Anglo European School
End of Term Newsletter - July 2021
All good things ....
I find myself writing this on the day of my very last lesson as a teacher. At the age of 66 after 44 years of teaching, of which 27 have been at the Anglo including 17 years as headteacher, the time has come to stand down. The word "retirement" doesn't come easily, "redeployment" may be a better word, but I think the figures speak for themselves. All good things come to an end at some point and I think that moment is now. For the school, the end of the COVID tunnel is slowly glimmering into sight and it is in a strong position to build back better after all that we have collectively been through. Its staff, leaders, parents and students are ready for a new chapter in the schools' very distinguished history.
It has been an interesting and very enjoyable journey through Essex since my first role as assistant warden at Wicken House near Saffron Walden in 1978, a county residential field study centre, now closed. I then moved to be a Geography teacher at Saffron Walden County High School before becoming Head of Humanities at Barstable School in Basildon, now part of the Basildon Academy.
Once I had reassured myself that the Anglo European School was co-educational with a Sixth Form and that it was neither a private international school nor an independent school, I submitted my application. For me, it had to be a comprehensive school, a concept I have spent my career supporting and developing. That was in 1994.
I have seen many changes in education; the rise of social media, the increasing challenges of mental health, the reliance almost exclusively on examinations to measure children, the dominance of data over values as a means of deciding on priorities, the increased accountability of schools which had once inhabited their own secret garden plus, of course, the advent of emails and the mobile phone, with all the opportunities and challenges they bring.
But some things never change - education as a political football, the lack of adequate funding, the vagaries of teacher supply and yet, still, the joy of working in a school community and seeing children mature and progress. What also hasn't changed are the children themselves - their charm, unpredictability, energy and their humanity with all their talents, opinions and characters.
The Anglo has shaped me, and, in turn, I hope it has helped me to create an environment where we can shape children and encourage them to make a difference in the world. The Anglo is different and has inspired me throughout my time - my colleagues and the children have been deeply influential, and the school's values will stay with me whatever happens next.
My advice to them is to be kind, be ambitious and always try to make a positive difference. I also have to hope that they will forever understand "that other people, with their differences, ca also be right". I hope I have followed my own advice as I will continue to try to do.
The school is in a strong position at all levels to continue its progress. It will be led by Mrs Gee and a very strong Leadership team.
Thank you for the unstinting support you have shown this school. I wish you all every success wherever life takes you and I hope you will always keep something of the Anglo with you in spirit, as I will.
Mr David Barrs
Co-Headteacher
Mr Barrs has designed a quiz to test your knowledge and appreciation of what makes the Anglo different. Try answering the questions as a family.
STUDENT NEWS
International Fringe 2021
The first two weeks after the May half term are usually amongst the happiest times of year for the staff and students at AES. It is our Key Stage 3 International Visits period when we usually wave away coach after coach full of excited students heading to France, Italy, Germany, Spain, China or Japan for a Residential or Exchange visit that they will remember forever.
Instead, this year, we had to be creative about ensuring our international curriculum continues during this time in which we are not allowed to go abroad. The result was the 2021 inaugural Anglo International Fringe! Read the full story of these two weeks.
Year 9 and 10 MEP Intensive Study Programme
Year 9 and 10 Mandarin Excellence Programme students took part in an intensive study programme provided by the University College London. This was a fantastic opportunity for students to develop their knowledge of the Mandarin language and culture through a variety of different activities, collaborating with each other and sharing their work with other MEP students.
Anglo was also selected to form part of the British Council promotional material for the MEP and as a result were visited by a small film crew to capture these exceptional days. Mrs Gee and some selected students were also interviewed about the importance of the MEP and what they are hoping to achieve at the end of their 5 year intensive study.
Year 8 Budding Actors Work with the Royal Shakespeare Company
On the evening of Monday 5th July, 26 of our talented, vivacious and skilled Year 8 students took to the stage, at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich. This was the climactic end to a project, in which these students ignited a live audience's love of Shakespeare, once again.
In the third successful year of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Associate Schools Project, students who have excelled in the subjects of Drama and English, worked with Miss Revett, Miss Matchett and Royal Shakespeare Practitioners throughout the year to produce an engaging, visually remarkable and imaginative section of an abridged version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, alongside other schools working on the project.
Michael Corbridge - RSC Senior Voice and Text Associate commented, 'Students at the Anglo were a bubble of energy through-out the workshop, their enthusiasm and engagement towards the activities was exceptional.'
Mrs Gee joined Miss Revett and Miss Matchett to celebrate this amazing achievement with the students, in a certificate presentation in the amphitheatre. Mrs Gee said "Our students have achieved something exceptional this year in producing such an impressive performance of Macbeth and providing great pleasure to audiences who have been starved of live theatre this year. We are immensely proud to be an RSC Associate School and I'm grateful for the additional time and support given to this group by Miss Matchett and Miss Revett to enable them to participate once again in this fantastic project. Well done Year 8!
IB Examination Success
We are extremely proud to report that after a tough year of uncertainty and unusual pressures, the Anglo IB cohort of 2021 have achieved record-breaking results with a 100% pass rate. Our average Diploma points score is 36 which is 3 points above the global average and compares very favourably with local independent schools. All of our IB Career-related (CP) Programme students have been awarded their Certificate. More than a quarter of our Diploma candidates scored 40 points or more, and one student scored an incredible 44 points, which is truly outstanding.
We will receive the results from this year's GCSE and A Level students in August and wish all our students well with the next stage of their education pathway. We will look forward to welcoming many of our Year 11 students back into our International Sixth Form.
ANGLO IN THE COMMUNITY
Jack Petchey Award Winners
Bekah Choraitis (Upper Sixth)
Bekah joined our 6th Form and quickly embraced our International Ethos. Throughout her Ab Initio Spanish course, she consistently went above and beyond to further her cultural knowledge. As a Spanish prefect, she supported the Head of Subject and helped put videos together to promote the department and key events throughout the year. Additionally, she supported other students during the lockdowns, creating a student chat group to communicate and support other students within the Language Department.
Emily Morse (Upper Sixth)
Emily has worked with amazing focus throughout her Literature course in school and through lockdown. Emily is hard-working, conscientious and enthusiastic about her subject and all work she undertakes. Her recent presentation for 6th Form students gave a deeper understanding of autism and for those individuals in the class who are on the spectrum allowed their experience to be heard and appreciated. A credit to our 6th Form and school.
Joshua Cooper-Moss (Year 11)
Joshua has worked incredibly hard during lockdown, both on tasks set and with extra practical assignments for his Technology lessons. Joshua’s resilience has improved beyond recognition, and it is wonderful to see his ability in the subject improve but more than that his enjoyment and sense of achievement. We are so pleased that he will be pursuing this subject in the future.
Lily Pilato Sheldon (Year 11)
Lily has been nominated for her exceptional progress, contributions and outstanding performance this year. She has worked very hard in developing her critical responses to texts and in broadening her academic language to reach for the highest levels. Lily supports the other young people in her classes by explaining difficult concepts clearly. A wonderful role model.
Ben Coussens (Lower Sixth)
Ben has worked hard supporting the PE department. He has organised events for students to have extra opportunities to participate in sport during this last term after the Covid restrictions were lifted, knowing that students have missed out on sport for the last year. He has taken a lead on organising and running events and has many other ideas in mind that he wants to develop as things go back to normality. He has been a great Ambassador for the school and we are proud that he is our current Head Boy.
Lily Parris (Upper Sixth)
Lily has shown amazing dedication and achievement in both her academic achievements coupled with her athletic achievements in hurdles. She worked extremely hard over the lockdown period which has not appeared to have affected her academic progress. She has also continued to make remarkable progress in athletics through her steely dedication to training. Lily is number one in the country for hurdles in her age group and was chosen to go to the British Championships in June. She has also recently been selected to represent Great Britain in Estonia in the 100m Hurdles this July and we wish her well with these.
This year's Senior Leader Award was given to Ms Earley for her work with the International Office. She is responsible for giving thousands of students an international curriculum and programme of visits and exchanges which changes children’s lives. It broadens their minds, inspires their futures, creates friendships across frontiers and helps them appreciate their own families and what they have at home. Ms Earley’s role is absolutely critical to the international reputation of the school and this is recognised in the Schools’ International Award that is granted to the school every three years without fail. Her visionary insight, incredible organisational skills, linguistic skills, diplomacy and solution-driven approach to leadership means that our students have a privileged and unique educational experience and make Ms Earley a most worthy winner of the Anglo Jack Petchey Leader Award for 2021.
COMING SOON .... OUR PRODUCTION OF MOANA
Please continue to support the AESA
The Anglo European School Association (AESA) is a registered charity run by volunteer parents. Its role is to enhance relationships between staff, parents and others associated with the school, to organise fundraising events in aid of the school and to act on behalf of the parents as a consultation group within the school’s co-operative governance model.
In a usual school year, the AESA will hope to contribute more than £8,000 to the school, raised solely from fundraising activities. Bids are submitted by different departments in the school, and the funding enables them to provide extra facilities for the pupils to support teaching and learning. In recent years, AESA fundraising has helped to finance a new music practice room, the Enterprise Suite in the new C-block, netbooks, sewing machines, a mixing desk, visualizers, a specialist deep sink for textiles, Special Needs equipment and textbooks.
This year, due to Covid regulations, AESA fundraising took on a different look as all fundraising was held online. In the month of May, the AESA hosted four health and wellness sessions including a Bollywood Zumba class, a Baking Session with a pastry chef from The Shard restaurant, a Yoga class, and a Horticultural Evening and Kokedama-making class led by Anglo parent Petra Holly.
The AESA has exciting and challenging targets planned for our future fundraising. As cuts in educational funding continue to grow, our fundraising and your support in making these events a success will be vital. We will also be looking to raise extra funds via match funding.
The School Association holds various fundraising events and projects throughout the year. These include the Winter Fair, a Quiz Night, Mothers’ Day Gift Stall, Year 7/8 Disco, providing refreshments for the Parents’ Evenings and School Productions. If you are interested in joining the AESA or like to help out occasionally, please contact us.
In addition, you can support the School Association’s fundraising by signing up for the AESA Lottery, which costs just £20 per year. Other easy ways to support the AESA are by registering with www.giveasyoulive.com/join/angloeuropeanschoolassociation or smile.amazon.co.uk - if you shop using either one of these links there will be a commission donated to the School Association with each purchase.
With the summer holidays ahead, the Anglo European School Association offers discounted tickets to Adventure Island in Southend. If you are interested in this offer, please email the AESA (aesa@aesessex.co.uk).
Details about all programmes and the Lottery joining form can be found at: https://www.aesessex.co.uk/aesa/
Thank you for your support!
Contact us:
CHARITIES
a) the total carry forward amount from 2019-20 was £1,365
b) the total amount raised this year was £2,888
Donations to the following charities will be made:
5% to the school to support students facing financial hardship
10% to the Aloysian College, India (a school we have supported for over 30 years)
25% to Little Haven' Hospice
25% to Young Minds
25% to Greenpeace International
10% to be carried forward into 2021-22 (this can be used for contingency, emergency charity appeals, photocopying ballot papers for next year's vote etc)
This means our 3 main charities will receive £1,000
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Following Lily Parris' success in Track and Field athletics, we learned this weekend that former student Peter Brinton-Quinn came 3rd in the English School athletics competition in Manchester in the senior boys Javelin. He threw a distance of 60.41m, which was a new personal best. Our PE team remember Peter well from Javelin lessons and keeping well out of his way! Looks like Anglo could have another Olympic star in the making!
Staff Update
We are sad to say goodbye to the following colleagues but wish them well with her future careers: Mr Barrs (Co-Headteacher); Mrs Green (Curriculum Support); Miss Barry (Spanish); Miss Hart (History); Mr Wang (Subject Leader, Chinese); Mrs Howard (Mathematics); Mrs Strange (Examinations) Mrs Donnan (Biology); Mr Wilkes (Geography); Miss Kiel (French); Mr Badmus (Chemistry); Ms Lu (Chinese/MEP Co-ordinator); Mr Banks (German); Mrs Bell (Careers); Mrs Bayliss (Sixth Form Pastoral)
We are fortunate to have new staff members joining us in September: Miss Geraghty (Subject Leader: Spanish); Mr Jepson (Subject Leader: German); Ms Pickard (History); Miss Ryder (Subject Leader: Chinese); Mr Edu (Mathematics); Mrs Smith (Citizenship/History); Mrs Mankarious (Biology); Miss Bathie (Geography); Mr Sabu Shahdatullah (Chemistry); Mrs Li (Chinese)
Many congratulations to Mr Rankin on the birth of his son, Cillian. Another addition to the Anglo Family!
Anglo European School
Email: enquiries@aesessex.co.uk
Website: aesessex.co.uk
Location: Willow Green, Ingatestone, CM4 0DJ UK
Phone: 01277 354018
Facebook: facebook.com/angloeuropeanschool
Twitter: @angloeuropean73