Head News

The start of term has been a sad time for Felsted, with the devastating news of the death, from meningitis, of Mo Beyer, one of our Lower Sixth German students in Stocks's House, on New Year's Day. Dr and Dr Beyer and their family will be visiting us next Thursday before a Memorial Service in the School Chapel on Friday 5th February for the whole school. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mo and her family at this very sad time. She will be much missed. Mo was vibrant, caring and particularly close to friends in the Stocks Annex. The IB students have collected for a bench in her memory and we will also have a short ceremony of dedication of this bench, to be sited near the Annex overlooking the tennis courts, after the memorial service on Friday 5th February.

Many pupils have started the year with exams and mocks and we are doing all we can to help them to focus on this important time. Much has been happening on other fronts too as you will see in this bumper enewsletter - all good examples of why I am delighted to announce that we were approved as full European Members of the Round Square International Organisation last Friday with immediate effect. Felsted has also been unanimously approved as a full Global Member by the European Region Heads which will be ratified in a meeting in March 2010 of the Round Square Board, the International Steering Group for the organisation, which includes King Constantine of Greece, Prince Andrew and a number of other notable figures!

You may have noticed in the press that Felsted is advertising for two new Deputy Head roles. With the forthcoming departure of current Deputy Head, Mark Lauder to a Headship at Ashville College in Yorkshire from September 2010 and with Dr Shaw stepping outside the Senior Management Team from September, the Governors have approved the appointment of two Deputy Heads, one pastoral and one academic. We intend to interview just before half term, and I will keep you informed of progress on this. Further details on these appointments can be found by linking here to our website.

Felsted Internationally Recognised - Global Membership of Round Square

One of only seven schools in the UK and 80 around the world to be accepted.

The last hurdle of interviews for our Round Square application took place last Friday and Saturday at the Round Square Conference held at Cobham Hall in Kent (itself a Round Square school). Mr Lucius-Clarke, Mrs Burrett, Ms Hurriaga, Mr Dennis, Head Boy Conor Turner, Deputy Head Girl Ali Marshall and myself all attended and were put through a rigorous process of grilling interviews. Felsted Preparatory School and Felsted School were treated as one school, so our new status of European Regional Membership applies to Felsted as a whole. A huge thanks to all who have been involved in Felsted's application and we look forward to our pupils being able to take advantage of this status in the future. Indeed, we have already been asked to plan when it would be appropriate for different year groups to go on trips and actiivities during the year - our Student Round Square Committee will be fundamental in helping to plan this - further applications from pupils to join this committee are welcome.

Opportunities are already opening up for Felsted pupils. Yr 10's have been invited to Bavaria for a Round Square School Conference which includes a visit to the famous BMW factory! See here to view their invite.

Government League Tables misrepresent Felsted

You may have noticed in the press that Government GCSE and A Level  League Tables were published last week. Unfortunately Felsted is not represented as it should be as IGCSE and International Baccalaureate results are not included. These syllabuses are world recognised challenging qualifications but do not register in the Government tables. We feel it is important for you to understand why Felsted does not appear as well as it should do despite getting very good results each year. A more detailed explanation can be found here.

Emma Hilton receives Oxford offer

Congratulations to Emma Hilton, U6, who has been offered a place at Oxford to study Economics and Management at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. 

Emma has been a pupil at Felsted for 10 years and is currently studying A Level Economics, Maths and Psychology.  Her long term aspiration is to work within finance in the city after completing her degree. 

Felsted MUN in Geneva

Freddie Preston, Maddie Seacombe and Filip Bigos travelled to Geneva for Felsted's annual visit to the Students' League of Nations at the UN at the very end of last term. All three students participated actively throughout the conference, contributing both regular Points of Information as well as longer Speeches from the Floor. As we warm up for Felsted MUN, it is pleasing to report that this group's excellent performance means we are likely to be rewarded with an invitation to send a slightly larger group of students to this prestigious Geneva conference next year!

Written by Mr Tom Vignoles

Cricketers Return from

Down Under

The Felsted 1st XI squad of 15 boys returned recently from a challenging tour of Australia, taking in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. The tour, which takes place every 3 years, allows the players the opportunity to develop as a cricketer and to challenge for a 1st XI place in April 2010.

The unique feature of the tour is that every player is able to return to represent Felsted in one or in most cases several seasons and so the lessons learnt in the tough environment that is Australian cricket are always beneficial to the cricket at Felsted.

Several players shone during the tour - Lloyd Paternott and Josh Wells were the pick of the batsman together with Alex Majoribanks and Jake Foley as the bowlers over the ten games against the Aussies. However, all players had their moment and Paternott and Marjoribanks recorded maiden 1st XI centuries in Adelaide and Melbourne respectively. There were 13 scores of 50 or more and four boys scored more than 300 runs. The bowlers found play tough on flat wickets under 35 degrees heat, but Stephen Drain, Alex Marjoribanks, Jake Foley, Andrew Ross and Christopher George all impressed and got 60 wickets between them for the tour. Four games were won from the ten played and with the strongest possible XI never playing together this was a good return. The hospitality received was outstanding and Felsted look forward to returning the compliment over the coming three seasons prior to returning to Australia with the next development tour. Click here for individual scores.

Written by Mr Charlie Knightley

Hockey Cup Competition Success

Essex Cup Competitions 2010

Felsted’s U18, U16 and U14 Cup sides all progressed through to the regional round this week. The U16 and U14 sides progressed as Essex Champions by virtue of finishing their tournament in 1^st Place.

U14s: King John W 2-0, Bancrofts W 2-0, Chigwell W 2-0. The U14s started nervously against King Johns in their first senior tournament. A strong passage of play down the right hand side settled nerves somewhat as Marcus Joyce created the opening goal for James Seager. Felsted dominated the remainder of possession and put the game out of reach before the close with a goal from Marcus Joyce. This quality of play continued into the next game against Bancrofts with a number of chances created with Hutchinson and Edwards combining well through midfield - a Seager short corner and a Sellars deflection the result. Two games in a row became three as Felsted progressed immediately to the final. Both sides started evenly matched with Chigwell creating chances, one of which led to an unconverted penalty stroke. The momentum began to swing towards Felsted though and Marcus Joyce ended another excellent run with a goal from a narrow angle. Chigwell had some further moments in the game but another team move from Felsted led to a George Halls goal to finish the game.

U16s: Coopers W4-1. The U16 side, consisting of 5 year 11s and 7 year 10s, combined well despite the mix of year groups and a lack of match practice. The late withdrawal of one of the opponents meant that the Essex Championship would be decided by a one off final between Felsted and Coopers Coburn. Felsted started strongly and took the lead when Will Malins rounded off an excellent team move. An interesting series of events led to Felsted losing a player and conceding a converted penalty stroke before going in level at half time. After the break, a number of chances were created as Felsted began to dominate. Possession eventually led to goals with Burns, Padfield and Malins again completing the scoring.  

U18s: Chigwell W 1-0, Bancrofts D 1-1, Coopers L 0-1, Forest W 5-0. The U18 Cup Squad is also through to the next round, although as Essex Runners Ups after a day of inconsistent performances. Some excellent passages of play were balanced out by some early-term errors and some strong performances from opposition sides. A close-fought and sometimes dreary competition was brought to life by the closeness of the points for the second-place qualification. Felsted, having under-performed all day needed to win their final game by 5 clear goals. Some simple, yet effective team play yielded a number of short corners, two of which were converted by Andrew Ross. It was then left to Ali Charlton to deflect in the all important last goal and take the U18s into the next round.

Written by Mr Duncan Woods

A Community Affair!

Congratulations to U6 pupil, Emma Nicolson, on her musical initiative to bring the Felsted community together.

Emma has risen to the challenge in her newly appointed role as Community Relations Prefect. She has been attending monthly NAP (Neighbourhood Action Panel) meetings where members of the community raise issues relating to the village of Felsted.  One of the suggestions from the meeting was for some pupils to help out at the weekly Youth Club and this is already underway with pupils are helping to run the tuck shop amongst other things.

Emma’s first community event was held last Friday night - a free concert in the village church. A modest audience of villagers, parents and Felsted staff was entertained by the Felsted School Jazz Band and soloists as they played music from the Glenn Miller era.  Feedback was positive, with villagers especially saying that they looked forward to future similar events. A collection of £100.87 was raisied for the victims of the Haiti earthquake which will be added to the Chapel Haiti collection.

Well done to Emma, Mr Barrett, Music Staff, The Felsted Jazz Band and soloists; Alex Manley, Will Hiett, Jake Elsey, Joe Crestinu and Julius Werk for making the evening a successful one.

Emma is planning further events throughout the year for the community. A questionnaire is also in the process of being sent out to all villagers for their views.

Sir Alan Haselhurst MP meets with Lower Sixth pupils

Sir Alan Haselhurst recently visited Felsted for a question and answer session. Pupils from the Lower Sixth were able to ask questions on local issues which included the expansion of Stansted, national issues, questions pertaining to the government, for example, ‘Do you think David Cameron would make a good Prime Minister?’ and leadership and international issues regarding Afghanistan.  He responded with coherent and articulate answers to every question put forward by pupils.

Sir Alan Haselhurst, a Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden, assumed office on the 7th July 1977. Alan Haselhurst was educated at Oriel College, Oxford. Whilst at Oxford he was the president of the Oxford University Conservative Association. He has two sons and a daughter who attended Felsted School. Alan Haselhurst is also a governor of Felsted School. In 2009 his book on cricket called Accidentally Cricket was published.

Written by Alex Girling - Lower Sixth

Felsted take on Argentina

On Wednesday 20th, 33 girls and 3 coaches from Belgrano Day School, Buenos Aires arrived at Felsted as part of their Great Britain Hockey Tour. They were greeted by typical British weather and freezing cold temperatures, while we were greeted with suitcases, suitcases and more suitcases. All of the girls were allocated somewhere to stay - either at school in a boarding house or at home with a pupil or member of staff. On Wednesday afternoon, the Belgrano U16 team played the Felsted U16s. It was a thoroughly enjoyable match to watch and play and Felsted narrowly came out victorious with a 2-1 win. On the Thursday, the Belgrano girls went shopping at Lakeside whilst Felsted was back to normal with lessons and activities. In the evening, the Belgrano U18s played a Felsted 6th Form team. This was also a thoroughly enjoyable match - especially for some of the leavers, for whom it would be their last match for the school. Sadly, Felsted lost 5-1. However, spirits were high as everybody mixed in together for a post-match quiz. Rounds included sport, music & movies, geography and hockey. It was a really fun evening as everybody joined in and got to know each other.

Each night, the girls were collected and taken to their allocated homes to partake in a typical evening at home with a Felsted family, where souvenirs and culture were exchanged.

Emma Hilton - Upper Sixth

Music Update

Come and Sing Carmina Burana

The number of people who have signed up to come and sing in Carmina Burana on 28th February has been wonderful - many thanks to everyone who is going to take part. However, it's still not too late to join in with this exciting event - please email jdl@felsted.org for more details.

Pupils learn about the physical elements of singing

The distinguished Baritone and Felsted's new singing teacher, Mr Colin Baldy gave a fascinating talk on the physical element of singing. The evening consisted of a lecture as well as physical demontrations and featured plenty of audience participation, as we learned about the enormous range of muscles used to sing properly. There was always a focus on how the engagement of the correct muscles and a knowledge of the mechanics of singing could be used to enhance the emotional and communicative impact of what singers convey to the audience. The evening was greatly enjoyed by students, parents and visitors, and we are delighted that Mr Baldy will be singing the Baritone solos in the forthcoming performance of Carmina Burana.

Written by Mr James Lowry, Director of Music

Scottish dancing

A fantastic evening of Scottish dancing was organised by Mrs Corinne Walker for parents, governors, staff and members of the local community last Saturday. Profits will be donated to Children In Need in recognition of Mo Beyer's fondness for childrens' charities.

Bury Project Winners

Congratulations to the following Year 9 prize winners who all received ITunes Vouchers:

Overall Winner: Camille Brien

Runner Up: Alexandra Back

Prize Winners:

Jamie Stuchfield, Bertie Wells, James Duncan, Ralph Stanevicius, Katie Hewing-Powell, Elinour Bardrick, Tamara Evans, Charlotte MacLeod, Philippa Keir, Dirk Holmes.

Hosting Opportunities

Netball Results

V Chigwell

U14B: W 11-5. Player of the match Amy Harding

U14A: L29-8. Player of the match Hayley Young

U15B: W10-5. Player of the match SJ Horne

U15A: W23-15. Player of the match Esme Smith.

3rds: W17-9. Player of the match Jasmine King

2nds: W24-5. Player of the match Amy Wills

1sts: W22-9. Player of the match Becca Spence

Hockey Results

vs Uppingham

1st XI - Lost 4 - 6

2nd XI - Won 6 - 4

CCA - Won 4 - 2

CCB - Drew 1 - 1

U16A - Drew 2 - 2

U16B - Lost 0 - 5

U15A - Lost 3 - 4

U15B - Won 7 - 4

vs Ipswich

U14A - Won 7 - 1

U14B - Lost 1 - 2

vs Merchant Taylors

U15C - Lost 0 - 7

U14C - Won 5 - 0

Cricket Nets

The Academy cricket nets take place on Monday and Tuesday evenings this term to enable the coaches to start selecting for the next tour and develop players for the coming seasons.  All boys have the opportunity to net on a Wednesday and Thursday in senior or junior nets and with Jason Gallian (Ex Lancashire, Nottingham, Essex and England) seeing all the boys in the Preparatory and Senior school the future looks bright.

Tennis Academy

Felsted are delighted to have secured Rob Hardy, a highly experienced LTA coach, who is also Head Coach at Braintree Lawn Tennis Club.  Rob has been playing tennis for 22 years and has been coaching for 12 years. He is a recognised coach with the (LTA) Lawn Tennis Association, (RPT) European Registry of Tennis Professionals. He is also an RPT Ambassador for tennis and trains tennis coaches.

Rob and his team aim to help deliver an excellent tennis programme throughout the year at Felsted. Starting this month the senior academy players (boys and girls) will be coached on a Thursday evening. His team will also work alongside Felsted staff in the   Summer Term to ensure that the maximum opportunity to develop in the sport exists. Rob will also be coaching Year 7 pupils in the Preparatory School who are part of the Outstanding Talent Award Programme and hopes to include other year groups in the future.

Fencing at Felsted

Felsted are pleased to announce that Tina Staples will be coaching fencing to both Senior and Preparatory School pupils to help them develop their skills in a new sport.

Tina Staples B.Ed(Hons) is an ex-primary school teacher, now working full time as a fencing coach and entertainer. She has been fencing herself since she was 11 and is still competing in the open competition circuit. She has a level two British Fencing Association coaching award.

Tina is also delivering a session to the cricket academy to help develop footwork and fitness showing the diversity in which sportsman can train today.

Junior Leaders

Junior Leaders starts this week for all Year 9's. Junior Leaders is an introduction to the CCF, Army and RAF sections, Corps of Drums and Duke of Edinburgh. Working in small groups, pupils will take part in activities such as introduction to navigation, surviving in the field, camouflage and concealment and many others.

Felsted Arts Festival secures major names

We are once again looking forward to the annual Felsted Arts Festival.  There are so many wonderful events this year that we have extended the festival to ten days.  This will be running from 25th February to Saturday 6th March. 

Major highlights include author Alexander McCall Smith, percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, two art exhibitions and much, much more. Tickets are selling fast, particularly for the big names! Please click here for the full brochure.

Most tickets can be purchased through the Bookroom on 01371 822635 or email bookroom@felsted.org.

Nicholas Paterson OF  publishes poetry book

Nicholas Paterson OF in Deacons 67-72 has recently had his poetry book entitled "Little Ridders, A Tail of Obsession" published.  The book which took him four years to write is about a boy who turns into a cat and reflects on the time that he spent at Felsted. 

Nicholas lives in Dorset and is a full time painter.  He is also involved in the forthcoming Trevor Goodman Exhibition which takes place as part of the Felsted Arts Festival on Thursday 25th February.  He will be displaying some of his works of art as a tribute to Trevor who worked at Felsted for a number of years as an Art Teacher. 

The viewing takes place at 6.30 in the Music School Gallery. All are welcome.