Autumn Newsletter Dec 2013 - Chislehurst School for Girls

Beaverwood
School for Girls
Autumn Term 2013
School Newsletter
In this issue
Dear All
May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year. This term has been
action packed as always and we enjoyed the extended Summer weather.
We say goodbye to two members of staff at the end of this term. I wish them both well and thank them
for their contribution to Beaverwood’s success in recent years. Mrs Moorfield steps down from Head of
RS to be a Main Scale teacher at Bromley High and Mrs Wilson-Hooper has gained a well-deserved
promotion, from Assistant Headteacher, to Deputy Headteacher at Darrick Wood School.
As parents are aware, we have an active drive to improve attendance, in order to continue to improve
achievement. Thank you for your support in this. I am pleased to say that we have maintained our
increased rate of 95.7% so far this term. We are still aiming for 96% and would ask that you do
everything possible to enable your daughter/son to be in school every day. Please note that I am not
authorising holidays in term-time and any taken, will automatically be referred to our Attendance
Support Advisor for a fine.
As you can see from the vast array of events reported in my Newsletter, we have been busy enriching
the lives of our young people and extending their educational opportunities.
We have also held several highly successful recruitment events this term.
Our Open Evening and Mornings for prospective Year 7 families were more popular than ever,
with nearly 2,000 visitors across all 3 showcases. Parents are positive about Beaverwood for their
girls and are supportive of our newly introduced aptitude test, with 200 takers in November.
Happy Birthday Beaverwood
On the 23rd October Beaverwood
School for Girls celebrated its’ 117th
birthday with a Birthday Assembly..
..read more on page 2.
Our Sixth form Opportunities Evening was also very well attended, by both our Year 11 girls and
external students. We are anticipating an increase in 16+ numbers for September, so get in your
applications quickly!
As you know, we are now formally part of Realise Academy Partnership
Trust (RAPT) and we are already working hard together, to improve
standards, not only for Beaverwood, but also for other local schools.
Key areas are: Literacy and Numeracy; procurement for value for
money and teaching and learning.
www.beaverwood.bromley.sch.uk
Remembrance Day
Visit to Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium
...read more on page 4.
020 8300 3156
NEWSLETTER BEAVERWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Issue # Autumn Term
Harvest Festival
Beaverwood School held their annual Harvest
Festival on Wednesday 9th October 2013.
The celebration took place in the Main Hall and
was planned and led by Post-16 students and
included traditional hymns and moving video
on poverty explaining its impact on adults and
children both overseas and in the UK.
Beaverwood pupils brought in a wide range of
food that were then given to the Hope Foundation,
which is the community outreach arm of the Bromley Christian Centre, and the
Demelza Hospice Care for Children in Eltham.
Exam Dates for 2014
Assistant Headteacher Mr Burchell was very pleased with the event:
"We are once again delighted to support our local community through
our Harvest Festival. The students deserve a lot of praise for the thought
and effort they have put into their donations.
Thank you to all of our families for their fabulous support."
Yr12 & Yr13 Mocks
Year 8 Exams
Year 11 Mocks
Year 9
Year 10
GCE/GCSE Yr11,12,13
Year 7
27 - 30 January
3 - 7 March
10 - 14 March
23 - 29 April
6 - 9 May
12 May - 25 June
2 June - 6 June
Happy 117th Birthday Beaverwood!
On the 23rd October Beaverwood School for Girls celebrated its’ 117th
birthday with a Birthday Assembly.. The school was established in 1896 by the
Chadbourne sisters to provide opportunities for children, especially girls, to
“receive a fuller education as a prelude to emancipation and a fuller life”.
Originally housed in Sidcup the school then known as the Chislehurst County
School, relocated to a purpose built school in Chislehurst in 1931.
Today students enjoy an award winning Post-16 centre; a new (2013)
Learning Resource Centre; a Dance Studio; modern Technology and Science
blocks; interactive whiteboards in every classroom; a full sized Sports Hall
plus a Gym and 15 acres of well maintained grounds.
The Year 7 Form Captains, who can be seen in the picture blowing out the
candles, look forward to being as successful as their previous students whose
results in the recently published 2012 School Performance tables led David
Laws (Minister of State for Education) to write:
“It gives me great pleasure to congratulate you on your excellent performance
in the new similar schools measure in the 2012 School Performance Tables.
Your school stood out in two ways. First, you were ranked number one in your
table. Second, over 10 per cent more of your pupils achieved five good GCSEs
including English and Maths than is typical of a school with your intake.
This is a fantastic achievement that you should be very proud of.”
NEWSLETTER BEAVERWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Issue # Autumn Term
Year 13 trip to Yorkshire
The Year 13 Geography students went to North Yorkshire for 4 days in
November as part of their A2 course.
They were staying at the Cranedale Centre and completed 4 days of
fieldwork. They went to Malton town centre, they spenta day in a river on the
North York Moors looking at the channel variations downstream and a day on
the beach at Bridlington South sands finding evidence for the succession of
the sand dune complex.
We have used this centre for the last 5 years and students always really
enjoy themselves. It allows them to use specialist equipment, work in a
different classroom environment and to visit the legendary Holderness
coast to see the extensive coastal erosion.
They also spent the weekend blogging about their experiences
check this out on the school website.
http://beaverwoodyorkshire2013.blogspot.co.uk
Year 7 visit to Scadbury
In October, Year 7 visited Scadbury Park as part of their Geography work on map skills and the local area. Students
walked round the park collecting data on a variety of things and practiced their map skills of grid references, symbols
and direction. Pupils were also examining the provision of existing services, the impact of visitors on the park, and
how both of these could be improved and managed. They have subsequently produced a piece of work on this,
of which the standard this year was very high!
Eco Warriors
The Eco Warrior project currently involves 18 Year 7 students
working with members of the 6th form to encourage staff and
students at Beaverwood to respect and enhance their
environment. The first initiative was recycling and it saw the
introduction of new recycling bins positioned around the
school site with the Eco Warriors actively promoting their use.
The Eco Warriors embraced their role and were extremely
enthusiastic about the task. The success of the project will be
built upon next term with new schemes planned to encourage
a greener Beaverwood. We thank you for all your support
and look forward to working closely as a team next term.
At the start of December, the Geography department
hosted the first annual quiz for Year 6 students. We had
6 teams from local primary schools attend and they were
very competitive! The rounds tested their knowledge on
location, capitals, general Geographical knowledge and
food chains.
All students received a certificate and badge for participating and the
winners received a prize for themselves and their school.
A number of Year 12 and 13 Geographers helped organise the quiz and
were fabulous at this. They created the rounds of questions, helped
with the organisation and delivery of the quiz.
Geography Quiz
We hope to make the quiz an annual staple of the
Geography calendar.
NEWSLETTER BEAVERWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Issue # Autumn Term
Lest we forget
Remembrance Day in Ypres Belgium
Beaverwood School teacher, Lisa Burke and Sixth form student Nicole Pascall,
considered themselves very fortunate to be able to represent their school on
the Memorial Garden Project and Last Post Ceremony held at the Menin Gate
in Ypres, Belgium on Monday 11th November. There were only 60 sixty
students selected from the UK, only a handful of which were London based.
This was a very prestigious event attended by many dignitaries including the
Prince Laurent of Belgium and the Duke of Edinburgh as part of the centenary
of the First World War 1914-1918. The project is an initiative of the Guards
Back at school Beaverwood staff and
Museum in London and supported by Flanders House in London, the Institute students raised over £300 selling our
of Education and the Government of Flanders. British and Belgian school
‘pimped poppies’
pupils were selected to attend the ceremony which saw ‘sacred soil’ from
seventy cemeteries in Flanders loaded onto gun carriages led by the King’s
Troop Royal Artillery to the next part of its journey via the Navy to memorial
gardens at symbolic locations worldwide. In London, the Memorial Garden
will be positioned at Wellington Barracks alongside the Guards Chapel which
is adjacent to Buckingham Palace.
The project has also provided an opportunity to twin British and Belgian
schools and our representatives also spent the weekend in Belgium with
teachers from our host school, OLVTD Campus in Heist. Lisa and Nicole were
very well looked after by their hosts who were very hospitable and
knowledgeable. They were shown many significant places related to the
First World War and learnt a great deal about the culture and history of
Belgium and Flanders. Lisa and Nicole felt honoured to represent our school
and were very proud to share the success of our poppy sale which raised a
The loading of the ‘sacred soil’ from
considerable sum of money for the Royal British Legion.
seventy cemeteries in Flanders loaded
They took poppies as gifts for our twin school in the spirit of friendship and
onto gun carriages
collaboration. It is hoped that Beaverwood School for Girls and OLVTD
Campus in Heist will be able to set up future projects to remember the soldiers
resting in Flanders Fields and to aid friendship and peace in the future.
Nicole and Mrs Burke also attended the arrival of the soil on Saturday 30th at Wellington Barracks.
This was a very special service seeing the sacred soil arrive from flanders to it's final resting place in London.
Literacy at Beaverwood
The Year 7 Literacy Lions have been actively involved in lessons this term. They are working towards different levels
of achievement: Bronze, Silver and Gold. We hope to see each of them achieve the highest levels and I look forward
to training the next group of leaders next half term.
Year 7 and 8 have been attending a club to improve their writing, reading, speaking and listening skills in M2 on
Thursday from 3pm-4pm. So far we have created some lovely pieces of original writing, defended a desire to ditch
pandas as the WWF's premier publicity campaign animal and are producing a wide range of persuasive material
in support of their favourite causes . Next half term will see us working on games, competitions, activities and
information for the Literacy page of our VLE. Watch this space!
NEWSLETTER BEAVERWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Issue # Autumn Term
A Level Chemistry
Trip to Kings College University
The AS and A2 Chemistry students attended the Annual Christmas lectures held
by the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Informatics at Kings College University.
They were given a range of talks which included "Why the sky is blue (and red)" ,
"Making a real life invisibility cloak", "How Chemistry makes Christmas Yummy"
and "How to create an Algorithm so as never to be late to school".
Faith Fetuga from year12 was particularly interested in this one and took copious
notes . The last lecture on "How to simulate a real Human using Artificial
Intelligence" involved Robotics, and one of the pictures shows Jessica
Starikova from Year 13 attempting key hole surgery using a robotic arm and a
PS3 controller. Fortunately the patient was only a dummy and did not mind
Jess completely shredding its large intestine.
Triple glory for
Beaverwood gymnast
Gymnast Ellis O’Reilly has underlined her potential
on the international stage by winning three
gold medals in a competetion in Russia!
The Year 11 Beaverwood student scored personal bests
across four disciplines when her club, Europa Gym Centre
competed at the Tolkachev Cup, at the Vladimir School
of Gymnastics which was celebrating it’s 50th year.
Ellis said: “ It was great to get more experience of international competition and to gain success out of it”
She is aiming not just for the domestic national championships next spring but also hoping to achieve a place on
the national team for the European Championships at her age-group. In that sense the trip to Russia has proved
an ideal preperation.
Ellis set personal bests in all four diciplines in the qualifying round on the first day, with scores of Vault 14.2, bars
12.25, beams 12.45 and floor 13.6. Then in the all round contest a day later she again set personal bests to take
overall gold.
Those results qualified her for the third day, which she also went on to win. Well done Ellis!
Year 9/10 Attendance Reward Trip - Ice Skating
Many lucky year 9 and 10’s with very good attendance had the opportunity to come on an afternoon of 'festive
fun' at Gillingham Ice Bowl. Girls with 96%+ attendance whizzed around the ice rink with grace and speed.
The school recognises the effort made by students and families to attend school every day and congratulate
them with a range of engaging incentives. Attendance is the biggest factor affecting GCSE outcomes and we are
pleased to say that the school's attendance target of 96% is reached by many pupils in years 9 and 10. Well done!
NEWSLETTER BEAVERWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Issue # Autumn Term
World Challenge Expedition to Namibia Summer 2013
3 years of planning, 2 years of fundraising, 1 year of fitness training and in July we packed
our kit into tiny rucksacks and nine students and two Beaverwood staff made our way to
Heathrow to start our adventure.
Our route wasn’t plain sailing, we hadn’t accounted for BA staff in Johannesburg making things
difficult, but we eventually arrived in Windhoek and pitched our tents at the Cardboard Box
Hostel for the first of 30 nights.
First up, we had to learn to shop ‘Namibia style’ meaning most fresh meat and veg were off the
menu as the days were quite hot and we had no cold storage…roll on a month of dried sausage,
hotdogs and tuna!
Then the team had to negotiate their way to the top of the Waterberg Plateau, including a very
close encounter with a charging water buffalo after lunch. The views from the top were
breath-taking and we managed to see both a sunset and a sunrise.
Isabelle’s photo that was entered into the World Challenge
photo competition and won first prize
When we returned to the bottom of the plateau, we set up camp for two days recuperation, or at least that was what we hoped for; the
baboons had other plans and raided our camp and tents at every opportunity. Still, we managed some sunbathing and had an incredibly
succulent medium rare Oryx steak for dinner in the restaurant as a treat.
Next up was our safari in Etosha national park. It’s a very dry area so the best place to observe the animals was the watering holes and on
our first night we were lucky enough to see a white rhino showing off his paces very close to camp. On our final day in Etosha, we saw a
lioness take her chance and attempt to capture a Zebra. Luckily the Zebra had strong back legs and sent the lioness into a series of tumbles
that could have scored an 8.5 in a gymnastic routine.
Namibia is a large country and some of the journeys between one destination and the next were long and felt longer due to
the lack of roads. We were grateful for stopovers and one stop gave us the chance to visit a Himba tribe and learn about their
culture. It also gave the team an opportunity to visit a cheetah sanctuary, where they were able to stroke tame cheetahs as
well as watch the rangers feeding the coalition of cheetahs living nearby.
Onto our main trek, 5 days walking along the most desolate coastline any of us had seen. Throw in a storm that was the worst
they had experienced and the stench of decaying debris and you are starting to see how wonderful the experience was
shaping up to be. We were offered a more sheltered camping opportunity at Cape Cross, where we had the rare opportunity for a
hot shower and a flushing toilet. Our project phase was in Klein Aub Resources Centre; a school that has students of all ages boarding on
two separate sites. Most of the students in the secondary school have a difficult home life and they spent their time at Klein Aub learning
skills that they hoped would help them get employment when they left. We painted murals, got the little ones to help us, we replaced
broken glass, painted a tennis court, gave them sports equipment sourced from Bishop Sports by Caragh, and stationary items donated
by R&R Stationery brought along by Rebecca and Victoria. We shopped and bought them new toilets, watched them play football and
listened to their beautiful singing. It was an experience I am sure none of us will ever forget.
We had another opportunity to see the wildlife and the sights of the Namibian desert
when we made our next stop in Sesriem National Park. Springboks meandered freely
around the tents at night and oryx, zebra and giraffes were ever present on the
horizon. Day 26 held a particularly early start when the team rose early to make their
way to the top of Dune 45 in order to watch the sunrise. To say the walk was intense
would be an understatement but they were rewarded with some stunning photos,
none more so than one taken by Isabelle that was entered into the World Challenge
photo competition and won first prize. Isabelle’s entry is now on both the front
cover and the Dec 2014 photograph and will be seen by many teachers, leaders and
participants over the next 12 months. ........Continued on Page 07
Music Students visit The Gunners home stadium
The Music Technology A-Level students visited the Music Production Show at
the Emirates Stadium on November 29th. They were able to view the latest
equipment used in the recording industry as well as attend expert seminars.
The students were shown new techniques to use in their portfolio work, as well
as learning how to play a song on a bunch of apples!
NEWSLETTER BEAVERWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Issue # Autumn Term
World Challenge Expedition to Namibia Summer 2013
....continued
Our final stop off was in Swakopmund for some dune boarding which was hilarious, some shopping and a real bed for
TWO WHOLE NIGHTS. This in no way prepared us for our final adventure, the overnight train back to Windhoek. It was
supposed to take 10 hours, but it actually took almost 12. It had TV’s and videos – but a zombie film at 1am doesn’t
help you get to sleep! The seats were uncomfortable and the carriage was cold, in the rear of the carriage there must have
been 3 small children for every one seat (yet to our dismay, there was not one chicken on board with us.)
We spent our last night back where our adventure began, camping at the Cardboard Box and went for a goodbye feast at
Joe’s Beer House…where the Bushman Sosatie was the meal of choice for most of the group, a giant kebab of Ostrich,
Crocodile, Zebra, Kudu, Oryx meat and definitely a fitting way to complete our trip.
The World Challenge student team Megan & Caragh Hack, Rebecca & Victoria Coster, Aida Negel, Eloise Whittam,
Sophie Pinnell, Nicole Pascall and Isabelle Jones laughed & cried at situations and predicaments. They were shocked and
stood in awe at the many sights they saw. They grew as individuals and as a team. They can now cook, wash and
successfully get a team of visitors to, from and around a foreign country – watch out world, there’s no stopping them now!
We would also like to thank the Bromley Rotary Club, Rotary Club of Sidcup and the Rotary Club of Chislehurst for their
donations to the students, and to anyone else who helped to help make their trip possible. I would also like to thank Korkies
in Blackfen for their last minute embroidery work on our team shirts, they looked fab!
As school leaders we would like to thank their families and friends who supported them through their fundraising efforts.
We would also like to thank Beaverwood and our families for supporting us in our efforts to get the team there.
Hopefully this is just the first expedition – I am in process of arranging our next one and we hope that the success of this one
inspires others to sign up.
30 days, they went by in a flash, we will remember it all, it was a life changing experience and when we look back at it now,
3 months after our return, the tough parts have faded but the high points will remain forever.
Ms Carole Staples & Mrs Lisa Burke
Beaverwood Exchange with a French school
This autumn, 12 of our students, went on an exchange with the Collège Saint-Julien in the small town of Montoire sur le Loir.
In October our girls and their families received the French students who came to discover our way of life, and improve their English.
They were accompanied by their Headmaster, and two of their teachers. The visit, thanks to the students and their families enthusiasm,
was such a success that the French students wanted to extend their stay. A sad farewell ended this first exchange.
In November it was our turn to visit France. Our party flew to Tours where we were met at the airport with a very warm welcome by all
the pen-friends and their families. During the week the students experienced French life, including school and lessons, great walks to
neighbouring villages, a visit to a hands-on music museum and drawing workshops in the actual House of Leonardo da Vinci. They also
visited some of the Loire Palaces, such as Amboise. Many of the visits were conducted partly in French and our students were pleasantly
surprised to understand more each day.
Our partner school, organised a cordial family dinner to celebrate the friendships
and relationships developed throughout the two stays. Again, the end of the
visit was marked by an emotional ‘au revoir’.
The linguistic and social skills our students displayed, combined with a glimpse
of our two cultures, were a credit to their families and the
two schools. The governors not only supported the visits officially, but one of
the governors, Mrs Jennings, supported the pupils and the
school by taking an active part in all aspects of the visit to France.
It was a great success. The French and the English students enthusiastically
want to continue the experience, so work is already underway for future visits,
both through the school and privately.
NEWSLETTER BEAVERWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Issue # Autumn Term
Travel and Tourism
On Tuesday 12th November Year 10 Leisure and Tourism travelled up to the South Bank in London to complete their
data collection for their first piece of controlled assessment. We had a lovely walk along the South Bank of the river
from London Bridge station to the London Eye taking in the sites along the river as we strolled.
The girls were eagerly noting down all the purpose-built
attractions and gathering information about each; we saw
the Globe Theatre, Clink Prison, The Tate Modern, the BFI,
the Thames Clipper, London Eye, and London Dungeons
and finished up at the London Aquarium.
The London Aquarium was our main reason for the visit to discover what facilities they have to meet the needs of a
range of different customers. We all enjoyed seeing the Sharks, Stingrays, Turtle and other beautiful sea life.
The venue was fantastic for schools and we all enjoyed getting involved in the touch and feel stands and having a
hug with Captain Barnacle from the kids TV programme the Octonauts who was present for small kiddies!
The girls were an asset to Beaverwood and worked incredibly hard throughout the whole day (their feet were aching
by the end too) and back in school are fully focused on getting the best marks possible for their controlled
assessment. Good luck ladies!
Year 5 Literacy Project at Beaverwood
On Friday, 29th November, Year 5 pupils from Crofton Junior School successfully
participated in a Literacy Project,delivered by Mrs Evans in the new Learning and
Achievement Suite. The pupils enjoyed the sessions which Mrs Evans had prepared,
as well as their pizza and drink in the dining hall! They worked so well that by the end
they were using Level 7 thinking and literacy skills - brilliant! Thanks to Mrs Evans for
being so inspiring and to Mr Ward and Mr Gadding for transporting the pupils.
Further similar work is being planned for 2014.
Invigilators Wanted
During the Summer examinations, the School often requires Invigilators. You would need to be available from about 8am for morning examinations
and from about 1pm for afternoon examinations. The length of examinations varies but if you have to collect children from another school, it is unlikely
that you would be able to invigilate afternoon examinations. You would not be allowed to invigilate an examination being taken by a member of your
family or a close friend of your family. If you would like to be considered as an Invigilator, please contact the School either by email or telephone.
Email: office@beaverwood.co.uk
Telephone: 020 8300 3156
NEWSLETTER BEAVERWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Issue # Autumn Term
Year 9 History Trip
to the First World War Battlefields of Belgium, 8th November
Our annual Year 9 History trip to Ypres was a great success
again this year. The day started very early but all pupils were
on time and we made good time to catch the Shuttle and
the journey went as planned.
Our first stop was Poperinge where we visited the Death
cells. Our guide, Alan told us about the soldiers who were
executed at this spot by their own side; some suffering from shell shock,
and Katie Buckland read a poem called ‘the Deserter’ by Gilbert Frankau which was very moving.
It was a reminder that the victims of war do not always die on the battlefield.
One of the main purposes of the trip is to remember those who died fighting for their country. We visited two
commonwealth cemeteries and pupils laid their crosses at graves of their choice in memory of the soldiers who had
died. At Essex Farm pupils learnt about a fifteen year old boy who was one of a number of underage soldiers to sign
up and how the site was used as a dressing station for wounded soldiers. Anna Garland read the famous poem,
‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae which was very poignant. We also met a group of younger pupils from a Flemish
school and their teachers wanted us to explain to them why we wear poppies. We were pleased to be able to give
them some poppies in the spirit of friendship and understanding between countries and gave a donation to the
Poppy Fund on their behalf.
We then visited Tynecot which is the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world and holds a large number of
graves marked ‘known unto God’ because their remains were unidentified. Pupils were interested to look at all the
names and all the different countries that soldiers came from. Sophie Fairbrother made us all think deeply about the
horrors of war in the poem she read called ‘the Last Laugh’ by Wilfred Owen who had died at the very end of the war.
We also visited the German cemetery at Langermark where Rebecca gander laid one of our wreaths and we held a
minutes silence to show our respect for the lives lost by all of the young men who died in the First World War.
Elizabeth Lundy and Lauren Fuller made us all thoughtful when they read a poem called ‘To Germany’ by Charles
Hamilton Sorley who was killed in 1915. This poem was about a time when Germany and Britain would again be
friends.
One of our favourite sites to visit was Sanctuary Wood where there is a network of trenches preserved in their
original state from World War 1. The trenches were muddy and smelly and gave pupils some idea, even on a much
smaller scale, of what soldiers had to endure during the war.
Unfortunately the weather went against us at Vancouver Corner and Lily Harrison and Alice Niouma had to read their
poem, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen, on the coach which they did with confidence.
In Ypres itself, we visited the Menin Gate which was very special for Emily Jenson and Elizabeth Irvine-Sessions
who both found the names of family members on the panels there. We also visited St. George’s Church which was in
darkness by that time of the day and where Lily Faulkner did a very good job of reading by torchlight, the poem
‘Perhaps’ by Vera Brittain, written for her fiancé who was killed in the war. Abbie Llewellyn also laid a wreath here and
we held a minutes silence in memory.
Belgium is also famous for its chocolate shops and of course we had to make a stop here so that pupils could sample
some or should I say a lot of the chocolate and sweets on offer! We hope that some of it managed to make its way
home for parents! We got back to school on time and were glad to see that parents were all there to pick up their
exhausted daughters. We would like to take this opportunity to thank parents for allowing their daughters to
accompany us on what we hope was a very rewarding trip which they will always remember. We hope that it makes
Remembrance Sunday all the more meaningful for them in the future. We would also like to thank the pupils
themselves who were so well behaved and wonderful company throughout the day. We are very proud of them.
Thank also go to staff for their help and support and to our guide Alan and coach drivers, Cliff and Steve who made
the day run so smoothly. Ms Chappells would also like to thank staff for organising and pupils for contributing to such
a thoughtful gift for her of a poppy decorated scarf and bag. A big thank you also goes to Katie Buckland who made
such a lovely speech on presenting the gift.
All money for poppies and crosses bought on the day went to the Royal British Legion Poppy Fund.
NEWSLETTER BEAVERWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Issue # Autumn Term
Choir Singing at the Glades
On Wednesday 4th December, 18 lovely young ladies went to The Glades
Shopping Centre in Bromley to sing Christmas Carols to raise money for a local
charity called the LATCH project. The LATCH project provides housing for people
aged 16-25 in Bromley by providing families who are willing to accept people
into their spare rooms and treat them as one of the family while they get back
on their feet.
The girls from year 7 and 8 had been practising for weeks, they had run this
choir almost completely independently only needing me to get song booklets
printed for them. They chose all the songs themselves and organised
themselves.
There were two soloists, Gabby Kriger and Keira Bhola who performed Silent
Night and All I Want for Christmas in front of the gathering crowd in the busy
shopping centre. We also enlisted the help of one of our year 13’s to take
professional photographs of our girls in action.
All girls showed huge enthusiasm and embodied the Beaverwood School spirit
of generosity.
Legal Secretarial students visit to Royal Courts of Justice
Mrs Jones took the Legal Secretarial students to the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday 2nd December. They looked
around the courts, then walked through Lincoln's Inn to see where Barristers and Solicitors had their chambers.
They then managed to get in to see some cases at the Old Bailey. They had the choice of seeing parts of the Lee Rigby
murder and the Rebekkah Brooks phone hacking scandal amongst other things. They then managed to fit in a quick
walk around Somerset House - hence the photo of the Christmas tree - and managed a ‘luxurious’ lunch at
McDonalds.
This quite long day was all topped off with a train journey through
Dartford at the end as the there had been a fire
at Bexley train station and all the trains had stopped working! In the
end we all had to be rescued by Mrs Jones's husband in the car who
undertook a shuttle service for us all back to Sidcup and on to home!
Nonetheless, a good day was had by all.
End of Term Arrangements
Thursday 19th December:
•
Years 9-13 will have normal lessons periods 1-4 and then will be dismissed at 12.30pm
•
Years 7 and 8 will see the Christmas show at 12.30 pm and will be dismissed between 1.15 and 1.25 pm.
Friday 20th December – final day of term:
•
Years 12 and 13 will be dismissed from 11.20
•
Years 7 to 11 will be dismissed between 12.15 and 12.30 pm
The new term will begin on Monday 6th January at the usual time of 8.30 am.
WISHING EVERYONE A
MERRY
CHRISTMAS
FROM ALL OF US AT
BEAVERWOOD SCHOOL FOR GIRLS