Summer Letter
July 2009
This has been a year of remarkable achievements. Forty eight girls passed their Common Entrance examinations in January to the schools of their choice and forty four boys similarly in the summer. Fourteen tutors were nominated for the awards of the National Teaching Council bringing great prestige to the school and well deserved recognition of our superb team of tutors. In March we held another splendid Drama Festival involving nearly 200 pupils and the culmination of the Summer Quarter was the magnificent display at Field Day involving the entire school community of nearly one thousand people masterminded by our Director of Sport, Adrian van Zyl.
In May the Art Department put on a stunning exhibition in both Cadogan Gardens and the Art Gallery in Pont Street with over three hundred children exhibiting. In addition there have been successes outside school in National competitions and exhibitions. Olivia Berry came second in the Transport for London Cycling Poster competition from over five hundred schools. Her design was made into a poster, framed and presented at the National awards ceremony. Katya and Christian Bingle-Williams among several of our artists had work printed in the Kensington & Chelsea Road Safety and Green Travel calendar. Girls from the Friday Art Club had their work displayed in exhibitions at Haileybury and the Natural History Museum and seventy one children had work displayed at the Royal College of Art as part of the Cancer Research Young Art Exhibition and six pupils had work displayed at the Natural History Museum in the David Shepherd competition.
Our choirs have flourished all year taking part in Choral Festivals at Stowe and Roedean and the Choral Scholars have sung in St Imier and Neuchâtel and have just returned from a concert tour in Belgium.
We have had a year of successful courses in Glion. The three Geography courses held in the autumn produced a series of projects for the boys' Common Entrance Examinations which were highly praised by the Public Schools that received them both for their content and the clear enthusiasm for the subject which the pupils demonstrated. In the period after Christmas we were able to benefit this year from the best snow conditions for several years and many pupils obtained the top level in the Swiss ski proficiency medals. In the summer Quarter three groups of Transitus girls have enjoyed swimming, mountain walking and cooking in the forest. The only downside has been the 31% fall in the value of the pound which has led to greatly increased costs for these courses.
The threat of Swine flu in the autumn and the possible mandatory closing of schools must be of concern to both parents (for whom the inconvenience will be considerable) and the school. We will follow the directions of the local health authority in this matter and will take whatever precautions are necessary to stop the spread of this illness in the school community.
May I take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful summer holiday,
Richard Townend
