THE CHASE NEWSLETTER

17th June 2011 Issue: 59

At 7am on Monday April 11th, we excitedly said our good-byes as we set off on our 5 days adventure to Spain. By early afternoon, we were in Barcelona being driven along avenues lined with palm trees and admiring wonderful landmarks, such as Gaudi‟s famous unfinished masterpiece. The Sagrada Familia. Barcelona was amazing! We stayed in a hotel in the seaside resort of Lloret de Mar, about an hour and a

half up the coast. All our meals were buffets, so we could choose what we liked to eat.

On Tuesday morning, we headed up into the hills through olive groves and forests to visit La Fageda yoghurt factory, in a place called Santa Pau. Everything was made on the farm so we started by seeing the cows and their calves. We were, of course, treated to samples of the end products – the chocolate yoghurt was simply delicious! Lunch was a good meal in a restaurant in the nearby town of Olot. After that we were free to do a little shopping, but it was „siesta time‟ so most of the places were shut! Later in the afternoon, we visited a biscuit museum with more mouth-watering free samples - we just couldn‟t resist! We had a great evening of bowling back in Lloret de Mar.

On Wednesday, we headed back into Barcelona to the International School of Design. We listened to a talk and watched a video about their students‟ latest fashions– all very quirky and abstract! We were then driven to the old part of the city for a „tapas‟ tour. We tried different kinds of olives, potato salad and dried meats, like „chorizo‟ – some foods proving more challenging to our taste buds than others! We spent a quieter evening in, watching a DVD.

On Thursday we attended a cookery demonstration class at the Catering School in Sant Pol de Mar. We watched the cook make a typical Spanish paella with the largest prawns I have ever seen followed by a dessert of „crema catalana‟. This regional menu became our lunch! In the afternoon, we were once again in Barcelona. This time we were visiting a Designer Showroom with lots of clothes; we were even able to try some on. We then went for a walk along Las Ramblas with all its tourist shops. There were lots of street entertainers. My favourites were the statues that suddenly moved! In the evening, we enjoyed a disco back at our hotel.

On our final day, we toured the Textile and Clothing Museum in Barcelona. There were lots of international exhibits including a pearl covered dress worn by Elizabeth I. We had a picnic lunch in Gaudi‟s Parc Güell with its‟ incredible walls and beautiful flowers. Our last trip was to a winery where we hopped onto a kind of small train to be taken around the vineyards and into the wine cellars. The wine tasters were for the staff only!!!

This was a fantastic trip with many new experiences. Many thanks to Mrs Borthwick, Mrs Simmons, Mrs

Cuthbert and Mr Thomas for organising it and coming with us.

Page 2 THE CHASE NEWSLETTER

On Tuesday night after school, along with ten lucky Chase students, three teachers, (Mr Morell, Mr Smith and our latest recruit, Mr Allen)and I. We boarded the florescent yellow Chase bus to begin our journey to various rivers around Worcestershire and Herefordshire to go kayaking.

Throughout the past two weeks we have visited two major rivers the Avon and the Teme. In the first week, most of us grasped the concept of kayaking but a small percentage of us found it hard to stay out of the water! I was one of them…

Other than warming up (and performing many forfeits set by Mr Smith) one of our first tasks was to catch and sink Mr Morell. As I am sure you can understand, everyone couldn’t wait whereas Mr Morell could! With a lot of splashing and capsizing of boats we didn’t succeed. Mr Morell remained as smug as ever and did not let us forget it! It was all a lot of fun. We even passed some river cruising big-sized boats, (waving enthusiastically of course) but soon enough it was time to pack up, get changed and be on our way.

Our next adventure took us to Knightwick Weir on the Teme; this was great fun as the waves at the bottom caused both wet and soggy clothes and a tricky challenge. At the start none of us knew that you could even surf a kayak let alone take one down a weir but, by the end, most people could! Although it took nearly half an hour to haul our heavy boats loaded with water from the river (which Mr Smith was not pleased about, as we were getting cold) we all enjoyed it so much that we made the teachers promise that we’d go there again!

Overall, kayaking has been a great experience so far and I’m sure all the others will agree. I can’t wait to go again!

By Ellie Hoad 8RS

Coming soon……

put it in your diary NOW!

Look out for your tickets for the Grand Summer Draw which will be sent home

with your child/children around 22nd June.

Have a sort out at home ready to send in donations for the tombola, second-hand

uniform, garden produce, soft toys etc. Full details will be sent with your raffle

tickets.

Lots of terrific prizes including

Virgin Experience Day for 2, Lazer

Quest trip for 4,

meal out for 2 at Zam Zam, £25 M&S

voucher

Giant inflatables, pamper tent,

soak-the-teacher, caricaturist,

BBQ, smoostalls

plus musical entertainment

Page 3 THE CHASE NEWSLETTER

We would like to offer our congratulations to the following Textile Club members on successfully completing their Quilts for entry in the Canine Partners Junior Quilt Challenge. Joanna Chappel Year 8 Jessica Dalton-Golding Year 8 Frances Hughes Year 8 Rose Fieldhouse Year 8 Becky Parker Year 8 Nateja Beech Year 7 Rosie Creber Year 7 Charlotte Hambrey-Smith Year 7 Rebecca Wells Year 7 Alexia Pribojac Year 7 Hannah Ramsay Year 7 The „challenge‟ was to make a pieced and quilted item that demonstrates knowledge of the colour wheel. The Chase entries were pieced using calico that the girls coloured with fabric paints and assembled using a traditional patchwork block, known as a basket. The contents of the baskets were hand printed with some of the printing blocks being designed and made by the girls themselves. Once assembled the true „challenge‟ was to quilt the QUILT! These girls did an amazing job with a difficult task, particularly as we do not have any „walking feet‟ in school for our sewing machines. Quilters reading this will understand how difficult this was for anyone let alone girls as young as this making their first quilts! However, they all produced amazing work which, even during production, has attracted much attention and admiring comments. There will be an opportunity to view these beautiful quilts on display at the Junior Quilt Show and Children‟s craft weekend on the;

Judging for the competition takes place on the 18th June. There will also be various stalls and

opportunities to try craft activities as well as refreshments. Entry is £2 for adults and £1 for children. There is also a possibility that the quilts will go on display at a later date in Cradley Church and the Hop Pocket. All proceeds will support the work of „Canine Partners’. We are looking forward to a visit from Stella Hewett who will be coming to the Textile club on the 14

th June to talk about her dog Jenson and Canine Partners assistance dogs.

Once again, many congratulations to our quilters from Mrs Simmons and Mrs Cuthbert. Finally we would like to take this opportunity to appeal for donations of fabrics, threads, beads etc. that could be put to a creative use in textiles.

Children who are ill or sustain an injury outside of school time should be taken to a doctor or walk-in clinic. They should not wait until the next day to be seen in sick bay.

Page 4 THE CHASE NEWSLETTER

“An Englishman's home is his castle” Acquiring a castle is undoubtedly tricky in this day and age;

the going rate is quite substantial. However the History Club at The Chase have stepped up to the mark and built some excellent model castles for the first castle building

competition.

Creativity abounded and the standard was high. A total of eight castles were built and designs included motte and bailey, stone keep and concentric castles. There was an incredible level of imagination in terms of materials used, from cake castles through to AstroTurf for grass. The work completed by the students linked to their

history lessons on castle development.

First, second and third prizes were offered with third place

going to Amelia Trevelyan and Abigail Keene, second to

Neve McNally and first place (pictured bottom right) to Henry

Hewer and Matthew and Ffion Skipper.

Yet again students, parents and staff at The Chase have worked hard this year to support a range of charities in a number of ways. Whether the amount raised has been small or large, there has been great inventiveness and ingenuity in the methods used! A firm favourite amongst staff and students is always the Cake Sale. Many an evening has been spent prior to Cake Sales producing delicious products to delight Chase folk! The Chase Association again raised over two thousand pounds at the Christmas Fair and the forthcoming Summer Fair looks set to offer a wonderful range of activities , stalls and refreshments. Over the last three years as a school, we have raised £10,000 per year for charity– which is a fantastic achievement. We expect to reach the same again this year. Many congratulations and thanks to all who have contributed. Charities

supported this year include: Help for Heroes, Acorns, the Tsunami appeal, St Richards Hospice, Autism groups, Children in Need.

In a couple of weeks‟ time I will be contacting you to ask for Achievements to include in the “Yellow Pages” for the centre of the Prospectus. However, if you already know of any student achievements that you feel should be included, please let me know as soon as possible. As always, achievements should include all non-Academic achievements worthy of praise in areas such as charity work, sport, art, music and the performing arts

Details of achievements should be emailed to me on:- cclarke@chase.worcs.sch.uk

I look forward to hearing from you.

Page 5 THE CHASE NEWSLETTER

Tuesday 24th May, the Year 10 cricket

team was decimated of players due to illness, absences and injuries. The Year 10 cricket team managed to scramble together 8 players and travel to Hanley. Some superb fielding and bowling from the “super 8” restricted Hanley to 75 runs from 16 overs. With just 8 players, it was going to be a tough ask for the Chase team, the result looked increasingly unlikely when the Chase lost a couple of wickets inside the first few overs. However, Tom Dold came to the crease and batted superbly well making his half century [53 NOT OUT!] to guide the Chase home for a remarkable win.

The athletic season is under way and the Chase boys have got off to storming start. The recent English Schools Event at Bromsgrove saw some credible performances.

Junior Boys [Year 7 and 8] qualified for the Midlands Finals, while the Intermediate Boys and Junior Girls have qualified for the “Plate” competition.

The Year 9 squad are currently undefeated, not only have they won their games they have won them convincingly.

Against Evesham, the Chase girls played superbly well. No one got out in either innings - winning 24 ½ - 6.

At the end of the game the Evesham teacher commented to Miss Puttick “we aspire to be like you”. That is a massive compliment and one that the staff and children relish.

The following students have been selected from their excellent performances at county hockey [junior academy centre] to go forward to the junior regional performance centre [JRPC]. There they will represent the Midlands for hockey.

U18s: Pippa Lewis, Rose Parsons and Alice Parsons

U16: Bethan Merriman

U15s: Holly Smith and Leah Heath

U14: Evie Richards

Congratulations girls - top effort!

All the female members of staff are extremely pleased with the girls‟ effort and performances in rounders‟ and athletics, especially when considering it has been a dis-jointed term with the bank holidays.

Local students, from 8 years upwards will be displaying their talents in an hour long

summer concert to be given in Christ Church, Avenue Road, Malvern, on Saturday 25th

June at 3.00pm.

Violinists and singers will be performing solos and duets in aid of the Christ Church Roof

Appeal, including arrangements of popular works Moon River, Ode to Joy, Greensleeves and the

Lakmé Flower Duet.

Louise Vale, a professional violinist who is organising the concert, will play William Kroll’s

showpiece ‘Banjo & Fiddle’.

Admission is by programme at the door: adults £5, children free, to include refreshments after

the concert.