1st June 2012 - Message from the Headmaster

Dear Parents

The second half of term offers several opportunities for you to join in and attend a range of events. Among these will be the Family Fun Day. This is a social get-together to celebrate the centenary and I do hope that lots and lots of you will come along with your children and join in. There is such a thing as a free lunch!

Other events include our Centenary Concert and the Dads v Lads cricket match. All tickets for the Summer Ball have already been sold, so we know that this will be well-supported and then of course there is Speech Day.

There is a special joint Sports Day on Tuesday 3rd July at the Abbey with Prep School athletes joining in with their senior colleagues.

I hope that you all have a very good half-term.

With my best wishes

Roger Clark

25th May 2012 - Message from the Headmaster

Dear Parents

 

The English summer sound of leather hitting willow announced the start of the cricket season this week, delayed so badly by the rain. A win against Bethany and two nail-biting, final over defeats against Eastbourne College and Dover College have allowed our boys to display their competitive spirit and skills in different age groups. At the same time, the girls enjoyed a win and a loss in Rounders matches and we take on Vinehall at Athletics this afternoon. The heat is on.

 

Talking of cricket, the Dads have been dusting down their cover drives, square cuts and googlies in the nets at Horntye in preparation for the annual, and this year, centenary Dads v Lads cricket match later in the term. Crowhurst Park is the delightful venue for this event on 24th June.

 

The Abbot’s Hall was full on Sunday afternoon for the Centenary Service, when the anthem written especially by Kevin Anderson, with music by John Langridge, to commemorate our hundred years, was given its world premiere. The Choir did full justice to this special composition. At the book launch three weeks ago we were privileged to receive her Majesty’s good wishes for the future of the school and very fortunately her senior representative in the county, Lord Lieutenant Peter Field, was a highly supportive attendee at the service with his wife.

 

I wish you all a good weekend in the sun!

 

Best wishes

Roger Clark

18th May 2012 - Message from the Headmaster

Dear Parents

A third Battle Abbey baby arrived in the third week of May! This time it was me, who had the opportunity to celebrate the miracle of new life, as I became a grandfather to William, who weighed in at a healthy 8lb11ozs, born very magically on his mother’s birthday.

May 14th will be a doubly special day in my family in future!

In a Centenary year, we are able to celebrate both the past hundred years and the new beginnings at the start of the next one hundred. We look forward, while learning from and being grateful to all that brought us thus far.

On Sunday we will remember our school in a special service in the Abbot’s Hall, led by Father Kevin Taggart, the Benedictine Abbot of Worth. Battle Abbey was a Benedictine foundation and we are very privileged to have Father Kevin with us to lead our worship. We are also delighted to welcome the Lord Lieutenant and his wife for this special occasion.

Best wishes
Roger Clark

11th May 2012 - Message from the Headmaster

Dear Parents

 

Another week, another baby! Aaron Pawson, our wonderful Catering Manager, has become a father. Rufus and Mrs Pawson are both doing well. It offers us another brief moment to reflect on what is important in life.

 

At the end of this week, I am enjoying meeting some of the excellent candidates who have been selected for interview to fill the posts left vacant by the departure of Mrs Heasmer and Mr Patel, in terms of his PE commitment. I have been very pleased with the strength of the field and we are of course looking for the person who is the very best fit for our school. I will be able to share the news of the appointments with you next week. Whilst it is always sad to see high quality staff leave us, it is also very exciting to see new faces and the school looks forward to the different expertise and enthusiasm that new staff inevitably bring with them. A certain amount of staff movement is very healthy for a school, which must be a dynamic organisation to function at its best.

 

This is the time of year when the Art and Textiles examination classes are producing their final pieces and it has been a privilege to see some of the astonishing work being produced at the moment. My room has always been used as a mini art gallery and visitors are able to admire the latest creations of our students. There will be an opportunity for all parents to see samples of this year’s work at a special Centenary Art Exhibition at the end of term.

 

Best wishes

 
Roger Clark

4th May 2012 - Message from the Headmaster

Dear Parents

Every cloud has a silver lining and at the end of the wettest and dullest month of the year so far, the school can celebrate another birth. Dr Demoncheaux and Beatrice celebrated the birth of a baby boy on May 1st, saying goodbye to the month of April and heralding in new life and hope. Pierre-Eric’s adventure starts now and just like your children, he will be the most precious part of his parents’ lives. It serves to remind all those who work at the school of the enormous responsibility that lies on our shoulders, as well as on the parents’ shoulders.  From this very fact arise some of the great joys of parenting and teaching but also some of the inevitable tensions and disappointments and the closer that we can work with each other, the better the result will be for the young people in our care.

In May, the more silver linings we can discover, the less influence the clouds will have on us. Our best way is to go back to the children, who are naturally optimistic, laughing and smiling. They are the ones who make teaching so fulfilling and compensate for a dull April, with its hosepipe bans and its flood warnings!

Best wishes
Roger Clark

27th April 2012 - Message from the Headmaster

Dear Parents

 

With the launch of the "Celebration of Battle Abbey School", we were reminded on Saturday of the centenary year and the many memories which so many people have of a hundred years of history. One of the most special and memorable parts of the day was when the Chairman of Governors read out a letter from Her Majesty, the Queen, wishing the school a successful year and sending her warmest good wishes for the future happiness and welfare of the school.

 

You will read details of the day elsewhere in the newsletter but I would simply like to thank all those involved in the production of the book and especially Uta Acuna and Monica Steward and also thank Jo Henry, former pupil and publisher, for officially launching the book. Jo and her sisters all attended the school, as did her mother and Jo’s father was our Chairman of Governors for many years. The Henry family’s collective contribution to the school was immense and it was very good to have both mother and daughter with us for the "launch".

 
A copy of the book can be purchased from the school and I commend it to you.
 

Best wishes

Roger Clark

Headmaster

20th April 2012 - Message from the Headmaster

Dear Parents

 

The Easter holiday was a welcome break but also a busy time for many of our pupils. Apart from the obvious revision, which will have kept the top half of the school occupied, there was a very successful ski-trip at the start of the holidays. Mr Eckhoff, Miss Bryant and Mr Flutter are to be thanked for running this.

 

Five intrepid pupils went off for five days on the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award expedition in the Brecon Beacons and lived to tell the tale. The weather was not in their favour, which made their achievement even more impressive. Two of the girls, Dani Edmunds and Polly Sapsford returned and less than 24 hours later were singing with the Chamber Choir in Canterbury Cathedral! We were honoured to receive the invitation to sing a concert in such a prestigious venue.

 

Additionally, three of our pupils in the last week of the holidays, Sam Bunday, Tom Collins and Oliver Rowlatt completed the Three Peaks Challenge (climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours.). They raised a substantial sum for St Michael’s Hospice in completing this amazing feat.

To prove that the fund raising habit continues after leaving school, one of our former pupils, Julius Malewicz, with some sponsorship from existing pupils, completed a Land’s End to John O’Groats bike ride to raise money for BEAT (Beating Eating Disorders).
 

I look forward to a very busy term with several very special Centenary events and hope to see many of you on these occasions as well as at other times.

 

Best wishes Roger Clark