Ditcham Park Summer 2018 Newsletter

DITCHAM SUMMER
PARK SCHOOL 2018:

Edition 3

Front Page - Image Led
Headline - Academic Success

SUMMER
NEWSLETTER

2018

www.ditchampark.com

SUMMER EDITION 2018

Headmaster’s Welcome

Despite the poor weather last term much was achieved and celebrated as we can see in this Newsletter. One of
the highlights of the term was the considerable success enjoyed by our pupils in public speaking. Our team came
second in the Regional Final of the National Public Speaking Competition sponsored by the English Speaking
Union (ESU) and 13 of our pupils qualified for the Regional Final of the ‘Shakespeare by Heart’ competition which
was also sponsored by the ESU. For the second year running it was a Ditcham Park pupil who won this Regional
Final and went through to the National Finals which were held in London. Public speaking is an area of real
strength for the School. It is also pleasing to report that three of our pupils have won awards for Essay Writing in
a national competition sponsored by the Independent Schools Association. There were some notable team and
individual sporting achievements which are recorded in this Newsletter. Our Senior Rugby Teams fared very well
in their respective leagues. Two of our Senior Girls were selected to represent Hampshire in U16 Girls Hockey. Our
two basketball teams were unbeaten. Our cross country runners achieved District and County success. We now
have two GB sailors one of whom has just won the title of U16 European Champion in the Laser!
The focus for the Senior Leadership Team has been to make changes to the Timetable and Curriculum after
a review which took place in the Autumn Term. There were several reasons for these changes which will be
implemented in September. We wanted to make better use of the School day to provide more time across the
school for activities as well to provide more choice of GCSE subjects and more time for our pupils to study them.

The Key features of the New Timetable are:
The School Day will start 5 minutes earlier at 8.40am for Juniors and Seniors. There will be no
change to the end of the School Day for Juniors or Seniors. It will remain at 3.45pm.
The length of lessons in Juniors will change from 35 minutes to 30 minutes. The School Day in Juniors
will consist of 10 x 30 minute lessons plus one 45 minute lesson for activities. The daily 45 minute
activities lesson will be used for assemblies, choir, orchestra rehearsals and House activities as well
as a variety of clubs run by the Junior Teaching Team.
The length of lessons in Seniors will change from 35 minutes to 60 minutes. The School Day in
Seniors will consist of 5 x 60 minute lessons per day and one 45 minute lesson for Assemblies,
STEM, House Activities and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE).
Extend GCSE courses from two years to three years i.e. start GCSEs in Form 3 (Yr9).
Provide more choice of subjects to study for GCSE e.g. Computer Science and Physical Education
(full course).

W W W. D I T C H A M PA R K . C O M

STEM at Ditcham

Our guest STEM Speaker this term was Craig Fenton, Director of Operations for Google UK. He delivered a breakfast
lecture to interested parents on Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality and then spent the
rest of the morning delivering a similar presentation to all pupils in Juniors and Seniors. Our guest STEM Speaker in
the Summer Term will be Dr Sam Aaron, a Computer Scientist, who uses his technological skills to compose music.

Pupils in Juniors enjoyed a STEM week in March. The week started with a challenge – ‘if you were an engineer
what would you do?’ Juniors then had to design a solution to an everyday problem. Some of the most creative
ideas have been entered into the Primary Leaders Award 2018 competition. Each year group was also set a
challenge of creating one of the seven ‘Wonders of the World’ using different materials. Pupils in Form 1 visited
the Big Bang STEM Fair at the NEC in Birmingham.

Toby Harris, an engineer from the UK Space Agency, delivered an interesting and interactive assembly
to Juniors about the International Space Station and the important jobs engineers do in space
travel. On Wednesday 11th July we will be holding our first STEM Fair. This will be a whole
school event which will provide our pupils with the chance to handle rock from the moon
and discover exciting career opportunities in Science, Technology and Engineering
which will be explained and demonstrated by representatives from leading
companies such as TESLA, Google and British Airways.

New House System

The aim of our new House System is to provide
more opportunities for pupils to get involved in sport,
academic activities and the creative arts as well as
provide opportunities to ‘connect with the community.’

The Juniors and Seniors Inter House Quizzes which took
place in February were competitive affairs as was the Inter
House Cross Country event which took place in March.

SUMMER EDITION 2018

Juniors

Project Based Learning

There was a focus on project based learning this term
throughout Juniors. Reception’s topic was Dinosaurs,
Pre-Prep’s was Toys, and Prep’s was Exploring the
Arctic and Antarctic.
For Transition the focus was the Egyptians and for Lowers
it was the Romans and in Middles the children explored
the art, history and geography of the rainforest. After
the Entrance Exam in January Uppers studied Victorian
life in History and English with the added bonus of a
school trip to the National Gallery in London.
STEM week took place in the final week of the Spring
Term, which involved all Juniors coming off timetable
to focus on some scientific and engineering challenges.

W W W. D I T C H A M PA R K . C O M

World Book Day

Juniors embraced World Book Day on
Thursday 8th March by dressing up as their
favourite literary character. The famous
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield kindly
retweeted an image of our own Andrew
Foster who was dressed up as an astronaut.

The Young Musician
& Talent Show

The Junior Talent Show and Young Musician Competition
took place in the penultimate week of term.

Art

Uppers have produced some creative and
eye catching pieces of Art.

Seniors SUMMER EDITION 2018

Battle of the Bands

The Battle of the Bands took
place just before half term.

Seven Senior bands performed
on stage in front of their
peers and Mr Davis, a parent
with considerable experience
in the Music Business,
provided feedback on all the
performances and judged ‘Point
Blank’ as the winners for 2018.

School Report Challenge

Ten Form 2 pupils took part in the BBC News School
Report Challenge in March. Having carried out research
and investigation into aspects of School life the team
then produced a high quality News Report to camera
which has been entered for this National Competition.

Benedict Ellett, Stella Hopkins and Ella Gordon
represented the School in the South and Central
Counties round of the ESU Public Speaking
Competition. They did exceptionally well. Ella Gordon
received the award for ‘Best Questioner’. Overall the
Team was placed second on the day out of all the many
schools from the South and Centre of England who
entered which is a considerable achievement.

Shakespeare by Heart

An unprecedented number of Ditcham Park Pupils
(13) were selected to take part in the South & Central
Region final of the ESU sponsored ‘Shakespeare by
Heart’ competition. Hugh Dennis the comedian and tv
personality was one of the judges. Emily Wheeldon
recited a spell binding extract from Macbeth and was duly
selected to take part in the National Finals of this event.

W W W. D I T C H A M PA R K . C O M

Art

Form 5 GCSE artists completed some
stunning pieces of art as part of their
GCSE art exam.

France and Belgium Trip

Form 3 travelled to France and Belgium in the
penultimate week of term for a three day visit to
the First World War Battlefields.
Pupils visited key locations such as Tyne Cot
Cemetery which is the largest British and
Commonwealth Cemetery in the world as well
at the Menin Gate in Ypres where the names of
British and Commonwealth soldiers whose bodies
were never recovered are recorded. This was a
memorable and formative educational trip.

SUMMER EDITION 2018

Performing Arts

On Tuesday 27th February 13 of our senior singers performed a recital at
St Peter’s Church in Petersfield.
On 12th and 14th March 21 members of Upper Juniors and some of our senior musicians took part in
the Petersfield Music Festival which was held in the Festival Hall. This was a good opportunity for our
pupils to take part in a high profile event outside of School. Maddie Walker-Moffitt was runner-up in The
Petersfield Music Festival Young Composer Competition. Former Ditcham Park pupil, Thomas Baynes, won
this award with a composition called ‘Morning’.
Hebe Parrott, Sophie Fifield, Skye Bardoe, Emily Hughes and Finney Coomber enjoyed considerable
success in the Portsmouth Music Festival over half term.
In late January, the very well-received production of ‘Too Much Punch For Judy’ was performed by the
Form 4 GCSE Drama students in The Court Theatre to a packed house full of very appreciative audience
members. The evening was concluded by a slick, imaginative and very professional performance of Carol
Anne Duffy’s version of ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ by the Form 1 & 2 Drama Club.
The Junior Music and Talent Competition finals took place at the
end of term. A hotly contested Talent Show took place in the
morning which included puppet shows, Irish Dancing, magic
tricks, jokes and poetry. The winners were: KS1 Mackenzie
Golding – dance, Lower KS2 Brodie Roach – jokes, Upper
KS2 Emily Hughes – Irish Dance. The Music Competition
took place in the afternoon and was won by Katie
Budge for a beautiful rendition of ‘Where Is Love?’
from the musical Oliver.

W W W. D I T C H A M PA R K . C O M

Team Sports

Our rugby players have enjoyed considerable success this term. Our
talented U11 team graduated to the Wessex A league and distinguished
themselves in the Churcher’s 7s tournament. Our U10 team won their
Wessex B league. Our U12 and U15 teams have won their respective
leagues. Our U12 girls hockey team ended the term unbeaten. Our
Netball teams from U8s to U16s have also enjoyed some good results.
Our U13 and U15 Basketball teams have both enjoyed unbeaten seasons.

Cross Country

Ellie Farrow won the U17G Hampshire Cross Country Championship and has
represented Hampshire and Ditcham Park School at National level. She is also
a member of the GB Triathlon squad. The South East Hampshire Cross Country
event produced great performances and 6 qualifiers for the Hampshire finals,
Barney McLarnon, Joe McLarnon, Lucas Bradley, Emily Dunkley, Bella Digby and
Amelia Mason. Two athletes excelled themselves at the finals as Joe McLarnon
came 4th and Emily Dunkley 8th. Finney Coomber (Juniors) and Harry Sage
(Seniors) qualified for the Independent Schools Association Cross Country finals.

Swimming

Congratulations to Tom Duddridge (Form 1) who won three bronze
medals in the Hampshire County Swimming Championships.

Sailing

Congratulations to Fin Dickinson
who won the U16 European

sailing championship for the laser
class in April. Congratulations

to Oscar Morgan-Harris who has
been selected to sail for Great

Britain in the summer.

Hockey Marathon

Sky Bardoe and Ella Saunders Finney Coomber, aged 10,
have been selected to play completed her first marathon.

hockey for Hampshire U16 girls.

SUMMER EDITION 2018

Building Plans

The school has received planning permission to build
a Nursery which we aim to open in September. As
you can see from the image of the building it will
be a visually attractive, environmentally friendly
and sustainable building situated at the front
of the school in the cottage garden. The
Nursery will have a capacity of 16
children aged 2½ to 4. Please
contact Mandy Lowe, Head
of Admissions, if you are
interested in booking
a place for your child
in the Nursery.

W W W. D I T C H A M PA R K . C O M

DofE & Cycling Club

Form 5 undertaking Silver DofE have
been on a night navigation challenge,
a canoe expedition and hikes. The best
pupils then went forward to take part
in Charlton Chase (a through-the-night
navigation and endurance challenge)
and did well.
Six teams of Form 4 Bronze DofE
pupils have been out for a day-hike
to learn navigation.
The MTB Cycling club have held 2
Adventure Rides and the Road Cycling
Club has started up again on a Sunday
morning after the winter break.

Sub Aqua

A total of 11 pupils took part in scuba diving training through the winter;
then 5 pupils took part in a trip to a dive centre in Germany and 2 dive
centres in Belgium during half term.

SUMMER EDITION 2018

Connect with the Community

One of our school aims is connecting with the community.
One of the ways we do this is by raising money for
charities. Charities week was used by each House to
raise money for its chosen charity. This year they are:
Buriton: Cancer Research UK
Chalton: Rowans Hospice
Harting: The British Heart Foundation
Nyewood: Great Ormond Street

Former Pupils

Matt Harris left Ditcham Park School in 2009. During his
school career he developed a love for creating, recording and
performing music. He studied GCSE Music at Ditcham and went
on to complete a BA (Hons) Degree in Creative Music Technology
at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford. Matt is now
a musician and music producer living and working in London. He
is signed to the label “Critical Music” and is creating, recording,
producing and releasing music under the name “Hyroglifics”.
Matt was selected by Red Bull Music Academy, one of 60 artists
from around the world, to attend their workshop in Montreal last
year and since then has been collaborating with artists he met,
as well as other famous singers and bands. Matt has been able
to travel all round the UK and to many countries to perform.
Most recently Matt has been picked up by the prestigious
Primary Talent International Booking Agency.

W W W. D I T C H A M PA R K . C O M