Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • The Tockingtonian 2016

    Uploaded by

    Tockington Manor School
    145 views96 pages
    Tockingtonian 2015-16

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    Tockingtonian 2015-16

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    145 views96 pages

    The Tockingtonian 2016

    Uploaded by

    Tockington Manor School
    Tockingtonian 2015-16

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 96
    TOCKINGTON MANOR SCHOOL THE TOCKINGTONIAN Bristol A (erent cea T BTOLO) ee uemUMa RU Ue) era R te es ieee ern} Come and visit us Discover for yourself what makes BGS such Puree ue tron dss anand renee nee een Whole School Open Morning BLP en LeU} Beer Leonie eC eta aitly For further information, or to arrange a Misia odes ead ee ete aaa 0117 933 9885 or e-mail admissions@bgs bristol sch.uk. Bee ee ares) eee a WHAT MATTERS WHEN CHOOSING A SCHOOL? {At Sidcot, these are the things that matter to us: being curious, surprising yourself, valuing others, making a difference, living life to the full and being yourselt ee Re a] Pies eater Serene eked Cee ere rir Eo ee eee Bh et amet ie oe eee Outstanding academic results with 84% going ‘onto Russell Group and 98% to university Rated ‘excellent’ in all areas of the 2015 Inspection Report Over 100 co-curricular te activities available Reputation for sport and links with professional clubs Inspirational music, drama and creative arts Top quality boarding provision with superb pastoral care ‘School Bath TOCKINGTON MANOR SCHOO -* ‘elcome to the 86th Edition of the Tockingtonian. This is edition is yet again a wonderful celebration of another highly sucessful year at Tockington Manor and hope you enjoy reading it.I start this year by making reference to Speech Day. We were delighted to welcome back to the school Reverend Ann Lloyd to take the Service and were thrilled to introduce our guest speaker, Robin Francis, to the children and parents. Robin, an Olympian, European and Commonwealth silver medallist gave an excellent speech. He discussed the value of support ‘rom those around you and how, that despite suffering major illness at the age of 17, he pursued his dream to swim in the Olympics. | ‘would lke to take a direct extract from his speech as I feel it has such a strong powerful message for us all “So what did I learn that I can now share with you foday as you pursue your own dreams? Firstly, Tleamed that effort is everything. C FROM THE STUDY WINDOW 2 —— AUTUMN 2016 ISSUE NO.86 Yes, | hada natural talent for ‘swimming, but natural talent can only take you so far. | didn't always win my races, but if knew had given as much as | could 1 was happy. Secondly, !leamed to be resilien’ and not (o be afraid of ‘making mistakes. You won't always succeed fist time but there is no such thing as failure, just ambitions you haven't achieved YET. Finally, eamed the importance of believing in myself. No matter what your dream, never lose sight of it or your conviction that you can achieve it.” | know tha: the children will be looking forward to working with him in class and in the pool during the next academic year as he joins us to completa his PGCE. We were also delighted to be able to present fa cheque for £3374 to Phil Cowburn fom the South Western Air Ambuince Dr Phil spoke briefly of his gratitude for the children’s hard workin raising such a high amount and promised to bring the helicopter back to ‘school another day. ‘One of the main areas for focus in both the Chairman's speech and my speech was the value and importance of the independent school sector as a whole. The Chairman discussed the value the sector plays in Britain's economy with £3.26 billion being contributed to the exchequer each year. In addition | was able to discuss that whilst just 7% of children in Britain g0 to independent schools these 7% go onto to make up 48% of MP's, 67% of the current England rugby squad, 73% of the England cricket squad, 71% of judges, 71% of senior armed forces officers, 54% of FTSE 100 CEO's and 67% of British Oscar winners. The question of why our sector and schools like Tockington Manor play such an influential part was reflected upon and | feel that this edition of the Tockingtonian gives, us so many answers to that question Schools stich as ours challenge the children to have a 90, to question what is right and wrong; offering children ‘opportunities that will enable them to find the thing they are good at and will fil them with well-placed confidence and self-belief. | thank all ine staff for their continued nara work and dedication to the children’s all round education and care. | also thank the Board of Governors and of course the children and their families for the continued enthusiastic support of the school, ‘As you read through this edition, you will find much for us to be excited about, Our Year 8 leavers produced excellent Common, Entrance results again this year with all English marks being A*, A or B and 50% of Maths scores being an A". At this point we must remember that we are a mixed ability school but a schoo! that is. able to allow each and every child the platform to fulfl their true potential. Standardised assessments throughout the school highlighted that 80% of the children are performing within the top 40% of children nationally Furthermore itis clear that our children display a genuine love of teaming that will stay with them as they move onto their senior schools and beyond. Senior School scholarships were awarded to Olivia Banks (King's College, Taunton), Mathis Bellino (Ecole Jeannine Manuel, Paris), Alex Grocott (Monmouth), Beth Fritchard (Kingswood and Wycliffe), ‘Alex Jacobi (Monmouth) and a deferred scholarship was awarded to Angus Duncan (Colston’s). ‘Our swimmers exceled themselves this year with the Under 11 Boys team winning silver at the national ‘championships 200 metre relay ‘and Rachel Shutt winning silver in the national 50 metre freestyle. Rachel is also now ranked number ane in the county for 50,100, 200, 400 and 800 metre freestyle. Over the cross country our teams showed their class again with both the Under 13 and the Under 11 boys relay teams winning gold at the national cross country championships. Meanwhile Dalis Jones won silver in the U13 Girls race on the same day. The school, as a whole, continues to flourish with the school roll having grown by 24% between ‘September 2013 and September 2016 against a national average of 0.1%. The school does however, remain fully comrritted to standing true to its small, emily ethos. These figures provide us with clear evidence that our school is held in such high regard locally, nationally and internationally and is testament to the hard work that our children and staff put into school lite, These are exciting times for Tockington Manor and | hope you enjoy reading the ages that follow. ss SCHOOL NOTES Sabzs sy Ase ic sLicpl ‘4 3/318 LUA DAP Nh Ela Fis Rov sale Le) NAT ae oa ic Nise rs an) rr Sofia eran Pevant4 isenn recy Peery Cec a tig Eee eer sas Alex Jacobi Cece erence Olivia Banks Ce Rey peg Dre RogCecuL Cg Cec) eto See sicly Alexander Ganfield ese Dee Reg ee ace poke) Tear Beth Pritchard ‘Adrian Ng Ree nese men OMe et Telegina, Di ewe eae SCHOOL NOTES END OF YEAR PRIZES Se ery NOS BCE Boon Se eee CTR tes Renn Tn ORC Toot} Bo Sn aero Seas Sere oy a) eet Seen cd fee To) BOP’ Dec RUA uaa Ra Bea ae od ee) BCR CL ard Soy ‘The Haigh Cup for Middle School Creative Writing rece ‘The Gundry Cup for Excellence in English en SO ee eer eS) Cee me NCI) BM re Alex Ganfield Sac Pee Se Ror nic ger ey Ned tan eee SCR niece ar a co ears} ‘The Wilkinson Shield for Best Wind Player Toby Gaulton Sa ea Re CueEe ny Pe cca) Alex Ganfield Rar eed Sees aed BC care’ rece Ree Cag ee a ed Ree Se ay eo Ri) SCHOOL NOTES eae eeu ee a Bo cet omc eel Sec) Bets et Be Reins eae eee) Sa tena itd The Jubilee Cup for Best All-Round Improvement Gees No) SE Gar SOU UC Pree eer BPR Ce gary Be re Cu a Reed eM) eee) Se crc amet) Sc ad Saco) Peay See et or eats SCT ee ce) Adrian Ng SEs Ra ORC) Seu Cun Ra ey eed Cael RC cera) pers Cae ool) NOR oa) BO Teg gg ad Deeg Seas ence Posteo CR Co Conese ae Roce Lrg Nees each) Co Laan od Be ket og et Onn og etc eco Se Oat ES ea Sa Cu Ue CL! Cee ‘Alex Grocott, Olivia Banks, Alex Ganfield SCHOOL NOTES BOC ume CEC) Se cm eee Peed The Bursell Cup (Senior Stars) ete eee ue oun oe The Lambie Cup (Middle School Stars) eA a Rok eee SSM St Tue) Lily Edwards, Kaya Priove, Poppy Newman ROM et CC) rn) BC eRe cue) ere a) The Stringer Shield (End of Year House Stars) ie ey STO LCA eee ato ico rae eee RS men Lea cutty nay Oliver Gill, Harry Huby, Otis Walker Form Effort Prizes Year § eS cae ey ge ea ee eee kc eco rd Sophie Cresswell, Georgia Cooper, Henry Benson De aa ee aa A Te a rua Ellis Carrel, Harrison Leadbeater, Emily Gaulton SCS reer Sy ee Cae a er tea aC ce ae) Ellis Carrel, Elsie Lewis, Sterling Rolls, Joshua Webley, Lily Edwards, Tilly Jordan, Isaac Bienneman, Dalis Jones, oN Ree aN eu Ree enn iCy Conn cre Olivia Banks King’s College, Taunton Mathis Bellino Ecole Active Bilingue Jeannine lanual, France ‘Alex Boulton Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School Alejandro Diez Penalar, Spain ‘Alexander Ganfield Queen Elizabeth's Hospital Alexander Grocott Ella Howard-Robinson ‘Alex Jacobi Rodrigo Martin ‘Adrian Ng Eleanor Parker for Girls Luke Tapping Wyelitfe ‘The Ural Acader Yekaterinburg, Russia Sofia Telegina Beth Pritchard lyclife Colleg> Diego Zuloaga smar (Spain) ILO tea at hhinking back over the past year and the nursery in action it has been rewarding to see the children thrive in the stimulating environment through child led leaming and play. This of course, ‘as most things in the world, takes a great deal of careful planning behind the scenes. The practitioners have again successfully organised and ‘equipped each area to meet child needs, interests and stages of development. This past year has seen purposeful, calm, confident and independent children blossom whilst absorbing themselves in activities, moving and adjusting with their interests and being inspired by the incredible environment. This environment remains a very important part of the children’s learning and this last year they have worked on many special outdoor projects including den building, nest making, ‘exploring crops and their uses, hibernation and simple map reading to name but a few. These activities have allowed the children ta become deeply involved in a task, lighting up their enthusiasm and naturally extending progress. The movement, dance and drama sessions have encouraged literacy skills, communication and thought. The Robins in particular have enjoyed listening to and acting out The Three Bears’ resulting in the children extending their own experience by instigating games around the story. Sensory play has been at the centre of the Wrens leaming. The sensory activities have facilitated exploration and have naturally encouraged the children to use scientific processes while they play, create, investigate and explore the unusual and interesting materials such as jelly, baked beans, glocp, shaving foam and ice! Whilst the Owls have Used the building of construction pieces to enhance their spatial awareness, thinking and reasoning, extenc their focus ‘and patience, spark imagination, build confidence and develop problem solving skils. Your children have delighted in making new friends in a secure environment which has encouraged them to grow, preparing them tomeet head-on the challenges wrich the rest of their young years will present. ‘They are leaming these important, lessons, which wil stay with them for life. We look forward to the new ‘experiences of the coming year. SR TREE TOP CLUB "The Tree Top Club has seen ‘many changes over the last year, including long term coordinator Karen Davis moving on to become a pre-school assistant at a local school. We all wish her well. As a result, | have taken over as coordinator and would like to thank everyone for their continued support. This year we have welcomed a new team of assistants and leaders who have fit into the tree top family well. We have continued to see high numbers of children signing up during each holiday period where we have welcomed old and new faces, Each holiday is based on a weekly theme where the daily activity focuses on different arts and craft projects, activities and trips. Each day is based on a semi- structured routine allowing time for ‘snacks, lunch and swimming. In addition to this, children have free chill out time where they can use their electical items and watch television (children are given a maximum of half an hour electrical usage and DVD's are usually watched a: the end of the day.) This year we have based our trips in local area's including Bristol Zo0, Blaise Castle, Cotswold Wildlife Park and Puzzle Wood to name a few. We took adifferent path than usual when visiting Blaise and found another walk leading to a small waterfall and a great field for exploring. During our visit to @Bristol we watched a planetarium show about the summer night sky, participated in a variety of science experiments and a brave few (who were feeling peckish) tastec meal worms and crickets, Our trip to Bristol Zoo during the Easter Holiday was very wel, but we had the zoo to ourselves enabling us to spend more time talking to the keepers. We lant new facts about lots of different animals. We also explored the magical and wondrous scenery of Puzzle Wood where episodes of Dr Who, Meriin, Atlantis and Jack the Giant Slayer have been filmed. AH "its the best club around. I gives ‘my children the opportunity to ‘meet other children who live in the area and it's great value for money.” Mrs Hartley Ail ee his year started with the ‘welcome addition of two new teaching assistants to the Lower ‘School; Vicky Johnson TA in Reception and Year 1 and Nicky ‘Tregenza TA in Year 2. It has been delightful to have them join the team and | would lke to thank them for their support and hard work. All the children have benefited from their enthusiasm and dedication. We were also joined by Mr Perez completing his final year of teaching training in Year 1.1 know the children had lots of fun and enjoyed all of the lessons and activities he provided for them. Thank you Mr Perez for your boundless energy! As always the year has flown by and the children have participated with great enthusiasm and positivity in everything we do inside and ‘outside the classroom including Harvest Festival, Christmas play, informal concerts, Eisteddfod, swimming gala, sports day, activity week, and schoo! trips. The list is endless, Well done children. Reception What a year we have had in Reception. Firstly, | would like to say Now fantastic the children have been. From the first term they have been keen to leam, interested and excited to explore new ‘opportunities. They have taken part in everything that TMS has had to offer with enthusiasm, Examples range from assemblies and concerts to galas and ‘workshops. Within the classroom they have shown focus and ‘excitement for their work and leaming. We have built a rocket, grown lettuce to feed the guinea pigs, cooked an array of delicious treats and undertaken a range of art and creative activities. Well done and thank you to all pupils in Reception this year. CE Year 1 ‘Year 1 have had a super year and we have accomplished many exciting things. Mr Perez worked with us every week in order to complete his PGCE and he passed with flying colours. He worked hard and made the children work hard too! ‘Suddenly Christmas was upon us so the fairy lights came out, the nativity script was written and the panic started to rise! As ever, they were all magnificent and did themselves proud. The end of term carol service was also a fabulous end to the term. ‘Our trip back in time to the Victorian era in the Spring term culminated with a visit from a toy museum from a drama company. ‘The children were suitably impressed with all the artefacts. | was impressed with their knowiedge & engagement with the workshop. The term continued to be as busy as ever and we had to overcome the dreaded flu bug too! We soldiered on and decided to cheer ourselves up with the Eisteddfod competition. Nearly every child gave up their Friday playtime to sing in the choir. | was 0 proud of their commitment and it paid off as we won our class. ur topic on space was enriched by Tim Peake’s adventures and we were lucky enough to join his Virtual classroom keeping close tabs on his adventures. The children loved this work and it opened the door to lots of Literacy ‘work on space. And just for the record Mrs West loved it too! Finally the Summer term started, warm weather, sun hats, sports day and a trip to the seaside. Our trip to Clevedon pier was fabulous. We walked on the pier, played on the beach, had a drawing competition and ate ice cream! Mr Perez thought paddling in the sea was a great idea...Mrs West didn't! The Lower school choir continued their winning streak and sang with the other school choirs during speech day. They were fabulous and another reminder that ‘Tockington spirit starts young! lw Year 2 This is has been another fabulous year in Year 2 anc all the children have made great progress across the curriculum, Asa cohort they have proved therrselves to be budding historians and ‘geographers in perticular. In History they became experts on Brunel, voted Tean William or ‘Team Harold in the Battie of Hastings and were confident ‘enough to query historical sources of evidence when exploring the Great Fire of London. We still want to know what happened to Thomas Farrinor During the summer term, ‘our classroom became an EU referendum headquarters as the children studied the topic ‘Our European neighbours.’ The post Brexit debate side lined all our lessons on the Friday morning as the children wanted to debate issues and ideas. | think we have some budding potticians in the making. Well done Year 2 on a very interesting and enjoyable year. JS MUSIC rem grg Keane [ites been another busy and successful year for the Music Department at Tockington. House Talent Autumn 2015 began with a flurry of rehearsals and planning for the Ing and really raised the ‘competition this year. Each choir was outstanding, with 2) jon and commitment, providing a very high level of energy in performance. The Y8's worked well to create such an entertaining afternoon with three 9 of term. The. local actor and musician, Michael Lunts, adjudicated the afternoon fabulously; educating the children with his own professional performance at the end. The winning house was Alexander, who were particularly proud, “It's the first time we have won for a decade! Harvest Service Quickly following on from this we celebrated harvest at "The Harvest Service” a Friday aftemoon event that now includes Reception to Year 8. All three school choirs perform. The Lower School Choir sang ‘Five a Day’ a fun counting song that encourages healthy eating! The Junior Choir sang, ‘Everywhere Around Me’, a beautifully melodie piece which they really sang from their hearts, Performance Choir led ‘Harvest ‘Samba’ executing some fun dance moves with the other two choirs joining in for the chorus. Parents and teachers commented on how impressive itis to watching a joint choir of around 83 pupils perform 50 wall as a team. It was a very enjoyable experience to end the first half of term, Nursery Nativity The second half of term saw the usual plethora of Christmas nativities and activities. A particularly large “Congratulations!” go to the Nursery staff for pulling off a Christmas Show with such high numters of small children. Not only do they get all the children into their costumes looking fabulous all at the same time, this year they taught and delivered all of the songs themselves with the support of Charmaine George accompanying them at the last couple of rehearsals. Well done to everyone involved in the Nursery productior! Lower Scrool Christmas Show The Lower School performed ‘Hey Ewel’ a highly entertaining show by Out of the ark. Emily Gaulton Played the lead role vary confidently. The songs were catchy and some children remembered a great deal of lines. This year we added some choreography which spiced things up a little! Well done to the Lower School for their fantastic effort and achievement, i was very enjoyable for everyone to watch, For the second year running, the Performance Choir performed at ‘The Toy Service at St Mary's Church, Olveston. This is a beautiful and important service remembering all those children and families who do not have enough at Christmas time and throughout the rest of the year. While we celebrate earlier and with more extravagance than ever, at Tockington we feel itis very important to remind ourselves of the true message of Christmas. This year the parish of St Mary's booked a Puppet Theatre company to partarm at this service. It was another entertaining and holistic experience for our pupils! MUSIC Carol Service Finally the Carol Service brought the Autumn Term to a musical end! Similar to Harvest, all three choirs performed, The Lower School sang two of the songs from the Christmas Show, ‘Calypso Kings’ and ‘A King is Born’ complete with rhythmic claps and moves. The Junior Choir performed, ‘Go! Tell it on the Mountain!’ with excellent focus, intonation and control and the Performance Choir sang the jerbose ‘Star Carol’ with a good arioty of dynamics. Despite a great deal of illness on the day, Performance Choir managed to maintain a good tone quality and | ‘was particularly impressed by the Pupils determination and resolve to sing and support the team, no matter how they were feeling. The how must go an! The final choral item was the 85 strong, joint choirs jing ‘Mary's Boy Child’. This was sung with great feeling with individual choirs taking it in tums to sing a verse each and all joining in for the rousing chorus. —" "Ses yy AOI LG, Thornbury Eisteddfod The Spring Term is always a hive of activity in the music department with rehearsals for the School Musical and the Thornbury Eisteddfod. Interspersed with music exams, lunchtime Informal Concerts and assemblies, we had another busy time. This year I led all three choirs in the Eisteddfod for the first time, The children really impressed me with their confidence vocally and their commitment to performance. The Lower School Choir was oustanding and quite a few members of the audience were moved to tears by their rendition of ‘The Dolphin Song’ contrasting with ‘Tm a Giraife’. They won their category. The Junior Choir sang an upbeat rerdition of Zip-a-Dee-Doo -Dah followed by a heartfelt version of 'We Want to Sing’. They came 2ndin their class. Finally the Performance Choir won their category singing Benjamin Britten's ‘Old Abram Brown’ and the Spiritual Wade in the Water’ very effectively. All together it was a very successful day. The Sunday beforehand there were vocal solos and the Sunday following there were instrumental solos. | had a very enjoyable couple of weekends watching the variety of incredible talent both locally and from our school. This year we entered several of the instrumental classes and as usual the vocal classes were represented well thanks to Sian Walters our singing teacher. Following closely on the heels of the Eisteddfod was our school musical, Annie. There is a full write up in the drama section but it was a great pleasure to work with our musical soloists and the music to support the drama with really good and fairly complicated cast songs. Music Reward System ‘After @ good rest during the Easter holidays we made a start on leaming choral repertoire for the array of upcoming performances. A new reward system was introduced akin to the long-standing cross- country badge system referred to as ‘The List’. For music we now have ‘The Record’ which is for Y2- 8 and if a certain grade is attained by a certain age they make it onto ‘The Record’ with either a yellow badge, or, for particularly high achievements, a purple badge. At the same time weekly practice badges were introduced for anyone maintaining five practice sessions a week. Lastly ‘Wow’ badges are now awarded in assembly for any ‘musical moments’ that | myself witness. These can be awarded to anyone in the school for a moment that surpasses my expectations. They are very individual as each pupil's musical journey is unique and | have noticed certain children are keen to impress me as a result! Its worth noting that, since Introducing ‘The Record’, the umber of children entering music exams this term was at a record 2a! ABRSM Music Exams For the first time in recent years there were enough ABRSM music exam candidates to hold a special Visit. This means that there were over three hours of exams which warrants an examiner coming to see us here at TMS! | must admit | was slightly apprehensive that peaoe would reign around the hall which is such a central position in our daily school life. However, | ‘was mistaken. Iwas stunned by the behavior of the Lower School and Nursery children, who, quietly managed by the excellent staff, all used different routes around the ‘school and adapted daily routines {o minimize noise disturbance. | ey Ke & es ‘The Record’ & 43 Purple Yellow Year 2 rte Year 3 Glor more Prep Test Year 4 Gormore Giormore Year 5 Gormore Glormore Year 6 Ghormore Gormore Year 7 ‘Gor more Gé or more Year 8 G6 or more G5 or more would like to extend my thanks to every member of our school ‘community, including parents, for your support to enable this to happen. The examiner commented cn how beautifully all the children behaved towards her and how ‘calm and confident the majority of exam candidates were. Talent Spots ‘Atthe same time as this new reward system I set up new performance opportunities called “Talent Spots’. They are a Friday lunchtime occasion in the hall limited to one or two designated year groups. The YB Head of iMusic and Drama is a central ‘igure in the organization of these. They collate lists and host the show which can have very limited audiences or very large audiences. Nis really just a chance for pupils tohave a go on the stage, with a microphone if needed and to develop a talent which could feed into the House Talent Competition. ‘These were very successful and fun this term. They went spectacularly well. There was a fun, supportive atmosphere held by everyone. Beth Pritchard in her role of Y8 Head of Music and Drama managed them calmly and confidently. A great variety of talent was on show including some pupils, who performed in front of an ‘audience for their first time showing a sense of humour and confidence, trusting their audience to react appropriately. Some very brave performances occurred, some soulful and serious ones and other fun, entertaining ones. Two that stood out for me were Isabelle Presion playing quite a tricky recorder piece and the YB boys who had prepared a fun dance and ‘chose appropriate material showing a great sense of fun, respect and maturity. It was also particularly lovely to hear Miss Lewis play the piano so sensitively. Informal Concerts Over the course of the year we held a record number of informal ‘concerts reflecting the numbers of children keen and ready to perform. Six lunchtime concerts ‘were held in total. These went very well on the whole and are a good basis for children to build their ‘confidence for the main concerts. Over the year we have seen MUSIC performers from Year 2 to Year 8 take part in performing regulaty. Pupils seem to relish the chance to show what they are learning and my main aim is to teach them how to behave on stage when mistakes. occur; namely to stay relaxed, calm and happy if possible. If a child has a music exam that term they are given the priority over other non-exam candidates, Lower School Concert On the final day of Activity Week the Lower Schoo! held their musical extravaganza! The Lower ‘School and Owls concert is in its fourth year now. This year it kicked off with Y2 recorders. They played two pieces as a full class, We have had a particularly talented group of Year 2's this year and half the class also managed quite a complicated recorder piece called ‘Condor’. Furthermore, all of the Y2's who have private music lessons heve the chance to perform a solo. The confidence of these younger members of our school always astounds me. They all stayed calm and collected and each one performed to the best of their ability. Daphne Glauzy was particularly outstanding singing Part of Your World’ with a beautiful tone and ¢ natural vibrato beginning to shape the phrasing which moved many members of the audience to tears. Maya Sapkota ejoyed playing ‘Cantanke‘ous Camel’ which is a piece beyond Grade 1 level. Emily Tyler sang, played the piano beautifully and performed ia ‘Condor. Each year group performed their ‘own songs with percussion, ‘meaning that every single member of our Lower School had a chance to perform a vocal line with rhythmic accompaniment as part of ‘a group. These songs were based on the Oxford Reading Tree series about Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy, developing literacy skills without them even realizing! The Owis all ‘came up from the Nursery which tured into a song and they also ssang their own song very ‘competently. Our Lower Schoo! Choir rounded the event off with Heigh Ho! and ‘Sing’ which was absolutely beautifully performed with some Reception members giving their debut in Lower School Choir! Overall the standard was very high and | was extremely proud of tham all. | must also add that the Lower School Choir has been an absolute delight to practice with every week! ‘Summer Concert ‘The highlight of the musical year at ‘TMS remains the main Summer Concert for children in Year 3 to 8. It mainly provides a platform for leavers to perform, This year the concert began with Orchestra, which began the year somewhat depleted after last year’s cohort left leaving only § members! Slowly over the course of the year we added new members, built up the sound and held our own in the ‘Summer Concert! We played Bear Necessities from The Jungle Book very ably led by Jonathan Baguley on the trumpet followed by Oom Pah Pah from Oliver, which depended upon a reliable drum beat played by Ceredig Jones who made his debut in orchestra this year! An array of musical solos followed; voice, piano, guitar, lute, violin and not one but two pupils singing and accompanying themselves on the piano - a Particularly tricky skill. There were various highlights including a vocal duo performed by lona Campbell and Isabelle Preston and Rachel Shutt’s solo ‘The Sun who's Rays’ which is a Grade 7 musical theatre Piece. Isabel Browning played a grade 4 piano piece with confident poise, control and finesse. Peter Banks showed his progress by Playing ‘Stormy Coast’ a tricky and ‘contrasting piece played with great feeling and depth of sound. Beth Pritchard gave an incredibly brave performance of her own song ‘about how quickly time passes, the first time that any pupil has performed their own song at a main school concert before. Olivia Banks gave a heartfelt rendition of | Won't Give Up’, Ella Howard-Robinson sang ‘Your Song’ and also played ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ on the violin very well and Alex Ganfield sang his heart out for the last time on the Tockington Stage with absolutely stunning control on the high notes, Finally Mathis played a tricky Bach Grade 6 piece with a beautiful tone, ‘Well done to all the soloists! Junior Choir whichis for Year 3-5, performed their Eisteddfod song “Zip a Dee Doo Deh” and “I Wish | Knew How it Would Feel to be Free’. Performances Choir sang Old Abram Brown very threateningly, with excellent dynamics and the more positive “Down by the Riverside” with glerious harmonies ‘and both choirs came together for the performing "Believe" by Lin Marsh which left everyone with a tear in their eye and a very important message? about believing in yourself. ‘Speech Day | have particularly enjoyed working with the choirs this year and honing my conducting skills! The singing in the school is going from strength to strength as is noticeable in assembly and in this year's House Talent. On Speech Day this year the Lower School Choir joined the older choirs for the first time making a choir of 100 pupils to sing their joint song. ‘Believe’ by Lin Marsh which has very powerful words, which coincidentally tied in supportively with the speeches. | have had so many comments. about the song choice and ‘members of the audience being moved to tears, that | have decided to publish them here as a goodbye to the leavers this year. I wish them all the very best of luck for their futures at their next schools and beyond as | begin to think about our musical ventures for next year! It only remains for me to thank Charmaine George and the VMT team for all their hard work which feeds into our music department; Sian Walters, Maxine War, Nicki Bames, Jan Tewson, Greg White and Martin Rogers. Well done to everyone for another fantastic year! Ks When I lock up to the stars, There's a burning deep inside me And I feel a power growing in my soul, There is something | can sense, Deep within a dream to guide me, And I know that lam reaching for ‘my goal I can do anything at all, I can climb the highest mountain, can fee! te ocean calling wild and free. 1 can be anything | want, With this hope to drive me onward, If can jusi believe in me. When the skies are dark and grey, We still know the sun is shining: Though it's out of sight, its light is glowing stil And as long as | believe, There is nothing | can't wish for; Not a dream that I’m unable fo fulfil. Jean de anything at all, can climb the highest mountain, 1 can fee! the ocean calling wild and free. can be anything I want, With this hope to drive me onward, If I can just believe in me. And whatever it takes I'l ind it ‘somehow; Whatever it needs I'l show I’m strong. Whatever it takes I'l make it happen: Finding out where | belong. While the world is spinning round, I.can sometimes lose direction ‘And I know how hard it isto find my way. But with friends around to care, There is nothing | can't handle, And I'l face the future treasuring each day. can do anything at al, 1 can climb the highest mountain, J can feel the ocean calling wild and free. J can be anything | want, With this hope to drive me onward, if1 can just believe in me, MUSIC EXAMINATION RESULTS Pe RPE enc ecco Rec) eee] Cees) eer) Alex Ganfield ere eres) eee aS ee eS) Rem) cere CPR ly Edwards Initial Pano Se) Sean ees Prete Ellie James Tree) Pete) Elodie Preston acon ae ae eae ae) ee aa eo me Spring Term 2016 ABRSM Seite eer eea Merit io le exe Ss abelle Preston RNS a cat Ween] ceo Spring Term 2016 Trinity Ree Coy ere Pad SCP LL Erin O'Leary ed Nort eee mass aero) cera ied Reed nics te eae Peer) een] eer ied Teed ec Merit Tea eS ma ross Sree eo eee eee a Gabriel Crompton een mee Frankie De Bradeny eee ee Ree Ua mms Breet Sm al Ses a erciees eae Sir es Ee eecee ai) Pass gee) cee aa 1 March the Upper Schoo! children transported their audience back in time to 1933 New York where we met some lovable and also some questionable characters. We watched as the little orphan Annie, played by Jeanne Veron and lona Campbell, charmed her way out of the orphanage run by the unscrupulous Miss Hannigan, played by Beth Pritchard, and into the heart of the billionaire Oliver ‘Warbucks, played by Alex Ganfield ur story began with the orphans, played by Ella Howard-Robinson, Maddie Summers, Isabelle Preston, Jenna Saluja, Carmen Rey-Jones, Erin O'Leary and Tilly Jordan, settling down for the night ‘when they notice Annie trying to make a break for it. Unfortunately, Annie's escape attempt was foiled by Miss Hannigan who then forced the girls to clean the orphanage from top to bottom at 4am, along with the other orphans played by Year 4, The arrival of Bundles McClusky, played by Alejandro Diez, offered Annie another chance to flee by hiding in his laundry basket. Once she had made it onto the streets of New York City she encountered an apple seller, played by Luke ‘Tapping, and a dog catcher, played by Alex Grocott. Annie also met a new friend, Sandy the dog, and serenaded him with the song Tomorrow’ withthe help of the Year 3 dancers, before being questioned and eventually caught by Lt. Ward, played by Alex Bouton, Upon her return to the orphanage, Annie and Miss Hannigan met Grace Farrel (personal secretary to Oliver Warbucks) played by Olivia Banks. Amiie used her charm, intelligence and great sense of humour to win over Grace and ‘eam herself a place in the ‘Warbucks household for Christmas, When Annie arrived at the Waibuck’s mansion she was greeted by the household staff, played by Year 7. Shortly after Annie's arival, she met Oliver ‘Warbuck’s who treated her to a night in NYC, assisted Year 6 and Year &. Although Annie was having a great time with Mr Warbucks she stil longed to find her biological parents so Mr Warbucks vowed to help her find them by offering a reward on the Bert Healy show, hosted by Alex Grocott. The orphans, including Year 5, listened to the broadcast, but they were not the only people who did. Miss Hannigan’s brother Rooster, played by Alex Jacobi and Angus Duncan, and his partner in crime Lily, played by Rachel Shutt and Talia Curtis, heard the announcement and plotted to pose as Annie's parents. With Miss Hannigan’s help they planned to claim the reward before disposing of Annie for good! Luckily, with the help of President Roosevelt and his assistant Louis Howe, played by Mathis Bellino and Ellie Parker, their plan was foiled. Rooster, Lily and Miss Hannigan were arrested and Annie was adopted by Oliver Warbucks, making it a happy ending forall ‘Annie was directed and produced by Mrs Glanville with musical direction by Mrs Sapkota. Many other members of staff and children worked together to make this production a huge success. In the Drama department, we enjoy watching the children develop in confidence and ability throughout the rehearsal process and are always looking for the performers of tomorrow. SGI ea Cron Etc Sra) ara CARTOGRAPHY COMPETITION corona ee ec Pera Isabel Browning Mathis Bellino bce A acu Nee Peres) ec Beth Pritchard eee een Sora ree Lee Pee tesg Sra Reo y Ree eT Sed Poppy Newman PO Year 3 rey Year 2 Sei meted iy crits ened DS cred he year was dominated by the now legendary Alex Jacobi, seven time winner of the competition. He won the entries on France, Korea and Iceland. Ellie Parker appeared on each term with medal winning entries, The standard of Cartography in the school is now extremely high. The Pupils work hard on their presentation skills throughout the year, their maps are accurately drawn and well planned. Many pupile research the topic and add impressive detail to their maps. There were also many staff entries, all of an excellent quality! Well done everyone! JJ Sra ee] ead abel Browning Oo Pee Rn ert eect Tec ere kod Togery ory irerac) Cartography Competition Years 2-8 Spring Term 2016 (Beek OnE Name: _ Adon Jacobi. Year: Eight. NORTH & SOUTH KOREA NUROREA Reputation: 22,912,000 Capital: Pyengyang Life expectonays 63 urtency? Nery Keto won MATHEMATICS his year we had some outstanding results in the ‘Common Entrance Exams, particularly in the extended syllabus Level 3 papers. Alex Boulton answered two of the best papers | have marked and gained {94% overall in his Level 3 Common Entrance Mathematics Exam, His was a truly outstanding result and itwas a pleasure to mark! The papers are very challenging and all the pupils applied their knowledge well to the questions and showed they were able to think mathematically and persist to answer the questions. This is one of the aims of the Mathematics Department which stems from the ethos adopted by the whole school to challenge students to reach their maximum potential. This is fostered by the Maths Enhancement ‘Scheme of work used to develop these elements. The Standardised ‘Assessment brought in last year meant we could again compare our results to the national average. The scores enabled us to compare our students with a large nationally representative sample that have taken the test previously. Stanine (or STAndard NINE) is a method of scaling test scores on a nine-point standard scale. 58% of the students achieved stanine 6 or above throughout the school. From reception to Year 6 no students were achieving in stanine 1 or 2. Year 3 showed the greatest ® & improvement overall with 90% of the cohort achieving over stanine 6 this is an incredible result. The very positive results reflected well on the teaching and the Maths Enhancement Programme used. ‘These results particularly for the Year 6 students will give them huge confidence to embark on the Common Entrance Syllabus. In the Mathematics Department ve enter students into National Competitions yearly. This is enother way we can prove our standards are high and it's a great vay for students to practice epplying their knowledge, The results are as follows. All students in Years 7 & 8 entered the UK sunior Mathematical Challenge. ‘The competition is aways tough vith over 250,000 entrants. Honours went to Alex Boulton gaining a Gold Standard. He was also best in his Year and in the ‘School. Silver Awards went to Ellie Parker and Alex Ganfield. The Bronze went to Rodrigo Martin, ‘Tabitha Huby (who was also best in Year 7), Javier Martinez, Jonathan Baguley and James Allen who were also very close to gaining Silver. Congratulations to all the students who took part. All students in Years 5 & 6 enter the Primary Mathematics Challenge. The awards were: Gold: Jake Wakeling & Oliver Gill Silver: Elizabeth Allan-Jones, Harry Mather, Freddie Cooper, Otis Walker & Harry Huby Bronze: Toby Gaulton, Carmen Rey-Jones, Ben Jacobi and Isabelle Preston Well done to those students and all that took part This year the pupis at Tockington Manor Schoo! perormed particularly well during Mental Maths lessons and the Year 8 Pupils producing a pleasing set of marks during their Mental Maths examination. Pupils regularly signed into their online Sumdog accounts, benefiting from the Unique leaming ergine which adapts to the needs of each individual pupil. Pupils were able to compete against one another in the classroom, compete against local school in competifons, as well as competing in naticnal competitions. The Year 8 group also demonstrated the mathematical talents by completing project based work; looking at the most cost effective means of decorating the computing suite. The highest mark was achieved by the team led by Alex Boulton, his group ended with 2 fantastic 92%! Avery enjoyable year with achievement high Overall a very excting, successful year for the Mathematics Department and we look forward to building on our success. EW&BM s ever the English department has been a hive of activity this year with some new pollinators to attract the bees! The year started well with Years 6 and 7 taking part in the Bookbuzz, Which is a nationwide enterprise designed to stimulate a love of reading. There is always a great deal of excitement about it, as children choose from a selection of books chosen from the CILIP recommendations and then they order a book from the list at a fraction of the retail price. The children win, win and win (although the authors might nott). During the selection process, children watch video clips where the authors talk about their writing and the books which they are offering to the children. This gets the children hungry for a good read. To further stimulate their appetite this year ‘we launched a new Reading Passport Challenge where the children read their way around the United Kingdom, travelling at great speed with every page they read to touch down at airports around the country, receive a stamp on their Passport and take off again. All children from Years 3 to 8 took part, many travelling a great umber of reading miles! In the Spring term, the challenge became even harder. This year we introduced a night for Parents where they could come to schoo! to learn about how reading develops over the years spent at TMS. This was a very successful evening and parents went away armed with information and helpful tips designed to guide children towards enjoying reading. We hope to repeat this annually Love of reading was very much at the core of our work this year and all classes from Year 2 upwards used books as a springboard to classroom activities and learning. Year 2 even based their assembly on Anthony Browne's Zoo, as did Reception with their version of Farmer Duck. Each class from Year 5 to 7 enjoyed weekly lessons in the library and English preps also took place in the library to encourage browsing and borrowing. The Library Ladies have continued fo support the school with hours and hours of effort in covering, inputting and ‘managing the books as well as lending and recalling. This year they also attended an inspiring course about the full benefits of Junior Librarian, our computer cataloguing system. A huge thank you goes to Leanne Edwards, Cathy Baglin, Kelly Patel, Suzanne Gaulton and Delia Williams for all the time which they give freely. The Junior Librarians were also a real asset to the library this year and we are grateful to them for all the effort which they have put into looking after the library stock. Our bookshelves are pretty full at the moment with many great books for children — both fiction and non- fiction. Each year we add to our stock through commission from the Book Fair and the Scholastic Book Club, as well as donations. This year we were very lucky to receive a full set of Dorling Kindersley Eye Witness books on a vast range of subjects from the Christofi family. William is an OT and we were delighted with our ew set of 112 books, as well as ‘companion books. The children fell upon the books with great enthusiasm. A heart-felt thank you to William and the Christofi family. We have been lucky enough to receive donations from other sources too, notably lona ‘Campbell, the Prestons and the Allen family. Any books not wanted in the library make their way to the Book Shop, the Book Swap shelves or our occasional Book Sales. On the Fun day we managed to raise an impressive £100 selling ex-library books. This money all returns to the library as new books. We ere pleased that the Book Shop continues to thrive, selling new and second-hand books. The children are always keen to buy and fo browse. Mrs Graham enjoys helping out here and talking to the children about their choices. Sharing in the enjoyment of reading is reflected not only in our adult volunteers ‘who come into schoo! to listen to children read, especially Mrs. Baglin, but also in our Paired Reading programme where older children share reading with younger ones all the way down to the Nursery. Children have also enjoyed Milkshake Monday Morning again this year where they spend two breaktimes in the year in the library, drinking milkshake and eating biscuis whilst enjoying a story. We were also very lucky this year to have hwo Guest Storytellers - Mr .oring and Mrs Preston, who came in to read us stories in our special Guest Storyteller assemblies. (On World Book Lay, we celebrated reading again with full dressing up as book charactess, the Great Book ‘Swap, the Golden Ticket, the Big Readover and the launch of our sponsored read in the Gimme Five ‘Appeal. So many parents, friends and relatives were very generous with their suppor of this venture. Children and Stat all sacrificed five break-times to read in unusual places around the school. We read around the Lily Pond, on the ‘Adventure Playground, Under a Tree, in the Kitchen Garden and on the Astro. The novelty drove the project and in no time at all we had raised over £1,060 (of the total £33397) for the Great Westem Air “Ambulance, just by reading alone! ENGLISH There was also great excitement when we took a trip to the Cheltenham Literature Festival with Mrs Gooch, Ms Case and ten children. We saw some of the modem greats, including Chris Riddell, who is currently the Children’s Laureate, Anthony Browne, Frank Cottrell Boyce and ‘Sandy Toksvig. Books galore were bought and signed and we had another great day out, in what has become an annual Sunday best! We have celebrated our writing as well and we enjoyed National Poetry Day in the first term, writing many very creative poems on the theme of light. We also took part in the Radio 2 500 Words Story- writing competition and this year we had four children who got through to the second round. They were chosen from the original 120,000+ entrants. Those who got through were all boys: James. Allan, Jake Wakeling, Jonathan Baguley and Alex Ganfield, We ‘were thrilled for them and there was a great deal of excitement at the thought that they might possibly win. The second round had 4,000 young writers in competiticn with each other, but it ‘was not tc be this time! All of the boys receved very positive feedback ‘or their stories and we hope they will try again next year. At the same time, we ran our own 500 Words competition in schoo! and there was lots of interest. The winners in each year group that entered were: Year §: Harty Mather, Year 6: Jenna Saluja; Year 7: Tabitha Huby; Year 8: Alex Boulton. Een Jacobi impressed Year 5, the teachers and Blue Peter with his eco-friendly 500 word short story. Our Year 7 children al found out that they had made it through to being published in the South West Young Writers ook for their mini-sagas which they wrote at the end of Year 6 This was a real boost to confidence and fired all the children uo for writing early on in the year, The book is available for borrowing in the library. The children in Year 4 took on 8 new topic, studying the characters and events in ‘A Midsummer's Night Dream’, They even took to the stage in lessons, acting out their ‘own version of Shakespeare's ‘magical play. The role of Bottom was particularly popular! They also studied the great outlaw, Robin Hood, and debated whether he was really a hero or a villain. Year 4 took part in the Easter holiday diary writing challenge too and now have some super books to remember their holidays by. Years 5 to 8 have also continued to write to our Kenyan pentriends. One batch of our letters disappeared en route to Kenya, which was disappointing, but our Penfriends very kindly sent us @ new batch of letters and we have been able to pick up the pieces. ‘Some of our children are now writing for the second or third time to the same pentriend, which is nice. The children are always very excited to receive letters, which just goes to show that the appeal of letter-writing is not dead yet! Year 4 and Year 5 had fun sharing their writing skills in 2 workshop which was run by Ms Case and Mrs Gooch in the week leading up to the exams. The two year groups worked together to refresh memories about how to write a great story. Year 4, who had just finished writing some amazing dragon stories, which you can read on the school website, helped to remind Year 5 how to get the best ut of their writing. It was a lot of fun and such a busy activity. Year 3 shared their accomplishments with a lovely anthology of poems, which is now in the library. Year 8 wrote stories for a Younger Audience, after they had finished their CE exams, and copies of each illustrated story are now in the library waiting to be shared with all of our other borrowers, We have had a great time nurturing performance and presentation skills once again with the Thombury Arts Festival Eisteddfod The rehearsal schedules were squeezed into break-times, lunch- times and prep-times and the children worked very hard to prepare readings and poetry recitals. There were many successes at this most enjoyable event. The resulls were as below. DN i) Violet Gibbs - 6 eT Emily Gaulton PENS cr) Serko ee eae ed Re aoe Ser D4 Solo Verse Speaking Lily Edwards - Distinction - 8 PEN er) Erin O'Leary - Dis Eien DN i] Ree ees PN) Cee ee eas ae Cea All of the performances were so enjoyable to watch. Some of the duo-poems have made their way into assemblies, most notably Isabelle and Carmen and Tabitha and Anya. The story-telling ‘category is a particularly scary one 2s the storyteller is only given an cbject half an hour before the story-telling begins. Not all of the year’s performances ave been by the children, although you can read about the fabulous school production of Annie in the Drama section, We also welcomed the Bristol Old Vic Youth Theatre to the school for a filarious and fast-paced production cf the Ruff Guide to Shakespeare, enjoyed by all of the children in Years 3 to 8. At Christmas, Years 3 to 5 went to see Cinderella, the fantomime, at Cheltenham Everyman Theatre and Years 6 to. & saw The Wind in the Willows at the Redgrave. The visit to the Fanto was preceded by a very Prec) lively workshop with costumes and antics galore. Performance has been further nurtured this year through our poetry recitals, which we have attempted to do once every term. ‘These have been a lot of fun, as well as a great experience for building confidence. All of the children in Years 2 to 8 took part in the Poetry Slam at the beginning of the year and this was high- pressure performance poetry, where children had to write and perform their poems in a ‘competitive time-frame. This was great fun to watch, as well as tense. Year 6 was invited to write a presentation for the Youth Speaks Public Speaking Competition. Everyone wrote a five minute talk on something they felt would interest an audience. The range was fascinating, as were the different styles of delivery. Year 6 er gee kei ei oeorn es ean Por art fee eae Pret] eee Crna Cee Serene eres ere mtn We) Be eee) ee ete ee Chee e) eC) PaCS) eke Tee ed eer Ey ENGLISH listened to and judged each other's presentations, using a set of criteria given to them by the ‘Thombury Rotary Club. Ten children then performed to the Rotary Club judges and Isabelle Preston went forward to the area final. The competition was of a very high standard and Isabelle came third with a subject she obviously felt passionate about: Pollution. The children have all been working towards improving their handwriting and presentation too and Mrs Gooch is very proud that all of the children in Year 4 have their pen licence, We continue to have tormly Handwriting and Presentation competitions. The new Handwriting and Presentation trophy has been won separately by Olivia Banks and Isabel Browning, both very deserving winners. All year group winners become School Scribes and write letters for the school and they have been very good at writing welcome letters as well as thank you letters throughout the year. Rest assured that not everything has been about competition! There have been many memorable and

    You might also like