THIS WEEK AT FRENSHAM
Friday 28th January, 2022
A MESSAGE FROM RICK
Dear parents
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You will be aware that last week saw the school going through our educational quality and compliance inspection. With our last one done in 2015, we were overdue for this, and we were pleased finally to be able to show off our wonderful school. I am afraid I cannot share the preliminary findings with you until the final report is published in a few weeks’ time, but I can say that overall, we were very pleased with the outcome. When the final report is ready, we will share it with the whole community.
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A quick reminder about term dates. We sent the term dates out to all parents last term, and we will resend them again so that you have these to hand (they are, of course, also available on our website - www.frensham.org/term-dates - but I wanted to remind you that Monday 21 February is a staff INSET day, so lessons after half term only start on Tuesday 22 February.
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Readers of The Times newspaper may be aware that the newspaper set up an Education Commission over a year ago to investigate the state of education in the UK following the impact of the COVID pandemic and the disruption it caused to both examinations and normal school routines. Drawing together a diverse and high-powered group of thinkers, they are due to produce their final report on the state of education shortly, but The Times has started reporting on some of their findings (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/#section-educationCommission). I am afraid it is behind a paywall, so it is only available to subscribers, but I was struck by an article published yesterday that looked at schools that are creating classrooms of the future. It made for interesting reading, but I was bitterly disappointed that no mention was made of the amazing work being done by the many progressive schools in the UK, of which Frensham Heights is one of the foremost. Many of the initiatives they mentioned schools are now implementing have been features of progressive schools like Frensham since their inception, and it is a shame the experts The Times enlisted for their commission have overlooked the work of these schools.
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Of course, I don’t need to tell you all this – as parents of the school, you already knew that you were choosing a forward-thinking school for your children!
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Have a wonderful weekend.
Best wishes
Rick
A MESSAGE FROM KATHERINE
Dear parents,
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This week I wanted to think about what brings us joy. The small things in life sometimes bring us real laughter and joy. I shared in Late Stay with some of the children the ‘Stick song’ from Hey Duggee which I had been watching last weekend with my godson. If you haven’t watched, the best way to describe it is like being a nightclub in the early 2000s without a drink in hand! Not really my type of music but uplifting and makes you want to bounce up and down while smiling. If you need a little pick me up to brighten your mood, I would recommend it but it will get stuck in your head! CBeebies Songs | Hey Duggee | Stick Song
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Nick and I have shared with parents the Junior School Learning Charters and Attitudes to Learning process which are hot off the press this term. These are now being implemented across all the year groups and staff and children are using them to make sure as a community we are all held accountable to the values we hold dear. The children have the opportunity to also question the staff if they feel they are not abiding by the learning charter themselves. In the Junior School we are ultimately looking for mutual respect across the board to every member of our community.
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Have a lovely weekend,
Katherine (sticky sticky stick stick!)
SCHOOL MESSAGES
Science Fair 2022 - March 28th-30th 2022
Open to students in Years 7, 8 and 9
A science fair is an opportunity to investigate a science topic or question of your own choosing and then to present your findings for everyone to see. It is a physical presentation and is set up in room or hall along with everyone else’s. Judges give prizes for the best presentations.
Find out more and sign up below.
Rowledge Community Choir
Rowledge Community Choir is urgently looking for basses We meet on Tuesdays during term time at 7.30pm in the Music Recital Room.
Junior School Parent Reps Needed
Parent Voice (formerly the Parents Committee) are seeking two new reps to join their volunteer team to cover Year 1 and Year 3.
Becoming a rep is a positive way to get involved at Frensham.
Parent Voice is made up of volunteers whose role is to provide a point of contact for feedback, to represent wider parent views fairly and without bias, provide support on general issues and develop opportunities to collaborate with parents and staff to support the joint interests of the school community.
For more information and to put yourself forward, please contact:
Chair Vicki Nixon vicki@nixonconsultancy.com,
Vice Chair Emma Tweed emmatweedradford@icloud.com or Secretary Isobel Hanmer thehanmers@gmail.com
World Book Day
World Book Day is fast approaching us! On Thursday 3rd March, we invite the Senior School community to dust off their Regency dress and enter into the spirit of the day. Our morning talk is from Dr Kim Simpson, who has been the Postdoctoral Fellow at Chawton House since 2016, a post shared between the library and the English Department at the University of Southampton. She will be embracing all things Jane Austen and the social etiquette of the time, but the Regency period is much more than just Mr Darcy! It was the time of the Napoleonic wars, the writing of Shelley’s Frankenstein, the founding of the Astronomical Society, the work of Elizabeth Fry, the founding of Singapore by Raffles… the list goes on!
‘So if Bridgerton, bonnets, breeches or bows are your style
Take a turn round the room in your Regency attire!’
We look forward to seeing you all embracing the spirit!
SCHOOL EVENTS
CHRISTMAS MUSIC & DANCE CONCERT RECORDING​
For those of you who couldn't come to the Music and Dance Concert last term due to covid restrictions, please click below to watch the recording. Thank you again to all the families who gave up their tickets to make sure that each performer could have someone in the live audience.
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM​
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Performances next week:
Thursday 3 February 7pm
Friday 4 February 7pm
Saturday 5 February 4pm
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​You’ll have the choice of being seated at a table for a picnic as part of the woodland scenario, or in the gallery seating upstairs where you can observe the events of this very unusual night!
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A NIGHT AT THE WEST END​
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A wonderful array of musical theatre numbers that have been directed and choreographed by Frensham Sixth Formers for a committed group of Year 7-12 to perform for you.
Tues 22nd March at 7pm
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Tickets will be available soon
THIS WEEK AT FRENSHAM
YEAR 4 TOPIC & DT
As part of our WW2 topic in Year 4 we have been looking at Anderson shelters in DT. The children spent a week learning about and designing Anderson Shelters, planning what materials they would need. Then this week the children worked in pairs or on their own to build their Anderson shelters. Next week Group 2 will build theirs. The children did a fantastic job and concentrated really well.