The Voice of Sutton Valence School
Edition 35 March 2007
SUTTON VIEWS Sixth Form Music Evening A
n audience of parents, staff, friends and pupils was treated to a an evening of great enjoyment containing a wide variety of music, from classical down to the more popular music of today’s youth, performed by over 20 pupils from Lower and Upper Sixth and one brave member of staff. The acts included songs from “West Side Story” and “Guys and Dolls”; fully accompanied covers of ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ by The Verve, ‘How to Save a Life’ by The Fray and ‘The Scientist’ by Coldplay; and also some instrumental solos on saxophone and violin. The standard of performance was very high and
showed the amazing range of talent we have in the school. The performers and the audience had such a good time that we hope this will become a more regular feature of the school’s musical calendar. l
Girls’ Rugby 7s Page 2
1st Form Science Trip Page 2
School Contacts: School Secretary
01622 845200
Admissions Office
01622 845206
Head of Year 1
01622 845226
Head of Year 2
01622 845242
Head of Year 3
01622 845216
Head of Year 4
01622 845233
Head of Year 5
01622 845234
Head of Year 6
01622 845252
Head of Year 7
01622 845231
Bursar’s Office
01622 845204
St Margaret’s House
01622 845219
Kingdon House
01622 843459
Westminster House
01622 845222
Sutton House
01622 845228
Sutton Valence Preparatory School
01622 842117
Chaplain
01622 842814
Poetry Competition Page 3
Information A member of the United Westminster Schools’ Foundation Registered Charity No. 309267 Founded in 1576 by William Lambe
Sutton Views: March 2007
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 1
Sutton Valence School
A Rose by Any Other Name…… rose by any other name…..is a carnation!
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At least that was the case at the Senior School where Valentine’s Day came early for students – and some of the staff. Each year, the Prefects organise a charity red carnation day to coincide with the most romantic day of the year. However,
with February 14 2007 falling right in the middle of the half term holiday, the fundraising floral festival was brought forward – to February 9! More than 500 red carnations were on sale at £1 each and delivered anonymously by the Prefects to the lucky recipients during the lunch break, with the proceeds of £140 being donated to the Heart of Kent Hospice.
Hannah Knott, Head of School, said: “Nearly everyone, including staff, joins in the spirit of the day so it takes the Prefects all week to write out the messages and attach them to carnations – sometimes bunches of them! We all have a lot of fun and it’s a great way of getting the whole school involved in raising money for a local charity.” l
Science Museum Trip Rugby 7s n Monday 5th March the first years visited the Science Museum for field day. After a couple of hours of struggling through the London traffic we arrived, split into groups and explored. Many had a flight on the simulators on the top floor, even Miss Halleron joined in (the other staff abstained). The Wellcome Wing was another favourite with its IQ and memory games. The highlight of the day was the viewing of “Lions 3D - Roar of the Kalahari”; this is a spectacular piece of film showing a year in the life of a group of lions around a waterhole – four metre high three dimensional lions can be intimidating sight! We then had around half an hour to finish our exploring of the museum before our long journey home. l
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Sutton Views: March 2007
n March 2nd, Sutton Valence Girls travelled to Cranbrook for the inaugural Kent U18 Girls’ Rugby 7s Championships. For some of the squad it was their first year of playing 7s and so they did extremely well to reach the final. On the way to the final they surprised Benenden School by beating them by 10 points and completely outplayed Judd girls, thrashing them by 30 points to nil. In the final they met Cranbrook school, and lost a closely fought match 21-14. It was an excellent afternoon which the girls thoroughly enjoyed - now for the Nationals – Rosslyn Park! Thanks to Mr Buck and his expert coaching! l
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Sutton Valence School
Equestrian Team Step Up utton Valence School was represented at The National Schools’ Equestrian Association’s qualifier at the South of England Showground in January. Three riders from the school took part in an Eventers’ Challenge. This competition takes the form of a round of show jumps that has to be ridden with style and accuracy, followed immediately by a set of indoor cross-country jumps that have to be tackled with speed and aggression. Last year, the School came 13th at the National Championships in the Novice section of this competition. January’s competition saw the team go up a grade to attempt the Intermediate class. The team had benefited from a training session with international show jumper and European Bronze medallist, Liz Howes, so were feeling positive. However, some apprehension at attempting a 3ft course was also evident amongst our riders. An individual class was the first to be contested by our students, and team captain Olivia Page (riding Freckles) and Dominic Timmons-Draude (Spitfire Jack) jumped clear. Unfortunately, only Ellie Simmonds (Midnight Miracle) managed to go clear in the team class, giving SVS a credible 8th place. However, the riders proved that they are capable of jumping at the new height of 3ft and are very much looking forward to improving on their position at the next competition at Ashford at the end of March. l
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Poetry Competition riday 9th February saw the grand arrival of the well known children’s poet, Brian Moses, the adjudicator for the annual Poetry Competition. Wearing very trendy red trainers, Brian put the competitors at their ease, reciting a number of his favourite poems accompanied by some bizarre musical instruments. All of the finalists from Year 1 to Year 6 should be congratulated on the confidence which they displayed in delivering their lines and Brian was complimentary of each child. The children were greatly encouraged by the large number of parents and friends who supported the event. Brian held two workshops in the afternoon, inviting the children to delve into their minds to create mysterious and humorous poetry of their own. The results were superb and the children came away with a new slant on writing. Brian kindly donated some books to the library and happily autographed several books for pupils and parents at the end of the school day. l
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Sutton Valence School
Global Rock Challenge sn’t it amazing what TIME does to the memory? It softens images, making them blurred round the edges and resembling more an Impressionist painting than a sharply focussed photograph. And how one’s words come back to haunt one! ‘But you said you’d NEVER do Global Rock again!’ Mrs Firmston reminded me when I suggested that, with all the work going on in Centre Block hall, perhaps we should run Global Rock Challenge for the Juniors instead of an extra-curricula performance this spring. So, here we are, roughly where we were in 2004, rehearsing our devised eight minute piece of Dance/Drama, nearly ready to compete with nine other schools at Eastbourne on Tuesday 13th March. Part and parcel of the event is fund raising and a super evening was organised by Mrs Luxford who brightly announced that she would run a Junior Disco. It was
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fun (well, if you don’t mind the noise, lack of opportunity for small-talk and the sight of a few teachers re-living their youth on the dance floor!). James Anderson (senior) and Stephen Lawrence ran the DJ bit like pros. Catherine and the techies provided stunning lighting and a good time truly was had by all. STOP PRESS: In Eastbourne the team won the ‘Spirit of Global Rock’ and ‘Most Entertaining Performance’ awards. l
Pancake Day veryone was treated to pancakes as part of the tradition of Pancake Day. The Parents’ Association kindly donned aprons and made pancakes for the whole school, from Kindergarten to Year 6 and even staff were treated to the delights. As part of the fun, the staff entertained the pupils with a pancake flipping race in the playground at break time. Mr Stanford was in charge, blowing his whistle and revising the rules of the race with staff. With much cheering, Hever successfully returned to the start with their pancake intact. Many thanks to all the parents who helped to prepare and cook pancakes for all of the children. They were greatly enjoyed! l
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Sporting Success t this time of year we enter the County Tournament period and we enter teams across the range of year groups for hockey, netball and rugby sevens. We have had a mixture of successes and here is a flavour of what we have achieved.
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U13 County Netball Tournament Runners Up U13 County 7-A-Side Competition Winners County Champions U14 County Rugby Sevens Lost in the preliminary rounds U15 County Rugby Sevens Lost in the Preliminary rounds U15 Peter Firminger Hockey Tournament Lost in the quarter finals U18 County Rugby Sevens Lost in Semi-finals U18 Frank Mason Hockey Tournament Winners of the plate competition The U13 Girls Netball team played superbly throughout their tournament beating some of the favourites to reach the final. Mrs Lynch says that the girls played “out of their skins” and were unlucky not to win. This is a talented sporting year group and is certainly one to watch for the future. The U13 boys were magnificent in their performances at the recent County 7-A-side Hockey competition. They were unbeaten during the preliminary rounds and didn’t concede a single goal. In the quarter finals we met our old nemesis, Langley Park, and the boys were nervous to say the least. In a brave, physical performance we beat them for the first time ever, 2-0. We moved on to the semi-final versus Bromley and Beckenham HC. The score seesawed back and forth and with only seconds left the score was 3-3. Dan Smallwood struck the ball firmly and it hit the backboard as the final whistle was blown. We went into the final against Canterbury HC. At the final whistle the score was 1-1 and it was into a golden goal competition. SV broke and got a shot on goal; it was deflected by the keeper as he fell to the floor. Joe Fowler swooped and managed to nudge the ball over the line for victory. l
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Sutton Valence School
Senior Ski Trip he February Half Term break saw the departure of the Senior Ski Trip. This year we had opted to head for Austria; although with the prospect of the worst snow in the Alps for many years we thought we may well regret the change from the United States! We arrived in Axamer Lizum, a small resort close Innsbruck, to and we were delighted to see that there was a good amount of snow around. The resort was relatively high, the hotel was at nearly 1600 metres, well above the freezing level. The forecasters were predicting snow, the first significant snow fall since the start of January would possibly arrive on our second day. We crossed our fingers. On the first day our group of 42 students and 6 staff were split into their appropriate ski and snow boarding classes and then we headed off onto the mountain (well all of us except the beginners). The first day was
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a little icy and the runs were in need of freshening up. Although the weather was beautiful for sun bathing, it was not conducive to producing the best skiing conditions! On Sunday evening it started to snow. We woke in the morning and were greeted
Myles Nash l
by more snowflakes falling; it looked as though there had been about 50 centimetres of snow, more than enough to freshen the slopes up. The conditions were excellent, the new powder was great to ski on and it opened up some slopes which had been closed for some time. The groups were soon finding themselves in natural half pipes with snow up to their knees, or
OS News or the first time in some years the School hosted the Old Suttonian AGM and Dinner. Although numbers were small the assembled OS enjoyed a convivial evening in the Refectory catching up with old friends. Joe Davies spoke about current developments at the School and Head of School, Hannah Knott, proposed the toast. The following weekend over 60 Old Suttonians, including a strong contingent of 2005 leavers and Donovan Hodges who left in 1936, gathered on a glorious Sunday morning to play the traditional hockey fixture against the School. Three men’s teams and one ladies’ played against
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Sutton Views: March 2007
trying to master new tricks and jumps on an abundance of kickers. There were great improvements in ability throughout the week, perhaps the greatest came from the beginners who were total novices at the start, but managed to successfully complete the Olympic runs, although not in record setting time. I would like to thank the staff that gave up their half term to take this trip away, and also the students who made this one of the most successful trips that I have been away on. The enthusiasm, behaviour, and good nature of our pupils continues to be a credit to the school.
the School 1st, 2nd and 3rd boys’ XI and the girls’ 1st XI, with the School avenging their losses of last year by winning 3 of the four matches. This is always a most enjoyable, friendly day and emphasises the enduring strength of the Sutton Valence community across OS, staff, pupils and parents, whatever their age. For photos and comment please refer to the Old Suttonian pages on the school website. Match results: OS Ladies v 1st XI Girls OS 1st XI v 1st XI School OS 2nd XI v 2nd XI School OS 3rd XI v 3rd XI School
1–4 2–3 8–3 1–5
Shooting Course alf term is meant to be a time of rest and recuperation, but on the morning of Monday 12th, Tom Fermor and I were on the M20 going to Bisley near Aldershot.
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The following week saw us every morning at 8am in the classroom (studying the rifle, discipline, techniques, elevation, cards and windage), and from 1:15pm on the ranges firing the 7.62mm Target Rifle, beginning at 100 yards and ending at 600 yards. There were evening lectures followed by socialising and on the last night we all descended on the local bowling centre (where PH won the staff event) Although the weather was extremely cold (imagine laying on a field twice the size of BM for 3 hours) much was learnt. It was noticeable that even youngsters on the basic course were raising their score by up to 10 marks by the end of the week. Tom gained his award in firing and self coaching (no excuse now at the Ashburton competition) and I gained my NRA Instructor Qualification in Target Rifle shooting. All shooters at the school, both starters and experienced, should consider these courses which are run at the home of UK Rifle Shooting. Phil Horley l
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Sutton Valence School
Year 4 GCSE Drama Theatre In Education Practical n Thursday 8th March, Sutton Valence Primary school year 6 pupils were entertained and educated by two devised Theatre in Education pieces on the topic of Bullying. The year 4 GCSE pupils not only performed two diverse pieces on this theme, which links in with the PSHE
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FSVS Guest Speaker hen The Friends announced that Ann Widdecombe was to be their next Guest Speaker, the response from our parents, teachers and acquaintances was very similar. ‘She’s a good politician; I’ve got a lot of time for her’. We were certainly not disappointed one cold and wet night in February, when, in spite of the weather, many turned out to hear and be entertained by Miss Widdecombe’s potted personal history. She is small in stature but has a commanding, reassuring presence. She faces problems head-on and, unlike many of her contemporaries in present government, does not seek to prevaricate. She enjoys a wonderful sense of humour and has a writer’s innate ability to recount an experience well. Without notes she held us in the palm of her hand for the entire evening and her answers to our questions were measured and often thought provoking. When the day eventually comes when Miss Widdecombe decides to retire to her beloved Devon, we will, for sure be the losers, as she is certainly one of the few dedicated politicians who put their country’s interests before their own. On behalf of Sutton Valence School, The Friends wish her many years of happy, productive retirement and look forward to the publication of more of her novels.
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Suzanne Padwick l
Sutton Views: March 2007
programme for year 6, but they followed up the plays with workshops enabling further exploration of the topic. Staff at the primary school were impressed, not only with the standard of drama but with the confident manner in which our pupils engaged with the younger pupils. l
Sports News s is the way of the PE and Games Department we have a full and lengthy fixture list for the pupils and parents to enjoy this term. It never ceases to amaze the talent a school of our size produces. We have A, B and C teams competing in both hockey and netball and in some instances we can achieve a D team as well. We are also pleased that Ashley Jackson StM 05 (England Hockey and young player of 2006) has helped the coaching at all age groups and we expect and look forward to the continued development throughout the rest the term. We also have full senior boys’ fixture card in football under the care and guidance of Mr Igglesden. At the time of writing they have had a good.. star t
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to the season with three wins and one loss. These are events coming up during the remainder of this term and we wish particular good luck to the U18 Rugby Sevens team who lost in the finals last year. Perhaps they will go one better this year!? U18 National Sevens Tournament U18 Girls National Sevens Tournament U16 National Sevens Tournament Thanks must go to all the hardworking and committed games staff that have helped pupils at SVS to fulfil their potential in all the young sportsmen and women. Finally, I would like to thank all the parents for their continued support on the touchlines. l
U13 County 7-a-side Hockey Champions 6