Headmaster's News
Elmhurst ‘geared up’ for a visit from ‘The Stig’
There was great excitement at Elmhurst this morning as the enigmatic super driver from Top Gear, The Stig, paid a flying visit!
The boys knowing the ‘The Stig’ never speaks were at least able to find out his favourite cars, even Mr South’s aging 3 series gained Stig’s approval much to the surprise of the boys!
Stig was delighted to receive a ‘Superstar’ badge from the boys in Reception!
Charles South
10/2/2012
Diamond Jubilee
In assembly this morning we celebrated the Queen's 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne.
I was delighted to see the number of boys who were aware of the significance of this event and of how much they know about the Queen, to the extent that one boy knew that David Cameron is the 12th Prime Minister to take office during the Queen's reign.
I wonder if you know the other 11?
One event that promises to be very exciting takes place on 3rd June when the Queen’s royal barge will be escorted by a flotilla of 1,000 boats down the Thames. Something not to be missed as we look forward to warmer weather!
Charles South
6th February 2012
Ending or New Beginning??
In my experience young children are generally optimists at heart and I was delighted that this seemed to hold true in this morning’s assembly.
As we contemplated Mrs Arnold’s retirement today the boys, when asked focused more on new beginnings. One of my Reception children, didn’t remember the last day at nursery but clearly remembered his first day at Elmhurst, whilst one of my Year 6 boys looking ahead to Secondary School was thinking about the new friends he would make. What an optimistic and exciting way to look at life, each day being a new beginning!
So may I take this opportunity on behalf of the pupils, parents and staff at Elmhurst to wish Mrs Arnold the very best of luck in her “new beginnings” and to thank her for all that she has done during her time at Elmhurst.
Charles South
23/1/2012
No cause for alarm!
The noise of police sirens and the sight of blue flashing lights greeted visitors to Elmhurst this Monday.
Thankfully there was no cause for alarm as the noise was all being made by boys from the lower school as they took advantage of a visit by the Police. They were allowed to clamber all over the police vehicle and got to try out all the alarms and the flashing lights!
Our thanks go to the police officers involved for making it such an interesting morning for the boys.
Charles South
18/01/2012
Old Boys News
It is always great to hear about our boy’s success after they have left Elmhurst. I happened to notice this about 3 of our Old Boys who go to Wilson’s
Our congratulations go to Jalen Gravesande and Curtis Rose who both played for the Surrey U14s on Saturday at Wilson’s and won 10-0. Curtis has now made the Surrey county team and is in the squad for their National Cup game vs. Buckinghamshire this week. Congratulations also go to Luca Picciano for making the squad in the Surrey county team this Tuesday away to Oxfordshire in the National Cup.
It’s lovely to see that these boys are performing so well.
Charles South.
18/01/2012
Christmas Holidays
It seems only five minutes ago I was looking at the new Reception classrooms before the start of term, wondering how they would look filled with children and now here we are at the end of term already! Rarely have I enjoyed a term at school so much!
There has been so much to celebrate!
The boys should be congratulated on all their achievements this term. The Reception boys for settling so quickly and their wonderful Nativity Play with Year 1, in sport the swimmers and footballers for their results so far, in music all the concerts and choirs, the Year 6 boys for all their hard work in their exams, the list could go on and on……..
Thanks to all the staff for all their hard work during the term, for all the extracurricular activities they have provided and for their enthusiasm and dedication in teaching the boys.
Thanks also to all the parents for all their interest and kind remarks, their support at our Gala Dinner, their support for various EFA events including the Quiz Night and last Sunday’s Christmas Fayre.
May I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year and I look forward to seeing you next term.
Charles South.
14/12/2011
ISA National Swimming Championships
Taran, Clement and I qualified to swim in the national ISA swimming gala which took place in Coventry.
When we got there we walked to poolside with the London South team. It was a long wait until Taran was told he's about to swim his 50 metre breast stroke in the Olympic pool which seemed never-ending! He magnificently finished fourth.
Next up was Clement in a medley relay. His team brilliantly finished first but unfortunately were disqualified!
After an everlasting wait I went up for my freestyle relay. The team swam marvellously coming first! We went up on the podium to receive our gold medals. I felt awesome.
Finally Clement swam in the freestyle relay. His team just missed out coming first and achieved a second, winning a silver medal!
Mihir Shah (5H)
28/11/2011
Dear Parents
BBC Children in Need
Thank you to everyone who has helped us support Children in Need this year by wearing a spotty tie or shirt to school today.
The staff at Elmhurst , who love an opportunity to dress up, have been singing and dancing for Children in Need.
To see them click on this link:
CLICK HERE
or type elmhurstcroydon into the youtube search bar.
We hope that you enjoy the film and that it inspires you to donate to Children in Need.
Charles South
18/11/11
Elmhurst Swimmers at Crystal Palace
Yesterday morning a group of very happy boys crowded into my office. They had all just returned from the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, where they had their first experience of swimming on a full size 50 meter Olympic Pool!
Several of our boys are competing in the ISA National Swimming Championships on Saturday in Coventry, where they will represent the ISA London & SE Region. Mrs Prior arranged this trip to give the boys some extra training ahead of Saturday, but also to experience how different it is to swim in a full sized pool.
To say the boys, Mrs Prior and Mrs Lazell were "buzzing" on their return, would be an understatement!!
Best of luck to those boys who are swimming in Coventry at the weekend. Thank you to Mrs Prior for arranging such a worthwhile trip.
Charles South
17/11/2011
75th Anniversary Gala Dinner
We held the Gala Dinner, celebrating our 75th Anniversary of the school moving to its current site, last Friday. What a fantastic evening!
It was great to have the opportunity to celebrate the history of Elmhurst and to have so many people there to join in the celebration was wonderful.
We were very lucky to have Sophie Kinsella as our guest speaker and our thanks go to her not only for some of her insights to into her world as a successful writer, but also for her cake cutting skills!
My thanks go to the Dighton family and their generous donations to the raffle and for the Elmhurst post card that dates to 1901.
In addition to the 75th celebrations we were also able to announce the launch of the Dighton Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship will be open to boys starting in Year 3 and will be fully funded through to the end of Year 6 and will allow a boy who might not have been able to afford it the opportunity of an education at Elmhurst, more details will follow. I feel sure that Barry and Liz Dighton would have approved.
I would also like to thank all the people involved in the organisation of such a successful evening, here’s to our 150th birthday in 2019!
Charles South
24/10/2011
Elmhurst Sport
I am continually delighted by our boys' level of excellence and achievements in the sports arena. School sport is a great way of encouraging and developing boys' confidence and skill. It is wonderful when the boys have the passion and support to further these skills through their own efforts outside school.
Four of our boys have recently had various types of exciting news, illustrating the variety of high level achievement.
Christopher Patten Walker, who is a very fine gymnast, is a member of Shirley Gymnastics Club. Following his bronze medal in last years London Festival, he has now been selected for the Emerald Squad at his club. Christopher was one of only 6 boys selected out of a field of over 80 boys many of whom were older and more experienced.
Meikhi Hemans, who plays some of his football outside school at Crystal Palace has been selected for the academy squad and will be playing in Poland for them over the half term break.
Daniel Giffin, who plays some of his rugby outside school for Old Whitgiftian RFC has been selected to go to Twickenham to help film some of the publicity shots for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, which will be held in this country.
Clement Li Raphael recently took part in the British Judo Championships, he overcame losing his first bout and then went on through the competition to win the National Bronze medal!
Well done to all these boys, we are very proud of your achievements.
Charles South
14/10/2011
Elmhurst History
“I am always rather worried when parents say to me: ‘It is time that he came to school to get some discipline!’ I am often tempted to paraphrase this into, ‘I can’t do a thing with him, now you have a go’”
‘good manners, courtesy, politeness and thought for others are less and less highly regarded.’
I find it interesting that the concerns of a Head of Elmhurst from 60 years ago could have been written today. These are both statements made by Mr Squire in the late 1950’s.
The good relationship between school and parents is a major cornerstone to providing the boys with the clear boundaries they need as they grow and develop. Clearly methods of discipline are vastly different today than they were in Mr Squire’s day, but the lesson I take from this is a “them and us approach” doesn’t work, it has to be a partnership with parents and school giving the same consistent message to the boys about the expectations placed on them. Clearly Mr Squire didn’t necessarily see it that way!
I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr Squire would be heartened to see a slow but sure move back to the ‘good manners, courtesy, politeness and thought for others’ found in his generation. Indeed the recent terrible riots that blighted our screens, seemed to have a genuinely unifying effect on some communities, where ‘thought for others’ came fully to the fore.
Please don’t forget our Gala Dinner on Friday 21st October (tickets can be bought from the school office). If you are interested in buying a copy of Mr Dighton’s History of Elmhurst there are copies available (£10.00 each) and all proceeds go to the Dighton Memorial Fund.
Charles South
4/10/11
Old Elmhurstians
Following Mr Wickham's recent meeting with Kshitij Sabnis at Westminster School and upon learning that Kshitij held the prestigious position of "Captain of the Queens Scholars", it reminded me just how much Elmhurst boys achieve after they have left us.
It also gave me inspiration for my first article of Headmaster's News.
Ironically Kshitij's mother met Mrs Buckland only days later and we then heard that Akshay, Kshitij's younger brother who is also at Westminster, had achieved an astonishing 12 A*'s in his recent GCSEs.
At Whitgift Tom Bloxsome, who is the Whitgift School Golf Captain and an England Futures U18 player, represented the GB Independent Schools Golf Association in the US. He has also won the Junior Scratch Competition at Wentworth and the Carmalite Competition at the London Club.
Also at Whitgift Edmund De Souza obtained maximum possible marks in his recent International Baccalaurate examinations. He is apparently one of less than 100 students worldwide to achieve this mark! He has now gone to Imperial College London to study Chemical Engineering.
At Trinity Timi Latinwo secured an A* grade in his Maths A2. A fantastic result in its own right, however, Timi was taking this exam a year early and even more astonishing having taken 6 papers each worth 100 marks Timi scored 600 out of 600!
At Wilson's Jordan Massiah achieved an impressive 9.5 A*'s in his recent GCSE's.
My congratulations go to all these boys. We are as proud of their achievements now as we were when they attended Elmhurst.
I would be very grateful for any news of our ex-pupils so that we can share in their many successes after they have left Elmhurst.
Charles South
26/9/2011