Spring 2012

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Newsletter

Hurstmere’s annual PrizeGiving ceremony, held onNovember 14th, was a veryenjoyable evening. As wellas celebrating the success-es and achievements of cur-rent pupils, boys from lastyear’s record-breaking Year11 returned to receive priz-es related to their outstand-ing individual GCSE results.

RECORD BREAKING SUCCESSESCELEBRATED AT PRIZE GIVING

Our guest speaker this yearwas Mr. Paul Matthews, ex-Hurstmere pupil and nowU.K. Chief Executive ofStandard Life, who gave aninspiring address to theprize winners. He has alsodonated an England rugbyshirt from the days hecaptained England Coltsagainst Wales and France in

the 1979/80 sea-son.

A full list of theprize winners isavailable from theschool.

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For the past half-term, Ms Martin and Miss Bradley haverun a very lively Key Stage 3 Debate Club, held in Room6 during Friday lunchtime. Boys from Years 7, 8 and 9argue on a number of topics from Crime and Punishmentto Homework. All Key Stage 3 students are welcome toattend.

KS3 DEBATE CLUBFrom January there will be a Key Stage 4 Debate Clubtaking place in Room 6 on Wednesday lunchtimes. Wewill be working towards the prestigious Bexley PublicSpeaking Competition in February against other KeyStage 4 and 5 students from the Borough. For moreinformation, please speak to Ms Martin.

Once again I am very glad to share Hurstmere’s latestdevelopments with you in this, our Spring Term‘Newsletter’. I have enjoyed speaking with many of youindividually at Parents Consultation  meetings this term,and must thank you for your tremendous support in meet-ing with our staff on these evenings. Parents of Year 11students were able to be with their sons as they openedthe envelope containing their mock GCSE examinationresults, and for many these proved to be an encouragingstage post. In addition, a record number of Hurstmerestudents attained a good pass in the actual GCSE Mathe-matics examinations sat in November. We are confidentthat our most senior year group is well on the way toachieving their potential in the summer examinations.

I am delighted also to report that the annual survey ofstudent, parent and staff attitudes recording  the school'sperformance is very complimentary. The survey is man-aged by Kirkland Rowell, who undertake a similarexercise  in over  two-thirds of secondary schools in thecountry. As such, they are able to gauge responses

against a very large national sample. Iam very grateful that the response levelfrom parents was so high, so soon aftera similar  Ofsted-linked questionnaireonly months ago. Kirkland Rowell con-cluded that attitudes to the school werevery positive among parents, staff andmost importantly, the students them-selves. A summary of the results willsoon be available on our website -www.hurstmere.org.uk

Many of the reasons for the positive responses can beseen within the pages of this publication, and I am particu-larly pleased to be able to share the recent successes ofHurstmere boys in the musical and dramatic fields. I hopeto see as many of you as possible at the 'Hurstmere inHarmony' concert in our school hall on Thursday  29thMarch.

Mr Stringer - Headteacher

The start of Year 7 saw a competition run in Geography totest the students understanding of Geography so far andto utilise their artistic ability. Students were tasked withcreating their own reward sticker to be used in class toreward good work. The dual themes were Geography andHurstmere. These stickers can then be used to build theirvery own avatar on an internet site. So far the studentshave taken to building their points in various subjects aswell as Geography but since Christmas they have had avariety of new stickers to use.

The winning students were: Liam Bennett; Luke Eyre;Jamie Stanhope; Oliver Natusch; Max Burrell; AlexCappuccio; Sam Ousby; Jacob Atkins; Rian Sheperd;Tommy Wheeler; Alex Phelps and Sam Masters. Eachwill have their stickers printed and used in Geography overthe course of the next year. Well done to the winners!

RewardStickers

SPECIALISMNEWSScienceOn Friday 25th November 45pupils from Year 10 GCSEScience groups went to theDominion Theatre, London toattend the GCSE ScienceLive event. This was a seriesof presentations by world re-nowned scientists with subjects ranging from “How theZebra Got Its Stripes” through “Using Nuclear Fissionto Solve Energy Problems”.

One of the scientists was Dr. Andrea Sella who recentlyappeared on the BBC program charting the history of thePeriodic Table. The event also included a talk from a ChiefScience Examiner who gave the pupils some valuablerevision techniques and tips which were then discussed inthe class room after the event.

The pupils who attended were also able to see somepossible careers in science and how science at school canlead into a variety of different careers ranging from NuclearPhysicists to Government Advisers on climate change.

Mr Worden - Science KS4 Co-ordinator

Dr. AndreaSella

KS4 Debate Club

GEOGRAPHY

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Over 80 Year 7 boys have now beenattending Tintin Club on Wednesdaysat lunchtime since its launch in Sep-tember. They have enjoyed watchingthe rather old-fashioned but nonethe-less very entertaining animation filmsbased on the famous Belgian report-er, his canine companion Snowy andbearded friend Captain Haddock. Iwant to thank our regular weeklyguests and, if you have never visitedthe club before, feel free to pop inbetween 12.50pm and 1.35pm everyWednesday. Look out for posters out-side Room 12!

Mme Notton - Head of MFL

Tintin Club

scenes of medieval industry, justice,agriculture and sport, the church asrepresented by artefacts from Canter-bury cathedral, and depictions of thefamous Kentish figures – Cobham,Caxton, Sidney and Chaucer – whorepresent Hurstmere’s four ‘houses’.

If you are visiting the History corridorplease take the opportunity to admirethe boys’ impressive painting and try

to spot the characters and scenes depicted.

Thank you and very well done to the following boys whocontributed to this very successful mural project – JoeKane, Rory Mitchell, Jack Dimmock, Wai Lok Chan, Brad-ley Hales, Brendan Shepherd, Beau Mackenzie, SwapnilHolkar, Joe May, Charlie L Boden, Joe Beard, Stan Fraser,Harry Halls, Tom Wilson, Danny Thompson, Jake Welland,Jacob Marks, Stephen Johnson and Dan Tidnam.

My thanks also to Mr Addison, Ms Bates and Ms Mills fortheir expertise and hard work.

Mr Blower - Head of Art

Over the 5 days of last summer’s Activity Week the ArtDepartment worked with a group of boys, now studying ArtGCSE in Year 10, to paint a large-scale mural for theHistory corridor. The History Department requested a‘medieval’ theme. With this in mind, a design depictinglocal characters and events from this period round a largecentral figure of St Bede, the founding father of Englishhistory, was decided upon.

The mural includes: Halley’s comet – first sighted at theGreenwich Observatory, John Ball and Wat Tyler – gather-ing the Peasant’s Revolt on Blackheath, the Great Fire ofLondon, the Black Death, medieval tiles and decorativearts (that would later inspire the work of William Morris,Bexleyheath’s most famous former resident), various

On the 20th October2011, 30 Year 8pupils from Frenchgroup 8B went toHurst PrimarySchool to take part

in the final day of the local primaryschool’s French Week. Their participa-tion took the form of playing teacher forthe day to deliver lessons to the Year 6classes. The Hurstmere boys hadspent a number of lessons carefullypreparing PowerPoint presentationsand activities on the topics of, “Ma Mai-son” (My house), “ Les Animaux” (Pets)

and “Mon Sac” (My School Bag). Theday was a great success. The Hurstpupils learned lots of new Frenchwords and the Hurstmere boys allworked excellently with their groups ofprimary pupils.

Mr James – Teacher of MFL

GEOGRAPHY

On December 15th Drama class 8Avisited the Alzheimer’s Centre in Brom-ley for the third time. The pupils per-formed “Hansel and Gretel” by theBrothers Grimm. The pupils finishedoff their performance with a couple ofcarols for the festive season. Thecentre was extremely impressed withthe performance and how the pupilsengaged in conversation with the pa-tients. Next year a Year 7 group willcontinue the school’s community work.

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DRAMA AND COMMUNICATIONS

On Tuesday 1st November, 2 Year 9and 25 Year 10 and 11 GCSE Dramastudents performed ‘Julius Caesar’ atThe Orchard Theatre in Dartford aspart of the Shakespeare SchoolFestival in partnership with theNational Theatre London.

The cast were incredible and receivedpraise from everyone, including thedirector of the festival, Bonnie Austin,who wrote to Mr Stringer:

The Drama Department has managedto find a small number of work experi-ence placements at Erith School asDrama Assistants to the Head ofDrama, Mr Kensit. Our students willalso have an opportunity to gain workexperience at a number of local thea-tres to further their skills in stage man-agement and technical theatre.Please see Miss Woodward for moredetails.

A selection of photos from"Julius Caesar", directedby Miss Woodward at TheOrchard Theatre, Dartford.Our modern interpretationcame to life on stage whenancient Rome became theunderworld of London2011. On 18th January the Year 7's were

treated to a Drama Showcase in themain hall during Citizenship. Theywatched a selection of pieces by theirpeers as a way of celebrating all thehard work that the students do in thedepartment. First to performwere Year 11 GCSE students in 'OurCountry's Good', then the schooldance team 'CYPHER' showed theirwork in progress in preparation for aforthcoming competition.  Third to per-form were the 'Drama in theCommunity'  class 8A with their ver-sion of the classic story 'Hansel andGretel'.  Last, but not least, were theYear 9 Drama Club 'ORGANISEDCHAOS'  performing extractsfrom 'Bugsy Malone'.

Miss Woodward - Head of Drama

“I wanted to write and thank Hurst-mere School for participating inthis year's Shakespeare SchoolsFestival (SSF). We are sure you areas proud of your students as weare and SSF would be delighted towelcome your school back againnext year……..”

Students are welcome to sign upagain for next year’s festival wherethey will be performing ‘The Tempest’at The Orchard Theatre – I am lookingforward to it already!

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DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

Year 10 Product Design pupils gainedaccess to the James Dyson Founda-tion Education Box. This resource hasbeen developed by the Foundation toput real examples of engineering intothe hands of teenagers. ‘We want toexcite students about design engineer-ing – to understand that the thoughtbuilding and breaking that goes intothe creation of everyday products canbe fascinating and fun.’

Pupils were each given examples ofDysons’ products with a set of assem-bly instructions and a torx screwdriver.The aim of the activity was for pupils todisassemble and then reassemblesections of the latest vacuum cleanerso that they could analyse in depth,each aspect of the engineering. Aftertheir examination they had to checkthe product was working. This insightwill help pupils as they start to developtheir own final designs for their ProductDesign coursework later in the year.

PRODUCT DESIGN - The James DysonFoundation

A group of Product Designpupils and Scienceleaders came together toassist pupils from theMilestones School in NewAsh Green (a school forchildren with severe andcomplex learning difficul-ties). The Hurstmere boysintroduced the older pupilsto the industrial designand manufacturing tech-niques that they havelearnt and currently use inschool.

The pupils showed our visitors how to use specialistcomputer aided design packages to create designsthat were then die sublimentated ontoceramic mugs; other pupils were shownhow to use the laser cutter to create aseries of designs for key rings.

Mrs Lloyd-Wood - Headof Design &Technology

Staff and pupilsfrom Hurstmereand theMilestonesSchool.

Hurstmere Share D & T Techniques

Mrs Lloyd-Wood-Head of Design & Technology

ENGLISHAn Inspector Calls

On 23rd November, the EnglishDepartment organised a trip for GCSEEnglish students to The ChurchillTheatre to see the acclaimed StephenDaldry production of ‘An InspectorCalls’ (a GCSE syllabus text). Theplay is set during the 1920’s andfollows an investigation by a mysteri-ous inspector who interrupts theBirling family’s celebration with someshocking news.

Mrs Elliott- Head of English

Year 7 at Hurstmere School participat-ed in a Carol Concert on 2nd Decem-ber at Holy Trinity Church Lamorbey inHurst Road.  The concert was per-formed in front of the school Gover-nors and senior teaching staff, as wellas a number of parents.

The songs which the boys sung were"Feed the World", "Merry Christmas"by John Lennon and an arrangementof "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" sungto the tune of Hallelujah.  These songshad been conducted in lessons for allof Year 7 with Mr Robertson.    A smallgroup of boys also worked with MrGilbert on singing "Silent Night" and"Away in a Manger”.

The Year 7's have been working ongroup singing as part of the curriculumand have already participated in twosinging assemblies.

The feedback from the concert hasbeen brilliant with Governors and par-ents all sending excellent commentsabout the boys' performance.  I wouldjust like to say thank you to all of theboys for putting on such a great show!

Mr Robertson - Teacher of Music

Carol Concert

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SDK features 15 year old rappers Jack Rutherford-Axcell, Riad and Habib Muyanja, who have beenperforming and writing together since they were 11years old, Joe Hannen on guitar, Sami Bouzefraneand Sam Obaseki providing harmony and TomMonks on keyboards. With a 6,000 strong audience,SDK played with tremendous confidence and enthu-siasm, proving just how passionate they are abouttheir music. Their lyrics aim to send out a positivemessage about teenage life counteracting thestereotypical view of rap music in the media.

The Music For Youth event was only their third publicappearance together. Their brilliant and energeticperformance was enjoyed by their proud parents andfamily, school staff and fellow students.  Thank youto all who were able to watch 'SDK' on the night; itwas an amazing performance and the boys thorough-ly enjoyed their once-in-a-lifetime experience at theRoyal Albert Hall where they were even given FrankSinatra's dressing room! They were very profession-al and looked extremely smart in their 'Men in Black'suits.

‘’SDK’ triumphed at the Royal Albert Hall

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Hurstmere School’s urban-pop group, brilliantlyconnected Classical music to Grime music at theirMusic for Youth Schools’ Proms performance at theRoyal Albert Hall on Wednesday 9th November 2011.This event concluded a 6-month round of regional

Ahead of their hugely popular performance, SDKwere interviewed by Classic FM’s Tim Lihoreau whowas clearly impressed by their self-assurance andcoolness and to quote Jack Rutherford-Axcel,speaking about being nervous, "...no nerves at all,we're just loose..." If you would like to view theirinterview with Classic FM please see address below:

http://www.classicfm.co.uk/events/schools-proms/wednesday-line-up/sdk-schools-prom/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ncrwakyrk4

I am proposing to write a feature on the boys for theschool’s website, and would appreciate any picturesyou may have taken on the night.

A special thank you is extended to Mr Gilbert and MsRosillo, without whom this special event would nothave taken place. We are very lucky at Hurstmere tohave Mr Gilbert, such a talented musician, workingwith our students.

Mrs Davis - Assistant Headteacher

and national heats, with over 60,000 entrantscompeting for a place. The boys triumphed in theNational Finals, in July in Birmingham to achievethe prestige of performing at the Royal Albert Hall.

SPECIALISM NEWS - Sports

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Side step past one, then another, hepowered through 3 tackles, leaving theplayers from Bennett Memorial in hiswake before finally, like a tiring buffalobeing pursued by a pack of bayinglions, he dived for the line; NaavalanUmashanker, had put Hurstmere inthe lead.

After a poor first half where Hurstmerehad trailed 14 - 0, the Year 10 ‘NeverDie’ attitude had miraculously turnedthe game on its head and they hadmanaged to put themselves in a posi-tion to lift the Rugby Year 10 KentShield for the first time. Sam Nunn,leading like a General at ‘The Battle ofGravesend’, instilled belief back in the

team by scoring 4 minutes in to

As always the school's  foot-ball training sessions in every

age group continue to be wellattended by players targeting selec-tion for the school 'B' teams, throughto the experienced 'A' team regulars.In addition, Hurstmere's representa-tive football teams are once again en-joying success in local and regionalcompetition. The Year 7 team hasenjoyed a number of friendly success-es since bowing out of the North KentDistrict Cup and the Kent Cup in theearly rounds to The Business Acade-my Bexley and Wilmington Grammarrespectively.

After suffering a narrow 5-4 reverse athome to Haberdashers' Aske'sKnights' Academy in the Kent Cup,Hurstmere's Year 8 were looking for-ward to playing a North Kent CupQuarter-Final tie at Welling Schoolshortly before the distribution of thispublication.

Whilst the Year 11  squad wereunlucky to be ousted from the  Kent

On a windy and cold Tuesday after-noon in December a group of boysfrom Years 7 - 10 visited Hall Place inBexley to compete in the NWK Cham-pionships. We thought we had somestrong runners and it proved to be asuccessful afternoon. In the Year 7race our team showed their strength indepth with 7 runners finishing in thetop 12, with Joseph Barnbrook finish-ing first.

the second half, before TommyRamdhan’s majestic solo effort min-utes later levelled the scores.

However, it wasn’t to be. Deep, deep,deep into the final minutes of the gameBennett Memorial scored a try toequal the points - if they converted thekick they would win by two points. Inironic fashion, like an ending of a Hol-lywood movie …… this was the waythe team had lost the Year 9 final theprevious year! Surely history could notrepeat itself? After composing himselfin front of the raucous crowd, the Ben-nett Memorial School player missedthe difficult kick and the referee blewhis whistle to signify the end of thegame, Hurstmere School 19 - Bennett

Year 10 RUGBY – Kent Shield Final

Memorial School 19. Both teams tooktime to show their respect for eachother after a fantastic final and shookhands and congratulated each other.

With another final to be played on thefloodlit pitch straight after, the KentCup organisers declared that theShield be shared between the twoschools.

Yet again the Year 10 Rugby teamdisplayed the core values that haveseen them grow into one of the bestdeveloping rugby squads in Kent,teamwork, respect, discipline, sports-manship and finally, and perhapsmost importantly, enjoyment.

Mr Wright and Mr Robinson

Cup with 2-1 defeats at the hands ofCharles Darwin and Beths Grammar,both the Year 9 and Year 10 squadsremain in the later stages of their re-spective County competitions. Year 9are due to play away to Rainham MarkGrammar School in the Kent CupSemi-Final, whilst Year 10 travelled toChatham Grammar School for a com-fortable win in the Quarter-Final tie.Both teams also remain in the NorthKent District Cups at the Quarter-Finalstage, with Year 10 hosting Bexley-heath and Year 9 hosting LeighAcademy.

In the Year 8 and 9 race we alsoprovided the winner in Archie John-son, but our team only finished secondas our last runner to count finished alittle way down. In the Year 10 and 11race our team was made up of entirelyYear 10 pupils and again we finishedsecond with our best runner Ben Mat-thews finishing 5th. Some of theseboys will hopefully now go on to repre-sent the district at the Kent Champion-ships in January.

The boys who competed were –Year 7 – Joseph Barnbrook, Alex Walsh,Matthew Lock, William Lambert, JosephBaker, Adam Baldwin, Brook Illing andTommy Collings

Years 8 and 9 – Keelan Callard, DavidKelliher, Clay Bastin-Johnstone, SamuelFrimpong, Louis Birch, Archie Johnson,Bobby Moore, Charlie Cottrell

Year 10 – Ben Matthews, NicholasKelliher, Jack Mahon, Mackenzie Day,Albert Caton, James Simmons, RossPhillips, Henry McGrieg, Matthew Bratton.

Mr Simpson

FOOTBALL UPDATE

North West Kent CrossCountry Championships

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HockeyIn the Autumn Term we entered 3teams in the U14 Bexley BoroughHockey Tournament held at Hurst-mere. The Year 7 team played com-mendably in their first ever outing andfinished 3rd in their pool. The 2 Year8/9 teams both won their respectivepools, remaining unbeaten and meet-ing in an all Hurstmere final. TheHurstmere ‘All Stars’ eclipsed theHurstmere ‘Argonauts’ in a thrillingfinal with a victory by a single goal.From this tournament several Hurst-mere pupils have been selected totrain with the Bexley District Team inpreparation for the London YouthGames.

Hurstmere hockey is developing fast,and this is recognised in the fact thatThe Bexley Borough and the localclub, Burnt Ash H.C. have both donat-ed funds to run coaching sessions forour pupils.

Table TennisHurstmere KS4 team, after success-fully winning the Bexley Borough tour-nament last year went on to representthe District in the All-London competi-tion. This successful KS4 team, aswell as the KS3 team, have played

Other SportsBasketball continues with occasionalfixtures, and parents and students arereminded that, as well as after-schoolclubs in the traditional team sports,our 'opt in' lunchtime sports clubs area feature of Hurstmere's provision.These clubs run 1.00 - 1.30pm, with atleast one sport available for each ofthe five year groups every day. Fit-ness sessions, badminton and tabletennis are very well attended.

On Wednesday 25th January 2012 agroup of Hurstmere boys went off tothe Indoor Bexley Rowing Champion-ships and as current reigning champi-ons they had one aim: to retain theircrown!

All the boys worked very hard in theirindividual races, giving it their all (withsome of them literally crawling off therowing machines!). This put Hurst-mere in a good position in preparationfor the team relay. Hurstmere teamedup with Townley Grammar for the team

Hurstmere Retain TheirRowing Crown!

fixtures against Beths, St. Colomba’s,Hayes and Kelsey Park schools, andhave ended as winners on most occa-sions. The teams are going fromstrength to strength and new membersare always welcome.

The Hurstmere pupils have also beenvery fortunate to receive coachingfrom a professional player who waspreviously No. 2 in the world. Thiswas funded through “Change for LifeSports Club”, a scheme aimed at get-ting more pupils actively playing thesport, as well as being given the op-portunity to develop ‘the running’ of atable tennis club. After a concentrated10 week course, the 20 KS4 pupilsnow assist in the running and coach-ing of a KS3 Table Tennis Club for anadditional 20 Hurstmere pupils.

relay, which turned out to be a winningpartnership as again Hurstmere werecrowned team relay champions.

Not only did the boys represent Hurst-mere in a rowing capacity but theywere a credit to both themselves andthe school in the way they conductedthemselves at the competition. Theyhelped the organisers and encour-aged each other, as well as showingexceptional sportsmanship towardsother schools.

The pupils who took partwere: Joe Barnbrook,Angus Gunn,George Paton,Charlie Bagnall,Jack Playford,Louis Morris,Matt Holdway,Sam Nunn,Charlie LBoden andNaavalanUmashanker.

Well done to all those involved!

If you fancy giving rowing a go, comealong to the fitness room on Tuesdaysafter school, 3 - 4pm. We will begetting out on the water too when theweather becomes more pleasant.

Mr Baston

The following stu-dents regularlyattended theschool’s KarateClub and success-fully obtained theirRed Belts - KyleDowns, SamOusby, Billy Cot-terell and CaseyJones. GeorgeLawrence wasawarded his Green Belt and is nearlyhalf way to Black already. ThomasPayne got his second Brown Belt andGeorge Wilmer, who left Hurstmerelast year but trains at Joyden's WoodClub on Tuesday evening, receivedhis Blue Belt, so he is half-way to hisBlack Belt. It was great to see them allon Sunday 11th December at

Craylands LaneLeisure Centreat Swanscombewhere at least100 studentsfrom all thedifferent clubsand instructorswere there totake their as-sessments.

Mrs McGill

KARATE CLUBMORE SPORT...

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The Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award expedition tookplace in October with 41 Year 10 students completing theirexpedition over the weekend. The weekend produced thewettest expedition to date with it raining for the majority ofthe Saturday, however, this did not dampen the spirits ofthose taking part!

The culinary expertise of the boys was tested to the maxi-mum with a wide variety of meals cooked. This rangedfrom pasta to sausages and beans.

The Sunday morning began with a foggy start on the top ofthe North Downs but soon cleared to produce a muchclearer day for the boys to complete their final stretch.

The boys were then presented their awards at St. JohnsChurch in Sidcup on Thursday 1st December by the Mayorof Bexley, and were part of a group of over 1000 youngpeople in Bexley who completed their Duke of EdinburghAwards this year.

Well done to all boys who took part!

Mr Reddy - Head of Geography

The Duke of EdinburghBRONZE AWARD

The Young Ambassador programme is a Nationalscheme which uses young people to bring the inspira-tion and magic of the London 2012 Olympic and Paral-ympic Games to other young people in their School.The PE Department have selected 3 boys from Year 10to take on this role; Alim Conteh, Sam Nunn andJames Bennett. To prepare them for this exciting newrole the boys attended a 1 day National Conference atTwickenham in November. Throughout the day theyparticipated in workshops led by Clare Strange, Paral-ympic Wheelchair Basketball player, exploring whattheir new role entailed. They got to network with otherYoung Ambassadors, meet a range of sporting starsand have their photo taken with the Olympic Torch.

As a Young Ambassador the boys have 3 main tasks:

To promoteLondon 2012and the GetSet network

To use theinspiration ofthe Olympicand Paral-ympicGames toincreaseparticipationin sport andhealthyactive life-styles

To raise theprofile andunderstand-ing of theOlympic andParalympicValues

The boys have already recruited 67 Olympic SportsLeaders from Years 7, 8 & 9 to help them with thesetasks and helped to deliver a training session to the newrecruits. A number of Olympic and Paralympic themedevents have been planned for our local primary schoolsnext term, all of which will be delivered by our team ofOlympic Sports leaders under the guidance of ourYoung Ambassadors.

Ms Allsop - School Games Organiser

Hurstmere’s YoungAmbassadors

Our Young Ambassadors holding theOlympic Torch

In July, 85 Year 8s (our current Year9s) made the short journey across thechannel to visit Northern France andParis for four days. The trip includedvisits to the Vimy Ridge Canadian Warmemorial, a day’s sightseeing aroundParis and a day in the Disneylandtheme park. This trip built upon theYear 7 end of year excursion toMersea Island by offering the boys achance to travel further afield andsample the culture and sights of aforeign country. The boys conduct onthe trip was exemplary and they weregreat ambassadors for the school andthe country. They worked hard to try

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In the final twoevenings of the Oc-

tober term a cohortof 60 pupils in Year 7 went ‘TenpinBowling’ in Bexleyheath to developfriendships and bond after a generallyexcellent start to the academic year.

YEAR 7 COMMUNITY BOND AT

BOWLING

Mr BOLTER’S YEAR 8 TRIPTO PARIS - July 2011

out theirFrenchlearnt inschool andsampledmany of the local dishes and delica-cies. Waffles under the Eiffel Towerwere particularly popular!Highlights of the trip in-cluded the group climb-ing to the top of the ArcDe Triomphe for somespectacular views acrossthe city, a boat trip alongthe River Seine and ourboys clearing McDon-

alds, on the Champs Elysses, out ofall of their change. Although theweather was not always kind to us,(walking the length of the ChampsElysses in the rain was particularlyfun) the boys did not allow it to spoiltheir enjoyment of the trip.

I know the boys wouldlike to thank Miss Gayton,Miss Rosillo, Mr Corry,Mr Meheux, Mrs Lloyd-Wood, Mrs Day, Mr Ball,Mr Worden and MmeGuyan for accompanyingthem and making the tripa great success.

Mr Bolter - Head of Year 9

Each group of boys enjoyed anevening of competitive bowling withthe support of their form tutors whogave up time to share in this positiveevent to encourage good relationshipsand enjoyment in the year group.

I was struck by the very good standardof behaviour and manners shown byevery boy in attendance that was in-keeping with the outstanding reputa-tion of our school when on schooltrips. Many thanks to the patient par-ents who waited for their son to finishtheir games despite having passedthe advertised finish time of 6.30pm.

Having made a good start to theirschool career in terms of enthusiasm,behaviour and respect for staff, I canonly give my year group one classicpiece of educational advice: Keep itup.

Mr Cleary - Head of Year 7

12 Produced by J Dowse - School photographs C Richardson and staff - Printed by EHV Print Limited - February 2012

Chaucer 76

Sidney 70

Caxton 79

Cobham 78

Please can I extend my sinceregratitude to all who donated to theMovember Charity. We managed toraise £160 as a school which I have puttowards my "Mo team," which hasraised £484. I must admit that lookingsilly for a month is well worth it when itaids some fantastic causes.

The money helps The Prostate CancerCharity (TPCC), who are committed toprostate cancer research, running survi-vor support, and awareness and educa-tion programmes.

Mr Robinson

Final scores:

Many thanks to all for taking part.

 NB Highest scoring House section:Cobham Year 10 = 24pts

Other Charities£854 collected for Jeans for GenesDay and £275 for Poppy Appeal.

Mrs Cunningham -Principal Finance Officer

At the start of December we startedour latest Zambia appeal. We areintending on gathering as manyclothes as possible to take out toZambia in February 2012 when someof our staff will be visiting to teach in anumber of schools just outside ofLusaka. We are also aiming to beginbuilding stores for our next main tag-rugby tour in July 2013. We are look-ing for any undamaged, unwantedchildren’s clothing of any size for bothboys and girls. This may range fromsports clothing, trousers, t-shirts,coats, shorts, old school uniform, etc.

We are also supporting the ‘Boots forAfrica’ appeal’ currently being organ-ised by Phoenix FC so would alsoappreciate any old football bootswhich are still in good condition butare now unwanted.

MOVEMBER

Put a shirt on someone’s back!

As there is also a nursery at theschool, any baby clothes or baby toysand cuddly toys will also be muchappreciated. Any children’s clothingwill be accepted as we will be visitingschools with large age ranges ofstudents.

We will be targeting our main sisterschool in the Chilanga region ofZambia, just outside of Lusaka,Guardian Angels. This is an orphan-age school which is attached to ahospice for aids sufferers. The schoolat present has 388 students, with 197

of these students being doubleorphans. Whilst we were working inZambia in July 2011, the Hurstmerestudents who were coaching decidedthat this was the school where thestudents were most in need.

Whilst we are in Zambia in February2012 we will distribute any donationsto the students of Guardian Angels, aswe did with the football shirts whichwere donated in July 2011. I amconfident that all donations will onceagain be much appreciated.

Mr Reddy - Head of Geography

‘Bootsfor

Africa’