The hrist’s Chronicles 28 th O c tob er Half T erm br eak —school closed 4t h Nove mbe r Bac k to s c hoo l for 2nd ha lf of Autumn T erm 4th Novemb er Year 7 T r ip to High Ashur st (2.5 da ys / 1s t group ) 5th November Yea r 8 gir ls / Second HPV vac c ina ti on 6t h Nove mbe r Yea r 7 T r ip to High Ashurst (2.5 da ys / 2nd group ) 8th Novemb er PTA Fireworks Dis play - 6.3 0pm/ s c hool field 11 th Novemb er PTA Me eting - 7pm/ Mus ic r oo m 12 th Nove mber O range T r ee T hea tr e T r ip/ Yea r 7 13 th Nove mber Ashmolean Mus eum T rip/ Yea r 11 Art/ Design B T ec 14 th Nove mber Yea r 8 T r ip to Hampton C ourt 14 th November Autumn Mus ic Conc ert 7pm 19 th Nove mbe r O range T r ee T hea tr e/ Yea r 7 in sc hoo l 20 th November Ac ademic Review Day 26 th Novemb er PS HE Day 27 th Nove mber Awa r ds Evening–7pm to 10.30pm 28 th Novemb er Winter S ports Da y (KS 3) All day 29 th Nove mber B orough C r oss C ountry event 2nd December Dress Rehearsal for ‘A Christmas Carol’ 2 nd Dec emb er Year 11 Mo c k exam wee k 3rd Decemb er School Book Fair 2pm to 8pm 4th December Dress Rehearsal for ‘A Christmas Carol’ 5th Dec embe r A C hr istmas Carol production 7pm 6th Dec embe r A C hr istmas Carol prod uction 7 pm 9 th Dec embe r Yea r 11 Moc k exam wee k 2 12 th December Carol Service 7 pm 13 th Dec emb er Spa nis h Ex c ha nge T ri p (Yr9 ) until 19 th Dec . 18 th Dec emb er Student C hr is tmas lunch 1pm 20 th Dec emb er Last day of Autumn T erm school c loses a t 12.3 0pm F uture event s f or your diar yS pecial point s of interest: Reviews Coming Events Sports News Messages Requests Advertising Inside this issue: Helen Dix on 2 D of E 3 Ma tt hew J udge 3 HumSoc 4 T hames Yong 4 PTA 5 Book Fair 6 Modern For eign 7 Ope r ation Xmas 8 S ports 9/ 12 Ruth’s Message13 Advertising 15 October 2 13 Issue 88 Welcome to the latest issue of Christ’s School’s newsletterPlease check the school sports board for up to date weekly fixtures You ca n al so c hec k the sc hool events c alenda r, which is upd a ted r eg ular ly for mor e diar y da tes on o ur website at www.christs.richmond.sch.uk
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We celebrate the appointment of Helen Dixon as our
Headteacher - Press Release, 30th September 2013
It is with great pleasure that the Governing Body of Christ’s School
announces that Helen Dixon has been appointed as the Headteacherof Christ’s School with immediate effect.
Mrs Dixon joined Christ's in 2006 as a Deputy Head Teacher with
responsibility for Teaching & Learning and subsequently appointed
Acting Head Teacher from April 2013 upon the departure of Mr
Richard Burke at the end of the Spring Term. After a thorough interview process involving
external candidates the Governing Body decided to appoint Mrs Dixon as the new
Headteacher. Mrs Dixon has excelled in all that she has done whilst she has been at Christ's
School, particularly in her role as Ac ting Headteacher.
Mrs Dixon will continue to establish Christ’s School as a leading school in the borough and withthe introduction of the new Sixth Form in 2014, will continue to establish her vision for the school
through Christian values and a strong ethos for hard work and a commitment that every child
deserves the best.
Martin Brecknell, Chair of the Governing Body said;
"The Governing Body feels that Christ's School has a truly professional 1st Class Headteacher in
the appointment of Helen Dixon who we are confident shall continue to develop the school
from strength to strength"
Helen Dixon was quoted as saying;
‘I am delighted to be appointed as Headteacher of Christ’s School. We are entering an exciting
period of growth - the expansion to 5 form entry in 2013 and with our new Sixth Form, opening in
2014 I relish the opportunity to establish Christ’s School as the school of choice for Richmond
Borough students. I believe that every individua l is unique and prec ious and will ensure that
every member of our school community is given the opportunity to develop spiritually and
emotionally, as well as being challenged academically’
Christ’s Young Journalists
This year, four students in year 10 completed the challenge of writing an article every month article for the Local Guardian. Theexperience has given them an insight into what it is like to findstories, an opportunity to develop their journalistic writing styles, an incentive to meet regulardeadlines and the opportunity to have their work published. Sophie Rayzan, Rachal J arvis,
J uma Akhter and Dorsa Nasrollahi were all successful in meeting every deadline and they havereceived a letter of recognition from the Local Guardian.
6 aspiring journalists in years 10 and 11 have dec ided to take on the challenge this year.
Thought I'd let you know how the A Levels have gone: I've
attained two A*s and two As, and my place at Cambridge
University has been confirmed.
The A*s are in Physics and Mathematics, and the As’ are in
Chemistry and Further Mathematics.
Thank you for all the time and effort you invested in me.
Matthew J udge
Duke of Edinburgh Expeditions
This summer, 39 year 10 students took part in their practice and assessed expeditions for thebronze Duke of Edinburgh’s award. After some familiarisation with the countryside, maps and
compasses, the students set off on their walks, carrying all their equipment and food in theirrucksacks. The Surrey Hills looked stunning in the summer sunshine and the weather was kind forboth trips. For many students this was their first experience of camping and navigating using anordnance survey map. All the groups made it to their final destinations and most agreed thatthe experience was ‘hard work but worth it’. It was good to see pupils taking on challengesthey might normally shy away from and succeeding, whilst learning a great deal aboutthemselves in the process.
The students are now completing their awards, fulfilling requirements to keep up a physicalactivity, a skill and volunteering over a period of three to six months.
The silver award is now being offered to year 11s who have completed their bronze award and
a number of students have decided to take up the challenge.Claire Lorenz
Following another successful year of our Humanities Society we are nowbusy planning again. We are searching for more volunteers. We are
looking for parents, or friends/contacts of parents, who work in sectorsrelated to the study of our Humanities subjects to come and speak. MrsHarris, Miss Dhaliwal and Mr Simpson will run the Wednesday lunchtimemeetings from 12.30 and around 25-40 enthusiastic pupils from all year groups are now regularlyattending.Christ's School is lucky to have a lot of parents working in journalism, environment, the law, film-making, politics, higher education, criminal justice system, charity and development sec tors, so itwould be great if you could consider sparing half an hour one Wednesday lunchtime to comeand take part in a Q&A with the students. All very informal, nothing to worry about!Please contact me if you think your job would be relevant and you are interested in taking part.
First and foremost a very warm welcome to our new year 7 families
and welcome back to everyone else. Please note that you are
automatically members of the PTA and the Parent’s Forum, and we
look forward to meeting you at our meetings and events.
PTA
The new academic year got off to a fantastic start with our 300 year
celebratory party. Thank you to everyone who came and enjoyed the
amazing live music from Christ’s students, delicious food and drink, a fabulous
auction and then danced the night away to disco c lassics. We have a lready
raised over £1,000 from the party and have the following events scheduled to
increase this amount, and just as importantly to have fun and create a sense
of community amongst
parents and teachers at
Christ’s.
Fireworks Display – Friday 8th November from 6.30pm in the School Field
This is a fun family evening of entertainment. In addition to a spectacular fireworks display there will be a
hog roast, hot dogs, burgers, cakes, soft drinks, mulled wine, beer and live music from Christ’s bands.
Friends of Christ’s parents and students are welcome too. Tickets are on sale from the school reception
(cash or cheques made payable to Christ’s School PTA). Please see prices below.
Quiz Evening in March in the School Hall
A chance to test your wits against other parents and teachers in a friendly, albeit competitiveenvironment.
May Fair on Richmond Green
This is a wonderful opportunity to show off the school to the local community. We have a marquee at thisprestigious event, and with the help of both students and parents treat visitors to the excitement of atombola and a silent auction, as well as selling plants, delicious cakes and lemonade.None of this could happen without the help of Christ’s parents, students and teachers. All help is very
much appreciated and we will be asking for volunteers and donations in the lead up to each event.Getting involved with the PTA is a great way to be a real part of your child’s education, have fun with
other parents and also to raise funds for the school. Speaking of funds, we will be discussing potential
projec ts to raise money for at the next PTA meeting which is on Monday 11th November at 7pm in themusic room. Please come along if you can or contact Jane Fitch at [email protected] if youwould like to help in any way, offer ideas and suggestions.
Ticket Bought in Advance Bought on the Gate
Adult £6 £7
Child £4 £5
Family (2 adults, 2 chil-dren)
£18 £20
Under 5’s Free Free
Christ’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and the
Parent’s Forum
Phot og ra p hy c om p lim ents of Vic ki Sha rp e
We have a good choice of new fiction now, all chosen for us bythe experts at the Kew Bookshop. Good news too is that staff from
Kew are running a Christmas book fair on December 3rd in schoolfrom 3pm - 5.30pm. The fair is for years 7-9 (and by the way coincides with year 8 parentsevening). Please put this date in your diary and come to buy presents and stocking fillers withadvice from Kew Bookshop staff on what will be a really good read.In addition; all year 7s are going to be treated to a visit from J oseph Delaney on December 6th.He is the author of the Spooks books: and here is a taster:Warning: Not to be Read a fter Dark'Someone has to stand against the dark. And you're the only one who can.'For years, the local Spook has been keeping the County safe from evil. Now his time is coming toan end, but who will take over?Many apprentices have tried . . . Some floundered, some fled, some failed to stay alive. J ust one
boy is left. Thomas Ward. He is the last hope.Follow Thomas’ story from its beginning in The Spook's Apprentice as he stands against MotherMalkin, the most dangerous witch in the county, to battles with Boggats as The Spook trains himfor more terrifying challenges to come.
Jack Petchey Award Ceremony
Award Winning Author Visits Christ’s
Award winning author Caroline Clough visited two classes at Christ’s on
Friday 18th October.
She spoke to students about how she became an author and gave thema good set of ideas to follow for their own story writing.
Caroline’s first book for children is the award winningRED FEVER, winner of The Kelpies Prize 2011, winner of a Highly Commended Award in theScottish Children’s Book Awards 2011, short listed for The Heart of Hawick
Children’s Book Award 2012, and short listed for The Grampian Children’s
Book Award.
Her second book is called BLAC K TIDE, and continues on the same themeof a world devastated by a virus and the race for survival is on.
Several students bought signed copies of red fever. One rushed back just a few days later toget Black Tide as well as he said it was a book he couldn’t put down.
So highly recommended! We have copies in the library and they are a lso on sale at the KewBookshop.
The Jack Petchey award ceremony will be held on MondayNovember 11th at Richmond Theatre. In the presence of localdignitaries, last year's winners will each be presented with a spec ialmedal. In addition, Philip Wilson, who was nominated by students, wonthe J ack Petchey Leaders' Award for last year in recognition of all theextra activities, concerts and productions he puts on. He will also bepresented with a medal at the ceremony.
On the 25th September a group of year 8students visited Roehampton University. Theyparticipated in a workshop where they enjoyedlearning languages through music.
They had a tester in J apanese and in only 30minutes our students were able to follow soundinstructions in J apanese.
I was delighted to host the PEdepartments first Sports Cap-
tains lunch. All of the captainswere voted by their the teammates, and have been a hugeasset to the department. Theyhave developed their leader-ship and captaincy skills andhave help organise theirteams. Thank you to all of thesports captains. There will benew opportunities to be sportscaptains when different clubs
The senior netball squad have had a fight on their hands this season with the reintroduction of the cup and place divisions. The squad still have quite a few games left to play and continue
to improve week on week. Maya and Daisy have been wonderful captains, who can bedepended on to organise teams and encourage their team mates. They will compete in theBorough tournament the first week after half term where their abilities will be put to the test,against all of the teams in the Borough. Good luck!
Year 7/8 Girls Football
On the 24th September, the Year 7/8 Girls Football team worked well as a newly formed team intheir first football match of the season against Grey Court. So early on in the season, the team
had only had two prac tices together and despite the score being 5-2 to Grey Court, the girlsworked well as a team by communicating and putting pressure on the Grey Court players. Welldone to Hannah for scoring in the second half and to Georgia for scoring in the first half and forwinning ‘Player of the Match’ for Christ’s. Well done to all the team for playing really well
together. Their next match was on the 8th October to RPA. The game was played at Christ's and it wasnice to see some parents supporting. Playing at home meant that everybody had their chanceof playing in the match. The standard of play was very well matched with both team workedhard to maintain possession. Unfortunately RPA were lucky with a late chance and put them inthe lead in the last few minutes Final score was 1-0 to RPA.
Their final match is after half term and is against St Richard Reynolds School. Given that Mr
Burke used to be the yr7/8 girls football coach, it will certainly be an exciting match! Year 7/8Girls Football Team: Rebecca, Daisy, Eleanor, J azz, Imari, Celine, Georgia, Hannah, Isabella,Francesca, Florence, Amelia, J emima, Amber and Sabrina.By Daisy Regan, yr 7/8 Football Captain
Year 7/8 Badminton Borough Tournament
Wednesday 16th October saw our junior boys and girls teams compete at the Borough Badmin-ton tournament. The newly formed club on a Wednesday after school is one of our most popu-lar rec reational clubs, which made theteam selection quite hard for Mr
Turner. The newly formed girls teamworked well against stiff competitionfrom Waldegrave, Grey Court andHampton Academy. They were unfor-tunate to lose some of their matchesby one or two points. The boys teamsshowed greater grit and determina-tion, and played exceptionally well.
They finished as the top state school inthe Borough, only narrowly losing thefinal to Hampton Boys. Thank you to Mr
On a cold rainy day, the year11 rugby league team put ona outstanding display at theRichmond schools rugbyleague tournament. After anarrow defeat to an experi-enced Greycourt team,Christ's went on to win theirnext two fixtures; ending updeserved runners up. All theplayers put their bodies on theline, in what was a extremelyphysica l competition. Christ'sschool player of the tourna-ment was Daniel Jac kson-French, who hounded theplayers at the breakdownand repeatedly made outstanding tackles at key moments.
Year 10 Rugby League
The relatively inexperienced year 10 boys put on a brave display against a selection of strongteams in the Richmond borough league tournament. Although they were unable to secureany victories, The boys demonstrated a 'never give in' attitude. Their determination was re-warded in the dying minutes of their final match, when a great team effort set Samet Erilmenup to score a try in the corner.
Year 9 Football
The boys kicked of the season with an away fixture to a strong Twickenham Academy team.During the early stages of the match, Christ's had the lions share of the possession which giftedthem several shots on target. After going behind 0-2, the boys held their nerve, kept the pres-sure on and came back into the game at 1-2. A Christ's penalty, in the final 5 minutes, offeredthe boys a life line. Unfortunately, a strong TA goal keeper produced a great save and endedthe boys hopes of coming away any with points.
In their second fixture, against Hampton academy, a strengthen Christ's team put their opposi-tion to the sword early. After going 2-0 up, the team were in control, showing off some greatindividual skills and impressive team work. A spec ial mention must go to Harry Whitaker and Ew-an Colbert, who shared a brace of goals each, with Christ's winning the match 4-0.
Year 7 Rugby Union
This year Christ's has launched a new initiative, with the RFU London Welsh, to introduce rugbyunion to the new intake of year 7 pupils. The response from the boys has been overwhelming,with numbers at training often tipping over 30! There are several incentives for the pupils, in-cluding a plan to take all them on a tour of Twickenham stadium, a visit to see London Welsh
professional team train and also meet the professional players themselves. The boys will playtheir first competitive fixture at St Richard Reynolds rugby tournament on the 24th October,with many more to follow.
The U16 Football squad have been once again excelling in the national Football cup. They have
moved through to the last 64 in the country (which in itself is a fantastic achievement whenconsidering the number of teams that enter). They have had a couple of fantastic wins inDagenham, winning with a last minute extra time goal and a fine 4-1 victory against Woodcoteschool from Croydon with goals from Tyler Murphy and Demetrius Hub. Their next match is justbefore half term again away in North London.
Gymnastic Club
A huge ‘well done’ to all of the students who have been attending gym club this term. We have great fun
learning new skills to achieve the British Amateur Gymnastics Assoc iation Awards. This allows the gymnaststo choose which discipline they want to work towards and there is plenty of choice from Floor and Fault,
Sports Acro, Rebound, Rhythmic, Floor and plenty more!Every week we practice our basic gymnastic movements and have great fun trying to build the biggesthuman pyramid! We welcome students from all year groups with little or lots of experience and everybodysupports each other. We currently have boys and girls who are working towards a forward roll and around off backflip so if you haven t̀ been a long already, come and have a go!
Mrs Bromly
KS2 Festival
We are very lucky to have strong links with all of the primary schools in our catchment area and wewelcome all of these schools to attend half termly festivals.Last week, we hosted a football tournament which was a wonderful event, seeing a lovely group of Year4 students take part with the aim to have 'lot of fun'. There were incredible moments of skill, but the most
important part was that everybody had great fun and went away wanting to continue getting involvedwith playing sport.We look forward to our next event in November.
Mrs Bromly
Year 7 Rugby
The year 7 rugby team embarked on theirfirst rugby union tournament (also their firstever fixture) a t the St Richard ReynoldsSchool tournament. Having had weeks of training under their belts, the boys wereeager to put themselves to the test and
on this occasion, they passed with flyingcolours. Christ's faced up againstGreycourt, Richmond park academy,Isleworth & Syon and the host St RichardReynolds. I am proud to say that they wonevery match, not allowing any team toscore a single point aga inst them.Considering that only a few pupils areinvolved in rugby outside of school andseveral of the boys have not playedcompetitive rugby before, this wasamazing achievement. The boys are now
keen to focus on matching theirperformance in their up and comingfixtures.
This term it has been lovely to welcome the new Year 7’s to our school. Half of them have spent
an RE lesson in the school Chapel. The candles they decorated during part of that time arenow displayed on the wall of the Chapel. We have had to postpone the remainder of the yeargroup having their time in the C hapel because the base of the bubble tube has beenaccidently broken and we need to keep the room locked until the tube is mended: Given thatthe it uses water and electricity we don’t want any student to find themselves suddenly uplifted
by an electric shock!
The Year 7’s are working on their challenges and we have high hopes that they will be as
creative as last year’s Year 7’s. The latter, as Year 8, now, are working on creative challenges
which, this year, will help someone else. A number of them are making heart-shaped cakesand c rafts to be photographed by a fund-raiser for Children in Need who is compiling a book
containing a photograph of a heart in some form or other for each day of the year, combinedwith words from various celebrities about what touches their hearts. Hellen, the photographer,began this projec t when her husband, Norman, was taken seriously ill. He had a triple heart by-pass and now has a defibrillator fitted into his chest. Hellen will come to the school on aparticular day after half term to photograph the students’ creations and, if they’re good
enough, they will go into the book.
We started a weekly Christian Union this term run by Erin Gilmour from Holy Trinity Church, andKevin Westbury from 6AQ and the Basement at the Vineyard Community Centre in Richmond.Rev David Gardiner continues to lead The Unstoppables – our faith discussion group meeting inthe chapel and sharing a picnic each week.
The gospel choir continues. We have funding until the end of this term but do not quite knowwhat will happen after Christmas. They will be performing in the Autumn Concert and the Carol
Students were asked to bring in at least one item forHarvest. Hamish and Simon helped me take the giftsto the SPEAR Hostel in Richmond.
After the half term break we will begin preparing forAdvent and Christmas. Each tutor group will receivetwo wooden cut outs of a star that interlocks to forma 3D star. In tutor time they will talk about who orwhat have been guiding lights in their own lives. Eachclass will then decorate their star in a way thatrepresents all the things they’ve said about guiding
lights. We will use the 21 stars in our Christmas CarolServices.
During Advent we are adapting a Mexican traditioncalled Posada in which the young people of thecommunity dress up as Mary and J oseph and go
from house to house in the village. They ask for aroom for the night and announce to the people that
J esus is soon to be born. A full scale nativity play isthen acted out on Christmas Eve at their church, andthe stable scene is completed with Mary and J oseph.We will be using the a lmost life-size figures of Mary and J oseph that were made a couple of years ago by Year 10, and these will be taken around the school spending a day or two in eachdepartment. The teachers in this department will be talking about the charac ters and doingsomething relating to them that reflects their department. For example, Ms Conteh in Food Techwill talk about what food Mary and J oseph would eat along the way, and make up someMiddle Eastern dishes with her classes that will be shared with the students. A camera will
accompany the figures and what happens with them will be filmed. The footage will either beplayed as the students arrive for their Carol Service or be used during it. But that is a little way off yet!
In the meantime I hope you have a relaxing half term break.
Dance in Libraries: new dance performances created in Richmond and Ham LibrariesDance in Libraries is run in partnership by Richmond Counc il Libraries and Arts Services, plac ingchoreographers as artists in residence in the borough libraries. Please join us for the forthcomingperformances: ‘45 Dances for the People of Ham’, w/c 21 October in Ham Library and ‘What We
Love’, November 2013 in Richmond Library.
Please see attached posters for full performance information or visitwww.richmond.gov.uk/dance_in_libraries
artsrichmond’s Young Writers’ Festival 2013 artsrichmond’s Young Writers’ Festival is open to all young people living (or at school) in the borough.
It is a chance to show off writing skills of any form: stories, descriptive writing, poems, playlets, lyrics –
whatever the imagination can devise! There are four age groups with prizes for each. From theseartsrichmond will appoint a Young Laureate (Prize £200) and J unior Laureate (Prize £100) who will beoffered opportunities throughout the year to write about borough events and build pricelessexperience for their CVs.
The deadline for entries is Friday 10 J anuary 2014, with prizes awarded at the Orange Tree Theatre,Richmond in March 2014 by the Mayor. We hope to be joined by the award-winning J acquelineWilson.
Further information: www.artsrichmond.org.uk
Half Term EventsFree half term events in libraries to celebrate Black History Month
· Bollywood dancing, henna and candle decorating for Diwali: 28 October, Whitton Library, 1.30pm.· Winston Nzinga, the musician and storyteller: 29 October, Richmond
Library, 11am and Ham Library, 2.15pm· Anansi stories, 30 October, Twickenham Library, 2pmBook your free places in person or by phoning the relevant library.
Sheen Lions
Sheen Lions are a well-respected local football club. The c lub is looking for
players aged between 11-16 years old to join our teams.Sheen Lions play every Sunday. Their home ground is Palewell Park, East
Sheen. If you enjoy football and would like to be part of a team please