End of Term Letter - 1st April 2011

Dear Parents

Term ends today, rather later than usual, and already we have sampled warmer days.  Let us hope for plenty more in the coming months!  We have enjoyed an extraordinarily busy term, during the course of which the children have been involved in a wide range of activities, not least the numerous early morning assemblies in both the Pre-Prep and Prep Departments.  The children never fail to impress us with their confidence and stage presence.

The School Concert and the separate year group concerts for Years 4 and 5 were enjoyed immensely by all those present.  The new Read Hall provided the children with an ideal venue for performance and the major concert in particular was a feast of outstanding musicianship.  Excerpts from all three concerts may be viewed on our website. 

The final offering of the term in the Read Hall was Year 8’s production of ‘Living with Lady Macbeth’.  Frankly, it is difficult to describe how impressive this was, both in terms of the quality of acting and the technical proficiency of the crew.  The Read Hall lighting and sound systems are of a very high specification indeed and the youngsters involved handled 80 or so changes superbly.  One would normally expect this play to be performed by more senior pupils but our girls and boys excelled themselves.  If ever there was a statement made about the value of a prep school education to 13 this was it.

The sports hall is into its second year of use and indoor tennis for children in Years 2 and 3 is proving to be a great success.  Martin Smith, an LTA coach, has certainly harnessed the children’s natural enthusiasm and much progress has been made.  We are currently looking at how we can expand our tennis provision.

I am delighted to report more hockey success at regional level.  Following the success our girls enjoyed last term, our Under 13 and Under 11 boys’ teams also qualified for the Independent Schools National Finals.  Last term, snow prevented the girls from mounting what would have been a very strong challenge for the title, but the March weather was kinder and our boys enjoyed their overnight trips to Clifton College, Bristol and Millfield School in Somerset.  We shall have a new astroturf to play on in September so expectations will be raised even higher. 

Last Sunday saw our girls and boys competing in the East Anglian Prep Schools Cross-Country Championships at Framlingham College.  Schools from as far afield as Battersea competed and it was a proud day for us when it was announced that our girls had won the overall team competition and our boys and girls together had achieved second place! 

Not to be outdone, six of our swimmers have qualified for the IAPS National Finals to be held in Crawley in May.  They are James Hewett, Ryan Smith, Gussie Welsh, Grace Rider, Olivia Broadway and Chiara Bettoni.  I congratulate them and wish them all well.

We are keen to develop the children’s general knowledge and, as part of that process, all Prep Department children tackle the SATIPS General Knowledge Challenge. Our highest scorers compete nationally and this year our senior team finished 20th and our juniors 11th in the whole country.  We are a comparatively small school in the scheme of things and so we were delighted with these results.  Individual glory came the way of Thomas Osborn (Year 6) who was placed 17th in the junior section, while Robert Laingchild (Year 8) came 12th in the senior competition.

You will be reassured to learn that plenty of academic work has been completed along the way this term and some of our Year 8 leavers are celebrating scholarship success.  William Garson has won an Academic Scholarship to Uppingham, while William Hunt impressed Framlingham College sufficiently well to be awarded a combined Academic, Porter (Science) and Albert Memorial Scholarship.  Cameron Greenhall is also heading to Framlingham College with a Pembroke Scholarship, while Maria Andrews will be going to Culford School with a Sports Scholarship to her credit.  Meanwhile, six of our senior pupils have awards from Langley: James Bayliss (technology), Robert Laingchild (all-rounder/music), Alex Levinson and Thomas Huckerby (sport) and Max Selwyn and Miles Lukoszevieze (art).

The recipients of Town Close Academic Scholarships are: Annabelle Eccleshall, Abhinav Boddu, George Garson, George Hunt, Henry Mallinson and Thomas Osborn.  Music Scholarships have been awarded to Adam Possener, Ishika Dhatariya and Arabella Sabberton while the recipients of Sports Awards are Maddie Anthony, Ben Dugdale, James Hewett, Ben Watson and Phoebe York.  We congratulate them all.

Inspired by Mr Lawry’s lead, the whole School participated in World Maths Day (which actually lasted a week!).  Children from both parts of the School competed against children all over the world and lived to tell the tale!  Another whole school event took place earlier in the term when we all dressed up as characters from literature in celebration of World Book Day and a selection of photographs may be viewed on our website.  It was a marvellous day.

Many excursions beyond the school gates were enjoyed by pupils and staff alike, none more so than the Nursery’s trip to Wroxham Barns and Reception’s visits to the Castle.  Our youngest children also enjoyed the Pre-Prep Activity Morning, organised so superbly by our PTA with wonderful support from my colleagues.  The Parents’ Association Committee, led so enthusiastically by Anna Fennell, also organised a highly enjoyable Bingo evening.  Next term their energies will be focused upon organising the Midsummer Ball.  In fact, arrangements are well advanced for what I am sure will prove to be a memorable evening.  Recent PTA events have been sold out and this is likely to be no different, so do not delay when the time comes to order tickets.

Some of you will have heard that two of my colleagues celebrated the safe arrival of little ones this term.  Mrs Cook, our Prep Department Secretary, has a new baby son called Oscar, while Mrs White, one of our Year 3 teachers, also has a baby boy called Sebastian.  Mrs Rymarz has just begun her maternity leave and we await news.

We welcomed Mrs Sophia Pike in January to work in our front office and Mr Robert Coyle to teach Year 3.  Both have survived the experience and seem happy to continue next term!  Mrs Cathy Ladbrooke has just taken over from Mrs Rymarz as our Head of Learning Support and is getting to know everyone.  She was awarded a B.Ed. (Hons) from Keswick Hall College of Education and has a MA in Applied Research in Special Education from the University of East Anglia.  Until recently she was Southern Area Behaviour Officer for Norfolk and prior to that she was Deputy Headteacher and SENCO at Blackdale Middle School.

I am particularly keen to make sure we make the best possible use of our wonderful new facilities and, with this in mind, we were pleased to welcome Mr Paul Newman to the games coaching staff on a permanent basis from the start of this term.  His principal role here will be to develop our cricketers and he is particularly well qualified to do this, having played first class county cricket for Leicestershire and Derbyshire.  More recently, he has been captain and coach of Norfolk County Cricket Club.  Between 1990 and 1997 he was Recreational Facilities Manager and Cricket Professional at Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire.

This term is Miss Gillian Slidders’ last at Town Close as Coordinator of our Early Years Foundation Stage.  She will be moving with her parents to Scotland and we thank her for all she has done for the School during her eight plus years here. Mrs Nichola Hampsheir, a current member of our Reception team and a former deputy head, has been appointed to the EYFS leadership role. The Reception class vacancy will be filled by Mrs Katie Lawry, who studied at Bishop Grosseteste University College and gained a BAQTS Drama with Teaching Studies.  She has Nursery, Reception and Key Stage 1 experience.  She is currently employed as a Nursery Leader and Class Teacher at Tuckswood Community Primary School.  She is married to Simon, our Head of Mathematics, and has two children, Henry in Reception and his younger brother, Tom.

Your support is always appreciated by staff and pupils alike, whether it is at a Pre-Prep or Year 3/4 assembly, a concert, a play or on the touchline.  I am aware that I have only mentioned a small number of things we have done this term and so I remind you that much more information can be found on our website: www.townclose.com.

We plan to have a similarly wide range of activities going on next term with one very important addition.  The final week of the summer term will see our inaugural Art Exhibition.  We plan for every child from Year 1 upwards to have at least one piece of work framed and exhibited in the Read Hall.  Art truly is a strength of this place, starting in our Pre-Prep and continuing through to Year 8.  You will not only be able to see your own child’s work exhibited but evidence of the progression which we see regularly but you as parents see very little of.

So a wonderfully exciting term is in prospect but, in the meantime, all that remains for me to do is to wish you an enjoyable and peaceful Easter holiday with your children.

Yours sincerely,

Graeme Lowe