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.