Student leadership We congratulate Ros, Cameron, Hetty and James as they take up their student leadership positions.

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1 13 October 2017 No. 1 End of Autumn Half Term Dear parents The academic year is well under way and I trust all Senior School pupils are very settled into classes and activities with a good prep routine, are focused on their studies and are ambitious with both their short and long term goals. I also hope that all pupils have joined a sports team, musical activity or a club or two as these activities bring balance and a well rounded approach to school life. The first grade card or academic review of the year is included with this newsletter. Please refer to the Information Booklet , pages 14-17, for an explanation of grades used in the grade cards. Please discuss these reviews and grade cards with your child and encourage further progress in the next half term. The first term at School is such an important one for every year group and a good start will augur well for a good finish. Data collection sheets These important data sheets are enclosed with this newsletter and I remind you that accurate information is necessary for ed communications, clarion calls via mobile numbers and PTA contacts to be maintained. Please check this form carefully and send it back to School immediately marking it as correct if no changes are necessary. The School builds year group lists from consenting families that are then used for School and PTA communications only. These lists should never be used for commercial purposes please. Student leadership We congratulate Ros, Cameron, Hetty and James as they take up their student leadership positions. Deputy Head Boy James Birch, Head Girl Rosalind Seabrook, Head Boy Cameron Douglas, and Deputy Head Girl Hetty Taylor

2 Upcoming dates Listed below are some important meetings and events in the second half of the autumn term and early in the spring term. Senior School Parents Evenings, JGC pm: Sixth Form Thursday 16 November 2017 Year 11 Thursday 11 January 2018 Year 7 Thursday 8 February 2018 Year 9 Thursday 22 February 2018 (including GCSE Options Evening) Year 10 Thursday 1 March 2018 Year 8 Thursday 16 April 2018 (tbc) Remembrance Day Service: Friday 10 November 2017 at 10.50am Sports Hall: a service for pupils Christmas Service: Thursday 7 December at 10.00am Christ Church, Esher: a service for pupils Thursday 7 December at 7.30pm Christ Church, Esher: a service for parents, pupils, families and friends Uniform All pupils are expected to be in full uniform from the time of leaving home, whilst at School, and on the journey returning home, by bus, on foot or car. The only jacket worn by Year 7 to 11 pupils must be the school jacket available from AlleyCatz. Non uniform jackets are unacceptable in the Senior School. Please support this policy at all times. Sixth Formers should wear either the Claremont Fan Court jacket or a tailored coat over their suits in colder weather. Bomber jackets and the like are not allowed at this School. Sports team members are also reminded that this School requires players to arrive at School or at away matches in Claremont Fan Court sports kit, along with tracksuits and fleeces, and to leave the match for home in this kit. Year hoodies or kit from tours must never be worn and are not considered school uniform. Please ensure any clothing which is still unnamed is labelled over the break; especially sports kit, lab coats and bags. Scholarships for 2018 Scholarship information for pupils entering Years 7, 9 and Lower Sixth is available from the school website. All-rounder, music and academic scholarships are available to enter Year 7. Music, sports and academic exhibitions are available to enter Year 9. Art, drama, sports, music and academic scholarships are available to enter the Lower Sixth. Tennis scholarships are also available. Applications must be received by the Senior School admissions secretary by Friday 3 November for Sixth Form applications and Friday 17 November for Years 7 and 9 applications. Please see the website for more information: Finishing Instrumental Lessons, an Extra Subject or Use of the School Bus Parents are reminded that if pupils wish to stop an extra subject such as a musical instrument, chess, judo, fencing, speech and drama, dance, tennis and football, or use of the school bus at the end of the autumn term, notice in writing is required to be given to the accounts office by the end of the half term break.

3 Prep Club and Late Pick Up After school Prep Club is available each evening until 6.00pm. As the dark nights close in, it is this School s expectation that all pupils are either on buses or picked up, or in Prep Club, and should not be waiting or playing outside school buildings until parents arrive. Please instruct your child, as we do, to use this time wisely and get a head start on the evening s prep by attending Prep Club. New Year 7 Pupils At the start of the year, we welcomed our new Year 7 pupils to Claremont Fan Court School and we are sure they will enjoy their Senior School years and do very well. Claremont Fan Court Senior School Year Sports Hub Mobile App The introduction of the School s new sports mobile web app, which allows players and supporters to keep track of all our sporting fixtures, has been met with much enthusiasm. If you have not already done so, please visit on a mobile phone and you will be taken to the mobile web app. You can save this app as an icon to your mobile device s home screen for ease. To access a fixture s team sheets, you will be prompted to enter a password. Please contact webadmin@claremont.surrey.sch.uk for this password. Parking and drop off The first weeks of the school year are always busy and no more so than in parking areas. As a reminder, Senior School families should follow these guidelines: There is no drop off facility in front of the mansion and no Senior School pupil should be driven to, or picked up from, the mansion except for when a child leaves School through the day for a medical appointment. Very limited drop off is available via Claremont Drive at the Prep School. This is strictly for those with younger children and no parking is available. Drop off and pick up for Senior School pupils is largely within the Top Car Park and pupils should be dropped off close to the brown shed, and picked up from there. Limited parking is available in the Top Car Park only on the occasions when parents have an appointment to see a staff member during school hours.

4 Now that our new footpath from the Portsmouth Road to the Top Car Park is installed and operational, we suggest that as an alternative to driving into the car park, pupils are dropped off in Hawkshill Way, cross carefully and follow the path up to School, thus avoiding the need, which can take some time, for parents to drive into School Sixth Form September saw the new Upper and Lower Sixth assemble. We wish both years well as the Lower Sixth embark on their A level studies and the Upper Sixth continue their chosen courses and begin their university application process. Claremont Fan Court Senior School Sixth Form School finishes for the autumn term on Thursday 14 December at 4.00pm following a busy week of lessons and Christmas events. It is our expectation that all children attend every day of School until the term ends. I trust Year 11 students, as well as our Sixth Form students, will spend a good portion of their break time on exam preparation. Important Year 11 mock exams will be held two weeks after half term and they should be approached with thorough preparation and determination to succeed. I wish you a restful half term break and I look forward to seeing all pupils next half term on Monday 30 October Yours sincerely Mr J Insall-Reid Headmaster, Senior School

5 House news The School would like to welcome two new Heads of House: Mrs Cahillane for Longcross and Miss Prentice for Esher who, together with Mr Sabater and Mr Rixon, form the Heads of House team. The Houses have been busy preparing for the first house events of the school year. The film competition with this year s theme, Festivals, and the drawing competition with this year s theme, Claremont Houses, are coming up soon and pupils are very excited. Other events in the autumn term include house singing, netball and rugby; all of which take place on the house day at the end of term. House captains have been announced and the Heads of House congratulate the following pupils on their appointments and look forward to working with them. Senior Thomas Richards Freya Gladstone Georgina Goodwin Thomas Palliser Nathan Hough Chloe Saville Calum Sanders Scarlett Whitford- Webb Intermediate Noah Beetge Sophie Eiloart Amy Rowe- Williams Jake Wakeford Evie Nendick Ben Peacock Sebastian Hardy Sasha Langston Junior Molly Gilmore Olivia Davies Ethan Hurley- Rishi Bhalla Love Matthew Todd Oliver Hill Millie Hall Nikolina Carter A level Textile Design students meet American Fashion Designer, Anna Sui A Level students meet Fashion Designer Anna Sui On Friday 22 September, our A level Textile Design students visited the Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion exhibition at the V&A Museum. The exhibition displayed the work of influential Spanish couturier, Cristóbal Balenciaga. The students were able to take a range of inspirational photographs to include in their sketch books. We also visited the Fashion and Textile Museum to see The World of Anna Sui exhibition. The exhibition featured a wide range of eclectic looks from the classic American fashion designer s archive and included a variety of styles from Surfers and School Girls to Hippies, Mods and Punks. We also met the designer herself which was a very exciting end to an inspirational day.

6 LAMDA results 2017 This year, Senior School Speech and Drama pupils were examined by LAMDA in Acting and Verse and Prose. Those who were entered achieved excellent results and congratulations go to all pupils. The following pupils achieved distinction: Joe B with two distinctions, Daisy N (94%), Matthew T with two distinctions, Nikolina C, Frode A with two distinctions, Ethan HL, Jessica F, Laura S, Beth T, Lily H (91%) andtiger M (90%). Charity Week Charity Week activities took place during the last week of this half term. The two charities which have been selected by the Sixth Form this year are: Save the Children ( supporting children who are caught up with the civil war in Syria. Motor Neurone Disease Association ( supporting the care of people with Motor Neurone Disease Photographs of some of the fund raising endeavours will be published in the next newsletter. Year 7 Minecraft club Every Tuesday lunchtime, the Year 7 Minecraft club has been meeting to bring ideas to life in our cubed Claremont world. Our team chop trees for crafting, mine iron for tools and build homes to protect themselves from the explosive Creepers come sundown. We collaborate, craft and create each pupil's ideas into our server. The twelve Claremont minecrafters can roam the mansion, dig underneath it or even build on top of it. They are free to design and create whatever they can think of. Minecraft has proven to be a great tool for engaging pupils and developing leadership and teamwork skills which are not typically attributed to game-playing. Pupils in the club can think of a design for a Minecraft house, discuss it with friends in the club and the team can then roam the world together, collecting all the resources that they need to bring their design to life. Almost as if they were designing their own design and technology project, they are responsible for all of the steps in making their ideas a reality. This creative and collaborative way of thinking which Minecraft encourages is a great way of developing young minds and giving our Year 7 pupils confidence and skills. The Minecraft club s Mansion

7 Year 8 - World Poetry Day On Thursday 28 September, Year 8 pupils enjoyed an inspirational workshop in celebration of National Poetry Day. Breis, our guest poet and London rap artist, shared some of his own work while getting pupils to join in with his performance. It was fascinating to hear the background of some of his raps; and to find out the links between rap music and poetry. Before long it was time for pupils to try their hand at producing their own raps no mean feat when they had to include rhyming couplets, metaphors, similes and wordplay! Guest poet Breis inspires Year 8 on World Poetry Day Lower Sixth Physics of Surfing Trip Students travelled to the sandy shores of Bournemouth beach on Friday 15 September to learn about the mechanics of projectile motion and the science behind surfing. The morning was spent working in teams, problem solving and learning about the physics of catapults how gravity, buoyancy and net force come into play when surfing. In the afternoon, students took to the sea and put their knowledge (and balance) to the test on the waves! Lower Sixth Physics students take to the beach

8 Year 10 Visit to Baitul Futuh Mosque Recently, Year 10 Religion and Philosophy pupils visited the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden; the largest Mosque in Western Europe. After being met by two members of the mosque, pupils embarked on a tour around the outside of the complex, taking in the view of the minaret and dome. After removing their shoes, Year 10 pupils were able to look at the two huge prayer halls and also saw the clocks which let worshippers know when each of their five daily prayers should take place. There were many opportunities for pupils to ask questions from fasting and charity to women s rights and religious extremism. This informative visit was concluded by hearing the call to prayer and watching the midday prayers take place. Year 10 trip to the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden Year 11 Problem solving Challenge Day The Year 11 GCSE physicists enjoyed an active and rather muddy day in the forest near East Grinstead. Activities included plotting distance time graphs using data collected from speeding down a zip wire, calculating their power and gravitational potential energy whilst climbing high up into the trees and using ideas about centre of mass to balance precariously on a tower of twenty-five plastic crates; a risky business but much fun was had by all. Year 11 pupils Challenge Day, East Grinstead

9 Sports News Year 8 Unbeaten as a Year 7 team, and with high expectations for this year, the Year 8 A team has made exactly the start to the year that they hoped for. The single biggest improvement has been the increase in the quality of the rugby that they played. They have learnt structure and the forwards have learnt how important the hard yards are. The game against Gordon s was undoubtedly their biggest challenge and we have been particularly impressed by the development of Zac M and Dylan L who have really begun to understand their role as extremely effective ball carriers. Gabriel R and Archie W have been outstanding when running with the ball and almost no team can contain them. Gabriel P has also developed his distribution which means the dangerous runners are given much more space. Year 9 Our Year 9 team have more than enough skill and ability with the likes of Conor H and Zac W to be a very successful rugby side. They made a fantastic start to the season, beating Shiplake comfortably and then winning another competitive fixture against Ewell Castle. Year 10 This year group have had solid wins against Shiplake College and Ewell Castle. Sam A and George C have shown real leadership and a desire to take the ball on and Woogun N has made some devastating runs. This forward unit has a great deal of potential and, if they are to have more success after half term, it will be the forwards who will lay the platform. Senior Rugby The senior boys have again shown what a close knit and enthusiastic group they are. James B has shown what a truly positive and influential captain he is. He has been a consistently high performer and given the rest of the boys a rock to build their own play from. With so many Year 11 boys in the squad, this leadership cannot be undervalued. Along with James performance, Will R, Callum W and Cameron D have been outstanding in the forwards, with Finn B and Nathan H performing in similar fashion in the backs. With such a young team, there will be times when they come up against sides with greater physical presence but the skill level and organisation that they have developed means that they will develop into a very good side. Lacrosse The lacrosse season has started off extremely well. The U18 team hsa played Guildford High School, St Catherine s and St James with impressive results. The highlight of this half term has been the Surrey County Tournament where they won the bowl. Congratulations also to Eniola AO who has been selected for the U18 Supercounties team representing Hurricanes. She was selected based on her impressive play at the county tournament. These tournaments have often, in the past, been a gruelling experience because of the weather and the cold. Not so this year, as the girls now have bench coats which the PTA have supported in buying. Having this support is of great value to the PE department and we would like to express our thanks to the PTA for their generous support for our teams. The U15 team has started off the season in a similar light, winning convincingly two out of their four matches this season so far against St Catherine s and St James. There are two girls from this age group who have been put forward to trial for the Surrey Supercounties team. The U14 team has also had a good start to the season with a fantastic win against Dunottar as their final match before half term. They have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 1 so far this season; a special mention goes to Samantha S for her excellent work in goal. The U13 team has been the most successful team this year so far and are unbeaten to date. The players real passion for the sport is shining through and they are gaining more and more confidence as the season goes on. Many of the girls attended camp this summer which has had a real impact on the pace of their progress this half term.

10 For the first time Claremont Fan Court has been able to field two lacrosse teams at U12 level. We have worked very hard with these girls this season to give them a good understanding of the core skills required to be a successful team. With almost all the girls attending after school clubs they are making fast progress. The highlight has been our U12b vs Dunottars U12a team which had them finishing up with a draw. On Sunday 8 October the U12a team travelled to Oxford to compete against some of the top lacrosse school in the country. The girls narrowly missed out against Godolphin finishing with a 2-1 loss. All goal keepers in each group have experienced some advanced clinics from the Welsh international goal keeper, Erin Walters- Williams. This has been a huge success. A special mention goes to Hannah M who has performed to a very high standard for her own age group as well representing the senior team. This has been an excellent season for Lacrosse so far and we have got more girls than ever attending coaching sessions. This makes a huge difference to their progress in School as they are gaining extra tuition and playing with different girls. This half term has set us in very good stead for the pinnacle of the season; National Schools in March. Well done girls. U18 lacrosse team win the bowl at Surrey County Cup Netball This year we are fielding three senior netball teams with the 1 st and 2 nd team being entered into the Surrey Sixth Form league for the first time. The purpose of entering this league is to provide a little more impetus to the senior netball season and really give the girls playing a purpose each week. There will no doubt be in increase in the standard we will have to produce but this can only be a good thing for the development of netball in the school. The first set of league fixtures took place when we played Collyers College. The opposition was strong and we lost both games. However both teams competed well. This first experience definitely highlighted that playing against Sixth Form colleges is a very exciting but significant challenge for netball at Claremont Fan Court. The U15 netball team went to the Surrey Schools netball tournament last week. After a slow start, they started to warm up and managed to beat a strong Epsom College side. The girls showed great resilience throughout the day and we had huge depth within the squad. Netball fixtures will be starting properly for all teams after half term with U12 and U13 teams playing on Tuesday evenings and U14 and U15 teams playing on Thursday evenings.

11 Gymnastics Gymnastics is growing at a fantastic rate with teams representing the School at U11,U13 and U15. The younger girls have eight fixtures this year. All of the tournaments that they enter are leading up to the national championships which take place next year. The first event was the Surrey School Tumbling event. This was the first time we have entered so it was a daunting event for the pupils and staff to see where we fit. The girls were outstanding and came away with a bronze medal, finishing extremely close to being silver. Miss Prentice has been the driving force behind this sport and her dedication and hours she has put in to supporting the girls has already been rewarded. The PTA has given this sport wonderful support by purchasing roll mats last year which have made such a big difference to our teams. Thank you! Cross Country Claremont Fan Court is developing a reputation for being a very competitive running school. The cross country club runs every Tuesday with a good selection of pupils from all year groups. Their first event was the Ripley Court Cross Country. The boys performed brilliantly with Tom W winning, Flynn B coming 3 rd Ned R coming 6 th and Archie W 9 th. The rest of the boys all finished inside the top 25 which meant the team had a convincing over all win. Much will be expected of this group when the cross country season really begins in February. Cross Country competitors at Ripley Court The PE staff and the academic staff who give up their time to help out with fixtures and teams, wish the thank parents who, by coming along and watching all our matches, create such a fantastic atmosphere for the pupils to play in.

12 PTA NEWS The PTA extends a warm welcome to all our new families joining Claremont Senior School this new academic year. We now have all the Senior School s reps in place and hopefully you should have heard from them by now with a social date in your diary! PTA events are a good way to meet new parents and pick up tips about school life. Krispy Cream Doughnut Sales 9 November Following the success of all the sales this last academic year we are pleased to announce that we will be once again selling doughnuts on Thursday 9 November. Christmas Shopping Evening 17 November Claremont s annual PTA Christmas Shopping Evening will be held on Friday 17 November in the JGC. Our Shopping Evening gives us all a wonderful opportunity to get off to a great start buying those special gifts for family and friends. Doors open at 6.30pm and stalls remain open until 9.00pm to give everyone the opportunity to drop in and enjoy a spot of shopping. Entry tickets stay the same price at 2.00 for adult entry; children are encouraged to attend with no entry charge. An adult ticket qualifies you for free refreshments. There will also be a fabulous raffle with prizes from our stallholders. This year we anticipate having a fabulous range of stalls for you with something for everyone including stalls specifically for our children. We have over 30 stall spaces available. If you are interested in taking a stall, please let us know as soon as possible as demand is likely to be very high for this popular event. Please contact Emma Clark (emma@pepperandclark.com) or Cathy McGettigan (cathy@mcgettigan.co.uk) to book a stall. To give you a taster, in previous years our stalls have included: Rock and Robes ever popular fashion and accessories Hemliv home wares and soft furnishings seen in Vogue Flax and Mallow country garden inspired gifts and accessories Arbonne Swizz formulated natural skincare products for the whole family Mine! London beautiful personalised blankets and towels Cretan Myron top quality imported olive oil products Please join us for a lovely evening, meet with friends over a coffee or tea with mince pies and soft drinks for the children, and find wonderful Christmas gifts to browse and buy. Good As New Shop Our Good as New Shop is going from strength to strength with our excellent Good As New team. We have one sale every half term. We always need new stock so watch out for the s with dates where you can drop off items and pick up some great bargains. Open Mornings We always need parents to join our open morning team. Prospective parents like the opportunity to talk to new parents so, if you would like to help serve tea and coffees on a Saturday open morning, we would like to hear from you. Finally, we say good bye to Francesca Douglas our chair. Francesca has been supporting and working hard on the PTA for many years starting as a class rep many years ago, then deputy and finally chair. She has made many changes to the PTA and was instrumental in developing the new constitution. Her sense of humour will be missed along with her enthusiasm and can-do attitude. I am not sure what she will be doing with all her spare time! We all wish her well and thank her for all her time and support she has given the PTA. If you have any questions regarding the PTA, or would like to become more involved, we are a friendly bunch. Please contact the team at seniorschool@claremont.surrey.sch.uk Lucie Stewart, Executive rep Heather Rhoden, Executive rep