Principal's Letters
| Letters | ||
| Principal's End of Term Letter - 22nd February 2010 | View» |  Download |
| Principal's end of term letter - 30th June 2009 | View» | Download |
| Principal's End of Term Letter - 17th December 2008 | View» | Download |
| Principal's End of Term Letter - 2nd July 2008 | View» | Download |
| Principal's End of Term Letter - 17th December 2007 | View» | Download |
| Principal's End of Term Letter - 9th July 2007 | View» | Download |
Principal's End of Term Letter - 17th December 2008
Dear Parents
As I sit down to write this letter and reflect on the events of the past term we are just over half way through the season of Christmas celebrations at Hulme – Estcourt and Hulme Court have entertained us in their own unique styles, Kindergarten delighted family and friends with their interpretation of the Nativity, and the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was a truly special service. We now look forward to the Senior Girls’ Celebration, the Sixth Form Presentation Evening and our final Christmas Assemblies!
Although we were delighted to welcome Mrs Rosemary Brierley (former Chairman of Governors and Old Girl) as our Guest of Honour at the Girls’ Speech Night, it was a pity that the Boys’ Speech Night had to be postponed; however, it has been re-arranged for Monday, 26 January and we look forward to welcoming Mr David Nott (Old Boy) as our guest speaker (and yes he is the David Nott of text operation fame).
The New Year will also herald the Planning Appeal for our new Nursery (Tuesday, 13 January 2009). The Planning Inspector will consider traffic issues during the hearing and will visit Thornycroft and the surrounding streets on several unspecified occasions to assess the daily situation. I would ask all of you who use the roads in the immediate area to continue to be considerate and to park sensibly in order to minimize any possible adverse effect on our neighbours.
Staffing News
The end of term brings the departure of two key members of staff, Mr Richard Flower and Mrs Pamela Mullin. As I announced in my last letter Mr Flower is moving to his native South West to take up the position of Bursar to Sherborne School for Girls and we wish him every success in this new venture. Our new Bursar and Clerk to the Governors, Mr Ian Martin, has already taken up his appointment at Hulme and I am sure that over the coming months there will be an opportunity to meet him at one of our many events. Mrs Mullin is retiring after devoting 21 years to working in the Girls’ School office. She has served two Headmistresses and a Principal! We wish her a long and happy retirement. Early next term we will welcome Mrs Lisa Ripley as she joins our secretarial team and Mrs Sarah Robinson who will take on the role as Examinations Officer. We wish them both a long and happy association with the School.
Mrs Ann Richards has recently confirmed her intention to retire from her position as Head of Kindergarten with effect from the end of next Summer Term. Mrs Richards was appointed by the Governors initially to head what was Werneth Preparatory School and in the intervening ten years she has successfully led the development of Hulme Kindergarten and its transfer to Thornycroft with its splendid facilities. The recruitment process for Mrs Richard’s successor will begin next term.
Pupil News
• Congratulations to James Brown and Usman Bhatti who were supported by the Old Hulmeians’ Association to take part in the Tall Ships Training Scheme, which promotes leadership and teamwork. The students sailed from Holland to Southampton in August and James’ performance was such that he was selected to return to crew next season. This is a marvellous scheme which, through the generosity of our Old Boys & Old Girls, will be available annually to Year 12 students.
• Our Junior and Senior swimming teams recently took part in the Royton Invitational Schools’ Swimming Gala with the Senior and Junior Girls, the combined Junior Boys’ and Girls’ teams and Hulme Boys’ team coming overall winners of the competition.
• The Year 9 Netball team are through to the North West Regional finals of this National competition. This will be held on Saturday, 31 January at the Wirral Grammar School. There will be a coach to take players and supporters from School, please contact the PE department early in January if you wish to travel with the team.
• This term we resurrected competitive table tennis and have achieved instant success – last month in the Greater Manchester Championships the U11 and U19 boys’ teams were runners-up in their respective categories whilst the undefeated U16 squad became County Champions and will go on to represent Greater Manchester in the Regional Finals. Hulme are also the Oldham Schools’ Champions.
• The Oldham Schools’ Cross-Country Championships at Chadderton Hall Park took place on 22 November with excellent team results; Year 7 team finished first in the B team event, Year 8 finished second in the A team event with the Year 10/11 team being pipped by just one point behind the winners. Jane Augsburger managed to finish first in front of 70 other girls. The Senior Boys’ side won the B team event. Good luck to the pupils who finished in the top 20 including those from Estcourt and Hulme Court who will represent Oldham at the Greater Manchester Cross Country event in early February.
• Congratulations to Josh Higgins (Y11) who has played for the North U16 ISFA side and has recently been selected to play for the full ISFA England team in the New Year.
• Hulme was delighted to host the recent AJIS Chess Competition. It was excellent to see nine independent schools pitting their wits against one another and even more pleasing to witness Hulme Court taking first place and the Gold Team Shield. In the U9’s Abdullah Naveed and Arvind Sivashankar came first with Zidane Khan achieving a respectable third place. In the U10’s Jason Lau came second. In the U11’s A team Bradley Cruse and Aaron Rogers came first with Harry Aaronson coming third whilst in the B team Shyan Khilosia and Luka Nedic came first and Emma Butler took third place. The pupils obviously rose to the challenge under the tutelage of Dale James and Mr Tony Halliwell.
• In November we were delighted to hear that the Home Economics (Food) department had won ‘The Good Schools Guide 2008 GCSE Awards’ for the best results obtained at GCSE by the girls who sat the Home Economics (Food) examination this year. The awards are made on the basis of the Key Stage 4 results and, in particular, on the basis of the popularity of the subject relative to similar schools and of the success that pupils achieve relative to the other examinations that they take. The aim of the award is to highlight excellent teaching in individual subjects. Congratulations go to Mrs Deborah Howarth (the Head of Food Science) and all the girls for this tremendous achievement.
• The Junior Choir has had a very busy term. In addition to performing in the Christmas Concert on 15 December, they have appeared on Channel M’s Breakfast Show and taken part in the Big Sing - a record breaking attempt to have as many children singing at the same time at once in aid of children’s charities. In addition, on 2 December, when we had to close the school in the afternoon because of the bad weather, 60 pupils managed to travel to the MEN Arena to take part in the Young Voices Concert. Jessica Entwistle walked all the way from Rochdale to School in order to attend! The show was a once in a lifetime opportunity involving 5000 children from the North West performing alongside professionals.
• Year 7 pupils have received a free book this term under a government initiative. Booked Up is a scheme to encourage reading and each Year 7 pupil has had the opportunity to select a book from a list of twelve titles put together by writers, librarians and educationalists. We hope this will introduce pupils to new writers and encourage them in reading for pleasure.
• Mrs Deborah Lacey has once again produced a Calendar for Estcourt. It includes self-portraits of all the girls and has various artwork completed by the girls’ at Estcourt. This calendar will be on sale for £5 to raise funds to purchase an Interactive White Board for Estcourt. Please contact Mrs Lacey or Mrs Amanda Smith at Estcourt if you wish to purchase a copy.
Numerous charities have benefited from the care and concern of our community. Already this year some £4,165 has been raised through the mufti day, Jeans for Genes day, Anti-bullying week events and In the Pink day! Varying sums will be donated to The Rainbow Trust, Breast Cancer Research, Children in Need, CLIC Sargent, Dr Kershaws, the Macmillan Nurses, the New Childrens’ Hospital and Shelter. The Prefect Charity Netball match on 13 October raised £110 for Heathbank Daycare Centre for Disabled Adults (further details of this fun event are on the School website). The Christmas Shoebox Appeal has been extremely successful – in the region of 300 boxes have been sent to disadvantaged children in Eastern Europe.
The recent Christmas Fair, organised by the Parents’ Association, was another fun filled afternoon and raised over £2000, whilst the Parents’ Association Christmas Draw raised a similar total. Thank you to all who contributed with donations, prizes or gifts and in particular to all those who soaked the teacher!
It has been another very full term in which much has been achieved and now for a well-earned break!
With best wishes to you all for an enjoyable and peaceful Christmas Season and a Happy New Year.
Yours sincerely
Dr Paul G. Neeson BSc PhD
Principal
