DownsMattersTHE DOWNS SCHOOL NEWSLETTER WINTER 2012

Inside this issue• Spanish Exchange

• Grandparents Day

• Greenpower Car

• Athletics Highlights

• 2012 Trips

and much more!

CHARLTONarrives at The Downs

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Charlton currently stands in his splendour guardingthe impressive Jacobean fire place in Charlton Hall,warmly welcoming visitors. He is as magnificent asthe house after which the children named him.Dressed smartly in his distinctive blazer and tie, hecan only come from one school.

In the spring he will stand with assurance and gracebeside the flagpole – a Downs School flag mustsurely be next! Our children could do worse thanto reflect on the admirable traits of Charlton;strength, determination, courage, care and pride. Inthe meantime many continue giving him anaffectionate pat or cuddle as they pass by. Ourthanks to the DSA for helping us to realise theproject.

CHARLTON at The Downs

EQUESTRIAN NEWS

SuperSeptemberSeptember has been a very busy month withEquestrian Teams out competing each weekend.Great fun and success was had at the Chew ValleySchool’s Competition. At the Blundell’s One DayEvent individual’s performed well and were placedjust outside of the medals. At Stonar’s 25th InterSchools ODE we went one better and one ofteam was placed. However, even better thingswere to come at King’s College Show JumpingCompetition where we enjoyed a team first andsecond – fantastic!

Sadly, as a consequence of disease and old age, wehave now lost another five huge mature trees overthe summer meaning we have now lost fourteen

over the last 18 months. Sadly it seems that we now alsoface the dreadful prospect of losing numerous Ash Treesas a consequence of a vicious international disease.

Importantly the school is now taking part in a scheme tore-plant Dutch Elm.We have also been very fortunate toplant eight young trees kindly donated by parents

through the tree appeal. As you will have seen they now stand proud on the school grounds andI am sure they will bring great pleasure to many over the distant future.

We will be planting the next batch of new trees before the end of the year. Several trees havealready been donated and I am aware of a number of other parents that have shown interest inthe scheme. We have taken expert advice in the re-landscaping of the estate. A wide variety oftrees are being planted ranging from Small Leaved Lime (£180) to Holm Oaks (£4200).

If you would like more information about the scheme the School Office would bepleased to assist you.

THE TREE APPEAL‘He who plants a tree plants a hope’.

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This year a new exciting event tookplace in the Languages Department.For the first time in the 118 yearhistory of the school, Sixteen Year 8students took part in a Spanishexchange. They went to Spain’s capitalcity – Madrid.

The exchange started on Friday 4th Maywhen 15 Spanish students spent the day atThe Downs and met their English pen friendsfor the first time. In the morning the Spanishstudents attended lessons and in theafternoon they played the very English gameof Rounders! On Saturday 5th May, theSpanish students were hosted by our Year 8 families. Despite the rain and the cold temperatures the Spanish studentsthoroughly enjoyed themselves in England,they really looked forward to the return visitof our students a week later.

On Friday 11th May 2012, Sixteen veryenthusiastic Year 8 students went to Bristol

airport for the beginning of the return visit totheir Spanish pen friends. Though the flightout was late in the evening, when they arrivedin Madrid, the city was still alive with thesound of music!! The students settled quicklyin their rooms ready for the next day as theywere meeting their Spanish exchange familiesfor the first time. When they were with them,the activities ranged from visiting a themepark, to go karting, shopping and exploringthe Real Madrid Stadium. The students had afantastic time and were delighted to be ableto speak Spanish all day to their pen friends.

Another highlight of the trip was the food.The students experienced the differentdelicious dishes of the Spanish culture:‘churros’, deep fried dough dipped into hotmelted chocolate; ‘tapas’ of all sorts, ‘paella’cooked for the students by the Spanishfamilies.

A day in a Spanish school with their penfriends and a visit of two of the main art

galleries of the city were also on theprogramme. The Thyssen-Bornemisza ArtGallery, with over 1,600 paintings, was oncethe second largest private collection in theworld after the British Royal Collection; theMuseum El Prado, the main Spanish NationalArt Museum features one of the world'sfinest collections of European art, from the12th century to the early 19th centuryunquestionably the best single collection ofSpanish art.

The students came back to England onTuesday 15th May having all enjoyed the tripvery much. Many returned to Spain in thesummer to visit their Spanish pen friendsagain.

The students have all said a very big thank youto Miss Brinster, Mrs Toogood and Mr Burnell for organising and taking thestudents to Spain, and El Colegio Peñalar forbeing involved in the exchange programme.

Spanish ExchangeSpanish Exchange

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GrandparentsDay

Late in June it was wonderful to onceagain welcome another large number of Grandparents for the afternoon. They clearly enjoyed being escortedaround all areas of the school by theirdelighted Grandchildren. The History ofCharlton House proved of interest. They also very much appreciated talkingto the children’s teachers and seeing theschool’s outstanding facilities.

Having listened to an excellent concert,the Grandparents delighted in a SummerCream Tea with their Grandchildren – thewet weather seemingly doing nothing todampen spirits.

SUMMER CONCERTMay18th 2012On Friday 18th May, the school theatre waspacked with many parents and friends for ourSummer Concert. From the assured soundsof The Downs School Band playingWatermelon Man by Herbie Hancock,through the Year 6, 7 and 8 girls whobeautifully demonstrated their street danceskills, to Harry Holder’s title roleperformance from Alan Ayckbourn’s Ernie’sIncredible Illucinations, the programme wasan excellent mix of choral, instrumental andspoken items. Combining music and drama,we heard Ethan Organ, Tate Oliphant andFlynn Oliphant demonstrate great stagepresence in three vocally challenging pieces.

The concert was a great success and theappreciation from the audience was clear intheir applause. The standard of performanceby everyone was high and clearly highlightedhow music and speech and drama isdeveloping at The Downs.

We were privileged to learn about the connections betweenTyntesfield and Charlton House one recent wet evening beforehalf term. Mr Malcolm Keppie, previously Assistant Headmasterat The Downs and now a volunteer Tyntesfield Guide, proved anextremely interesting and knowledgeable speaker.

Of the two historical buildings Charlton House can claim thegreatest heritage, it being mentioned in the Doomsday Bookand the original windows of 1509 still being in place outside theMusic Room. The Gibbs family perhaps provide the mostpertinent link, Anthony Hubert Gibbs – note his initials on theVictorian chimney – having ten children at Charlton Housebefore moving on to become the second Lord Wraxall atTyntesfield.

This was another excellent ‘Network’ evening concluded bySheila’s fabulous pie, peas and chips. We have a variety ofinteresting speakers lined up for 2013. The themes include SubAqua Diving, Customer Care and Chocolate. It is to be hopedyou can join us.

Marcus Gunn

The Downs SchoolNetwork

Miss Abigail Baldwin joined the school at the beginning of the Autumn Term as a Year OneTeacher. She is covering for Mrs McManus Jones who began her maternity leave late September.

Educated at Richard Huish College,Abigail went on to studyat the University of Wales Institute (UWIC) in Cardiff whereshe was awarded a degree in Sport and Physical Education.She then worked in customer care before moving intoeducation as a Teaching Assistant in an Academy. Having verymuch enjoyed the experience Abigail returned to UWIC totrain in Primary Education. Abigail has experience teachingand coaching children in all the year groups of the Pre-Prep.Keen on sport, Abigail has represented Somerset at Hockeyand Cross Country. She has also taken part in the NationalOne Day Event Championships and the Modern Tetrathlon.Aside from the sports field she has a keen interest inoutdoor pursuits and art.

She is a bubbly, enthusiastic lady who has quickly become anintegral part of the Pre-Prep team and an excellentclassroom practitione.

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GreenpowerGreenpowerCar

A selection of photos from this years Arts Week

On the 30th September, seven Downs School pupils, Mr Marsdenand Mr Hatton arrived at Castle Combe Race Circuit on a chillySunday morning. We were all a bit tired as we had to arrive at

Castle Combe for 7:30 am. After Mr Hatton had arrived with our car weset about testing the car and preparing it for scrutineering. Scrutineeringis when the officials check your car to see if it is safe and to prevent youfrom cheating during the race.After scrutineering all the teams gathered in the pit lane to be given abriefing of all of the day’s events.After that we were given an hour and ahalf of practice. Our team practiced battery changes, pit stops,communication and racing. We would start 35th out of 44 cars on thestarting grid.We then had lunch and prepared the car for the race whilstthe Formula 24+ race was going on. At 12:45 we wheeled our car onto the starting grid. At 1:00 exactly the

Formula 24 Race began. Charlie Crombleholme gave the car amomentous push while Jessie Turner was strapped in at the wheel. Threenerve racking laps went past before the car came into the pits. CharlieBates was the next driver.While he was racing we all got ready for ourfirst battery change of the race. When he came in our battery changewasn’t what you’d call slick thanks to the fiddly battery connectors butafter roughly 10 minutes our car was out on the circuit with CharlieCrombleholme at the wheel. After 3 hours of the same routine –sweating, shouting and fiddling – we found out we had finished 38th outof 44. It wasn’t a bad performance but we’d hoped for much better. Thank you to Mr Hatton for making this day possible and Mr Marsden forhelping us in our darkest hours. We hope our next Greenpower Car will bea success. Harry Vyvyan-Robinson

We are delighted to welcome 34 Reception children toThe Downs this term. We very much hope that they andtheir families enjoy their time here. I have no doubt thatthey will be made to feel most welcome. They certainlylook smart in the new boaters and caps.

A very warmwelcome to The Downs

6 Downs Matters Winter

On Wednesday 19th September Year 4 went to Weymouthon a residential trip.

Rory and Mel’s group and Mrs Payne’s group had zip wire and trapezewhile Mr Russell’s group had archery and climbing. The activities werereally fun. Some of us were a little nervous but we set ourselveschallenges and were all very proud of what we achieved.

After dinner the evening activity was called ‘Passport to the World’where we had to run around the site, using maps to find country flagsand then answer questions. It was really dark so we were pleasedthat we had packed our torches!

Thursday started bright and early, we did raft building, archery,abseiling, climbing and problem solving. The raft building took placein Portland, where some of the Olympic events had been held. It was

a fantastic activity and we all worked well in our groups. The waterwas freezing but we all had fun playing games on our rafts!

Our evening activity on Thursday was called Ambush. It was like agiant game of hide and seek, in teams, in the dark. It was a great gameand our yells and cheers could be heard all over the park.

Friday we quickly packed our bags and headed to breakfast beforegoing to activities. Our activities on the final day were abseiling,archery, climbing, zip wire and problem solving.

After lunch it was time to climb back on the coach and head back toschool. We were all very tired and pleased to spot our parents as wepulled up in front of school. We had all a fabulous time and would liketo thank Mr Russell, Mrs Payne, Mel and Rory for taking us.

Year 4 Trip to Weymouth

Year 5 Wilderness First Aid Course

An excellent group of Year 7 and 8 pupils enjoyed four days in Normandystudying the Norman Invasion of England (1066) and the Allied Forces (1944)invasion of Normandy. Having visited Pevensey Castle we wandered aroundthe battlefield of Hastings to finally arrive at Harold’s place of death.

On the other side of the Channel William I’s castle proved rather ‘Barratthomelike’ in its renovation but the magnificent Bayeux Tapestry made up forthis. The torrential rain assisted in empathising with the appauling conditionsthat the Allied Forces faced as they charged the beaches on June 6th 1944. The360 cinema at Arromanches reinforced this picture whilst meeting MadameGondree at Pegasus Bridge, the first person to be liberated by the invasionforces was once again a privilege.

The platoon gave an ‘A Star’ performance.

Battlefields Trip to Normandy

All were well rehearsed in DRAB(Danger, Response, Airways, Breathing),emergency calls were practiced and thenit was time for Saturday Night Fever –CPR to ‘Staying Alive’; fingers together,knuckles up and push hard! Then therewas bleeding, bandaging, bracing andburns!

The food was amazing – apparently rawtrout’s eyes are crunchy. Sleep was prettyminimal but we had a great time!

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Year 6 Wilderness & Cookery Skills

Year 7 Leadership Camp

Year 8 Geography Field TripYear 8 travelled to the Brecon Beacons where they studied the River Tawefollowing its course from the source up in the mountains to its end at Swansea. Thechildren were given a tour and guided ramble to the source by National Park Rangersand they also spent some time carrying out measurements and observations at variousstages of the river.

The year 7 camp took place on the school grounds,where pupils would have access to the beautifulsurroundings of the school, as well as the local Mendip hills.

The camp was designed to improve their leadershipskills as well as encouraging them to work as a team; itincluded orienteering on the Mendips, campfire skills,bridge building, catapult building and many other gamesthat would challenge their perseverance! Both teachersand pupils had a great time and huge thanks must go toMr Torbett and his team for all his hard work andorganisation.

G Hughes-Games

On reaching the campsite near Burford in the Cotswolds; wewere quickly put into groups and given instructions on how to lightcamp fires. This was going to be our only means of producing hot foodfor the two days we were staying. Lunch was to be trout cooked in foil.It was delicious, some even eating the eyes of the fish. Following lunchwe were shown how to skin and butcher a deer. This led to a superbmeal of venison with dauphinoise potato followed by chocolatebrownies cooked in scooped out orange skins.

The next morning started with using ‘the loo with a view’ (not to everybodies liking) followed by a wash in cold water (very good for wakingup). We soon found out that lunch was to be venison and rabbitcasserole. First skin, gut and butcher your rabbit into suitable smallportions. This task was ably carried out by nearly all pupils on thecourse.A great couple of days with Michelin star food being producedover camp fires. All involved should now be able to feed themselveshot food if ever lost in the wilderness.

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Weston Junior Arts Festival 2012Once again the musicians of the Downs School distinguishedthemselves at the Weston Junior Arts Festival amid hotter than usualcompetition from some exceptionally able pianists from otherschools. Thirty-three pianists and two folk guitarists worked hard tohone their fifty-one performances sufficiently to gain anunprecedented sixteen Distinction category marks, six winners’trophies (two apiece for Tate Oliphant and Ben Manson, and one eachfor Rosie Sewell and Ellie Kennedy), eleven second places andfourteen third places.It was good to see our pupils and their families supporting each otherand taking on board the valuable comments and user-friendly advicefrom the experienced adjudicator who sometimes faced a tough taskin selecting a winner from several excellent performances.

Teachers were kept busy supplying music, making a note of all themarks, professional tips and titles of attractive ‘new’ pieces’, meetingparents and greatly enjoying the opportunity of hearing their pupilsplay so capably in a well-organised annual open competition. Asusual Miss Gregory was also in action with her camera, capturing allthe happy moments now on display in the practice rooms where somuch hard work is done throughout the year to achieve the highstandard that was evident at the Festival.Congratulations to all of our pupils, and thanks to the FestivalOrganiser, Mr Tom Shearman and his great team of stewards.

Andrea Argent, Sue Gregory and Tania Hayward

Athletics HighlightsDespite the relentless wet weather this summer, our athletes haveachieved some amazing results.

King’ Taunton Athletics MatchIn our first competition, we were missing the majority of our Year Eightpupils who were in Spain leaving a select group of twenty athletes whotravelled to King’s, Taunton. They represented the Downs Schoolsuperbly showing good team spirit and a willingness to step up to thechallenge of competing in new events and for many, against olderopponents. First place medals were won by J. Thompson U12 80m, I.Wynn U12 150m and long jump, B. James U12 High Jump, P. MorganU10 Rounders ball, A. Grayson U10 Long jump,

Monkton Combe Athletics MatchNext, it was the turn of the junior athletes who took part in a limitedevents competition at Monkton Combe. The conditions were verychallenging, there was even a hail storm mid afternoon! Undeterred,our team achieved eight first place certificates, four in second place andtwelve in third place. The Year 6 boys team won their event and theYear 4 boys were 2nd overall. The whole team came third out of sevencompeting schools. First place was achieved by Nyah Wynn Year FourRounders ball throw, Cameron Davis Year Four High Jump, BethanJames Year Five 100m, Caitlin Wring Year Six Shot, Year Six girls relay,Year Six boys relay and Sam Chigbo Year Six High Jump and shot.

Severnside Schools Athletics Championships

Twenty six Downs School athletes took part in these Championshipsagainst Beaudsert Park, St John’s, Tockington and Wycliffe. The DownsSchool team came 1st or 2nd in 27 out of 47 events (15 1st places,10 second places and 11 third places. Three school records werebroken and one Severnside Meeting record was broken. The Under14 boys dominated their age group and won all of their events exceptthe 1500m which is an outstanding achievement! Our athletes in firstplace were ~ A. Light 100m (New Record), 200m and 400m, M. Cherry100m and long jump, B. Rogers 100m and 200m, B. James 100m and

200m, R. Sewell 100m, J. Buck shot, F. Cole discus, V. Baker long jump(New Record), E. Cooke javelin (New Record), I. Wynn 200m.

South West Athletics Championships at Millfield.22 of our best athletes competed against children from schoolsthroughout the South-West of England. This is a very toughcompetition for a school of our size and to finish in the top four is aconsiderable achievement ~ we achieved 14 top four places. The boysdominated the shot putt event with James Buck, Ethan Organ and SamChigbo all winning their events. Katie Swan (100m and 300m), AlfieLight (400m and Javelin), Matthew Cherry (200m) and Ethan Organ(800m) were all placed 2nd. I. Wynn came 3rd in 100m and E. Cooke(Javelin), R. Sewell (200m). I. Wynn (long jump) and C. Wring (shot)were 4th.

Six athletes qualified to represent the South West Prep Schools Teamat the National Athletics Championships in Birmingham. A. Light(400m and Javelin), K. Swan (100m and 300m), J. Buck (Shot Putt), M.Cherry (200m), E. Organ (800m and Shot Putt) and S. Chigbo (ShotPutt). All achieved top 10 in the country! I. Wynn narrowly missedselection, in a tough field of U12 girls 200m runners, Isabella achievedthe qualifying time but was placed third in the regional round.

11 NEW SCHOOL RECORDS WERE SET.Most notable V. Baker who equalled the Senior Boys Long Jumprecord at a staggering 5.15m which was established 24 years ago and E. Cooke who broke the Senior Girls Javelin record which was madein 1996. Other new records were: K. Swan U14 Girls 300m and 100m,A. Light U14 Boys 400m, E. Organ U13 Boys 800m, H. Ascherl U12Boys 300m, I. Wynn U12 Girls 300m, M. Texeira U12 Boys 600m, L.Swan U10 Boys 400m and the Senior Girls relay team 4x100m (R.Sewell, L. Price, I. Wynn, K. Swan).

Our athletes have produced an excellent performance all round ~ verywell done!Alfie Light has been an outstanding Athletics Captain ~ setting a goodexample and supporting his team well.