News December 2007

Staff v 1st VII Netball in aid of Breast Cancer Care

On 11th December the 1st VII netball team played a charity match against a staff team to raise money for Breast Cancer Care. Spectators were charged £1 to watch the match.

Our 1st VII netball team comprises some very talented players, indeed this term they have convincingly won 5 of their 6 matches.

 

The staff team took the event very seriously and had been practising in earnest.

The girls played extremely well, especially since many of their opponents were twice as tall and some were considerably more aggressive.

The staff took an early lead but the girls fought back in the second quarter which is probably why Reverend Battersby looks as if he is praying for divine intervention!

The match finished 10-7 to the staff but some of the girls were quite fortunate that only their egos were slightly bruised after being beaten by their teachers. Many thanks to Miss Cornell who umpired the match and organised it with Miss King, and to all those who supported the event.

Fortunately for the 1st team their opponents next term are not likely to be
6ft 4, or have as much facial hair! The event raised £70 for Breast Cancer Care and this will be added to the amount raised earlier this month when several male members of staff 'volunteered' to have their legs waxed!

Christmas Concert



The Christmas Concert took place on Tuesday, 4th December with performances by musicians from acrss the whole school. The large audience joined in enthusiastically with the congregational carols and wholeheartedly supported all the performers.

New Masterchef  

This term's Chef School participants took part in their termly Masterchef heat on 6th December. Their brief was to prepare a Christmas treat for an elderly person living alone and a wide range of delicacies was produced, from a chocolate log to mince pies, spiced peaches, chocolate brownies and a ginger bread house. The heat was judged by Scott Smith, the Head Chef from the Star & Eagle in Goudhurst along with Mr Dorey.

The winner will be announced in the end of term assembly.

 
   

A Level Music & Drama peformances

The A2 drama students performed their devised exam piece after eight weeks of preparation and rehearsal. It was entitled "Life Over Again" and was based on the ageing process (for which they had interviewed members of staff!!). The performances were outstanding and given that it was a piece of physical theatre the students had really focused on their movement skills. They also raised £70 towards their Drama trip to New York next Easter.

The A2 Music Recital concert was equally memorable, featuring a variety of excellent performances from Mozart's Sonata in F major to 'Entrance to Conflagration' by Trivium (a 'metal' band from Florida) and from ' Georgia on My Mind' to 'My Own Summer' by the Deftones. 

 
   

News November 2007

Row the World Challenge

During the 6th Form 'Body for Life' lessons some students have undertaken the Row the World challenge. For this they are expected to row 1 metre for every kilometre, a total of 54,018 m. Six students have already achieved the 25,000m award in just a few weeks, which is equivalent to rowing two thirds of the English Channel.

Prefects' Dinner  

The annual Prefects' dinner took place towards the end of November. This is an occasion to thank the prefects for all their hard work during the term. The theme for this year's fancy dress was the letter "p" and both prefects and staff entered into the spirit of the occasion!

 

Pengelly Paintballing

For their pre-Christmas outing the Pengelly boarders had a full day of paintballing near Sevenoaks. They played an exciting array of game scenarios and finished the last game in twilight, returning to Bethany exhausted, some a little bruised, but in high spirits after a successful day.

 

Clean Sweep for Bethany at "Youth Speaks" 2007

The annual "Youth Speaks" competition organised by the Tenterden Rotary Club took place at Bethany on 14th November. Many congratulations to the Bethany team which won the best team trophy for the sixth successive year! It was also the first time in the competition's twenty year history that the same school has won all three available prizes. Natasha Fitzgerald, from the Upper Sixth, won the Senior Award with her six minute address on the subject of Euthanasia, and Andrew Vale-Taylor from Year 11 won the Junior category with his speech on "Mottoes". Oliver Hindle from the Lower Sixth was the team's Chairperson and introduced both speakers and Olivia McIllvenny, also from the Lower Sixth, seconded both speakers and proposed a Vote of Thanks. The other schools taking part were Homewood and Sutton Valence.

The team is pictured above with Meridian TV's weather girl Gemma Humphries and our very own John Cullen, who has successfully coached all Bethany's winning teams. The team now has the opportunity to go forward to the regional finals next March to take on teams from the South East of England.

 

Remembrance Service

On Friday, 9th November the School held its annual Remembrance Service at Marden Parish Church. The Heads of School laid a wreath on behalf of the whole school.

Reverend Battersby opened the service with the following words:
"We are here together because a promise was made by the pupils and teachers at Bethany School in 1918. They made a promise that those who had died would be remembered. That promise was made again in 1945 at the end of the Second World War. Today and each year we fulfil that sacred promise. We will remember."

 

Hospice Donation

Sarah Begley, a member of the fundraising department at the Hospice in the Weald, came to talk to the Sixth Form about the work of the Hospice and to collect a cheque for £437. This was the amount raised at the two Fashion Shows on Speech Day. Sarah thanked everyone for their hard work and told the Sixth Formers how important donations such as this are. The money will go towards new day care facilities.

 

Cranbrook & Tenterden Food & Drink Festival Young Masterchef 2007

On 31st October students from a number of local schools took part in the Young Masterchef competition at Angley School, which was part of the first ever Cranbrook & Tenterden Food and Drink Festival. Six students from Bethany took part in the Key Stage 3 and 4 categories.

We are very proud that Alexander Clayden-Spence from Year 8 was not only the winner of the Key Stage 3 competition but was also declared the overall winner of the whole competition; a tremendous achievement. He is pictured here with Mrs Wood, our Food Technology teacher, wearing his winner's apron.

The theme of the competition was cooking with apples. Alex cooked an individual flan with a base of rich short crust pastry, apple puree, sliced apple layer with apricot glaze, served with a blackcurrant coulis and clotted cream.

The competition was judged by Graham Garrett, Michelin-starred chef from the West House in Biddenden, Frazer Thompson Managing Director of the Chapel Down Winery and Mark Colley, owner of the George Hotel and Brasserie in Cranbrook. They are pictured here with each of the key stage winners. Alex was awarded full marks for his dish and both Graham Garrett and Mark Colley said that they would have been more than happy to serve his dish in their restaurant. Overall the judges were very impressed with the standard of cooking, which was much higher than they had expected.

Mrs Wood was very proud of the way all our competitors performed. They worked efficiently in an unfamiliar environment, finishing in style and within the two hour time limit. The other dishes included: Apple & Pork filled ravioli, Joint of Ham cooked in Biddenden cider with apple, Eighteenth Century Apple Creamed Flan and Apple Tarte Tatin. Alex's prize is to spend time working with the chefs at the George Hotel & Brasserie which we are sure he will enjoy.

 

Dedication of the altar for the new Lady Chapel

 

On 2nd November the dedication of the altar for the new Lady Chapel took place. The chapel is a quiet place for prayer and reflection; it has special lighting and music and the Prayer Cross will be located there.

The altar was made from oak by John Vale-Taylor and the carvings show reflections on the empty tomb. The rings represent the Trinity. The altar was blessed by our Chaplain, Reverend Battersby who is pictured above with John Vale-Taylor, Jonathan Rawlins, our Chapel Clerk and other pupils.

 

Far Eastern Travels

During half term two of our pupils, Stephanie Cameron and Vicky Fields, travelled to Taiwan to take part in the student exchange programme which is now in its second year.  They were staying with girls from Zhongshan Municipal High School.  They are pictured above with Principal Huang, some pupils and Mr Dorey, who was also in the Far East visiting current and prospective pupils.

During his visit Mr Dorey also visited Lishan High School and is pictured here with the Head, Dr Vincent Chen and Vice Prinicpal, Alice Chiu, along with some pupils. Mr Dorey hopes to set up a further exchange with Lishan High to commence in 2008.

After Taiwan Mr Dorey travelled to Hong Kong. During his visit he met up with some former pupils: Back row: Nick Ho, Tees Wong, Cyrus Fong.
Front row: Mr Dorey, Winky Chan & Johnson Tong.

 
 

News October 2007

 

Duke of Edinburgh's Award
Gold Practice Expedition

 

During half term 13 pupils from the Lower Sixth took part in their first practice expedition for their Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

They travelled to Snowdonia in North Wales for their four day expedition and spent one day climbing the north face of Tryfan (pictured).

 

 

 

Once they reached the top of Tryfan, one of the pupils even managed the traditional step, called Adam & Eve (see below). They were exceptionally lucky with the perfect weather which enabled them to make the climb.

Tryfan was followed by a two day expedition on the Carnedd Range which included one overnight wild camp.

 

The next practice expedtion will take place in the Lake District in the Spring.

 

 
 

Informal Concert

Shortly before half term the first concert of the new school year took place. This was an informal concert in the chapel and there were over 15 individual performances. Several of the performers were new to the School, including three Year 7 pupils.

 

 

 

Gothic Stories

Rupert Mason, a professional actor, visited the School recently and performed two Gothic stories by Edgar Allen Po and H.G. Wells to all pupils in Year 10 and some Year 9's.

   

Year 9 Music Curriculum Afternoon

The whole of Year 9 enjoyed a music curriculum afternoon at the beginning of October. The afternoon began with a complete melody of "Bond" theme tunes played by Simon Proctor, one of our visiting music teachers.

 

The group was then divided into two and one group, pictured here, worked on the theme music to "The A Team" which they performed enthusiastically and very competently at the end of the afternoon. Prizes for the most enthusiastic participants were awarded the following morning at the Headmaster's assembly.

 

The High Flyers reading club went to the National Theatre to see Michael Morpurgo's "War Horse" on stage. The 14 pupils who went all thoroughly enjoyed the production.

 

Year 7 Geographers experienced their first field trip and went to Goudhurst to investigate how it is linked to other places. They spotted post boxes, ducks, buses and even met a family of visiting Canadians. Goudhurst truly has international links!"