School News

E-MAIL for PREP SCHOOL

prepschool.office@stcatherines.info

This is the new email address that has been set up to allow parents to communicate directly with the Prep. School. Parents can also mark emails to the attention of individual members of staff and these will be forwarded on your behalf. The office will be checking the inbox regularly throughout the day.

E-MAIL for PREP SCHOOL ABSENCE
PrepSchoolAbsence@stcatherines.info

As long as you put in sufficient information in your E-mail as to the reason for the absence, and make sure that you sign a print out, this can replace the legally-required letter. Print outs will be kept by the classteacher ready for you to sign.

DATES

Please note the following amendment to the School calendar:- Thursday 18th March- please note that the Chamber Concert being held that evening at 6pm is for Form I and LIIs.

Forthcoming events
Parents’ Meeting Key Stage 1
Wednesday, 24th February 4pm-6pm
Thursday, 25th February 6pm-8pm

Parents’ Meeting Key Stage 2
Wednesday, 3rd March 6pm-8pm
Thursday, 4th March 6pm-8pm

Important Summer Term Dates
Sports Day Wednesday, 23rd June 2010
Open Day Saturday, 3rd July 2010

INTERNET SHOPPING GATEWAY

Use our St. Catherine’s School internet shopping gateway to access your favourite on-line shopping sites and you could be raising money for the PTA at the same time as taking advantage of some great special offers. St Catherine’s Senior School PTA and St Catherine’s Prep School PTA have jointly established a new web shop through buy.at whereby we will receive commission on purchases made through the gateway.

The web site address is www.buy.at/stcatherinesbramley through which you can access a variety of different retailers, who include John Lewis (commission rate 2%), Marks & Spencer (3%), Early Learning Centre (4%), GAME (3%) plus many more great sites with varying rates of commission from 2% to 12%.

Funds raised through this joint venture will go towards purchasing key items of equipment for the new buildings which will be used by both the senior and the prep school students and staff in a variety of ways. This could include up-to-date gymnastics equipment, pianos for the four music practice/teaching rooms, piano for the performance space, sound and lighting equipment and a variety of other additional items to enhance the new buildings. Some of these items may be brought into use earlier than the completion of the building if funds allow.

So please have a look at our new web shop. All you need to do to ensure the PTAs receive the commission is to access the sites via the gateway. No further information is required and no codes need to be remembered.

STAMPS
Thank you for all the stamps I have collected throughout the year. However, please don’t forget to save all the stamps off your Christmas cards as these can be used to help the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Farnham. Please ask all your family and friends too. Mrs Chaventré

BIRTHDAY TREATS
We would kindly remind parents that as a School we aim to be a nut free environment. Whilst girls are welcome to bring birthday treats to School we would ask that all packaging is carefully read to ensure that any products comply. If home made cakes are brought into School could you please also supply a list of ingredients. Thank you for your support.

Guildford Museum
Guildford Museum runs an exciting junior club one Saturday per month for young people interested in history and archaeology. Activities include themed art and craft or outings to places of historical interest. Membership costs £13 and for more details regarding the activities that take place please contact:- Guildford Museum Castle Arch Guildford Telephone: 01483 444750 museum@guildford.gov.uk

Bramley Arts Week
To assist in the creative activities being held during Bramley Arts Week we shall be collecting the following :- old cereal boxes/bits of card old cds/dvds kitchen roll inner tubes old ribbon old dried pasta/dried beans Items can be handed to the Pre Prep Department after half-term.

Contacts

Please can we ask every St Catherine’s family to remember to let the School know as soon as possible if any contact details are changed. This is important for the safety of the girls, as we might need to get hold of you very quickly in an emergency. The data we hold is as good as the data you kindly give us and we do our best to keep our records up to date. If in doubt, please contact the relevant School Office by email with your updates or to request a new ClarionCall form. Very many thanks.

LOST PROPERTY
If your daughter has mislaid an un named item then please take a look in the green buckets which will be placed in the court yard each week. We will continue to return all named items to the girls changing rooms.

SECOND HAND UNIFORM

The Second Hand Uniform shop is now open twice a week.

Tuesday 8.30am-9.30am
Friday between 3pm-4pm

We are planning to sell second hand sports equipment, such as tennis racquets, shin pads, hockey sticks and hockey boots. We should be grateful for any that you have in good condition.

Please look through your daughter’s uniform and leave anything you wish us to sell on your behalf, with all your contact details, at the school office or with us at the shop.

If you need to contact the PTA's Second Hand Uniform team please send an E-mail to cris.nigelbottrill@btinternet.com with Second Hand Uniform as the subject.

Eco Warrior News

On 26th January 72% of the girls managed to find an alternative way of travelling to school. The most successful form, LIIK, achieved 95% and was awarded the Green Boot. The next Walk and Cycle to School day is Friday, 26th February. Mrs King-Fretts

Last term St. Catherine's Preparatory School was awarded the Eco School's Green Flag, which is the highest award for this project. Well done to all the Eco Warriors, past and present, and all the girls and their families for their commitment and enthusiasm to the project. To celebrate this we will be held a Girls Go Green week from Monday 12th October to Friday 16th October. There were lots of environmentally friendly activities all week, including a Walk and Cycle to School day on Monday 12th October, a switching off the electricity afternoon and a special eco assembly. On Wednesday 14th October we held a mufti day when the girls dressed in green clothes or came as an endangered animal of their choice. The money raised from this event was sent off to the World Wildlife Fund.

Reminders

Please can Parents remember that the school requires a letter of authority before a girl can be released at the end of the day, either to another parent or adult. This also applies when girls are taken to a party.

Please remember all girls are required to wear their blazer to and from school. Fleeces are only to be worn during PE and fixtures. Thank you.

Sometimes parents come to school to collect their daughters and to watch matches with pets. We would respectfully request that you leave pets / dogs in cars. If you do need to exercise the animal, then we would ask that you do this outside the school’s grounds so as to avoid waste pollution, in particular of playing facilities where this constitutes a potential risk to the girls’ health. There is access just beyond the school entrance in Station Road to the old railway line which is excellent dog-walking territory!

Medical appointments Parents are kindly reminded that if their daughters are being picked up from school during the day for medical appointments, the girls must be collected from the red sofa and signed out at Reception. A letter to notify the school of any appointments will ensure that the girls are ready in time for collection.

NEW SCHOOL BUS FROM ESHER
A new school bus will be starting from The Bear Pub, Esher after February Half Term and there are still a few spaces left if parents of any Prep School parents would like their daughter to join.

Bramley Library Advent Calendar

I am very pleased to announce that we have once again won a prize for our contribution to the Bramley Library Advent Calendar.

This year Joanna has been awarded best entry for her delightful painting of Christmas candles. The judge was "most impressed by her sense of style and subject matter". We have been given a cheque for £25 for the Art Department equipment, which is most gratefully received.

I would also like to thank Katie, Octavia, Ellie and Carmen who also provided excellent contributions. The Advent Calendar was widely admired and praised by visitors to the library and several people commented that it was even better than in 2008.

Mrs A L May
Art Teacher

Horsley/Clandon bus route
There are some spaces available on this parent organised bus service. If you are interested in finding out more details then please contact Mrs Cheese 07876 567947 or Mrs Cocke on 07963 883168.

Parking

Senior School
Could we please ask for your assistance during drop off and collection times to ensure that traffic is able to move freely at these times.

The Estates Department have requested that parents refrain from parking on the double yellow lines in the senior school driveway and to ensure the entrance way is clear so that the school buses have free access to the site.

Prep. School
It would also be appreciated if at drop off times parents could encourage girls to exit the car safely and swiftly. Please do not leave cars parked in the drop-off zone.

Parking

DROP-OFF ZONE
Parents may use the drive through and ‘drop-off’ facility at the front of Church House from 8.00am to 8.25am. A member of staff will be on duty to assist.
Parents must not park and leave their car in the Drop-Off Zone.

Please:
• Never stop on the yellow zig-sags in Station Road in front of the school
• Do not park on the corner of Station Road between the zig-zags and Hall Road or on
the corner the other side of Hall Road towards Wonersh; this contravenes the
Highway Code and prevents traffic from moving out of Hall Road.
• Do not park in The Brambles, which is located in Hall Road
• Consider sharing lifts, walking, cycling or using buses as a healthy and eco-friendly
way to travel to and from school.

PARKING
Pre-Prep I parents only should use the parking bays at the front of Church House between 8 -8.30am and 3 - 3.30pm.
Parents of girls in Pre-Prep II and above may park at the Senior School or the Bramley Business Park.
Parents may park in the Village Hall Car Park at the back of the School between 8 - 8.30am and 3 - 3.30pm only.
All girls in LIII should be dropped- off at the Senior School where they will be supervised before being taken across the road to the Prep School to help prevent congestion at the Prep School.

Please make every effort to avoid inconveniencing anyone who lives near the school.
Inconsiderate behaviour towards residents of Hall Road, The Brambles and Station Road by just one St Catherine’s parent reflects very badly on all parents.

LONDON TO LISBON
(ever so slowly...)

Dear All

It seems quite some time ago that we were able to send a report of our progress, but in the meantime, hopefully you have all enjoyed a fantastic Christmas break.

In our last report we had just reached Bonneval, where the next stage of launching on the Loir didn't quite go according to plan. It seems that the 120 miles we pulled the boat along the road, were not to be the last, despite our very best efforts to actually get on the water.

The torrential downpours of June had carried on long into July and consequently high waters met us at the riverside on our first look at the Loir. Undeterred, we sought out the limited amount of available information on the river and continued with our preparations for rowing. All the while, we might add, slightly dogged by a nagging pain in my right foot.

From Bonneval, Le Loir was to lead us neatly down to the better known, La Loire and then we would cut across to the river Cher, underneath the beautiful chateau of Chenonceaux. In theory!! In truth the nagging pain in the foot quickly turned to something more serious with the ridiculous result that we were unable to launch, as lifting the boat over the many and various weirs, obstructions, fish ladders etc in the water, had me almost blacked out with the pain. How ironic after such a walk to the first section of water we could row, we were relegated to the road once more.

The local cycle club helping out

In order to keep moving and try to make up some of the ever-so-slightly-behind-schedule time, we chose a route along Le Loir, sticking to the tiny country lanes, ever hopeful for an improvement in the foot. Rural France is fantastic for quiet roads, with little or no traffic and perfect sized villages along the way, the only slight complication being the need to zig zag across the map in order to avoid the larger roads. We could add to this, the attempts by the Minister of Works to set us off course by digging up one of the road bridges en route. However, the arrival of the cavalry in the disguise of the local cycle club, saw thirty willing hands to lift the boat across the divide and set us on course once again.

The wheat belt in this area is truly extensive, stretching for miles, or a week at our pace. It was in the middle of this that unfortunately my foot gave out, leaving us no option but to seek medical advice. Neither of us are the best at taking such advice nor the news that I had somehow damaged the veins in my leg and needed complete rest for a minimum of several weeks, was a serious blow to our plans for progress. After compressing two weeks into two days rest, we tried to push on, but we had to concede defeat and holed up in Moree, a tiny village where we soon made friends with the entire population, given as it was that there was a single bar and a single shop by way of a diversion. As always we were struck by people's kindness and help and used the time to try and come up with a better plan - which clearly we needed!! But in truth, couldn't come up with, so it was en avant towards La Loire, several days later, with industrial pain killers, a rather untrendy hospital style walking stick and a ridiculously slow rate of progress - but hey, progress is progress.

The ancient royal hunting forests that stretched to Blois, provided some much needed shade when finally on 11th July the sun came out, and stayed out. Yippee! It had been over 5 weeks of constant rain and despite our natural enthusiasm; we can honestly say that the sun put the spring back in our step, albeit still with a walking stick. The strain of having to pull the boat alone was beginning to show in Mark, with creaky knees, a sore back and unfortunately socks full of blisters. However, it was Bastille Day in the small town of Onzain and while our neighbours celebrated this early event in the French Revolution, we toasted the 200 miles we had walked to this point.

At Chaumont la Loire, we crossed the wide stone bridge that spans this beautiful river and saw what we had begun to expect in the last few weeks: the rains had swelled the water level to such an extent that any attempt to row upstream would end in disaster!

The trip to date had not allowed for much in the way of rowing practice but it had given us the skills to be flexible in our plans - as you may have noted it had been an almost daily occurrence that some major redirection had been necessary. Thus with La Loire in flood, we continued towards the Cher with the comfort that the Canal du Berry ran alongside, so between the two we were guaranteed a 'do-able' waterway. Lisbon was still 1600 kilometers away so actual movement towards our final objective, would definitely be the order of the remainder of July.

Chenonceaux's neighbour, Montrichard sur Cher greeted us with a warm welcome, a fantastic hotel and the news that the dam had ceased to be in operation from the previous week. Aggh!!! No dam meant no control over the ludicrous current that produced standing waves under the bridges and swirling eddies that spanned the entire river. On hearing that the powerful motored pleasure cruisers had packed up their businesses due to the strength of the current, we realised the Canal du Berry would be our saviour. Only a short day's walk away, we enjoyed the stroll past the enormous Mont Mousseau caves and troglodyte houses that lined the route.

Noyers sur Cher, home to the canalised section of the branch of the river Cher, held great promise as we arrived at the edge of a quiet, still, flat, calm, locked, waterway, almost falling in with excitement as it had all the hallmarks of what we had been looking for since Le Havre.

One significant bonus in our running around looking for information has been the chance to practice our French, and none more so than here as we had half the townsfolk seeking information on our behalf, and even people kindly driving us miles to other towns to find out all that we needed to know. And all that we needed to know was that the Canal had been de-classified and that only 19 kilometers of the 192 kilometers of its length were rowable, the remaining 173 having been built over, filled in or left to their own devices to the point of being unnavigable, even by sneak boat, such as we have.

It had been a theme in our diary noted several times, that we had needed a new plan like we had never needed a plan before. That night in Noyers we wrote it again and in the morning, swiftly acted upon it.

On all of the trips we have undertaken over the years, our aim has always been to do complete it under our own steam. It makes us feel great to have achieved what we set out to do and leaves us feeling there is more we are capable of. Whilst this is still true, we had finally realised that walking more than 240 miles in mostly pouring rain, with 200lbs of boat and luggage was actually more than we were capable of. Especially as I was still unable to walk easily and could not bend my ankle at all.

Mr Tong towing Shark bait!

With our best creative thinking we pushed on trying other means of making progress which still met our criteria of reaching our final destination by our own efforts, (after all on meeting up with the mayor of Lisbon, it would have been hard to explain that we had built a boat, driven it there on the roof of the car and now wished to present it to the maritime museum for others to enjoy! He would surely have been rather confused). These included more walking (slow) pulling Sharkbait with bicycles (less slow but not by much) and even a mobylette or small scooter, popular in rural France (slightly faster but with such a tiny engine, it refused to pull the weight up any slope!)

Despite this we had great fun pushing on towards the Dordogne, through Limousin, via L'Isle Jourdain and on to Ruffec. Incredibly, it was here that poor Mark then hurt his foot and was unable to walk for five days which was another serious set back in our timescale.

The rains of the early part of the trip had rolled away for good it seemed leaving us with a glorious late Summer and temperatures up to 36 degrees which unfortunately, we had not had time to acclimatise to.

As we moved on towards Cognac we couldn't ignore the facts any longer: time was moving on and the season for being able to cross the Pyrenees would soon be over - or rather long over by the time we would have reached them, and we would simply run out of time to reach Lisbon.

Thus it was that just outside of Angouleme that we took an amazing opportunity that presented itself in the unlikely form of a passing Texan gentleman and his wife. But more of that when we have the chance to come and see you all, to show you some more photos and explain the full story that saw the end of the trip.

Mrs Tong was Mrs Jefferies' PA until she left to go on this exciting adventure. Phoebe, one of our UII girls, came up with the most inventive name, thus winning Mrs Tong's competition to name the boat.

Needless to say, we had a wonderful time, made some very good friends along the way and would do it all again - only without the rain and the injuries. Although it would probably make more sense to build a full scale working replica of Lisbon in the back garden and simply row round it, it would certainly be quicker!

With, as always, love to all and thanks to the people we have met along the way.

Mr, Mrs Tong and Rugby