Sporty

It has been quite a sporty couple of weeks at Hurst Lodge.  Firstly, congratulations to Jade Campbell who was part of the Bracknell and Wokingham Swimming Club’s young team who retained the Thames Valley Junior League B title. 
http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/sport/s/2089517_bracknell_and_wokingham_swimming_club_scoop_thames_valley_b_title

The children are looking forward to the school's swimming pool being opened in a few weeks.


Then the Inter House Football Competition was held.  Nearly everyone took part and despite a few bumps and bruises it was great fun and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Year 10 went to the driving range during their sport lesson and considering only a couple of them had even held a golf club before I was really impressed how some displayed a natural ability to hit the ball.

Every Wednesday a group of students play polo at a local club and last week they played their first match.   

It has been quite a sporty couple of weeks.  Firstly Jade C Congratulations to Jade Campbell who was part of the Bracknell and Wokingham Swimming Club’s young team who retained the Thames Valley Junior League B title.  Jade can be seen in the centre of this photograph holding the cup.  Find out more at:  http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/sport/s/2089517_bracknell_and_wokingham_swimming_club_scoop_thames_valley_b_title

Red Nose Day

Red Nose Day was a real success.  It was organised by a number of 6th form girls and, although the weather was against us, somewhere in the region of £700 was raised for this worthy cause. There were a number of events going on throughout the day ranging from comic relief fingernail painting to virtually the whole school taking part in the Time Warp dance in the studios.  The busy day culminated with a singing/dancing performance evening (still dressed in Red Nose mufti) followed by a certificate evening when some of our "old students" joined current pupils in a celebration of achievement.  There will be a separate blog entry for the performance evening when photographs are available.

Potters

The Kindergarten were visited today by Melanie - a ceramicist.  During the session each child had the opportunity to paint their own plate, mug or platter.  They then added handprints to the creation making it individual and an ideal keepsake or present.  They had a great time and came up with some excellent designs.  Their work was then taken away to be fired in a kiln and we are expecting the finished results in a week's time.

MP visit, Pancake Day and Farm Visit

Several quite different events have recently taken place at Hurst Lodge School.  The whole school celebrated Shrove Tuesday with an Inter-House Pancake Race.  Teachers and pupils alike used the full length of the dance studios and had great fun in competing for points for their House.  The race was followed by lunch when the catering staff showed off their expertise in the tossing of pancakes before being consumed by the children - the pancakes not the staff!!

The MP for Windsor, Adam Afriyie, visited Hurst Lodge School last Friday.  He spoke to students aged 4 – 19 and the staff about how he had become an MP and what it was like to be a Member of Parliament. 

Mr. Afriyie spent 40 minutes answering questions about a variety of topics from “Do you like being an MP?” to “Do David Cameron and Nick Clegg actually like one another?” and “How involved do you get in international politics particularly when British citizens are stranded abroad?”

He then toured the school accompanied by Sofia Quick, a sixth former who is the School’s Head of Council.  Sofia has developed an interest in politics after putting the case for the Conservatives at the school’s political hustings during the election week. 

Sofia was responsible for organising the visit and liaising with Mr. Afriyie’s personal secretary.  School Principal Victoria Smit said “We were very grateful to Mr. Afriyie for giving up his time.  He has the gift of talking to young people in a manner that they easily understood and even the youngest children felt happy to ask questions.” 

Top this off with a visit to Rushmoor Organic Farm and you can see this has been a very busy couple of weeks for the school.  More details of this visit are available in the events section of the Hurst Lodge website.