News & Achievements
Forms 1 & 2 Visit to the Science Museum - December 2011
As soon as the coach pulled up, we were very excited to see the ice rink outside the Natural History Museum! We made our way to the Science Museum and went into the Launchpad. We explored and played with lots of different experiments, we wired circuits, tested wind speeds and directions, looked at vibration and sound and many other things. We also watched a performance of The Three Little Pigs where we learnt about materials. The highlight was this performance - it was really funny and lots of us joined in with the acting! Thank you to those parents who helped out and made the trip go smoothly.
Form 5 Tudor Day - Autumn Term 2011
Form 5 had an interesting and entertaining Tudor Day acting at The Globe Theatre, sketching at The Golden Hinde and visiting Shakespeare's church, Southwarch Cathedral. You can see more images in our Gallery.
Form 6 Trip to Boulogne - October 2011
Despite a 6am start at the School, pupils were fizzing with excitement and cries of "Are we in France soon?" could be heard before we ever reached the Channel Tunnel entrance. We arrived in Boulogne at 10:30am. First a visit to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sea where we searched for connections with the sea. There were a couple of boats with statues of Mary in them. These were processed around France during the war for people to pray for success and peace and the safe return of their loved ones. Then we visited a boulangerie and a fromagerie where the children looked at cheese from all over France and some bought a Coeur de Neufchatel for their Dads. Then back to the Old Town for lunch on the ramparts of the Old Town Wall. After lunch, all the children wrote postcards back to school and we posted them. They also bought berets and bling from the street sellers. Back on the coach to visit Napoleon's column. From the site where he camped his great invasion army we could see the white cliffs of Dover sparkling in the afternoon sun. Our last stop was the War Graves Cemetery at Terlincthun where the children saw the graves of young British soldiers from the Great War and were shocked to realise that some of the dead were the same age as their older brothers. It was a tiring but worthwhile trip and everyone tried to parler un peu de francais. The highlights included the children emerging from the confiserie with super large lollipops, strawberry shoelaces and sweet paper euros. At the start of the journey through the Channel Tunnel, one pupil said, "Will we really be able to see the fish Miss if the train is going so fast?" To which the reply came, "Yes of course - there goes an octopus - did you miss it?!"
Dahlicious Dress Up Day - September 2011
St David's had a scrumdidlyumptious time celebrating Roald Dahl Day. All the forms from Nursery to Year 6 as well as staff came dressed as their favourite character or in yellow which was Roald Dahl's favourite colour. We learnt about the charities that our fundraising would support and about the campaign to save Roald Dahl's writing shed. Highlights were Mr Scarratt and Mr Kendall looking so fantastic as Willy Wonka and having a visit from Roald Dahl himself. The day raised £143 so well done everyone! "And above all watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." Roald Dahl. You can see more images in our Gallery.
English Chess Challenge - August 2011
Congratulations to our pupils who took part in the Finals of the English Chess Challenge at the end of August. Players from five different counties took part and it is open to any child and set into age groups. Over 1,000 pupils got involved and only around 70 made it to the Finals. For St David's, well done to Dominic Smith (U10 Boys, bronze medal and 11th in his final), James Bacon (U9 Boys, bronze medal and 9th in his final), Charlotte Yendall (U8 Girls, gold medal, U8 Girls' trophy and 1st in her final) and Daniel Yendall (U7 Boys, gold medal and 2nd in his final).
Jack! The Musical - June 2011
There were rave reviews for 'Jack! The Musical', the Form 6 School Play. They included "better than the Christmas panto at Fairfield Halls", "funniest play yet" and "I have been watching Form 6 plays for years and this was the best so far". The performances had it all - a giant beansprout, a pantomime cow (courtesy of two members of staff), a wild chase around the audience and a Chinese fairy godmother with a mobile takeaway cart. The children sang and danced to everything including raps and rock 'n' roll. It is hard to believe they are only 10 and 11 years old! You can see more images in our Gallery.
Junior Sports Day & Infant Sports Day - June 2011
The event involved 75 children in Forms 3-6. All children in the Junior School have a chance to qualify for both the long jump and high jump finals which are held during the morning. In the afternoon, all the Junior children compete in track events which involve hurdles, obstacle and running races as well as House relays. Congratulations to Bradley Fisher (Form 6) who achieved a new school high jump record and Leo House who won the House Athletics shield for the first time in four years. Head of PE & Games, Robert Jones, said: "The day was full of outstanding performances and personal achievements. I would like to thank all my Games staff and the Junior School staff for all their help and effort on the day." Infant Sports Day involved 77 children from Nursery to Form 2. All the infant children had practised for their events for several weeks in the lead-up to the event. Sports Day included running, balancing and hoop races and finished off with a Nursery teddy bear race and a Reception, Years 1 and 2 water carrying relay. Head of PE & Games, Robert Jones, said: "It was an afternoon of fun with a dose of brilliance!" You can see more images in our Gallery.
English Chess Challenge - June 2011
Pupils from St David's took part in the Surrey semi-finals. The finals are in August.
Congratulations to the following pupils:
U10 Boys - Dominic Smith - 11 points, a silver medal and has qualified for the finals
U10 Boys - Joseph Healey - 9 points and a bronze medal
U10 Boys - Alex Ullman - 8 points and a bronze medal
U10 Boys - Alfie Lee - 5 points and a bronze medal
U9 Boys - James Bacon - 11 points, a gold medal and has qualified for the finals
U9 & 8 Girls - Charlotte Yendall - 11 points, a gold medal and has qualified for the finals
U7 Boys - Daniel Yendall - 14 points, a gold medal and has qualified for the finals
U7 Boys - Nathan Summers - 10 points and a silver medal
U7 Boys - Sahil Nagawa - 8 points and a bronze medal
ISA Athletics - London South Trials - June 2011
Congratulations to all the 32 children from St David's who took part the ISA Athletics London South Trials, one of the major highlights of the Athletics sporting calendar. The event attracted more than 20 schools and over 400 pupils. We had some outstanding individual and team performances across all the year groups with many Top Five finishes. There are high hopes for next year that we will have an athlete going through to the national finals. Well done everyone! You can see more images in our Gallery.
Visit to the Apple Store - June 2011
Form 6 recently visited the Apple Store in London to experience film editing and produce their own DVDs. You can see more images in our Gallery.
Form 6 Activity Week at Merchants Hill - June 2011
Form 6 experienced the thrills of the giant swing, Jacobs Ladder, abseiling and the climbing wall at Hindhead recently. They got their 'eye' in with archery, rifle shooting and fencing. You can see more of the action-packed images in our Gallery.
Form 6 Business Week - Summer 2011
Enterprising children at St David's raised nearly £700 for charity in just two and a half hours. The pupils were taught how to run a business and told to come up with money-making schemes to raise money for charity. They formed four companies, produced basic business plans and then marketed their companies at school through posters and presentations in Assembly. The children sold their unwanted DVDs, books and games, they set up a guess the name of the teddy, guess how many sweets in the jar and made bags of popcorn, homemade cakes and milkshakes, and also sold fingerprint keyrings. In total, they raised £672.13 which will be shared between Make-A-Wish, Purley Overseas Trust, Help For Heroes and The Child Brain Injury Trust.
St David's Double Gymnastic Glory - Summer 2011
St David's School is celebrating a double success. The U11 boys have won the national team title at the Independent Schools National Gymnastics competition in Stoke for the first time. In addition, Andrew Leggett (Year 5) won the National Boys' individual title, repeating the success of one of our pupils who won the same title last year. The School regularly competes against other far larger schools and last summer, St David's also enjoyed success when Year 6 pupil, Sophie Haden-Scott, won the U11 ISA National Schools Shot Put title in Birmingham, throwing 7.36 metres. The U11 boys' gymnastics team guidance came from Head Coach, Karoly Negy-Czirok and Sally Harwood. The team were Bradley Fisher (Captain), Andrew Leggett, Sam Belgrove, Alfie Lee and Adam Green. Head of PE, Rob Jones, said: "It is an outstanding achievement to have won the individual boys' title for the second year running and to add the national team title to this accolade really speaks volumes for the continued high standard of coaching at St David's."
As soon as the coach pulled up, we were very excited to see the ice rink outside the Natural History Museum! We made our way to the Science Museum and went into the Launchpad. We explored and played with lots of different experiments, we wired circuits, tested wind speeds and directions, looked at vibration and sound and many other things. We also watched a performance of The Three Little Pigs where we learnt about materials. The highlight was this performance - it was really funny and lots of us joined in with the acting! Thank you to those parents who helped out and made the trip go smoothly.
Form 5 Tudor Day - Autumn Term 2011
Form 5 had an interesting and entertaining Tudor Day acting at The Globe Theatre, sketching at The Golden Hinde and visiting Shakespeare's church, Southwarch Cathedral. You can see more images in our Gallery.Form 6 Trip to Boulogne - October 2011
Despite a 6am start at the School, pupils were fizzing with excitement and cries of "Are we in France soon?" could be heard before we ever reached the Channel Tunnel entrance. We arrived in Boulogne at 10:30am. First a visit to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sea where we searched for connections with the sea. There were a couple of boats with statues of Mary in them. These were processed around France during the war for people to pray for success and peace and the safe return of their loved ones. Then we visited a boulangerie and a fromagerie where the children looked at cheese from all over France and some bought a Coeur de Neufchatel for their Dads. Then back to the Old Town for lunch on the ramparts of the Old Town Wall. After lunch, all the children wrote postcards back to school and we posted them. They also bought berets and bling from the street sellers. Back on the coach to visit Napoleon's column. From the site where he camped his great invasion army we could see the white cliffs of Dover sparkling in the afternoon sun. Our last stop was the War Graves Cemetery at Terlincthun where the children saw the graves of young British soldiers from the Great War and were shocked to realise that some of the dead were the same age as their older brothers. It was a tiring but worthwhile trip and everyone tried to parler un peu de francais. The highlights included the children emerging from the confiserie with super large lollipops, strawberry shoelaces and sweet paper euros. At the start of the journey through the Channel Tunnel, one pupil said, "Will we really be able to see the fish Miss if the train is going so fast?" To which the reply came, "Yes of course - there goes an octopus - did you miss it?!"
Dahlicious Dress Up Day - September 2011
St David's had a scrumdidlyumptious time celebrating Roald Dahl Day. All the forms from Nursery to Year 6 as well as staff came dressed as their favourite character or in yellow which was Roald Dahl's favourite colour. We learnt about the charities that our fundraising would support and about the campaign to save Roald Dahl's writing shed. Highlights were Mr Scarratt and Mr Kendall looking so fantastic as Willy Wonka and having a visit from Roald Dahl himself. The day raised £143 so well done everyone! "And above all watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." Roald Dahl. You can see more images in our Gallery.English Chess Challenge - August 2011
Congratulations to our pupils who took part in the Finals of the English Chess Challenge at the end of August. Players from five different counties took part and it is open to any child and set into age groups. Over 1,000 pupils got involved and only around 70 made it to the Finals. For St David's, well done to Dominic Smith (U10 Boys, bronze medal and 11th in his final), James Bacon (U9 Boys, bronze medal and 9th in his final), Charlotte Yendall (U8 Girls, gold medal, U8 Girls' trophy and 1st in her final) and Daniel Yendall (U7 Boys, gold medal and 2nd in his final).
Jack! The Musical - June 2011
There were rave reviews for 'Jack! The Musical', the Form 6 School Play. They included "better than the Christmas panto at Fairfield Halls", "funniest play yet" and "I have been watching Form 6 plays for years and this was the best so far". The performances had it all - a giant beansprout, a pantomime cow (courtesy of two members of staff), a wild chase around the audience and a Chinese fairy godmother with a mobile takeaway cart. The children sang and danced to everything including raps and rock 'n' roll. It is hard to believe they are only 10 and 11 years old! You can see more images in our Gallery.Junior Sports Day & Infant Sports Day - June 2011
The event involved 75 children in Forms 3-6. All children in the Junior School have a chance to qualify for both the long jump and high jump finals which are held during the morning. In the afternoon, all the Junior children compete in track events which involve hurdles, obstacle and running races as well as House relays. Congratulations to Bradley Fisher (Form 6) who achieved a new school high jump record and Leo House who won the House Athletics shield for the first time in four years. Head of PE & Games, Robert Jones, said: "The day was full of outstanding performances and personal achievements. I would like to thank all my Games staff and the Junior School staff for all their help and effort on the day." Infant Sports Day involved 77 children from Nursery to Form 2. All the infant children had practised for their events for several weeks in the lead-up to the event. Sports Day included running, balancing and hoop races and finished off with a Nursery teddy bear race and a Reception, Years 1 and 2 water carrying relay. Head of PE & Games, Robert Jones, said: "It was an afternoon of fun with a dose of brilliance!" You can see more images in our Gallery.English Chess Challenge - June 2011
Pupils from St David's took part in the Surrey semi-finals. The finals are in August.
Congratulations to the following pupils:
U10 Boys - Dominic Smith - 11 points, a silver medal and has qualified for the finals
U10 Boys - Joseph Healey - 9 points and a bronze medal
U10 Boys - Alex Ullman - 8 points and a bronze medal
U10 Boys - Alfie Lee - 5 points and a bronze medal
U9 Boys - James Bacon - 11 points, a gold medal and has qualified for the finals
U9 & 8 Girls - Charlotte Yendall - 11 points, a gold medal and has qualified for the finals
U7 Boys - Daniel Yendall - 14 points, a gold medal and has qualified for the finals
U7 Boys - Nathan Summers - 10 points and a silver medal
U7 Boys - Sahil Nagawa - 8 points and a bronze medal
ISA Athletics - London South Trials - June 2011
Congratulations to all the 32 children from St David's who took part the ISA Athletics London South Trials, one of the major highlights of the Athletics sporting calendar. The event attracted more than 20 schools and over 400 pupils. We had some outstanding individual and team performances across all the year groups with many Top Five finishes. There are high hopes for next year that we will have an athlete going through to the national finals. Well done everyone! You can see more images in our Gallery.Visit to the Apple Store - June 2011
Form 6 recently visited the Apple Store in London to experience film editing and produce their own DVDs. You can see more images in our Gallery.Form 6 Activity Week at Merchants Hill - June 2011
Form 6 experienced the thrills of the giant swing, Jacobs Ladder, abseiling and the climbing wall at Hindhead recently. They got their 'eye' in with archery, rifle shooting and fencing. You can see more of the action-packed images in our Gallery.Form 6 Business Week - Summer 2011
Enterprising children at St David's raised nearly £700 for charity in just two and a half hours. The pupils were taught how to run a business and told to come up with money-making schemes to raise money for charity. They formed four companies, produced basic business plans and then marketed their companies at school through posters and presentations in Assembly. The children sold their unwanted DVDs, books and games, they set up a guess the name of the teddy, guess how many sweets in the jar and made bags of popcorn, homemade cakes and milkshakes, and also sold fingerprint keyrings. In total, they raised £672.13 which will be shared between Make-A-Wish, Purley Overseas Trust, Help For Heroes and The Child Brain Injury Trust.St David's Double Gymnastic Glory - Summer 2011
St David's School is celebrating a double success. The U11 boys have won the national team title at the Independent Schools National Gymnastics competition in Stoke for the first time. In addition, Andrew Leggett (Year 5) won the National Boys' individual title, repeating the success of one of our pupils who won the same title last year. The School regularly competes against other far larger schools and last summer, St David's also enjoyed success when Year 6 pupil, Sophie Haden-Scott, won the U11 ISA National Schools Shot Put title in Birmingham, throwing 7.36 metres. The U11 boys' gymnastics team guidance came from Head Coach, Karoly Negy-Czirok and Sally Harwood. The team were Bradley Fisher (Captain), Andrew Leggett, Sam Belgrove, Alfie Lee and Adam Green. Head of PE, Rob Jones, said: "It is an outstanding achievement to have won the individual boys' title for the second year running and to add the national team title to this accolade really speaks volumes for the continued high standard of coaching at St David's."
St. David's School: Woodcote Valley Road • Purley • Surrey CR8 3AL