22nd May 2009, Issue No. 471
LATEST NEWS
Very well done to the three boys from Marlborough House who represented England in the shooting match against Scotland last weekend. They came a very close second, losing by only 18 points (Scotland 1089, England 1071)! Well done to Henry Davies, Charlie Gellett and Charles Snelling-Colyer, all of whose behaviour was said to be a credit to their parents and their school!
!!!!ACTION!!!!ACTION!!!!
• Boarders’ Clothing and Equipment - Please would all boarders make sure that ALL kit is named, especially towels and duvet bags. We do have a marker pen, if needed. It makes it so much easier for the Matrons to give back property to the rightful owner when misplaced.
Also a reminder to the Year 7 and 8 girls to wear sensible clothing on a Wednesday afternoon/evening! Shorts, skirts and tops should not be too small or tight fitting; otherwise we have some very fetching outfits that they may borrow! Many thanks.
• Extra Boys’ Cricket Fixture - We have added two extra fixtures on Saturday 20th June. The 1st and Colts A XI’s will be playing DPS at home, both will have a 10.30am start. The boys will be given a match ‘lunch’ in the middle of the match at 12.00, in the same format as a normal match tea.
• Summer Ball – A request from the Friends; they would like to borrow some domestic/cooking blow torches for use at the Summer Ball! Please phone Jo Santini on 01580 212215 or call in at the office if you are able to lend one.
• Staff v Parents Cricket and Rounders – If any mothers or fathers would like to play in the parents v staff rounders and cricket match on Friday 3rd July, please call Melissa and/or Mark Russell-Vick on 01622 831515. Because this evening follows so soon after the summer ball, the Friends are planning a relatively low key event without any added attractions for the children. There will be no fathers’ football this year.
• Tuesday Dance Classes – A reminder to parents that there will be no tap or dance classes on the Tuesday after half term, 2nd June.
• Pre-Prep and Nursery Mufti Day - On Friday 5th June the Pre-Prep and Nursery children may wear their home clothes to school and bring in £1 for The British Red Cross. On that day they will also be taking part in Drama Workshops and have a picnic in the grounds, therefore sensible, practical wear would be advisable.
• Swimming – Please could we ask parents to make sure that their children return after half term with the correct swimming items i.e. house hats (Prep school children only), goggles (if worn) and costumes. All items are available in either the school shop or second hand shop.
We are still very anxious to solve the problem of missing swimming kit. As an incentive Mrs Hopkins will be rewarding every boy who shows her his named and house-badged trunks on the Monday after half term! Thank you.
• Study Skills - There are some notes available from the front office for those parents who were unable to attend the study skills session for Years 6 and 7 last week.
• Girls’ blouses – As from September 2009, it has been decided to allow girls from Year 3 upwards to wear an open neck long-sleeved blouse without a tie. If girls decide to continue wearing the regulation button neck blouse then this must be worn with a tie. The new blouses will be available from the Simmonds shop at school.
• Senior School Lists – The closing date for 2011 registrations for Year 9 children for Wellington College is 30th June and Sevenoaks School are closing their Year 9 day and boarding lists, also for entry in September 2011, on 1st September 2009.
GENERAL
We are pleased to launch a new item for the Newsletter ‘Did you know ….? which will give interesting facts about Hawkhurst and its immediate area (with thanks to Mr Ben Legg and the newly formed Hawkhurst Men’s Breakfast Club for the idea!).
‘Did you know ….? That the name Hawkhurst is derived from the Old English hyrst, meaning a wooded hill frequented by hawks – i.e. 'Hawk Wood'? The origin of the name is clearly still relevant as Mr and Mrs Hopkins were working in their garden the other day when suddenly a hawk/falcon swooped over their garden hedge and took a blackbird who was poking about minding its own business!
Well done to Charlie Gellett (7W) who attended the Camden Leon Paul Fencing Competition on Sunday and for the first time he achieved a top eight finish. This is a national circuit for the top young fencers and will do no harm at all to his British ranking!
INFORMAL CONCERT
A small but highly appreciative audience gathered in the Music Room for last Thursday’s Informal Concert. Most of the players were in the final stages of preparation for Associated Board music exams and we were able to hear some most promising performances. On this basis, exam success seems likely for everyone who took part. Congratulations to Hamish Heilbron (guitar), Kitty Skinner (piano), Hamish Crichton (saxophone), Isobel Taylor (piano and singing), Connie Taylor-Young (recorder), Ollie Duncombe-Jones (trumpet), Eva Timlin (recorder), Josh Bassett (violin) and Oliver Morss-Davies (guitar).
Many congratulations to our Kitchen Department on being awarded a Gold award from KCC (Kent County Council) for Food and Hygiene!
LOST AND FOUND
Lucy Baddeley has lost her fountain pen. The make is a ‘cross’ and it is silvery blue and is unnamed.
Patrick Beech has lost his Wilson tennis racket. It is silver and red and was named.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Elizabeth Weighell, Giles Gill, Finley Balcomb-Hellier and Maddie Perrett (22nd May), Cara Fuller (23rd May), Amber Enoch and Felix Godwin (25th May), Toby Block and Lucas Killick (26th May), Will Rusling (27th May), James Lunshof (29th May) and Freddie Porritt and Tilly Woods (30th May).
Year 3 trip to Bedgebury Pinetum
Last Thursday the Year 3 children had a fun filled day at Bedgebury Pinetum as part of their Science curriculum. The children were taught about many rare species of trees in the collection and saw the tallest tree in Kent. They also took part in a mini-beast hunt and enjoyed capturing a variety of small creatures and identifying them against the species chart.
MERIT AWARDS: Well done to the following who have achieved merit awards: Angus Fleming (History) and Toby Cutler (English).
Well done to the following who achieved 3 or more Good Marks last week:
AWDRY: Carys Gowers and Olivia Tomalin.
DUNBAR: Josh Gard, Archie Marshall and Jake van der Gaag.
EGAN: Lewis Pooley, Rory O’Sullivan and Lewis Coomber.
HAWKINGS: Henry Petch, Henry Poole, Ben Waters, Rufus Ross, Oliver Plomer-Roberts, Ben Matthewson, Freya Gordon, Henry Bull and Amelia Cornish.
The winning House was HAWKINGS (for the third week in a row!).
Year 4 Team Building Afternoon
On Thursday afternoon the Year 4 children has a very busy and rather different afternoon completing various teambuilding exercises. The boys and girls had to work in small and large groups to complete demanding tasks. A jigsaw orienteering game opened up the tasks, which demanded communication and a lot of running to complete! The boys and girls then played a sensory deprivation game – leading blindfolded children through the infamous second Dell, having to be the ‘guide dog’ to help their partners over difficult terrain. Finally a small auction allowed different teams to buy unusual items from which they had to complete an engineering task - dropping an egg from 16 feet and seeing if it had survived the fall. Various designs produced four safe landings! The children all discovered that listening to each other and sharing a task gets the right results.
Many thanks to Mr Mathers for organising the afternoon, the children had a wonderful time.
Jane Hunt and Gilly Baker, who are part of our kitchen team, would like to say a big thank you to everyone who sponsored them in the Race for Life on Sunday. They raised over £750! If you were one of the kind people who sponsored them, please bring the sponsorship money to the office.
NURSERY NEWS - Last Wednesday, Mr Felton returned to the Nursery to judge the annual Nursery flower painting competition. With such wonderful paintings to choose from Mr Felton finally awarded 1st prize in the Girls’ section to Olivia Griffin for her pink lily painting, 2nd prize to Maddy Humphrey for a hyacinth painting and third prize to Lily Phelan for her stock painting; in the Boys’ section Ethan Mathers was awarded 1st prize for his yellow lily composition, 2nd prize to Alexander Howells for his bird of paradise painting and third prize to Oscar Smith for his sunflower painting. Many thanks to Mr Felton for donating such lovely prizes and of course for his time and inspiration given to the children.
Montreuil
The Year 5 children had a wonderful day in Montreuil on Tuesday, a report will appear in the Newsletter after half term.
Year 4 Egyptian Day
A report by Olivia Jones (4D) on the Year 4 trip to Maidstone Museum on Tuesday.
Year 4 visited the Maidstone Museum to look at Ancient Egypt and were split into two groups. They went on a tour around part of the museum and had a questionnaire to complete with questions asking how old things were on display and what things to name. They also looked at two mummified hands and a mummified cat and dog and did some activities like sorting out how the mummification process worked and making Egyptian objects with clay. Afterwards, a gentleman remarked how good and quiet they were in the museum, so well done Year 4!
We thought it might be useful to resurrect our (hopefully!) useful ‘Cricket for beginners!’ section to explain some cricketing terms to those who may be new to the game!
Cricket for beginners!
An over
An over I 6 good bowled balls (i.e. not including ‘wides’ or ‘no balls’. A ‘wide’ is when the ball is too wide of the wicket for the batsman to play it. A ‘no ball’ is when the bowler bowls illegally in anyway eg. By overstepping his mark at his end. In both cases a run is marked to the batting side and the ball has to be bowled again.) All clear so far?!
Half Century for Mr Hockley
Congratulations to Mr Hockley who scored 50 for Kent against Warwickshire in a Friends Provident Trophy match on Wednesday. The match which was televised by Sky Sports ended in a tie after rain interrupted the game near its end. Mr Hockley and Joe Denly (who scored 115) shared a 6th wicket partnership of 116 in 23 overs.
Paddy Stewart-Blacker
Help for Heroes Bike Ride 2009
A final reminder for anyone wanting to sponsor Mr Paddy Stewart-Blacker, father of Tom (3N) and William (1G) who is taking part in a 350 mile sponsored cycle from Cherbourg to Paris over half term, in aid of Help for Heroes (www.helpforheroes.org.uk) He is hoping to raise over £5,000 and would appreciate any support. Paddy is ex-military and wants to support this charity that helps injured service people and their families with the recovery from injuries. You can sponsor Paddy at www.justgiving.com/patrickstewartblacker
We would like to wish him the very best of luck and look forward to hearing how he gets on after half term!
Junior Netball Camps
Once again ‘Net-it’ are organising Junior netball camps in August and October. These are held at Kent College, Pembury and the dates are 27th & 28th August and 29th & 30th October, both from 9.30am – 4.15pm. Please see their website www.net-it.org or phone 01273 771877 for further details.
Have a lovely Half Term!
