From Will Ansell and Ann Miles
Acting Heads GEMS Bolitho School

Dear Parents

What a term this has been! Our first full term as Acting Heads has contained some memorable moments, and we felt that now we have reached the end of the term, we should look back over the past weeks to reflect on some of the highlights and to thank the people involved.

As ever, our Art, Music and Sports departments have been at full throttle all term, and so we must review each of them individually. The output from our Art department is always stunning, and this was true again when they followed up last term’s amazing IB exhibition with an equally impressive GCSE exhibition recently, as those of you who came to see this as part of our Open Evening will no doubt agree. In addition to this, many of us are now the proud owners of a set of cards produced by Year 3 pupils and, of course, we must congratulate everyone involved in the stunning Mazey Day creations; well done to all of the year 6 pupils who worked so hard on making the bugs for the parade, to the parent helpers who came in for the workshops, and to all of the pupils, parents and staff who took part in the parade itself.

above left: Year 3 eco cards. above right: Mazey Day creature.

above: students show off the Mazey Day creations.

This brings us neatly on to the Music department, who provided both musicians and dancers for the parade as one of their many events this term. We should also make mention of the very successful Samba Day organised for pupils and staff throughout the school by Mrs Blundy – we held a similar event some years ago and I think all would agree that the repeat was long overdue! The music department have also had their usual plethora of concerts and performances featuring musicians from all sections of the school, a very successful junior trip to Plymouth, and finally the Senior Choir German tour, which went extremely well. Again, our thanks to all those involved.

above left: Mazey Day dancers. above right: A sample of Samba Day.

And so to the Sports department, and their endless energy for fixtures and competitions. The main sporting events within school this term were the Senior/Middle Swimming gala, which was, as always, a resounding success, and the two separate sports days, one for Senior and Middle pupils and one for Junior and Infant pupils. Both of these events were blessed with good weather (making the ice cream seller very popular!) and were packed full of events for all. We are sure the pupils enjoyed not only their own participation, but also the spectator sport provided by the staff events towards the end of the Senior/Middle Sports Day. We think it’s fair to say that our staff members are just as competitive as our pupils!

above left: Victorious games captains at sports day. above right: Mr Ansell's team for the staff tug of war.

Outside school, teams from Bolitho have played a number of fixtures this term, and many of our athletes have represented the school, the area, or the county in various sports or events. Individual achievements have been featured in the Herald throughout the term, and we congratulate all of our pupils on their outstanding results, and thank our parents for their support – we know that many of you drive long distances at unsociable hours to enable the pupils to be involved in so many sporting events, and we are very grateful for this.

Within the umbrella of the Sports department, we also have an outdoor education programme, and, as part of this, our Middle School pupils have enjoyed their days out at BF Adventure this term. The main event of the term as far as outdoor pursuits go, though, has to be the Ten Tors competition, where our team are to be congratulated on setting a new school record.

above: Ten Tors team, who set a new school record.

As a follow up from last term’s Coast-to-Coast event, we were able to present cheques to our three chosen charities this term, each of whom received an impressive £1523. We must congratulate everyone involved in this – it is good to know that despite all the difficulties faced this year, the Bolitho spirit is still as strong as ever and we can join together to make a difference to those less fortunate than ourselves. This is just one of the qualities of Bolitho pupils, parents and staff which make this school such a special place.

Of course, these qualities are well known to those of us closely associated with the school, but it was pleasing to have them recognised by the team of School Inspectors earlier this term during their Interim Inspection of the school. An awful lot of hard work went into the success of this inspection and, although we have already expressed our thanks to all involved, we must reiterate how very grateful we are to all of our extremely dedicated staff for everything they have done this term, both before, during and since the inspection; for the support they have shown us in our new roles and for their unstinting loyalty to the school. Thank you all – we couldn’t have done it without you!

As always at this time of year, we have to say goodbye to some of our members of staff. Leaving us from the teaching staff this year is Mr Minny, who will be missed not only by his Economics, Maths and TOK groups, but also by all of the boarders from The Cottage. We wish him well as he takes up his new teaching post in Tanzania, and look forward to hearing his news once he has settled in.

We also bid a fond farewell to Mr Witheridge, one of our Physics experts, who is retiring this term and will no doubt enjoy having more time to spend on his extensive garden and his many other interests. As he hasn’t gone quite as far as Mr Minny, we hope that he will be able to drop in and visit from time to time, and look forward to seeing him.

Also departing are Mr Trythall, who leaves us to take up a Headship at Stanbridge Earls School, and therefore Mrs Trythall, who goes with him. We shall have a very reliable source of their news, however, as Tim is remaining at Bolitho to complete his GCSEs. Mr & Mrs Trythall will be much missed by a great many of the pupils, and we are very grateful for all that they have put into Bolitho during their time with us.

Further afield within the GEMS organisation, Anders Hultin has moved on and our new CEO from September 1st will be Zenna Atkins. Zenna is currently the non-executive chair of Ofsted, and we are delighted to welcome her to GEMS – not least because she is an “old girl” of St Clare’s!

Talking of new faces, many of you will have already met our new business manager, Suzie Yates, who has been with us since April. She has been working very hard since her arrival to rationalise all of the work which goes on “behind the scenes” but without which the school wouldn’t be able to function. She is your first point of contact for any queries to do with finance or non-teaching matters. We are also delighted to welcome Adrienne Burrell, who has been appointed as our new SENCO, working within our Learning Support department.

At this point, we would like to pause and think of Maggie Hayward, who sadly died earlier this term. Maggie was our SENCO and worked within our Learning Support department for eight years, and many of our current and former pupils will have benefitted enormously from her expertise. She will be hugely missed by pupils and staff alike, and we will always have fond memories of her and of everything that she did for the school. Our thoughts are also with Maggie’s family at this sad time.

Returning to a round up of events of the term, we have not yet mentioned our two very successful Speech Days, our outdoor drama production “Antigone”, or our annual prom, which this year was held at Cape Cornwall Golf Club and was generously supported by the BPSA, for which we are very grateful. We also need to congratulate the pupils and staff behind the inaugural Bolitho Yearbook – yet another very successful venture and one which, we are sure, will now live on for many years to come.

We have covered as many of the main events of the term as we can, but of course there have been many more activities going on here at Bolitho – we really do fit in a lot of “extras” as part of the all round excellent education we offer. Of course, you, as parents, know how much we do, and so our goal for the next year is to spread the Bolitho message further afield. We have, for the first time, a marketing committee and already have a number of new initiatives in place to get the school name “out there” and let everyone know that we are very much alive and well and here to stay! You may, for example, have seen our new sign near the Marks and Spencer’s store at Hayle, or one of the advertisements currently featuring in a range of magazines. These are just two examples of the many projects which are under way at the school – there are plenty more. Of course, you are all an important part of the marketing process, and we value the “word of mouth” recommendations which bring people to us, so thank you for these.
Before we close, we have been asked by the Alumni to let you know about their AGM, which takes place on Saturday 26th September – details are as follows.

“A very warm invitation to our AGM AND LUNCH on Saturday 26th September 2010, 12 noon for 12.30pm at the Bolitho School. Unfortunately the School are unable to provide the lunch this year but your committee members have plans to overcome this problem, so no-one need go hungry. The School will however, be providing tea or coffee with homemade cakes at a nominal £1 per head at approximately 4pm. As yet the cost of the luncheon has not been settled but members will be notified as soon as possible. New members will be made very welcome. Our subscription rates are as follows:
Up to 40 years old: £15
40 to 60 years: £10
Over 60s:   £5
In each case this gives anyone who has been connected to the School in any capacity throughout its changing history LIFE membership of the Alumni.
Cheques payable to: Bolitho/St.Clare Alumni
                               c/o Mrs Elizabeth Solomon
                                30, Church View Road
                                Tuckingmill
                                 Camborne
                                 TR13  3 PQ
www.bolithoalumni.co.uk                       info@bolithoalumni.co.uk
 
We would like to end by wishing you all a very relaxing break,

With our very best wishes

Will Ansell and Ann Miles