Newsletter

Learn • Achieve • Enjoy • Succeed

Glyn School, The Kingsway, Ewell, Surrey, KT17 1NB T: 020 8716 4949 F: 020 8716 4999 E: glynmail@glyn.surrey.sch.uk W: www.glyn.surrey.sch.uk

Friday 29 June 2012

Glyn School

Welcome to this special photo-montage Olympic Week edition of the Glyn Newsletter. I’m not sure where to start as Monday seems a distant memory. This week at Glyn was Olympic Week and the photos accompanying will tell the story better than any article ever will. The aim of the week was to unite the students and staff with a common learning theme furnished with trips to the Olympic Site using this once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate our national event. As a run-up to the week, a top-ten YouTube countdown featuring Jesse Owen, Eric Liddle, Ussain Bolt, Erik the Eel, Torvill and Dean, Derek Redmond, The Jamaican Bobsleigh Team and Kelly Holmes drew attention to the history of the Olympics and the iconic moments it brings us. On Monday the week began with the recently appointed in which Year 10 Sports captains taking part in the Epsom and Ewell Olympic Torch Relay where every school in Epsom and Ewell took turns passing a torch onto the next school. Mr Bending kindly accompanied these students on this two mile jog and they all commented on the whole school welcome that they received at Cuddington Croft Primary School.

On Tuesday Mrs Brooker, who is an Olympic Park planner with the Metropolitan Police, was our guest speaker at the Oaks and Abbey assembly. The assembly was about the story of the Olympic Torch and the highlight was when Mr Martin entered the room with a bonafide torch which the Met Police have in their possession.

Sports Day One of the Olympic values is a desire for mass participation in sports and a generation of Glyn students have not had the opportunity to do this as local facilities are not big enough to accommodate the whole school. Instead, only participants or half the school at a time have been involved in the day. We decided a year ago that we would try to have a Sports Day where every student could take part in at least one event, and Wednesday was the day when this took place. Seated Volleyball, Dodgeball, Touch Rugby, Football, Illinois Agility Test and the more traditional track and field events were fiercely contested over a sun kissed day at the Sutton Arena watched by over a thousand students.

Last Night of the Proms Concert Thursday 5 July 7pm In celebration of the Jubilee and Olympics, as well as the annual BBC Proms Concert Series in the summer, Glyn Music Department will be holding a Last Night of the Proms Concert on Thursday 5 July. Tickets are available in advance from the Finance Office and include a flag to wave; £4 adults, £2 children or £10 for a family ticket (2 adults and 2 children). It would be fantastic to see as many of you there as possible, for what

promises to be a superb evening. Mrs Penson, Head of Music

Olympic Themed Lessons During the week, every lesson at Glyn was themed around the Olympics. Topics covered were the Olympic values in RS, the Ancient Olympics in History, Olympic poetry in English, a medalled triathlon in PE, the legacy of Greece’s Olympic Games in Economics, composing an anthem in Music, the impact on the body in Science, velocity in Maths, designing and making Olympic themed cupcakes in Food Technology, Creating an Olympic Montage in IT - the list is endless.

Alongside this, hundreds of students took up the opportunity to visit the Olympics Site in Stratford as Houses on consecutive days made the coach journey for guided tours around the site followed by lunch at the Thames Barrier. ‘I didn’t realise just how big the site is….. they have built so much’ commented Andy in Year 7. If you’ve not been fortunate enough to get tickets then it is almost time to dig out your remote control and TV guide. A week where Glyn students definitely, learnt, succeeded, enjoyed and achieved. Mr Smitheram, Olympic Activities Co-ordinator

The Old Glynians` Assoc [TOGA] Curry Night - Friday 7 September 2012 – Invitation to all Year 13 school leavers since 2009 Although you have left Glyn, your involvement with the school does not end as you will always be an `Old Glynian`. For the next four years you can be a Junior Member of The Old Glynians` Association without paying any subscription at all. Being a member of the Association enables you to remain part of the active Glyn community for many years to come. You can join one or more of the many football and rugby teams that the Old Boys` Football and TOGA run at Priest Hill. Fixtures take place every Saturday afternoon during the winter and spring terms. You are also invited to attend functions at the school, where you can meet up with old friends and teachers. We hope also that some of our young women will decide to start their own ladies` teams. The purpose of this notice is to invite you to the ‘not quite so old curry night!’ The event will be held on Friday 7 September at Glyn School from 7.00pm until 8.30pm. It will be a great chance to hook up with fellow students before you start jobs or move away to take up places at universities and colleges around the country. The event will cost just £10. Should you wish to attend, please contact me at school and I will be able to send you an application form and further details. I can be contacted vie email kearnsj@glyn.surrey.sch.uk. We do hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to hearing from you. Mr Kearns, Assistant Headteacher

@glynschoolepsom You will always find important information about the school on our website, www.glyn.surrey.sch.uk. However, for informal snippets of information and news, you can also follow us on twitter. Simply click ‘follow us on twitter’ on the

home page of the school website www.glyn.surrey.sch.uk

PSA Second-hand Uniform Sale - Saturday 7 July 9.30am – 1.00pm The PSA would be very grateful for any donations of school uniform, in good condition, that you no longer require. Last year we raised over £1000 for school funds from the second-hand uniform sale, so it is a very good fundraising event but can only take place with your generosity. Please check your cupboards for any outgrown items of uniform and PE kit. Donations should be taken to Student Reception. Thank you. Glyn PSA

Jack Pepper in ‘Surrey Schools Have Talent’ Competition We are very excited to inform you that Jack Pepper (8D) was awarded the runner-up position in the Surrey Schools Have Talent final on Saturday 23 June at GLIVe, Guildford.Following the successful round of online voting in May, Jack performed his own composition, a piano medley, to an audience of over 600 at the new Guildford concert hall. We are also thrilled with the news that his piano composition, ‘Springtime’, was awarded Highly Commended in the European Piano Teachers Association competition. Unfortunately, he is unable to play in the Winners Concert at York University on 20 July, as he returns from the French trip that day! Many congratulations to Jack for his musical achievements, and watch this space – I am sure we will be hearing lots more from Jack in the future! Mrs Penson, Head of Music

Design Technology – House Competition The Design Technology House Competition will be held on Wednesday 11 July. As in previous years, each year group will have one lesson in which to design and build a solution to a challenge set by the department. Anyone who can remember the Great Egg Race or are familiar with the work of Heath Robinson (I am showing my age) will have some idea of how this works. Previous years have included building towers from marshmallows and spaghetti, designing solutions to fire an egg (uncooked) over an unspecified distance whilst ensuring it survives the impact (rarely successfully), and firing and catching ping pong balls which have to complete a circuit and light a bulb. This year will be just as silly. Students, watch out for details of this exciting House competition! Mr McShane, Head of Design Technology

St Benet House Charity Month The winner of the Official 2011-2012 CFC signed football is Tim Stamper in 12 Derby. The money raised as a part of St Benet House Charity month in April has been given to Dementia UK and Cancer Research UK. Ms Baxter, St Benet House

Abbey House Charity Month - Surrey Young Carers Recent events include a fantastically successful Year 10 cake sale which raised a whopping £87!! Also, Year 8 have run a very enjoyable 'Beat the Goalie' event. Year 10 students are currently running an X-box competition and Year 8 students are holding a Putting competition. More events are due to take place the following week, so please support events and help us to raise funds for this worthy cause. Mr Taylor, Assistant Head of Abbey House

The Jon Egging Trust

In July 2011, as Tudor’s House’s Captain, I went to RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire to do work experience with the Red Arrows for a week. Whilst there, I met one of the pilots-Flt Lt Jon Egging- who I talked to about the job, the lifestyle and he gave me advice on how to become a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Sadly, on the 20 August 2011- exactly one month after I had met him, Jon Egging crashed at Bournemouth Air show. I had experienced, first-hand, Jon Egging’s kind attitude towards everyone and how he always wanted to make a difference. In October 2011, the Jon Egging Trust was set up to ‘help young people achieve’ and follow in Jon Egging’s footsteps. Immediately I knew that this was an opportunity for Tudor House to help support this worthy cause. One of our events to raise money for this charity is an auction of a very special picture (right) of the Red Arrows training in Cyprus at RAF Akrotiri, a picture signed by all the Red Arrows Pilots and Chief Engineers. The bidding for this picture will open on Friday 29 June at 9am and close on Tuesday 10 July at 3.30pm. To bid for this fantastic prize, email your bid to Glynmail@glyn.surrey.sch.uk . You are allowed as many bids as you would like and each day you will be updated with the highest bid. The school has also be involved in this charity and Mr Chaloner has very kindly donated £300 on behalf of the school to the Jon Egging Trust with the idea of incorporating this charity into the school’s fundraising next academic year. Jamie Smart, 11T

Poem of the Week It seems entirely appropriate, in light of our Olympics week and Sports’ Day, that the poem of the week has an Olympic theme. I have, therefore, chosen Carol Ann Duffy’s poem Eton Manor which is a tribute to a sports’ club that has been redeveloped for the upcoming Olympic Games. As poet laureate, Duffy is commis-sioned to compose poems that touch upon matters of national significance and there is no doubt that the Olympics fall into this category. Poetry was traditionally a competitive event in the Olympiads of Ancient Greece and, in this poem, Duffy evokes the nostalgic past of the venue as well as its part in the legacy of the games as it becomes a permanent venue for future generations of athletes. Mr Brierley, Head of English

‘Eton Manor’ by Carol Ann Duffy The past is all around us, in the air, the acres here were once 'the Wilderness'- "Blimey, it's fit for a millionaire"- where Eton Manor Boys Club came to train; or, in the Clubhouse, (built 1913) translated poverty to self-esteem, camaraderie, and optimism similed in smiles. Hackney Wick- fleas, flies, bin-lids, Clarnico's Jam; the poor enclosed by railway, marshland, factories, canal- where Wellesley, Villiers, Wagg, Cadogan came, philanthropists, to clear a glorious space; connect the power of place to human hope, through World War One, the Blitz, till 1967… on this spot, functional, free, real- heaven. This is legacy- young lives respected, cherished, valued, helped to sprint, swim, bowl, box, play, excel, belong; believe community is self in multitude- the way the past still dedicates to us its distant, present light. The same high sky, same East End moon, above this reclaimed wilderness, where relay boys are raced by running ghosts.

Sports News

Philosophy Club

Still on the Olympic theme, last week we had a think about the words from the Olympic creed that state that

“…the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle” Pierre de Coubertin

Nick O’Donoghue began by suggesting that struggle and triumph should be understood as separate and different stages or points of one’s life experience: struggle preceding triumph. Jamie Maher agreed, seeing them as part of some cyclical process. When understood like this, the pain of struggle could be justified by the joy of triumph that inevitably follows: the gain after the pain. Both Matt Schofield and Dong-Jin Park agreed that struggle is a stage that will end, even if, as Nick suggested, that ending is death itself!

Richard Burke was uncertain that life really does shift between such contained stages or points; maybe struggle is not something that punctuates life with beginnings and endings, but rather it describes the very nature of existence. Seen this way, we could suggest that it is not that struggle actually ceases and triumph commences, rather that it simply appears this way in order for us to deal with the toils of life. This apparently negative perspective need not be regarded as such; struggle is simply a way of describing a necessary state of being that allows for understanding and awareness of the ‘good’. These things we experience as ‘triumph’.

Jack Ranson pulled the discussion together by referring to the series Lost when John Locke explains to Charlie that he could help a moth by slitting the cocoon, but that the moth would not survive. Instead, in order to be free the moth needs to struggle. To locate triumph you must first accept struggle; embrace the struggle and you have triumph within your grasp.

Mr Cheal, Religious Studies, AST(based on notes taken by student Saihann Islam Ahmed)

You are welcome to join us at the KS3 Philosophy Club. Wednesday lunchtime, RS3 – bring your lunch!

Religious Studies bytes…Did you know… On 3 July 2012 Buddhist’s will be celebrating Asala, also known as Dharma Day. This is the anniversary of the start of Buddha’s teaching. This is also known as “The Wheel of Truth”, his first sermon after his enlightenment. In early Buddhism, the time around what has now become Dharma Day (the eighth lunar month in the traditional Indian calendar) marked the beginning of the rainy season. At this point, the Buddha and his monks and nuns would suspend their nomadic lifestyle for three months. They would shelter together until the monsoon season was over, and use this time as a period of further meditation and reflection. Dharma Day is usually celebrated with readings from the Buddhist scriptures, and is an opportunity to reflect deeply on their content. If an individual practices Buddhism within a monastic tradition, Dharma Day is, wherever possible, celebrated in a temple, Buddhist centre or monastery in the presence of monks or nuns. Ms Papworth, Head of Religious Studies

Sportsman of the Week - Ollie Barton (9 St Benet) YEAR 9 - SCHOOL HIGH JUMP RECORD BREAKER….1.53m! This week has allowed us to view and assess the competitive sporting prowess of the school as a whole following the success of Wednesday’s Sports Day. Whilst there were an endless number of notable performances both in track and field, arguably the most exiting was that of Ollie Barton breaking the 16 year old Year 9 High Jump record of 1.52m, set by Louis Burgess in 1996. Louis went on to represent GB and Northern Ireland in later years, so Ollie, it is over to you…! Ollie started the Year 9 competition with quiet confidence, choosing to skip the opening height of 1.15m. He then proceeded to slowly and methodically apply mental pressure on his opponents by jumping the following five incremental heights of 5cm, each at the first attempt. Bearing in mind that High Jump is not taught at Glyn, Ollie’s technique and tactical awareness were exemplary and should be whole-heartedly commended. Having skipped 1.45m, Ollie was left challenging Connor McCarthy (9 Bourne) at 1.50m for the winning position. Both failed their first attempt, but Ollie cleared it at the second time of asking and alas, Connor had already reached his maximum of 7 jumps, thus Ollie had won. Realising that the school record for the year group was only 2cm higher, the competition now wrapped up, Ollie was offered the chance to beat 1.52m, which he did with a fantastic 1.53m, again at his first attempt. I have not cheered as loud since Lawrie Sanchez scored the winning goal for Wimbledon in the 1988 F.A cup final against Liverpool!! Ollie went on to try and improve upon his previous effort with 1.55m, but through sheer mental and physical tiredness, was unable to clear it. Over the last 3-4 years in athletics Ollie has continually supported both his house and the school in High Jump with enthusiasm and confidence and this together with his calmness under pressure and undoubted practical ability has led to his well-earned Sportsman of the Week. Well done Ollie! Mr Colombage

Michael Mason – Metropolitan Police Open Sailing On Saturday 23 June, Michael Mason, 12 Abbey, competed in the Metropolitan Police Open Sailing Competition which took place at Netley Sailing Club, Southampton . In the triangle and two sausage’s course, it was very difficult to manoeuvre the new two handed Osprey sailing boat due to strong winds that day. Michael crossed the finishing line first, and was placed third because of the handicap system. Well done Michael.

Mrs Mabbott

Matthew Georgiou – GB Rowing Glyn’s Matthew Georgiou ,11B, and his doubles partner, Harry, raced at Nottingham last weekend and have been selected to race for GB Rowing at a Regatta in France in July. Matthew is delighted and is looking forward to getting his GB kit! Mrs Fairbrother, Head of Bourne House

Adam Hinde - Epsom Open Swim Adam Hinde, 7 Oaks, took part in the Epsom Open Swim Event last weekend. He smashed all his personal bests and achieved Surrey qualifying times for 400m freestyle, 200m backstroke, 200m medley. He also got a bronze for the 20m fly. This is a fantastic achievement. Well done, Adam. Mr Scutt, Science AST

Freddie Boys 7C – U13 Cricket Freddie Boys, 7C, has been selected to participate in a Surrey cricket match in Canterbury U13s England Development Talent Testing Programme, as Captain. We wish you much success! Mr Macleod, Master in Charge of Cricket

Martin Blackman - British Schools Cycling Association Hill Climb Martin Blackman, 8M, took part in the British Schools’ Cycling Association Hill Climb, which is a national competition, at Petersfield on 23 June. Martin came an impressive 3rd in the U13 category. The course was 2.7 miles up a steep hill which he completed in 10:32 minutes just 4 seconds behind the winner. Martin was proud to receive his bronze medal from Ian Hallam, the 2 times Common-wealth Games cycling gold medallist and 3 times Olympian in the 1970's. Congratulations Martin! Mr Colombage

Jack Neill – Men’s British Gymnastics Congratulations to Jack Neill, 10SB, who last weekend competed at the Men’s British Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool. Jack finished 8th overall in the U16 competition. This rounded off a very busy period for him as he also represented Glyn at the UK School Games in May at the London Olympic venue. Also in May, Jack competed for Ireland at the European Championships in Montpellier, France. This was Jack’s biggest competition to date with over 309 gymnastics from 39 European countries. We wish you every success! Mr Churchill, Head of St Benet House

Important Dates for your Diary Wednesday 4 July - INSET Day. School closed to students Thursday 5 July - Last Night of the Proms at 7pm Saturday 7 July - Second-hand Uniform Sale 9.30am to 1pm

We value your comments and suggestions - We are keen to hear your comments and suggestions about any aspect of the school. Please email:- parentconsultation@glyn.surrey.sch.uk. Thank you.