Edition 47 December 2010
SUTTON VIEWS The Voice of Sutton Valence School
Centenary Celebrations and St John’s, Smith Square Bonfire Night Page 5
Games Theory
Youth Speaks
Page 12
Page 13
At the beginning of October, Westminster Abbey was filled by the sound of nearly 1000 staff, students, parents and Old Suttonians as they packed into the historic abbey to celebrate a 100-year long association between the School and the United Westminster Schools Foundation. Continued on page 2
Information A member of the United Westminster Schools’ Foundation Registered Charity No. 309267 Founded in 1576 by William Lambe
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For information about Sutton Valence School or to request a prospectus, please contact:
• the Admissions Office at Sutton Valence on 01622 845206 or email enquiries@svs.org.uk • Sutton Valence Preparatory School on 01622 842117 or email enquiries@svprep.svs.org.uk
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Continued from front page It is exactly a century since United Westminster Schools acquired Sutton Valence from its founding body, the Clothworkers’ Company, making it one of three schools beneath the UWS umbrella. Testimonies to UWS and the benefits they had received from their education at Sutton Valence were given by Ian Kay, Old Suttonian and Cristina Paca, an HMC Scholar and Upper Sixth Prefect. In her speech Cristina said: “I cried on my first day at SVS. Novelty and fear of the unknown combined and gave birth to a feeling that completely overwhelmed me. However, when that
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troublesome feeling passed and I was able to make sense of my surroundings, I realised how fortunate I was to be selected as an HMC Scholar by this school. To study in an environment that has enabled me to grow as an individual, acquire new skills, and enrich my horizons by coming into contact with people from a variety of backgrounds has been a truly life-changing opportunity. Carl Jung proposed in the middle of the 20th Century, that Humanity has a collective mind, a reservoir of experiences that are available to every individual and come from thousands of generations. Sometimes, when the whole school comes together for special celebrations and commemorations or simply
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for our weekly Assembly and Chapel, it is hard not to believe that we are all linked through an SVS unconscious. I thoroughly enjoy academic life at Sutton Valence School. Teaching is diverse and enjoyable and lessons do more than teach us how ‘to succeed at exams’ as one of our recent visitors to the school, writer William Nicholson commented on the value of the current educational system. My dedication to academic work is, nevertheless, in balance with an array of co-curricular activities offered by the school. The Sixth Form benefit from an enriching Community Service programme through which I was able to help the staff of the Old School House Nursery in Headcorn with their activities on a weekly basis. I had never imagined myself with an épée in my hand nor interviewing a famous writer for the Sixth Form Magazine BIG.
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Thank you for your present contribution. Thank you for the amazing opportunities you offer people that would not even dream of them. Thank you for our inheritance and for that of pupils that will study here after us. Thank you for shaping the school into what it is today.”
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The full transcript of Cristina’s testimony and that of Ian Kay will appear in The Suttonian. Headmaster Bruce Grindlay said, “Sutton Valence has much to be thankful for, to the Clothworkers and, latterly, United Westminster Schools. Although we are a forward-thinking school, we are also very proud of our heritage and traditions, so it was entirely fitting for this celebration to be held in the setting of Westminster Abbey. The ceremony is something our community will undoubtedly remember for many years to come.”
concert venue. Bruce Grindlay, who conducts the Chamber Choir, said, “Celebrating our richness of ability, particularly in such magnificent surroundings, gave our pupils a wonderful opportunity to perform at the highest level and for their professionalism and talents to be experienced by a large and diverse audience.”
Just three weeks later, the Chamber Choir and String Orchestra were back in London to take part in the United Westminster Schools Concert at St John Smith’s Square. As in the Sports Day and recent Art Exhibition, groups from all the schools in the Foundation came together to sing and play in this prestigious
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Bonfire Night The Preparatory School Parents’ Association held their annual Bonfire Night on Friday 5th November.
All week the children had been building their Guys for the competition, which would eventually be burnt on the bonfire. The winners were: Form 5B with Professor Dumbledore and Form 2S with Sir Laugh-aLot. The rain just about held off to allow everyone to enjoy their burgers and then watch a magnificent firework display unfold above the towering bonfire.
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Belize, Barracks and Bisley Last summer seventeen members of the CCF took a trip to the jungle in Belize for our second expedition to the jungle. The trip involved charity work with Liberty, a charity for orphaned children, cultural experiences and a week learning survival skills in the jungle with the army. The visit ended with a week at the army adventurous training facility in St Georges Caye. This was also the summer of our biggest shooting achievements at Pirbright barracks, where we won twelve of the fourteen trophies. Esias du Toit won the best Individual Shot with Tom Latham winning the Marlborough Cup for the best U16 marksman. The team also came tenth out of a hundred Schools at Bisley.
Welcome We are delighted to welcome Bryony Bowen, an NQT, who has joined the Kindergarten team.
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Academic Results We have been very pleased with our academic results this year, from 11+ to GCSE and A Level, and believe that we are doing the best for our pupils by focusing on academia as the priority and by instilling an appropriate work ethic from an early age. At A level we achieved a 54% A and B pass rate with our broad-church intake. However, our ‘Grammar Stream’ equivalent achieved 88% A* B grades, which is very impressive, beating schools of either colour in the locality. Similarly, at GCSE we were very close to last year’s record. This year we achieved 38% A* and A grades overall, but the ‘Grammar Stream’ achieved 81%, better than even the most academic of our near neighbours. What is most encouraging for us is that, not only are these top end results very good, but our MidYIS Value Added is now in the ‘significant’ banding. Outstanding academic results allied to superb co-curricular involvement and achievement is precisely what Sutton Valence is aiming to provide.
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Getting the Library habit As the number of adults borrowing books from public libraries continues to decline the Prep School has redoubled its efforts to encourage children into the ‘borrow-a-book’ habit. It has recently bought 600 new books as part of a £3,000 investment in the school library, made possible by donations to last year’s Annual Fund. Rachel Harrison, the teacher in charge of the library, explained, “With 600 new books among the 3,000 titles available, our pupils are learning that libraries are exciting and relevant. There has been a real surge of
enthusiasm, with children wanting to spend more time borrowing and reading books. We are doing our utmost to ensure our children continue to enjoy reading new and different books.” Mrs Harrison paid tribute to KCC libraries consultant Lyn Downey, who carried out a three-day audit of the library which made recommendations for improvements, advised on new titles and the layout of the library. As a result we were able to donate 200 of our old books to the Dandelion Trust and Cancer Research.
Hockey (near) Hat trick! On Friday 5th November the School hosted the Annual John Taylor Indoor U18 Tournament in the sports hall. The U18 team finished top of their pool after winning both games 4-2 against Worth and Ardingly. The U16s drew with Cranbrook 0-0 and managed to beat KC Pembury comprehensively 4-0. Therefore they also finished top of their group with both sides going through to the semi finals. The semi finals witnessed the U18s beating KC Pembury 2-0 and the U16s running away with a 5-1 win over Ardingly. Both teams went on to have a hard fought final in front of their home crowd. The U16s led the final 1-0 with a goal from Molly Stevens but could not hold on against a very strong and competitive 1st team squad. A wonderful team goal converted by Lucy Baxter and a rocket of a penalty corner from Sophia Kreft gave the U18s the win. The U18s were crowned champions, but both
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teams deserve a great deal of credit for reaching the final with such a strong field of school teams involved. On Monday 8th November the U16 Girls competed in the County Indoor Final against KC Pembury. The team, after a gruelling forty minute game, won the County Final 10-0. The girls defended their goal valiantly and managed to score numerous goals on the counter attack. Amy Baxter, Georgie Porter, Molly Stevens, Anna Baker and Charlotte Crouch scoring the goals for the County Champions. There were also excellent defensive performances from Anna-Marie Edeleanu, Emily Baker and goalkeepers Ellie Sagrott and Betsie Nally. The East Regional Indoor Finals will take place on the Saturday 4th December at the University of Essex.
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On Tuesday 9th November the U18 Girls came third in the East Regional Championships at UEA in Norwich. An incredible achievement for the girls competing against the top eight schools for hockey in the East of England. In the group matches in the morning the only side to beat Sutton Valence were the Essex Champions Coopers Coburn 2-0. A fantastic 1-0 win against Ipswich (Suffolk Champions) and Stamford 2-0 (Lincolnshire Champions) with goals from Alice Simmons, Charlotte McVarish and Aimee Burnham meant the girls went on to the semi finals. The girls were beaten 5-0 by a very strong Queenswood side who won their group winning all their matches with a +14 goal difference. The team had chances to score but were not as clinical as Queenswood in the attacking circle.
The 3rd and 4th Playoff was dominated by Sutton Valence but they could not finish off the Norfolk Champions, Greshams School. Goals from Charlotte Hollingsworth and Charlotte Miles took the game to penalty strokes after drawing 2-2. The girls won after penalty flicks 7-6 with Kaya Jago saving 6 Gresham penalties and Laura Worley converting all three of her efforts. A fantastic achievement for the girls, finishing third in the East Regionals. They only lost to the two East of England Finalists Cooper Coburn and Queenswood. The opposition was full of Regional and International players and our girls competed against both sides, but just failed to convert their chances. Well done to all the girls and thanks to Miss Hallett for managing the team and to Mr Stubbings for umpiring.
U18 Hockey Squad. County Finalists. Third place in East Regional Championships. 8
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U18 Indoor Hockey Squad. John Taylor Champions. County Runners Up.
U16 Indoor Squad. County Champions. John Taylor Runners Up. December 2010
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A Writer, a Historian and a Fashion Editor We have been very lucky to welcome three eminent figures in their respective fields to the School this term. William Nicholson, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter and now novelist, Suzanne Lipscomb, Tudor expert and one-time curator at Hampton Court and Alex Longmore from the world of fashion. Today, Mr Nicholson is a writer of fiction for both children and adults, but it is his scriptwriting which has brought him widespread accolade and fame. However, he says, “For a writer reared on English Literature at Cambridge, Hollywood is as far away as you can go. No one in Hollywood cares about your voice, or your sensibility. What they want is big characters, big stories, big audiences. Very smart people there do nothing all day but beat writers into shape. I was duly beaten into shape. As a result I now understand that I am not writing to reveal my own mysteriouslyfascinating self to others, as no one’s listening, no one cares; but to explore the world we all share.” Dr Lipscomb, who was last year one of the lead curators responsible for creating a new visitor experience at Hampton Court to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne, spoke to Sixth Form students about her diverse talents, the Tudors and the career opportunities that are available to history graduates. From the media world came Alex Longman; an exciting and dynamic TV presenter with a degree in Art History. She is a stylist with a passion for fashion and over
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Alex Longmore: in Sutton House sitting room thirteen years of invaluable experience some of which she gained as Style Editor for The Daily Mail. She is a well-known figure in the fashion industry and gave the girls in Sutton House entertaining insights into the lives of the personalities she has worked with. Bruce Grindlay said, “Introducing vibrant people such as these to our students makes them appreciate the diversity of careers that can be achieved through hard work and determination. They all had fascinating and powerful messages to convey and were an inspiration to the students they addressed.”
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William Nicholson in the Library
Suzanne Lipscomb in the Library December 2010
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Games Theory Eleven of our senior Cadets (Royal Navy Section) recently visited HMS Collingwood to investigate electrical engineering training, coming away with their very own memory games. The Cadets were given the task of building an electronic memory game using standard components and a printed circuit board. Lt (CCF) Dan Keep (Head of Design Technology) said that the visit was most impressive. The Fareham training establishment had excellent facilities and
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very good organisation, with personable and knowledgeable staff who guided the cadets through the day’s programme. He said, “Tasks were performed well, and with excellent advice and instruction, all cadets completed a working game to take away at the end of the afternoon. This snapshot of the diverse aspects of naval training is one the cadets will certainly remember and one that I hope we will repeat.”
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Youth Speaks and wins, again! It was only the second time in recent years that the School had taken part in the competition, but once again won the team event and the prize for the best senior speaker. Speakers from Bethany, Cranbrook and Homewood Schools took part, as well as the team from Sutton Valence. Sixth Former Tom Oldfield ably introduced the main speakers, while Cristina Paca seconded them by skilfully reinforcing their arguments. Upper Sixth student George Hughes spoke in thoughtful manner on the demanding topic: “If you desire peace, prepare for war,” but succeeded in spiking a serious topic with
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a fair amount of humour, enabling him to engage the audience in a way that no other speaker managed. He also dealt well with a difficult question from the floor, making him a clear winner in the Senior section. As Cristina put it, “He was bowled a googly and whacked it over the boundary - with his usual charm.” The School’s Junior speaker, Damola Owolabi, chose to discuss the thorny question of whether rich countries should or should not help poor countries in their struggle against poverty, presenting her arguments clearly and with a passion and authority beyond her years, but was pipped to first place by Edward Woolgar from Cranbrook School.
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The winners, who received silver trophies and generous cash prizes, now progress to the next round of the national competition. Headmaster, Bruce Grindlay said, “It was a pleasure for us to act as hosts in our own Baughan Theatre, which could not be a more ideal venue for events of this kind, and even more gratifying to see our students fare so well at speaking in public with confidence and authority.�
Prep School achieves at 11+ Of the 37 children at the Prep School who took the Kent Test, over 60% passed, which represented over 38% of the cohort. The expectation in Kent is that 25% of the cohort will pass, which we believe shows the high standard of value added our teaching gives our pupils. Four of our pupils, pictured below, scored the maximum 100%. Huge congratulations to: Victoria Simmonds, Stevie George, Freya Dow and Eoin Robinson. In addition, we are delighted that twelve Scholarships and seven Exhibitions were awarded to pupils who are continuing on to the Senior School.
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Deputy Head warmed to the atmosphere When Claire Corkran saw that there was a vacancy at Sutton Valence Preparatory School she was delighted to apply. She knew from colleagues and friends that the Prep School has a reputation for being a good, forward thinking school with traditional values, that is very much part of the community.
Before coming to SVPS Claire honed her teaching skills in four schools, including the British School in Texas, where she helped grow numbers from 200 to 500 in four years and was responsible for ensuring that the pupils were prepared for the Common Entrance exam.
“When I came to visit, and now that I am here”, she said, “I am constantly struck by the warm, friendly, family feel. The school is very welcoming, which is not always the case.” Claire went to Wycombe Abbey School, where she boarded as her father was in the Grenadier Guards. She then went on to Homerton College, Cambridge where she read Education with RS, gaining her BEd with Honours and, more recently, she graduated from the Open University with an MEd in Education Management and Leadership.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – the musical! Drama students trod the boards this term, with an up tempo interpretation of the Bard’s famous comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Head of Drama, Andrew Brook introduced a few sultry musical numbers into the Shakespearean drama, which was performed over three days, with two separate casts, to encompass our impressive range of acting talent.
Ellie van Leeuwen (Cobweb), Isabel Hills (Bottom), Henrietta Mair (Mustard Seed) and Ellie Oliver (Peaseblossom)
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In a diversion from the original script, classics such as Nina Simone’s I Put a Spell on You and Sinatra’s That Old Black Magic were
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sung by outstanding soloists David Booer, Eleanor Oliver, Alice Simmons and Kai Reed. Lisa Willington, Actor in Residence, who assisted Mr Brook in directing the play, said, “From the moment the cast received their text the race was on to learn and understand some of the most famous and beautiful phrases in the English language. However, it
was not until they embarked on the rehearsal process and added a sprinkling of fairy dust that the magic started to happen. What started as a piece of 400-year old writing has evolved into a thoroughly enjoyable piece of theatre. Who would have thought that school children could find the Bard so much fun?�
Wednesday evening cast
Emily Baker (Hermia), Crispin Thompson (Lysander), Harry Keep (Demetrius) 16
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