from the headmaster€¦ · barrow hills school — newsletter for the week ending 12th february...
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Barrow Hills School — Newsletter for the week ending 12th February 2016— www.barrowhills.org.uk Page 1
Spring Term 2016—Week 6
From the Headmaster
Weekly Newsletter for the period 8th—12th February 2016
Our new website will be just about up and run-
ning and should appear at the school’s usual
website address within the next few days. It has
been a long time coming and I would like to
thank all those who have had an input and
made it happen. There have been some great
examples of patience and perseverance through
the whole process but we are nearly there!
I hope you will agree that it looks fantastic. I
felt immense pride reading it and looking at the
superb photos that have been used. Every
word, either spoken or written by our staff and
children comes from the heart. Like any website
it can be added to, improved even more and
that is what we will do as the weeks pass by.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mrs Nicholls
as she departs for Burkina Faso today. She will
be working for her own charity ‘Les Amis’ as
well as visiting St Benedict’s School to see how
they are getting on, see just how our donations
have been spent and further strengthen the
links between our schools. Over the years we
have made a huge difference to the teachers
and children in their school knowing that literal-
ly every penny has gone to them. We listen and
take on board what their basic needs are and
then provide. Mrs Nicholls always presents an
amazing and thought provoking assembly to the
school community when she gets back. You are
welcome to come and listen...
This morning, our Year 8’s gave an informative,
thought provoking and at times moving Lent
appeal assembly. They had previously shortlist-
ed three local charities and today explained to
us the work that they do. The whole school then
had a vote as to who they wanted to support
and the charity chosen was Scope (Haslemere).
As mentioned previously, the classes or year
groups will now come up with ideas to raise
some money for that charity. We will also make
a smaller but not insignificant donation to the
other two charities.
I am glad that we have gone back to supporting
local charities for this and that the children have
taken ownership regarding the fundraising and
all the ideas that will raise the money.
After our call to the community we had a fan-
tastic turnout for our coffee morning this week.
This meeting produced some great ideas and
thought provoking questions; to add to this we
have now sent out a questionnaire to the whole
school community asking for your thoughts. If
you have not yet seen this please access the
Google Form on this link; it is very short and
quick to complete.
Wishing you a fantastic break.
Paul Crisell
Acting Head
Barrow Hills School — Newsletter for the week ending 12th February 2016— www.barrowhills.org.uk Page 2
YEAR 1 BIRD FEEDERS
Year 1 had a great time making
bird feeders to hang in the Pre-
Prep garden.
FROM THE CHAPLAINCY
I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the
temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings. And they were calling to one
another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At
the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled
with smoke. And then I cried out “What a wretched state I am in! For I am a man of
unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips. With my eyes I have seen the King, the Almighty
God.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs
from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your sin is taken
away, our guilt is atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will
be our messenger?” I answered, “Here I am. Send me.” Isaiah 6:1-8
If I were to see God in all his glory; if I were given a glimpse of the wonder and beauty and perfection of heaven, I know
that I would find myself saying, as Isaiah said, “What a wretched state I am in, for I am a person of unclean lips surrounded
by a people of unclean lips!” It would be impossible to see heaven and not get an immediate sense of our inadequacies.
We would equally get a sense of the inadequacies of the world around us – are we not all acutely aware of the problems
around the world because of human greed, selfishness and hatred? This is what has suddenly occurred to Isaiah – he has
seen heaven and is overwhelmed by the knowledge of his flaws and of the flaws of the world. And yet, the Lord reaches out
to him, touches his lips and tells him – you are healed, I have taken away all your guilt. And then the Lord looks around
and asks “Who shall I send to be my messenger to the world about me? Whom shall I send to be my messenger of good-
ness and mercy … whom shall I send? Who will speak out for me?” Isaiah, realising how much he owes to God speaks up:
“Here I am, send me.” The Lord reaches out with healing and forgiveness in his hand every time we approach him, particu-
larly in the Mass. How long is it going to take us to understand how much we owe God, that we owe him our very lives?
Even now Jesus is looking around and asking himself, “Whom shall I send? Who will be my messenger in this modern and
troubled world?” Let us all, as one voice speak up; let us say with all our hearts, for we owe him our very lives, “Here I am.
Send me.”
THE POPE SPEAKS …
Ask the Lord for the grace of the humility that John had, and not to lean on our own merits. Above all, for the
grace that, in our life, there might always be a place that Christ might grow greater, and that like John we will
diminish, even to the very end. www.romereports.com
Barrow Hills School — Newsletter for the week ending 12th February 2016— www.barrowhills.org.uk Page 3
AWARDS
Pre-Prep Awards
Bronze Award: Mateo, Nicholas, Bobby
Bronze Badge 1: Gabriel, Chloe, Savannah, Georgia, Càitlin, Rocco
Bronze Badge 2: Conrad
Pre-Prep Ballet Pencil Awards Reception: Cleo. Y1: Chloe, Georgia. Y2: Ruby , Lily
Prep Awards
Silver 3: Georgia
Gold 4: Belle
Silver 5: Annabel, Annabelle, Isabella, Dominic
Silver 7: Lily, Anna
Gold 7: Oliver
Times Table Badges:
Thomas, Hayley, Lily, Oscar, Fraser, Fern
Hockey Eliot was presented with his vice-captain badge this week.
GREEN COMMENDATIONS
Congratulations to Sam, Holly, Hector and Henrietta who were awarded green
commendations today.
SHROVE TUES-DAY
We all enjoyed
pancakes on Tues-day. Thank you very much to Krys Darg and the cater-ing team for mak-ing such mouth-
watering pancakes
for us to enjoy.
NEWS FROM BURKINA FASO
Our Chaplain is currently on her way to Burkina Faso visiting St Benedict’s School. To read all about our
history and link with St Benedict’s please do read the attached PDF which is being sent out with this Friday Letter.
McCORMACK RULE THE SILVERWARE
Congratulations to McCormack who not only won the House Badminton Cup but also the
Clover Cup.
Barrow Hills School — Newsletter for the week ending 12th February 2016— www.barrowhills.org.uk Page 4
À la boulangerie
Year 5G had fun going a French Bakery (à
la boulangerie) in their lesson this week.
They ordered some croissants and choco-
late brioche.
YEAR 4 IRON MAN
Year 4 made some superb models this week, based
on the Ted Hughes character ‘The Iron Man’.
ASPIRING SECRET AGENTS
Aspiring Secret Agents Monty, Hermione, Freddie
and Oscar have been making their way to King Ed-
ward’s over the last few weeks to attend the Official
Spy Academy. Although 007 may not have actually
attended the Academy, we are sure M16 would have
approved of the training on offer! Run over four
Saturdays the workshops took core curriculum sub-
jects and linked them to tools of espionage and
daredevil missions. 20 participants in total were
shown how to crack codes, got tips on how to travel
incognito, gained skills in interrogation techniques and were drilled on how to write secret messages in invisible ink.
The final training session, held on Saturday 6th February was followed by a passing out parade and prize-giving cer-
emony for the newly qualified spies. The nation’s security is in safe hands!
GOLDILOCKS!
Hermione from Year 5 appeared in a pantomime in
Godalming this weekend. This funny version of Goldi-
locks and the three bears was written by a local play-
wright and Hermione has been rehearsing every Sun-
day afternoon for the last few months.
Hermione had 6 parts, each of which involved a
makeup and cos-
tume change,
some singing,
some spoken lines
and a lot of danc-
ing! Well done
Hermione!
Barrow Hills School — Newsletter for the week ending 12th February 2016— www.barrowhills.org.uk Page 5
YEAR 4 TYPOGRAPHY
Year 4 have done some great work this week
as they studied typography. Here is a snap-
shot of sketchbooks belonging to Thomas,
Isobel, Thomas, and Oscar. They are
ready to launch into planning to create their
own onomatopoeia pop art piece after half
term.
YEAR 7 ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST INVESTIGATION
Year 7 are investigating the American abstract expressionists while exploring different ways
of using brush marks and expression in paint.
Below are examples of brushwork by Charlie, Anna and Sam. The children used large
brushes inspired by small swatches from a magazine image, followed by adding one ele-
ment from an abstract artist of their choice. Some of the artists Year 7 have looked at are
Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Sam Francis, and
Franz Kline. The wonderful black and white photography is by Scott - a photographic view
of his expressionist painting listening to music pieces Star Wars and Swan Lake.
Barrow Hills School — Newsletter for the week ending 12th February 2016— www.barrowhills.org.uk Page 6
WHERE DOES OUR FUNDRAISING MONEY GO?
One question raised in the recent BHCC coffee morning was ‘where does the money go?’; and we apologise for this oversight as we have not communicated this as well as we could. The initial £5,000 raised in any year goes to St Benedict’s School in Burkina Faso, West Africa. This commitment and promise to them stems back some 10 years; for the full history of our relationship with this amazing country and school please see the attached docu-ment or on our website.
Every year Gillie Nicholls travels to Burkina Faso and visits St Benedict’s School; this year she will be travelling with Fr Lambert who some of you will remember from a very poignant Prize Giving a few years ago. Some of you
may have seen that Burkina Faso has recently been in the news after a kidnapping and terrorist attack; in which Fr Lambert lost a cousin. We therefore ask for you to keep Gillie in your prayers. If you are up early on Sunday 14th February Gillie will be speaking live on BBC Radio Surrey from about 8.20am. On her return we look forward
to her annual update in assembly.
The next £5,000 goes on internal fundraising projects for our school. This year the money will go towards im-proving the seating on the terrace outside the refectory. We hope to purchase smart tables, chairs and umbrellas that will complement the school buildings and the benches nearby. We would like to make an attractive area
where, along with many other uses, match teas can be served to parents in all but the most inclement weather and which will show off the school to visitors. We have had a few quotations so far but have not made any deci-sions yet. If you have any business contacts in this field we will be very pleased to hear from you. Please contact Richard Royds who is heading up the project. Any money raised over and above £10,000 will be split evenly be-tween our school projects and other chosen charities.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF VICTORIAN SCHOOL CHILD BY FRASER AND
LAURIE (4R)
“Shhh” whispered Thomas as we lined up as quietly as mice. It was so quiet you could hear
a pin drop. We stood in the freezing cold wind, waiting, waiting to go in. I was nervous! The
teacher Miss Smith looked stern and strict. Finally our boy line and girl line went into the old
re-created Victorian school room. We were greeted by a treasure trove of Victorian toys and
games.
We were guided up the creaking stairs in single file. My heart was pounding harder and
harder. Suddenly we were stopped. There she was our teacher in the classroom - Miss
Smith. She looked stern, strict and sounded meaner.
Crack! went Miss Smith’s cane on my desk. We were having our hands checked! I hoped
mine were clean …. Our backs ached from sitting so straight on the hard wooden benches.
Following this we all had to do a sheet of handwriting with an ink pen. I hope mine doesn’t
smudge! And then recite some times tables and spellings! The silent stuffed owl looked
down on us all.
At break time we got to play with some Victorian toys. I enjoyed the puppets most of all.
We really loved our time as Victorian school children and would like to go back again.
Barrow Hills School — Newsletter for the week ending 12th February 2016— www.barrowhills.org.uk Page 7
COLTS A SURREY CUP
On Tuesday the Colts A Team took part in the Sur-
rey U11 Hockey Cup competition at Reed’s School.
Children worked hard and played really well against
some tough teams. Well played to all the children.
SURREY PLATE - U13 BOYS
The Barrow Hills team came 3rd in the plate competition
at the South Championships U13 regional hockey tourna-
ment at Canford School. Well done to the team.
HIGHFIELD SWIMMING GALA
Congratulations to all the girls who swam this week in the gala against Highfield B Team. The girls took on both
boys and girls from Highfield and the final score was a win to Highfield 82 - 122 points. Highlights of the gala:
Lily (Year 7) - 2nd U13 Freestyle
Hettie (Year 6) - 1st U11 Backstroke, 1st
U11 Freestyle, 1st U13 Butterfly
Emily (Year 6) - 2nd U11 Breastroke
Lucy (Year 5) - 2nd U11 Butterfly
Lily (Year 4) - 1st U9 Backstroke
Holly (Year 3) - 1st U9 Freestyle, 2nd U9
Breaststroke
SURREY PLATE - COLTS B
The Colts B team came 3rd overall in the Surrey
Plate tournament and were presented with their
bronze medals in Assembly. Well done boys!
AMERICAN FOOTBALL FOR YEAR 4 BOYS
Though blurry
eyed from staying
up and watching
the Super Bowl
this weekend,
Matthew treated our Year 4 boys to
an hour lesson on American Football.
Well done to the Year 4 boys for working really hard and
thank you to Matthew for giving up his time.
Although we didn’t manage to get a photo of the lesson,
we do have ’then’ and ’now’ shots of Matthew when he
was a Barrow Hills pupil and how you may recognise him
as he returned for his work experience this week. It has
been great to have you back Matthew!
Barrow Hills School — Newsletter for the week ending 12th February 2016— www.barrowhills.org.uk Page 8
GREEN FINGERS?
Mr Gaszka has offered us a challenge: To take home and grow elephant
garlic.
The biggest bulb gets a prize!
He has some of the children doing this too. If you would like to take part please contact Justin Shreeve.
Aromatherapy by Pearoma
£10 off all treatments sessions to
BHS parents and friends for a lim-
ited time only. Gift Certificates
available (perfect for Mother’s Day
and Birthdays). Please contact Petra
Davey for more information.
www.pearoma.co.uk pet-
Telephone: 07590 436369
Three local schools have been chosen to take part in Waitrose Godalming's Community Matters green token
scheme this February. Shoppers at Waitrose in Godalming can pick up a green token at the end of their shop and
place the token into the school slot of their choice. £1000 will be divided between Rodborough, Broadwater and St
Mary's according to the proportion of green tokens customers place in each school's slot during February. So if
you're in Waitrose, Godalming in February for just a pint of milk or a weekly shop, please remember to
pick up green tokens and pop them in a slot as you leave. The green tokens are available at all of the tills
(self-scan, Quick Check & conventional).
SECOND HAND UNIFORM
Are you having a clear out over half term? Looking forward to summer
and wondering whether you can make that dress last another term? Try-ing to get ahead and thinking of that Blue Blazer that will be needed in
September! Then please contact any of the volun-teers that run the second hand uniform shop. We have lots of items in a variety of sizes but can al-ways take more.
Contacts are: Sara Da Gama-Rose on 07884 232289 | Judy Dalgleish 07552 793838 | Anita Wood on 07961 111620 | Rachel Barraud on 01428
681024 or [email protected]
ARE THERE ALIENS?
On Friday 5th of February Mr Andrade and Mrs Humphreys took Year 7 and 8 to King Edward’s on a ‘are there aliens’ talk. After a short trip in the mini-buses we went to the lecture theatre and saw a slideshow on mysterious life. We did experiments like; find the human life, light and sound waves and we rolled two dice trying to make the odds of other life more simple. We found out that some plants deep under the ocean don't rely on sunlight and live off the earth's heat. After a very interesting thought provoking talk we
left, talking about the future of our planet and how we can help our great great great grandchildren.
JANET GRAVESTOCK
Today we gathered to bid farewell to
Janet Gravestock who has been a
valuable member of our catering
team since 2009. Janet is moving to
pastures new to work as a groom
and for an international event riding
stables.
PRE-PREP SINGING IN ASSEMBLY
Well done for to Pre-Prep who amazed us all with renditions of “Smallest
world I ever saw” and “Boom
boom ain’t it great to be cra-
zy” in assembly. Click here
to listen to this online.
Barrow Hills School — Newsletter for the week ending 12th February 2016— www.barrowhills.org.uk Page 9
The Week Ahead….
Date Event Time
Monday 15th-Friday 19th
February
HALF TERM
Monday 22nd
Feburary RETURN AFTER HALF TERM
Fixture details available on Portal or Website
07.30-18.30
Tuesday 23rd
February Exposition
Year 2 Trip
Fixture details available on Portal or Website
08.00-08.30
09.00-15.30
14:30-19.00
Wednesday 24th February
February
Fixture details available on Portal or Website
14:00-17:00
Thursday 25th
February
Parent Prayers
Open Morning
Fixture details available on Portal or Website
08.00-0830
09.30-11.30
14.00-16.30
Friday 26th
February Assembly - Year 2
Junior Prep - Open Classroom and sharing of
books
09.00-09.30
15.00-15.30
22nd February - Return to School
25th February - BodyFit free trial
25th February - Open Morning
29th February - Open Morning
29th February - Pre-Prep Parent Consul-
tations
2nd March - Yr 5 Future Schools Evening
3rd March - World Book Day
8th March - Exposition
11th March - CAFOD Lent Fast Day
11th March - BHCC Cake Sale
2nd July— save the date BHCC Party
Upcoming Events...
CONTACT DETAILS—IMPORTANT
Please could you log on to the Parent Portal and under
MY DETAILS check contact details are correct, both
telephone and email, for home and work.
If any information is incorrect please click on Request
a Change.
COFFEE IN THE CAR PARK
Today raised £228.30—even better than last
week so let’s keep the momentum up after
half term! Thank you to Rich-
ard Royds and everyone who
helped and offered to join our
team.
Just a reminder that we have a
school Twitter account
@BarrowHills. If you would like
to follow us click here.
Please follow the link to see our Facebook
page. Lots of likes and shares
would be much appreciated!
BIKEABILITY COURSES
We are now booking the Bikeability courses for Easter 2016. These courses are open
to Barrow Hills children in Year 4 and above and non Barrow Hills siblings in this age
range. These courses are similar to the old ‘cycling proficiency’ and for Year 4 – 5
(Level 1) takes place around the School, and the exercises are designed to improve
your child’s balance and control skills. The Level 2 (Year 6 – 8) is spent on the road
practising traffic skills and requires the children to be competent on a bicycle i.e. stop and start safely and take one hand
off handlebar and look behind without losing control.
The courses that we are running this year are:
Level 1 (Year 4 – 5) Date: 11th April 2016 Time: 9:15 – 12:30 (inc. a 15 minute break)
Level 2 (Year 6 – 8) Date: 12th – 14th April 2016 Time: 9:30 – 12:00 each day
There is a charge of £11 per child for Level 1 (Year 4 – 5) and £23 per child for Level 2 (Year 6 – 8), which will be
added to your summer term account.
If you would like to reserve a place on this course, please complete the google form by Friday 26th February.
If you have any questions or would like more information please contact Rachel Barraud on [email protected]