David Clark, Headmaster of Battle Abbey School - Blog, 28th March 2014.

Dear Parents,

It has been another busy but memorable end of term at Battle Abbey School. The Senior School play proved a great hit with audiences marvelling at the standard of acting in what was a very challenging and complicated production of ‘A Country Wife’. Soon after that, the school musicians took centre stage and gave us all an uplifting experience at Evensong then a stunning evening of musical talent at the Spring Concert. Prep School students joined the Concert and it was very special to see performers ranging in age from year 3 to year 13. After so much success at the Hastings Musical Festival, this was a fitting way for us all to celebrate the very best of Battle Abbey music.

Sport has also played its part in the end of term activities. Mrs Carey hosted a fantastic Netball Master-class with former England player Tamsin Greenway which saw nearly 70 students joining different training sessions last Saturday. Added to that, I was lucky enough to pop over to Claremont to witness the U16 rugby team defeating their arch rivals in a thrilling and highly competitive encounter. I am proud to report that the boys have now done the double over Claremont – beating them at both football and rugby this season. Individual sporting success was equally notable with Louis Choron of year 7 who won a staggering 11 gold medals at the recent County Swimming Championships.

Our students, and particularly those in exam classes, are working hard at the moment and I am hugely grateful to the many teachers who are offering extra help and support outside of lessons and are also giving time to revision sessions in the school holidays. The Lower Sixth have made a good start towards their UCAS applications and the visit to the University of Surrey has really galvanised the process. The Science Faculty continues to make its mark nationally and Battle Abbey School is one of eight schools in the UK to win a prestigious partnership with CERN and the European Space Agency. Many congratulations to Dr D and all the Science teachers.

I have lost count of the many ways in which our students support the local and wider communities as well as raising money for a raft of good causes. Only last week, we were treated to a rather unique fund raising activity by St. Patrick’s entitled – ‘Water the Flower’ – which saw Mr Flower dressed accordingly and then drenched by eager students brandishing water pistols! I was equally impressed to see students running an appeal for the Bexhill Food Bank whilst also setting up the inaugural Battle Abbey Amnesty International Group.

Before I sign off, I would like to pay tribute to Ian Mercer, our Chair of

Governors who is stepping down as Chairman over the holidays – but will remain a fully committed member of the Full Court. I cannot thank him enough for all the help and advice that he has given to me personally and also for the way in which he supports the School and our students. I have never known a Chairman attend so many events and engage so fully with the whole school community. So I would like to extend our thanks to him and to his wife Vera for all that they have done for us over the last 10 years of his chairmanship.

Finally, I would like to wish the Duke of Edinburgh students all the best for their expedition and also to those taking part in the holiday ski trip.

Happy Easter to you all.

 

David Clark

 

David Clark, Headmaster of Battle Abbey School - Blog, 14th March 2014.

Dear Parents,

As you can imagine, Battle Abbey School must be one of the best places in the country for students to study history. There is, however, so much more than the Battle of Hasting and the medieval world for our students to learn about and to research. For instance, they were hugely fortunate these past two weeks to spend time in Ypres – a Belgian town strategically located on the western front during the First World War. Feedback from the students has been really positive and they were clearly all deeply moved by the level of sacrifice and hardship that was experienced by troops at the front line. To visit in 2014 and to be part of the centenary commemorations made the visit all the more memorable and thanks are due to Mr Carver and the History Department for organising the trip.

It has been an excellent week for Battle Abbey on the sporting front. Firstly, Hannah Duval was selected to take part in an England golfing weekend and Saskia Hunt has also been asked to play under 16 county netball this summer season for Wealden Netball Club. Added to that, the junior netball teams won 3 games at the Benenden tournament beating Claremont in the process and the boys have had a series of football wins against Eastbourne College. It is clear that our students respond well to good weather – so let’s hope for more sunshine during the last 2 weeks of term!
The school’s musical talent has also flourished recently with a string of impressive performances at the Hastings Musical Festival. Time and again, Battle Abbey students make their mark on this particular festival and Mrs Colman is to be applauded for all her efforts in making things happen. I do hope that many of you will come to witness that talent for yourselves at our Spring Concert in the final week of term and that you will also get tickets for the much anticipated Senior School Production next week The Country Wife.

Finally – can I extend my personal thanks to all those who took part in our Open Morning last Saturday? We had a record number of visitors and our pupils, as ever, did us proud in showing off the school in its best light.

Best wishes
David Clark

David Clark, Headmaster of Battle Abbey School - Blog, 28th Feb 2014.

Dear Parents,

I hope that you all had a restful half-term and enjoyed some valuable family time together. There was a fair amount of activity here at school during the holiday with revision sessions taking place as well as students participating in Science competitions. Additionally, the Business and Languages departments organised a wonderfully successful trip to Madrid for a lucky group of 6th formers and, as ever, our students proved to be exemplary ambassadors for the school.

Before the half-term break I was hugely impressed with the efforts and stoicism of the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh participants. Despite the awful weather and very difficult conditions they succeeded in completing their practice expedition and survived the night under canvass. The Spring Disco was another great occasion and the transformation of the Abbot’s Hall is always a sight to behold.

All our students will become members of BAFPA (the former pupils association) once they leave the school. It is an organisation that keeps pupils connected with Battle Abbey and puts former pupils in touch with one another. They recently held a reunion in London and I was fortunate enough to attend. Nearly 50 people turned up and I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and affection that they all still hold for Battle Abbey School.

Since I last wrote to you, you will have noticed that we have completely re-vamped our school website. I am hugely indebted to both Mr Baldry (our IT manager) and to Mr Dennett (marketing manager) for putting the new site together. I think that it better reflects what our school is about and I find it far easier to navigate. If you have any suggestions as to how it could be improved, could I ask that you liaise directly with Mr Dennett to feedback your ideas.

I will be away from school from Monday to Wednesday next week as I will be attending the Society of Heads annual conference in Chester but will be back in time to see Year 9 parents at the consultation on Wednesday evening.

Best wishes

David Clark

 

 

 

David Clark, Headmaster of Battle Abbey School - Blog, 31st Jan 2014.

Dear Parents,

Despite the incessant rain, it has been a remarkably active and inspiring couple of weeks at BAS. Only last night, a full house at the PAC was treated to an evening of both curricular and extra-curricular dance. The audience gained a valuable insight into the thinking and ideas behind the performances and came to understand and appreciate the multifaceted nature of the subject. The energy, skill and creativity were captivating and the final dance, performed by the senior dance company, had us all entranced. It was a piece entitled Hourglass that they had performed to rave reviews at the recent Chelsea Dance Festival in Eastbourne. Well done to Miss Bryant and all those involved.

The Saturday before, Battle Abbey School hosted the regional meeting of the Open Discovery Space Project and combined it with a conference discussing how new technologies can help in schools. First up, speakers from the Prep and student speakers from the Senior School gave engaging and brilliantly researched presentations. The latter part of the afternoon focussed on the latest innovations in astronomy and participants got to ‘play’ with a stunning range of telescopes and learnt about the likes of ‘The Space Elevator’, ‘Extreme Astronomy’ and  ‘Target Asteroids’. Many thanks to Dr. D for all his hard work in, bringing Science to life once again in the historic surroundings of the Abbey.

I was delighted with the excellent turnout at our Careers Evening and I would like to thank both Mrs Morgan and Mrs Valentino for their efforts in staging such an informative occasion. Feedback from both students and parents was very positive and the intention is to continue holding such events in the future with talks from a wider range of different professions.

There are many more exciting events to look forward to in the coming weeks not least the Spring Disco and the next Evensong in the Abbotts Hall. In the meantime I would like to wish good luck to the students awaiting mock results and I look forward to catching up with Year 9 parents at the Options Evening next Wednesday.

Best wishes

David Clark

David Clark, Headmaster of Battle Abbey School - Blog, 17th Jan 2014.

Dear Parents,

I very much hope that you all spent a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas break and that 2014 proves to be a successful and fulfilling year.

The school term has resumed in earnest and the student body has readjusted to Abbey life in a typically positive and purposeful manner. Last Saturday, we hosted a very successful enrichment day and I would like to thank all the year 8 students for their help and support. Junior and Senior School play auditions have been in full flow too and we have been overwhelmed by the dramatic talent at the School. Equally, I would like to congratulate both James Slacke and Sultan Babaev who have been selected to represent England at the World Kickboxing Championships in Spain later this year – an exceptional honour for both of them.

The senior students have taken their mocks this week and I have been generally impressed with the way in which they have approached these exams – and by how hard they have worked. Additionally, our Upper Sixth students returned in good heart – buoyed by a flurry of fantastic UCAS offers (including some rarely granted unconditional offers) that has given them added motivation to face the challenges of their last few months in School.

As many of you probably know, Mr Payton sadly announced his impending retirement last term after 17 years of outstanding service to the School. He will be sorely missed by the whole student body and by his colleagues as well as by countless former students and parents. His retirement however, has given me the opportunity to potentially restructure the senior management of the school and details of that restructure will become clear over the course of this term.

Like us, you have all no doubt endured some punishing weather conditions over recent weeks. Alas – the end is not in sight and I daresay we will soon experience the chaos that is Britain’s transport system under snow. Can I stress that due to the boarding students living at the Abbey, the school will never fully close and we will make every effort to offer some sort of programme to as many students as possible. Could I therefor ask that you follow the instructions in this newsletter which will outline the procedures we will follow if and when the snow comes?

Best wishes

David Clark

David Clark, Headmaster of Battle Abbey School - Blog, 13th Dec 2013.

Dear Parents,

We have made it to the end of a very busy and successful term and there has been so much crammed into the last two weeks. The production of ‘Into the Woods’ was probably the most impressive student musical I have ever seen and the cast and staff are to be applauded for their extraordinary efforts in staging such a difficult yet captivating piece of theatre.

The dust had hardly settled on the play when the school launched itself into a simply amazing week of Christmas celebrations. Proceedings started on Sunday in the evocative setting of the ruins for the Evensong service. The choir did us proud as ever and we all enjoyed a very moving, very special occasion together. Attention turned to the Prep School on Monday as we took part in a wonderfully entertaining ‘Carols at the Gate’ which saw a combination of singing, dramatic story telling and the odd killer joke. Next, the Senior School hosted Carols round the Fire on Tuesday which was much appreciated by a packed audience in the Abbots Hall. Wednesday, unsurprisingly, didn’t give the students a chance to breathe as the 6th Form vs staff football match kicked off in front of a sell-out and highly partisan crowd. Thursday was soon upon us as we came to the memorable tradition of the Christmas lunch which, this year, was preceded by the 6th Form panto.  The turkey and trimmings were accompanied by some hearty singing and the most astonishing (and wacky!) paper fight I have ever seen – ably ‘refereed’ by both Mr Malewicz and Mr Payton. We just about managed to digest our Christmas pud before we headed to the Prep School to watch their panto of Dick Whittington – which saw every student from year 3 upwards participating in one way or another. I don’t imagine that any other school in the land does Christmas quite like Battle Abbey – it has been a truly spectacular week*.

I hope that, like me, you enjoyed the recent Time Team Special on the controversy surrounding the site of the Battle of Hastings. It was fantastic to see our school featuring so prominently on mainstream television and seeing the aerial views just reinforced how lucky we are to be part of this internationally significant historical community.

Finally – can I take this opportunity to thank all our staff and students for their many contributions this term and to wish you all a restful holiday and a very happy Christmas?

David Clark 

*Video highlights of Christmas week will be available to view on the school website in the new year.

David Clark, Headmaster of Battle Abbey School - Blog, 29th Nov 2013.

Dear Parents,

I have just had a fascinating hour with a former pupil who was at Battle Abbey School from 1957 to 1963. She reminisced fondly about various aspects of school life (though not about the lack of heating!) and then told me about how wonderful it was to celebrate the build-up to Christmas at the Abbey. Not surprisingly, she loved seeing the Christmas tree in the Abbott’s Hall and she was delighted to hear that many of the Christmas traditions that she enjoyed many years ago, were still going strong today. Needless to say, the whole school community is looking forward, with anticipation, to the many wonderful Christmas events over the next two weeks.

I experienced my first ever Scholar’s Music Concert last week and was completely overwhelmed by the talent on show that evening. It was particularly encouraging to see so many younger students performing with such confidence and assurance – music at Battle Abbey School is certainly in safe hands for many years to come. On that note, I do hope that as many of you as possible can join us next week for the production of ‘Into the Woods’ and for our Evensong in the Ruins – both are occasions not to be missed.

The boarding community at Battle Abbey plays a very special part in the wider family of the School. We are privileged to have students with us from 14 different countries ranging from Nigeria to Spain, from Hong Kong to Germany. I hope that, like me, you come to really value the unique contribution that they make to our School and I would urge all of us to continue to be as welcoming and hospitable as possible to our overseas contingent. Thanks also are due to all the boarding staff, teachers and matrons, who offer so much support to the boarders every day of the week.

Could I finally applaud my hockey team for their wholehearted commitment to the cause yesterday and also wish good luck to the equestrian team who are competing at Golden Cross this Saturday?

Best wishes

David Clark