No.  40

9th October, 2009

JUNIOR AND SENIOR DISCO

'Think Young' are doing Junior and Senior Disco on Friday, 16^th October.

Juniors – 6pm to 7.30pm

Free drinks and biscuits and great music!!

Tickets will be on sale at the door for £3.00 for the Junior disco

Seniors – 8pm to 10.30pm.

Tuck Shop will be available, plus great music!!

Tickets will be on sale from Adam or Abigail for the Senior disco, price £4.00.

From 'Think Young'

Abigail, Adam, Felicity, Abby C, Hannah T, Tom S and Lucy G

TIMES BOOKS FOR SCHOOL

We are currently part of a great collection scheme that could provide us with hundreds of new books for the school library, and by collecting the special tokens printed in The Times and The Sunday Times, you can help claim dozens of free books.  Autumn term tokens will be available from 13^th September to 6^th December with four tokens in The Sunday Times News Review, three tokens in The Times on Saturday and one taken each day in Times from Monday to Friday.

Please collect as many tokens as you can and give them to your child to bring to school, marked for the attention of Miss Williams.

Many thanks, in advance, for your support.

Miss Willams (Year 4)

PTA

At our AGM on Wednesday, 30^th September the following were elected as your PTA Officers and Committee:-

Chairman   -   Lord Winchilsea

Treasurer   -   Ms Fiona Amor

Secretary   -   Mrs Donna Williamson

Committee Members   -  Mrs Jane Burrell,

Mrs Sue Bridge, Mrs Lyndsey Warr,

Mrs Sally Nash and Ms Diane Dryden and

Mrs Jackie Unsworth remains as our School Liaison.

Please note the following dates for your diary:

Tuesday, 24^th November – Christmas Fair

Wednesday, 9^th December – Breakfast with

                                                            Santa.

FUTURE DATES

Thursday, 15^th October – 6^th Form Parents Evening

Monday, 19^th October – Year 7 Parents Evening

BURSAR'S OFFICE

Please note that the Bursar's Office will be closed  for one day only on Monday, 12^th October.

BOARDING FOR RABBITS & GUINEA

PIGS

If you are going away over the half-term or Christmas holidays and need someone to care for your rabbits or guinea pigs, please contact Sam Pratt (Year 11), who continues to offer boarding for rabbits and guinea pigs at a rate of £2.50 per pet per night.

Your rabbit or guinea pig can stay in one of Sam's hutches.  Runs are also provided, as well as bedding and hay.  You simply need to deliver your pet and his/her food.  (Rabbits need to have up to date vaccinations). Grooming and claw clipping are included free of charge.  You will also receive photos of your pet during his/her stay with Sam.

Please note there is no availability left for Tuesday, 27^th October to Tuesday, 3^rd November.  Phone/e-mail for bookings or more information on 01458 251291 or mail@fairviewhouse.com

SPORTS REPORT

Fixtures for next week are:-

Monday u13 Football, Tuesday u16 Hockey, Wednesday u13 Hockey, Wednesday u16 Football, Thursday u15 Football, Thursday u11 Football.  Team lists can be found on the school website under "Events".

Reports for matches played this week will be available on the school website under "Events" after 7am tomorrow morning.

All pupils selected for representative matches must travel in a school tracksuit and wear the correct match strip; shin pads are compulsory for football and hockey; mouth guards are also strongly recommended for hockey.  Black shorts for boys continue to be available from the Uniform Shop, as do black skirts for girls and the latter item has the school sports logo on it.

ALL PUPILS ARE REMINDED THAT SHIN PADS ARE COMPULSORY FOR GAMES LESSONS.

Any queries regarding fixtures should be directed to Mr Tulett, PE Office by e-mail to larry.tulett@parkschool.com

TRIP TO PARLIAMENT

The school has been invited by our M.P. to make a visit to Parliament on Wednesday, 18^th November.  We will be shown around the Palace of Westminster.  Then hopefully David Laws will be able to get two or three tickets for Question Time which will be raffled.  After Prime Minister's Question Time, David Laws will meet us in one of the committee rooms to talk about parliament and answer questions.  This should finish around 2.30pm.  In the afternoon, there should be an opportunity for some shopping and sightseeing.  If you child in interested in attending, please register your interest with the Bursar and give her a cheque for £12 to cover transport. 

Mr S Baker

SCHOOL SKI TRIP

There has been more interest this week, but would still like some more enquiries. There is a proposed trip to Bulgaria, by air, on 17^th – 21^st January.  Accordingly, because the booking is still open, we are repeating the invitation for anyone interested to bring a note to Mr Stevens as soon as possible.  If there are sufficient interested parties then a letter will be sent home to those detailing proposals.  The approximate cost will be in the region of £575.  At a slightly higher cost there is opportunity to ski in March, again travelling by air, to Tignes where the accommodation would be dormitory style rather than the hotel ensuite rooms offered in Bulgaria.  This trip would be for a maximum of 16 people and so the first option has more flexibility and would be our first choice if there are sufficient skiers.

SIXTH FORM PARENTS' EVENING

Thursday, 15^th October, 5pm – 7pm, at the Sixth Form Centre.  We would like as many parents and guardians as possible to come and discuss progress and any problems with the teachers of their children and protégés.

JUNIOR DEPARTMENT CAKE SALE

During October half-term I will be visiting our link school in Bangalore, Southern India.

The Junior School Council will be organising a cake sale on Friday, 16^th October during coffee morning break.  All money raised will be given as a gift to the KMPC School in Bangalore.  Please support the cake sale by sending your child in to school with a small amount of money.   Any donations of cakes will be gratefully received.

Thank you  

Mrs M E Partington

DEBATING CLUB

On Thursday afternoon we had the first of our Junior Debates.  Hugh Scannell and Peter Rock proposed the motion that "This House considers that school uniforms are out of date", and Luke Brickley and Declan Kinsella led for the opposition.  They only had 15 minutes to prepare, but Hugh and Luke are experienced public speakers and had no difficulty coming up with eloquent and persuasive speeches.  The two newcomers to the Club, Peter (Year 7) and Declan (Year 6), impressed everyone with the confidence and clarity of their speeches, and their ability to come up with ad lib responses to opposing arguments:  they are clearly debating stars of the future.  The subsequent floor debate was lively and entertaining, with seniors and even members of staff joining in.

On Thursday evening 16 senior members of our Club joined Leweston and Chilton Cantelo at Sherborne School for Boys.  Our hosts proposed that "This House believes that a true sportsman cheats", using humour and Machiavelli to expose the humbug of those who claim to occupy the high moral ground.  They looked well-pleased when Emily Mangles opened for the opposition quoting Kipling and apparently endorsing the Victorian Public School ethos.   She was poised, so obviously nice, that they didn't notice her stiletto in her satin-gloved hand until a couple of apparently innocuous remarks – about brown shoes and Lucozade – left them virtually unmanned.  The way was clear for Philip Bakhardzhiev to wade in, all southern European passion and power, arms flailing and hair tossing, reminiscent of the young Gerard Depardieu.  And still we are not done: there were floor speeches from Natasha Dennington, Thomas Sankey, Chris Bunker, Magenta Cousins and Musa Konteh.  However, it was Aaron Newbery who stole the show:  his brilliant speech had his audience howling with laughter, and he was rewarded with the loudest and longest applause of the evening.

The next inter-school debate will be at The Park School on 5^th November.