Friends' School - News Archive to 2003

To see other Newsflash items click on the appropriate years 2003 2002 , 2001

To see Newsflash items for the Junior School click here

SPORTS DAY 2003
LISTER 309, MENNELL 330 , TUKE 321

Click here to see more photos

Wednesday’s Sports Day provided good weather, excellent performances and entertainment for all concerned. The PE staff were very impressed with the effort and commitment from all the competing athletes and would also like to thank all teachers, maintenance Staff and parents who were involved in the day. A special thanks to Jen Attwood for her wonderful organisation of a great day.

Looking forward to 2004 already!

Nick Batcheler

Click on the above
to see more photos of the exhibition

Parents are invited to the 2003 end of year exhibition. The A' Level work will be displayed in the 6th Form art room, and the AS and GCSE groups are showcasing their work in the Octopus Gallery.

Exhibition open 9am to 4pm Monday 16th to Friday 20th June 2003

As part of the school's celebration of our Tercentenary, Year 7 students were asked to create a design which conjured up a sense of peace.

The students chose Ramiz Abushan's design as the best one, and all agreed that some word by George Fox, the founder of the Quaker Movement should be added to it - Walk in the Light.

With the help of Helen Golden, Head of Religious Studies the students set about transforming Ramiz' winning design into a giant wall hanging. Parents contributed much of the fabric which was used in its construction.

Helen Golden said, "Ramiz has such a strong sense of colour and design, and the wall hanging is a tribute to his talent, as well as the hard work and creativity of the whole class."

Scaffolding bedecked the main entrance to the School for the first few days of the Summer Term term, as visitors will no doubt have noticed as they made their way beneath it.
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Parts of the highly decorative terracotta arch over the entranceway, which dates from 1877, had become damaged over the years and Bursar Jane Corwin felt it was essential that it should be repaired in the most authentic way possible.

Following a "lead" from a parent, Jane Corwin spoke to a brickworks in Suffolk who, although they were unable to help, put her in touch with a company in Leyland, Lancashire, which specialises in such work. Photographs and measurements enabled moulds to be made for two new pieces for the bottom of the arch.

These have now been installed by Mac Knox Weir, of Weir Conservation in Coggeshall, Essex, whose previous commissions have included work at Hampton Court. Staff and parents have stopped on many occasions to talk to Mac and found him to be a fascinating and informative craftsman.

"The work is now complete and, following some gentle cleaning, shows what the building would have looked like when the School opened in 1879," says Jane. "The detective work involved in tracking down the right materials and people for the job has been well worth it."

Friends' School Saffron Walden celebrated Friends and Families Day last weekend - 17th May 03. This is the annual 'speech day ' of the school when the achievements of past and present students are recognised and the presentation of School Awards takes place.

However, not only was the achievement of the pupils recognised - but also that of the staff - Mary Mileson has been involved with the teaching of music at the school over the past 50 years and her contribution was formally recognised.

Andy Waters presenting Mary
Mileson with a bouquet

Suzy Graham-Adriani was the guest speaker. She is the producer of the National Theatre Shell Connections programme and spoke enthusiastically about why the National Theatre had set up Shell Connections.

Andy Waters, Head of Friends' School, pictured with Suzy Graham-Adriani, producer of the National Theatre Shell Connections Programme

Helen Baker, Town Mayor, pictured with Andrew Holmes, Head of Friends' Junior School Year 6 pupils.

As a means of encouraging Youth Theatre, selected writers were asked to write their next play for teenagers to perform, but still to write to the same high level as they would for adults. One of the plays, 'Dust' by Sarah Daniels, was chosen by Friends' students as their entry in the Shell Connections festival. After several performances in the school hall the play transferred to the awe-inspiring setting of a real theatre, the Cambridge Arts, with tremendous success, at the beginning of May.

In the afternoon Helen Baker, Town Mayor, officially opened the new adventure playground in the school grounds. This has been achieved by a very successful Junior School sponsored swim, a donation from the PTA and generous funding from BP.

"A dream come true" was how Lei Yang described his trip to Warwick Castle. Lei is a sixth form student at Friends' School Saffron Walden and his comment was made during the annual EFL Trip organised by Audrey Jackson who is in charge of the EFL programme at Friends' School. Click on the photo to find out more.

Photograph of Friends' School overseas students outside the Friends' Meeting House in Bournville.

Our 5 pupils who returned from China after the Easter break have all completed 10 days of quarantine, and have been checked by the school doctor and are now back in circulation. We thank them for their patience. Information website

Following the heats last term, Friends School is in 8th position out of 46 schools and members of year 7 will take part in the finals on June 7th . Many thanks to Julie Anderson for organising our team and good luck for the 7th June.

The Challenge is a science and technology problem solving competition, designed to both stimulate and entertain today's youngsters. The year 2003 will see the thirteenth issuing of The Leys Challenge. The staging of The Leys Challenge relies heavily upon the worlds of industry, commerce and education; not only for direct sponsorship, but also for the supplying of judges for the various sections of the event. To all that help, we are most grateful. The Leys greatly values its links with the many and varied institutions that help with The Challenge

Working with Lesley McLean, Year 9 English teacher, on narrative poetry, Brian read one of his own narrative poems entitled "Anna Akhmatova to her Lover", a poem about the life story of one Russia's great poets of the 20th century.

"It was very encouraging to have pupils who were not only friendly, but who were also responsive and appreciative to the poetry, " said Brian of his visit into school. "One of the pupils who is from the Ukraine talked about reading Akhmatova in Russian"

While visiting Friends' School Brian brought his two daughters with him and they sat in on quite a few classes during the day. "They're really keen to change schools and board over here now!" he said, "They thought it was just like Hogwarts!"

Brian Daldorph now lectures at the university of Kansas and has also been a visiting professor in Japan and Senegal. As well as having stories, articles and reviews published he has two full-length books of poems published: The Holocaust and Hiroshima: Poems (1997) and Outcasts (2000)

34 pupils from the school had been entered for the Associated Board exams and they achieved a 100% pass rate, with 10 students obtaining Honours Level.

Sarah McConnell, their teacher, said "These are very good results. Lei Yang, a sixth former from China, took his Grade Four Practical English exam and obtained an Honours pass which was excellent as this is a very difficult exam to do well in."

Andy Waters, Head of Friends' School said, " I am delighted that so many of our pupils, right through the age range, performed at such a high level."

God
How cruel you are sometimes
Why are you taking souls of
Guilty and innocent minds
Why are you torturing them like that
Why are you giving them such a fate?

I don't know and I could not
But only god knows
But only god knows
But only god decides for what….

If only you knew
How painful it is
To see the faces of those
Who lost their relatives
For what did they deserve
Such treatments on this Earth
For what their souls deserved such curse.

As a Quaker School we are committed to upholding the Quaker Peace Testimony, and seeking to explore all avenues for peaceful resolution of conflict.

The current situation has had significant exploration, discussion and reflection in School, including consideration at assemblies and Meetings for Worship. At their own request, a group of Sixth Formers attended a peace rally in London on March 20th, with the support of their parents and of the School.

The opening lines of the Peace Testimony, declared by George Fox to Charles II in 1660, read as follows:

'Our principle is, and our practices always have been, to seek peace, and ensue it, and to follow after righteousness and the knowledge of God, seeking the good and welfare, and doing that which tends to the peace of all. All bloody principles and practices we do utterly deny, with all outward wars and strife, and fighting with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretence whatsoever, and this is our testimony to the whole world.'

We shall continue, as a School community, to uphold this principle during the current conflict and after it has ended.

See Anna's poem

BYM ( Britain Yearly Meeting - the Quaker body for Britain) statement on the war over Iraq . For an up to date statement on the war with Iraq, BYM's most recent press release and other information, please go to their

Iraq pages.

A sense of community

Click on the photo on the right to download sections from the latest school prospectus

In this week-long challenge, we got the opportunity to enjoy the experience of a life time. We were able to visit the Costa Rican rainforest and cloud forest, and learn about its very diverse types of vegetation and animals.

Our challenge took us from the west side of the country, the pacific side, to the east, or Caribbean side, covering more than 125km. To be able to complete this trek in 6 days we had to cover at least 20 km each day, under very hot conditions. Although these 6 days were easily the most tiring days that we have ever lived, at the end of each day we always felt quite proud of ourselves and most of all looked forward to the next day.

The highlight of our expedition was the last day. We went white water rafting down the Pacuare river, which not only has some pulse accelerating rapids, but also has amazing views of the rainforest with waterfalls cascading down. According to our guide Danny, and we must agree with him, rafting alongside the jungle is the best way to experience the rainforest and all its beauty.

Between the twenty of us who took part in the challenge we raised over £46,000 for Cancer Research UK. We'd like to thank everyone who helped us reach our goal of £7,500. It was an experience that we will never forget.

Copies of this photo can be ordered from Reception by kind permission of Ron Morland

The premier of 'Dust' by Sarah Daniels was performed on the 6th & 7th March.. This is part of the National Theatre's Shell Connections competition for schools and this play will next be performaed at the Arts Theatre Cambridge on the 9th May this year. If we are successful we could then go on to perform at the National Theatre in London.

A calendar of the main events in the history of

'A COMMUNITY THROUGH THREE CENTURIES'

The story of Friends' School, Saffron Walden 1702-2002
By Roger Buss (Old Scholar archivist) January 2003

Click here to see this year by year chronology of the school's history in MS Word format or click here to see it in pdf format. N.B. It is best to download the above by right clicking on a link and choosing 'Save Target As' - then follow the instructions to save to your hard drive. If you wish to suggest additions or amendments then please email Roger Buss.

They were given an illustrated talk about the Sanger Institute by one of the research workers, and then shown around the laboratories where research is being carried out on sequencing genes in both the human genome and that of other animals. The sophisticated, robotic automation allowing many genes to be sequenced was most impressive.

To find out more about the book published to mark the Tercentenary of the school, click on the picture below:

(This hardback book can be purchased from the school or sections downloaded for personal use.)

One of the leading education-based theatre groups in the country visited Friends' School Saffron Walden on the 5th February 2003.

The Impact Theatre Company gave a performance in the school's assembly hall encouraging students to stay in education after 16.

The theatre show proved very popular with teachers and pupils. Their new show, featuring characters from Lord of the Rings as well as Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog from the Muppets, put across the message that learning pays - and that there are different routes to achieving qualifications.

Using a mixture of humour, music and sketches to explore the differences in the way people learn, the show looked at how some people are happier with the academic route to sixth-form or college, while others are more practical and can benefit form work-based and vocational programmes.

"The show was a marvellous way of emphasizing that there is more than one route to success", said Julie Anderson, Careers Teacher at the Friends' School.

"It was a fun show and will have made a real impression on the pupils as well as putting across a message that will have a bearing on the success they make of the rest of their lives"

Two of the students taking part in a fun quiz organised and hosted by Alison Walsh, from the QUITS programme.

Alison Walsh was in Friends' School Saffron Walden speaking to the pupils in Year 7 about the dangers of smoking. After the quiz, which tested their knowledge of tobacco and nicotine, Alison then went on to concoct a drink which included all the components of a cigarette - it looked disgusting and probably tasted foul but no one in Year 7 was keen to try it!

"The message was put over in a very humorous way", commented Helen Golden who is in charge of the PSE (Personal and Social Education) curriculum at Friends' School, " but at the same time it was very educational."

"It made us aware of things without trying to force us not to smoke," said Gabrielle Acquah.

QUITS is an anti-smoking programme for schools sponsored by the British Heart Foundation.

Herts and Essex Observer Newspaper - 'Design an Ad. Competition' - December 2002

Towards the end of last term, Year 8 worked on a non-fiction writing project in English which focussed on the language and layout of advertising. This was given particular relevance as it involved designing an advertisement to be entered in the 'Design-an-Ad' competition run by Herts and Essex Newspapers Ltd.

The students were allocated a real company by the newspaper: Concept Digital of Bishop's Stortford and had to design an advertisement promoting their services and using their logo. Work was done in the classroom on the features of advertisements, the persuasive use of language and aspects of layout.

The winning advertisement ( above ) was produced by Oscar Willans who played on the slogan 'a fast turn around' in the layout design.

At the end of that time over 90 cards for prisoners of conscience had been signed. These cards will be sent to people in many different countries where they do not enjoy the freedoms we enjoy here - freedom of speech, of language and of religion.

The event was organised by Helen Golden, teacher of Religious Studies at the school and was supported by the Saffron Walden branch of Amnesty International, whose members, Pam Gadsby, Caroline Brown and David Huband brought along information about the various prisoners and large quantities of Christmas cards.

The student body at Friends' School includes many from different parts of the world and they were able to write to the prisoners in their own language.