Other Links

1 The Schools value their links with the United Reformed Church, of which this Report to Assembly is a symbol, and they remain mindful of their original purpose, which was to educate the daughters and sons of ministers, missionaries, and others active in the life of the churches. They would draw attention to the bursaries which remain available for this purpose, particularly those provided through the generosity of the Memorial Hall Trust and the Milton Mount Foundation.

2 The following reports draw attention to school achievements in the past year and a half.

3 Caterham School

3.1 Five years ago Caterham merged with the nearby Eothen School and became fully co-educational. This was one of the defining moments in the history of the school. Others have included the removal from Lewisham to Caterham, the admission of day boys, and then more recently the admission of girls into the sixth form some years before co-education became the norm rather than the exception at the school. The change from direct grant to independent status was also momentous. All these changes took place over a relatively long period of time.

3.2 Many would have hoped that change would now be a much more gradual thing rather than what seems to have happened. It is now woven into the very fabric of the life of the school. The pastoral system based, as it has been for decades, on the Houses, has been changed. Now the academic and pastoral well-being of pupils has become the responsibility of year heads. The Houses now serve as a focus for competitions in sport, debating and music. The academic curriculum in the sixth form is being changed and much thought and planning has gone into preparing for the new advanced supplementary courses coming ‘on stream’ in September 2000. The nature of boarding is changing. Boarding for girls is becoming more popular. In less than a decade the number of girls boarding at Caterham has grown from three to almost fifty. And in order to cater for the interest in boarding for girls at the sixth form level the school has recently opened an extension to its Beech-Hanger boarding house comprising of thirteen rooms with en-suite facilities. The boys have not been left behind. Architects have drawn up plans for the complete refurbishment of the boys’ accommodation which also includes rooms with en-suite facilities for sixth form students. It is hoped that work will start on this during the summer holiday.

3.3 These are changes which are planned. Some are unplanned. No one imagined that we would be renovating the Humphreys Hall, the assembly hall opened just eleven years ago. But misfortune struck one October afternoon last year and the interior of the building was all but destroyed by fire. We are informed that it will cost over a million pounds to renovate it. Fortunately the cost will be borne by our insurers. The school has had to soldier on without an assembly hall and looks like being without it until well into next year. This has presented many problems. It is amazing how resourceful you can be.

3.4 There have been changes in personnel. The school was sorry to have to say farewell to a number of people. David Charlesworth, a local URC elder, had to stand down as Chairman of Governors because of work commitments. The school engineer, Roy Milliams, retired in 1999 after forty years of service to the school. The school chaplain, Derek Lindfield, after thirteen years of service at the school received and accepted a call to become minister of St John’s URC, Orpington.

3.5 Fortunately some things do not change: the importance of the Christian ethos in the school; the quality of the education given to our pupils; the emphasis of not accepting second best in all fields of endeavour. It seems that change has become part of the landscape in a way that it never was before. In the midst of it staff and students continue to strive for excellence in all areas of our life.

4 Eltham College

4.1 On 19 January 2000 several strands came together: one of Britain’s best known contemporary poets, Brian Patten, opened the Mervyn Peake Library at Eltham College in the same week as Peake’s celebrated novel Gormenghast was transmitted on television. The Library is a most attractive and spacious new facility for the school, appreciated and used by all.

4.2 Mervyn Peake, the son of a missionary in China, had been a pupil at the school during the 1920s. Like so many famous people before and since, Peake’s academic performance while at school was modest, but he excelled at sport, setting a new high jump record, and, more significantly, as an artist. The Art Master at the time, Mr McIver, championed him to the rest of his staff room and deemed him to be a genius - a shrewd judgement which has proved percipient in the context of the artist-writer’s subsequent stature.

4.3 This has proved a successful year all round, with some outstanding examination results once more at “A” level and GCSE, and a total of nineteen Elthamians entering Oxford and Cambridge last October.

4.4 A series of high class concerts and plays has embellished the calendar, while all areas of the school have been used to display the colourful dynamism of the Art Department. The sporting banner has been carried to South America by the Rugby players and to South Africa by the Cricketers, while the explorers have climbed as far afield as Nepal.

4.5 August will see the departure of Mr and Mrs Malcolm Green after ten years at the helm, to be succeeded by Mr and Mrs Paul Henderson, acceding from the Deputy Headship of St Albans School.

5 Silcoates School

5.1 The Schools of the Foundation are flourishing. Sunny Hill House continues to be full, and the pupil numbers at St Hilda’s reached a new high of 171. Silcoates itself moved into the year 2000 with the pupils numbering 666.

5.2 The A level pass rate of 93% was our best ever, as was the GCSE pass rate of 92%.

5.3 As the termly calendars show, the School terms are packed with activity. Much goes on in the holidays too. “Hardy annuals” include the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions, boating on the Norfolk Broads, skiing in the Alps, the middle-school adventure holiday at Club Corréze and our European exchanges. The holiday highlight of 1999, however, was the senior girls’ hockey tour of South Africa - a wonderful experience.

5.4 We were very pleased that the Revd Tony Burnham, an Old Silcoatian and for many years a Governor of the School, was inducted as Moderator of the Free Churches’ Council. Two distinguished Governors, both Old Silcoatians, retired from the Board this year. Alan Menzies was a Governor for thirty-five years and Honorary Treasurer for thirty-three of them. John Gilbey, missionary in Madagascar, highly significant figure in the URC and pillar of Sion, was a Governor for over twenty years and similarly gave great service to the School.

6 Taunton School

6.1 Another year has drawn to a close, one that has been both busy and productive. We were delighted with yet another set of good “A” level results. The pass rate of 97% was better than that of last year and it was encouraging that thirteen out of twenty departments in the school had a 100% success rate. Eight students achieved three or more A grades and four candidates were successful in their applications to Oxford and Cambridge. At GCSE although this was not a vintage year in respect to percentage pass rates (90%) and the number of A and A* (42%), many pupils worked hard and excelled themselves in achieving grades beyond their expectations.

6.2 Pupil involvement in artistic endeavours has been a resurgence. The Choral Society further enhanced its reputation by its splendid St Cecilia’s Day Mass. Meanwhile, Tanner’s Band and the Jazz Choir were invited to participate in the Hazelgrove Jazz Festival - an overseas tour is planned for the former next year. Those who attended the School play in December were privileged to see a lively and “openly theatrical” production of Animal Farm making extensive use of Brechtian staging techniques. In March two pupils produced and directed Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. It was an outstanding success. The summer term saw a lively performance of the musical The Boyfriend.

6.3 Four pupils achieved international status on the sports field this year. One represented England in the Women’s U20 Home International Heptathlon Championships, which she duly won; two were selected to play hockey for Wales U18 and U16 and one was chosen to play for the England U14 Rounders team. We were also delighted to hear that the England selectors saw fit to call upon the services of Aftab Habib (Wills West 1985-1989), the Leicestershire cricketer, to play against New Zealand. In addition a pupil played Netball for the West U23 team, two were selected for England U19 Netball trials, a third was part of the West U17 Hockey Squad and a fourth the 15 Squad, a fifth came 3^rd in the South-West Heptathlon Championships and a sixth became the first girl to play golf for the school team. These outstanding individual performances are indicative of the very high standards being achieved in sport across the school. The introduction of Girls’ cricket in the summer was greeted with enthusiasm and the Girls’ Hockey tour to South America was a success both on and off the field.

6.4 The School year drew to a close with Commemoration celebrated in style on the Front. Our guest, Mark Getty (Wills East 1975-1979), utilising the experience he has gained as founder of the world’s biggest media company, spoke eloquently about the impact of new technologies and the need for school to prepare pupils for a rapidly changing world.

7 Walthamstow Hall

7.1 1999 brought the centenary celebrations of our flourishing Old Girls’ Association. A moving Service of Thanksgiving began the reunion in June with music and readings by Old Girls and an address by the Reverend Dr Susan Ramsaran. Lunch was in the Dining Hall, the refurbishment of which was the centenary gift of the Association.

7.2 The tenth anniversary of the opening of our Ship Theatre by Sir Geraint Evans in 1989 was celebrated with a week-long festival of music and drama. Choirs, orchestra, girls and staff from Senior and Junior Schools gave a succession of concerts, a workshop production of As You Like It, House musicals and an evening of words of Wit and Wisdom.

7.3 Other drama during the year included our annual Greek tragedy production, this time Euripides’ Elektra, and a comedy, also with a Greek theme, The Rape of the Belt, based on Theseus and the Amazons.

7.4 Our European links continue strong, with exchanges to Hamburg and Pontoise, work-experience for sixth-formers in France and Germany, and the Advanced Level study visit to Paris and Rouen. We are delighted that the link with the Collegio Valdese, affiliated to our URC Six Schools, has been further strengthened by the visits of four more students.

7.5 We have been particularly successful in lacrosse this year: our First Twelve and our U15s both won Kent county championships. The “double” is a record, and has inspired imaginative planning for next year’s lacrosse tour in the United States.

7.6 Work for a large number of charities, both in fund-raising and in practical ways, has been intense: the Christian Fellowship has encouraged us to support a school in Mozambique, the Houses have raised money for hospices, Children in Need and others, and the whole school continues to make a major contribution to the work of the Peckham Settlement where inner-city problems are severe. Groups and individuals are committed to the Voluntary Service Unite locally, and help with literacy in a neighbouring primary school.

7.7 Headmistress and Governors enjoyed fellowship, discussion and worship at the Six Schools Conference hosted by Wentworth College, glad of the opportunity to renew our ties with schools that share a faith and an ethos.

7.8 Five daughters of missionaries (three from the Baptist Missionary Society and two from the Overseas Missionary Fellowship) and four daughters of ministers (two Anglican and two United Reformed) are at the school.

8 Wentworth College

8.1 In June 1999 delegates from all six URC linked schools met at Wentworth College to discuss how they might move “Forward With Faith Into The Future”. The conference included delegates from the Collegio Valdese of the Waldensian Church in Italy. We were privileged to welcome the Reverend Gregory K Cameron, Director of the Bloxham Project, who addressed us on the topic of “Discipline or Discipleship? - Spirituality in Schools Today”. On the second day the speaker was Mr Graham Handscomb, of Essex County Council, whose thought-provoking talk was entitled “Open Worlds - Religious Education for the Millennium”. It was a useful conference and all participants enjoyed having the opportunity for discussion, both business and social, with Heads, Governors and Chaplains from the other Six Schools.

8.2 We have been pleased to welcome a number of girls from the Collegio Valdese over the past few years. As I write we have two girls enjoying two weeks in our sixth form boarding community.

8.3 Wentworth College is the product of the happy and successful merger between Wentworth School and Milton Mount College - two independent girls’ schools with similar principles. At last summer’s Old Girls’ Association reunion and then again in September, we celebrated the Centenary of Wentworth School. 14 September 1899 was the date that the first pupils were admitted to the Bournemouth Collegiate School for Girls - the name by which Wentworth was originally known. In Beyond the Best - Mrs Terry Carlysle’s history of our school - we learn that in its original advertisement: “….would-be parents and pupils were enticed by the fact that the school would be run on ‘Modern principles of Educational Science’ with religious instruction that was ‘Scriptural but Unsectarian’”.

8.4 The educational aims were clearly stated because at that time “there were all too many girls’ schools providing little of educational value”. Miss Parker-Gray was the first Headmistress and the Chairman of the Council was the Reverend Dr J D Jones who was the Congregational minister at Richmond Hill Church, Bournemouth for the thirty-nine years before his retirement in 1937. He was a pioneer; an innovator and his strong leadership helped to mould the ideals to which in this school we still aspire. We strive for excellence and high standards and not just in academic and intellectual endeavour, for the education we provide is about more than examination results. Our greatest strengths arise from the spirit of community which we work hard to preserve, while valuing the differences in our individual girls, and from the caring society, with strong, common, shared values, which we provide.

8.5 Our Speech Day Guest in September was Peter White, the BBC Disability Affairs Correspondent who delighted guests with tales of his fight to overcome his own disability. On that occasion we were pleased to congratulate those girls who achieved public examination success last summer: thirty-seven girls in the fifth form were entered for a total of 311 GCSEs and 96.5% of these were graded A* to D. (It is our policy to enter candidates for each of the subjects they have studied for the two-year GCSE course and not just those in which they are more or less guaranteed a high grade). We were very pleased with the year group as a whole, especially with those girls who are less physically robust or who have dealt with the added challenge of a specific learning difficulty.

8.6 Twenty-four Upper Sixth students entered for a total of sixty-eight Advanced levels. Between them they achieved an 87% pass rate and fourteen of the eighteen subjects for which we entered candidates recorded a 100% pass rate. One student gained four grade As, and will take up a place at Churchill College Cambridge in September 2000 to read Chemical Engineering. One member of the Lower Sixth sat A-level Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Physics: she was awarded a grade A in each of those subjects and in September she took up a place to read mathematics at Pembroke College, Oxford.

8.7 Wentworth pupils and staff enjoy a challenge and this was evident in last year’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. It was Wentworth’s second attempt at a musical and, again, pupils rose to the challenge. Their determination, talent and dedication, along with wonderful costumes and an excellent musical accompaniment gave us two thoroughly enjoyable evenings. The combination of drama and music complemented each other well, as was also seen in last year’s Creative Arts evening, the theme being “One Hundred Years of Excellence”. As usual girls worked together, along with the help of the staff, to produce a varied and entertaining evening. It was also the first performance we had by the newly formed Chamber Choir, which has been established to allow the exceptional singers in the school to push their ability to the limits. Pupils are always encouraged to use their strengths and talents to their full potential at Wentworth, and in July our Junior Recorder Group did that when they travelled to London’s South Bank to compete in the National Festival of Music for Youth.

8.8 Community service events included the annual MS Party at Christmas, and three afternoon tea parties organised through the charity “Contact the Elderly”. A large number of girls are involved in Task Force, a project which enables us to maintain the strong link we have with the Victoria School for the Disabled in Poole and therefore regularly to entertain their pupils with activities such as sailing and canoeing.

8.9 Over the last year our Outdoor Education department had continued to flourish and the activities it has offered recently, in addition to the canoeing, include sailing, caving and climbing. Many girls continue to work for their Duke of Edinburgh’s award. Girls are always busy and productive at this school.