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.

Hurst Lodge School hits the slopes in Le Corbier

February 2011
We arrived in the evening to be met by Thierry our chalet manager and our reps from Equity Ski Nick and Doug, all of whom helped to make our stay a pleasant one.  We shared our accommodation with another school, Rivington and Blackrod High School from Bolton in Lancashire. After a rather shy start on both sides, our pupils gradually warmed up and started mingling in true Hurst Lodge style.
The first day of skiing was a sunny one.  The conditions were a little icy after a continuous spell of 28 days of brilliant sunshine in the Alps. However, our ESF instructors were patient and always in good humour. We had snow showers on Tuesday night which made for amazing sights and much better skiing conditions. 
Good natured fun was had by all, both on and off the slopes.  Many a fall off button lifts and the occasional wipe out left us all in stitches. A certain member of staff who will remain nameless, innocently followed the crowd like a lamb before the slaughter and became a piste basher on the red moguls for the afternoon. After a few jetes, and falling graciously with good humour the said member was exhilarated to be alive!  However, other members of staff did elephantine runs down all slopes powered on by the thought of making it to the messieurs. “Eagle” had lots of amusement watching “elephantine” and “graceful” falls, he also had fun on the jumps (we won’t mention a particular landing!!!)  We were appropriately sympathetic when pupils did have the occasional hit.  However, thankfully we all returned in one piece.
Our après ski was varied.  Rivington and Blackrod High School and Hurst Lodge had many a memorable evening. Our mutual introduction was a bingo night in the dining area, the entertainment continued as the week progressed.  On our 2nd night we were treated to a complex display of jumps from professional snow boarders and skiers. Our pupils and staff alike were in awe of the power and brave aerial tricks before our eyes.  Directly after this we had a majestic display of fireworks on the mountains against a clear night sky - what a treat!  We also had an evening of bum boarding with the staff watching on as the pupils whizzed past squealing with joy.  Other activities included a mixed quiz, Natasha Hutt and Maisie Caen-Reilly together with their friends from Rivington came 2nd after a competitive night. Some of our ladies went to the local swimming baths and were “refreshed” with a dip in the outdoor pool.  Needless to say we abandoned the plan to take the whole group the following day.  Our talents shone on the karaoke evening with everyone having a turn, (not least Mr. Eagle) no longer shy in the company of their new friends.  On the last night Miss Cadogan led a brief dance warm up with Mr. Samson leading everyone into the night with an African Social Dance which all of the pupils from both schools enjoyed.  On the whole, we had a brilliant week, with everyone having achieved new goals by pushing their own personal boundaries, whilst making new friends.
Quotes of the week included:
“I don’t want to leave, can we stay another week”
“How long does it take to drive to Bolton”
“Faster Mr. Samson faster”
“Will the fireworks start an avalanche?”
“How is your backside Mr. Eagle?”
“May I disinfect your door handle?”
“Miss Cadogan, when can we have our sweets back?”
“Where are we going next time?”
“Please can we come back again?”

Forest School

After putting our wellington boots and outdoor clothes on (which we are getting very good at now) we remind ourselves of the rules of Forest School, there are only three simple rules and the children can remember them easily now -

1. No going past the purple ribbon (boundary marker)
2. No putting our fingers in our mouths
3. No picking leaves off trees

Once we have run through these we set off singing our song along the way 

 "We're off to Forest School to play our games, oh we're off to Forest School to play our games, oh we're off to Forest School to play safely as we should, oh we're off to Forest School to play our games."

We walk to Forest School crossing the car park carefully followed by a gently run across the field.  After stopping to count the children and adults (to make sure we don't lose anyone!) it is time to explore.

The children help set the boundaries ensuring all their favourite spots are included within the area, including the log steps, crocodile log and the mountain. The children set off exploring - climbing, jumping and hiding.

We had some visitors at Forest School today, Miss Smit, Mrs Normington and Ken came to see what we were doing and the children happily showed them around and introduced them to the magical Beastie that lives the other side of the fence (they should feel honoured!)

The children were very active using the whole forest space with lots of climbing and jumping.  All of this exercise made them hungry and they happily enjoyed a biscuit and some hot chocolate to warm them up.  We listened to different sounds and the children could hear the wind, a very noisy bird and cars.  The bird sparked a conversation about Spring and birds' nests.

After snack we had a game of '123 where are you?' which is a simple version of hide and seek, the children have loved playing this game since the first week we came to Forest School so it is a favourite and regular request.  They enjoyed climbing on the crocodile and mountain until it was time to return to Hurst Lodge for lunch.

The children had all exercised enough today so we strolled back across the grass singing our song;
"We've been to Forest School to play our games, oh we've been to Forest School to play our games, oh we've been to Forest School and played safely as we should, oh we've been to Forest School to play our games."

Once inside we took our outside clothes off and talked about the session, the children said they enjoyed 'the 123 game', 'snack time', 'listening to the birdies sing' and 'climbing on the crocodile.' It was a wonderful session and everyone came back safe, happy and very tired.

See more at http://www.hurstlodge.co.uk/