Miss Williams' end of term letter to parents, April 2008
4th April 2008
Dear Parents and Guardians,
This has been a busy and productive half-term. The GCSE examinations are already underway and I know Year 10 and Year 11 girls will continue to follow their revision programme during the holiday period. Girls in Year 6 will sit the Standard Assessment Tests in English, Mathematics and Science in May
Nursery children have enjoyed making bottle gardens, growing ‘tuffets’ and making sheep to sit on them, as part of their Nursery Rhyme topic. They have also planted seedlings which they will transfer to the cottage garden when the weather warms up.
Reception Class had a wonderful time when they went to Hall Farm, Lillingstone Lovell and saw lambs and calves.
As part of their History topic ‘Children in the Second World War’, Year 3 visited Bletchley Park. First of all they were shown the Toy Museum and saw lots of homemade toys that were from the war years. They were shown what life was like on the Home Front – the gas masks people wore, the rations a family could expect for a week, how to ‘make do and mend’ and ‘dig for victory’.
Year 3 girls also enjoyed participating in the Music for Youth Regional Festival in Aylesbury. Their presentation of Postcards from South America – percussion and vocal music, supported by creative writing from their literacy lessons and dance was colourful and exciting.
A number of pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 are coming to the end of a ten week Mind Lab programme. This programme focuses on learning through fun and hands-on experience. Mind Lab uses board games from around the world as a tool to engage and teach children effective thinking and to improve their social and emotional intelligence. The children experience the difference that these newly learnt skills make to their game playing and then learn, and are motivated, to apply these new skills to their lives. This activity will be open to Year 4 girls next term. Congratulations to Amy Radford and Keeley Williams who have been selected as part of the Milton Keynes team to participate in the UK Mind Lab Olympics.
Year 6 enjoyed an informative morning in Buckingham when they were given a tour by Lilian McDonald, a blue badge guide. The girls explored many of the back streets of Buckingham, noting Victorian features. The group were shown where the wharf used to be for the goods carried on barges along the canal, the many stage coach inns along with the two toll houses which originally stood on the main road through Buckingham, and the site of the old railway station. The class finally arrived at the gaol still used in Victorian times and were able to visit the cells and note the costumes worn by the gaoler.
Year 11 pupils were pleased to welcome the Right Honourable John Bercow MP as part of their Careers Education and Guidance programme. Mr Bercow talked to the girls about his role as a constituency MP and his life in Westminster and answered their questions.
We have enjoyed a number of instrumental and group concerts this term. Year 11 girls studying Music at GSCE also performed their examination pieces for us. Their compositions were of a particularly high quality and some had to be performed by Mrs Sherry and the peripatetic staff because of the degree of difficulty. Congratulations to all who have taken part.
Girls studying GCSE Dance presented the pieces they are submitting to the examiner earlier this week. Dances the girls had choreographed were presented by pupils in Year 9 and Year 10. The standard both of work and performance was excellent. Well done.
I was very pleased to present Certificates of Achievement and cups to the many girls who competed successfully in the Milton Keynes Festival of the Arts for Music, Dance and Speech and Drama. We enjoyed a lovely day of choral music during the festival when three of our choirs participated. We were delighted when both the Year 3 and Year 4 group and the Year 5 and Year 6 group gained Distinctions and the adjudicator commented upon the high standard of performance. The Year 5 and Year 6 group was awarded joint 1st place with Beachborough School. The Year 9 choir sang with sensitivity in the Senior School section and were awarded a Commended certificate.
Congratulations go to O. Steans who was selected to represent Great Britain in an international dressage event at Addington Manor. On the final day she came first in one of the classes. Well done!
We are continuing to support the work of the Food Bank based at the Oldbrook Christian Centre in Milton Keynes. The centre provides basic food supplies for a short period of time for people who have no income. An emergency appeal received during Lent prompted a very generous response from the girls.
We were delighted to welcome the Cantabile Choir to Thornton on March 7th. The choir provided a lively and varied programme of vocal music interspersed with solos from four of our girls. The Friends of Thornton organised the refreshments for this event and the proceeds will go towards the library project.
The Friends of Thornton have also purchased three storage units for play equipment and have pledged money for library books, for a new gardening club project, maths games, basketball shirts, play equipment and wooden presentation letters. Preparations are well underway for the Leavers’ Ball to be held at Whittlebury Hall on Friday 27th June and for the Summer Fete, which will take place on the 15th June, Fathers’ Day. You will have received four books of raffle tickets which we would ask you to sell on our behalf. Your daughter may request further tickets. The individual pupil who sells the most books will receive an ‘ipod nano’ and the class selling the most tickets will receive a special prize. This is calculated according to the number of pupils in each form.
Parents of girls in Year 9 and 10 may like to consider weekly boarding from September. We do have a limited number of study bedrooms available. Please contact the school office for further details.
I would like to remind parents that girls should not bring chocolates, sweets or crisps to school. Please ensure that any snack provided for break-time is healthy, preferably fruit.
Looking forward to next term we hope the weather will be warm enough for the girls to return in their summer uniforms. However, if the weather is inclement they may wear their winter uniform until Tuesday 6th May.
Sister Mary James and I together with the community and staff wish you a happy holiday. We look forward to welcoming the girls back on Tuesday 29th April (Boarders return Monday 28th April 5.00pm - 6.30pm)
Yours sincerely
Agnes T. Williams
Headmistress
Miss Williams' end of term letter to parents, December 2007
18th December 2007
Dear Parents and Guardians
We were delighted to be listed in ‘The Times Top Senior Schools’ once again this year, and also to be featured in ‘The Times Top Preparatory Schools’. I was very proud of the results achieved by the girls and their teachers. League tables can only ever tell part of the story when it comes to judging the success of any school. The fact that girls are not selected for the school according to their academic ability is an indication of the excellent progress they make here and it is gratifying that the excellent academic achievements are recognised at a national level.
The building of the new Expressive Arts Studio is nearing completion after five months of work, and has transformed this central area of the school to a state of the art facility. The handover from the builders is expected to take place in mid January. We are all very excited about this new facility and delighted with the design and overall effect, and of course with the additional space created.
Congratulations to the girls who competed in the Beachborough Run on 4th December and were placed 6th overall. V. Satchell finished in 12th place and received a medal as the first runner home for Thornton. R. East, V. Haynes and A. Peckham all ran very well. Special congratulations go to A.Radford who was one of the youngest competitors in the race and finished in 22nd place. Well done!
Pupils from Year 3 to Year 8 enjoyed a special treat when they took a trip to Cineworld for a preview of ‘Enchanted’. On arrival, the girls collected popcorn and a drink and then settled down to enjoy the film. We are very grateful to the parent who donated this screening to the school.
The boarders’ most recent outing was a great success. The girls had a full and exciting day in London. They started at the Meeting Place in the recently-opened St Pancras Station, which is covered in the Year 9 History syllabus, then ventured to Covent Garden for a shopping expedition and to a floating restaurant for supper. Their evening concluded with a performance of ‘The Snowman’ at the Peacock Theatre.
The Nursery presentation of the Christmas story was delightful. The children spoke, sang and danced for us as they told the tale of ‘The Sleepy Shepherd’. Although some of the cast were a little over-awed by the audience, they gave a good start to our Christmas productions, reminding us of the first Christmas and how we should wake up to Christ’s presence in our world today.
Girls in Reception, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 presented their version of the nativity, a ‘Stable Story’, with great simplicity and charm. The children were very excited to be performing for their parents and were determined to do well. They certainly did! Songs were word-perfect and lines were delivered with clarity. It was an impressive performance, and one which the girls thoroughly enjoyed.
The older juniors helped us to travel around the world in a little more than forty minutes with their presentation of carols and traditions from a variety of countries. This was a really impressive performance. The girls were word perfect and sang in four different languages!
The theme of the Senior School Celebration was, ‘Looking Back, Looking Forward’, appropriate in this our ninetieth year. All of the Senior School choirs participated, together with the orchestra. The carols, readings and sketches inspired all present to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.
My grateful thanks go to the teachers who have worked so hard to enable the children to give such polished performances, and I congratulate the pupils who helped us to experience a little Christmas magic. Each member of staff at Thornton works hard to make the end of term celebrations special for the children by decorating the school, preparing Christmas lunch and parties and organising concerts, nativities and festivities. I would like to thank them for all they have done and hope they will enjoy a well-earned rest during the holiday period.
Year 6 enjoyed spending an afternoon singing carols for members of the Buckinghamshire Association for the Blind, at Gawcott Village Hall. The audience was very appreciative of the performance, joining in with the traditional carols and chatting with the girls.
Once again, this year, we took part in the ‘Love in a Box’ appeal. Pupils filled 171 shoeboxes with Christmas gifts for children. The shoeboxes are to be distributed in Eastern Europe by the Samaritans’ Purse organisation.
I am grateful to members of the Friends of Thornton Committee and parent helpers who organised and supervised the children's Christmas parties and discos. The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The Friends of Thornton also organised an activity afternoon for the boarders which proved a great success. The girls decorated cups, made magnets and ornaments; many thanks to those parents who gave up their Sunday to help.
I would like to thank parents for their patience in the car park over the past term. In order to ease the congestion from January we would like parents of children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 to collect their children at 3:45pm, (breaks will be altered so that teaching time will not be lost). Children with older siblings and those who travel by bus will be supervised until 4.00pm. In order to ensure a smooth flow of traffic, parents of pupils in Year 3 to Year 11 should not arrive to collect their children before 3.50pm. I would also be grateful if in future, parents of weekly boarders would arrive after 4.15pm to collect their daughters.
Our next Open Day is on Sunday February 10th. Many Junior and Senior girls will be involved in activities on that day. Please make a note in your diaries.
Holiday dates for the next academic year and arrangements in case of bad weather are enclosed with this letter. Parents are requested to ensure that holidays and flights are booked so that pupils do not require additional time off school.
Sr. Mary James, the Community and all the staff join me in wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas and every blessing in the coming year.
We look forward to welcoming pupils back on Wednesday 9th January (boarders return Tuesday 8th by 6:00pm)
Yours sincerely
Agnes T Williams
Enc.
Miss Williams' end of term letter to parents, July 2007
10th July 2007
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Please accept with our compliments a copy of the ‘Thornton Times’. This publication is prepared by a group of our Year 10 pupils as one of their extra-curricular activities.
This has been a short but very busy half-term for Thornton. SATs, GCSEs, House, Ballet, LAMDA and Music examinations, Language Schools, Luffield, Work Experience, Sports Days, sports fixtures and a variety of extra-curricular activities have ensured that our work has been both valuable and purposeful.
We were pleased to receive the ‘Buckinghamshire Quality Assurance Award’ from Mrs Sue Bayliss and Mrs Sandra Mooney of Buckinghamshire County Council Early Years Department. Thornton is the only independent school whose nursery has achieved this award which provides a quality guide to parents choosing our Nursery, and assures parents that we strive to reach the highest standards in every respect.
Our pupils, as always, have worked hard and I am delighted with the results that have been achieved in the National Curriculum Standard Assessment Tests. You will not be surprised to learn that once again the girls have scored well above national norms. The Key Stage 2 results show that our Junior girls have made exceptional progress. The Department for Education and Skills states that children of eleven who achieve Level 5 are ‘surpassing what is expected’. In English, 60% of girls achieved Level 5, in Science 40% and in Mathematics 32%. At the time of writing, we are still waiting for the Key Stage 3 results in English, consequently these results will be reported to parents in September. However our senior pupils have also done exceptionally well. In Mathematics and Science all the girls achieved the national average and 88% exceeded what would be expected in Mathematics and 85% in Science. I congratulate the girls and their teachers. Well done.
The trip arranged for Year 5 and Year 6 to Merlimont, a village south of Boulogne, during the half-term break was a great success, enjoyed by both pupils and accompanying staff. A varied programme was planned for the girls and they found it exciting, interesting and enjoyable. After arriving in France they visited a chocolate factory, with opportunities for tasting and buying, before reaching their base for the four-day visit. The girls also visited a sweet factory, a bee and honey farm, a typical outdoor market, a puppet show, a museum depicting life in the region, a bakery, an apple farm and a supermarket.
The production of the musical 'Hoodwinked' was undoubtedly the highlight of the past few weeks. The production which told the story of Robin Hood in words and music, was truly spectacular. All members of Year 5 and Year 6 were involved and the audiences very much appreciated the quality of the performance and the obvious talent demonstrated by the cast. My congratulations to staff and pupils and thanks to all who helped to ensure the show's success.
Once again this year we participated in the Luffield Festival. Our girls - together with children from Akeley, Beachborough, Buckingham Secondary, Magdalen, the Royal Latin, and Stowe - participated enthusiastically in a number of master classes. The festival culminated in a performance and exhibition at Stowe School. Parents, teachers and pupils agreed that the experience was very worthwhile and that girls had gained a tremendous amount from the opportunity to work with various groups at such a high level.
Year 10 geographers were able to gain first hand experience and consolidate their physical geography knowledge when they visited Snowdonia National Park to study coastal, river and glaciated features. The town of Aberystwyth was used as a base for urban studies.
Year 11 girls have benefited from their recent experience of work. I was delighted to read the positive reports that were sent in by their various employers. Maturity, courtesy and initiative were among the attributes for which they were complimented: there is no doubt that our girls have been great ambassadors for the school and have benefited from their experience of the world of work. I am sure that after all their efforts they thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Rome which had been postponed earlier this year because of the snow.
On behalf of all the staff and pupils I would like to thank our Year 11 leavers for all they have contributed to the life of our community. We wish them every happiness as they move on to their sixth form studies. The girls have given great service to the school particularly over the past year when they have acted as prefects and house captains. We wish them every success in their GCSE examinations. I know they have worked hard and they deserve to do well. We look forward to welcoming them back on Thursday 23rd August between 11:00 am and 12:00 pm when they will be able to collect their results. Year 10 results will be emailed to the girls on Thursday 23rd, alternatively girls may telephone 01280 812610 after 1.00pm for their results, if they cannot be contacted by email.
Our Year 11 pupils thoroughly enjoyed the evening arranged for them by the Friends of Thornton. Their Leavers’ Dinner began with a champagne reception and canapés in the Drawing Room, photographs in the Central Hall and grounds, followed by a meal at Whittlebury Hall. Year 11, their parents and guests had a wonderful evening. My thanks to the Friends of Thornton for organising the event and in particular to Mrs Jackie Bramham and Mrs Tara Cox who were our hostesses at Thornton.
I would like to thank all members of the Friends of Thornton committee who have worked so hard on your behalf this year. Once again our summer fête was a great success and profits are expected to exceed £11,000. This is due to the hard work of the committee. I am grateful to them and to all those who gave willingly of their time to erect, dismantle and man the stalls, dog show and car park, to all those who ensured that jobs essential for the good running of such a big event were undertaken effectively. Thanks also to each person who generously provided gifts of bottles, bric-a-brac, cakes, plants and raffle prizes.
We look forward to welcoming the girls back for the beginning of term on Thursday, 13th September (boarders return on Wednesday 12th between 5:00pm and 6:30pm). Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils should go directly to the Claudine Thevenet Wing where their teachers will welcome them. Years 3 to 6 will assemble in Central Hall and be escorted to their new classrooms. Members of the Senior School should consult the lists that will be displayed and make their way to their form rooms after 8:30 am. Girls who arrive early will be directed to Central Hall, the Library or the Dining Room as usual.
I would be grateful if parents would ensure that girls return in the correct uniform and particularly that skirts are knee length. Summer uniform may be worn until 1st October if the weather is warm. A whole school photograph has been scheduled for 3rd October and we would like all pupils in full winter uniform for that date. Please ensure that you order new uniform from John Lewis in good time as there is often a delay in supplying certain sizes. All items of uniform should be clearly marked and boarders should have adequate uniform to allow for laundry to be washed during the week. If you have difficulty purchasing suitable regulation shoes, please contact Malcolm Hudson in Buckingham who will be able to advise you about an appropriate alternative style. Please consult your uniform lists if you are unsure of any of the requirements. We anticipate that Years 1 – 4 will continue swimming lessons during the first few weeks of the Autumn term.
Sister Mary James, the Community and all the staff join me in wishing you a safe and happy holiday.
Yours sincerely
Agnes T. Williams
Headmistress