Bancrofts Insight Newsletter Autumn 2019 Final

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SENIOR SCHOOL
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PREP SCHOOL
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DESIGNED & PRODUCED BY BARLEYHOUSE.AGENCY
Chair of
Governors’ Report
From the PA
Professor Peter Kopelman
Andrew Ross, PA Secretary
Bancroft’s governors share the delight of pupils, parents and teachers following the excellent A Level and GCSE results this summer.
The results confirm the academic strengths of the School. But Bancroft’s is more than just academic endeavours, it should, and does, include
co-curricular activities. Activities where the collegiality of Bancroft’s is expressed through sport, music, drama, and into our local community
and are proud of our developing links with the Drapers’ Academy in Havering and the recent initiatives, which included careers
evening and universities day.The School’s long standing “Shine” programme has now evolved into “Saturday Morning Challenge”, an aspirations
programme that drawsYear 5 primary school pupils from feeder primaries for the Drapers’ Academy, as well as pupils from schools in
Walthamstow. Such activities broaden our pupils’ minds and provide rich experiences for successful progression in life. I quote Martin Luther
King:“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true
education.The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.”
Bancroft’s rightly places enormous importance on a broad education that introduces and familiarises all our pupils with the continuity of
learning – lifelong learning – in preparation for university and beyond. I believe that an independent schools’ sector leads by example –
and long may it do so.
We hope you all enjoyed your long summer holidays, which probably seem like a lifetime ago
now as we enter the second half of October.The Parents’ Association is busy planning the
Christmas calendar of events, as those jolly holidays will soon be upon us. The Christmas
period is always one of our favourite seasons as we organise festive events, such as the
magical Christmas Fayre which is on Saturday 30 November. Join us in the Prep School if
you can - there’s always lots of delicious food and hot drinks to keep you warm, whilst the
children enjoy the stalls and activities.
I write during uncertain times with the Labour Party’s conference committing the
Party, if they should come to power, to abolishing independent schools and seizing
assets. The reality that the latter would likely be illegal came subsequent to the conference.
The independent sector is bracing itself against such challenges that might include the loss of
charitable status, business rate relief andVAT exemption. The Head of the school situated at the foot of Grenfell Tower has recently praised
private schools for supporting his pupils following the disaster by enabling them to join their sixth forms at no charge, and helping to train
their science teachers. He commended the existence of an independent sector and concluded: “this is real partnership work, not window
dressing for their websites . . . I can see why people feel that private schools create a two-tier system. But the reality is more complex
and divisions in our society are not going to be fixed by abolishing them.”
Prior to the summer holidays we hosted our amazing Summer Ball and more recently held the ever popular Quiz Night on Saturday 12
October, where our qualified Quiz Master kept everyone entertained for the evening. Following our debut Curry and Comedy night earlier in
the year, we had our first Fireworks Night on Friday 8 November at Bancroft’s Rugby Club.You may have noticed that all ticketing for events is
now online, which we hope you find much easier. Please keep an eye on the ticket site and your emails for releases of upcoming events such as
Bollywood Night on Saturday 14 March and the Summer Ball on May 30 2020.
So, as we welcome in the second half of a new term, we also welcome
in some new faces and Officers to the Bancroft’s Parents’ Association.
The AGM was held on 3 October, where we said a sad farewell to
Simmi and Sally, but gave a huge welcome to our new Chair (Shiwani
Arora),Vice-Chair (Mina Patel),Treasurer (Samia Dar),Vice-Treasurer
(Manveen Liddar) and Secretary (Andrew Ross).
In the 2019 year, the PA has raised almost £10,000 in profit. All funds
are raised to enhance our childrens’ experiences at Bancroft’s School
and it’s your generosity at these events, which help us to achieve this.
We’re always looking for new members – so get in touch if you’re
interested in helping your school’s Parents’ Association. Thank you for
your continued support and we look forward to seeing you at some
forthcoming PA events.
The PA is represented on Facebook andTwitter so please “Like” and
“Follow” us, so you can stay up to date with our events.