Founded 1852   

Victoria College     Jersey ∙ Channel Islands ∙ JE1 4HT 

                       Visitor: Her Majesty The Queen 

  G.A. Wright M.A.  F.R.S.A. 

Deputy Headmaster  

3rd November 2017 

Dear Parents, Colleagues and Governors, 

Before Half Term, House Drama took place over three consecutive evenings in The Howard Davies Theatre.  The 

event delivered another stunning collection of really diverse productions from our five houses this year.   Bruce 

kicked off proceedings with the hilarious ‘The Sound of Bruce’, an extremely alternative take on ‘the shows’. The 

tone changed significantly for the second half of the night with Diarmid’s sombre, tense War Drama “Pink Mist” 

by Owen Sheers, which tells of the after effects of the Afghanistan conflict where the protagonist has lost his legs 

in an IED detonation.  

On Wednesday night, Sartorius performed their take on The Nativity Story, which really played to their strengths 

in a witty spoof on the classic.  This was followed by the 2017 winners Dunlop with their chilling production of the 

Woman  in Black. The acting, direction and sound effects were truly excellent and had the audience, not only on 

the  edge  of  their  seats,  but  also  jumping  out  of  their  seats!  The  final  night  welcomed  last  year’s  victors, 

Braithwaite, to the stage with “The Grandfathers” by Rory Mallarkey.   The play tells the story of eight teenage 

boys as they head off to do national service. Again, the direction and choreography displayed on the night was 

quite amazing. Thank you to the boys and Mrs O’ Prey for putting on another memorable event.  

The use of mobile phones in schools is never far away from media attention.  A number of high profile schools in 

the UK have  recently  imposed  a blanket ban on  the use of mobile phones  in  schools. At Victoria College, we 

strongly  believe  that  if we  banned  phones  outright,  then we would  be  ignoring  the  reality  of  personal  and 

professional communication in the 21st century. We also, however, have an obligation to safeguard children and 

protect the welfare of our boys. Over the past weeks there have been an increasing number of incidents involving 

boys taking inappropriate images with their phones in school. This not only contravenes the school Mobile Phone 

Policy, but can also do a good deal of harm. If a boy is found to be using his phone inappropriately at school, then 

he will lose the right to bring his phone to school for a significant period. Please do discuss this with your son and 

I thank you for your support with this.   

Next week we look forward to our Armistice Service of Remembrance (please ensure that your son is sporting a 

Poppy next week); we  look  forward  to  inviting Year 8 parents  to an  Information Evening on Wednesday;  the 

Combined Orchestra of Victoria College and  Jersey College  for Girls have  their  inaugural  concert at  the Opera 

House beginning at 7pm and finally there is a Year 10 Subject Teacher/Parent Consultation Evening on Thursday.  

I wish  the  CCF  (who  are  on  exercise  in  the UK)  and  our  football  and  hockey  sides  the  best  of  luck  over  the 

weekend.  

I wish you and your families well for the weekend ahead. 

Yours faithfully, 

 

Graeme A Wright Deputy Headmaster 

NOVEMBER

Wednesday 8th Year 8 Parents’ Information Evening – HDT

Combined Orchestra of VCJ and JCG – Opera House 8pm

Thursday 9th Year 10 Subject Teacher/Parent Consultation Evenings

Friday 10th Armistice Day Assembly

Rotary Student Peace Debate – 10am – 12pm

Sunday 12th Remembrance Sunday Parade

Notices The Activities Week Booklet has been sent to all parents of Yrs7-10 and Yr12. Deadline for replying is Friday 17th November. If you not received the booklet please contact admin@vcj.sch.je, or if you have questions, please contact j.fidrmuc@vcj.sch.je Please return your Data Collection sheet - the deadline has now passed. It is now over well over a month since the 2017 Founders’ Day Sponsored Walk from Town to St Ouen and back. There has been an extremely disappointing response to requests from the Foundation to bring in your sponsorship monies. Please return sponsorship monies via your son to the College Office. Digital Top Tip of the week: Online/Device Security Mobile devices are an open gate to our privacy, secrets, and money (mobile banking). Be very careful what apps you choose to install and pay special attention to what permissions each app is requesting. For instance, it doesn’t quite make sense for a weather app to demand access to your photos, does it? Forthcoming Careers Talks Year 12 - If your son is thinking of a medical career he might like to consider attending the Insight into Nursing event taking place at the General Hospital on 27th November. Nursing is an amazing career with great poten-tial for quick advancement. Jersey runs a degree programme in conjunction with Chester university and if be-ing a doctor is not for your son but he is looking to work in the medical field then nursing is a really great alter-native. In Jersey there is also an amazing Theatre Nurse training programme which I think sounds really excit-ing. If your son would like to attend please let me know by 17th November. Year 12 only - Life in Finance - who offer work experience in Activities week & the summer holidays - Assembly 1st November Year 12 & 13 - Ernst & Young on employment and work experience - 8th November 1.15pm Ogier - on bursaries (any degree but must want to do law after) and work experience - 9th November 1.15pm Local Civil Engineering apprenticeship - 14th November 1.15pm. Mourant Ozanne - on bursaries (any degree but must want to do law after) and work experience - 15th Nov 1.15pm

JT - Apprenticeships (IT, HR & Management) & Bursaries (any degree)- 16th November 1.15pm Please contact Mrs Job for further information on either s.job@vcj.sch.je or 638266.

Notices

Attached is a flyer advertising The 1938 Mary Jacomb Trophy, which is being held on Sunday 5th Novem-ber 2017 at, St. John's Primary School and is open to all Jersey based entrants who were under the age of 18 on 1st January 2017. The last event of the year is The Ed Le Quesne Blitz on Sunday 26th November so parents can feel free to confirm entry to both events at the same time, though the flyer for 26th Nov event will be issued after Sunday 5th Nov event. There will be trophies given to the top 3 in the under 7, 9, 11 and 13 age group sections and also the top 3 girl entrants. Please email entries to garryanna@hotmail.com or text 07781 192 870. Prior to half term, 3 of our sixth form students, Felix Carnegie, Leo Waddington and Harry Willis, participat-ed in Sandstorm Jersey 2017 as a team called "Olim Hoc”. It is a 5 - 6km ultimate sand dune challenge with 32 obstacles.

Edward Jeffries, 7Di won his age group race. He was 12 last month so entered the 12-13 age group but fin-ished high up in the 16 year age group. Well done to all our boys who took part in this event! Victoria College are sending a team of speakers to take part in a debate at JCG on 9 November. Attached is a poster with further information. It would be lovely to get as much support along as possible for the team. The first performance of The Combined Orchestra of Jersey College for Girls and Victoria College will take place at the Eisteddfod next Wednesday. Parents are asked to arrive in good time for the performance at 7.00pm. The combined orchestra is the first performance of the evening.

Library News

We often get asked by parents for advice to encourage boys to read more widely, or for help to guide avid

readers who may have run out of recommended books to read.

We subscribe to Who Next…? , “an interactive online tool designed to help parents, teachers and librari-ans to encourage children and young people to read more widely, by suggesting authors they might enjoy. The tool can be used to guide children who have already enjoyed stories by one writer to find others who write in a similar way.” The Key Features of the website are explained here As the award winning author, Alan Gibbons, says “A reading child is a successful child”.

The same system has been used successfully in a similar guide to adult fiction, Who Else Writes Like...?

Our logins for both websites are:

Username: Victoriacollege@vcj.sch.je and Password: vcjersey

If you would like any more information, please email Mrs Harrison – a.harrison@vcj.sch.je

CCF

GREAT BRITAIN UNDER 19 SHOOTING TEAM TO SOUTH AFRICA - ‘South Africa in his Sights’ Jack Scambler has recently been selected for the Great Britain Under 19 Shooting Team that will travel to South Africa in March 2018 for four weeks. Jack, a Year 13 pupil at Victoria College, was selected following an application process and a team selection weekend held recently at the National Shooting Centre, Bisley. This follows Jack’s success on the British Cadet Rifle Team’s (‘The Athelings’) Tour of Canada during August 2017. Jack began shooting aged 13 with the College’s after-school shooting club on the indoor 25 yard range. It was realised at an early stage that Jack had potential and from the age of 14, he has represented the College in the British Schools’ Smallbore Rifle Association competitions and joined St Brelades Shooting Club’s Junior Team, shooting in the local league during the winter. Jack was selected to try full-bore shooting with the Jersey Rifle Association at Crabbe aged 15 and took to this new challenge of Long Range outdoor shooting very well. He went to Bisley for the first time in the summer of 2015 and represented the College and Jersey in the Imperial Meeting. Following a very successful winter and subsequent Imperial Meeting in 2016, Jack, along with two other Cadets from the College, was selected for the Athelings Tour in 2017. This tour is seen as the pinnacle of Cadet shooting and with a team of 18 selected from over 50 applicants, the three were very lucky to be selected. Following his very successful tour of Canada, which included picking up a number of prizes, the next challenge for Jack was to apply for the GB Team to tour South Africa. He is the youngest pupil to have been selected whilst still at College. Jack is overjoyed at being selected; “I couldn’t believe it when they announced my name at the end of the selection weekend at Bisley. Thanks to Storm Brian, the conditions for long range full-bore shooting that weekend were chal-lenging to say the least, and I knew I was up against some very strong competition. I am really looking forward to the tour and representing Great Britain. There is also a cultural element to the tour and this is something I am also looking forward to.” Jack added, “I would also like to thank everyone who has supported my shooting; it is thanks to their support over the years that I am lucky enough to be in this position.” Richard Benest, Master in Charge of Shooting, commented; “Jack has shown dedication to the sport over the last five years and a strong desire to improve and develop his skills. He is now a shining example of where shooting can take you to all those that will follow in his footsteps.” The Headmaster of Victoria College, Mr Alun Watkins, added; “Victoria College has a rich history of providing stu-dents who represent the UK Shooting team, known as ‘The Athelings’. Jack has accomplished much in his relatively short career as a high quality marksman, but his selection for the GB Under 19 team to tour South Africa is a remark-able achievement. We offer our congratulations to Jack and wish him every success when he travels to compete in Johannesburg in March.” The annual OV’s vs Boys (including an Inter-House competition) Small-Bore Shooting Competition will take place at the CCF Range on Monday 20th November from 6.30pm onwards. All are very welcome and a small entry fee will be required. For more information please contact Richard Benest (rbenest@gmail.com) or Mr Fidrmuc (j.fidrmuc@vcj.sch.je / 638282).

The Equiom Great Debate in partnership with the JCG Foundation

Thursday 9th November at JCG 6pm-8pm

Would you like to book a place? Email: l.guy@jcg.sch.je marking email 'debate booking'

Kindly facilitated by Charlie McCardle from BBC Jersey.

Equiom is proud to be the

JCG Foundation Corporate Partner

Debate title: 'This house believes that homework is unnecessary'