Bede's Prep Newsletter - Easter 2015

Issue 2127 March 2015

MEADS COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER FOR BEDE’S PREP SPRING CONCERT 2015

Bede’s Preparatory SchoolDuke’s Drive, EastbourneEast Sussex BN20 7XL

T 01323 [email protected]

Bede’s Prep School’s Spring Concert brought together pupils from across Meads for an evening of celebration and fun at All Saints Church last Friday.The occasion was a resounding success, with teachers, chil-dren and parents variously communicating their love of music. A particularly entertaining opening number came care of Bede’s Prep School’s Head of Music Colin Hughes and Bede’s Senior School’s Deputy Director of Music Robert Scamardella. Their duet set the scene in style as they performed a witty number entitled “Too Many Hands” at two keyboards.

Next came an energetic performance of ‘La Bamba’ from a parade of Bede’s Prep School’s Year Five pupils, all of whom entered All Saints Church led by drums and Bede’s Prep School Music teacher Becky Anstey.Bede’s alumnus and National Opera performer Georgia-Mae Ellis then performed Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ in duet with Mrs Anstey, and this was followed by an elabourate percussive ensemble performance from the pupils of Years Three and Four.Expertise across a wide variety of musical instruments and genres was subsequently displayed during arrangements of everything from ‘The Barcarolle’ from the opera Lakmé, ‘El Tango’ and ‘Adiemus’ by Karl Jenkins.After the interval, the audience was treated to Roger Emer-son’s arrangement of ‘Best Day of My Life,’ which was per-formed by virtually every performer present, including singers from the Hailsham Choral Society and Concentus Chorale.‘Lacrimosa’ from Mozart’s Requiem and selected highlights from Les Miserables then rounded off the evening, delivered with the combined vocal force of Bede’s Prep and St John’s singers, with this final performance providing a fitting cre-scendo to the evening.



YEAR 2 GIFTED AND TALENTED DAY

As part of the Bede’s Prep School’s Cur-riculum Enhancement programme, a group of Year 2 children from Bede’s Pre-Prep were joined by Year 2 children from seven local primary schools at a recent Gifted and Talented Day. The children worked in three groups and took part in a variety of activities in Science, ICT, Music and the Creative Arts.

Completing titrations in Science seemed to be the highlight of the day for many, although other favourites included programming their own computer game, being part of a jembe drumming group and writing poems based on different senses and colours. One young visitor was heard to comment that the day ‘was just like being in Harry Potter; you get sorted into groups and then do excit-ing things all day!’

Sally CollinsDeputy Head of Staffing

THÉÂTRE SANS FRONTIÈRES PERFORMS FOR YEARS 3-6

Friday 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition - not so for the pupils of Bede’s Prep School!On the 13th March, Years 3 to 6 were treated to a spectacular theatrical production in the Sports Hall, although there were a few grisly surprises in store!Théâtre Sans Frontières performed two plays in French, both traditional tales from the French-speaking island of Mauritius, to a very attentive audience.In ‘L’Arbre aux Gâteaux Tizan’ a boy with a coin, two cakes and a magic tree encounter a hungry witch and a heroic cat. It got really scary at one point as they nearly cooked Tom from Year 5 in a gi-ant roasting oven!‘L’Homme au Banjo’ came next, with spooky tale taking place on the night of the full moon when a banjo player looking for a party gets more than he bargained for.Our Bede’s pupils loved the giant skel-eton even though it was very frighten-ing, and the play engaged the children and gave them the chance to join in with songs they had been learning in

their recent French lessons.It was a fantastic experience for pupils and staff who had the opportunity to attend. Thank you to Théâtre Sans Fron-tières for really going the extra mile!

Marie AllirotTeacher of French



EDITORIAL: THE JOY OF LEARNINGAs you might be aware, the United Na-tion’s International Day of Happiness took place on Friday 20th March.After many years of research, the UN reported that one of the most important factors in what makes people happy is their connections to other people, and for this reason the work we do as parents, teachers and pupils to make our School community a tight-knit, friendly and wel-coming place to spend time is amongst the most worthwhile things we do.The primary goal of any School however is to prepare young people for the future, and if the world’s newspapers and politicians are to be believed the key to doing this is to ensure success, almost single-mindedly, in secondary school qualifications. There is no doubt in my mind, of course, that a teenager who opens an envelope brimming over with stellar GCSE or A Level certificates will be happy, but the kind of happiness I am interested in fos-tering within Bede’s Prep School pupils is – dare I say it – a little more profound than that.Of course, peerless pastoral care and a focus on the value of community, friend-ship and respect for one another have always been fundamental to the suc-cess of our children at Bede’s, but I am uncomfortable with the idea of isolating those ideas and making them distinct from classroom learning. I believe that the best teachers find ways for children to understand their place in the world, make meaningful connections with it and become happy, productive people in every hour of their daily lives. My job as a Headmaster is to enable my teachers to do this, and the ongoing process of curriculum reform at Bede’s Prep is underpinned both by this idea and the defining principle of peerless academic rigour.Next term, the focus of our academic

departments turns to developments in the Senior Years, with a particular em-phasis being on the delivery of the Year 7 curriculum. My team and I remain resolute in con-tinuing to focus on both building into the children an enhanced capacity for and improved outcomes in Mathematics, English, Science and Languages whilst, from September 2015, we are looking to increasingly embrace the benefits of digital technology, ensuring that the children are ‘future-proofed’ as far as possible.While not losing the holistic approach to learning that the family of Bede’s Schools is famous for, Heads of Depart-ment are currently looking at how digital tasks, using devices including mobile phones, tablets and PCs, can be used to enhance a wider range of skills, such as collaboration, presentation and reflective learning. The idea is to group subject areas, by exploring a common theme such as ‘pat-tern’, ‘conflict’ or ‘community’, to provide cross-curricular learning opportunities every single day – learning opportunities that feel more like real life than what many mums and dads might remember from their days at school.

We believe that this new approach to the curriculum will prepare the children far better for Common Entrance and Schol-arship at 13+ and, more importantly, it will help them to feel more connected to their community – the one we call “Bede’s”, the surrounding areas of East-bourne and Sussex and the great wide world we all cohabit. Happiness is, of course, a very difficult thing to try and define, put into a bottle or serve up on a plate. Something that made us happy yesterday might leave us feeling underwhelmed next week, and an experience which was absolutely miser-able today might prove to be the source of intense joy in years to come.Whatever the case, I am certain that by providing the children at Bede’s Prep with the tools they need to express themselves, the platforms on which they might do so and the care and attention they deserve as they pursue their ambi-tions, our school community will con-tinue to foster happiness at every step.With that in mind, I hope you have a very happy Easter.

Giles EntwisleHeadmaster



YEAR 8 PUPILS TOUR THE GLOBE THEATRE

On Thursday 19th March, the members of Year 8, along with the staff and helpers of the English Department, travelled to the capital to visit Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and see the much acclaimed production of ‘The Woman in Black’ at the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden.This trip is one of the most popular trips that we do in the English Department and, as the day approached, the excitement grew amongst our Year 8 children. They had high expectations and were not disap-pointed. The visit to the Globe Theatre was most interesting and informative. We were able to have a full tour of this beautiful building and learnt much about Elizabethan stage-craft and the social history of popular entertainment.

After a quick lunch, and a little rest-time in order to gird our loins for the drama which was to follow, we then made our way across London to see Susan Hill’s famous ghost story ‘The Woman in Black’. Having secured wonderful seats in the stalls, very close to the stage and the actors, our Year 8s were kept enthralled – and at times terrified – by this wonderful production. The superb acting, clever use of staging and props, sound effects and lighting kept the children on the edge of their seats until the final curtain. Many thanks to Mrs Adams for organising such a successful trip – same time, same place next year!

Gail BrundleHead of English and Drama

YEAR 8 PUPILS COMPETE IN UK MATHS CHALLENGE

In the final week of term, a Bede’s Prep School’s UK Maths Challenge team, made up of Year 8 pupils, took part in the UKMT South East Regional finals at Robertsbridge Com-munity College.“In a strange twist of fate,” explained Bede’s Prep School’s Head of Maths Scott Fasciolo-Barnes, “we were one of only two schools who had students solely from Year 8!” The day consisted of several rounds of chal-lenging puzzles including Team Races and Challenges, Relay Races and Independent Challenges made up of some truly mind-bending maths.

The Bede’s Prep School team of Luke Muschi-alli, Tom Collins, Freddie Tuson and Daisy Bean did incredibly well against some very stiff competition, eventually finishing 8th out of 16 which, Mr Fasciolo Barnes emphasises, “was by some margin the highest place of those school with teams consisting of only Year 8 pupils.”All in all, a great and challenging day was en-joyed by all, with everyone in the Bede’s Prep Maths department extending sincere thanks to Robertsbridge Community College for being such welcoming hosts.



Year 5 recently visited Britain’s indus-trial heartlands as part of their studies into the Industrial Revolution.At our first stop in North Mill, Belper, we divided into groups and toured Strutt’s incredible feat of engineering, witness-ing the power of the River Derwent as it was channelled underneath the mill. After learning about and taking turns on the various spinning machines, we set off for an evening of climbing activities, dinner and rest.The next day saw us visiting Blist Hill Victorian village, learning about the practicalities of laundry day, making candles and visiting every shop and business in the village!

Costumed assistants told us about their wares and a trip to Lloyds bank saw us changing our money into old pounds, shillings and pence. Then we were off to the sweet shop to sample Victorian sweets!Next stop was Dudley Canal trust where we were seated on a canal boat and sailed into tunnels and limestone mines. This was an amazing experience which saw the children learning about what an important part the canals played in the industrial revolution. After another evening of fun toboggan-ing and a well-earned sleep, we set off for home via the Black Country Living Museum. Split into two groups, this final activity saw the children tasked with research-ing the lives of two Victorian children who had lived in the village. We enjoyed a session on Victorian school, learning our times-tables by rote and writing on slates!All in all, we had a brilliant and in-formative trip, with Year 5 being a joy to take away.

Sam BrownHead of History

YEAR 5 TRIP TO ENGLAND’S VICTORIAN NORTH

SPICES AND SARIS AT YEAR 4 INDIA DAY

To celebrate the near completion of Year 4’s topic for this half term, Year 4 all wore beautiful Indian outfits and brought in deli-cious Indian snacks in authentic tiffin tins to school towards the end of term. The children said hello in the morning using Hindi greetings, repeating the process during afternoon registration! There were, of course, a range of activities which took place across the day, with some of the children writing in Hindi while others produced posters to persuade people to visit beautiful Kerala in south-west India.In Maths, the children were using Hindi numbers to 100 to produce their own versions of a ‘Snakes and Ladders’ (Vaikuntapaali) board; as you may know, the game originated from India in the 16th Century as a means of teaching morality and spirituality.All of Year 4 enjoyed the mid-morning snacks that they themselves had made, and I have to say that everything smelled delicious!Thank you to all the Year 4 parents for sourc-ing Indian outfits and supporting the children with their cooking homework, especially over Mother’s Day weekend!

Annie FullerYear 4 Class Teacher



PRE-PREP PROJECT LOOKS THROUGH THE WINDOW

Last week, 4 children from Holywell trav-elled down to the Towner Art Gallery to deliver their piece for the Annual Schools Exhibition. All of the children from Reception to Year 2 have been involved from the planning right through to the installation of the project. The task was to look at the local area of the South Downs. We decided to use the school as the centre of our project – especially due to its wonderful surroundings at the foot of the Downs. The children looked to all 4 directions from Holywell and saw the Downs, the beach, the village and Helen Gardens; they then worked on creating these areas on a small scale.

On the other side of their artwork the children looked at what they did in the school. Photos of the children were collaged on the window while children created parts of the school in miniature form.

Sophie RileyYear 2 Class Teacher

HOLYWELL HERITAGE EXPLORED DURING TOWNER GALLERY PREPARATIONS

The pupils of Bede’s Prep School have been looking into the past and using local history to inform their prepara-tions for the annual Schools Exhibition at Eastbourne’s Towner Gallery. This year’s topic was linked to local places, with the Prep School’s entry being based on the Holywell fishing hamlet of 1816, which was called ‘Holly Well Furlong’ until 1896.Mrs Armitage, Bede’s Prep School’s Head of Art and Design, said of the project, “We looked into the research of Hollywell and discovered that there was a Fishing Hamlet down by the back of the school, on the lower cliff.” The pupils discovered through looking at old that the fishing hamlet existed

from 1816-1896, but the local water board bought the land in 1896 because of the fresh water emerging from the chalk.“We decided to use the 150-year old Ce-ramics studio as the basis for our piece, and have sought to represent it in local flint stone,” Mrs Armitage explains.The pupils subsequently learned about and explored the qualities of flint sur-faces, creating a scaled-down version of the Ceramics Studio and making 200 clay fish before smoke-firing them within the clay structure.“The piece we have made has no roof on, so the fish will spill out of the roof in the Towner display,” concluded Mrs Armitage.

HOLYWELL HERITAGE EXPLORED DURING TOWNER GALLERY PREPARATIONS



The Towner Schools Exhibition opened on Thursday 26th March and will continue until Sunday 31st May.



YEAR 6 PRODUCTION OF ‘DANDELION TIME’

As February drew to a close, the Bede’s Prep School theatre was transformed to a strange fantasy world – a place of mystical time-travellers, strange beings from Pluto, under-water royalty, threatening goblins, and circus performers – as Year 6 performed their adaptation of Patricia Wood’s ‘Dandelion Time.’Under the expert leadership of Mrs Burdekin, Year 6 were able to take captivated audiences on a twisting, turning journey to find Father Time and restart the motion of the world which, if left, would have kept us all sitting still, ‘like graven images’.

When Mrs Burdekin introduced me to the play, I will have to say that I was puzzled by how she would manage to stage such complicated scenes, but she assured me that the prob-lems would be solved by the sheer brilliance of acting. That, I am delighted to report, is just what happened. Every child in the year group had a speaking part, with the cast gradually gelling during the course of the rehearsals and, by performance week, all lines were learned, all movements on stage were sharpened and all nerves were abated. This truly was a production whose success hinged on team-work; everyone had a vital role. I am reluctant to pick out individuals; there were so many stars – the Three Children, Hickory Dickory Dock, Ariadne Time, Rekelen & The Phoenix, The Plutonians... so many; the whole cast should feel immensely proud of their achievements. Huge thanks to all who were involved in the show, including the army of helpers who assisted with costumes, props, light-ing and sound. We clearly have many talented thespians in Year 6 and I look forward to seeing them in performance on stage again in the very near future.

Gail BrundleHead of English and Drama

YEAR 6 PRODUCTION OF ‘DANDELION TIME’





FRIENDS SPRING BALL RAISES OVER £11,000 FOR CANCER CARE

The recent Friends of Bede’s Prep Spring Ball was a night packed full of glitz, glamour, fizz, jazz, auctions and prizes, with over 180 people turning out to celebrate Bede’s Prep School and raise funds for The Pevensey Haematology and Oncology Unit at Eastbourne District General Hospital at the Cavendish Hotel.The event, which takes place every other year, always raises a staggering amount of money for charity as the generous Bede’s parents and their guests dig deep into their pockets to buy raffle tickets and bid for auction prizes; this year was no exception, with £11,098 being donated.The Pevensey Haematology and Oncology Unit at Eastbourne District General Hos-pital currently consists of a 17 bedded inpatient area and an 11 chair/trolley day treatment area. “We were delighted that Hannah Wood and Christine McCormack from the Day

Unit could join us for the evening,” said Jacqui Howell, Chair of The Friends.The evening got under way with an impressive musical performance by Bede’s Senior School’s Jazz Band and singers who played a wonderful selec-tion of music. Their performance was all the more poignant as many of the young musicians had once been pupils at the Prep School. During the evening the Silent Auction took place, and amongst the generous prizes included racecourse tickets, yoga sessions, tennis coaching and many more delights. “Dinner guests were able to make a secret bid for any potential item they would like to win,” Mrs Howell explained, “and every prize received a generous offer – even the signed photograph of Simon Cowell!”Our humorous Head of Cricket Neil Lenham and quick-witted Prep School parent Nick Muston hosted the main

auction and this mighty double-act cajoled, enticed, bribed and blackmailed our dinner guests to raise their auction offers. Amongst the most hotly-contested prizes was the ‘Be the Headmaster for a Day’ Prize – an auction lot which was furi-ously battled out, mainly by the Year 3 parents!Once dinner had been served, prizes had been won and the cheque written, all that was left was to party the night away. Eastbourne District General Hospital staff Hannah Wood and Christine Mc-Cormack were thrilled when they were the handed donations at the end of the night, with Hannah Wood saying, “We can’t believe the generosity of the Bede’s parents.” “We weren’t expecting anything like this amount. These donations really will go a long way towards helping the Pevensey Unit.”



SPORTFOOTBALL TENNISBEDE’S PREP 1STS AND 2NDS DOMINATE ‘BREEZE CUP’ INDOOR COMPETITION

A very exciting evening of indoor football saw both the U13 A and B teams reach the finals of the Breeze Cup last week. Both teams were very dominant in their respective groups, finishing top by winning all 3 of the group stage games.The final was a ‘classic’. The B team (consisting of Jake, Aron, Themba, James and Tom F) were the ‘underdogs’ but were certainly not going to let the A team (Tom C, Ollie C, Scott, Ollie H, Archie and Nahje) have an easy match. Indeed, as the match wore on it was actu-ally the Bede’s Prep B team, with the run of play, that took the lead care of a super goal from Aron. The B team really had the A team rattled and should have scored a second. Unfor-tunately for them, Ollie C tapped home a leveller to make the scoreline 1-1. The game ebbed and flowed with both

teams creating some scoring chances, but Jake B in goal was playing heroically and made some incredible reflex saves. The score at full time remained at 1-1, even after a few extra minutes of play, which led to a dreaded penalty shoot out to determine who would be crowned champions. Ollie H took the first penalty and his shot went wide of the goal. Tom F stepped up for the B team with the knowledge that if he scored then the B team would win! Scott, in goal for the A team, managed to save Tom’s shot and the penalty shoot-out continued. Eventually, James missed his shot and the A team were the eventual winners of a wonderful tournament. Thank you to all the teams who took part, and well done Bede’s Prep School!

Fraser AllanHead of Football

BOYS AND GIRLS MINI-TENNIS TEAMS WIN SUSSEX SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Bede’s Senior School hosted the Indoor Sussex Schools Mini Tennis Championships on Friday 6th March, with over 100 eight and nine year olds from schools all over Sussex taking part. With long, long rallies, pure grit and deter-mination and some outstanding tenacity, the Bede’s boys won their event and brought the trophy home with a fantastic win over St Andrew’s in the final. The team of Charlie Holmes, Angus Maloney, Ethan Robertson and Reha Akinlosotu played great tennis!

In the girls’ event, Bede’s girls played an absolutely incredible final with a win against Our Lady of Sion School, which was so close it came down to point countback! The girls’ team of Angel Janes, Imogen Hutson, Lena Bennett and Ulyana Torchynyuk played a fine game and more than deserved their trophy.

Photographed are the Bede’s Prep 1st XI Footballers now playing for ISFA South at U13 Level: Tom Collins, Ian Trenaman, Nahje Smith and Archie Collett.



Tonbridge School played host to 24 Under 13s teams from all over the South-East in March, with Bede’s Prep’s 1sts returning to successfully defend their South East Regional title.Meanwhile, the U11 boys ‘Colts’ team were battling it out on a separate astroturf for a place in their own South East Regional Competition, competing in the Sussex County Cup.In the U13s Tournament, victories came in the form of a 2-0 win against South Lee School and a 6-0 victory against Aldwick-bury, a 3-1 quarter final victory over New Beacon and a 2-1 semi-final win against Parkside, clearing away for a final against Hazelgrove School. During the matches goals were scored by Scott Lenham, Ollie Carter, Tom Collins and Archie Collett.During the final, Bede’s and Hazelgrove could not be separated in normal time, with a final score line of 0-0 meaning the Regional title was be decided on ‘penalty shuffles.’

Henry Jones in goal saved 2 vital penalties to seal the 1sts a journey to Millfield School for the National Finals, during which they retained the South IAPS Regional trophy, coming third in their group and eventually being knocked out during the semi-finals.The Bede’s Colts meanwhile won all five of their matches, which included a 3-0 victory against Ocklynge, a 5-0 victory against Sea-ford College Prep School, a 2-0 semi-final victory against Ardingly Prep School and a 3-0 victory in the final against local rivals St Andrew’s Prep School, with the team scoring 15 goals and conceding none.This saw the U11s proceed to the South East Regional competitions in Woking on 10th March, during which the Colts battled hard against the likes of Magdalene College, Eagle House and Lingfield Notre Dame to make it through to the finals; unfortunately, the team came up just short, ending their run as the 2nd best U11 Hockey team in the South East.

SPORTHOCKEY NETBALLU11 AND U13 BOYS EARN REGIONAL HONOURS

1ST TEAM CLAIMS RUNNER UP PRIZE AT IAPS NATIONALS

Bede’s Prep School’s 1st VII played well in the IAPS National Netball Competition but were let down by a few too many unforced errors on the day.Despite hearty 7-4, 8-2 and 6-4 wins against Marlborough, Bedales and Great Walstead, and a 3-3 draw against Sevenoaks Prep School, competition from the likes of Brighton College Prep School, St Christopher’s and The Hawthorns proved too much.Heads of Games at Bede’s Prep Sharon Mux-worthy said of the girls’ performance, “The 1st VII had their opportunities in games we may well have won with a little more composure, but ultimately a few errors proved costly in our point ratio.”

Bede’s Director of Sport Andy Hibbert added, “Tournaments are always about momentum and our first game against Brighton College saw our confidence knocked a little.”Irrespective of the result, the girls had a great day in the Spring sunshine and the U12s are now hungry for their chance to win the compe-tition next year.

Bede's Prep Newsletter - Easter 2015

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