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.