Monday, 26 September 2011

The new school year is well under way



After a seemingly long summer break the school is now well into the Autumn Term although the weather is enabling summer activities to be continued at this time.  There has been a number of changes in the management of the school. 

Hurst Lodge School, Ascot, is delighted to announce the arrival of our new Headmistress, Mrs Kate Leiper. Kate brings to Hurst Lodge a wealth of experience at some of the country’s leading independent schools and has a real passion for education. Kate says, “I am very excited about coming to Hurst Lodge, which attracted me from the start with its warm, welcoming atmosphere and I am greatly looking forward to help to build on the school’s recent wonderful inspection reports and superb examination results to take Hurst Lodge into the next phase of development.” Kate will be working alongside Vicky Smit, Principal and a Director of the school.  

There have already been a number of events.  Our first Open Day was a huge success with a very high attendance of prospective students and parents.  During the very first week we had a Maths Day which was designed by the Maths Department to encourage the use of logic and reasoning whilst enhancing and challenging the children’s mathematical ability in a fun way.

“MURDER AT HURST LODGE” was a mathematical murder mystery whodunit based on the game Cluedo where a most gruesome murder had taken place at Hurst Lodge School which left the Police completely baffled until the pupils of Hurst Lodge took control of the murder scene and solved the crime. 

They had to obtain as many clues as possible by answering maths questions. They then had to analyse the clues to find out which staff member had committed the murder. Stainer was the first house to identify the evil perpetrator as none other than Deputy Head, Mr. McCoy.

YOU’RE FIRED! – The Hurst Lodge version of the popular TV show The Apprentice.
The pupils had to come up with a unique business model and present their ideas to the Board which decided which houses were fired and which house was hired. Following a unique presentation and good business reasoning, the house
which was hired was Stainer. They presented a business plan to host a Halloween Fete where money raised would be donated to a charitable cause.  The students had to consider where and how to market the event, what activities would be successful and balance this against costs.

Other activities consisted of worksheets which challenged the pupils to use their numeracy skills. They had fifteen minutes to complete each worksheet and gain as many points as possible for their houses. The winner, once again, was Stainer.

The pupils enjoyed the day and all three houses worked extremely hard
to make this event a huge success.