News Archive Jan to Dec 2002

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Book Club Dracula Talk

Cakes Galore

Year 7 students organised a cake sale to raise money for Children in Need on Friday 15th November.

Cakes of all varieties, including Pudsey Bear biscuits, were supplied by Year 7 pupils and various members of staff. The stall was manned by Andrew Hall, Joey Harlow, Hilary Lester, Louise McCall, Olivia Jarman and Gabrielle Acquah.

The cakes were sold during Recess in the Dining Hall and continued in the Library at Lunch-time.

"It was good fun," said Olivia Jarman. "Especially when everyone was crowding around trying to choose which cakes to buy," added Hilary Lester.

"We were really pleased with the amount we raised -over £62 - just from selling little cakes," said Louise McCall.

Sponsored Bike Ride for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Fund

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Trekking Trio

Three sixth form students will be taking part in a trek in Costa Rica. Polly Ruskin, Melissa Pearce and Daniel Carter-Gonzales are making their preparations for the 12-day visit to Costa Rica in February 2003 which includes 8 days trekking through the rainforest.

Known as "The Ultimate Challenge" the trek has been set up by Cancer Research UK as a fund raising event.

The students' interest in this charity was sparked off by Polly's work for her AS-Level in Art when she was given the task of designing a poster a charity. "I chose Cancer Research UK because I know people who have cancer, but the more I looked into the charity and the disease during my research, the facts really hit hard and I wanted to do more to support it"

Before they travel to Costa Rica in February they each have to raise at least £2500. Almost all of this money will go straight to Cancer Research UK. "We've had some very generous donations from local companies," said Melissa Pearce.

"During the Tercentenary weekend at the end of September they provided tours for Old Scholars around the school, and sold coffee to help increase their funds. "However, if anyone else would like to help us to raise money for Cancer Research UK, we would be delighted to hear from them. We're willing to do presentations about the Charity and the Trek before we go and on our return when we will hopefully have photographs and tales of a great experience on our return", said Polly.

"If companies do choose to support us with a donation we will be delighted to wear their logo on our Trek T-Shirts," added Melissa

Click here to find out more about Kenya Brading's winning poem. Congratulations.

Tercentenary Pageant Saturday 28th September 2002

The whole school dressed in costume, reflecting school wear over the last 300 years, and paraded through Saffron Walden from the School to the Museum grounds.

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Sixth Form Activity Weekend at the Bowles Outdoor Centre September 2002

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Friends' School and Quaker Walden Exhibition

Andy Waters Head of Friends' School with Tony Watson and Brian Newman, vice-chairman and chairman of the Saffron Walden Museum Society at the opening of the School's Tercentenary exhibition at the Museum. Tony and Brain have considerable association with the school being former pupils whose children also went to the school. Tony Watson is also a Governor of the school.

Featured in the picture is figure in early Quaker dress.

The exhibition will run until Sunday 3rd November.

Click here to find out more about the school's Tercentenary Celebrations 1702 - 2002.

Children of the Light   During rehearsals at the Friends' Meeting House

Children of the Light is a play recounting stories from the history of a school and has been written specifically for the Tercentenary celebrations of Friends' School Saffron

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French Exchange to Nimes June 2002

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'Independent Education Today'

Click on the picture to see the centre spread about Friends' School from the May 2002 issue of 'Independent Education Today'. ( This may take a few moments to download as it is in pdf format, which can be read with Acrobat Reader)

Year 8 end of year trip to Paris

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Sixth Form Geography Field Trip to Wales

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Year 7 Summer Residential Trip to Sheringham

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Inspection Report February 2002

To quote from the Overall Summary:

"Friends' School is a warm and supportive community that is very well led. Its pupils gain a rounded education and develop as individuals with an open outlook on the world. Its very good pastoral care and Quaker ethos underpin the achievement of sound standards."

Click here to see the summary report and action plan

	Many thanks for all the vouchers that parents, staff, pupils and friends have collected for us. We were able to add the 5,103 vouchers collected this year to a similar amount banked last year and with over 2,200 lent to us from the Junior School, we have been able to place an order for a 1 GHz computer which arrived in September.

Year 5 Taster Day at the Senior School

31 year 5 pupils from the Junior School and other schools attended our Taster Day in the Senior School. During this time they took part in activities in Drama, Music, Art, Technology and Sport, and put on a performance for parents at 3.30pm. Click on the photo to see more shots of the day. 

Friends' Students' Sporting Achievements

Jessica de Bruyne, Claire Brown and Chris Smith, pupils at Friends' School Saffron Walden, have reason to be delighted this week.

They have all heard that their skills on the hockey pitch have won them greater honours.

Jessica de Bruyne and Claire Brown recently attended an U13 Girls Hockey County assessment day at Hinchingbrooke School, Huntingdon. They were then selected from over 80 participants to attend an Active Sport Talent Camp at East Anglia University at the end of June.

Chris Smith, a Year 11 student at Friends' School, was selected to attend a number of training sessions for promising hockey players at Peterborough University. From these he has been selected for the U17 England Hockey Squad.

Chris plays for the Saffron Walden Men's 1st XI and was introduced to the game by Gordon Scott at Newport.

"The girls did very well and I am delighted they were selected," said Jenny Thompson, PE teacher at the school, "and Chris's selection for the England U17 squad is an outstanding achievement"

Music Tour to Belgium May 2002

Click here to see more photos of this combined Junior and Senior School trip.

Some of the A level, AS level and GCSE Art Work submitted for moderation - May 2002 Click on the picture below to see more

FRIENDS' PUPILS SING OUT FOR SONGS OF PRAISE

BBC 1 Sunday Evening 9th June

Pupils at Friends' School, Saffron Walden, were under the spotlight when BBC Songs of Praise came to the school to film part of a special programme about Quakers.

The Songs of Praise programme, which was broadcast on BBC-1, Sunday June 9th, is to commemorate the 350 years since George Fox founded the Religious Society of Friends (also known as the Quakers).

The production team and camera crew filmed the pupils during Morning Assembly and interviewed some pupils about their Quaker faith. They also filmed some of the schoolchildren taking part in a music workshop with former Friends' pupil and singer and broadcaster Tom Robinson, best known for his '70s chart hit 2-4-6-8 Motorway.

Presenter, Aled Jones and Tom Robinson discuss aspects of the filming with Head, Andy Waters

Tom Robinson put the children through their musical paces, teaching them about rhythm, breathing, and performance techniques as they learnt the song, "Faith In You", which they then performed for the TV cameras.

Presenter, Aled Jones and Tom Robinson discuss aspects of the filming with Head, Andy Waters

"We were delighted to welcome the Songs of Praise team to our school, especially as we ourselves are celebrating 300 years since our school was founded by the Religious Society of Friends," says Development Officer Sarah Westerhuis.

Antigone

The lower sixth students recently performed their set drama text to staff and pupils. Antigone by Jean Anouih is being studied for their AS-Level Drama and Theatre Studies course. The students participating were Gemma Wathelet, Wendy Palmer, Adam Reynolds, Kathrine Castle, Ching To, Millie Pearce and Polly Ruskin.

Ray Lau, Director of Music, congratulated the students for their "captivating performances". Adam Reynolds, one of the students commented how different it felt to be performing on a thrust stage rather than the normal stage. "It brought you very close to the audience and you could really see their reactions to the drama" 

Pachelbel Cannon in D - as played on Friends and Families Day, 18th May 2002. Yu Kumura on Violin, Ray Lau on Recorder, Lena Sugimura on Piano and Otis Doyle on Cello. Arranged by Head of Music, Ray Lau . ( For a near CD quality download click here - 4125 kb).

'Dreamer' - Lena's Composition - 'Dreamer' was composed by Lena Sugimura as part of her A2 level commissioned music assignment. She has composed the music to lyrics presented to her by the exam board. Lena is on the Piano and Kathrin Castle is singing. ( For a near CD quality download click here - 4125 kb).

 Go West!

To see more photos click here

24 International students from Friends' School recently spent a long weekend visiting Wales as part of their wider curriculum.

The students came from 6 different countries and were accompanied by Audrey Jackson, Head of the EFL Department at Friends' School and 3 other members of staff.

This is an annual event organised by the EFL Department to introduce overseas students to other regions of the United Kingdom before they return to their home countries. This year the group visited Cardiff, Bath and Stonehenge with a stop at the Cotswold Wildlife Park before returning to Saffron Walden.

Panpan Wu was very impressed with Bath. "I was amazed that the Romans had built such a marvellous bath site" she said, "The whole system was built 2000 years ago and still works today".

Mingrui He said of Cardiff, " I was surprised to find that the castle was located in the middle of the city centre. It was a strange feeling that inside the castle there were all the old buildings, but it was a busy and modern style city centre outside".

Graphic Design Talk for Year 10

Year 10 Design and Technology Product Design group had an illustrated talk by professional Graphic Designer Phillip Conner about his career and some of the work that he does. The group was intrigued by the seemingly clever way he plays with words to get a message across in his promotional advertising and some of the symbolism that he uses. A very productive and stimulating session prompted the group to try out their own ideas generating about some seriously inventive ideas. Talks like this add to the enrichment to the individual's education and brings the wider world in through the school gates. Phillip was presented with a book to show the gratitude of the group after the event.

BBC Radio 4 Gardeners' Question Time

has been recorded at Friends' School

Bob Flowerdew, Eric Robson ( chairman ), Bunny Guinness and Roy Lancaster

2 recordings were made at Friends' School for BBC Radio 4.
The first can be heard at 2pm on Sunday 5th May with a repeat at 3pm on Wednesday 8th May. The second can be heard on Sunday 16th June at 2pm.

Shakespeare in a Workshop

Peregrine Theatre Company were recent visitors to Friends' School Saffron Walden when they led a series of workshops on Shakespearean drama.

Some of the Year 9 girls

Antony and Cleopatra was the focus in the morning for 6(ii). This is one of their set texts for A-Level and Miles and Sarah from Peregrine Theatre Company encouraged the sixth-formers to look at this play as drama and not just a literary text.

Sarah and Simon rehearsing

Andrea Harrison, their teacher said, "It was a good theatre workshop. The students gained real insights by working with real actors".

In the afternoon the students of Year 9 and Year 11 had a chance to get to grips with Macbeth.

With some Year 9 boys

Macbeth is a set text for KS3 and GCSE. The students were very positive about it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

At the beginning of the session there were drama games as a warm up and the pupils "really got into them" said Margaret Lockyer, Head of English. "These workshop sessions will have greatly helped with their understanding of the play as a drama text. For example, how they move in a scene, or how to emphasise particular words"

Hindu Temple Visit

As part of their Religious Studies course 20 Year 8 students went to visit the Hindu Temple at Neasden, London. Hinduism has been the focus of their studies this term and this visit helped to reinforce what they were learning. They were accompanied by Alison Ainsworth, Helen Golden and Adrian Dixon. "Everywhere you went there was something really beautiful," said Rebecca Chong. Rosanna Hutton and Rachel Bloomfield both enjoyed the smell of incense. "And we liked going barefoot", they added.

Jack Cook and Alex Philpott were both very taken with the carvings at the Temple - the incredibly detailed marble carvings on the walls and the teak carved pillars.

Let me Read you a Story…

Pyjamas was the dress code for the younger pupils in Girls' Boarding House, Friends' School Saffron Walden, last week.

In order to celebrate Bedtime Reading Week, Moira Thomson, Boarding Mistress of Girls' House and Janice Weatherall, School Librarian hosted a Pyjama Supper on the eve of World Book Day in Girls' House.

Hot chocolate, biscuits and toast were supplied, and stories were read to the girls from 8pm to 9pm by Moira and Janice, who were also suitably attired.

Stories included some of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, a Suffolk ghost story by Kevin Crossley-Holland and excerpts from Jacqueline Wilson's work.

"It was really good," said Lisa Wang, Year 9. Jessica de Bruyne from year 8 wanted to know "Can we do this every 2 -3 weeks!"

To the Edge of the Sky 

As a bonus on World Book Day, 14th March 2002, Anhua Gao accepted Helen Golden's invitation to speak at Friends' School Saffron Walden about her book To the Edge of the Sky. Anhua Gao spoke about how she came to write a book about her experiences of growing up in China and living through the Cultural Revolution.

Annie's parents were hailed as Revolutionary martyrs by Chairman Mao Zedong. During her early years she knew love and support as she grew up in a privileged world. When they died, leaving her and her siblings orphans, all they were left with was their parents' fading reputations to guide and protect them through the era of the Cultural Revolution.

With the fabric of her family life torn apart by the catastrophic whims of the state, Annie was truly alone - something she only realised when she was denounced to the authorities by her own sister. She was the victim of cruelty at the hands of her husband and suffered public humiliation when the state Security Bureau accused her of being as enemy agent simply because she wrote and spoke English. She was thrown into jail where she experienced appalling deprivations and bore witness to hideous torture.

From the age of nine Anhua had always wanted to visit Britain, the little 'island-like place' she always thought of as being on 'the edge of the sky'. Her dream finally came true at the age of 45 when she moved to be with her English husband in December 1994.

She was accompanied by her husband Harry Bennett who admits he is not only her adoring husband but also her biggest fan.She was accompanied by her husband Harry Bennett who admits he is not only her adoring husband but also her biggest fan.

The next morning they were back in school and took part in several English classes where the students had a chance to speak to her about her work as an author and her life then and
now.

MIND Trek

Pupils and staff from Friends' School Saffron Walden have raised over £400 in sponsorship for Philip Scott who will set out on an adventure of a lifetime through some of the most dramatic landscapes in the world when he embarks on a charity trek across Guatemala.

Philip will join 70 other trekkers on the walk through the Central American country raising money for the mental health charity MIND.

MIND is the leading mental health charity working with the one in four people who experience mental health problems, which are common and normal and can happen to anyone. Such problems can have a devastating effect on all aspects of life.

Margaret Lockyer, Director of Studies at Friends' School, is seen here presenting the cheque to Philip Scott on behalf of the school.

Poetry Performances

	Year 7 pupils at Friends' School recently hosted a Poetry Reading event to mark the completion of their class poetry anthology. The specially invited audience included Andy Waters, Head Teacher at Friends' School, Margaret Lockyer, Director of Studies, Ray Lau, Director of Music and Janice Weatherall, Librarian. Year 6 also came up from Friends' Junior School.
Every student in the class performed their poem, many of which were accompanied by music or drama. The poems revealed a variety of writing styles, from shape poems to haikus
	Andrea Harrison, their English teacher, said of her class, "Although they were all nervous about performing in front of an audience, they did brilliantly. It all went very smoothly." Margaret Lockyer added, "It was wonderful to hear such a wide variety of poetry and to see their enthusiasm."

Whole School Inspection

The Independent Schools Inspectorate completed their week long inspection of the whole school on the 15 February. We are most encouraged by the oral feedback which we have received and which has been positive. We understand that the written report will take many weeks to be finalised. When it has been published, information will be made available to all. Watch this space.

Senior School Play - 'Arabian Nights'

Click on the pictures below to enlarge