience. Our international links continue to develop and we now have pupils from over thirty countries. This adds a rich international element to our community. It has been particularly important that many of our own pupils are having the opportunity to travel overseas, more recently to Malaysia and to Central Europe. A small group of pupils and staff from Caterham and the other URC related schools will be travelling to the Waldensian Valleys and the Collegio Valdese at Torre Pellice looking at a common theme with our Italian hosts. Rob Davey After eighteen months at Eltham College, I am happy to report that the Christian commitment to serve others, which led to the foundation of our school, remains strong. Although there are fewer missionaries who seek education for their children in England, nevertheless there are many children who are prepared to give of their time and effort to help others in less fortunate circumstances. Community Service, both as a curricular activity, and as an element of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, remains popular with many pupils who, for example, provide enthusiasm and guidance to disabled swimmers, or lively conversation and distraction to the residents of St Cecilia's Hospice. The Charities Committee also successfully involved pupils in fund-raising activities for Children in Need and for research at the Royal Marsden Hospital, where two former pupils are pioneering techniques in the treatment of cancer. I have been pleased to maintain the provision of the Boarding House at Eltham. Some overseas students welcome the intimate nature of the small boarding facility, while I am happy to be able to offer a homely atmosphere to more local pupils particularly when it can provide a pastoral net for boys whose family circumstances are disrupted. The Independent Schools Inspection identified this as a strong feature of our boarding facility. Finally, as a bolt from the blue, I have been approached by three missionary families to accommodate their sons from the academic year 2001/02. I am delighted to be able to help these families, and I hope that their sons will have a positive experience at the School for the Sons of Missionaries. P J Henderson A measure of the good health of the Silcoates School Foundation is its ambitious set of projects for the further development of the three schools. At Silcoates itself we are soon to launch an Appeal. So many students now play an instrument that we have grown out of the music school and intend to build a new one. A major refurbishment of the Junior School is planned. So is the expansion and redevelopment of the Sixth Form Centre. And we hope that our hockey players will soon be enjoying the pace and quality of an all-weather surface. As for our pre-preparatory schools, an extension is being built at Sunny Hill House and St Hilda's is to open a nursery unit. A few highlights: the Investors in People award; a sparkling production of Grease; a remarkable choral concert; and our successes in the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's national schools' quiz. On 1 November Martin Johnson and Tim Stimpson (OS) visited the School to collect on behalf of SPARKS a cheque for over £5000, raised by eight redoubtable members of the Common Room who took part in the Great North Run. The mock election was won by a seditious party called Child Labour. The Conservatives came third, to the distress of Ann Widdecombe, our memorable Guest of Honour on Speech Day. Paul Spillane Given the national trend, many schools were trumpeting at the end of the academic year that they had achieved their 'best ever' academic results. Taunton School was no exception: 62% of the A levels taken were graded either A or B and a record number of seventeen pupils achieved three A grades or more. Amongst this group were six Oxbridge candidates and seven destined for medical schools. It was also the first year of the new AS level examination. As always with a new system it is difficult to assess exactly how well our pupils have done but early indications are that the Lower Sixth is a strong year group. Coincidentally, at all three levels (A AS, and GCSE) the overall pass rate was 94%. Despite the incessant rain in October and November, the Foot and Mouth crisis and a particularly virulent 'bug' in February, the industry and success within the classroom was reflected across a wide range of extra-curricular activities. The 1st XV, on the back of a successful tour to Canada, lost just one match scoring over 500 points in the season and the 1st VII reached the quarter finals at Rosslyn Park. The 1st XI Hockey lost only two matches, as did the 1st XI Cricket who enjoyed a most extraordinary 8 wicket victory over a good Sherborne side who were all out for 24. The girls were not to be outdone. The 1st XI Hockey won 14/18 matches - the year was rounded off with a tour to Malaysia and China - and the U14s, the strongest group we have had in the School for many years, were unbeaten. The Christmas, Easter and May Concerts have now become an established part of the School calendar. More and more pupils seem to be playing instruments and now that Music has become part of the core curriculum in the Third Form a significant number are opting to study it as an academic subject. Drama too is healthy. The A level Theatre Arts reached heights previously unseen at Taunton School and the end of year production of My Fair Lady was hugely entertaining. One of the collective highlights of the year was the 'mock election' held in March in anticipation of a May General Election. The School was a hive of activity and the walls plastered with posters as the seven candidates and their teams vied for votes. The election culminated in a debate in the chapel which was attended by local politicians and received extensive television coverage. The result? A victory for Jodie Adams, Green Party. Notable individual achievements during the year included Fiona Davidson being chosen to represent Great Britain in the International Biology Olympiad in which she was awarded a Silver Medal (top 30%); Natasha Murray coming second at the International Water Fair in Stockholm with her project on 'Coral Regeneration'; Ian Brewer's selection to play Hockey for the Welsh U21 team v Austria, Matt Robertson's successful audition for the National Youth Music Theatre; Sam Winter reaching the final trial for the England U18 Rugby team; the award of a Dip. ABRSM to Melissa Morris (a rare distinction for a school pianist) and Katie Hardiman's selection for the National Youth Orchestra. Recruitment to the Senior School is healthy. Despite a relatively small group moving up from our own Preparatory School pupil numbers in the Senior School remained steady. This was achieved by recruiting twenty-three pupils into the Third Form - twice the number who joined last year and the largest intake for over ten years - and forty-two new pupils into the Lower Sixth making it the largest year group we have had in the School since 1991. July 2001 marked the end of an era with the retirement of our Deputy Headmaster, John Carrington, and Director of Recreation, Richard Jowett, who between them worked at Taunton School for a total of seventy years, serving the school with immense loyalty, commitment and dedication. Julian P Whiteley The year 2001 was a momentous one for Walthamstow Hall. After much research and discussion, the Governing Body decided that from September 2002, the school should offer only day places. The closure of boarding will mark the end of a tradition going back 164 years, so the decision was not taken lightly, nor without some sadness. However, the number of missionaries' daughters, to serve whom we were founded, and others wanting our kind of boarding has diminished to a point where the boarding side is no longer a practical option. Linked with that decision, in order to be able to advertise for a day-school head, the present headmistress, Mrs Jacqueline Lang, announced her retirement, after nearly nineteen years. The Governing Body has appointed Mrs Jill Milner MA to succeed her in September 2002. Mrs Milner, an Oxford English graduate, has taught in both independent and maintained schools, and is currently Assistant Head in a Kent girls' grammar school. Momentous, too, was the first school inspection in many years, conducted in September by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, on the Ofsted model. The report was extremely favourable, summing us up a 'principled, harmonious and caring', of high academic achievement and with excellent pastoral support and extra-curricular activities. Certainly the year's public examination results were a 'high achievement'. We celebrated our best-ever Advanced Levels, with the Upper Sixth reaching the magic 100% pass-rate that we had been hovering very close to for years. The greatest satisfaction came from the quality of those passes, which gave an average points-score of 26, equivalent to AAC or ABB for everyone. The GCSE results, too, were splendid, giving the girls an average of more than ten A-C passes each and making us the top independent school in Kent. The Lower Fifth, all entered for Religious Studies a year early, were awarded 86% A* and A grades. The new computer network has undoubtedly helped to support teaching and learning of high quality, as have all the extra activities that broaden horizons. In drama, there have been productions and workshops ranging from Daisy Pulls It Off to Tom Stoppard's Night and Day. The choir have performed Haydn's Paukenmesse with Tonbridge School and visited Germany to provide the music at the ceremonies and church services that marked the official twinning of the towns of Rheinbach and Sevenoaks. Walthamstow Hall teams were successful in winning the regional finals of both Young Enterprise and the Schools General Knowledge competition. Two girls gained their Gold Awards in the Duke of Edinburgh's Scheme. The school raised several thousand pounds for causes such as Shelter, the Afghanistan Appeal, the Peckham Settlement, Children in Need, Jeans for Genes, the World Wildlife Fund, the Salvation Army, 'our' school in Mozambique and 'our' hospice in South India. In a season in which they provided nineteen County players and reached the Finals Day of the National Schools Lacrosse Championship (putting us in the top twenty teams nationally), the squad was well prepared for their lacrosse tour to the United States at Easter. Fund-raising for the tour had included a Fathers v Daughters match, where the inexperience of the fathers was compensated for by their numbers: forty of them, often all on the pitch at once, against our XII. We won. The friends and Parents' Association celebrated their Silver Jubilee with a James Bond Ball, a magnificent Fireworks Evening and a series of parties for parents and children. Their regular supportive and fundraising work continued, as it has for the last twenty-five years, providing an exciting playground pavilion for the Junior School and technology equipment for the Senior School. The school educates three daughters of missionaries (one Baptist and two Overseas Missionary Fellowship) and three daughters of ministers (all Anglican). J S Lang In May 2001 Wentworth College Old Girls' Association held a successful reunion at the school. It was wonderful to see so many of our former pupils together, many of whom have achieved a great deal since they left us. Old Girls who had known Miss Nora Hibbert, Headmistress 1961-1982 and Elder at Richmond Hill URC, presented the school with a conductor's stand in her memory. It has been a busy year and I can only give a few highlights here. The main academic challenge to both staff and senior girls was the introduction of the new post-16 AS qualifications, for the first time last summer. Each of the students in our lower sixth was entered for between eight and fifteen modules and we were pleased with their results, which should lead to excellent A level results in summer 2002. Also last summer the twenty-two members of the upper sixth were entered for sixty-six Advanced levels. Some of these students have dealt with the challenge of a specific learning difficulty - such as dyslexia - or are less physically robust than their contemporaries, and their results did them credit. In addition to their A-level studies this group had the chance - and encouragement - to develop a number of skills, interests and talents, the value of which is well recognised by university admissions tutors and employers. Girls in the upper sixth and those entering the lower sixth last September were impressed by our new sixth form centre, comprising the converted top floor of the main school building. As always the girls have been busy and productive, and community service is especially important. Task Force, our whole school project linking us to the Victoria School for the Physically Disabled, is flourishing and celebrated its sixth anniversary last year; canoeing and sailing expeditions with their pupils take place regularly. Girls are also involved with afternoon tea parties to entertain guests from 'Contact the Elderly', and the Christmas party for the Multiple Sclerosis Society took place as usual in December. Charity Week in November raised funds for Honeypot, a retreat for disadvantaged children in the New Forest, as well as the BBC Children in Need appeal. Many girls have enjoyed Outdoor Education activities. They have been rock climbing, caving and canoeing, enjoying sub aqua sessions, as well as sailing in the school boat, Challenger. Several members of the sixth form are now working towards their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, and a big proportion of the fourth form joined the scheme this year. The music department have been busy with many events throughout the year, most recently the Songs from the Shows supper event and the musical Shake, Ripple and Roll, which involved both drama and music departments. In the summer term the junior drama group had outstanding success with their performance of the musical, My Fair Lady. Our regular visits by girls from Collegio Valdese in Torre Pellice took place in January 2001 and February 2002. In spring 2001 German and History students combined for a visit to Berlin, and in October thirty girls departed on the French trip to Paris. On both trips girls relished the opportunity to practice their language skills and enjoy the culture of these cities. The Advent Service was held at Richmond Hill URC, led by our Chaplain, the Reverend Frank Cochrane and the Minister, the Reverend Dr Donald Norwood. It was well supported by Governors, parents, and the congregation. Sandra Coe |
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