On Thursday 4 December 2014 an evening reception took place to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Act of Parliament which was eventually passed in 1664, consolidating the relationship between the school and the Leathersellers’ Company. 

The original Act, which was recently re-discovered during the demolition of the Leathersellers’ Hall, is written on vellum (calfskin) and is priceless.  

The Second Warden, His Hon. Judge Anthony Thornton and the Archivist, Jerome Farrell, of the Leathersellers’ Company addressed an audience of Old Colfeians with insights which included how to look after a 350-year old scroll written on leather and the significance of such a document from a Leatheseller’s point of view, particularly with respect to the turbulent times in England around 1664.

The Act Decrees that:

• Forever hereafter there shall be a school by the name of Colfe’s in the county of Lewisham in Kent 
• 'the Society of the Mistery or Art of the Leathersellers of the Citty of London shall be forever hereafter the Governours of the school of Lewisham of the foundation of Abraham Colfe' 

A doctor and founding trustee of Watford New Hope has been awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours list.

Dr Tim Robson said he was “pleased and honoured” to have been recognised for his services to the homeless in Hertfordshire.

He is a founding trustee of the New Hope charity, which he chaired between 1991 and 2008, before he quit his practice to launch the Meadowell Surgery to offer enhanced care to the homeless in 2003.

It was the tragic death of one of his patients – a homeless man who died during his sleep in Watford town in 1987 – which sparked Dr Robson to step up his campaign to help those in need. Read the full story here...

Dear Parents

The start of the New Year has brought welcome news for many of our U6th university applicants, with four receiving conditional offers from Oxford or Cambridge (more than half of those who were interviewed) and 70% of the cohort holding at least one offer from a Russell Group university. On a related point, we were delighted to hear of the success of two Old Colfeians who are currently studying at Oxford and Cambridge:

·         Pascal Crowe (reading English at University College, Oxford) has co-authored an article on the political legacy of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela for ISIS, the Oxford student magazine.  Click here to read the article.

·         Charlie Whittaker, (reading Natural Sciences at Jesus College, Cambridge)  recently featured in a Sunday Times article on a new student-led initiative called ‘take the pledge’ to give 10% of their future lifetime income to charity.  Click here to read the article. 

Other recent press coverage has included a major feature in Sunday Telegraph on the school’s Tougher Minds programme.   The Tougher Minds programme was also the subject of a presentation to Year 7 and Year 8 parents on Tuesday evening. The Tougher Minds team will also be hosting our first Developing Resilient Minds Conference in March.

Director of Sport, Nicci Rayes, was quoted in a feature in the Guardian earlier this week on the role that tablets and ipads can play in the teaching of school sport, read the full article here.  Parents may recall that Colfe’s was identified by Ofsted last summer as an example of good practice in the teaching of school sport. Meanwhile budding journalists Ros Burton (U6th) and Kate Drury (Y10) both had articles published on the website of the Newshopper earlier this month whilst Huw Olding (Year 8) appeared in a documentary film on National Geographic and Animal Planet Channels, Monsters Behind the Iron Curtain, and his brother Evan (Year 5) starred in a Discovery Channel drama documentary Nasa’s Unexplained Files.

Sixth Form Art students have been busy preparing for their mid-year Fine Art and Graphics Exhibition scheduled for  Wednesday ( 21^st  January) in the Art studios.  This cultural highlight of the term looks set to be another excellent display of AS and A2 work; all are welcome to attend.  

Despite gale force winds and inclement weather at the weekend, our sports teams have got off to a good start this year, with good wins for the U16 and senior netball teams against Reigate Grammar recently. All the senior teams won their matches against Brighton College in the opening block fixture of the football season.  In the Prep our netball U11A squad has commenced training for the National IAPS competition in Felsted in March, and the U11 rugby players began training in earnest for the Regional Qualifiers of the National Schools Rugby Tournament which takes place on 1^st February.

Individual achievements in sport include:

·         Netball. Sports teacher, Miss Holder has been appointed as U12 Kent County Netball Coach - training will be held at Colfe’s this month and Francesca Stephenson has been accepted into the Kent Netball Academy,

·         Hockey. Jemma Stephenson, Year 11, represented her region at Hockey in ‘the Futures Cup’ -  a prestigious four day tournament. She has subsequently been awarded an automatic place for the 2015 County Squad.

·         Cricket. Tilly Manuel, Year 5, Annys Thirkell-Jones (Year 6) and Molly Hepden (Year 7) have all been selected for the Kent Girls’ Cricket and Matt Walker (Year 9) and Finn McQueen (Year 7) who have been selected for the U14 and U12 Kent Cricket Squads respectively. 

·         Football. Denny Ashison (Year  6) is training with the Millwall Academy; Luke Okosieme has been selected for training with the Charlton Development Youth Squad and sisters Eloise and Bea Hembrough are now in their fifth season playing for Charlton Athletic FC Ladies, having lost only one match this season so far. 

·         Rowing. Phoenix-Jane Hayward (Year 13) won both her races at the prestigious Burway Small Boats Head on the Thames in December.

·         Tennis. Daphne Pratt (year 10) won U16 Girls tournament at Westway Sports Centre over the Christmas holidays, her third tournament win at Regional level in 2014.  Daphne has also been selected to be part of the Kent U18 squad for 2015.

In conclusion, we are pleased to see that the south-east is not yet experiencing the extreme weather which has afflicted other parts of the UK. If that should change and the possibility of school closure arises, we will keep parents informed through the School communications system (text and email) and by updates on the website. This would only happen in the event of very heavy snow, however. Parents and pupils should always assume that the school will remain open unless they hear to the contrary.

With best wishes

Richard Russell

In the last few weeks I have been interviewing prospective parents for next September’s Year 7 intake.  I like to meet everyone, and I think it is important that they should have the chance to meet me.  I was struck in particular by the number of families who highlighted our excellent teachers as a real attraction to Colfe’s.  It is no surprise that we compare so favourably with other schools in this respect – but it is pleasing to see that the perception is shared so widely and clearly among families who are just getting to know us.

Well done to our Year 11 pupils who have now completed their mock GCSE exams: the results are the best ever.  We have introduced a new learning technique, the ‘January Judgements sheet’, to help them prepare for doing equally well, or better, in the summer.  This is a simple but powerful set of tables in which pupils identify what they have achieved and what they still need to do.  Parents have their part to play in this and discussed the January Judgements sheets with teachers at the recent Year 11 parents’ evening.

The Sixth Form annual enrichment programme has begun.  This weekly series of breakfast-time seminars, lectures, taster days and subject masterclasses takes students beyond the formal curriculum to broaden their academic horizons.  It is one way in which Colfe’s ensures they give of their best in university entrance.  The students are already heavily engaged in their EPQ (Extended Project Qualification), which will enable them to explore in depth an aspect of their studies which they find to be of particular interest. In addition to valuable UCAS points, this gives them a real edge over other candidates when they apply to university.   Next week we start our visits to Oxford and Cambridge for Year 12s to meet with admission tutors and past Colfe’s pupils who are now studying there.

Through our links with business, we were delighted this week to welcome Gareth Bateman, Senior Manager at Deloitte and a former soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan, who spoke to Years 10-11 on the qualities they will need to make good future leaders and captains of industry.  His message was reinforced by the annual leadership cadre for the CCF cadets.

The school is very grateful to the Parents’ and Friends’ Association (PAFA), which has funded  the introduction of Kindles for the Prep School reading programme and more up-to-date software for the Senior School’s Robotics Club.  Thank you to the very many parents who have contributed.  PAFA raises thousands of pounds of funds a year to support projects which add greatly to the life of the school but are simply beyond our own budget.  New chair of PAFA, Helen West, would be glad to hear from new volunteers and to receive ideas for new activities.

The arts continue to flourish.  We have had a successful A Level Fine Art and Graphic Communications Exhibition and a very well attended piano recital in the Prep School.  Rehearsals are beginning for the Prep School choir, which will be entering Bromley Music Festival for the first time, alongside the Pre-Prep and Nursery choir. 

Budding politicians in the Sixth Form heard cabinet minister Oliver Letwin MP speak at a public meeting organised by our Head of Politics, and our historians were invited to the annual Holocaust Educational Trust lecture in Westminster, where Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP was a keynote speaker.

After impressive wins against Bromley High and St Dunstan’s last year, Colfe’s mathematicians won through to the final four in the Southern Section of the Hans Woyda Plate Cup.  In their best performance to date they comfortably beat Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College, 52-27.  Well done to Joshua Gayadeen (Year 13), who has been selected for the Senior Kangaroo paper after achieving a gold award in the Senior Maths Challenge last year; this time he achieved a merit, placing him in the top 25% in the country.  

Colfe’s chess club has entered the National Delancey Chess Tournament and our biologists have just sat the British Biology Olympiad.  Last year Sam Winter won a gold placing (and is now at Exeter University studying Biological Sciences).

In sport, Colfe’s cross-country runners braved the biting weather to take part in the Cross Country London Schools Championships on Hampstead Heath. All the runners showed great heart; special congratulations to Tom Simpson (Year 9), Gabriel Foley (Year 9) and Megan Marchant (Year 11), who all qualified to represent London in the English Schools Championships in Blackburn in March. 

Colfe’s rugby players in Years 7 and 8 have kept up their strong performances this year in a block fixture against Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, with wins for the U12As, U12 Cs, and U13As. 

Around 100 netballers – that is nearly every girl in Years 7-10 – took part in a fixture against Bancrofts.  Other netball highlights include strong wins against Blackheath High and Hayes.  

Our footballers put in strong performances against Christ’s Hospital: the 1^st X1, 3^rd X1 and U16A are currently top of the Sussex and Kent Independent School League.  Colfe’s U16 footballers took on U18 players for their first tournament in the fast-moving indoor game of futsal, playing against Wellington College, Brighton College, Tonbridge and Sevenoaks. 

And in swimming, the Prep School (Years 3-6) took part in their first away gala of the term against Rosemead, Dulwich College, St Dunstan’s, Oakfield and JAPS.

Individual achievements include:

·         Head of Music in the Prep School, Mrs Sue Watts, sang in the Verdi Requiem live on Radio 3 at the Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Choir.

·         Francesca Rameaux  (Year 8), sang with the national Help 4 Heroes choir at St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden and (through the group Capital Arts) recorded a song at the famous Abbey Road studios.

·         Music scholar Ruby Collins (Year 11) played bassoon in a sell-out Barbican concert last month with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra. Ruby is now beginning a professional diploma on her second instrument, the clarinet.

·         Nine-year-old Luca Thurlow (Year 5) has been selected to represent team GB at the World BMX Championships in Belgium.  Luca was ranked 49^th in the world last season and is currently the highest-ranked rider in London.

·         Denny Ashison (Year 6) has been selected to play with Millwall Youth Academy.

·         Athlete Tobi Ogunjimi (Year 12) won the South of England U20s championships at Lee Valley in 200m.

·         Lukas Uzkalnis (Year 4) is to perform with his dance troop at the Independence Day event in the Embassy of Lithuania in February.

Adverse weather has yet to affect us this term but may yet do so. As ever, parents will be informed via schoolcomms and the school website if there is any possibility of closure due to snow. We will of course regard closure as an absolute last resort.

Our guest speaker at the John Glyn Society last week was Dale Templar, journalist and award-winning producer of the BBC series Human Planet.  She spoke with passion and enthusiasm about her work, taking us to previously undiscovered parts of the world and addressing the many issues, ethical and environmental, which such exploration and research entail. She engaged wonderfully with Year 8 and Year 9 pupils and sustained a more challenging dialogue with members of the U6th. Our next visiting speaker will be Professor A C Grayling, philosopher and Founder of the New College of the Humanities. His theme will be Ethics vs Morality. This will be of particular interest to those of us who thought they were the same thing.

Art and Music have both enjoyed special events over the last two weeks, with a Music Master class led by concert organist Daniel Moult and a Year 9 Art workshop, run by artists from the Royal academy. Other key events in the Arts have included a Y5 workshop of Chinese dance, a senior school platform concert and a trailer in senior school assembly of our musical production, Fiddler on the Roof. Tickets are now on sale for the latter, either from the Drama office or online https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/colfes .

Recent academic highlights have included victory over Hampton School in the Hans Woyda maths competition. This takes us through to the final of the Southern Plate competition, the furthest we have reached in recent years. Congratulations to 0liver Skeates (Year 13), Andrew Ravendren (Year 12), Max O’ Keeffe (Year 11) and Jugal Patel (Year 9) and thanks, as ever, to Dr Vijapura for his tireless support of this competition. Hampton were particularly strong opponents, having defeated St Paul’s in the previous round. Meanwhile four of our top DT students and budding engineers made it through the gruelling early stages of the prestigious Arkwright Scholarship to be invited to sit the next stage – a two hour exam – we wish them luck as they wait to see if they are through to the final stages of this National Award.

Major Cherry introduced the Duke of Edinburgh programme to Year 10 pupils last week, which we run as an independent operating authority. We hope that a good number of Year 10 pupils will work their way through to gold award level, as many other Colfeians have done in the past. The CCF were on hand on Wednesday to welcome a helicopter from RAF Benson when it touched down on the school playing field. The aircraft in question is sponsored by the Leathersellers' Company and it was a particular pleasure to welcome the Master, the Second warden and at least one Past Master who arrived in it.

Elsewhere in the school, the collaboration between the English Department and the Library for their Reading Around The World scheme has been a great success, with Year 7 as a year group reading nearly 400 books.  The Year 8 scheme, Reading through Time, has now begun and will, no doubt be just as great a success. Year 5 linguists came to the senior school this week for their annual French Breakfast conducted all in French – thank you to Year 10 linguists who took the role of waiters for the first time.

This year's GCSE candidates are now looking ahead to the Sixth Form and have been choosing AS subjects for the Lower Sixth Year. Each individual pupil has a meeting with a senior member of staff to ensure that choices made do not rule out options for the future that they might want to leave open.  Oxbridge hopefuls in Year 12 had their first taste of life at Cambridge with a visit to colleges Fitzwilliam and King's this week – a visit to Oxford will take place after half term. We are grateful to Head of Classics, Mr Corstorphine for again arranging these. 

At the other end of the school our very youngest prospective Colfeians took part in an induction week in the Nursery.  This will be repeated in June, ensuring that the school surroundings are familiar when they start properly in September.  Parents of pupils in Years 7, 8 , and the Sixth Form should note that grades issued this week are now only accessible through the school portal. This is thus our first paperless grade session. If you have any problems accessing the Portal please contact ict_support@colfes.com.   

Sporting success continues with our U13 Girl Cricketers through to the County Finals of the National Lady Taverners' Tournament where they will be representing Kent. Well done also to cricketers Molly Hepden (Year 7), Annys Thirkell-Jones (Year 6) and Tilly Manuel (Year 5) who all represented Greenwich in the London Youth Games their team has qualified for the final which will be played at Lords.

Year 7 and 8 swimmers performed well in the highly competitive Kent Secondary Schools Championships Meanwhile  Prep School swimmers have had an exciting few weeks, with a House Gala – well done to Orion who secured first place with 390 points, and years 3-6 took part in a tough away gala at St Dunstan’s against five other schools.

In Netball, our Year 3 (U8A) team won all their matches in an away tournament at Farringtons and our Year 6As are top of the table after winning all their league matches so far this season.   Year 5 As have continued their winning streak with a 5 -0 win against Blackheath High, and an 8-0 win against Farringtons whilst our B team was also victorious over Blackheath High, 4-0.  Higher up the school, our 14 and 15 year old netballers (U15A) made a great come back this season with two strong performances over Chislehurst and Sidcup and Blackheath High. The team has been using Tougher Minds techniques, alongside the new departmental iPads to prepare for their matches and analyse their performance.

In Rugby our U11s have put in a spirited display at the National Schools Rugby Tournament (NSRT) just missing out on a finals place (22-10) against Hoebridge.   Our U11 Footballers beat Eltham College in their first game of the season and our U10s completed a clean sweep at St Dunstans with the A, B and C teams all securing strong wins.

Benjamin Tynan, Dan Kelly, Aliyah Robinson, Amy Parton, Antonia Sholaja, Ella Bauwens, (Year 8) and Ronald Aduaya-Odiete, Nia Southworth and Eve Hurley (Year 7) have been chosen to represent the Borough at the London Championships in March, following outstanding performances at the Greenwich Championships in October, 

Individual achievements this term have included the following:

·         Tom Simpson (Year 9) who qualified for the British Inter-Counties Championships (the top 8 County runners  selected)  for the event in Birmingham in March; particularly impressive as 13 year old Tom is competing at U15 level.

·         Alberta Green, Year 3, scored an impressive 98% in her Grade 1 Tap Exam – a distinction and one of the highest marks her dancing school (Blackheath School of Dance) has ever achieved.

·         Bea and Eloise Hembrough have won the Capital League U14 Fustal Tournament at the Copper  Box Olympic Stadium with their team, Charlton Ladies FC– the first time the team competed at Futsal.

·         Head of DT Caroline Matthews, an Arkwright Scholar, has been involved with a new initiative run by the Chancellor George Osborne to encourage girls into engineering. http://www.yourlife.org.uk/

Christmas seems a long time ago and the list of pupil achievements grows ever longer. I look forward to reports on half term activities later this month and wish everybody well for the break.

Best wishes

Richard Russell

Dear Parents
It has been a remarkably busy time since half term across the range of school activity. The senior production of Fiddler on the Roof last week was perhaps the highlight of the arts calendar this term, involving 50 pupils from a wide age range and our own orchestra supporting the music. Congratulations to Mrs Medhurst in particular, who directed this wonderful production. The quality of the acting, music and stagecraft exceeded even our own high standards and the audience enjoyed every minute. Preparation for next term’s lower school production (senior school) is already under way and we look forward to the Year 5 play, Archie Dobson’s War, in the last week of term. 
Elsewhere, debaters are through to the National Finals of one of the tougher competitions – the Institute of Ideas’ ‘Debating Matters’.    This is a much more challenging format for 16-18 year olds, which focuses on content, as well as style, with the judging panel of experts questioning and pressing debaters to justify their arguments.  Well done to Sixth Formers, Shannon Burke, Joe Andrew, Kal Sevenzo and Daisy Battersby (Year 11) who beat five other schools to win a place in the finals at the British Library in June.
The fantastic run of success that our mathematicians have enjoyed this year in the prestigious Hans Woyda competition has at last come to an with end, with defeat at the hands of Wellington College in the final of the Southern Plate Cup. Our run this year has been exceptional, including a noteworthy victory over Hampton School in the semi-final earlier this term. Thanks, as ever, to Dr Vijapura for his indefatigable support of this important competition. Also in Mathematics this term, nearly 100 of our most able mathematicians took part in the UK Mathematical Trust’s Intermediate Challenge. Special mention to Max O’Keeffe, Pippa Briton, Marc Russo and Benjamin Andrew (Year 11) who not only achieved Gold medals but qualified for the higher European Pink Kangaroo Paper.  Well done to all pupils who achieved silver (14) – slightly up from last year, and the 24 who achieved Bronze.  
Eminent philosopher and founder of the New College of the Humanities in London, A C Grayling, was our guest speaker at the John Glyn Society last week. His spoke brilliantly about ethics and morality and dealt equally brilliantly with a wide range of questions thereafter, some of which were memorable. This was the fifth John Glyn lecture this year and I am grateful to Miss Henderson for overseeing this new venture.
Other significant visitors over the last few weeks have included two children’s authors. Sam Hepburn came to the senior school, and Simon Rae ran creative writing workshops in the Prep School. Our youngest writers were also catered for, with Nursery and Reception pupils enjoying small group sessions with the story teller, Vanessa Woolf. It was a particular delight, incidentally, to welcome the parents of pupils who will be new to the Nursery and Reception year groups in September at an evening event in the Pre-prep last Tuesday. On a related point, I can now confirm that next year’s Year 7 in the senior school will consist of five classes with equal numbers of boys and girls. This is an important milestone on our coeducational journey.
A Level Politics students met the Deputy Director of Campaigns for the League Against Cruel Sports, Tom Quinn, to learn first-hand about lobbying techniques used by pressure groups. This was followed, later in the week, by a special screening of the controversial film, ‘Tory Boy’ with commentary from its director and star John Walsh, followed by a lively Q and A session afterwards. 
Recent sporting highlights have included the visit of 2012 Olympian and World Medallist, Hannah England, who accepted an invitation from our Geography teacher, Abi Tickner, to preside over the last event in this year’s Greenwich and Lewisham (GAL) Cross Country League.  She was, I hope, favourably impressed with our athletes, including Benjamin Tynan, who won the Year 7/8, race and Amy Parton who was 3rd overall, whilst our Year 9 boys won the league, with Tom Simpson coming 1st , Gabriel Foley in 2nd place and Oliver Whichello in 3rd. Well done also to Simone Jenson who was 3rd girl overall.
Elsewhere in sport, our prep school U11A netballers put on a dazzling display of netball at the IAPS East England Regional tournament, only losing three of their twelve matches. Despite beating the overall winners of the tournament 6-3, the girls narrowly missed out, on points, on a place in the finals. Through the week more than 70 netballers from the senior school put in a strong set of performances against a range of top independent schools, including Benenden and Sutton Valence. The senior team won this week’s tournament at Eltham College, with noteworthy victories over JAGS and St Olave’s. 
Prep School swimmers have had a number of friendly galas in the last few weeks, and performed especially well in the first round of the high level IAPS competition which involves hundreds of Prep Schools country-wide.  Our Year 5 and 6 swimmers took on Highgate and Dulwich Prep in this round, with final results to be announced shortly.  In Football, our U12As put in an impressive team effort against Charles Darwin winning 9-0 and our 1st team are a step closer to the finals of the Trinity Cup after beating Royal Russell 6-2. Year 6 footballers in the prep took gold at the 19th annual St Christopher’s tournament which involved 20 of the top prep schools in South London. Year 8 pupils returned last Friday from their activity week in Wales. This marks the start of an intensive period of activity for Chris Cherry and his team which continues next week with the Year 9 bush craft week in Oxfordshire. Half Term trips included Latvia and Estonia (History department), Athens and Delphi (Classics department) and a three day training camp for the CCF squadron.
Individual achievements this term so far include•         Ben Roberts (Year 6) who came third at the Major South East Regional Spring Grade 3 Tennis tournament – putting him on the cusp of national ranking. •         15 year old Daphne Pratt selected for the Kent U18 Tennis Squad for the first time at the annual County Cup weekend in Bath. •         13 year old Georga Halloumas, who represented Colfe’s at the British Schools Judo Championships in Sheffield – winning a silver medal. •         Music Scholar Ruby Collins joined some of London’s leading young musicians to play lead bassoon in the Swan Orchestra at the National Musicians’ Church, St Sepulchre in the City of London. •         Alex Hagelburg (Year 11) is through to the next round of the prestigious Arkwright Scholarship where he will face an interview process with leading engineering companies and experts.•         Ella Richardson (year 6) won the grade 7/8 classes in Piano and Violin at the Bromley Festival and won the Beryl Morreau Memorial Trophy for the highest mark awarded at the festival for violin. •         Louis Richardson (Year 4) won the Grade 4/5 guitar class at the Bromley Festival and was awarded the Ritter Cup for the 2nd Year in a row for the highest mark awarded.  He won silver in the Grade 4/5 Double Bass Class.•         Henry Chapman ( Upper 6th) has been awarded a £1000 singing scholarship to St Peter’s Church in Streatham, London to sing in their choir this year. (Henry played the lead in last week’s production of Fiddler on the Roof.)•         Sophia Clark, (Year 9) has been selected to take part in the rhythmic gymnastics 2015 Open Apparatus UK Championship, Junior Section. •         Joe Watkins (Year 10) played rugby for a winning Kent side against Hertfordshire, 24-12
With just over two weeks until the Easter break, the rest of this term will be as hectic as ever. Next week’s highlights include the Resilient Minds in Education conference, which will be attended by more than 100 delegates from a wide range of schools including Eton College and St Paul’s Girls’ School. My thanks, as ever, to Mr Foster for his relentless commitment to the Tougher Minds programme.
With best wishes
Richard Russell

 As the most hectic term of the year draws to a close, we have much to celebrate and report. The highlights are as follows:
Senior pupils have been looking to the future.  At our employability workshop, all Year 10s practised the ‘soft skills’ they will need in their careers (thank you to Head of Careers Judy Cardnell for organising it).  In preparation for GCSE, Year 11 pupils and parents attended our Easter Briefing, held for the first time in the splendid setting of the Old Royal Naval College, University of Greenwich.  Year 12s finished two days of mock A-levels; they and Year 13 students can attend study sessions over the Easter holiday to help with revision; I am very grateful to my colleagues who have volunteered to run that programme.   And at the Prefects’ Dinner this week we thanked our prefects for their hard work over the year. 
Representatives from Colfe’s buried the school’s Time Capsule in the foundations of the Leathersellers’ Company’s new hall in London.  Another Time Capsule will be laid in the foundations of the new Sixth Form Centre – which has been named the Stewart Building after benefactor and former pupil Leslie James Stewart (Colfe’s: 1930 to 1938).
In conjunction with our partners Tougher Minds, we held a national conference on ‘Developing Resilient Minds in Education’.  More than 150 delegates, including representatives from Eton College and St Paul’s Girls’ School and from as far afield as Glasgow and Taunton, attended the conference to learn how the Tougher Minds programme works at Colfe’s – inside the classroom and out – and the science behind it.  Thank you to all those involved, and especially our pupils, who were excellent advocates for the programme. This was our second conference this year, building on the success of our Dutch Universities event last term. I am grateful to our development officer, Russell Joyce, for his impeccable administration of these events.
The Classics department organised a trip to Cambridge University for nearly 30 Year 10 pupils from Colfe’s and our associate schools in the state sector; and we were pleased to reciprocate and welcome Nick Denyer, a Classical philosopher from Trinity College, who gave a fascinating lecture on ‘How to make people agree with each other’.  
Former pupil Victoria Shehadeh and her colleague Kate Parker – both are lawyers – ran workshops for Year 11 on ‘The legalities of consent’.  Victoria left Colfe’s in 2010 to study Law at Cambridge and is now applying for pupillage.  We wish her luck with her interview next week. 
In the Arts, the Senior School Spring Concert featured some particularly strong choral works involving pupils of all ages and included a particularly impressive rendition of Nessun dorma by the Barbershop singers.  
Archie Dobson’s War was an outstanding piece of theatre from Year 5.  It concluded a year studying WW1 in class.  Parents said it was one of the best productions they had seen from pupils of their age.  Thank you to Year 5 teacher Mrs Welch and Head of Music Mrs Watts.
Our youngest performers in Nursery and Reception delighted audiences this week with their Easter Bonnet Parade – an assembly where they had written all the songs, poems and acoustic poems themselves.  Nursery pupils also took part in an interactive workshop with the London Symphony Orchestra.
The Prep and Pre-Prep both entered choirs for the Bromley Music Festival.  The Prep singers, appearing at the Festival for the first time, were awarded honours (scoring 84 out of 100) and the Pre-Prep finished in second place, missing out on first by just two points.
The school is very grateful to the Parents’ and Friends’ Association (PAFA) for their support of two science projects.  Colfe’s is one of only ten schools in London to be chosen for the Formula-E School Series, an electric car race which takes place in the capital in June.  We have now selected our team, and you can follow our progress on Twitter @COLFESeracing .  And sixth formers Harry Calder and Tom Whittaker are on track to send a balloon into space this summer (the ‘Pi-in-the-Sky’ project). 
Congratulations to PAFA also on the success of their annual Prep School Disco last week.  Over 200 of our younger pupils came up to the Senior School, and the disco raised over £900 to support school projects.  
Please put in your diaries the date of Friday 26 June for the Summer Ball, which will be held for the first time in the Great Hall at Eltham Palace. 
Year 8 and Year 10 pupils took part in the BBC Schools Report, where budding journalists get the chance to experience life as a real reporter.  Over two days, four teams produced two reports, filmed interviews and took the roles of crew, writer and anchor for the final broadcast.
A team of four mathematicians took part in the UKMT Mathematical Challenge with 30 schools from Surrey, Kent and London – Colfe’s just missing out on third place.   
In Sport, U16 footballers won the Sussex and Kent Independent Schools League after beating Worth School 6-0.  Our Prep School footballers hosted Colfe’s first ever U11 and U10 football tournament for 120 pupils from five local schools, and both our teams did well: the U11s losing on a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals to the eventual winners.
The boys’ relay team of Year 6 swimmers finished third and qualified for the Divisional round at the Kent Primary Schools Championships.   And the U13 girl cricketers played well in the County Lady Taverners' Cricket Tournament, gaining fourth place in the whole of Kent.   
Every single girl in Years 7–9 has now played competitive fixtures for the school.  Overall, 72% of all our pupils (girls and boys) have represented Colfe’s competitively this year so far.
We have welcomed back former pupil Matt Gallagher for work experience in the Sports department; he has a two-year contract to play with Saracens Rugby Club, starting in the summer.
Other individual achievements this term include: •         Ollie Whichello and Ethan Benson (Year 9) played rugby for Kent, beating Essex 55-0 and Hertfordshire 15-12 in fixtures this month.•         Frazer Pyne (Year 7) won television’s Blue Peter competition for writing a review of the programme – Frazer got the idea from writing reviews for our Reading Round the World Scheme.•         Luke Wilkes (Year 12) has qualified for the National Horse Riding Championships in Hartpury in April. •         Fellow show-jumper Georgia Noone (Year 10) has competed at Pyecombe, Felbridge Show Ground and Blue Barn Equestrian Centre – getting in the top four in every class she entered. •         School Captain Marcus Brockman passed the Goethe Zertifikat Deutsch B1examination, gaining 100% in the speaking component.•         Violinist Ella Richardson (Year 6) won the Tonbridge Festival string class and a trophy and cash prize for the most outstanding musician under 15.  The Easter break will see the removal of the crane from the centre of the senior school, marking progress towards completion of the Sixth Form project on schedule for opening in September. The departure of prep and senior school skiing trips is imminent and I look forward to reporting on that and other trips after the break. 
I wish all pupils, parents, colleagues and friends a happy Easter and look forward to seeing you all again next term.
Best wishes

Richard Russell 

Dear Parents

For our senior pupils the pace and seriousness of the exam term were evident before it even started: many of them took advantage of the revision sessions we offered over Easter.  I thank all my colleagues who gave their time to teach and advise.  Then in the first week back we launched a new initiative, ‘Last-chance mocks’, as a final progress-check for Year 11: they should now be very clear where to focus their efforts before the exams.

We have already seen examples of high-quality work and creativity in exam projects within Drama, where Year 11 performed in front of an external examiner, and in the Design and Technology exhibition of GCSE and A-level projects – including, for the first time, textiles at GCSE.

Our award-winning Tougher Minds programme featured in the Daily Telegraph as the basis for its Easter revision advice to children and parents.  The leading think-tank Demos invited Head of Academic Performance Andy Foster and Tougher Minds consultant Professor Jim McKenna to give a series of presentations to education practitioners and policy experts on ‘character education’: what it can mean and how schools can put it into practice.  Read more here.

Pupils from all years have been experiencing the wider world on visits and field trips.  In the Easter break the first-ever joint French-German trip took place, to Brussels and Luxembourg; altogether over 70 pupils from the Prep and Senior schools went on skiing trips to Les Menuires, France and Kaprun, Austria; and cadets from the CCF squadron stayed at RAF Cosford in Shropshire for a week, where the activities included a one-to-one flight experience.

And there is more.  Year 10 artists visited the V&A Museum.  Year 6 took part in workshops and a behind-the-scenes look at the Globe Theatre.  Year 5s experienced their first residential week away, at Kingswood in Ashford, as part of our successful outdoor education programme.  Year 1 went to the Unicorn Theatre for a production of The Velveteen Rabbit, which they are reading in class.  And the very youngest Colfeians in the Nursery enjoyed a trip to Mudchute farm (despite the rain).

Over 180 mathematicians from Years 7 and 8 sat the National UKMT Junior Maths Challenge (results are due in ten days).  Pippa Britton and Ben Andrew (Year 11) achieved a merit in the European Pink Kangaroo Maths paper – putting them in the top 25% of their peers in Europe.  Well done also to our other two qualifiers, Marc Russo and Max O’Keeffe, who missed out on a merit by just one question.

Year 8 pupils have just completed their English House Challenge, ‘Reading Through Time’, run in conjunction with the library; it follows from the success of the ‘Reading Around the World’ scheme earlier in the year. 

The pupils building an electric car to race this summer in the Formula-E School Series have chosen Panthera (the Latin genus of big cats) as their official team name – ‘reflecting,’ they said, ‘the qualities of a Colfeian pupil … strong, capable, fast and powerful’.  Of course...

The Pre-prep ended last week with another successful annual Spring Fair – now in its fifth year.

In Sport our cricketers have played their first friendly block fixture against Sutton Valence: the U13 won 154 for 5 to Sutton Valence’s 130 all out and the U13B won 105 to 80.  The U15 and U14 matches were extremely close – the U15s losing out in the last ball of the game. The U13As won their first Cup game against Charter School by 6 runs.  Our girl cricketers got their outdoor season off to a good start with a draw (U13A) and a win (U13B) against Kent College Canterbury.

In swimming, eight of our Year 5 and 6 boys have qualified for the IAPS (Independent Association of Prep Schools) finals for the freestyle relays – putting them within the top sixteen out of around 650 prep schools who entered the competition. In tennis U15A are taking part in a fixture against Beths Grammar school; a specialist tennis coach is coming in next week from Uptown Tennis to take extra training sessions for Years 7–10.  Many Colfeian runners throughout the school entered the Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice Mini Marathon; and well done to Tom Simpson (Year 9), Louis Klanga (Year 8) and Amelie Klanga (Year 6) who ran the Hillingdon duathlon – Tom coming in second. Tom’s fast time in the Dulwich Parkrun put him in the top 20 this year for Years 9 and 10.

There are many individual achievements this term so far including:

·         Luke Wilkes (Year 12) whose horse riding team came fourth out of 320 other teams (over 1,200 riders) at the national championships at Hartpury.

·         Luke Ide (Year 10) is racing in the BNL European Karting Championship again this year and is currently sitting fourth overall after the first two rounds in Genk, Belgium – currently the highest ranked British driver.

·         Natasha Dixon (Year 11) has been accepted into the Royal College Junior Saturday school, where she will be studying flute.

·         Music Scholar Ruby Collins (Year 11) played bassoon in a sell-out concert at the Barbican with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra.

·         Connor Pant (Year 7) was invited to spend a day at the Bank of England which included lectures on finance and a chance to talk to the bank staff.

·         Evan Olding (Year 5) achieved his grade 4 sailing qualification.

·         Alex Edwards, Thomas and Joseph Santry and Myles Gray (all Year 2) were part of the winning U7 Old Colfeians rugby team at the London Irish festival.

Two requests to parents, in conclusion:

1.     We are currently organizing work experience for all LowerSixth pupils in the senior school. The range of placements has expanded considerably over the last two years. Providers in the financial sector include Santander, Morgan Stanley and Barclays. We also have good relationships with two London teaching hospitals, several London law firms, two sets of barristers’ chambers and the Policy Unit at 10 Downing Street. I am currently seeking new opportunities for this year and we would be delighted to hear from parents who can help us with this. Please contact Jacqui Burton (jburton@colfes.com) if you or your company can help.

2.     We are currently reviewing the effectiveness of our communication with parents. Our adviser, Martin Horrox would be delighted to talk to you about any aspect of communication between school and home. Please email him at martinhorrox@graycellconsulting.co.uk if you would like to participate in this research.

With best wishes

Richard Russell

Two young entrepreneurs, one who recently graduated from Colfe’s, have created a 3D virtual reality device which could change the way we experience visits to museums in the future.

Dominic Deane who left Colfe’s in 2012 and his partner Rachel Derbyshire both who studied at Newcastle University have developed innovative technology which allows the visitor to not just see the historic objects in cases but to experience them in 3D in the settings they originally came from.

The duo create 3D models of objects in museums, which allow visitors to experience entire scenes from the past by wearing the Facebook-owned Oculus Rift 3D headset.

Dominic, 21, who took A-levels in History, Classical Civilization and Drama before reading Classics at Newcastle University said: “When you walk into a museum, the artefacts are described only by short text. That’s really interesting, but I don’t know anything about the object apart from where it was found and how old it is. But when you put a headset on to view the 3D models we create, you experience where that object was found and where it existed. 

“If you put the object in its original context, it becomes interesting because you can see how it was used. You can make a connection.

“I’d like to thank current Colfe’s Sixth Former Tom Whittaker who was invaluable in helping develop the first proof of concept last summer when the business was only in the very earliest stages of conceptualization.”

Dominic and Rachel attended the Museum Next conference in Geneva last month, where they demonstrated their work to top museum professionals from across the globe, and received an overwhelmingly positive reaction

Rachel, 26, added: “We wanted to introduce VR to the classical and culture sectors, because we think there’s a massive potential in that. 3D headsets were designed with games in mind, which is fine, but it’s not their only use. This technology can be used in so many other ways.”

http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2015-04-16/revolutionary-3d-virtual-reality-hopes-to-bring-museums-to-life-in-newcastle/

The pair are currently looking for around £150,000 investment in the business to take the product further.

A former Colfe’s pupil who went on to become a hospital doctor has just had his first fiction novel published.

Dr Adrian Li, who joined Colfe’s Prep in 1995 and left at the end of Sixth Form in 2006, has published The Warriors of Genesis - a young adult fantasy fiction novel which also seeks to highlight the serious problems associated with alcohol.

The 27 year old from Mottingham, studied medicine at University College London and now works at the Princess Royal University Hospital.  Dr Li came into the school to meet and speak to current Colfeians about the novel, writing and his work in medicine.  He said, “When people find out that I’ve written a novel whilst working as a doctor they always ask, how do you find the time? But my 11 years at Colfe’s really taught me that if you work hard, stay motivated and committed, you can and will eventually achieve your goals.

“My childhood was influenced by working after school in my family’s Chinese takeaway, six to seven evenings a week.  That was my motivation – to escape that; I wanted to change my life and direction and achieve what I really wanted which was to become a doctor.  

“The novel, and hopefully the sequel which I am writing now, has taken around three years to complete – 18 months in the planning stage – and although I really wanted to write a fantasy fiction novel it was also important to me that it contained a health message.  I wanted to warn of the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption, something I deal with as a doctor regularly, and a message that is extremely important to get across to young people.  I hope this novel is an engaging and accessible way of achieving that as well as an exciting read!”

The Warriors of Genesis – now published by Artemis – is available in paperback and on Kindle from all good book shops.

We were delighted to welcome the Bishop of Woolwich, the Rt Revd Michael Ipgrave, to St Mary’s Lewisham on Sunday to preach the Colfe Sermon. This is one of the more important events in the school calendar and it was a particular delight to hear from Pre-prep and Prep choirs, as well as the Seniors. Other guests included the Chair of Lewisham Council, Cllr Obajimi Adefiranye, and the Service was introduced and concluded by the Vicar of Lewisham, Fr Steve Hall. We are delighted that Steve has agreed to become our Honorary School Chaplain following the retirement of Tony Collier at the end of this term. The Service was an opportunity to thank Tony for all that he has achieved over many years at the school. 

According to more recent tradition, the Service was followed by lunch, this year at Horn Park, the home of the Old Colfeians, and the annual cricket match between the School and the Leathersellers’ Company. Master Leatherseller, Dr Anthony Watson, watched in admiration as his team emerged victorious from an exciting 20-20 encounter, the first time that they have done so in the last 12 years. My own feelings were more mixed. Lunch provided an opportunity for Chairman of Governors, Ian Russell, to thank parents, pupils and staff for all that they have done this year to maintain the upward trajectory of the school.

The senior choir were also in action last Wednesday at the Leathersellers’ Election Day Service at St James’ Garlickhythe, fresh from singing Evensong in Hereford Cathedral over the Half Term break. Election Day is amongst the more important event in the Company’s Calendar and I was delighted to catch up with a number of old friends of the school, including my predecessor Dr Vivian Anthony and two Old Colfeians who are also members of the Company. 

Half Term week also saw record numbers of Year 8 cadets take part in the CCF selection recruit cadre. We look forward to their Passing-Out Parade on the final Saturday of this term. Despite MOD cutbacks we have been able to maintain the quality of our unique CCF squadron in recent years. We are grateful, as ever, to Major Cherry for his commitment to this important school activity.

The Summer Exhibition celebrated the excellent Fine Art and Graphics work of our GCSE, AS and A-Level students this term. The standard was extremely high, with each individual student producing work that was distinctive and creative beyond the requirements of the syllabus. Visitors included our youngest artists from the PPN who, I’m given to believe, were particularly fascinated (and not at all frightened) by the very life-like drawing of an enlarged eye (thanks to L6th artist George Fisher).  Other cultural highlights have included our Year 10 Drama students’ end of year performance –an intriguing evening watching their production of ‘Love and Information' by Caryl Churchill -a series of short plays in which more than 40 characters are played by a cast of fewer than 20. Their versatility will stand them in good stead for the GCSE productions next year. The Prep School production of Macbeth was (intentionally) hilarious. Mr Heil’s first venture into directing was an unqualified success and we are grateful to him and his cast for a most memorable evening.

The national Formula-E race in London is just over a week away and it was exciting to see our vehicle in action on the astroturf last week. Colfe’s is one of only ten schools in London to be invited to take part in this important race which runs alongside the 2014/15 FIA  Formula-E championships on the 27th of June. Our entry is sponsored by PAFA and tickets are now on sale.  

Year 12 pupils have now returned from AS exams to a fortnight of focus on university entry and preparation for their all-important final year. Parents joined pupils for the university applications evening on the 8th June when  John O’Leary, Editor of The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide and QS World University Rankings Executive Board, provided an excellent overview of the information which can be gleaned from the University League Tables published by various newspapers.

A subsequent morning focused entirely on university entry, with guest speakers from the universities of Kent and East Anglia, and an Oxbridge evening was held on Monday to support pupils who will be applying for the most competitive courses. One of the key speakers was Professor Angela Brueggemann, scientist and Colfe’s governor. The other main focus for L6th pupils in the closing weeks of term has been setting up summer work experience. I am grateful to all those who responded to my call for new placements last term. Our programme is richer and more varied than ever.

Sports days in Pre-prep and senior schools have taken place in the last two weeks. New school records were set in abundance in the senior event, although the staff relay team managed to drop the baton in the relay race. Prep school pupils in Year 5 and above also participated in the senior sports day where 12 new Prep school records were set.  In the Pre-prep event Noemi Klanga not only won gold in 80m sprint but recorded by far the fastest time out of everyone taking part. Also in athletics, boys in Years 7 and 9 performed with distinction in the Lee Valley Outdoor Cup. The year 9 team finished 11th out of 35 school teams with top three finishes for Nathaniel St-Louis Mason (200m), Ollie Whichello (800m) Tom Simpson (1500m); Luke Okosieme won the high jump, as has become customary.   The girls travelled to Bromley Minors event with Nia Southworth (Year 7) qualifying for the finals in both the hurdles and 100m and Ella Bauwens (Year 8) qualifying for the 200m final and coming 2nd in the Javelin.
After such a litany of success in girls’ cricket this year it was good to see the U13 boys’ team defeating Bancrofts last Saturday, winning by 10 wickets. Senior cricket has restarted in earnest as the exam season draws to a close and there will be a lot of fixtures between now and the end of term. We were delighted to attend the first IAPS (Independent Prep Schools) triathlon – a 200m swim, 4000m bike ride and 1200 run – with eight of our pupils qualifying for the finals. Prep Schools from across the country took part in the finals (260 pupils involved). Well done to Luca Thurlow who came 5th for the U10 boys and Megan Basham 6th for the Y11 girls.

Recent achievements of Old Colfeians have included the following:

• Dr Paul Olding (Colfe’s 1984 to 1991) a BAFTA nominated TV and Film Director, producer and writer – has published his first book The Urban Vineyard – has been pubished in paperback - now available online -details at www.theurbanvineyard.co.uk We are delighted to welcome Paul as our guest speaker at the final John Glyn Society event on this term on 9th July.
• Claire Rafferty has been playing for the England women’s football team: Read the Telegraph Article Here...
• Charlie Whittaker has been awarded one of the top 1sts in his year group in Natural Sciences at Cambridge. In the course of his final year research, he seems to have discovered a new gene.

Other Individual achievements this term include
Rosalyn Burton (Year 13) and Kate Drury (Year 10) have completed and had published, all eight articles (over eight months) in the Newshopper’s Young Reporters competition and will now receive a letter of recognition and their names in the official Award Ceremony Brochure.
Barnaby Marchant (Year 7) has achieved 8th place in the Graduate Nationals Sailing at Chipstead – particularly notable as he was crewing for a senior team.
Luca Thurlow (Year 5) won a gold medal in the BMX London Youth Games event in Peckham – winning all his MOTOs (rounds) to become the BMX Champion of London.
Alberta Green and Emerson Willis (Year 3) had auditions with the Royal Ballet Associate programme in London. Emerson has been accepted into the National Youth Ballet and separately into the Young Dancer’s Association in London (a vocational school) on their Junior Associate programme.
Benjamin and Felix Tynan (Years 8 and 2 respectively) have attended an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace to see their mother (Clare Barnfather) receive an MBE for her work on major events like NATO, Commonwealth Games and promoting the UK abroad to help create jobs and growth.
Elizabeth Reczek and her friends in Year 6 organised and ran a successful cake sale raising over £110 for the charity Shelter.
Daphne Pratt (Year 10) is set to play in two International tennis tournaments abroad - the ITF (International Tennis Federation) matches in Paraguay at the end of July Daphne is now the 188th ranked woman in Great Britain – a list which includes professional players

I am delighted, in conclusion, to report that next year’s School Captains will be Caroline Hedley and Will Rowlands.  It is of particular interest that ALL of this year’s shortlisted candidates (Will, Caroline, Amy Grant, Jade Lindo, Olivia Carruthers-Jones and Oli Stavrinidis ) joined us from the prep school six years ago.

Best wishes
Richard Russell  

Old Colfeian Claire Rafferty has helped make history as part of the first England women’s team to win a knock out game in the World Cup.

Claire who plays left-back helped the Lionesses  win the knock out stages, beating Norway 2-1 and reaching the last eight.  The tournament’s underdogs hope to make history again with a win in the quarter-finals against hosts Canada in Vancouver at the weekend. 

Speaking exclusively to Colfe’s after the match, Claire said, “It feels amazing to have made history. We gave everything as a team and felt like the journey was yet to be over. The team spirit is very strong and I think that is what is making the difference.

“As for Canada we are confident that we can beat them.  However it will be in front of a sell-out home crowd so we are expecting it to be very hostile but we are not fazed by this. We owe them one from the Olympics when they knocked us out in the quarters in front of our home crowd.” 

Check out the bbc highlights of the last match.

Our victory in the inaugural School Series Formula E grand prix in Battersea Park ten days ago was a fitting climax to a year of magnificent success. Luke Ide’s victory (by a margin of 0.4 of a second), represented a collective achievement for all the boys and girls who had participated in the planning and construction process, skilfully guided by the Physics and Design technology departments. We are grateful to Mr Fishwick and Mr Zivanovic for their vision and to PAFA for their financial support. It was a good day for the independent sector in general with Highgate School occupying one of the other positions on the podium.  (Photographs of this and many other events are published here.) 

More conventional achievement was celebrated in the Prize Giving ceremonies which took place last week for the Prep school and the lower years in the Senior school (7-9). The Prep School Art Exhibition was on display for both occasions. This year the theme was historical and pupils have been working for many months to produce a wonderful accumulation of work. Thanks to Mrs Higgs for her outstanding leadership and expert guidance. Chairman of Governors, Ian Russell, presided at the Prep School ceremony with characteristic enthusiasm and support. Ian will be stepping down from the Chair after the Autumn Visitation next term and the Prize Giving was an opportunity for us to thank him for all he has done over nearly a decade as Chairman. One of many tangible benefits arising from Ian’s period of office is that our relationship with the Leathersellers’ Company is now stronger than it has ever been and it was therefore a particular pleasure to welcome Master Leatherseller Dr Anthony Watson with his wife Janie to the Lower School event the following evening. Dr Watson spoke effusively about the school’s achievements this year, singling out the success of the Tougher Minds programme which is doing so much to develop our learning culture. 

Cultural highlights of the final weeks of the term have included the Lower School musical Seussical (years 8 and 9). Our thanks and congratulations to Mr Gregg who was directing his first Colfe's production. The Prep School production of Macbeth was also a directing first, this time for Mr Heil: Year 6 pupils rose magnificently to the challenge of a highly (un)Shakespearean text and the result was truly entertaining. Thanks also to Mrs Hall and Miss Grover, along with other PPN colleagues, for their end of term production Two Left Feet. It was a particular honour to present Year 2 pupils with their certificates as they leave the Pre-prep and prepare to move up to the Prep in September.

Other wonderful events of recent weeks have included the LAMDA presentation evening in the senior school, the sports awards presentation evening at the Old Colfeians and the inaugural Year 9 Poetry Recitation Competition. The CCF Annual Parade was, as ever, the result of many hours of painstaking preparation on the part of Major Cherry and his colleagues. Lieutenant Colonel James Cleverly MP was the inspecting officer this year. His words of commendation were well received by all, including his older son Freddie who was one of a record number of Year 8 recruits this year.

This year's PAFA Ball moved to Eltham Palace, a fabulous venue which was much appreciated by the many guests. Thanks to PAFA Chair Helen West and her Deputy Tina Patel for their meticulous preparation in advance of the event. PAFA's support and generosity have been much to the fore this year and we are deeply grateful to Helen and her colleagues. The Colfeian community also turned out in force for the Old Colfeians' first family day where much fun was had by many of our future ‘Old Colfeians’.  Thank you to Development officer Russell Joyce for his organisation of the event, ably supported by the Old Colfeians' Society and their Chairman, Martin Cartwright.

Top Colfe's debaters got through to the last 12 out of 288 teams which entered this year's Debating Matters competition, sponsored by the Institute of Ideas. Congratulations to Marcus Brockman, Henry Chapman, Radhika Morally and David Battersby. Thanks also to Mr Dunsmore for that he has done this year to promote debating at Colfe's.

Congratulations also to mathematicians Arthur Drury and Dan Kelly (Year 8) who performed outstandingly well in the national Junior Maths Olympiad 2015.   Out of the top mathematicians in the country who qualified to sit the Olympiad, Arthur achieved a distinction – putting him the top 25% (those scoring 28 plus) and Dan attainted a Merit (8-27). Well done also to Pippa Britton (Year 11) who has been selected for invitation to the Summer School for Girls 2015 – held at Balliol College Oxford - following her outstanding performance in the IMC and IMOK Kangaroo papers. 

In athletics, I was delighted to present the Greenwich Schools Championship trophy to our Year 9 boys in assembly on Monday. Individuals who won their events included Tom Simpson (1500m), Luke Okosieme (High Jump and 2nd in the 200m), Nathaniel St Louis-Mason (2nd in the 100m with a new personal best of 11.4 seconds). Luke Okosieme and James Back-Wilkins (200m) will represent London in the English Schools Championships later this summer. We are particularly grateful to Mrs Tickner for her support of school athletics over the last two years.  

Our greatest success in boys' cricket this year has been with the Lower School teams, with the U12s reaching the semi-finals of the London Cup (yet to be played.) U12, U13 and U14s all defeated Eltham College in the course of the last week, with Matthew Walker scoring 114 not out, our first century of the season. Thanks, as ever, to Mr Clinton and to our most loyal and dedicated 1st X1 Captain, Christopher Hill.

The second John Glyn Society lecture this term was delivered by Old Colfeian, Dr Paul Olding, BAFTA nominated TV and Film Director, producer and writer. His talk provided a fascinating insight into the world of documentary making, amongst other things, drawing on his experience of producing programmes on Science, History and many other subjects. He devoted at least five minutes to the subject of managing Brian Cox and left us with the impression that more remained to be said. 

Recent individual achievements, amongst many, include the following:

• Show Jumper, Georgia Noone (Year 10) who represented her riding club at the regional team qualifiers and won.  She is now through to the national junior intermediate finals in September.
• Georga Halloumas represented Greenwich in the London Youth Games Judo tournament winning gold for the third year running and helping Greenwich girls finish second out of thirty boroughs. In the last month Georga also won bronze at the London Open - gold at the Northern Home Counties Championships and silver at the Kent International.
• Gymnast Sophia Clark (Year 9) won 1st place (hoop routine), 2nd place (rope) and 4th place (clubs) at the London Spring Cup. She was nominated by the judging panel as Miss Kent 2015.  Sophia is in the top 3 in London for Juniors Grade 9 after the Nationals at the end of June.
• Luca Thurlow (Year 5) won the Leeds Castle Aquathalon by 30 seconds with a final time of 7.38 minutes.
• Kate and Arthur Drury (Years 10 and 8 respectively) performed in the Jazz and Folk bands at the Moldova Charity concert in Croydon.
• Colfe’s Office Manager Phillippa Keogh is taking part in the Community Opera at the Blackheath Halls performing Mozart’s Idomeneo later this month.
• Eddy Miles (Year 9) played with the Animate Orchestra in the Lewisham Gala at the Royal Festival Hall. Eddy devised ways of creating music electronically using all sorts of different media – for this, her performance involved a whiteboard covered in silver foil!
• Music Scholar, Ruby Collins (Year 11) has reached the finals of the national Music for Youth Festival playing bassoon with a six-piece woodwind group at Birmingham’s Recital Hall.
• Luke Ide (Year 10) took part in rounds 3 and 4 of the BNL Kart Series – this time held in Ostricourt, France.  Luke finished with the overall lead by six points.  The final two rounds take place in Belgium at the end of August.

As ever, the end of the Summer Term is marked by the departure of a number of teaching colleagues who will be moving from Colfe's at the end of the year. We are deeply grateful to the following and wish them well for the future: Mrs Brack (English), Ms le Hur (Classics), Ms Danielewicz (Physics), Miss Hargrave (Science), Miss Ackers (Biology), Mrs Tickner (Geography and athletics) and Mrs Karavidas (English). Katie Henderson, Max Collett and Charlotte Bryant will also be moving on, having contributed greatly to the success of our games programme  this year.

In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues, teaching and otherwise, for all that they have done to make this year such a success. When pupils return at the end of the summer the Stewart Building will be open and our first Leatherseller Scholars will be starting the Sixth Form.  We have much to look forward to.

Best wishes to all for the summer.

Richard F Russell

The official opening of the new Stewart Building two weeks ago was a wonderful success, with many distinguished visitors returning to the school including our official Visitor, Prince Michael of Kent. Prince Michael was much impressed with all that he saw, including our Formula E racing car. As a Grand Prix enthusiast, he was especially pleased to hear of our victory in the Schools’ Series last summer.

The prize giving ceremony which followed was, as ever, an opportunity to celebrate the many achievements of our pupils last year. The final prize of the evening, however, was awarded by Prince Michael not to a pupil but to our outgoing Chairman of Governors, Ian Russell. Ian has been a constant source of support to me and my colleagues throughout his nine years in the chair. His lasting legacy includes a closer relationship with the Leathersellers' Company than we have had for many decades. The Leathersellers' generosity is most obviously reflected in their recent donation of £1 million to our bursary fund. Other forms of support are not so easily quantified, but they are many and various. I am delighted that Ian will remain on the board as a governor, having handed the Chairman's baton to Matthew Pellereau, a Past Master of the Company.  

The Stewart Building was also a central focus of last Saturday's Open Day. The Sixth Form facilities in particular put us well ahead of our competitors in the independent sector. Record numbers came to the school in glorious sunshine and interest in entry to Colfe's at all levels is at a higher level than ever.

Year 7 pupils who joined the senior school just a month ago are already in the Lake District for Outdoor Pursuits, also enjoying the Indian summer. Even the arrival of the Headmaster, exceptionally, failed to bring the rain on this occasion and I was delighted to see how successfully all our new pupils have settled in. I am particularly grateful to Chris Cherry and his team for sending regular bulletins, complete with photos, to Year 7 parents. Prior to departing for the Lake District, Chris Cherry led the Year 4 trip to Grangewaters in Thurrock, reflecting the importance of Outdoor Education throughout the age range. 

U6th students are already well-advanced in their UCAS applications, with many able to quote valuable work experience completed during the summer. I am extremely grateful to all the Colfe's parents who offered such valuable opportunities and hope that you will continue to work with us in this important area next year and beyond. Medicine looks set to be our most popular choice of degree course this year and we were accordingly delighted to welcome Professor Susan Standring back to Colfe's on Tuesday evening to address the John Glyn scholars’ society. Since retiring from her chair in the medical faculty at King's College London, Professor Standring has chaired the editorial committee charged with updating Gray's Anatomy, the 41st edition of which was published less than a week ago. The subject of her lecture was the History of Anatomy, starting with Hippocrates and finishing with keyhole surgery via Aristotle, Galen and many subsequent anatomists.  

Pupils in the Pre-prep and Nursery have specialised in Geography recently, immersing themselves in a subject which has become one our most popular and successful in the senior school: 68% of A level entries in Geography this year were graded A* or A. Meanwhile Sixth Form students of Art and Graphics spent a weekend in Margate at the start of their A level courses to gain inspiration from a landscape most famously associated with Joseph Turner. 

Last week's House Drama competition in the senior school was a particularly good advertisement for the house system, with 6th Form pupils directing their younger counterparts. Upwards of 100 pupils were involved in one way or another. The victorious production, Bramley House's version of Cinderella, was clever and entertaining in equal measure. Shortly afterwards, however, the House Maths Challenge was won by Norton House.

The equally competitive Modern Languages department celebrated the European Day of Languages with a Senior/Prep School languages competition: congratulations to Aquila/Prendergast and special mention to Edward Honeyman, Alexios Philalithis and Sahil Chitre (all Year 6) who won individual prizes.   

The serious matter of "legal" highs was the subject of a presentation to senior school parents last week, jointly organised by PAFA and the Personal and Social Education department in the senior school. It was good to see the event so well attended, given the growing challenge presented by this new generation of recreational drugs which seems to be forever a step ahead of the relevant legislation.  

On the sports field our Year 7 rugby players did very well in their first game this season – a block fixture against Brentwood with convincing wins for the U12 A and B teams. Not to be out-done, the Prep School U10 team won their annual fixture with St Christopher's in a tightly fought game. The eventual score was 15-10 in our favour with excellent tries scored by Louis Manning and Luca Droghieri.

Netballers have also started the season well with U9’s (Year 4) playing well against Farringtons and securing a 9-2 victory. Every girl in Year 7 was out on the netball court last weekend playing their first competitive game for the school with our Gold squad beating Blackheath High A team 9-1 and our Navy Squad winning 3-1, whilst in hockey our U13 girls reached the semi-finals of the Sevenoaks Tournament. Prep School swimmers won their first gala of the season, victorious over five other schools, including Blackheath Prep and Merton Court.

Congratulations, in conclusion, to all the Colfeian athletes throughout the school who took part in the world’s largest children’s triathlon at Hever Castle last weekend.  There were some outstanding performances including Luca Thurlow (Year 6) who achieved second place - completing the event in 27.44 minutes. 

Other individual achievements over the last two weeks have included the following:

• Music scholar Ruby Collins (Year 12) collected a national music award at the Royal Albert Hall as part of a quintet who beat 300 other UK entries to win the Music For Youth Chamber Music award - scooping a classical recording session.
• Show Jumper Georgia Noone (Year11) has competed in the end of season national Derby Show at Chepstow against over 100 competitors, taking part in each class.
• Luke Wilkes (Year 13) has qualified to compete at a horse riding national event at Hickstead later in the year.
• Jacob Jarman (Year 4) designed a new survival knife (which his brother Ben, Year 7 helped him to draw).  Jacob sent it to Bear Grylls and received an acknowledgement and signed photos.
• Old Colfeian brothers Max and Henry Dunmore have been enjoying great success as incipient entrepreneurs. Max is the face and half of the creative force behind a new protein bar, selling over 350 a week with a factory now set to commence mass-production, whilst older brother Henry is opening 9 smoothie/juice bars for Reebok Gyms!

The weeks following half term have been hugely busy across the school with highly successful open days in all parts of the school and record numbers of registrations, including more than 100 external pupils entered for the Sixth Form Scholarship exam tomorrow morning. The most consistent feature of all these occasions has been the outstanding contribution that pupils of all ages have made, acting as tour guides and helping with departmental and classroom displays.
 
Over 200 Colfeians joined our CCF Squadron last Sunday for the Remembrance Day service at the Horn Park War Memorial.  All those in attendance, including our youngest Colfeians, did justice to the dignity of the occasion which was led by the CCF Honour Guard. Wreaths were laid by representatives of the different parts of the school, the CCF squadron itself and, on behalf of the Old Colfeians, by Gregory Jones QC, erstwhile Head Boy and current President of the Old Colfeians. We are grateful to the Reverend Tony Collier who came out of retirement to lead the service.
 
On a related theme our cadets also had the opportunity to visit and honour the graves of the many Old Colfeians who gave their lives in service during the first and second world wars during a CCF trip to the Battlefields in France over half-term.  This was a special opportunity for our cadets to learn more about both wars from an ex-army tour guide.  Half-term also included a visit to Madrid – specifically the Sierra de Gredos - for our linguists and the 12th expedition to the Kotu School in the Gambia, with the pupils and staff this year building the second storey to the classroom block and developing the cultural and educational focus of the exchange through more active engagement with the community. Half Term sporting activity included a highly successful U14 rugby tour to Belfast with fixtures against some of the stronger provincial grammar schools. The boys in the year above (U15s) exited from the Kent Cup a week later, losing narrowly to Tonbridge in the quarter finals.
 
Cross-country runners performed particularly well in the first round of the Greenwich and Lewisham Cross Country League. This was the first of three meetings which we hosted.   With over 100 runners taking part across the two boroughs from Years 7-9, our Year 7 and 8 girls did well – coming third overall in the team event. Anna Hadingham and Freya Burton-Franklin were placed 4th and 5th respectively out of 26 competitors.   Other noteworthy performances included that of Amy Parton (2nd in the Year 9 girls’ race) and Louis Klanga (11th in the Year 9 boys’).   The Year 7 and 8 boys put in a superb performance coming 2nd overall with Year 6 pupil Luca Thurlow playing an important part in the team effort, coming 4th in the race and running faster than all the other Year 7 competitors. We look forward to the block rugby fixture against Eltham College tomorrow morning, having already secured a 4-0 victory in the corresponding 1st X1 hockey match yesterday.
 
Prep school netballers have had a busy first week back at school with the Year 3s taking part in their first ever competitive match for the school beating Breaside 3-0.  U10A and U11A teams showed great skill and sportsmanship during their fixture against Pointers at home, winning 24-2  and 15-0 respectively whilst Year 6 kept up the pressure in a block league fixture against Blackheath Prep winning 6 – 1 with the B teams winning both their matches. This means the U11A team are currently sitting top of the table having won all four of their league fixtures. 
 
45 pupils between Year 5 and Year 9 participated in a triangular swimming gala against Eltham College and Dulwich College last week. All schools put up A and B teams for 25 metre events and medley/freestyle relays. Although the school team narrowly lost out to Dulwich overall our Year 7 team was victorious, a really good result against strong opposition.
 
Meanwhile the senior Hans Woyda Maths team defeated Alleyn’s last Friday by 45 points to 31. Sixth formers Cheran Suriyaprakasam (Captain) and Emma Williams were ably supported by Nicholas Orde (Year 11) and Arthur Drury (Year 9). Their success takes them through to the next round of this prestigious competition. In English, we were delighted to welcome back children’s author Sam Hepburn who spoke to pupils in Years 7 and 8 and ran creative workshops throughout the day. Other educational highlights have included the Year 1 trip to the Tower of London and the Year 4 workshop on Indian Dance.
 
Last week’s senior school platform concert was possibly the best such occasion that we have seen in recent years, with the most wonderful variety of instrumental and vocal performances. Particular thanks to Mr Davies, our newest recruit to the Music department, who organized much of the programme. We now look forward to the Winter Concert on the 26th November.
 
Other forthcoming events include the PAFA Fireworks on the 20th November, for which tickets can be obtained from the school. PAFA Chair Helen West has asked me to thank all parents who have already volunteered to help with this event and would be delighted to receive other offers of support. Please contact her via the PAFA email: pafa@colfes.com.
 
I was delighted to hear of the successes achieved recently by the following members of the Colfe’s community:
•          Lettie Rainsford (Year 9) who was presented with a Jack Petchey Foundation Achievement award at a ceremony in the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre for her contribution to her guides group (based in Brockley).
•          Georga Halloumas (Year 10) who competed in the Southend International Judo event in a higher weight category for the first time.  14 year old Georga has begun training for the U17 cadet category for the National Championships in December.
•          Luke Ide (Year 11) competed in the Euro Max Series - Rotax International Open Karting event in Adria, Italy against 100 competitors from 25 countries. Highlights for Luke included qualifying 4th out of 41 drivers – finishing 2nd in his group.
•          Sophia Clark (Year 10) has been nominated by London Gymnastics to receive a Bronze Award for her rhythmic Gymnastics at the prestigious “Night of the Stars” ceremony in London on 28th November.  Sophia has been invited to compete in “La Lights” USA in January 2016.
•          Footballers Bea and Eloise Hembrough (Year 10 and 11 respectively) helped their team Charlton FC win a tournament in Swindon against five other clubs including Swindon Town and Plymouth Argyle.
•          Horse rider, Georgia Noone (Year 11) was chosen by her club for her high level of achievement to attend a lesson with World No 1 Show Jumper - Scott Brash MBE at his yard in Sussex.
•          Henrietta Englefield (Library Assistant) raised around £2,500 for the charity WaterAid by completing two 100km (63 mile) walks - each without stopping to sleep!
•          Lottie Davies (Year 11) has attended her first training and workshop weekend in Lewes in preparation for the One World Stage cross-cultural arts event (to take place next year) for young people from the UK and Ghana.
•          Old Colfeian Daniella Briscoe-Peaple, in her third year reading Classics at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, is now holding the prestigious position of Senior Production Editor for Varsity.  In addition, Daniella is teaching Latin at Mayfield – a local primary school.

In conclusion, I would be grateful if parents of senior school pupils could remember that we do not supervise children in school after 6.00 pm (Monday to Thursday) and 4.30 pm on Friday, with the obvious exception of those who are in detention. The closure of the school library coincides with these times by which all children should have left the premises. I would be particularly grateful if parents who collect their children from school could take note of these timings.
 

The hectic activity of recent weeks is now drawing to a close and pupils of all ages are to be congratulated on a most successful Autumn Term. We began the academic year on a successful note, with a record percentage of A* grades at A Level and the opening of the Stewart Building in the senior school. Since September, we have witnessed success across the age range, not least in rugby and netball in which no fewer than 18 Colfe’s pupils have played at County level or above.

UCAS offers continue to flood in and we wish our U6th pupils well with their applications for the most competitive courses. Despite the current disgruntlement within the medical profession about matters contractual, a total of eight pupils have applied for Medicine this year, which makes it the most popular choice of course. I was delighted to see a number of last year’s leavers in school recently, talking positively about the choices they had made and their (mainly positive) experiences of the first term at university.

I am grateful to Mrs Hall in the Pre-prep and Nursery who directed a marathon of Christmas productions over two days last week. It was great to see so many proud parents and grandparents in attendance and a full photographic record of each performance will be circulated by a secure link in the near future. This means, incidentally, that it is not necessary for parents to make their own recordings of the events, which we would prefer you not to do. Mrs Higgs directed the equally successful Prep School production of Three Little Pigs which played to a capacity crowd in the senior school hall.

The annual Carol Service in St Mary’s Lewisham featured choirs from all three sections of the school and incorporated the official inauguration of Father Steve Hall as the Colfe’s School Chaplain. This is particularly appropriate, given that Steve is Abraham Colfe’s successor, albeit somewhat distantly, as Vicar of St Mary’s. 

Further evidence of our strength in competitive mathematics came recently in the form of an emphatic victory over St Dunstan’s College in the Hans Woyda competition. This followed our previous success against Alleyn’s and sees us through to the knock-out phase of the competition. Meanwhile David Battersby and Tom Jenkins (both L6th) made it through to the next round of the English Speaking Union Mace competition in debating.

It has been a busy term for PAFA, culminating in the annual Christmas Fayre last Friday attended by pupils from the Prep, Pre-Prep and Nursery. Many thanks to PAFA Chair, Helen West, and her colleagues for all that they continue to do to support the school. The event raised £2,240, which will be split between Save the Children and Demelza House.  In the senior school, staff and pupils have raised an impressive £8,500 for charity so far this term which does not include the many House led charitable collections which included a contingent of pupils from Beardwood House travelling to St Martin-in-the-Fields to give essential items to The Connection, a charity which they have supported for the last four years.

Recent individual pupil achievements include the following:

• Ruby Collins (Year 12) who has been selected as first bassoon in the 2016 LSSO (London Schools Symphony Orchestra). Ruby is one of the youngest ever to be chosen to play principal at the Barbican
• Louis Richardson (Year 5) has been given a place in the National Children’s Orchestra and will therefore attend their residential course in the summer.
• 14 year old Georga Halloumas (Year 10) competed in the U17 British Judo Championships in Sheffield - the only first year girl (born 2001) in her category to win a fight. Georga ended the highest ranked for her year.
• Denny Ashison (Year 7) has recorded national times for swimming in the U12 and U13 freestyle events at the National Arena Swimming League Gala at Crook Log in Bexley.
• Henry Harris (Year 12) achieved his 1st Degree black belt in Taekwon-do which he’s been learning for over 5 years at Colfe’s. Congratulations to Nikolas Charalambous (Year 10) Emanuele Spaczil (Year 10) Jago Spiers (Year 8) and Etienne McElfresh (Year 9)who also passed their gradings.

The end of term sees the departure of Mrs Olivia Hamidzadeh from the Maths department after seven and a half years, most recently as assistant head of department. Her mastery of A level Further Mathematics has made her a particular tower of strength within the department and we wish her well in her new role at Wilson’s Grammar School. Mrs Alison Cobbin, pastoral deputy head, also leaves at the end of this term to take over as the Executive Head of the Dwight School in North London. Her promotion is richly deserved but we will miss her greatly. During her six years at Colfe’s Mrs Cobbin has done a huge amount to develop our pastoral care, notably through the introduction of vertical tutoring in the senior school which has served to strengthen the house system and promote vertical integration of year groups in the senior school. Mrs Donna Graham, currently senior mistress at Forest School, will take over as deputy head in September. For the next two terms I will be working closely with Mrs Susan O’Leary, Mrs Jane German and Heads of House to guarantee the quality of our pastoral care in the senior school.

My best wishes for Christmas and New Year to all of our pupils and their families. I look forward to seeing pupils back in school on Thursday, 7th January.

As the season for university applications draws to a close we are once again delighted by the range and quality of offers extended to our U6th pupils. No fewer than five have secured offers to read Medicine and the proportion of pupils destined for Russell Group universities, Oxford and Cambridge included, looks set to be higher than ever. The fact that so many of our top applicants are simultaneously engaged in so many other aspects of school life not only enhances the strength of their applications but also confirms our commitment to educational breadth and underscores the importance of engagement in the wider life at the school.  Each of our medical applicants, for example, had plenty to say at the all-important interview which is as much about spotting personal resilience as it is about Chemistry or Biology.

On a related point, I was extremely grateful to those of you who supported the Careers and Higher Education Convention just before half-term and more grateful still to Mrs Cardnell for co-ordinating the event. It was without doubt one of the most successful that we have held with over 300 people in attendance including students from local partner schools who were invited for the first time this year.  L6th pupils are now beginning to plan work experience for the summer break. As ever, we would be delighted to hear from parents who can offer placements in the main professional areas. Please email Mrs Cardnell direct on jcardnell@colfes.com.

A total of 50 Colfe’s pupils have won certificates in this term’s UK Intermediate Maths Challenge with four qualifying for the next regional stage of the competition. Well done to all of those who took part and special mentions for the top Gold certificate winners – Nicholas Orde, Lydia Fearn, Lemuel Wray and Kiera Vinall (Year 11) and Arthur Drury, Daniel Kelly and Elliott Swain (Year 9).  Arthur qualified to enter the next round known as the Cayley Olympiad putting him in the top 500 mathematicians in the country for his age group and Nicholas, Daniel and Elliott qualified for the Europe wide Kangaroo stage taken by pupils from over 30 countries worldwide.   Arthur also joined three other talented mathematicians, Charlotte Kirk (Year 9), and Panos Philalithis and Joe Byard-Golds (both Year 8) to represent Colfe’s at the regional finals of the UKMT (United Kingdom Mathematical Trust) Team Maths Challenge, where they came in seventh place out of thirty top schools in London including St Paul's and City of London. 

Irish guitarist, Manus Noble and Australian cellist, Jehanne Bastoni performed for our John Glyn Scholars Society last week, having previously led master classes for Colfe’s pupils earlier in the afternoon. The programme included classical and contemporary pieces, with a particular focus on the versatility of the guitar as an instrument. Other recent musical highlights have included an interactive experience with a symphony orchestra during a Year 2 visit to the LSO at the Barbican and future events include the Senior School production of Oliver (tickets available from www.ticketsource.co.uk/colfes) this week and the Spring Concert.

The myths of the ancient Greeks played a central part in the Year 3 celebration of National Book Week whilst older prep pupils spent the day in literary costume. Meanwhile more than 30 senior school pupils in Years 7 to 9 participated successfully with other schools in a collective attempt to set a new Guinness world record for simultaneous participation in a book quiz. 

Year 8 returned on Friday from a successful week in North Wales as part of our Outdoor Education programme. Resilience was in higher demand than usual when the weather turned to snow in the second half of the week. Year 9 will be hoping for more clement conditions when they head for the woods of Oxfordshire for Bushcraft in the final week of term. More conventional recent school visits have included the Science Museum (Year 3) and the Natural History Museum (Year 4).

Netball has been our area of most conspicuous success in recent weeks with the senior team defeating Eastbourne College and winning a place in the semi-finals of the national tournament. The same team won the Eltham College tournament for the third year in a row, defeating JAGS, Eltham and Alleyn’s en route to lifting the trophy. Their junior (Year 6) counterparts have now progressed to the final stage of the IAPS national competition which takes place in Brighton this weekend. My thanks, as ever, to Mrs Rayes, Mrs Pearson and Miss Holder for all that they continue to do to maintain our fantastic national netball profile. Meanwhile eight of our Prep swimmers in Years 5 and 6 performed commendably at the Kent Primary Schools competition in Medway Park last Sunday.  Congratulations to Alexios Philalithis, Joe Glover, Matthew Maifredi, Zach Kirkman, Roshanak Li-Sue Foulds, Daisy Porter, Tilly Manuel and Olivia McAuliffe.  Joe and Matthew were awarded medals for their performances in breaststroke and backstroke respectively.

Other individual achievements include:

• David Battersby (Year 12) who spoke as a delegate to the Green Party Spring conference in Harrogate.
• Music Scholar Ruby Collins (Year 12) who played both contra bassoon and bassoon with the LSSO at a sell-out concert (2,500 capacity) at the Royal Festival Hall in a musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Minpins.  The production was organised by Roald Dahl’s Widow and narrated by TV star Richard Ayoade (the IT Crowd).
• Ethan Pippard (Year 4) who won a competition to meet with some of the England Rugby players after their victory over Ireland in the Six Nations at Twickenham.  Ethan took part in a Q&A session with the players, collected autographs and was chauffeur-driven home (with family and friends) in a brand new BMW X5.
• Phillippa Keogh (Colfe’s Office Manager) is performing in Haydn’s Creation at Blackheath Halls on the 20th March. 

A term of hectic but productive activity reached a musical crescendo in the senior school last week with the Spring Concert and Oliver, the latter playing to full houses four days running. Oliver Guindi’s portrayal of Fagin was particularly memorable and the numerous cast included pupils from every age group in the senior school. More music followed this week with the Year 5 concert, an extravaganza of music and dance which reflected so well upon the prep school. Meanwhile Nursery and Reception classes donned beautifully decorated Easter Bonnets to perform in their Easter Assembly to an appreciative audience of parents and special guests. Our Prep and PPN choirs did very well in the recent Bromley Festival of Music and Speech, with the prep choir winning an honours certificate with 84 marks, just two marks below the competition winners. The pre-prep competition was equally closely fought, with the PPN choir (Year 2 and below) missing out on the winning position by just one point. Thanks to all my colleagues who played such a central part in all these performances and productions, including Ruth Hall and Sue Watts (pre-prep and prep,) and Richard Gregg and Emma Bond (senior school.)
On Wednesday evening I was delighted to meet many of the parents of pupils who are due to join the Nursery and Reception classes for the first time. Later that evening, I met up with the prefects at their annual dinner in the Royal Blackheath Golf Club, on which more below. The two events complemented each other well, with one focussed on those about to join us and the other on those who will be leaving at the end of this academic year, in many cases after 15 years at Colfe’s.
Royal Blackheath prides itself on being the oldest golf club in the world and I am delighted to report that Colfe’s will be more closely associated with the club in the near future. We anticipate adding golf lessons to the range of prep-school clubs next autumn. As we get closer to the summer, senior school pupils (boys and girls) may wish to consider the Club’s Introduction to Golf scheme. Please go to http://www.royalblackheath.com/introduction_to_golf for further details.  
This may also be of interest to adults (there are two schemes) and the club would be delighted to hear from pupils or parents.

Year 9 pupils return today from Bushcraft in the woods of Hertfordshire and forthcoming Easter holiday events include a senior school ski trip in the French Alps for 60 pupils. Debaters will participate in an international competition in Bratislava which will entail four days of high-level debate on a range of international issues. Closer to home, the Colfe’s Debating Competition on the 17th April has now attracted entries from more than 40 teams. This is one of only three such school-based competitions nationwide (the others are held at Eton and Dulwich) and I am extremely grateful to Mr Dunsmore for his ongoing support for this most important activity.

Engineers in Years 7-9 launched twelve rocket cars this week (each pupil designing and building their own car) to see whose could reach 25 metres in the fastest time.  This competition was part of the national Bloodhound project which aims to use a 1000mph world land speed record attempt to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and mathematicians. It was a pleasure to welcome one of the project’s ambassadors Tony Barber who came to speak to the pupils about the project.

Elsewhere in the school our PHSEE programme continued with a lecture for both our senior and junior school parents on various forms of addictive technology. This is also a central aspect of the Tougher Minds programme in the senior school and follows on from a high profile visit from the Irish boy band ‘Taken’ earlier in the term who, as well as singing some of their most recent hits, spoke eloquently and directly on the subject of cyber bullying.  Finally well done to all our budding journalists who again took part in the BBC Schools report this week.

One of many recent sporting highlights has been the success of our U11 netballers who put in a strong performance at the IAPS National Finals against 40 of the top Independent schools in the UK, winning three of their nine matches and finishing 6th in their group.  This is the third time in recent years that Colfe’s has reached the National Finals of this prestigious competition. The 1st XI football team finished the season on a high with victory over Sevenoaks. The 2nd X1 were also successful and the U14s ended with a thrilling 3-3 draw. The U15 rugby Sevens team lost narrowly to Chislehurst and Sidcup in the final of the Dartford Competition and no fewer than thirty-six of our players (U13, U16 and Seniors) took part in the National School Sevens tournament at Rosslyn Park, the largest school rugby tournament in the world. All teams did well with the highlight being the senior V11’s emphatic victory over Eltham College 31-19.
Best of luck also to Mr Bene Medhurst who leaves us at the end of this term to take up a senior role elsewhere after three action-packed and highly successful years at Colfe’s. Mr Medhurst has been a mainstay of school sport in both prep and senior schools. He leaves with our thanks and best wishes.

Individual achievements this term include:

• Freya Williams (year 6) who took part in the London Regional Floor and Vault Gymnastics Championships – against 30 contestants in her Bronze group. Freya ‘Pinned’ (moved up a level) came first in the group and got a trophy for the highest floor score.
• Louis Richardson (Year 5) won Grade 5 Guitar class at the Bromley Music Festival and won the Rutter Cup for the third year running for the highest mark (93) awarded in the class.  He also won the Grade 6/7 Bass class winning a trophy for the highest mark achieved in strings.
• Showjumper, Georgia Noone (Year 11) who is taking part in the Summer Show Season – the first competition takes place at Norton Heath Equestrian Centre in Essex on Saturday.  As well as her own horse, Georgia has been asked to ride another owner’s horse (a great honour) - riding in two classes on each horse.
• Old Colfeian David Brinson’s debut novel, Dead South, has reached the Top 10 Best Selling Horror Books just behind Stephen King and Max Brooks and is now sold in nine countries around the world including the USA and Australia.
• Max Dunmore who graduated from Colfe’s Sixth Form in 2012 has launched this week an International line of Health Food Bars  http://maxbars.co.uk/our-story/.

Leading Irish Historian, Professor Paul Bew, came to Colfe’s on Wednesday to address the John Glyn Society. His purpose was to place the 1916 Dublin Easter Rising in perspective in this, its centenary year, and to identify some of the more important aspects of its legacy. Having opened with the claim that the rebellion was not in fact necessary, arguing that Ireland in the early 20th century was on a continuum towards independence regardless, he went on to cover a remarkable historical landscape, presenting a vivid picture of modern Irish history to an audience for whom this was largely uncharted territory. Having recently retired from his chair in Irish Politics at Queen’s University Belfast, Lord Bew currently combines his academic work with chairmanship of the Committee for Standards in Public Life as a cross bench peer in the House of Lords.

The previous week the standard of evidence presented by Old Colfeian Oliver Robbins to the House of Commons Select Committee was found wanting by Chairman Keith Vaz who “excused” him after he had failed to answer a direct question nine times in succession: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/12/top-civil-servant-kicked-out-of-parliament-committee-for-unsatis/. Oliver attended Colfe’s in the 1990s. Senior colleagues report that his explanations for missing homework were of an exceptional quality.

Colfe’s debating sustained its recent upward trajectory last Sunday with a highly successful inaugural Colfe’s competition which attracted 40 entries from schools across the South East – both independent and state.  The Colfe’s competition is one of only three such events nationwide, the other two being hosted by Dulwich and Eton. Lower Sixth debaters had previously travelled to an international debating competition in Bratislava over the Easter holidays. David Battersby, Maria Mobio and Natasha Dixon all performed extremely well and won four of six high-level debates which placed them tenth out of the 36 countries taking part. I am grateful to Mr Dunsmore who has so successfully driven the resurgence of senior school debating in recent years.

Other successful Easter trips included a geography field trip to Iceland and two ski trips. 60 staff and pupils in the senior school went to Les Menuires in the Three Valleys and a Prep party of 46 went to Serre Chevalier in south-eastern France, the largest prep skiing trip in recent memory. More recently, Year 5 pupils have visited the Science Museum. Highlights included a talk from an astronaut. Year 5 have also been busy preparing for their first residential outdoor pursuits trip next week the Kingswood Outdoor Education facility in Ashford.  Meanwhile senior school cadets are leaving today (Friday) for their CST training at Folkestone. This will prepare them to lead the next generation of cadets which will be recruited from year 8 later this term.

The prospect of public examinations is of course the key priority in the senior school in the Summer Term and pupils in the top three year groups are working with focus and purpose, employing the strategies and study techniques which we have developed in conjunction with the Tougher Minds consultancy which is now also engaged in a new pilot programme with Year 7 pupils. As ever, places at the top courses in the top universities will require top grades and I am delighted that our U6th pupils have set their sights at a suitably high level, with six Colfeians now holding conditional offers to read Medicine and three with offers from Oxford and Cambridge. The application process for the L6th year group will soon commence. Extended essays (EPQ) produced by the U6th have included studies on gender inequality in comedies, the Spanish economy and Brexit.  

The semi-finals of the Prep School poetry competition are now under way, managed and directed by Mrs Tullis.  Every pupil took part through learning and performing a poem of their choice and the four finalists will perform in front of the whole school next week.  This has been a fantastic initiative which has fostered important learning skills and confidence in public performance.  

Prep School pupils (Lynx House) are also raising money this term for the British Heart Foundation. They will be pleased to hear that the Leathersellers’ Company has committed to matching whatever funds they raise, as is the case with other school charitable activity, thus doubling our contributions to a range of deserving causes.  We are now embarking on a senior school initiative to raise money for Scope, a charity for the disabled which is led by David Brinson, Old Colfeian, who addressed the whole senior school in assembly last Monday. 

In sport, our PE and games coaching staff spent the staff training day prior to the start of this term with Olympic decathlon champion Dean Macey. External input of such calibre is of immense benefit to teachers and ultimately reflected in the performance of our pupils who have made a good start to the term. In particular, Colfe’s tennis players (boys and girls) in Years 7 and 8 had a good start to the Kent Schools tournament beating Bexley Grammar School in the first round. Year 9 and 10 girls narrowly missed out on a win, losing on a tie break, and our outstanding U18 netballers eventually ran out of steam against Cheadle Hulme in the quarter finals of the National Plate competition. For the U6th players in this team, this marks the conclusion of their netball careers at Colfe’s, in some cases spanning more than a decade. All these girls have been outstanding role models throughout their time with us and their legacy will doubtless be reflected in future trophies to be won by succeeding generations.

Colfeians of all ages (pupils and teachers alike) took part in the Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice Mini Marathon at the weekend. The field included Pre-Prep and Nursery pupils who deserve special mention. Luca Thurlow (Year 6) was placed 8th in the London Schools cross country competition and therefore qualified for the National Schools Championships. Meanwhile Prep School swimmers took part in the annual Individual Gala, with pupils in Years 3 to 6 competing against each other in 25m events in Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly.  A total of 100 pupils were involved in this competition which may be a record in itself. Noteworthy performances were recorded by Noemie Klanga, Leo Walker, Jack Murphy and Emily Deveney who were our Year 3 and 4 Individual Gala winners. Winners in the Year 5 and Year 6 competitions were Roshanak Li-Sue Foulds, Jacob Walker, Alexios Philalithis and Daisy Porter.

We also took three pupils to the London Schools Swimming Championships for the first time in four years. Ben Jarman, Panos Philalithis and Denny Ashison all qualified for the 50m Butterfly and Denny also qualified for 50m Breaststroke.  Both Panos and Denny improved on their personal best times and Ben finished within seconds of his. Meanwhile Mrs Pearson, Year 5 teacher and Head of Girls’ PE and Games in the Prep School, is now a British swimming triple gold medallist (backstroke) as a result of her outstanding performance in the British Masters in Sheffield. We wish her well for the European Championships in May.

Other individual achievements so far this term include:

• Ela Ertan (Year 12) achieved a distinction in Grade 8, solo acting for LAMDA.
• Music scholar Ruby Collins (Year 12) joined world renowned conductor Dominic Wheeler to play bassoon and contra-bassoon for a sell-out performance of the Opera Oberon by Weber at the Barbican.
• Nicholas Orde (Year 11) successfully sat the European-wide Kangaroo Maths challenge only just missing out on getting into the top 25%.
• Arthur Drury (Year 9) impressively achieved a Merit in the national Cayley Mathematics Olympiad. He achieved full marks on two of the questions from the six set.
• Former Colfeian, Elliot Roofe (studying History at Exeter University) played for the Exeter Braves (the Exeter Chiefs reserve squad) against Wasps in Rugby Union last Monday – beating them by an impressive 47-0.  Exeter Chiefs are currently 3rd in the Aviva Premiership League.
• Biology teacher, Dr Jonathan Lappin is running the Hackney Half Marathon on the 8th May and the Copenhagen Marathon on the 22nd – an impressive 39.3 miles in total. 

I left Colfes in 2009, and sometimes see OC emails or faceposts about charity event OCs are doing. Wondered if you'd consider popping one up for me (fine if not!)I'm running the SuperHero 10k in Regents Park in May to raise money for BeyondAutism. I worked for them for 20 months and it's an amazing school, changing lives of autisitic children across London. 

Earlier this year they launched a fundraising campaign at Downing St to fund a new school building. This 10k will add to the rainy day fund which buys vital teaching resources and other things the pupils need.

To see the video they launched at No 10 Downing Street, click here.

My fundraising page is here. 

Thanks!!

Bryden Commons