Summer term
19 April
AROUND THE PALACE
Welcome
One of the world’s greatest ensembles, The
Sixteen, returned to Old Palace this week to
run a composition workshop and matinee
concert at Croydon Minster. It is a privilege
to welcome such talented performers to the
school and we thank them for passing on
their experience to our grateful students.
The Sixteen raise the roof
Last term, the Banqueting Hall resounded with the mellifluous sounds of a quartet of
singers from the world famous choir The Sixteen and the combined voices of 120 Year 6
and 7 students.
We welcome you all back for the summer
term. This term will be the most important
one to date for many of our students
as they take their GCSE, AS and A-Level
examinations. We wish you the very best of
luck during this busy time.
Carol Jewell - Head
Police visit to Nursery
This choral workshop was part of the Music Department’s collaboration with The Sixteen on
an exciting project studying the choral music of James MacMillan (one of Scotland’s leading
composers).
Students were all taken through their paces by Sam, the project leader, who taught them
how to warm up and use their voices effectively. Then the students learnt the music that they
would perform with The Sixteen.
This culminated in a composition workshop for eight members of Year 6 with students from
two other local schools creating a new piece of choral music to be performed by the students
and The Sixteen in their matinee concert at Croydon Minster on Friday 19 April.
This week, Nursery had some special
visitors; Police Officer David Pearcey
and Community Support Officer
Richard Cole from the Metropolitan
Police came in to see the Pre-school
and Transition children.
Walk like an Egyptian
On the last Monday before Easter, Year 3
were taken back to Ancient Egyptian times
with a visit from Living History workshop.
The students had a fabulous day, making
a Human timeline, trying Egyptian crafts,
applying Egyptian eye make-up, excavating
an ancient tomb, acting out Egyptian stories
and the mummification process! Amber
made a fabulous mummy, staying perfectly
still for a very long time!
The students had a super day and wrote
letters of thanks to Corrine and Mic from
Living History. This week Old Palace received
a letter back from them to say that they were
so thrilled with our letters they are going to
use some of the pictures that the girls drew,
on their website in the next few weeks….so
look at www.livinghistoryworkshops.co.uk to
see if you can spot them!
The officers showed the children their
handcuffs and radios, and some of them
even tried on the police hats. It took two
children to hold up the heavy jacket that
police have to wear during the day. The
officers talked to the classes about what
to do if they ever got lost, and how to stay
safe by holding hands with mum and dad
when out and about.
The police will kindly be returning in a
fortnight to visit the younger children.
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Poetry reading
by Taiwo Alli, 12P
On 25 March, Year 12 decided to
relieve the stress of their approaching
examinations with a lunchtime poetry
reading.
Students were free to bring their most loved
poetry, ranging from the quirky and the
funny to the inspirational and emotional.
Some students even explored their own
creativity and wrote their own poems with
such quality that the next T. S. Eliot may be
well within our mist.
It was an hour filled with tears of happiness
and heart-wrenching emotions, in addition
to the buzz of excitement in the air, that
seemed to come as the result of a table full of
delightful treats.
All in all, I think it can be agreed that the
finest moment of the hour was when a Year
10 student, who braved the atmosphere
of eccentric Year 12 students, read aloud a
poem she had written herself brimming with
intense emotion. Overall it was an enjoyable
time, where all experienced dining and
entertainment at its finest.
Prizewinners’ concert
Year 5 Comic Relief success
Ellen Scott-Smith, 5W asked if the
Preparatory School could try to do
something to raise money for Comic Relief
last month. The challenge was to try to
come up with different ways to do this.
The Year 5 House Leaders organised a House
Joke Book, full of jokes submitted by students
in each house and it included fun activities
too! To make it a little more interesting, it
was a House competition to see which House
could sell the most joke books and raise the
most money.
Congratulations to Hatton House who sold
36 joke books! The joke books sold across all
four Houses and raised £60.30.
Rhea Scotland, Isra’a Malik, Eugenie Bailey
and Anushka Thapliyal all in 5J also decided
to organise and run a book sale during break
and lunch times and managed to raise a
staggering £104.66!
Stephanie Haynes’ family donated a fabulous
hamper to raffle that raised a further £132.
The raffle was drawn on the last day of term
and the hamper was won by Hayley UffindellEsparon in 5W.
The Year 5 girls
should be
congratulated for
their efforts and
feel very proud
of what they
have helped to
achieve!
Two mufti-days were held. For one, the girls
were asked to wear red clothes and red noses.
These raised £168.58 bringing the grand
total raised for Comic Relief to an amazing
£465.54!
Buon compleanno Old Palace – Taddeo da Sessa
On Saturday 23 March students in the
Year 4-5 Palace Singers were invited
to sing in the Coulsdon & Purley Music
Festival Prizewinners’ Concert. It was
held at Sanderstead United Reform
Church.
The Palace Singers sang the two songs they
had performed three weeks previously
when they won their section of the
competition. Again, they performed to
a very high standard and were a credit
to the school in the way they conducted
themselves throughout the concert.
The students were awarded the ‘Junior
Choral Shield’ during a short presentation of
prizes and afterwards were treated to drinks
and cakes.
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The recent Host Family Weekend with
students from Taddeo da Sessa School
in Sessa Aurunca, was as successful as it
always is.
preferito stare in famiglia tutta la settimana”
(it’s a shame we have to go to a hotel now, I
wish we could stay with our families for the
whole week).
Students from Years 8 to 13 (including
students who are now at University), hosted
the Taddeo students from Friday 15 to
Monday 18 March.
There were many tears when the students
said goodbye to their host sisters, but
fortunately many of them will meet again in
Sessa very shortly.
One of the highlights of the weekend was
our joint meal at Bagatti’s in South Croydon
where a total of 130 Taddeo and Old Palace
students and staff celebrated 15 years of this
excellent and very successful international
school link.
When the students came to Old Palace on
the Monday they told their teachers what
a wonderful reception they were given by
their English hosts: “ci hanno trattato da
Prinipesse” (they treated us like Princesses),
said one very enthusiastic Taddeo student.
Other comments included: “la mia famiglia è
stata davvero fantastica, non la dimenticherò
mai” (my family was wonderful, I will never
forget any of them), “è peccato che adesso
dobbiamo andare in albergo, io avrei
Year 6 animation competition
Last term Year 6 followed in the footsteps
of people like Nick Park and Walt Disney
by creating their very own, extremely
successful animations! So successful,
that many of them have entered the
‘Animation13’ competition organised
by the Manchester University School
of Computer Science (results to be
announced in May).
We decided to have an Old Palace
competition too, judged by Mr Wilcock and
Mrs Burdett who were very impressed by
what the students were able to achieve using
Serif Drawplus and Audacity!
The competition was judged using the
following criteria: creativity, originality,
technical quality, use of the software features,
and relevance to our curriculum.
Many congratulations to all the students for
their amazing ideas and enthusiasm, but
especially to the following students:
Overall winner – Onyx for her animation
about the bombing of Poland during World
War II. Artistic quality winner – Alice for her
animation made using Serif, teaching us how
to use Scratch!
Creativity and continuity of theme winner –
Yasmin for her animation showing us how
to make a Serif animation! Technical quality
winner – Jessica for her animation about life
in Victorian times.
Paramedic visit
Reception J welcomed Paramedic Rebecca
to Old Palace on Friday 15 March and they
enjoyed a workshop learning about the
job that a paramedic does and what to do
if they have an emergency.
PTA - dates for the diary
The PTA are organising a series of events
with a Spring theme.
Saturday 27 April 2013 - Nursery to Year 1
Spring Celebration (10.00 - 11.30)
Saturday 27 April 2013 - Year 2-3 Spring
Dance (13.00 - 14.30)
Friday, 10 May 2013 - Year 4-5 Spring Dance
Tickets are priced at £3.00 each and spaces
are limited. So book your tickets as soon as
possible to avoid disappointment.
Origami club
Every Wednesday since the beginning
of this school year, an excited group of
origami enthusiasts have met weekly for
‘Origami Club’ lead by four sixth formers;
Zarah Hussain, Amani Ajmi, Sayyada
Asharia and Afiyah Alim.
Each week 30 budding creators have
thoroughly enjoyed creating new items at
the club.
They were shown how an injured person
would be carried, and found out why a
paramedic wears a uniform. Rebecca also
showed the girls some of the equipment
that is carried on an ambulance. The girls
practised putting one another in the
recovery position and learned that we should
only ever dial 999 in a real emergency. We all
learned a huge amount!
On Tuesday 26 March students in
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 treated
guests to a fantastic afternoon of music at
their ‘Easter Concert’.
Easter concert
Over the year, the creations have ranged
from flowers, animals and birds not to
mention our Christmas trees, Valentines
winged hearts and Easter eggs. The Sixth
Form have certainly enjoyed running this
club and it is hoped that Year 6 and 7 will
carry on with Origami club after they depart
for university.
Each year group performed ‘Spring’ themed
songs and then they all sang two special
Easter songs to open and close the concert.
Reception delighted the audience with
a song called ‘Spring Chicken’ and Year 1
entertained us with ‘The Seed Song’ which
they sang in two parts.
Other highlights were Year 2 playing their
recorders after only a few weeks of tuition
and Year 1 showing and performing on their
homemade instruments that they had made
for a science project.
There were a number of solo performances
including eight Year 2 pianists, three Year
1 pianists and Elika in Year 2 and Grace
in Reception playing their violins. These
girls are to be particularly commended for
performing on their own in front of such
a large audience of families, Year 5 and
children from the Nursery.
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