Contact InformationNarcot Lane, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks, SL9 8TP

www.chalfonts.org

The Chalfonts Community

Giles Scoble Vice Principal

Issue 15 - 14th May 2018Chronicle “Success is an Attitude...”

Tel: 01753 882032Fax: 01753 890716

Email: info@chalfonts.orgTwitter: @CCChalfonts

Whatever their level, focused, active revision will have a benefit. It is never too late to start active revision.

This may be in the form of quizzes, past papers, mini-tests and re-phrasing (not copying) notes. It is essential

that material is revisited in order for it to enter the long-term memory. The good news is that whilst

short-term working memory is limited our long-term memory is almost limitless. Testing themselves should be

the cornerstone of their revision to embed information into the long-term memory stores.

Revision sessions should be no longer than 30-45 minutes and the focus should be on one topic. Each topic

should be followed by a break of 10-15 minutes away from the work area. It is a useful strategy to mix up

the topics they are studying, rather than do great big blocks. A revision schedule is useful to make sure they

have the correct focus and it also gives a sense of achievement as they tick off topics/sessions. I liken revision

to climbing a mountain. It is hard work and if you keep staring at the summit it doesn’t seem to be getting

any closer. However, if you stop and glance back you will be amazed at how far you have already climbed.

Also it is worth the effort for the views.

Mobile phones are often said (by students mainly) to be necessary to revision but more commonly they are a

distraction. It is a good habit to have them outside the room and almost view them as the enemy of revision.

If they need access to websites then a computer is much less distracting. The mobile phone can be accessed

during the 10-15 breaks between sessions, if vital to life. Continued....page 2

‘We can’t measure everything of value’In education generally and particularly at this time of year there is a real

focus on exams and measured outcomes (results). There is no doubt that

these exams will be the most important the students will have taken in their

lives; regardless of whether they are GCSEs, progress exams, A Levels or end

of year. This is because they give options to the students which without them

they may not have had. For the external exams they are also the culmination

of 2 years of hard work, so well done for the commitment so far. I have a

daughter taking A Levels this year so I fully understand the pressure and

effort our students put into their studies and empathise with you during this

period. Many parents ask themselves this question. What they can I do to

support my children during this time?

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There is also the need to look after yourself physically and mentally. Whilst the pressure can seem over-

whelming and the focus on exams relentless; a balance needs to be maintained. Short bursts of physical

activity are shown to improve mental function, so active breaks may make them better students. It also

relieves stress. A good diet and sleep are crucial to health now and during the exam season. Students

should remain hydrated but do not need to be attached to a water bottle at all times. Likewise, blue-screen

time before bed leads to less effective sleep patterns. Blue screens (TV, phones, computers) should ideally

be turned off an hour before sleep. Many phones have a reduced blue light feature that will help if a phone

does need to be used late in the evenings.

Alongside these exams we are developing the ‘soft-skills’ our students will need to thrive in the changing

world. Whilst harder to measure I want to highlight the opportunities that we offer and encourage all our

students to take advantage of these.

• Duke of Edinburgh: last weekend 148 students and many staff went on the Bronze D of E assess-

ment weekend in the New Forest and I have only heard positive reports. There is an upcoming Gold

expedition trip to Poland in July and the support for students is a weekly event.

• Sports tour of South Africa took 68 students on a trip that involved sports and cultural opportunities,

in equal measure.

• World Challenge: We ran our first short haul trip for KS3 students, taking 6 students to Morocco.

Again, visiting the capital of Marrakech and playing football with locals in remote villages made a real

impression. We will be launching a trip for the current Year 8 to go to Iceland in July 2019 to see the

midnight sun (parent meeting this July to launch trip).

• Two teams whick consisted of 30 KS4 students are going to Croatia and Montenegro in July for an eight

day trip that includes rafting and kayaking. There are 14 students in KS4 and 5 taking a 3 week long-

haul trip to Madagascar in July 2019.

• Skiing: Forty-eight KS4 students went to Andorra in February and there are two trips next February:

KS3 to Italy and KS4 to Canada.

• There are numerous departmental trips to various places including Auschwitz, Battlefields in France, The

Black Country museum and Amsterdam to name a few.

So in summary I have two messages:

Firstly, good luck to our students as they enter this exam season: may you get the results you deserve.

Secondly, remember to develop as a well-rounded individual by taking advantage of the great opportunities

life offers you, both within the college and in your broader lives.

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How to plan your revisionThis is a summary of the full post about planning your revision which can be read at:

https://mrvahora.wordpress.com/2018/05/01/planning-your-revision/

This post is about how to revise and not about what to revise. The most important thing to do when

revising is to plan ahead. You will need a planner which you can get from the link above. The way you

use a planner is you work backwards from your last exam and so the first thing to do is to highlight

all your exams on the planner for every subject you have using the exam timetable (also from the link

above).

You need to s p r e a d o u t y o u r r e v i s i o n so that you don’t just study maths for

5-days in a row! You should aim to revise for two subjects each night after school. Don’t forget to plan

your breaks. Once your exams start, you should study for a minimum of 2 hours for each subject

without a break to build stamina and that means not even looking at your phone (phones are a nuisance

and a distraction so keep them out of the room you are studying in – this is important!)

Oh, and make sure that your bag is packed before you go to bed and you have: pens, pencils, a pair of

compasses, protractor, rubber, ruler, sharpener and a calculator.

For more information, including Planners and timetables for GCSE & A level exams please go to:

https://mrvahora.wordpress.com/2018/05/01/planning-your-revision/

Mr Vahora

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On Sunday, 29th April the National Film and Television School (NFTS) was filming on location at The Chal-

fonts Community College. The graduate film is called “Dust” and it is written by Lydia Rynne. It is a short

film telling the story of a school caretaker who is an immigrant from Syria. It shows how people engage

with him and shows flashbacks of his life in Syria where he sadly lost his daughter. One of the students at

the school looks identical to the caretaker’s daughter and on meeting her, a flood of memories from his

past came alive.

Eight of our Year 12 and 13 students were involved in the filming and they worked as extras for the day.

They had the fantastic experience of working on a professional film set with make-up artists, costumes and

a production team.

They were professional at all times, responded excellently to improvisation required as an extra and we

hope that this will generate further opportunities as we look to develop our relationship with NFTS.

Watch this space….

Filming with NFTS

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Our Martial Arts StarSpencer Powell, Year 12, represented the UK as part of the WMAC team at the WKC Aberdeen

open tournament on Sunday 29th April and won a gold medal.

Following on from this success he has been invited to compete in the WKC Pan American

Championships in Guatemala in 2019 and the World Championships in Dublin in October.

Well done Spencer!

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Thank you to Simon Collins and his team at Astarcor for helping our Year 7s secure first and fourth places

at the regional heats of the ‘Race for the Line’ rocket car championships. Astarcor is a local company which

is based in High Wycombe and they specialize in injection moulding. They very generously agreed to

provide us with 300 injection-moulded Delrin wheels to go with our own light-weight designed cars.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to them for their generosity and would also like to congratulate

our Year 7 teams who represented us at the regional competition at RAF Halton amidst a cohort of a dozen

other local schools.

Congratulations to our 1st placed team comprising of Mimi Rogers, Mason Rogers and Alex Hamilton-Cox

who blew the other entries away with a run of 19.2ms through the timing gate, compared to an overall

average on the day of 45ms! To give some sense of this achievement, 19.2ms equates to a speed through

the timing gate of 113mph!

Congratulations to our other team which consist of Harry Bond,

Mariella Donaldson, Harrison Green and Daniel Moore who placed

4th. This was also an impressive achievement.

The winning team will now progress to the national final which

takes place at RAF Wittering in Lincolnshire at the end of June.

Wish them luck!

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On Monday 21st May, Year 8 girls will

receive their second HPV injections.

Tutors will have time-table.

Our uniform suppliers have recently

increased their prices. A revised

uniform order form is now on our

website:

https://www.chalfonts.org/uniform

The Shop

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On Thursday, 26th April, Mrs Darvill and I took 10 students to a

taster day at Oxford University where we were assigned

Keble College as a host. We were given a presentation about

the university which included a description of the very

supportive tutorial system.

All Oxford students attend lectures but they are also assigned

a tutor to discuss materials/assignments in very small groups;

sometimes there might only be 3 students working with the

Tutor at one time.

We then moved to Jesus College where we had a workshop on Oxford student life. A number of facts were

shared with us, including the following:

• 60% of current students have come from a State Comprehensive background.

• There were more women than men recruited last year.

• Jesus College was the first college to admit women in 1974, even though it had existed for 400 years!

• Studying at Oxford involves a lot of independent learning and you build your own timetable, taking into

• account any extra-curricular activities.

• There is a long admissions process because the university want, to make sure people are sure they can

cope and really want to attend.

• You are admitted by one particular College and not the university as a whole. There are approximately

100 students per year group.

• 25% of students have some sort of financial support to attend.

• The entry grades for some of the subjects are not as high as Cambridge or Imperial College, for

example. However, Oxford is looking for someone who has a passion for a particular subject and, what

they call, ‘intellectual bravery’. At an interview, the students would be challenged on their thinking

and opinions about various subjects.

Year 10

Oxford

University

‘Taster Day’

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The Workshop Activities

During the workshop activities the students were split into groups and they

looked at areas such as the different styles of studying (e.g. lecture,

tutorials and independent learning). They also looked at the variety of

extra-curricular activities and the timetable of a current student.

Next was a well-earned lunch in the beautiful college dining hall. This was

followed by a small tour around Oxford where we saw:

Bodleian Library, one of the oldest

libraries in Europe with over 12

million items.

‘Bridge of Sighs’ which is a skyway

joining two parts of Hertford

College over New College Lane

and is a replica of the famous

‘Bridge of Sighs’ in Venice.

The students sat through 3 taster

lectures. In Geography they

learnt about water wars, in

Zoology it was about evolution

and in Ancient Languages they

learnt about Lucretius.

It was a busy day in Oxford and one that I hope has benefitted our students. Comments from the students

include:

I feel as if I am more reassured and understand the transition from school to university

It has inspired me to reach my maximum potential

This trip has inspired me to work harder to achieve the grades that I need, in order to fulfil

my university experience

Enthusiasm, commitment and potential is the name of Oxford and the teachers have the time

and resources to prepare their students.

Oxford wants to accept people of all backgrounds

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We would welcome donations of PE kit that students have grown out of or no longer need. This

includes old trainers and football boots too.

The PE department need as much spare kit as possible. It’s extremely useful for when students

forget to bring theirs in. We can then give them spares to participate.

Please deliver to reception

The Chalfonts Community College is working in partnership with School Lettings Solutions to

utilise our facilities during evenings, weekends and school holidays, creating a community

network with clubs and groups within the area.

SLS have a dedicated School Leisure and Sports Manager who is responsible for taking bookings

of the facilities, ensuring that the main focus for school staff is pupil attainment and day-to-day

responsibilities.

Facilities include an astro turf pitch, gymnasium, grass pitches & much more. To hire a facility or

for more information about what SLS can offer, please visit their dedicated lettings

website http://chalfonts.schoolbookings.co.uk/ or contact the School Leisure and Sports

Manager on 0151 515 6556

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Sports Fixures

Date Year Sport Versus Home/Away Staff

ApproxPick up

timeMon 14th May U13 Mixed Tennis Beaconsfield Away NBL/HDN 1730Tues 15th May 8 Athletics Misbourne

Weds 16th May7 - 9 Athletics Misbourne Away 1730

Senior County Cricket Cressex School

Thurs 17th May U15 Mixed Tennis Beaconsfield Away KTC/DCY 1730

Tues 22nd May 9 & 10 Athletics Misbourne Away KTC 1730

Weds 23rd May7 & 8 Cricket Amersham Away CHA/HDN 1730

9 &10 Cricket Chesham Away DCY/HWD 1730

Tuesday 15th May Y9 ‘Sea Cadets’ Engineering WorkshopFriday 18th May 6th Form Prom

Monday 21st MayY13 Study Leave BeginsYear 8 Girls - Vaccinations

Friday 25th MayY12 Progress Reports IssuedEnd of HT 5

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InformationHelp us to help you!

Do your online shopping through The College website and The College will benefit in commission.No registration or sign-up required.

Add this page to your favourites and start shopping today:

http://www.chalfonts.org/onlineshop

Download the college News App

Look for ‘School News’ in your app store and keep

up to date with the latest news and events at the

college.

We are now using the app to push through PE

cancellations, job/apprenticeship opportunities as

well as all our other everyday news.

Lost PropertyThere is still a lot of ‘lost property’ being generated – please encourage students to look after theirbelongings – especially items of PE kit.

All named lost property is returned to its owner via e-mails to the students’ tutor, so please name anything that is likely to get ’lost’. Un-named lost property is put on the table in the corridor outside the medical room for anyone to claim and is recycled after a couple of weeks as there isn’t any storage space for the quantities of items received.

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Gayle Romney Medical Administrator/First Aider/Lost

Property

01753 881627gayleromney@chalfonts.org

Use of the Medical RoomReminder for students that the medical room is open at break and lunch-time for students to ‘Drop-In’.It is only open during and between lessons for accidents and medical emergencies.

Medical ConditionsIf your son or daughter are diagnosed with any medicalconditions, or are prescribed any medication that they may need during the day, please contact Miss Romney so that the information can be recorded.

Medical Time-Out cardsStudents diagnosed with a medical condition, which may necessitate them leaving a lesson, are issued with a Medical Time-Out card so that they can leave the lesson, without having to explain the rea-son to the teacher and with as little disruption as possible to the rest of the class.

Most students issued with these use them very responsibly but last term a small minority abused their use of them.

If your child is issued with an M T-O card, please will you remind them that they need to use it sensibly as they are issued for their benefit. i.e. they don’t need to explain to each teacher why they need to leave the room.

News from the Medical Roomand Lost Property

Students using crutches following an operation or injuryPlease advise Miss Romney if your son or daughter has an operation, or sustains an injury, and needs to use crutches on their return to school, as we need to ensure that they are given anysupport needed to keep them safe. This includes a risk assessment being carried out.

Principal; Russell DenialNarcot Lane, Chalfont St Peter, Gerrards

Cross, Buckinghamshire, SL9 8TP01753 882032

info@chalfonts.org