Exam season in full swing

The exam season began with a vengeance for year 11s on May 13th, and already some big science and English literature exams have taken place. Continued good luck for the coming week!

May 20th also sees the exams for year 13 students start in earnest. On Friday 17th, Mr Whitehead held his final assembly for year 13s, and another cohort successfully finish their seven years at Sackville. This group have been fantastic students, role models and ambassadors for the school. We wish them the very best not just for their exams but for exciting times after Sackville.

Sackville students discuss Sri Lanka atrocities during form time

A major item in tutor time during the short week after the bank holiday will be a discussion of the atrocities in Sri Lanka, which happened whilst the school Easter holiday began.

Students will be invited to consider this article in the The Day, and other material including this leader article from the Guardian as they consider religious tolerance and religious persecution.

Year 10 student Joe helps Crystal Palace U15s win Super Floodlit National Cup

Joe Sheridan in year 10 played a pivotal role in Crystal Palace’s victory over Wigan in the Super Floodlit National Cup, making this team the champions of England in their age group.

Playing Wigan, Palace twice had to come from behind, finally securing a winner in injury time.

Joe was kept on the field for the full 90 minutes, mainly be because he managed to stop every Wigan player in his tracks. 

Well done Joe – now back to Religious Studies GCSE revision it is!

You can read more about the game here.

Potential STEM undergraduates enjoy the university experience at Sussex

A group of year 10 students visited the University of Sussex on a Physics and Maths trip on Thursday May 2nd. The aim of the day was for the university to inspire them to think about taking STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects at A level and beyond.

The engaging pilot course on probability and statistics involved hands-on problems that got them all thinking hard and working together. The students were given plenty of stretch and challenge in the work and rose to the occasion. Pictured here you can see them experimenting with the ‘Monty Hall Paradox‘.

The students were great ambassadors for the school. Thanks to Mrs Medhurst and Mrs Jeffcoat for accompanying and supporting the group.

Performing arts students from KS4 and 5 show their talents

Thursday May 2^nd was a big day in the drama and performing arts block as students from years 10 to 13 put on their showcase assessed pieces. There were so many that the performances started during lesson 1 and did not finish till after 5pm.

It’s fair to say the performing arts are alive and kicking here at Sackville, with a variety of pieces on display. These included the exploration of split personality disorder, and the impact of a debilitating road accident on a young man’s life. The senior students explored life through song, inspired by a Dylan Thomas poem.

For our year 13s, this was their last ever show at Sackville. So farewell and good luck to Tom Whitwick, Ethan Chapman, Nuha Diaz, Juno Phitidis, and Melissa Turner.

Also pictured here are Ollie Howland and Beth Peadon (year 12), and from year 11 Jed Alderson, Alec Bignall, Ben Brown, Ethan Allen, James Flambard, Sasha Garrott, Elisha Appleby, Georgia Cotterell, Finn Crawford and Louis Maxwell.

Well done to all of them, and a special thanks to Ms Warran, Mrs Beasley and Ms Collins for inspiring these young people. A special call-out to Maisie Barnes who has worked so hard for her final piece but chose instead to spend performance day in hospital. Get well soon Maisie!

Sackville staff narrowly lose Tom Dawes and Luke Power Memorial Game

Whilst Liverpool were preparing for the first leg of their game against Barcelona, on the humbler turf of the Forest Row Memorial Ground, Sackville staff were taking on Forest Row Junior Football Club coaches in a football match in memory of Luke Power and Tom Dawes, two former Sackville students who lost their lives in a road accident in 2014.

Luke’s brother Lewis played for Sackville and Tom’s brother Adam played for Forest Row. Both the brothers are very strong footballers and improved the standard of play considerably! It was a close game (as those of us on the losing side always like to say) with Sackville losing in the final few minutes to a long range strike from former Sackville student Callum Duckworth. Both Sackville goals came from Alex (‘Darren’) Light.

Thanks to all of those who turned out, and to Leo Granstrom, Charlie Moon and Matei Cumpatescu for running the line.

Year 13 hospitality students take on the world

Staff and fellow students were treated like royalty as our year 13 hospitality group created a lunchtime buffet to display ‘cuisine of the world‘.

Food from every corner of the globe was available, including India, Mexico, Italy, Greece, the USA and even from Nepal, where some of the group had been with World Challenge last summer.

Those present were asked to evaluate the dishes tasted – there were very many five-star ratings given. Suffice to say that the bell ringing for the end of the lunch hour was a matter of some regret.

Well done to everyone and thank-you for a special lunch!

Year 12 students are our first graduates of the LIBF Financial Education course

Congratulations to our year 12 students of the London Institute of Banking and Finance Level 2 Certificate in Financial Education. All have achieved a level 2 qualification in this course. 

Pictured alongside teachers Mr Whitehead, Mrs Fleming and Mr May are students Sofia Ntouka, Daniel Bowdery and Niall Moloney, who received their certificates at a celebration tea on Tuesday 30 April.

This course is specifically designed to give students a springboard either into the world of work, or to further study. It includes a unit in personal finance as well as well as one in successfully applying for work.

Well done to all of this year’s students – a promising future awaits!

Year 7’s Georgina shows true grit in the rain

Year 7 student Georgina Kane completed the True Grit Challenge on Saturday 27 April, a gruelling 25-mile walk in the heart of the Peak District. Georgina undertook this challenge, which involved 700m of ascent, to raise money for A4D (Action4Diabetics), a charity that supports people with diabetes in south-east Asia. She was accompanied by her cousin and a friend who suffers from type 1 diabetes.

Make no mistake – this was a real challenge, supported by none other than Sir Chris Bonington. Many did not finish – 25 miles is a very long way to walk, even without Pennine rain. Well done Georgina. True grit indeed.

Hugo Palmer and Erwan Ferrieux

Many of us will be aware that these two fine ex-Sackville students were taken by the sea at far too young an age in February this year.

These were fantastic young men, with an exciting future ahead of them. Both saw life as a great adventure, and devoured what it had to offer voraciously. Their journey down the coast of Australia was typical of this.

Hugo will be remembered above all as a student who was sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. His mature approach to his studies and the wider school life made him a successful and popular student. Teachers regularly commended him on his strong work ethic, his resilience, and latterly his strong set of employment-friendly skills. They were impressed by his modesty and keenness to seek out and act upon advice.

Erwan showed throughout his school career that he was very much his own man. One of his teachers recalls him ‘working to the beat of a different drum’ and this sums up the young man so fondly remembered by the school. He worked successfully at his academic studies, and was often commended for his industrious attitude. But beyond this he could always be relied upon for an original and interesting interpretation of what he was learning and we often felt we learned as much from him as he did from us.

We are immensely proud of the fine young men these two became, and our thoughts are with their families at this time. They will be long remembered by all of us.

We would now like to share with you the link to a crowdfunding page set up by Hugo’s mother and Aunt. A target of £30,000 has been set to build memorial skate-ramps at the skate park in Forest Row where Hugo spent so much of his time. All donations are of course welcome, and we will update our website with news of the project as it develops.

Knowing that the next generation of boarders were honing their skills on his legacy would have made Hugo extremely proud.