A Very Busy Saturday

Last Saturday Hurst Lodge staff and students had a very busy day.  The whole day had been under threat with the very wet weather but we managed to complete the activies.

It all started with the Inter-School Biathlon, an annual event hosted by Hurst Lodge.  The event was a huge success with some marvellous individual performances.

We also held a Saturday Open Day which was well attended by prospective parents who looked around the School and chatted to members of staff.

The day was rounded off with "Party in the Park" which has become something of an annual event.  This is an opportunity for current and ex pupils to perform with a live band outside on the lawn and for parents, friends and family to bring along a picnic and enjoy the entertainment.  The performances were full of confidence, enthusiasm and talent.  The PTA ran various stalls on the day along with the Young Enterprise Group who sold strawberries with chocolate or cream.  

Hurst Lodge is Going Green

Last term, pupils from year 9 wrote lyrics for a school eco song with Mrs Hooker. The best lines were chosen, Lauren M composed some music, and we’ve now finished recording the song and shooting the video.

‘Hurst Lodge Is Going Green’ has been entered into a Co-operative’s ‘Green Schools Revolution’ competition and the video has been uploaded onto the home page of the school website. Many pupils from the Kindergarten to the Sixth Form were involved in the recording and filming process.

 https://vimeo.com/42632138

The Forest School

Over the past three weeks Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 have been experimenting with plasticine, they have been making ‘Hursties’ (the things that live in the woods at school).   The children let their  imagination flow and made Hurstie people, animals and monsters. We talked about their Hursties, what they were called and what they might like doing.  We then moved the activity on and the children started creating lodges for the Hursties to live in. We had houses, rooms and hidey-holes appearing all over the woods.

With the constant wet weather we started one of our sessions in the classroom with some creative writing about the Hursties.  Some of the children wrote a description of their Hurstie’s life and other wrote stories about an adventure their Hursties had. We then ventured outside where the children developed their lodges further, with some of them redesigning them to try and keep the rain out!  So if you venture down to the woods please look out for Hursties and try not to stamp on their lodges.

Academic Achievement

Yesterday afternoon I listened to a talk given by Lord Adonis where he addressed the difference and future of the independent sector and the state sector. He confirmed that levels of academic attainment in the United Kingdom are average worldwide and struggle to match success particularly in the far East. At odds with these findings are the levels of academic attainment of  independent schools in the UK which rival and exceed the very best in the world. I feel we should never be complacent however and examining why our sector succeeds will ensure a future of academic excellence. At our school I believe it is the confidence and security our students feel, coupled with small class sizes, a first rate, dedicated staff and a wonderfully supportive parental body that enables success. We will continue to strive to improve every aspect of education here at Hurst Lodge, but I also feel it is important to acknowledge the success we achieve and to thank the staff for their efforts and enthusiasm and to thank you all for your support. I am confident we will once again see fantastic results in the public examinations this year and wish our students all the very best over the coming weeks.

Outstanding Success

Following the wonderful successes at the National Art Competition, our Dramatists were not to be outdone with some outstanding performances in the Independent Schools Association National Drama competition. The adjudicator, Ms Elle Knight BEd, LLAM, FRAM, was extremely complimentary of the high standards achieved and the level of professionalism demonstrated by all the Hurst Lodge students.  There were 300 performers nationally with ages ranging from 4 – 19.  The productions varied from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ to ‘Blood Wedding’, nicely  interspersed with several musicals, some innovative improvised work and several adaptions of old favourites.

Year 8 and their production of ‘The Dog and His Reflection’ were the winners of ‘The Hydesville Trophy for the best Musical’.

Kara E in Year 8 won the ‘Best Performer in a Musical’.

Year 9’s production of ‘Amy’s Incredible Illucinations’ came third in the Middle School section of the National   competition

Year 13’s production of ‘Blood Wedding’ won the ‘Best Senior Production’ and was awarded the Clewborough House Cup.

Kelly W-W in Year 13 won the ‘Best Senior Actress’ award.

The overall winner of the competition was Year 13’s production of ‘Blood Wedding’.

Our new riding club commenced yesterday and I hear was an enormous success. I was fortunate to hear part of our Junior Choir rehearsal this morning and it was wonderful to hear our students in such good voice. I believe strongly that singing is a wonderful activity with enormous benefits for all.

Royal Academy of Dance

This Tuesday four of our students went up to the Royal Academy of Dance to take their Grade 8 Ballet exam.  Emily H, Natasha H, Niamh I-C and Emily W-R were accompanied by Miss Cadogan and Mr Holdsworth.  Grade 8 is the final of the graded examinations and the students that took part will now continue to study Advanced 1 Ballet which is part of the vocational stream of exams offered by the Academy.

Well done James

James Tobias has an exciting although busy last week of school as he is performing in Oklahoma at Richmond Theatre. He finishes on Saturday 31st March. He has also just been offered a place on Sunday 1st April to run 100m in the Olympic Stadium and will be raising money for charity. Well done James Tobias.

Big Red, Blue Cross and the Iron Mountain

Big Red and the Iron Mountain!!!

It has been wonderful to see the students dressed as their favourite characters for World Book Day this week, although the seemingly popular wearing of onesies amongst some of our older students has left me really rather perplexed! Our week started with a fabulous music assembly, where some of the Year 7 students played their compositions and we were treated to a Chinese folk song and a very moving performance by Mia, Year 11, on her Guzheng.  Congratulations to all who took part.

The Blue Cross kindly came in to talk to our younger students about pet care and Merlin enjoyed being part of the talk immensely. Iron Mountain presented our new recycling initiative most interestingly and it is a delight to see our young people growing up with a keen sense of responsibility towards and understanding of the world around them.  We have the National Cross Country finals on Saturday and I wish all the participants the very best of luck. 

Our footballers enjoyed a lovely afternoon at school in their second leg of fixtures with Lyndhurst and came away with a victory which was a wonderful result. Our revision workshop for examination candidates on Wednesday provided students with some practical advice on using their time productively and also featured how to avoid stress over the coming months. I do hope they have shared their revision booklets with you. If you would like a further copy please do not hesitate to ask. The boarders enjoyed their outing to McDonalds enormously and with the weather now improving I know Mr and Mrs Andrews have plans for many more exciting trips and activities.

I am learning more every day that Hurst Lodge is a school like no other and when I was told about our cockerel Big Red being hypnotised by TV presenter, Helen Chamberlain, I must admit to only being ever so slightly surprised.

Snow before the ski trip!

We have enjoyed a wonderful half term and have had much to enjoy and celebrate. It was lovely to see the students, and many staff, playing in the snow this morning and despite threats made as snowballs were hurled in my direction, I can reassure students we will not be introducing triple prep for Year 7 next half term!  We have lots to look forward to over the coming weeks, including pancake races, our first boys’ football fixtures, a Blue Cross seminar, Grandparents’ Day and of course the ski trip, to name a few.

National Storytelling Week

This week has had a literary theme being National Storytelling Week. We were very fortunate to welcome Tessa Harris to school who gave an engaging and incredibly interesting talk on her journey toward becoming a published author. It was wonderful to see the students, and staff, inspired and with new vigour to write and tell stories.  Our balloon debate has been highly entertaining and it has been lovely to spend time listening to children reading in the Junior School and Pre Prep.  A love for and exposure to literature is invaluable and promoting reading in all genres and at all levels is something we are keen to continue to develop. Having been asked to judge this year’s BBC Radio 2 500 words writing competition, I will be encouraging as many of our students as possible to write their own stories for entry.  I have found that when children read with their parents or for older students,  the same books as their parents, the ensuing discussions and debates can stimulate reading enormously. If you would like any guidance on suitable material, please do ask our English Department who would be delighted to recommend books that could be of interest.

Polo Success

Hurst Lodge Polo Team played a fixture against Royal Holloway University. Although they started off slowly going down 3 goals to nil in the first Chukka, the girls dug in and Georgia P scored the first goal early in the second chukka. This transformed the team and their confidence soared.  Although both teams really started playing well and Royal Holloway scored a fourth goal, Hurst Lodge replied with three goals of their own in quick succession tying the game with only a minute to go.

In the dying seconds of the match Iman D broke free and showed some great ball control to score the winning goal giving Hurst Lodge its first Polo win ever.  The pupils have only been playing for a short while and although nervous about playing a team of university students, Iman being 10 years younger than the youngest Royal Holloway player, they rallied and worked as a cohesive unit winning them the match.

Jenna and Lesley

We would like to take this opportunity in wishing Jenna Randall who attended Hurst Lodge School, Ascot from 2000 to 2006 every success at London 2012. Her dedication and hard work was rewarded in 2004 when she achieved solo and team British Champion. Her drive, motivation and performance resulted in her becoming an Olympian in 2008 when she and her partner became the first GB synchro swimmers to compete at an Olympic Games since Barcelona 1992. In the European and World Championships she gained several top 10 places and won Silver medals in both the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games. Jenna is looking to accomplish her dream of becoming Olympic Champion, and a star of London 2012. Hurst Lodge English teacher, Lesley Owusu, is an experienced international 400 metre runner who has represented Great Britain at World, Commonwealth and European stages. Lesley is on a sabbatical and is hoping to qualify for the Olympics.

Science Day

In a through school we are able to remove the pressure of Common Entrance and look to broaden the experience of every student which will undoubtedly lead to better performance in core academics in addition to a
mature and comprehensive understanding of the world outside the school environment. This has been nowhere more evident than in our consistently impressive science results over the last few years which I feel strongly are
enhanced by the natural science and sustainability context our children experience. If you are feeling scientific there is a wonderful science open day at the Royal Holloway on the 25th February which is a free event for
families that I would warmly recommend for a super hands on experience.