CONIFERS SCHOOL WELCOMES OLD BOY JUST BACK FROM IRAQ
and
ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF A NEW FREE “SATURDAY CLUB” FOR LOCAL CHILDREN

As the first in a new series of career talks, Mrs Jennie Peel, Acting Headmistress, invited one of her old pupils, Captain Stephen Wolseley, to visit Conifers today (Friday 18th January) and talk to the pupils about life in the army.

Serving with the Irish Guards, Stephen has just returned from a five-month tour of duty in Iraq and much to the children’s delight, arrived in full military uniform. He spent an hour chatting to the children and answering their numerous questions, before posing for photos with his “bearskin”.

Stephen attended Conifers in the mid 1980s and after leaving school, went to University in Southampton where he graduated with a degree in Archaeology. He then joined the army and was commissioned as an officer from Sandhurst in 2003.

From a local Petworth family and the youngest of four children, Stephen’s three elder sisters also attended Conifers and he remains close friends with many of his Conifers contemporaries

Conifers is also delighted to announce the launch of a new “Saturday Club” which is FREE and open to all local children aged between three and eleven. The first “Saturday Club” is taking place on Saturday 23rd February, between 10am-12 noon and children attending will be given the chance to participate in a variety of different activities - for example, sport, music, art and science. Numbers will be limited so parents should contact the school beforehand to register their children to attend.

There will be two more clubs on Saturday 1st March and Saturday 8th March, and more dates will be confirmed for the summer term.

Saturday 23rd February is also an “Open Morning” for the school, so any interested parents can come and look round the school whilst the Club is taking place.

Commented Mrs Peel, “Stephen’s visit was a huge success and generated lots of interest amongst the children who were particularly taken by his bearskin! We are planning to organise more of these visits from our old boys and girls and to cover a broad spectrum of career path options.

The new Saturday Club is also an exciting idea but we must request that any interested parents pre-register their children otherwise we could be rather busy! We will have an enthusiastic team of teachers running the activities and children will be divided into appropriate age groups.”