On Thursday our U11 relay team went to Stowe School for the Annual Prep School Relay Championships.  It proved to be a very successful day with Aldwickbury winning both the freestyle and medley relays beating the Dragon School, Summer Fields School Oxford and Lambrook Haileybury convincingly.  Well done to Henry S, Adam B, Daniel M, Luke B and Ollie M.  Finally, good luck to all the boys taking part in the IAPS final at Crawley on Saturday.  There are six individuals and three relay teams going which is our best representation ever!

The Satipski Prep Schools Ski race took place on Monday at Hemel Snow Centre, and Aldwickbury once again achieved some excellent results.

The Under 14 team finished in 2^nd place, led by James P who finished 2^nd overall individually.  He was very well backed up by Jacob V-C (8^th), Louis  H (10^th), and Adam D (16^th).

The Under 11 team came 3^rd in their category, just 0.47 seconds behind the winners.  Louis R came 7^th, Madoc M 10^th, Sam F 12^th, and Alastair C 21^st.

Both categories had 15 teams and 60 individuals competing.  The event is open to any Prep School in the country.

Congratulations to Jacob V-C and Joshua O for gaining certificates of merit in the recent UKMT International Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo 2012.  Indeed, Jacob gained the highest mark out of the 1559 children that entered nationally.  Well done to both boys.

Tom Brandt

Head of Maths

Kindness

A little thought and a little kindness

are often worth more than a great deal of money.  John Ruskin

What a disappointing start to the summer term this has been and in particular for the cricket season.  The weather has put a real dampener on things.  However, I must congratulate the boys, and Games staff, for their efforts and positive attitudes during this particularly wet time.  The boys remain keen to get outside in the cold and wet conditions to do as much tennis, cricket and athletics as possible, and the staff have remained cheerful, creative and inventive in producing challenging and rewarding lessons for the boys.  Well done to the boys, and a big ‘thank you’ to the staff from me. 

On Wednesday I booked the indoor cricket centre at Redbourn for the second week running so that 30 senior boys at least had the chance to bat and bowl properly.  We were also lucky enough to get the services of the ex Essex and England international bowler Mark Illott to come along and do a fantastic coaching session with the boys.  In the space of an hour and a half he passed on some invaluable tips to our bowlers, and he was so impressed with our boys’ attitudes and skills.  Once again they were a real credit to us all.

Fairness

Bullies are always cowards at heart. Anna Julia Cooper

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 21^st 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

Poppy, the HM's dog, came to visit Reception this week. The boys were delighted to see her and learn all about her needs (and some of her naughty habits!). Poppy behaved herself beautifully and was even relaxed enough to settle down and have a snooze.

In the most exciting gala for many years Aldwickbury lost to HABS 240 to 241. The lead changed hand over eight times during the gala and in the squadron race, which decided the event, the time between first and second was half a second.  Well done to all the boys for working so hard.

‘The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.’

Marcus Aurelius

Aldwickbury entered 4 teams and placed all of them in the top 3 of their categories.

Team results were as follows:

Under 10 team                       2^nd Place (Silver Medals) 

James T, Jacob C, Seb R, Charlie B

Under 12 Team         Winners (Gold Medals)

Madoc M, Adam D, Louis H, Louis R

Under 12 B Team      3^rd Place (Bronze Medals)

Ed L, Felix V-C, Alistair C, James B-A

Under 14 Team         3^rd Place (Bronze Medals)

James P, Jacob V-C, James R, Freddie R

Best Individual Results

2^nd Place U12 Madoc M  (Silver Medal)

4^th Place U10 Freddie R

4^th Place U10 Louis H