Welcome from the Headmaster

5 February 2010

Numbers of Year 6 children and several teachers went to Stratford last Friday night to see 'Arabian Nights'. It was a lovely production - good stories very well told. In one, poor Kassim was cut into four pieces and then sewn back again - how we trembled with fascinated horror! In another, poor Abu Hassan made a rude and offensive noise at his wedding ceremony and fled his homeland forever in mortified shame - how we giggled with fascinated delight! The trip was arranged especially for this year group, which performed 'Scheherazade' last year - they much enjoyed remembering their own telling of some of the same tales as they watched this excellent production.

Mrs Howard (Tessa, 6B) came to assembly on Monday in order to receive a cheque from the children for the conservation charity for which she works, Flora and Fauna International. She was accompanied by a large and frightening gorilla who showed us pictures of some of the species which the charity is helping to protect.

Mr Slater, headmaster of The Leys, spent a long day interviewing scholarship candidates. He said that he had enjoyed his day very much and had found our pupils impressive. I was very pleased to hear that the Muriel de Vinny Music Competition at The Leys this year was won by another impressive former Fidelian - Oliver Jones.

Please don't forget to book your places at the SFPA Quiz Night on March 5th. Posters are around the school, application forms have been sent by email and further hard copies are available in School House.

Thursday's 'The Magic of Maths' presentation by Mr Kite and the Maths department was attended by a large number of parents. They learned about how we teach Maths and why it is so delightful (with help from Tom Lehrer, Mrs Hoole, Mr Mageean and other such luminaries).

You are all cordially invited to come to the Headmaster’s Concert next Tuesday at 7.00pm in Ashburton. Performers to arrive for 6.45pm please. This will feature some excellent soloists including Luke W, the winner of his age category in the Brass section of Cambridge Young Musician of the Year (and whose birthday it is today), and Marcus T, who was highly commended in the same competition. There will also be ensemble performances from our Senior & Junior Percussion Ensembles, our 'cello group and the Year 7 group.

We are doing our best to protect the security of our site, and before very long there will be an electronic access control system on the side gate to School House, at which point it will be especially difficult for parents to gain access at the weekend unless it has been prearranged or I happen to be at my desk when parents buzz at the gate. The purpose of this paragraph is to urge you to urge your children to think carefully on Friday about what they might need at the weekend, and to take it away with them then, rather than trying to retrieve it on Sunday morning when there is no certainty that this will be possible.

Mrs Dennis will be away next Monday and Tuesday as she is inspecting a school (in Nottinghamshire, so perhaps she will take something sensational by its most significant novelist to read on the train).

I continue to be concerned about the use by the children of Facebook and MSN and other networking sites. To register on Facebook you have to be thirteen years old, so anyone under thirteen who has a presence on the site has presumably falsified his or her age on the registration page. Children have no entitlement to a Facebook identity and it is not child abuse to forbid them to go on such a site - very much the reverse, in fact. As of today's date only 26 children at St Faith's are thirteen or over - well under half of Year 8. Any other children with Facebook profiles must, I think, have lied about their ages. The school does its level best to protect children from cyber-risk when they are at school.

Recently members of staff attended a national conference considering how schools could provide the very best gender sensitive education. At St Faith’s we are proud of our co-educational provision and intend to remain at the cutting edge of educational achievement. To further this aim I wish to establish a working group to look at initiatives that may enhance our provision (facilities, academic delivery, social provision, sports and activities etc) and would welcome consultation with a number of parents. If you are the parent of a child Year 2 – 8 and might be interested in contributing to discussion and consideration of gender-sensitive educational issues please could you make yourself known to my Secretary (Sheryl Anderson)? Thank you

May I ask parents who are waiting in the dining room annexe to keep their children within their view? Some children have been allowed to go off and play in the dark while parents are inside. This is unsafe because in this case no one is taking care of them - once a child has been collected he or she is the parent’s responsibility.

Well done to the sports teams for some pleasing results this week!

Reports for children in Years 3, 4, 5 & 7 will be issued at half term.

Stephen Drew
Headmaster