End of Year Letter - 15th July 2010

Dear Parents

An exciting academic year has come to an end, during the course of which we have ‘taken delivery’ of two marvellous new buildings and our Early Years garden has been transformed.  It is already difficult to know how we managed without the new sports hall and the Read Hall, so fully have they been used.  Only opened in January, the Read Hall has already seen three productions: Year 8’s Romeo and Juliet, Year 6’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and, most recently, Year 2’s marvellous presentation of ‘Goldilocks’, not to mention two School Concerts and several year group concerts.

Academically, the Common Entrance results have been extremely pleasing.  Fifteen of our youngsters will be going to Norwich School in September – a record number, while the twelve pupils headed for Langley is also a new high.  Seven other schools will be welcoming pupils from Town Close into Year 9: Ampleforth, Culford, Framlingham College, Gresham’s, Norwich High School for Girls, Oundle, and Uppingham.

We were delighted to learn of scholarship success during the course of the year.  Hamish MacGregor won a top academic scholarship to The Perse School in Cambridge and Oscar Marshall won a prestigious General Scholarship to Oundle School.  In addition, Russell Seaman is the proud recipient of a Design Technology Scholarship to Langley and Chloe Dhesi has a Sport Scholarship from Culford School.  We congratulate them all.

As term ends, we say goodbye to Mrs Parker, Mr Malone and Mr Sowry in the Prep Department and Mrs Sims, Miss Prewer, Mrs Torn and Mrs Amies in the Pre-Prep Department.  We thank them for all they have done for the School and wish them great happiness in the future.

Joining the Prep Department Common Room in September will be Mr Simon Lawry, Mr Mark Woods and Mrs Elizabeth Reeves. 

Mr Lawry succeeds Mr Sowry as Head of Mathematics.  He is currently a member of the Senior Management Team at Salhouse Primary School and subject leader in ICT, PE and DT.  He graduated from Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln with a B.Sc in Mathematics and ICT.  He is married with two sons and lists among his interests art in all forms and a wide variety of sports.

Mr Woods succeeds Mr Malone as Head of Physical Education.  He is currently Deputy Head of Physical Education at Aylsham High School.  He graduated from De Montfort University in Bedford with a B.Ed. in Physical Education in 2001.  He is married with a young daughter.  Unsurprisingly, much of his leisure time is spent as a family man and playing and watching a range of sports.  He recently ran the London Royal Parks Half Marathon.

Mrs Reeves succeeds Mrs Parker in Year 4.  She graduated from Leeds University in July 2009 with a first class degree in Theatre and Performance.  She completed her PGCE year at The University of East Anglia.  Apart from her obvious interest in acting and directing, she is keen on personal fitness and particularly enjoys cycling, dance and aerobics.

Miss Rebecca Kern and Mrs Sophie Wilson will be joining the Pre-Prep Department teaching staff in September. 

Miss Kern will teach in Year 1 having just completed her PGCE at Homerton College, Cambridge, training to teach children aged 3-8 years.  Previously she was a student at Sussex University where she achieved a first class degree in English and a Masters degree in Critical Theory.  Her interests are textile crafts such as quilting and dress making as well as poetry, drama and narrative fiction.

Mrs Wilson will teach in Year 2.   She graduated from Nottingham University in July 2008 with a degree in Classics and completed her PGCE at Homerton College Cambridge, specialising in teaching children aged 5-11 years.  She spent a gap year at Taunton Prep School and while at university she enjoyed singing in a number of choirs and concerts as well as leading a tour to Prague.  She also enjoys the theatre and acting and is a keen swimmer.

In addition, a very important new appointment for September is that of Mrs Jennifer Pritchard who will become our new Pre-Prep Deputy Head with a place on our full Senior Management Team, alongside Mrs Walwyn.

Mrs Pritchard is currently Head of Early Years at St. Nicholas House School in North Walsham and is also an Associate Tutor at the University of East Anglia on the Early Years programme.  She was educated at Uppingham School and graduated from University College London with a BA in History.  She completed her PGCE at Bristol University and was awarded an Advanced Diploma in Education and Professional Development from UEA in 2004.  In 2007 she achieved Early Years Professional Status, qualifying her to teach and care for children from 0-5 years.  She has two grown up children and lists among her interests theatre going, walking, reading and travel.  Recently she attended a course of study at the children’s Reggio Centre of Excellence in Italy.

It is always exciting to welcome new colleagues and it really is a privilege to work at Town Close.  What makes this school such a happy place is the atmosphere and that is created by people.  I wish to thank every single one of my colleagues for the enthusiasm, dedication and professionalism they have shown during the course of the year.  Enthusiasm is infectious and the example set by the staff is important because it signals our high expectations of the pupils, both inside the classroom and outside it.

The year ahead promises to be another exciting one, but beforehand there is the small matter of the summer holidays.  It only remains for me to thank you for all your support and encouragement during the course of the past year and to wish you a very happy summer holiday with your children.

Yours sincerely,

Graeme Lowe