Dear all,

A rather belated Happy New Year from us all here at Old Palace. As usual, it has been a busy start to the term and so the Christmas festivities seem a long way away.

We started the term with a really good INSET day where staff across the whole of Old Palace came together to share ideas on the forward plans for the school. This was followed the next day by the entrance exam for prospective Year 7 students for September 2020. We have had a high number of applications this year and we started the day with a series of warm up activities to help the girls relax. Our Sixth Form students were on hand to help and they were fantastic, showing much kindness and warmth to the girls who were naturally quite nervous. After three exams and a lunch involving much pizza and jelly, the prospective students left us with very many of them saying what a positive experience they had. Well done to all the staff

Continued on page 2

Issue 179

17 January 2020

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Reception Celebrates Festival of Kings

At the start of this term, the Reception class celebrated the ‘Festival of Kings’ by making and decorating their own crowns. This festival, which is celebrated in France and Spain, marks the day the three wise kings gave their gifts to baby Jesus. It is celebrated on 6th January every year and traditionally people in France and Spain eat a special cake called “la galette des rois” in French and “roscon des reyes” in Spanish.

Most Spanish-speaking countries in the West also celebrate this day. In Mexico, for example, a mile-long cake is made and more than 200,000 people give it a try in Zocalo Square in Mexico City. The really fun part is that the cake has a special little king figurine hidden in it, and whoever finds it in their slice becomes king for the day and wears a crown.

More pictures on page 4

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Our New Website

We are delighted to announce that the new Old Palace of John Whitgift website is now live. Parents can keep up to date with events/fixtures/parents’ evenings etc by downloading the new school calendar. Just go to:

www.oldpalace.croydon.sch.uk

Friday, 7th February 2020Assembly Hall at the Preparatory School7.00 - 9.30pm

The Old Palace PTA will be hosting their Annual Quiz Night on Friday, 7th February 2020. We hope that staff and parents can join us for an evening of quizzing and fellowship.

A Fish & Chips or Vegetable Pie & Chips supper will be available. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages will be available for a nominal fee.

Start putting together your teams of eight players now. Full details will follow next week. Please don’t worry if you do not have a team of eight players – we will allocate members to your team on the night to help ensure you have the best chance of winning the new Quiz Trophy.

Thank you

SAVE THE DATEand Sixth Formers involved in making it a success.

On Wednesday, it was a delight to see our own students back at school and settling into the term, with many of the Senior School students facing mock exams and tests. The school always seems so quiet during the holidays and certainly comes alive when our own students are back!

If you haven’t already done so, then please take a look at our new school website which is a much more modern and accessible version of our previous site. The new calendar (under What’s On/Calendar) is a vast improvement and allows you to filter the entries to fit your own needs which I think will be better for most parents. Our Marketing Manager, Nicola Berry, has been the person

working hard over the past year to get the new website launched. If you have any feedback on the site, then please do contact her on: nberry@oldpalace.croydon.sch.uk

Nicola’s next project has been to launch the school’s Twitter account which, along with Facebook, can now be accessed via the icons on the home page.

Jane Burton, Head

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Midnight Mass at Croydon Minster

In a flashback to December, who saw our students singing in the magnificent Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve at Croydon Minster on BBC1?

Many congratulations to Father Andrew and the Minster team. It was a truly memorable occasion.

Finally, the day had come to sing on BBC1. We were all so excited! All the rehearsals had paid off. It felt surreal that we were going to be on live T.V. When the service started, we were all smiling and happy. As we sang Hark! The Herald Angels Sing everyone’s face lit up. My favourite part of the evening was singing Shepherd’s Pipe carol because it was the most jolly song. 

I am so glad we got this opportunity, that we will remember for ever

Sapphy, Year 6

It was the opportunity of a lifetime to appear on live television, but at the same time nerve wrecking because l didn’t want to make a mistake. l  just wanted everything to go to plan, which it did. I feel so proud of what we achieved. The whole world had an opportunity to worship with us during one of the most important dates of the year.

Grace, Year 7

I was happy and excited to be selected for the Christmas Eve Mass. It was hard work and very exciting because of the time of year, but most importantly, an amazing experience I will always remember. 

Thank you to the Minster and Dr Krippner for the opportunity.

Mayowa,Year 7

On Christmas Eve, a few girls and l from Old Palace got the opportunity to sing with the Croydon Minster Choir in the BBC Midnight Mass broadcast. Before the broadcast, I was very nervous because I felt l was going to forget the words and the camera would zoom into my face and it would be live. 

Once I got into the choir stalls and started singing it felt just like a normal

service with Dr Krippner conducting. In conclusion, I was very happy and grateful to sing and for the Croydon Minster choir to have been chosen by the BBC. 

Olivia, Year 7

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Reception Celebrates Festival of Kings continued

U12 Netball v Coloma Year 5 Visits Wilhelmina House

Just before Christmas, Year 5 visited the residents at Wilhelmina House for a festive programme of music, drama, poetry and dance.

Both the residents and the pupils had a thoroughly enjoyable time. To get into the Christmas spirit, everyone wore their favourite Christmas jumper.

The Old Palace Year 7 Netball Squad travelled to Coloma Girls school on Thursday. The students adopted a very positive attitude which helped our performance during the match and resulted in us leaving with a victory. We worked hard as a team to help each other out and tried to slow down our passing. We were delighted to finish as the champions.

The ‘A’ team won 4-2 score and the ‘B’ team with a staggering 7-2! We hope to replicate this win in our next fixture.

Bethany, Year 7

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U13 Hockey v Woldingham

Staff Panto

On the last day of the Autumn term, a group of staff who had been encouraged, persuaded and in some cases even bribed by Mrs Morris, trod the boards of the Banqueting Hall to provide entertainment for the students.

The 2019 Staff Panto was a version of Peter Pan, originally conceived by Dr Bannister many years ago and finally brought to the stage in an updated and adapted version by Mrs Morris.

‘I loved the staff pantomime, we were all laughing in hysterics. One of my favourite parts was when they had the fight scene in slow motion. Everyone enjoyed the part where Michael came out as Tinkerbell in fairy wings. The most memorable moment was when Mr Griffith was in a dress!’ Mehnaz, Year 8

‘Legendary. Half an hour filled with humour. It was hysterical and showcased staff talent. Everyone was bubbling with anticipation as we walked in. Even though we’d caught on that there was going to be a panto, the end result was still a real surprise – in a good way! What a great way to end 2019!’ Students in Year 10

Many thanks to all the staff who performed, Mrs Goddard for operating the sound, Mrs Hargraves for directing and to Mrs Morris for organising the whole thing.

The Year 8s, together with a few Year 7 students, participated in a hockey training match against Woldingham school.

The players were eager and excited to play in the match. They distributed the ball well out wide and there were some fantastic tackles in defence. The players learned to work together with other players that they were not used to working with.

The match was a 7-a-side game which the students found tiring at times, but it was great for their cardiovascular endurance. Despite not winning, the players kept their heads high and learnt a great deal from the experience - especially how to use all the players on the pitch and clear the ball out wide.

U12 Netball v Nonsuch

On the 14th January, our Year 7 netball squad competed in a match against Nonsuch High. We played two matches: A and B. Unfortunately, the A team lost 0-4. However, the B team drew 2-2. Well done to the B team and especially to our Players of the Match: Arabella and Grace.

Safiya, Year 7

DofE Training Day

Students participating in Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh were in school on Saturday, to complete their training day in preparation for their expeditions.

The girls looked at first aid, food/cooking, map reading and other essential skills. They all thoroughly enjoyed the day and gained a huge amount of experience. Students should now be starting to complete some sections of their award and upload the assessors report onto their edofe account.

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Year 10 GCSE Science Live

On Friday, 6th December, the majority of Year 10 visited the Apollo Theatre in London to listen to five renowned scientists deliver talks about different aspects of their work. Upon arrival, we were amazed to see the huge theatre and the large number of schools attending the prestigious Science Live event, which added to the anticipation.

During the course of the day, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, a presenter of the BBC’s The Sky at Night, spoke to us about her love of the moon, explained why it is essential for human life and outlined how its atmosphere differs from our planet.

Next, we heard a biologist, Professor Steve Jones, talk about how DNA is the cause of many diseases in our lives. He also illustrated how Siamese cats can change colour depending on the temperature. In contrast, Professor Lord Robert Winston focused on fertility, showing us live footage of an egg travelling from the ovary, through the fallopian tube and into the uterus.

We then listened to Professor Andrea Sella deliver an interesting talk about the nature of ice and its fascinating

properties. He encouraged us all to think about climate change and warned us to be careful when looking at newspaper headlines citing statistics, as they can often be misleading.

However, my favourite talk was delivered by Professor Jim Al-Khalili, who explained that time travel into the future is much easier than into the past as all you have to do is travel close to the speed of light! He also outlined Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and how wormholes are shortcuts between two points in curved space.

Finally, we looked at different types of exam questions and how to respond to specific command words in a question. This was incredibly useful as model answers were demonstrated with examples. Overall, I found the day to be educational and thought-provoking as it inspired me to take an interest in areas of science we have not specifically looked at within the curriculum. Thank you to Mr Taruwona for organising the event.

Sophia, Year 10

OPA Reunion Dinner

Did you leave Old Palace from 1981-86?

The OPA is holding a reunion dinner for all leavers from 1981-86 on Saturday, 29th February.

It promises to be a memorable evening.

For further details email: oldpalacereunion@gmail.com

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Old Palace RoadCroydon CR0 1AXTelephone: 020 8688 2027Email: schooloffice@oldpalace.croydon.sch.ukwww.oldpalace.croydon.sch.uk

Old Palace of John Whitgift School

ABRSM Exam Results

Name Instrument Exam Grade Result

Kirsten Piano 8 Merit

Nadia Flute 7 Distinction

Ellis May Clarinet 1 Distinction

Amber Piano 1 Merit

Rohaan Piano 4 Distinction

Tia-Amelie Piano 2 Pass

Emily Violin 4 Pass

Zaynah Singing 5 Distinction

Ruby Piano 5 Pass

Ruby Singing 5 Distinction

Chitleen Singing 5 Merit

Varsha Theory 5 Merit

�Charlotte�Dances�into�the�New�Year

Charlotte recently danced in the Borough of Croydon’s display in the London New Year’s Day Parade. This came about through her Gold Arts Award Dance course at Old Palace, for which she has been studying ballroom and Latin dance with Lorraine Drolet, a former world champion ballroom dancer.

Charlotte was chosen to be one of a group of four young dancers performing the samba and the cha-cha-cha, alongside other performing groups reflecting the ethnic diversity of our borough. As well as dancing, she was involved in helping to select the dance costumes from DSI London, the company which supplies the costumes for Strictly Come Dancing, and she also spent New Year’s Eve helping to decorate Croydon’s float for the parade.

The performers were very proud to learn that Croydon’s display was placed in the top six displays presented by London boroughs, and as a result won £5,000 for the Mayor of Croydon’s charities. These include Mind in Croydon, Croydon Refugee Day Centre, Croydon Vision, the Croydon branch of Apasen International and the Ashden Jazz Academy, which provides support to vulnerable young women and girls.

Kara in Year 5 was one of the village children in Cinderella - this year’s pantomime at the Fairfield Halls.

Being in a pantomime was an amazing experience for me. I have learnt so many life skills such as not taking things for granted, because you will never know if you will be able to get that special chance again.

As soon as I entered on stage I had butterflies, not just in my stomach but from head to toe. The costumes were magnificent. I can’t imagine how the costume designers came up with such ideas but they were very itchy. When we wore them in the dress rehearsal we had to sit really still otherwise the sharp sequins would poke us!

Kara, Year 5

Cinderella Panto at The Fairfield Halls