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"My English lessons in the Lower Sixth were one of the most important cultural influences on my life." |
David Lidington, MP. |
News and reminders - March 2008
Dear Parents,
STAFF TRAINING DAY
There will be a Staff Training Day on Monday, 2nd June, when the Senior School and the Prep. School will be closed to all boys, other than those taking public examinations.
STAFF NEWS
Our warmest congratulations go to Miss Deborah Rivlin and Mr Melvyn Bardou who will be getting married during the Easter holidays. Henceforth, Miss Rivlin will be known as Mrs Bardou.
The following staff joined this term:
Mr Phillip Bainbridge - Visiting Music Teacher, Trumpet, attended the Royal College of Music (ARCM and DIP RCM (PERF)) and currently teaches at St Albans, Westbrook Hay, Cunningham Infant School and the Royal College of Music Junior Department.
Mr Kyle Van Deventer - Gap Student in the P.E. and Sport Department
Ms Ann Lim - Temporary Finance Administrator
The following internal appointments were made this term:
Mrs Michele Blagg - Temporary CCF Administrator
Mrs Giselle de Silva - Temporary Secretary to the Deputy Heads
The following staff leave this term:
Mr Nigel Gibbon - Trumpet Teacher
Ms Alexa Hart - Temporary Finance Administrator
Angus Thomas who taught DT here from 1985 to 1995 sadly passed away recently. He will be known to many former and present staff, and old boys.
REPORTS
This term’s reports are written on boys in Year 11, L6 and U6 only; parent/teacher consultation evenings for all other groups have taken place during the course of the term.
Although end-of-term reports and Parents’ Evenings provide the formal vehicle for comment or discussion about progress at school, parents should always feel very welcome to make contact with the school if they are becoming concerned about any aspect of their son’s education.
ENHANCEMENT COURSES IN SCIENCE
Parents of boys in the present Lower Sixth may wish to be aware that the Science Department offer U6 courses in the three major science disciplines during General Studies time. The courses are designed to improve and develop the scientific understanding of Sixth Form scientists who have a firm grasp of the Advanced level course and who intend to study pure or applied science or engineering at university. The three semester courses will be of particular interest to boys who intend to apply.
for highly competitive further education courses and the first semester will aim to provide the sort of enrichment that will improve their ability to cope with demanding selection situations. Boys will receive further information on these courses in the summer term.
BLOCK LEAVE [Year 11, L6 and U6]
Year 11
Block Leave for Year 11 will begin at the end of school on Friday, 9th May.
GCSE results are due to be published this year on Thursday, 21st August.
Lower Sixth
Block Leave for L6 will begin at end of school on Friday 9th May.
Teaching will begin again on Monday 16th June. Special activities are being organised for the week June 9th to June 13th including a History day for all A-level historians, Prefects' Training (for the newly appointed Prefects), a day on personal presentation and interview skills and an Economics day. (See below).
AS level results are due to be published this year on Thursday, 14th August.
Upper Sixth
Block Leave for members of U6 will begin at 1.00pm on Wednesday, 14th May. Normal attendance at school is required up to and including that day. After 14th May members of U6 will not have to attend school other than for examinations, unless they are required to do so for a special reason.
A level results are due to be published this year on Thursday, 14th August.
May I remind boys and parents that books and other school property must be returned in full and by Friday, 20th June. Boys are personally responsible for ensuring that all school property is returned to the appropriate member of staff and is duly accounted for according to the arrangements that will be announced by school departments. A charge will be raised against books and property not so returned and against misused or damaged property. Carelessly damaged books will be charged proportionately.
L6 RETURN FROM BLOCK LEAVE
Normal teaching for all boys in the L6 will resume on Monday 16th June. We strongly advise boys to continue with all four of their AS subjects until the end of the term. Whilst many have already decided which course they will give up in U6, many boys are still not certain. All departments will be teaching significant A2 material in these final weeks of term, so a boy who drops out at this stage will be at a significant disadvantage and may not be able to resume his study of a subject should he change his mind once the AS results are published.
In the week beginning Monday 9th June, there are a number of activities planned which are summarised below. The special activities include:
Tuesday 10th June: Economics Day
This will involve a presentation and activities on careers and work experience by PricewaterhouseCoopers and a section about preparation for University by economics teachers.
Wednesday 11th June: History Day.
This will involve talks from two eminent historians, a Suez Crisis role-play exercise and former pupils will meet boys to discuss university admissions, including interviews, and life and study at university. The programme will run from 9.00 am until lunch-time, with an optional film treat in the afternoon. Attendance will be compulsory for all Lower Sixth History pupils.
Thursday 12th June: New Prefects’ Training Day
This day course is compulsory and will enable the newly appointed group of Prefects to develop their understanding of the role they have in the school and provide practical training to support them in this work.
Friday 13th June: RHA Interview/Social Skills Course
The General Studies department is hosting Rachel Holland Associates (RHA), a specialist company offering schools and universities courses in social skills, modern manners and personal awareness; they are running a one-day course, which will include a range of social skills such as making conversation, body language, personal presentation, mealtime manners and correspondence. The RHA courses are designed to give students not just the confidence for an interview but life skills that will enable them to project a positive image in a wide range of potentially stressful situations.
(This course is now fully booked.)
For those not involved in any of these activities, school will be open as usual and so any boy wishing to come in to study will be able to do so. Please ensure that you sign in on arrival at school and that you sign out when you leave. There will be a book in the Sixth Form Common Room for this. Please note that normal school rules regarding dress and behaviour apply.
EXAMINATION TIMETABLES: SUMMER 2008
Individual candidate timetables will be distributed as early in the summer term as can be managed.
ILLNESS DURING THE EXAMINATION SEASON
If your son becomes unwell in the few days leading up to the summer examinations or develops some handicap during the actual examinations, it is important to provide medical evidence within three working days. The Awarding Bodies will not consider special consideration for candidates unsupported by independent evidence or when notified late. In particular, they will not take any such troubles into account when considering post-result re-marks if they are first notified at that time.
MOBILE PHONES AND ELECTRONIC DEVICES
The Awarding Authorities do not permit exam candidates to have, in their possession, mobile phones or any electronic devices capable of storing information (e.g. iPODs, MP3 players, PDAs etc.). Candidates risk disqualification, even if the device is switched off and use is not being attempted.
Please encourage your son to lock away all electronic devices immediately on arrival on campus on examination days; further, he should not retrieve them at lunchtime but only at the end of the day.
It is unlikely that any such devices handed into an invigilator will be returned on the same day.
FRIDAY AFTERNOONS IN THE SUMMER TERM [U6 only]
The only U6 lessons time-tabled on Friday afternoons are for General Studies, and the U6 General Studies programme comes to a close at the end of the Spring term. This being so, boys in U6 may leave school, to work at home, after the close of Friday morning school during the Summer term, provided that they have no further school commitments of any type and that their parents approve their returning home at that time.
Naturally, U6 boys are more than welcome to remain at school to use the library and other facilities. There is no expectation by the school that they should return home on Friday afternoons.
Any parents who would prefer their sons to stay at school on Friday afternoons are asked to communicate their wishes in writing to Mr Parr, Head of Sixth Form. In the absence of such written communication in respect of any individual boy, it will be understood that parental permission has been granted for him to return home after the close of Friday morning school during the first half of next term.
CAR PARKING [U6 only]
The current parking arrangements will remain in force until 16th May. Thereafter members of U6 on Block Leave, who have an examination session, may park in the area designated near to the Astroturf pitches, provided they travel accompanied by another candidate for sessions where large numbers of examinees are involved. The School cannot guarantee students a parking place at this time, however.
As students have already repeatedly been advised, under no circumstances are they to park a car at the Girls' School.
Parking by members of L6 is not permitted.
U6 LEAVERS’ DINNER DANCE
This event will take place at the Watford Hilton Hotel on Thursday,26th June. Details to follow in the summer term.
COACH TRAVEL FOR BOYS (Year 11 and U6)
For members of Year 11 and U6 who have a coach ticket the charge for the Summer Term will be reduced by 30% but will be valid for any journeys made on the relevant coach throughout the term. The Fees Office will make the concession automatically.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Work experience is intended to act as an introduction to many of the important aspects of working life and to provide pupils with a better understanding of some of the more general skills they are likely to need in whatever career they eventually choose. It is considered to be a vital part of the Year 11 curriculum and we expect all boys to have completed a period of work experience prior to entry to our Sixth Form. This year’s programme will take place between the dates 16th June – 4th July 2008. It will therefore start immediately after GCSE examinations but will finish before the end of term. Co-ordination of the programme will be handled by our Work Experience Officer, Mrs Sharon Sacofsky.
Pupils are strongly encouraged to secure their own work experience placements and many are able to do so using family or business contacts. The School tries to assist those pupils who, despite their best efforts, have been unsuccessful in finding a placement in their preferred area of work. It is on behalf of these pupils that we appeal to parents to contact the School as soon as possible if they are able to procure any placements. The continuing success of the work experience scheme relies heavily upon the goodwill and support of such parents and friends of the School.
The school would also be grateful to hear from any parent who may be willing to offer a member of our Sixth Form a one or two-week placement during the summer holiday period. Offers of placements in the areas of law, finance and medicine would be especially welcome.
If you are able to offer a placement, or would like to obtain further details of the scheme, please contact Mrs Sacofsky on 020 8266 1716.
MEDICAL CENTRE
The Medical Centre is staffed by two fully qualified and experienced nurses, Sue Carey (RGN) and Gillian McGrath (RGN) who are employed primarily to deal with the unexpected onset of illness or injury, to dispense over the counter medications, to organise health checks by themselves and the doctors and to assist any boys who may have chronic conditions that have been notified to the school.
Dispensing Prescription Medication.
If your son requires any prescription medicine to be taken at school, please fill in the enclosed form and either you or your son should bring it to the Medical Centre along with the medication to be dispensed. It is your sons’ responsibility to attend the Medical Centre to be given the medication.
Collecting an Unwell Boy.
A reminder that if your son is unwell and wishes to go home, he must attend the Medical Centre, where either he or one of the nurses will phone you. The nurses will then inform your son’s form tutor, head of section and reception, thereby ensuring that the relevant personnel are aware that your son is no longer in school.
Diarrhoea and Vomiting.
Due to the contagious nature of the above we request that you wait at least 24 hours after the last episode of sickness or diarrhoea before returning your son to school.
ACCOMMODATION FOR STUDENTS
From time to time the School receives enquiries from parents who are re-locating abroad or who are in short-term domestic difficulties, wishing to know whether it can put them in touch with families who could offer accommodation to their son as a paying guest. While the School cannot act as a broker or intermediary in any ensuing discussions, it is prepared to keep a register of parents or others and to pass on contact details. The School’s only interest in any such arrangement is to be satisfied that each boy has an appropriate legal guardian in this country; a guardian need not necessarily be a member of the host family. If you wish to register an interest in acting as a host in this way, please write to me. In order to keep lists up-to-date, it would be appreciated if any interest already registered could be re-advised.
HOME ALONES
Parents must tell the School if they are away from home and give the contact details of the person responsible for their son in their absence.
PERSONAL EFFECTS INSURANCE
Parents are reminded of their responsibility to insure their sons’ personal property whilst at the school, on a school-sponsored activity or on the way to and from school. There is one exception where school trips are covered by travel insurance where the loss of some personal effects could be covered during that trip.
SCHOOL FEES PROTECTION SCHEME
Parents who subscribe to this scheme are reminded of their right to make claims for absences from the School due to illness, accident or contact with infection for a continuous period of at least five days (including weekends).
COACH TRAVEL / COACH PASSES
Please can parents check their sons coach travel arrangements with the information printed on the Coach Pass. Coach passes for those concerned are attached to the bill and posted to their addresses. Any discrepancies should be notified to the transport manager during the first week of the Summer Term by letter or email on Saltmarsh_s@habsboys.org.uk .
If your son is travelling by coach he must be in possession of a current coach pass, SUMMER 08. If you have not received one please inform the transport manager immediately. Provided we are notified within the first week of the Summer Term a replacement pass will be issued free of charge; after that date a fee will be made.
Boys travelling without a pass will be liable to a penalty of £7.50.
CAR PARKING FOR SCHOOL EVENTS
Parents attending school events in the evening, and at weekends, should enter the school by the Aldenham Road entrance opposite Dagger Lane and should park in the coach park as directed by the caretaking staff. The North Drive has a barrier which will allow cars to exit but not to enter the grounds.
Yours sincerely,Peter Hamilton
Headmaster