A Busy Week

Friday 25th November 2011

Thank you all our parents  for their support at our annual Bazaar.  As ever it was a huge success; the warm and welcoming atmosphere showed the sense of community that exists at Aldwickbury.  A special thank you to all who were involved in the running of the stalls, working behind the scenes or helping in any way. I would like to single out the boys in Year 8 for particular praise.  They did a super job with their games which always adds so much to the morning.  I was proud to see how they approached the whole project and the mature attitude that they demonstrated – well done boys!

The final amount of money raised is still unknown but it looks as though it will be over £10,000!  A wonderful achievement – thank you!

The boys have been busy with various academic pursuits recently.  I was pleased with many of the effort and attainment grades that the boys received last week, this along with some very encouraging Year 8 exam results tells me that there is a good deal of hard work going on in the classroom.  We also had a team entered in a Year 6 maths challenge here at Aldwickbury and our boys acquitted themselves well. The Roman Feast for the boys in Years 6, 7 and 8 was extremely well attended.  The boys had worked hard with the menus, enjoyed dressing in costume and playing the Roman (rather loosely!) games.  There was also a talk about Chariot Racing given by one of our Old Boys, Ben Harrison, who now teaches Classics at Nottingham High School.

Our Year 8 boys were privileged to have Baroness Brinton visit this week.  She explained how the House of Lords works and what her role as a Working Peer entails.  The boys had the opportunity to ask questions, the interest was obvious and perhaps one or two budding politicians are to be found in the ranks of our senior boys.

A Busy Week

Friday 11th May 2012

 

I have been asked several times by the boys this week whether I can ever remember a start to the summer term like this one.  Well, I have to say, that Mr Preston (known by the staff as John Kettley for his constant updates on the weather) and I have over 50 years teaching experience, and we cannot ever remember such a wet start to a prep school cricket season!  I would like to thank the staff for their efforts in arranging activities for the boys, and the boys for their sensible approach to wet games and break times.

We have still managed to be busy here at Aldwickbury.  The trips to Whipsnade (Year 6) and Woburn (Reception) managed to avoid getting wet – no mean achievement! The Choir attended the Stowe Choral festival and were part of a group of over 300 prep school pupils leading an Evensong.  Our Open Day for prospective parents last week was very well attended.  The boys in Year 8 were excellent tour guides and enjoyed showing their school to the guests.  We had a very successful Boarders against Day Boys quiz night organised by Mr Foster and Mrs S.  It was great fun and it was amazing to see the amount of trivia our boys knew – including “How many toilets are there in Wembley Stadium?”  You will have to wait to find out the answer………..

 

My thanks go to those of you who supported our Boarding Information Evening this week. We had representatives from Bedford, HABS, Haileybury and St Albans schools in attendance.  There were excellent talks from Robert Taylor, Registrar at Harrow, and our own Tom Hoare giving information about our boarding here at Aldwickbury and how it can prepare boys for senior day schools, as well as being a route into the boarding sector.  We were also pleased to welcome Dr Kirsty Saunders to Aldwickbury talking about the challenges of parenting in the 21st Century and judging by the number of parents who attended, this was a successful morning.

I would also like to commend next week’s talk to you.  Matthew Blake cycled round the world and his story is a fascinating one.  I was speaking to a colleague in another prep school where he spoke last week, the boys at his school were inspired by his efforts.  So if at all possible do join us on Thursday 17 May, further details of this event are given later in this e-letter.

Next week sees the first of the Common Entrance exams for the boys in Year 8; they will be facing various papers in maths, French and Spanish.  Good luck boys and I know that the hard work will pay dividends.

Vernon Hales