3rd May 2017
Dear Parents and Guardians,
The summer term is, as our Headmaster rightly reminds us, more correctly known as the examination term. Well we are two weeks into school life for this term and the examinations are fully underway. IB1 pupils have completed their mocks, IB2 pupils have begun their final school examinations, the school’s first BTEC Business examinations have begun and it is not long before A-Level mocks for L6th and examinations begin. Incredible to think how quickly the year seems to pass, more incredible still to think about how much has happened. I must start this letter with an apology, it has been a while since I have written to you all! The birth of Gabriel Kingsley Jones at the end of last term threw my timings off a little and this term has started with the usual level of business and activity that one would expect at 91风流楼凤. That being said, here we are! Welcome to the summer examination term 2017!
With things being carried over from the end of last term it was this Friday that we managed to gather as a house for our end of term assembly. I asked pupils to reflect upon the time that was left in the year and how they could do a lot in these weeks to ensure that they lived long in the memory of others and that this memory would be an overwhelmingly positive one. I also took the opportunity to award the House endeavour prize to Tiffany Riazanova, the house spirit award to Robin Davies and Good Egg prizes to Julia Danielyan and Diana Mir Valero. House colours were also awarded to Julia and Diana as well as to Robomi Ayo-Yusuf, Vlad Bondarenko and Artem Pavlov. Congratulations to them all!
It has been a fun and busy few weeks already here. The first weekend saw the Housman Hall class of 2017 leavers’ meal at Grafton manor. This was a wonderful event with pupils and staff enjoying each other’s company, some entertaining speeches and time to unwind on the dance floor. For the IB2 pupils it was a welcome way to start study leave and a chance to dress up and look smart! It is the beginning of the celebrations and events that mark the closing of the year and I have written to you all and the pupils regarding Commemoration 2017. Please see that letter for details but if I could just highlight the importance of this event and attendance. Leaving the school this year as I am after eight very happy years I really would urge you all not to miss the opportunity to forge a memory that will last forever. The sixth form is a formative experience in young people’s lives and we get few opportunities to experience these great events in our lives.
There has, as always, been much to celebrate these past few weeks. We were excited to hear that Brian Hui has been awarded the Dean’s Physiotheraphy scholarship for International students at Brunel University for next year and we wish him all the best in taking up this scholarship next year. Karen Chu continues to represent the school at Table Tennis and recently competed at the senior regional finals in the singles competition. This follows on from the House claiming victory in both the Boys’ and Girls’ inter-house competition this year. There have been other house competitions recently also, at the end of last term the Boys Senior house football and Hockey tournaments took place simultaneously. I was lucky that I was able to catch the matches before the arrival of Gabriel and was thoroughly impressed by the performance of the team. We were one performance away from contesting for top spot in the football so the prizes went to WG and although we only have one hockey player in the house we managed to put together a strong team and the boys thoroughly enjoyed the day. We even won a match! This term has also seen House teams in sporting action. On Friday the girls’ House tennis team took to the court for the inter-house competition. With few tennis players in the house it was more about forthright spirit than forehand smashes and more “lots of fun” than Wimbledon but I know the girls enjoyed the event all the same. Bank holiday Monday is always the date for school sports day and this year the weather looked favourably upon us and the team put in some excellent performances in both track and field.
The examination term also means summer sports. We congratulate Ben Herridge, Joe Hunt and Tom Williams for all having represented the school first team in cricket and Theo Mariam Peters for taking a place in the 1st tennis team. Injuries seem to be limiting some of our athletes at present but Angelina Kim, Shamil Khashiev, Ellie Childs and George Elliot have all been involved in the school athletics team this year and we hope that they, and others, can have future success this season.
As you can see it has been a busy start to the term for pupils in house but fear not they also have a new coffee machine to play with and this has caused almost as much excitement as the prospect of the end of the school year!
Until next time, I wish you all health and happiness and a wonderful final term of the academic year!
I know I am looking forward to enjoying my last term here with your sons, daughter and wards.
Best wishes
James