End of Year Letter - 15th July 2011
Dear Parents
An exciting academic year has come to an end. The Sports Hall and the Read Hall have now
become familiar buildings to everyone; indeed it is difficult to know how we ever managed
without them, so fully have they been used. Only recently, we celebrated the official opening
of our brand new Astroturf, which will be greatly enjoyed by everyone.
Having staged two excellent productions in the Read Hall in the past few months, Year 8’s
production of ‘Living with Lady Macbeth’ and Year 2’s ‘Tom and the Magic Violin’, we are
currently enjoying something completely different in the form of a magnificent art exhibition.
Seeing the work of every child in Years 1 to 8 framed and exhibited so professionally is
wonderfully stimulating for all concerned and a testimony to the quality of art teaching in the
School.
Academically, the Common Entrance results have been extremely pleasing this year with a
number of our Year 8 pupils being spoilt for choice as to their next school. We are always
pleased when our pupils go on to good local day schools at thirteen and once again the
numbers going to Norwich School and Langley are very healthy. Five girls will make the
journey across to Norwich High School in September, beating our previous record by two. I
greatly value our strong links with these three schools. Eight other schools will be welcoming
pupils from Town Close into Year 9: Uppingham, Framlingham College, Gresham’s, The Royal Hospital School, Culford, Notre Dame, Oundle and Woodbridge.
We were delighted to learn of scholarship success during the course of the year. William
Garson won a top Academic Scholarship to Uppingham while William Hunt matched this over
at Framlingham College. Cameron Greenhall was the proud recipient of the Albert Memorial
and Pembroke Scholarships at Framlingham College, while two pupils, Maria Andrews
(Culford) and Alex Levinson (Langley), are celebrating Sports Scholarships. Robert Laingchild
has an all-rounder award at Langley and Max Selwyn (Art) and James Bayliss (DT) also
gained deserved recognition in the form of scholarships to Langley. We congratulate them all.
As term ends we say goodbye to Mrs Millington, Mrs Findlay and Mrs Russell. We thank them
for all they have done for the School and wish them great happiness in the future.
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. Nowhere was the enthusiasm of the pupils clearer to
see this year than at the Prep Department Fete. Ingenious ideas for stalls were much in
evidence as the children focused their efforts on raising money for our Charity, Childreach
International. The total raised on that one afternoon alone was £2,339.13 and I thank
everyone concerned for such a magnificent effort. The total raised during the year was £5,839.61 and it was with great pleasure that a large cheque was presented to our Childreach
link, Anouk Galle, during Prize Giving.
The end of one year encourages anticipation of the next, particularly as rehearsals for our
musical ‘Dream On’ have been going on all term and the Astroturf is ready and waiting. So,
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
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