Letter from the Headmistress – 4th July 2011
This is my last letter for this academic year and I will attempt to bring you up to date with all that has happened and is about to happen!
We are of course in our final week at school. Common Entrance has been taken and the results are in, school exams have been sat and the marks are out, teachers are frantically trying to get their reports ready, the play is being rehearsed, the disco was last night and excitement is mounting for the Dinky Safari Rally – it is all ’go’!
Some Academic Detail
The Year 8s all worked extremely hard in the run up to the exams and they all achieved the necessary pass mark to gain entry to their school of first choice. We had some super results across the board and the teaching staff and of course the children themselves deserve our praise. Our final list is as follows:
8C
William Ballard - Cheltenham College
Georgina Blumer - Sports Scholarship to Cheltenham College
Peter Christianakis - Oundle School
Robert Hutchinson – Bradfield College
Joshua Kwaramba – St Andrew’s College Turi
Georgina Millar – The William Morris Award to Marlborough College
Winnie Nakazzi – Drama Exhibition to Peponi Secondary School
Oliver Oulton – Culford School
Max Silvester – Oundle School
Jack Veitch – Academic Exhibition to Culford School
8D
Kiri Belcher – Southern Cross SA
Jack Bonham – John Wesley Award to Kingswood Schoo,l Bath
Jemima Fitzjohn - Stowe School
Toby Francombe – Michaelhouse SA
Alexander Haller – Kingswood School Bath
George Nicheli – Shiplake College
Thierry Onyango – Rift Valley Academy, Kenya
Adrian Owor – Peponi School
Our congratulations go to them all and I know they will all be very happy at their new schools.
The International Maths Challenge
This competition took place on line and Mr Stevens kindly organised his candidates to compete. 175,000 children took part from all over the world. From Pembroke’s point of view a Class champion was chosen through competition and then a year group champion. Ten children entered the final competition on behalf of Pembroke House. Four of our ten candidates were selected to go through to the International Final.
In their age groups the children were placed Internationally as follows –
Maya Cunnington – 10th
Josh Kwaramba - 9th
Jack Veitch – 7th
Amy Philipps – 4th
Amazing results and well done to all who took part and special congratulations to those who were so well placed in the Final.
ABRSM Exams
We also had a number of children who took their ABRSM exams this term. The following children passed their exam:
Sabrina Robley – Grade 3 Singing
Winnie Nakazzi – Grade 3 Singing
Natalie Khanyola – Grade 3 Singing
Charly Beak - Grade 3 Singing
Katie Veitch – Grade 3 Piano
The following children achieved Merit in their exam:
Raihan Jiwa – Grade 1 Piano
Cody Cox – Grade 1 Piano
Emma Beak – Grade 1 Piano
Dominic Shaw – Grade 1 Piano
Maria Page – Grade 1 Piano
Sasha Hewett – Grade 1 Singing
Winnie Nakazzi – Grade 4 Piano
The following pupil achieved – Distinction, the highest grade possible: Herbert Kiwuwa - Grade 1 Piano
We had appointed a Post Graduate Music Student to help us with the Music Programme at school next year. Unfortunately he has let us down at the last moment. We have secured the services of another teacher from the Conservatoire in Nairobi and we will endeavour to find another post graduate student to begin in January.
The Scholarship Programme
Laura Burden on a sabbatical from Oundle School will join us at exeat as our Scholarship Tutor. Laura will help us to prepare our potential scholars for their exams. Paul Stevens will very kindly put together the programme with the help of Hilary Davidson. Whilst we will attempt to do all we can to prepare our potential scholarship candidates we must remain realistic about their chances of success and remember that this is always a ‘hope’ and often a dream. One can never know the competition and it is better to dare than not to try at all. However one must always be prepared for the disappointment of not making the final grade.
The Learning Support Department
Lauren Mostert joins us in September and will work full time in the Coach House. This will be of enormous assistance to us all. From September children will have two lessons in the Coach House as part of the weekly schedule of classes but after that there will be a charge.
In addition we have taken on an extra Classroom Assistant to help in Year 5. Again we hope this will assist those children who have classroom difficulties. One must remember that whilst such help looks weighted towards those who need academic assistance it also helps each member of staff to actually teach their lessons and attend to the needs of ALL the children.
The Lamda exams went well but as yet we do not know the results.
Open Day & The Ndume 7s
The weekend went extremely well. The Rugby Tournament was enjoyed by all with a wonderful buzz of excitement. We were most fortunate to have a number of Senior Schools with us. This gave many parents the opportunity to meet and get the feel of a number of English Schools and at the same time the schools could get a feel of our children and all that they might have to offer.
Sport
The term has ended on a very good note with all our teams performing well at the variety of tournaments. It is wonderful for the children to have the opportunity to play so many sports – rugby, netball, tennis and football and that is just this term and to be able to compete at such a young age – from under 9s up wards. Such participation engenders team spirit and self belief and it really is such an important part of our children’s overall development both mentally and physically.
Final Colours for this term’s sports will be awarded in our final Assembly on Thursday this week. We will send out a separate e mail to bring you up to date with these awards.
The Stowe Putter
Stowe School have very kindly given us two beautiful trophies to award for the Kenyan Prep School Golf Competition. This Competition will be hosted by Pembroke House and played at Gilgil Club with the kind permission of the Club Committee. Children from all the other IAPS Prep Schools will be invited to take part to compete for these prestigious awards. The first date for this competition will be next term – 2nd October 2011. There will be two trophies, one for the individual winner of the competition and one for the best school.
Full Boarding
Boarders contribute in every way to the ambiance of a school. They give a school its heart and soul. With the help of enthusiastic and committed staff the weekends this year have been full and busy. We have averaged 80 children in over each weekend and thus we attempt to be all that you need in a school.
Next term we will not have the closed weekend at the beginning of term but we will have the first exeat since the term is such a long one. However the following two terms of the year will not have a closed first weekend or a first official exeat. This is to accommodate our ‘long distance’ parents. Distances and costs are high when commuting from other parts of East Africa and we hope that this arrangement will help make things a little easier. With all weekends being open it is up to parents to choose if they wish to take their children out or leave them at school to enjoy all that goes on here.
The Sports Camp
There will be a Sports Camp in the last week of the holidays. Mark Briers, the Cricket Coach from Cheltenham College will join us, with an overseas coach to also help with the Rounders for the girls. The camp will begin on the Monday 29th August and will continue until Thursday lunch time. The camp for the Sports Tour will begin on Friday 2nd September and this will be to coach and bring together the 1st Teams who will leave for our UK Tour on Thursday 8th September.
Holiday Development Work
Over the holidays there will be quite a lot of work going on at school. Two new classrooms will be constructed to join the present New Block ( which is now quite an old block! ) The Girls’ House, Scholes House is having a new look and we are opening up two dorms in Mackie House. The Pre Prep unit is moving slightly and we are building a little bathroom for them.
Staff
We are most fortunate that Mr Stevens has accepted the post of Housemaster in Mackie House. He will be kindly assisted by Sarah Johnstone who will be Assistant Housemistress. Greg Quee our new Year 5 teacher will be a House Tutor and the team will be joined by Stephanie Marcellin who will also be a House Tutor. Paula Pape and Paulah Onyango, valuable members of the Mackie House team this year will remain helping in the Boys’ House and this will be the staff line up to look after our boys for the coming year.
Scholes House continues in the capable hands of Tanya Green. Carol Olum will be her Assistant for the coming year. Jemma Boyd-Moss will be a House Tutor for Scholes House along with Liz Boakes who is our new Head of Science. This will be the team who will look after the girls next year.
Mike and Katie Aung join us once more as Deputy Head and Head of the Junior School. Katie is due to have a baby in September and whilst she is away Emma Laing will look after her Year 4 class. Emma comes to us for one term having taught previously at St Andrew’s Turi and I know she will enjoy her time with us and she will look after Katie’s class very well for the term.
Mrs Elizabeth Boakes joins us as Head of Science. Among many other things, Liz has been an exam moderator at GCSE and A level and thus she brings with her valuable experience and she will add much to the Science Department.
Miss Philippa Parry joins us from Horris Hill. Pip will teach Science and Maths. Pip is also a keen squash player.
Mr Greg Quee, who has spent a couple of weeks with us this term, has just been awarded a 1st Class Honours Degree and leaves his teacher training course with English, History and RS under his belt not to mention a great deal of time in the swimming pool! Greg will start his teaching at Pembroke House with Year 5.
Miss Lauren Mostert joins us from Australia. Lauren went to school in Zimbabwe and has been teaching in Australia and is particularly qualified and experienced in the area of Special Educational Needs. Lauren will join Anne Daykin and Barbara Terry in the Coach House.
Miss Molly Arbuthnott joins us in September to teach Year 4. Molly has worked at St Andrew’s Turi and so she knows a little bit about Kenya already. She has also just qualified as a teacher and comes from a distinguished family of Teachers and Headmasters.
Jackie Doig leaves Pembroke House to join her husband Luke at the coast. Jackie hands over to Mrs Jules Tatton who I am happy to announce will take over Jackie’s catering and household duties for the coming year.
Prefects
On Speech Day we have great pleasure in appointing our new Head Boy and our Head Girl and we also appoint a number of other deserving School Prefects. To give you some background on the ‘Prefect’ situation our policy for School Prefects is that all children should have the opportunity to become a Prefect should they be of the right caliber. As a staff we would like to be in a position to make all Year 8 children a School Prefect.
As a school we believe in encouraging the children to grow and develop both mentally, physically and spiritually. At the beginning of the year some children are clearly ready for the role of School Prefect. Others however, have some way to go. Thus you will find that some children receive their Prefect badge at the beginning of the year whilst others are appointed as the year goes by. Some children might not be appointed at all.
Reminders
Tuck: We do not allow tuck at school. I have written extensively on this topic in the past. Whilst you may like to break the rules your support on this issue would be much appreciated. Tuck gives power; tuck encourages secretiveness; tuck encourages stealing; tuck creates unfair differences; tuck encourages corruption. Give your children sweets and treats at home and a sensible amount for their bus journeys. Please do not give children tuck for dorms
School Bags, Equipment & Uniform: We would like to encourage the children to look after and take care of their belongings.
Bags & Pencil Cases: Please be very kind and check your child’s bag and pencil case and get everything in order for the new academic year. Bags need to be clean, they need to close, they need to hang up and they need to be named. Pencil cases should contain pencils, rubber, ruler, coloured pencils, felt tips, sharpener, scissors, glue stick and so on. Pencils need to be sharpened and items should be named. All children should come back to school with books that they would like to read at rest time and during reading preps.
Uniform: Please also check your child’s uniform. Clothes need to fit, all children need black shoes that they can polish, socks need to be checked by yourselves for holes ( socks tend to be washed by staff who kindly roll them up and put them back in the trunk). This means children often start the term with holey socks! Please make sure absolutely everything is named.
Table Manners: Our children know how to sit up straight, keep their elbows off the table and eat their meals nicely using a knife and fork. They are children and they quite definitely need reminding. Please do your bit and remind your children to remember their table manners during the holidays.
Reading: Please spend some time ( 10 to 15 minutes )each evening listening to your child read aloud to you. There is nothing you can do that is more beneficial to help your child at this stage of their life. Please also read to your child before the lights go out each evening.
Leavers: To those of you for whom this is your last term as a parent at Pembroke House please be very kind and make arrangements to give us your child’s future e mail address not to mention your own so that we can keep in touch in the future.
I think that just about covers most things and brings you up to date.
I leave you with a final thought for this year
As parents we all realise that academic results and team accolades are not all there is to education and we know there is very much more to securing what we want for our children. We know too that ultimately we are after ‘happiness’ and this is what we would like our children to find in their lives. However ‘happiness’ is not something that one can chase. It is complicated, the potion for ‘happiness’ is as yet unknown and there is no set recipe for such a state of mind. However there is an old fashioned word that I believe we should remember when helping our children to make decisions and guiding our children along the way – ‘duty’. Doing our duty is part and parcel of being a responsible member of a community. Often to our surprise we find happiness in just playing our part.
This week has thrown up the word ‘duty’. There has been some resistance to playing football for the school. Some children absolutely love it and others have thought better of their team involvement as the time of the matches drew near. Upon discussion the boys in question realised their responsibility to their team. They realised they had their part to play. The teams set off for their tournament and the boys surprised themselves –they won their group – quite unheard of for Pembroke House to do well at football and they only lost to the final victors – St Andrew’s Turi. All the boys had a great day and felt very proud of their performance. So they did their duty for the school and for their team mates and surprised themselves along the way with how much they enjoyed the day – “happiness” without a doubt!
We all look forward to welcoming you for our performance of ‘Rats’ the School Play, on Friday and to Speech Day on Saturday – the final event to mark the end of this academic year.
May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very good holiday. To our Year 8 parents it is a sad good bye. Please come back and visit us and I hope you take with you very happy memories of your child’s time here at Pembroke House. To our other parents we all look forward to welcoming you back to school once more in September.
With warmest wishes,
Debs
