26^th March 1999

 

Dear Parents, Friends and Oldboys

I hope this letter finds you well and getting ready for a relaxing Easter weekend. The term has ended with some long awaited rays of sunshine after a seemingly dark and wet term. Mr Croucher has mown all of the grass and the spring flowers are showing so perhaps we can look forward to a warm and sunny holiday.

The new boys have all settled down and integrated keenly into school life. This term we have welcomed Adam Cooke from Solihull and Matthew Dunn from Telford, next term we greet two new boys from Oldham: Matthew S joining year 9 and Stephen Connolly into the junior class.

Sadly we have said a farewell to John Haywood who passed away on 27^th December after a long fight in hospital with his injuries caused in a road accident. The funeral service was held at Hanwood Church and given by the Reverend Paul Towner. A massive congregation assembled and John would have been very proud of the respect and sadness shown by such a huge gathering.

The Revd Paul Towner of Hanwood has since accepted a new post in Hereford, which he will be taking up after Easter. He has been ‘the Vicar’ to our boys for the past fourteen years and we shall miss his Monday morning assembly, which has been delivered with very few repeats, except for his favourite paper aeroplane making demonstration. Mr Barrett presented him with a cut glass goblet as a momento of his visits to Cruckton where he has always been available to offer advice and support to both boys and staff. We wish him success and happiness with this new venture. Following the presentation we had a buffet lunch. A meal which took Mrs Brookes, Miss Jones, Mrs Miller and Mrs Love a lot longer to prepare than it did for the guests and boys to eat

Staff training in January was taken up with Policy updates and Health and safety issues. During the term Mrs Gilchrist attended a seminar on Tribunals and I attended a Tony Attwood Conference. I also hope

to arrange a meeting with a visiting speaker during the summer or autumn term to launch the parent support group.

Mrs Janet Oxley visited in January to conduct the annual Social Services Inspection. The report has since arrived and is available for you to read at school. We fulfilled 13 of the 16 Core Criteria Standards and partly met the final 3. Two of these have now been addressed and we shall deal with the final point, which is to have radiators covers fitted throughout the school, in the maintenance programme.

The school building plans have moved forward but with little activity due to the wet weather and the need to remove the roof of the flats before progress within the building can begin. Needless to say in the meantime Mr Brown, Mr Clark and Mr Barrett have all been very busy keeping the fabric of the building and its surrounds in tip top condition.

The annual educational reviews are now in full swing and we hope to complete one for each boy by the end of June. The visitors attending have been very complimentary of the progress, both socially and educationally, made by those boys reviewed to date. I hope the remainder will be as positive and thank the staff for their many hours of hard and often unrewarding time.

The school dentist visited to examine the boys’ teeth this week and for those requiring treatment an appointment will be arranged with Mrs Brookes during the next term. We shall also be arranging for the HEAF/BCG vaccination to be given during the next term. Parents should have already received an explanation letter and a consent form for all secondary aged boys.

After the health section I must remark on the latest challenge which Mr McBride has set for himself. On April 1^st (!!!) he flies out to Ouarzazate in Morocco. He is then driven out into the desert for five hours followed by two nights camp (4/5 star accommodation depending upon the holes in the tent roof) for medical and kit checks. On 4^th April he sets off running across the Sahara desert carrying everything he needs on his back of course! This pack will weigh about 9/10 kilos. All of the stages add up 220 kilometres, which he will complete in six days. The longest day stage is fifty miles long! Anyone wishing to follow his progress or send him a message can use the Internet website or email address given at the end of the letter. If you wish to order some sand then please go out and collect it. We all wish him fitness, a good run and a safe return. He certainly deserves it after the training programme he has completed since last summer.

Mr Richards is back with us this term teaching: Timpani, Drumkit, Keyboard and Piano. Miss Evans is continuing with her Drumkit pupils and of these James Wallace and Robert Francom took the Grade 2 examination in March, gaining a Pass and a Merit Certificate respectively. Along with the Flute, Trumpet and Guitar players there are now nineteen young musicians taking lessons each week.

Trips have continued as usual this term. Mr Rayner and Mr Senior took years 10 and 11 to the Big Pit Coal Museum in Abergavenny.

Mr Turner of Shrewsbury Rotary Club arranged for a party of twenty-boys to see ‘Cinderella’ at Birmingham Hippodrome. Mrs Gilchrist, Miss Davies, Miss Atkinson, Mrs Evans and Mrs Thomas along with three members of the Rotary Club enjoyed a popular treat. The culture continued with Mr and Mrs Gilchrist taking the year 10 boys to The Belfy to see ‘Inspector Calls’. Mr Corbett and myself took: Adam Cooke, Shane Turner, Michael Knight, Gregory Taylor and James Wallace to visit the Llangorse Riding and Rope Centre in Brecon.

Four boys gained certificates for swimming in the BT Charity Swimathon event. Justin Pritchard completed 5000metres while: Chris Rowe, Gregory Taylor and Ian Wigham all swam 1600metres. Well done boys.

Inter house matches this term have been closely fought contests with the Swimming Gala starting the term. Darwin won this and Mr Rayner’s Squash tournament while Hill won the Volleyball and Basketball tournaments. The final event of the term was the Pontesford Hill run which was won fittingly by Hill and for the second year running by Steven Powell and Justin Pritchard in the Junior and Senior sections respectively.

The houseparents have offered some superb outings at weekends to support a wide and varied evening programme. There are too many to list each one in this letter but the list includes: swimming, ten pin bowling, cooking, computers, internet, football, skating, horse-riding, rock-climbing, shopping, Games Workshop, bike rides, cinema, squash, golf range, uni-hoc, moto-cross, warhammer, gym, theatre, torch tig, laundry, Army Cadets and walking. I know the boys try to appreciate the time and effort made by the staff but in years to come they will certainly look back at their schooldays as busy and hopefully happy times.

On behalf of the staff and boys have a very happy Easter. Next term begins on Monday 19^th April 1999.

Yours sincerely

Paul Mayhew 

P. D. Mayhew

Headteacher

 

Marathon des Sables

Website: http://www.aoicimbaly.com

Email address:      332clementmcbridegb@aoicimbaly.com