Bonding at Blacklands Farm
On Tuesday 11th September, lower sixth visited Blacklands Farm on a team building adventure. It proved to be a day full of challenges, opportunities and fun. It gave the lower sixth a chance to get to know each other, and learn more about their personalities. We split into three teams and each team had to collect as many points as they could during the various tasks set throughout the day. These included climbing Jacobs ladder, looking after an egg, abseiling and other logical games.

We had a really good day, and congratulations to the winning team. We’d like to thank all the team leaders at Blacklands Farm, and Mrs. Roberts for taking us.

Rebecca Corderoy & Nikita Maru, LVI

Businesses Can Make A Difference!
Sixth Formers at Farringtons presented a cheque for £1241.71 to Chris Rolls of the Methodist Relief and Development Fund last week.

The money was raised through the highly successful Business Enterprise Scheme run at the School. All profits have gone to support two MRDF projects, a Youth Development Centre in Cameroon and an income generation programme for women in India.

Students spent their Lower Sixth year running businesses, making and selling products, advertising and keeping accounts.

Headmistress, Mrs James and the Chaplain, Reverend Samuel, praised the girls’ efforts and said everyone had been very motivated by this enterprising approach as they could clearly see that their hard work would make a difference to someone less fortunate than themselves.
The Lower Sixth are also supporting MRDF as their chosen charity this year. They start their fund raising with a cake sale on Friday 12th October at break. All the cakes will be home made and there will be lots to choose from. Further cake sales will be held at regular intervals throughout the year. Watch this space for details of these and other events.

Mrs A Harris, Business Enterprise Co-ordinator

Leesons Project
Year 12 students are continuing the community project at Leesons Primary School for this our third year. This term, MFL students are delivering French to Y1 and 2, the youngest they have taught so far. They seem very enthusiastic and are busily producing lovely worksheets and flashcards to use in their lessons! Who knows, they may decide working as a Primary Teacher is the career path for them and certainly it provides them with good work experience and an appreciation of the school environment they are used to ,compared to one where the class sizes are 32!

Judith Cliff Teacher MFL

Life Beyond Farringtons
Could there be such a thing? Such were my thoughts just a few months ago as I sat in the Sixth Form study room, pouring over copious quantities of over-filled lever arch files. Revising for A-levels this summer, university life seems many eons away from where I was. Yet now I’m here, sitting in my university room, at my desk - a place I should have frequented far more than I have done within the last five weeks.

Currently in ever-sunny Yorkshire, I am now an undergraduate English student at the University of York and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the ease of my transition from sixth form student to university student. Socially, nothing can be better for the formation of friendships than Freshers’ Week; a joyous time of endless events (and a certain lack of lectures which, at the time, none of us truly appreciated as we should have done...) which all ultimately culminate in a round of obscenely late nights, sitting in your house kitchen, talking into the wee small hours. I myself am living in a house of sixteen people, and after five weeks together, I can undoubtedly say they are my closest University friends. After the tumultuous time of Freshers’ Week, we’ve all settled down (as much as one ever can at university...) and really gelled as a group, sharing in the experiences of burnt oven chips, essay-writer’s block and the challenge of interpreting the instructions on the back of a packet of washing powder.

Undoubtedly for me, the best opportunities I’ve had are in writing for the university press. I’m now deputy news editor for ‘The Yorker;’ an online news website for the university campus and surrounding area, and a news writer for ‘Nouse,’ the award-winning university newspaper.

Life beyond Farringtons? Indeed, although I’ve moved on, Farringtons is still close to my heart and often close to my thoughts too; on the way to my 9.15 lectures, I often think of chapel going on, as much as it ever has done and will continue to do. I have great affection for my time spent at school, and gratitude too, for without Farringtons and everyone there, I would not be sitting at my desk now, writing this and reflecting on the wonderful changes it’s enabled me to embrace.

Sian Turner, Upper VI Leaver July 2007

Mace Debate
Kent and Sussex Sixth Form Debating Championships
Enormous congratulations to the Sixth Form Debating Team for their most impressive achievements at the recent final of the Kent and Sussex Sixth Form Debating Championships.

Sahar Khan, Ailar Hashemzadeh and Adelaide Finch travelled to Benenden School on the 5th March to debate one prepared and one unprepared motion. During their speeches, the girls explored complex ideas and spoke with clarity and eloquence. In total, 20 teams fielded speakers but the Farringtons’ girls’ skill and aptitude assured them one of only four places in the final. Though first place was awarded to Benenden School itself, this is an unparalleled achievement and the culmination of much hard work and dedication from Miss Mann and all of the team.

The English and Drama Department

Target Smashed
The Business Enterprise target of £1500 set at the beginning of the Autumn Term has been beaten, even though Farringtons is only half way through the academic year.
The funds raised have been increased dramatically in recent weeks because of the very successful Valentine’s Disco for years 7 to 9 organised by the Business Enterprise Company ‘Dessert Island’.

Excellent music was provided by Terry Jones, brother of Clare Jones Managing Director of Dessert Island and this event was one of the most successful discos that has been held at Farringtons.

The new target to beat is now set at £2000!

Mrs Harris,
Business Enterprise Coordinator