NewsletterAUTUMN 2014

PLUS: Sri Lanka 2014 & 2015

Other Fundraising News

TONBRIDGE

COMMUNITY

ACTION

A CHRISTMAS THANK YOU

After such a successful first TCA trip to Sri Lanka last July we have been looking at ways of developing our links with the charity CAL (Child Action Lanka) and, in particular,

helping them to develop their educational programme for the Street Children they rescue from poverty and the many dangers of living on the streets as outcasts. The Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 and the ravages of a bitter Civil War give their work even greater focus and importance. We therefore are hoping that, as a school, this is just the beginning of a long, creative and fruitful partnership, one that will not only benefit those children in Sri Lanka but also the Tonbridgians who opt to go out there each summer. It was clear to see how much those who went in July were changed by the experience. Not only did they come back wiser, more aware individuals, but a very strong, mutually-supportive bond had been formed between them. Furthermore, through our contact with CAL we are also intending to set up Gap Year opportunities so there is a Tonbridgian there helping the charity for as much of each year as possible rather than merely relying on the July trips alone.

We are hoping to be visited by some of those who run the CAL centres next term, and we will be organising a full week of activities for them, including the opportunity to see Wednesday afternoon TCA at work. This visit will be followed soon after by two members of the Tonbridge School staff going out to Sri Lanka to pave the way for a more far reaching, ambitious visit in July 2015.

From my perspective, after 7+ years developing TCA, this exciting initiative is the final piece of a jigsaw that now covers local, national and international projects, and gives all those at Tonbridge School, pupils, teachers and support staff alike, plenty of opportunities to be involved in charity or community work. In some ways what has been the most exciting thing for me in the process is the way members of the school community have initiated their own projects, often taking on demanding challenges in order to fulfil their aims by giving their empathy for others who are less fortunate a tangible outcome. To all those who have made TCA a genuine whole school philosophy and commitment, many thanks, a Merry Christmas and Happy New year.

Mike Morrison

Editorial

Once again the 2014 Christmas Toy Appeal was an outstanding success. It perfectly expressed the fabulous generosity of our whole school community – staff, boys and, in particular, our parent body. Over the week of 22-29 November, donations of new and good quality second hand toys and books were brought in to main school or Houses. These were then collected by a fleet of volunteer parents who gathered in Big School, along with a number of TCA boys, and spent the morning sorting them into age categories and types of gifts.

The Tonbridge Wells Mayor’s Toy Appeal has been running for many years through the St George’s Centre, and has excellent links with local health care professionals and social services teams who refer local families who are in need of support, especially at Christmas time. In 2013 we were able to help them support 315 children, and this year we were delighted to donate three full car-loads of presents, kindly delivered by some of our volunteer parents.

However, since 2013, with the support of the Tonbridge and Malling Mayor’s office, and other charities known to them, we have also been making links with similar organisations within the more immediate Tonbridge area. Through these links we were delighted to be able to offer donated gifts and books to an additional 235 local children known to be in need. As we sorted through the huge number of donations, we were joined by representatives of these local charities, children’s centres and community projects to ensure that children known to them received reading-age appropriate books and gifts that they would really enjoy. One of these family health workers shared with us the many types, causes and repercussions of poverty that are on our doorstep. This brought home exactly how real this need can be, for example, telling us of a family with two young girls whose only toys are a small doll (missing one leg) and a packet of loom bands. We were all humbled by the difference that our donations will make in local homes this Christmas time.

A huge thanks to you all, and to the TCA Parent’s Group who made this all possible.

Mayoral Chistmas Toy Appeal 2014

“Love In A Box” - the charity of choice for Park House this Christmas

Pink Day raises £1,134for Breast Cancer Campaign

Oakeshott supports Sierra LeoneThrough their starvation lunches, Social Entrepreneur projects and fundraising on Community Day, Oakeshott House have raised over £800 this year for the Lifeline Nehemiah Project in Sierra Leone. Initially set up to rebuild the lives of ex-child soldiers and young people affected by war, this charity empowers individuals and communities to prosper and become truly self-reliant. The funding is particularly welcome as they are now working alongside other organisations to coordinate a national response to the Ebola crisis.

Many thanks to Emma Jones, Dan Byrne, Claire Moorcroft and Anthony Von Den Driesch who ran a hugely successful cake stall in September, raising a healthy £420 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Building on the success of the initiative last year, this year the boys collected sufficient gifts and packed 48 decorated shoe boxes. These boxes are destined for the disadvantaged children of Moldova via an Eastbourne-based charity, Mustard Seed.

Specifically the Park House boxes are for 12 – 15 year old boys as, sadly, the charity has a great deal of difficulty obtaining gift boxes for this age group.

Gifts donated by the boys ranged from the normal “fun things” like toys and games to more essential items such as hats, gloves and scarves to help them through the cold Moldovan winter.

It meant a lot to the boys that their gifts were destined for others of their age group that otherwise would have had nothing for Christmas. One said “It’s great to know that Park House is helping 48 different Moldovan boys keep warm and have some fun over Christmas”.

A message of thanks to all boys who donated their cricket kit to Philip Silvester, Helen Burnop’s brother. The kit went to Uganda with Cricket Without Boundaries, a cricket development and AIDS awareness charity, where it was much appreciated! Sports kit is always needed overseas, and the TCA office is happy to receive donations at any time.

TCA Sri Lanka Project

Just before Christmas last year, Mr Lewis challenged us to create a bond with both the charity ‘Child Action Lanka’ and the culture of Sri Lanka itself by teaching rugby, a sport we knew well, to orphans and street children. Along with the members of staff, 17 of us volunteered to embark on this exciting new challenge. Although we were raring to get out there, we were keen to take out funds to support those we would be visiting. Fundraising efforts were very successful and included the sale of wristbands and a 12 hour sponsored run. Soon after the end of the Summer Term, we travelled for a day via plane and then, once in Sri Lanka, by coach, eventually arriving at an orphanage in Batticaloa. We had been told what to expect, but the reality of being there made it all the more powerful and rewarding. It was a deeply moving trip, and one of the most memorable moments has to be when the orphans, who had very little in this world compared to ourselves, gave up their beds so that we could sleep on them for the nights we stayed there. When we eventually departed, we had many fond memories and we had, we hoped, served the orphanage to the best of our abilities, having helped complete the structure of the school, and left a fresh hole in their bathroom floor ready for use!

Next, we headed for Kandy, where we taught most of the rugby. The children came from Kandy but also from places like Kilanochi and Nuwara Eliya. Before we left we also managed to find time for a touch rugby fixture against the local U18 side whom we beat, not least because we were cheered on by all the children we had taught.

As we reached the final day of this exhausting yet very fulfilling experience we were met with the more recognisable sight of a hotel. Whilst we felt we deserved a night of comfort as we had put in so much effort over our time there, we also felt a degree of guilt at the comparative luxury that we were fortunate to experience compared to the harsher conditions experienced every day by the children we had worked with.

None of us would dispute the fact that our attitudes to life and its values have been entirely recalibrated in Sri Lanka and we returned home from, what was, the most innovative and valuable ‘pre-season tour’ anyone could ever have wished for.

Adam Petry (WH3)

In July Jonathan Lewis organised the first trip of what we hope will be many annual sojourns to Sri Lanka with the intention of setting up a long term partnership with a local charity (CAL – Child Action Lanka) that help street children, many of whom were made orphans by either the 2004 Tsunami or the Civil War (1982-2009) in that country.

17 boys, all from the Fourth Form and under 15 Rugby players, volunteered to join this first trip, and all have come back saying what an extraordinary, eye-opening experience it was.

To capture the true flavour of what they achieved, and how it affected them, read the accompanying articles. Moreover, do look at the excellent film that was photographed and edited by Simeon Bancroft and which is on the school website. The articles and the film show what a transformative experience it was and captures how brilliantly those 17 boys (and the staff who accompanied them) represented Tonbridge School at its best, and how they laid the foundations for a long term Tonbridge School Community Action International Partnership.

How do we hope this partnership will flourish? Alongside the annual visits, we will be encouraging boys who are opting for a Gap Year to consider longer placements with CAL to continue the work initiated during the summer holiday visits. Such Gap Year placements will offer challenging, exciting opportunities for those who want a life-changing experience between school and university.

Next summer’s trip is already at the planning stage and over 40 boys and staff have expressed a strong interest in being part of next July’s Sri Lankan adventure.

The team and the volunteer teachers on the Tsunami beach

Some of the children from Nuwara Eliya

Teaching sport to street children from Kandy

During the build up to the Sri Lanka trip last year, I had no idea what to expect. Of course we had had meetings and training sessions, but I don’t think a single person in our group really knew just what we were about to embark on. One thing however that I think we did all appreciate was that, whatever the challenges we were going to come up against in Sri Lanka, we’d be able to tackle them as an increasingly tight knit team.

Waking up on our first morning in Sri Lanka, having had a mammoth bus journey down to Batticaloa, we all started to realise that this was not going to be a walk in the park. Waking up in 30+ degree heat before eight o’clock was quite the shock to the system. I don’t think any of us will ever forget that first day building the school. The temperature rose to 38 degrees whilst we were digging the foundations, and any water that we had to drink was closer to bath water temperature than anything else. We worked through it though, everyone pitching in and, by the end of the day, we had just about managed to get the frame of the building up. I don’t think there was one person who wasn’t exhausted but, at the same time, I remember the bus ride back from that first day and the collective feeling that we had done something truly great that day.

The highlights of the Batticaloa visit just came flooding in one after another after that point: watching as we nailed in the last piece of the roof, presenting the school to the local children, and then getting them to play four mass-games of rugby-netball.

By the time we reached Kandy we started to realise how highly valued we were by the children, and by CAL itself.

At CAL headquarters we were met with one of the nicest meals I have ever had, and having lived in an orphanage for four days prior to that moment, I won’t be forgetting that meal in a hurry. During the ensuing days we saw just how significant of an impact we were having on the children.

These kids were from extremely tough backgrounds and many of them lived on the street but, whenever we were with them on that sports ground, they were happy.

I think this was possibly the most important thing that we learnt about ourselves on that trip, that we had the ability as a team to make these children feel genuinely happy and safe; and that for them, on those days that we were with them, we really did make a difference. Duncan Heggie (FH3)

Understanding a little of the Sri Lanka environment, washing an elephant!

Building the school in 380 heat....

Proud of the finished school!

Painting a London mural

The team with sarongs!

This term has seen the continuation of the hugely successful Family Conversational French Club run by 7 boys with the support of Mme Saurel and the French department. Each week the boys are joined by younger children (mainly from reception and Year 1), their even younger siblings, and their parents to enjoy games and conversational French. The children adore our boys and are learning lots of French in a fun way, giving them a great start in the vital skill of learning a second language.

This follows on from an extremely successful Professional development day in Modern Foreign Languages for Primary School teachers held here in September and attended by representatives from 12 local primary schools. Representatives from the education department from the French and Spanish Embassies also attend the day to promote their interactive and fun exercises, and brought with them very useful education materials and resources.

This is the second year Tonbridgian sixth formers have been visiting Hayesbrook School through Wednesday afternoon TCA to help those who have struggled with their English GCSE work. Last year’s three has turned into this year’s six volunteers and they have done some patient, sensitive and skilled work to enthuse, build confidence and give the Hayesbrook pupils specific skills to tackle the different tasks they face when taking GCSE Language and Literature.

Whether analysing poetry or working through a compre-hension exercise, whether looking for synonyms so that work can be paraphrased in one’s own words, or focusing on conjunctions so that their work has fluency and coher-ence, Chris, Matt, Cameron, Harry, James and Ollie have commanded respect not only for their commitment to the task (often working with 3 or four Hayesbrook boys at one time), but also for imparting ‘tricks of the trade’ that have begun to empower previously unfocused or anxious candidates.

The term ended with the challenge to write a ‘rap’ that used some of the ideas we had focused on throughout the term – rhythm, alliteration, punning, succinct writing, etc. Each group read out their rap collectively, all of which were witty and personal. Next term we are hoping to work with some of their gifted and talented students as well and the Tonbridgians know this will give them new challenges to master. That their work is having a significant influence on results was confirmed by David Day, the Head Teacher, who informed us that their English results last year had been their best ever, making it abundantly clear that he felt this was, in part, due to our visits on Wednesday after-noons.

Hayesbrook School

Slade Primary School & Family French Club

This term, 4 boys have been going to Derwent Daycare center to visit the elderly residents through Wednesday afternoon TCA. Throughout the term, we played indoor croquet, darts and other games with them. Ronald Wong(PH) and Arnold Seto(Sc) were also invited to give short presentations about Hong Kong and the Umbrella movement.

The residents all appreciated our company, saying how much they look forward to our visits, and to talking to us about our lives. One lady said it was really fun to play croquet even though she wasn’t sure about the rules, and another claimed that playing croquet with us made her feel young again! Kevin Ho (MH5).

Wednesday Afternoon TCA Volunteering Placements

Staff Rugby Match

An enthusiastic crowd of over 400 showed up to support the Tonbridge Staff XV, as they took on ‘The Old Crohnies’ XV, a band of men also happily donating their bodies for a good cause! In an end-to-end encounter, the visitors scored in the last minute, to claim a 36 – 32 win, whilst proceeds from programme sales, the hog roast and Seamus Connelly’s legendary bookie skills landed a figure of over £1,400 raised in aid of Crohns and Colitis UK.

Scott’s Project visit to Tonbridge School

Many thanks to all those who bought Panda calendars, raising £127.20 for World Wide Fund for Nature, and the Chinese recipe books, which raised a fantastic £383.50 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma research.

On Sunday the 14th of September the Tonbridge School Boars embarked on their first Dragon Boat race along the river Medway as part of the town’s Medieval Fair. With a selection of boys and staff from across the school, our team were among many local sports clubs and businesses who were looking to knock current champions the Bidborough Dragons off their perch! The day consisted of three heats, with sixteen teams competing for a place in the semi-finals, and the top four teams making the final.

With little experience in such an event, the first two heats consisted of us mainly finding our feet (or paddles)! After two heats we were way down the order, and a rousing team-talk was needed, as our final race needed a time under 59 seconds to see us into the Semi’s. The team really went for it in the final heat, giving their absolute all. The crowd were in full voice and so was everyone in the boat, so we were devastated to find out that although we had smashed our previous times, we were 0.09 of a second away from qualifying, with a time of 59.09. However, the day was a great success, with the team feeling exhilarated after the last heat with a real achievement of making it in under the minute mark. This is something we would love to do again next year, hopefully with a chance of winning some silverware! Oli Martin – Team Captain.

Dragon Boat Racing

On the morning of Wednesday 8th October the gardening and IT group went along to Tonbridge School. As soon as we arrived we went to the sports hall where we were met by the boys. We split into groups and played different games, including badminton, table tennis, basketball and football.

After the games we all went to the café for refreshments and a surprise visit from Percy, a Harris hawk! He was very friendly and let us stroke him.

We went to the school chapel where we listened to the orchestra rehearsing for a concert.

They played the James Bond theme tune from Live and Let Die, the theme tune from the Pink Panther, especially for us. We all had a brilliant time.

Scott’s Project

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Diary Dates 2015

Tonbridge School encourages a heightened sense of individual and collective Social Responsibility across all staff and boys, based on self-knowledge, carefully fostered spiritual and moral values, and

a grounded, outward-looking awareness of others.For more information about our projects, how you can get involved, or to ask for our support in

new initiatives, please email TCA@tonbridge-school.org or visit www.tonbridge-school.org

Wed 7 January TCA briefing meeting – all TCA boys. Some boys start placements

Wed 14 January Remainder of Wed afternoon TCA placements start, and run weekly until Wednesday 18 March (excluding 18 February)

Tues 27 January TCA Community Concert – all TCA boys host senior Tonbridge residents for a fun evening of music and company. Please contact us if you know of someone who would like an invitation, or can help with transport

Friday 6 February Social Entrepreneurs Project does Dragon’s Den – Teams of boys pitch their business and charitable fundraising projects in an attempt to win a major prize

Friday 27 February

Yellow Day – dress as yellow as you dare and raise funds for the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation

Saturday 25 April Sleepout – join the Tonbridge Novi and local groups sleeping rough in the quad to raise understanding of the issues around homelessness, raising funds for local homeless charity Porchlight

Wednesday 10 June(Note new date)

Field Day – Tonbridge boys host local Primary Schools in the Annual Olympic Legacy Athletics Competition

Wednesday 1 July Whole School Community Day – all boys and staff host a day of community outreach and fundraising, this year with a festival theme

Sunday 5 –Saturday 18 July

Sri Lanka Trip – up to 40 boys and staff work with Child Action Lanka to teach, help, and then enable street children from across the country to come together for a Touch-Rugby tournament

Wed 9 September

TCA training afternoon for all boys volunteering for Wednesday TCA activities

Wed 16 September

TCA Placements begin in our local community

Early October SEP launch – second years learn about opportunities to raise funds for charities of their choice using their entrepreneurial acumen

Friday 16 October

Pink Day – be as pink as you dare and raise funds for Breast Cancer charities

October2014

Field Day – Tonbridge boys volunteer their day on charitable projects within our local community

Late November Toy Appeal – donations collected for local families in need during the festive period

TCA Parents’ GroupThe TCA Parents’ Group assists in TCA community projects offering practical help and hands on deck where needed. This term the Parents’ Group played the key role in the Christmas Toy Appeal by collecting, sorting and delivering all the donated gifts, which was hard work but immensely rewarding as we talked to the charities involved about the families who would be receiving the gifts.

Our focus in the spring term is the TCA Community Concert on Tuesday 27 January where we help with transport for our senior guests as well as helping with refreshments on the night. We welcome new parents’ involvement. If you would like to volunteer in any way please email us with your contact details and the House/Year for your son(s) atTCA@tonbridge-school.org

This TCA Newsletter is produced termly and can be accessed on the School’s website at http://www.tonbridge-school.co.uk/community/tca-newsletters/. If you know someone who would like to receive a whard copy, please contact tca@tonbridge-school.org

Lions Club Young Ambassador Award

Congratulations to Joseph Froud (Sc5) who has won the SE District round of the Lions Club Young Ambassador of the 21st Century award, following his success in the Tonbridge and Malling region. This award recognises his exceptional efforts in community action, through the Green Committee, his overseas work and fundraising in Malaysia, and particularly in an art engagement project at the Hospice in the Weald day centre. When he saw the practical difficulties that some of the patients were finding with using an easel for screen printing, Joe designed and made a purpose-built accessible easel specifically for those in wheel chairs or with limited mobility. His award is now funding this project in a number of other Hospices, as well as staff and volunteer training programmes. We wish Joe luck for the National level awards which are judged in February 2015 in Dudley.