Sunday 5th June

This has been a terrific weekend and the pupils have managed to have an enormous amount of fun yet they have had plenty of time to prepare themselves for their exams this week too. They are also well rested. 

Saturday afternoon saw the Year 8 lads having a fun game of cricket on the bottom field whilst the hugely successful swimming gala went on in the pool. Meanwhile, the Old Girls' and Leavers' Rounders was a big hit up on the top field and many of the girls and their parents went down to the Berry's for drinks and nibbles afterwards.

That night all the boarders settled down for a great Saturday night treat of DVD's cookies and pizzas etc etc.

The next morning everyone bounced out of bed ready for what was to be a beautifully sunny day. Mr Northcott took a very keen bunch of junior boys and girls off to "Adventure Quest" in Buxton where they had a ball. Mr Northcott writes,

"I  took the junior boarders off for an adventure quest and outward bound day at Buxton. The day involved a mass of challenges to test team work and guts. The crate building exercise tested team work and balance, there were also a series of climbing exercises that ensured you had to trust your team mates to catch you if you fell. For this reason alone the Headmaster "passed" on these activities! The most frightening was the one when you had to climb a totem pole (14m high) and then jump off and catch a bar. This was done by virtually everyone - a testament to their guts and faith in their friends. One of the activities included - getting through mine fields, transporting water across a mine field, getting through spider webs and the like. It was great fun, and by the end they were working well as a team. The final exercise for one team was the amazonian swim exercise. All was going well. Marcus C was volunteered to go out on the plank to hook the treasure (being the lightest). Marcus almost got it when he slipped in! To his enormous credit he just laughed and wiped themud from his eyes. Three showers later he was clean!   It was a super day and they all had a ball. " 

Meanwhile, Year 8's were treated to a lazy breakfast back at the Houses where they were given an extra long lie-in too! The Year 7 boys were treated to a visit from Mr Todd a professional footballer and father of Elliot T. As you can see the boys had a cracking time and learnt a great deal. It was great to see Mr O'Rourke, Mr Jones and Mr Woolhouse having a go too!

The rest of the boys and girls got to crash out and lounge and laze in the sun! We also had a fabulous bbq and alot of quick cricket was played!

That afternoon the Yr 7 and 8's did some revision and were given some excellent support from Mr Watt and Mrs Whawell who did some crucial fine tuning before these important exams. At 4.30 they washed their cares away with a good swim.

After a very special evening meal of roast chicken we were given a wonderful service by Mr Weller. He gave us a potted history of the development of music and we sang some fabulous hymns. The readers read well and Mr Weller created a lovely sense of calm before the demands of next week.

My thanks to everyone who made this day such a success.

 Good luck with those nasty exams!