The Last Sunday Of Term!

Well, we made it!

Despite the wind, the snow, the ice and the biting cold, the boarders had made it to the end of term and this Sunday was going to be very special indeed. The night before the lads and lasses had had a great crash out and some treats they had also played some parlour games too!

The boys had also welcomed Mrs Northcott to judge their dorm decorations. She was overwhelmed by their efforts and was quite literally swept off her feet by the galant Year 8 boys who seranaded her! As you can see she certainly had a ball!

The next morning, we all woke up after a much needed lie-in and wended our way to breakfast (the girls had to steer their way around ice flows, giant icicles and snow flurries)! Breakfast was gigantic, with eggs, black pudding, sausages and bacon and it was designed to get us through to 2.30pm when we were to have the Boarders' Feast. Before then, we had a remarkable Christmas Service with carols and hymns to celebrate the coming of the festive season. The children sang beautifully and the readers were excellent too. All the classics such as, "Away in a Manger" and, "O Come All Ye Faithful" were belted out with gusto and left everyone with a warm feeling of anticipation as we felt that Christmas coming soon. Well done to the soloists - Isaac S, Isobel H and Lucy R.

Afterwards, we were all treated to a warming cuppa and the brave parents who had made it to school on the treacherous roads were toasted. Then, within half an hour, we headed off into Bakewell skidding down the hill armed with a £5 note between two! After lots of shopping in the sunshine we had hot chocolates and scrambled back up the hill ready for the Christmas Feast.

The Christmas Feast was outstanding! The tables were decked out in red and green and we plunged into a magnificent plate of turkey, pigs in blankets, vegetables and wonderful roast potatoes. Then the magestic and towering profiteroles were served with a firework display thrown in! After munching through all this at a cracking pace, our youngest boarder - Tom W - made a lovely speech and said three cheers for the kitchen ladies who had done such a marvellous job. Mr Mace thanked all the boarding staff for their great efforts this term and then the revelry began. Mr Donaldson led an uproarious rendition of "The 12 Days of Christmas" which lifted the roof and Mr Northcott followed this up with a host of tunes, not least the "S. Anselm's Jungle Bells" song. But this was not enough and Mrs Northcott had been hard at work the evening before sorting out a cracking game of bingo for everyone to play. The winner was Holly who was ecstatic that she had won and bounced out of her seat to claim her prize.

That evening everyone wrote some letters home that should be bunged full of tales all their antics today. Then, Mrs Northcott knocked on each of the girls' Houses to judge the quality of their decorations and she was bowled over... results on Monday!

Well done everyone - I think we did Santa Claus proud today and have heralded the Christmas Season royally! Thanks to the staff who worked so very hard to make it all happen and thanks to the kids who made it all such a great pleasure. Merry Christmas everyone!