We wish our Kent Championship swimmers the best of luck over the next few weeks. The 2012 Championships start at Crystal Palace this weekend and then move on to Medway Park in Gillingham for subsequent weekends. Qualified this year are Ellen Dunbar (year 9 - Greenwich SC), Millie Bach (year 10 - White Oak SC/Greenwich  Borough Mariners SC) and Nick Duxbury (year 12 - Greenwich Borough Mariners SC). Greenwich Olympic Borough 2011 captain Josh Ling (year 12 - Greenwich Borough Mariners) misses out due to other commitments and Kate Drury (year 7 - Greenwich Borough Mariners) has been injured this year.

Colfe’s top maths students have won 14 Gold, 19 Silver and 19 Bronze certificates in the Intermediate Mathematics Challenge 2012.  The Competition, held by the United Kingdom Mathematical Trust, is to challenge the most able maths students in Years 9, 10 and 11.  Seven students; Rachael Potter, Alastair Porter, (Year 11) Joshua Gayadeen, Oliver Skeates and Heather Douglas (Year 10), Callum Melly (Year 9) and Maximillian O’ Keefe (Year 8) have now qualified for the next round which is the Europe wide Kangaroo round on Thursday 15th March.

Wednesday morning lesson 1 French.  In the classroom?  Not this week!  Having covered the topic of food and in particular rôle-play language with Mrs German, it was with great delight that Mrs Biggs organised an authentic French café in the senior school where all of Year 5 got to engage with 6th form and Year 11 garçons and serveuses.  The customers quickly devoured their croissant, pain au chocolat and pain au raisin which were duly washed down with jus d’orange and chocolat chaud.

Year 8 Students have taken part in the Colfe’s final of a Latin Reading competition.  The students read out loud a passage of Latin and were marked and judged on their intonation, emphasis and presentation.  The Headmaster judged the winners who will now travel to the City of London School for the Regionals.

An Old Colfeian, who is the Head Teacher of an English Speaking School in South America, has given a fascinating insight into the opportunities for Gap Years abroad.  Alan Shanks, who left Colfe’s  in 1979,  is the Headteacher of the Colegio Anglo Colombiano in Bogota.  His school is a member of the Round Square Consortium of schools of which Gordonstoun is part and so shares some of the ethos of this famous Scottish School.

 

Colfe’s has welcomed the former top test England cricketer Derek Underwood who visited the school. He is now a Director of a company about to install an all-weather batting strip on one of the school squares.  "Deadly" Derek Underwood was a Kent and England International Cricketer in the 1960s and 70s who played in 86 tests for England claiming 297 wickets at an average of 25.83. He was lethal on a sticky (damp) wicket and bowled at the speed of a medium pacer.  He is also a recent (2010) President of the MCC.

The Platform Concert is a chance for us to display the music that we had all been working on and gain the confidence to perform it to an audience.  This half-term’s concert was a typically fun night for both adults and children.

The U13 netball squad has been ranked 5^th in the Kent Schools Tournament after getting through to the Quarter Finals.

For our gallery of fun in the snow, click here

Colfe’s U14 netballers are now the best netball squad in London and the South East after winning all seven of their matches in the Regional Final of the National Schools’ Netball Championships.

 

Having won the Kent Schools’ Tournament in January, the pressure was on for the team to perform when they travelled to Redbridge Sports Centre, on Sunday 29th January 2012.

The display which counts towards the students' final AS and A2 results, received a warm response by the many people who came to look at the show. Alice Stevens from Year 12, whose work was part of the display, said it was always exciting to show her work to an audience. "I've enjoyed bringing all my work together in one place because it has helped me see the progress that I've made over the year.  I was a little nervous at first but my friends have been very supportive and it's lovely that so many people have come to see the exhibition."

Colfe’s talented debaters have won the first round of one of the oldest national debating competitions in the UK- the Schools’ Mace. 

Julia Cummings , Year 12, and Marcus  Brockman, Year 10, spoke in opposition to the motion “This  house believes that organ donation should be  made compulsory  without exception”.