ANNUAL REPORT OF THE GOVERNING BODY

2002/2003

On behalf of the Governors of Nonsuch, I have great pleasure presenting this report, which gives you an opportunity to review the wide range of activities that have taken place at school during the 2002/2003 academic year.  Alongside Mrs Espejo’s newsletters, I hope it gives you an insight into this very active school.  I would like to welcome all pupils and staff who joined Nonsuch this term and I hope they will have an enjoyable and successful time at the school. 

Once again the examination results this year were excellent.  The pupils will be receiving their GCSE certificates at Speech Day, which is a delightful opportunity to recognise their outstanding efforts and success in the company of staff, guests and parents.  In December we welcome back the 2003 Year 13 for an evening to celebrate their outstanding success at A level.  Along with our congratulations to our pupils, our thanks for examination success at GCSE and A level go to the staff for their dedicated teaching. 

Nonsuch pupils participate in an extensive range of activities outside of lessons.  Many events like the German exchange, the Drama Fest and the Carol Concert are well-established old favourites, but each year there is something new to enjoy.  Here are just a few examples of events and activities from a busy year.  In March pupils from Years 10 and 12 spent a week in Madrid combining language classes, cultural visits and time with host families.  Science Week provided a host of activities including an online inter-school challenge, a quiz and an inter-house construction challenge.  The continued success of the House system led to a House point system that now includes diamond and platinum certificates for pupils collecting 75 and 100 house points.  The flourishing Astronomy Society is producing some excellent digital images of Jupiter and Saturn and is hoping to record the Orion nebula and the Andromeda galaxy.  The Society launched its own magazine in autumn 2002.  Six pupils from Year 12 worked with professional artists and applied their artistic skills to create two in a series of murals in Croydon as part of the Schools' Subway Mural Project.  Our students were awarded the "Smarter Croydon Award" in recognition of their efforts to improve the urban environment.

The Beacon initiative continues to provide Nonsuch and our partner schools with a range of special events.  In May, the music department hosted a Singing Day led by Mike Brewer, Director of the National Youth Choir.  A Law conference provided pupils with an insight into the work of solicitors and barristers and included a lively interactive session where the audience took on roles of defence and prosecution lawyers.  Pupils from a local primary school watched the Christmas drama production of ‘The Secret Garden’ and attended a follow-up workshop.  Another new venture this year was the chance for Sixth Form science students to apply for a Nuffield Bursary.  Two students spent some weeks of the summer holiday in a university research laboratory.  Their research projects included work on semiconductors and genetics.  A third student worked on data handling in an engineering company. 

The school’s achievements were recognised again this year with a School Achievement Award from the Department for Education and Skills.

This report covers many aspects of the past year, but by no means all, and is a rather formal presentation.  I hope that you will come along to the Annual General Meeting and join us for refreshments before the meeting when we will have time for a more informal discussion – we welcome your views on school life.  

In addition to the formal proceedings of the evening, we will be enlisting the support of all those who attend the Annual General Meeting to help us identify the areas of school life that you as a parent consider to be most important.  This will assist us in compiling a questionnaire to help us identify those areas where we fully meet your needs as a parent and those where you would like to see improvements. This important questionnaire, which will be distributed to all parents in the spring term, will enable us to develop strategies to meet your needs.

If you have a question you would like to raise at the AGM, I can assure you of a more complete answer if I receive the question in writing before the meeting.  Please forward questions to the Bursar by 26 November.  Finally I would like to thank you for supporting the school’s aim of providing excellence in girls’ education.  Your commitment to the school is much appreciated by the staff and Governors.

Donna Evans

Chair of Governors

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