Issue 13
Autumn Term 2014
AROUND THE PALACE
Welcome
Old Palace has been alive with The Sound of
Music. We have been bowled over by three
nights of astounding performances by the
students of Old Palace and Whitgift. Many
congratulations to Chloe Reid, Jilly Mannion,
Gareth Hemmings, Katie Barker and Olivia
Rusholme – just fabulous! Whitgift and
Old Palace are already planning our next
collaboration.
Gold Arts Award production by Shivahami, Year 13
As part of my Gold Arts Award I had the privilege of organising my very own dance
production called ‘Once Upon a Time’ based on the theme of Disney.
The purpose of this production was to raise money for the charities Help for Heroes and
Cancer Research.’ The evening was in memory of the Lee Rigby and the late Dr Gray.
Help for Heroes deliver an enduring national network of support to the wounded soldiers
and their families. They inspire and enable those who have made sacrifices on our behalf, to
achieve their full potential. Cancer Research want survival rates in the UK to be among the
best in the world. They are working to help prevent cancer, diagnose it earlier, develop new
treatments and optimise current treatments by personalising them and making them more
effective.
I decided that each section would represent a Disney Movie and would be of a different
dance style. I picked Lion King, Toy Story, Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Aladdin, Snow White &
the Seven Dwarfs and High School Musical. To make the production stand out from the rest,
I had clips from the films played before each section and chose to choreograph a routine
using LED gloves.
After a year of planning, the day had
finally arrived! Everyone performed
extremely well. Aladdin, Mary Poppins,
High School Musical and the Finale were
the most popular and of course the
staff dance was very entertaining! The
evening was successful and we raised
around £600 in total!
It was definitely stressful but an amazing
experience, I have met so many hardworking and passionate individuals and without them
the show would not have been as exciting as it was.
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who came to watch and
made a donation, Ms Lunghi for giving up so much of her time to make this show happen,
Dr Bannister for opening the show, Mr Holliday for designing the programme, Mrs Solari
& Aksah for making the toy box, Sanaa for designing the poster, all the helpers including
Ellie and Morgan for doing a fantastic job with the lighting, all the choreographers and the
performers. I would like to give a special mention to Mrs Ball, Miss Smith, Mrs Lankester, Mrs
Marren, Mrs Peplow, Mr Poole, Mr Taruwona, Ayana, Abigael and Naamua.
I would also like to congratulate Zara, Avelina
and Asia on their stunning performances
in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, yet
another successful Whitgift collaboration.
With our much younger students we were
treated to a particularly beautiful Carol
Service for Preparatory in Croydon Minster.
The girls gave a performance of Carols and
readings in a most polished and traditional
framework. Father Milo joined with parents,
friends and families for this occasion and led
the service.
My colleagues and I thoroughly enjoyed
the PTA Christmas Cracker Morning. It was
just lovely to join in quizzes with the very
young (they knew a lot more than me!) and
to sense the excitement of Christmas as the
girls enjoyed watching ‘The Polar Express’. For
those with particularly good energy levels
the Silent Disco provided just the right outlet.
This particular morning provided an oasis
of calm with welcome hot cups of coffee
and delicious mince pies. I would like to
thank Michaela Rickards and her PTA team
for this event and all the other activities so
successfully run.
May I express heartfelt thanks for the many
gifts and cards which I have been receiving
from families. I would like to wish you all
peace and rest over the Christmas period
with warmest wishes for 2015.
Carol Jewell, Head
1
Christmas jumpers at Nursery
Preparatory Polyphonic by Ria and Mia, Year 5
On 7 December, Preparatory Polyphonic went to Whitgift House Chapel to sing in a
special Carol Service.
On Friday 12 December, Old Palace
Nursery staff, children and parents wore
their Christmas jumpers to raise money
for Save the Children.
To get everyone involved parents and
carers were invited to take part in a
Christmas craft morning and singing
event. After making some fabulous crafts
everybody gathered in the gym to sing
Christmas songs together, accompanied by
guitars. This was then followed by a terrific
Frozen sing-a-long to ‘Let it go’ enjoyed by
all.
The nursery raised an amazing £112.30 for
Save the Children.
Wilhelmina House visit
The chapel had several stained glass windows and one of which had John Whitgift on it. Their
Christmas tree was beautifully decorated with marvellous baubles and a brilliant star at the
top. The songs we sang were ‘Christmas star’ by John Williams and ‘When the Sun’s Reborn’,
a traditional Nasrudin song. We both sang a duet, and along with Lara we were the only low
singers in the group.
Mrs Jewell, Mrs Stone, Governors and residents were all there watching us. One of the residents
gave us each some little sweets in a little purple bag to thank us for our singing. We loved the
whole experience and would be delighted to do it again.
A special thank you to Miss Fitzgerald for conducting and teaching us the songs and to Mr
Hemmings for accompanying us on the piano.
German club by Farhana, Year 12
Jesse, Majurikka, Kashifa and I recently
decided to run a German Club for Year 5
students.
The club started this half term. So far, the
German Club has been really enjoyable and
educational. We have been teaching them
different aspects of the German language such
as introducing yourself, colours, animals and
numbers.
On Friday 12 December, Year 1 Mini
Palace Singers visited the residents of
Wilhelmina House entertaining them to
a short programme of Christmas music
and poetry.
Dressed in brightly coloured hats and
scarves they delivered Christmas cards and
crackers. The students were, once again,
outstanding ambassadors for Old Palace
and the ladies and gentlemen of the care
home were thrilled to be able to spend
time with them.
The students were delighted to be able to
present gifts of biscuits and chocolates to
the residents, organised by Year 1 parents.
The students were served juice and cakes
by boys from Trinity School and the
afternoon was full of joy and celebration.
Our growing connection with the care
home and this part of the Whitgift
community is of huge importance to the
residents and is now a regular feature of
the Year 1 students’ pillar of service.
The students have really started to take an
interest and are learning a lot of new things. We decided to make the club fun as well as
educational by playing games and participating in competitions. We hope to carry on with
the club for as long as we can because we are gaining valuable experience and we really like
getting to know younger students!
Skyping with Senegal by Tanáe, Year 7
On Wednesday 10 December, Miss Limon’s Year 7 French Class had a Skype session with
some students in Africa. They were learning to speak English and we were practising to
speak French.
We had 20 minutes of French and 20 minutes of English to ask any questions that we had
prepared. Everyone was really excited because it was something that we had never done
before. We asked questions such as ‘What is your name?’, ‘How old are you?’ and ‘Where do you
live in Senegal?’
It was quite hard to understand them because
of pronunciation as well as technical difficulties
but overall it was really enjoyable. At the end,
we were asked to sing a song in English –
everyone wanted to sing ‘Let It Go’ so we did.
Afterwards, we asked them to sing and they
sang the same song. Unfortunately, we had to
end the call there but getting the chance to
speak to these people was a great experience.
Hopefully, we will get to do this again.
The Importance of Being Earnest by Zara, Year 12
Preparatory Christmas lunch
Preparatory staff and students enjoyed
a very happy festive occasion last
week when the school kitchen served
a sumptuous
Christmas
dinner in a
decorated hall
to the sound of
seasonal music.
From 10–12 December, Asia (Year 10), Avelina (Year 13) and I performed in Oscar Wilde’s
comedy The Importance of Being Earnest at Whitgift School, playing Miss Prism, Cecily
Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax respectively.
Having taken part in the incredible production of West Side Story at Whitgift in March this year,
I knew that this show would be demanding but very worthwhile. We auditioned in September
and rehearsed all through this term. It was a challenge to take on the sparkling wit of Wilde’s
epigrammatic script, and we had a great time in rehearsals as we explored the characters we
were playing.
The plot revolves around high society in 1895 London. Jack Worthing uses the excuse of his
invented wayward brother Ernest to travel to London from his Hertfordshire estate, where
he has a young ward called Cecily Cardew. Meanwhile he keeps the name Ernest in London,
where he becomes engaged to Gwendolen, who says she could only ever love someone called
Ernest. Her mother tries to prevent the match as it is discovered that Jack does not have a
respectable family background, but was found as a baby in a handbag in the cloakroom of
Victoria station.
His friend Algernon has also invented a character called Bunbury, allowing him to escape
London, but one day travels to Jack’s country estate and announces himself to be Jack’s
brother Ernest. While there, he falls in love with Cecily and they get engaged. When Jack comes
back and Gwendolen unexpectedly arrives, it is revealed that neither of the men is actually
called Ernest. The indomitable matriarch Lady Bracknell towers over the play, delivering witty
one-liners every minute, and the
plot also includes a secret romance
between Cecily’s governess and the
vicar, Dr Chasuble.
In the week of the performances,
we were fortunate enough to have a
beautiful set and wonderful costumes
that made us feel so in character.
A large number of Old Palace staff
and pupils turned out to support us,
providing a fantastic crowd. The thrill
from being on stage was immense.
I learnt so much from taking part in
this production, and it has been an
incredible experience. I will never
forget the vital Importance of Being
Earnest!
Quotes from the show:
Lady Bracknell – “To lose one parent,
Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a
misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness.”
Algernon - “If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely
over-educated.”
A full Christmas
dinner was
served with trifle
or Christmas
pudding
available for
desert!
After thanking
the catering staff and a short pause for a
Christmas Grace, the hall resounded to
the sound of the mass pulling of crackers
and the disguises therein provided much
amusement!
Where in the world...answer
The answer to the recent Geographybased quiz ‘Where in the world’, is the
Holy Island of Lindesfarne, on the north
east coast of England
This months’ winner, drawn from the list of
correct entries is Amber, Year 9.
Well done to all those who took part – look
out for the next challenge, you may be the
lucky winner next time!
Congratulations
Congratulations to Carol Leader,
Year 9 for gaining Grade 7 piano with
distinction.
Well done to Emily, Year 8 who for the
second year running won the Shakespeare
Acting Class at the Sutton Music Festival.
Emily is also one of the students appearing
in ‘The Sound of Music’ production.
Cecily – “Oh! I don’t think I would like to catch a sensible man. I shouldn’t know what to talk to
him about.”
3
Polyphonic performance
by Alyssa and Anu, Year 5
Recently Year 5 students in Preparatory
Polyphonic sang at the ‘Sanderstead and
Purley Probus Club’ Christmas Lunch.
We sang six Christmas songs before the
lunch started. Our favourite song was
‘Christmas star’ as we got to sing in small
groups.
The members of the club very kindly
clapped and cheered at the end of every
song. They also smiled during the songs
and even started to sing with us!
We all enjoyed singing for them, it filled
their hearts with joy and ours too!
Christmas Tree project
For the Victorian Banquet on 6 December,
students and staff were tasked with
creating a Victorian Christmas Tree. To start,
a competition was organised to design
Christmas decorations.
These designs by Year 7 and Year 11 were then
uploaded onto the computer network where
they were manipulated into suitable files to be
laser cut.
Whilst the method might not be traditional the
art of pyrography has been around for a long
time with the Victorian era inventing pyrography
machines - the laser being our more modern
version of it perhaps and slightly safer! Designs
included angels, Christmas stockings, snow flakes
and even crackers with some impressive detail.
Christmas Science Club
During our Christmas Science Club, the
students observed copper wire shapes
transform into silver fluffy objects.
They also witnessed hundreds of reindeer
and snowmen appear in the fairy lights and
started to grow a crystal Christmas tree!
Next came the paper chains - a simple enough technique and the more traditional take on
tinsel, but it required quite a few hands to make the number required.
A few Year 12 got involved with making glass decorations which used clear glass and fritz
which was then full fused. Aiming to create snowflakes, stockings and snowflakes the glass
products needed a little imagination.
The last technique the students explored was ceramics. Porcelain decorations were made
by using cutters and handmade lace to indent and pattern the clay. These were then fired to
1250oc.
The tree was then decorated with the addition
of red bows, candy canes and lights (traditional
candles were decided not to be safe enough)
and all topped off with a handmade star.
Presents were wrapped and placed at the
bottom of the tree. All items except the lights
and the plastic round the candy canes could
have been sourced and created during the
Victorian times. Well done to all involved.
Stop Press
The Guardian newspaper has recently
published its ten best operas of 2014
- and Garsington’s production of
Janacek’s ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’ was
included.
A number of Old Palace students
were involved in this production; their
exceptional talent helped towards The
Guardian’s accolade.
PTA Christmas Cracker Morning
On Saturday morning, the PTA hosted the
revamped Christmas Cracker morning at
Preparatory.
It was a lovely family get together and in the
spirit of the season, there were activities for
all ages to participate in during the morning.
Parents and staff enjoyed a Christmas snack as
they mingled and chatted with other visitors.
Many parents took the opportunity to peruse
and purchase items from the ever popular Nearly New Uniform sale.
The little ones enjoyed the movie offering of ‘The Polar Express’ and it also gave them a chance
to mix with their peers outside of school hours. Adults and children battled it out at the quiz
and the Silent Disco had attendees switching between tracks by Elton John, Meghan Trainor
and Olly Murs.