Boarders' Bulletin March 2023

As per usual Pancake Day at Scott was a cooking marathon, thanks to Mrs Rogers in assisting Mrs Burnett to feed the house with yummy pancakes. This half term has been the term for tutor trips where all year groups have been out and about around Kent, mainly sampling the many different restaurants!!

It was great to see the enthusiasm and imagination shown by the girls in creating their costumes for WWYLD (Wear what you like day). Special mentions must go to year 13 and year 11 who were the group winners for their year groups across the whole school.

Paris, Daisy and Kaya, must have the patience of a saint as they have co-ordinated the Whole House Shout (no shouting, which is great). The girls performed magnificently well on stage this evening and came away with Best Big Group! Well done girls! And well done to Eri who co-ordinated the end of term take which was enjoyed by all. Now it’s just a case of getting the girls to pack their belongings, rather than fill endless bin liners!!

We’ve had a jammed-packed few weeks in Rammell, with a joint scavenger hunt with Blubery, lots of football against Cornwallis and Crowden, dodgeball against Scott and as always loads of snacks, baking and in house activities. Yr11s and Yr13s have been studious in their approach to their mocks, and are balancing their revision with some time to relax as well. Term finishes with the much awaited House Shout singing completion, for which the boys have been eagerly preparing. As always, a highlight of the term was seeing Rammell boys old and new chatting about their time in the house at the Old Cranbrookians Day!

Alex Crews, Head of House

As I write this, the final preparations for the annual ‘House Shout’ competition are underway following weeks of rehearsals and hard work from the girls! Look out for the results on the Facebook page…

I always sit down to write this and wonder if we have been up to enough in the last half term and then realise it has been another busy few weeks with loads going on. The half term began with an unexpected dumping of snow making the site look beautiful once again; fortunately, it moved along swiftly with minimal disruption and was replaced by the more regular March rain.

Year 11 returned to hit the ground running with mock examinations and worked hard to prepare with some very well-deserved results. Year 13 then followed with their mock examinations and, again, only slight glimpses could be seen as they emerged for food and the odd break here and there. I wish both years the best of luck for their Easter revision programme and the exams when they arrive next term.

The annual ‘Blubery and Rammell Scavenger Hunt’ took place on 12th March and gave the houses a chance to get together to solve clues and complete challenges. Thanks must go to Miss. Williams for organising another fabulous event. We concluded with prizes and a feast of Domino’s!

Year 9 headed off to the escape rooms with Mr. And Mrs. Whiffin and had a fab time using their logic and skills to escape and make it back to Blubery! Year 11 had a lovely treat by being pampered at the nail bar and then a visit to a restaurant to show off their beautiful nails – lucky girls and thank you to the Madame Lavigne for taking them!

As the ‘House Shout’ falls on the last night, it was the Wednesday night of the last week for our takeaway and Easter egg hunt. Once again, the ruthless competitive spirit showed itself when chocolate became involved and the girls were chasing around a slightly muddy paddock with enthusiasm. After we ate, we awarded a few ‘Good Egg’ awards to those who have simply been ‘getting on with it’ over the last couple of terms with Clodagh (Yr9), Hailey (Yr10), Charlotte (Yr11), Eve (Yr12) and Hazel (Yr13) taking the large chocolate egg awards this year!

Despite the extended cold and dreary weather for much of early Spring, the Crowden boys have excelled themselves. From positive performances in lessons and strong performances on the sports pitches to a fun rendition of Ceelo Green’s Forget You in the House Shout and a considerable amount of organisation and effort went into successfully leading the annual whole school charity event, Wear What You Like Day!

With exam season just around the corner, Crowden has turned into a hive of academic activity – mostly in printing past papers, but it’s also been great to feel the soul of the house return with intra/inter-house events bringing everyone together. Some keenly contested table tennis, ubiquitous Fifa matches and the inaugural Crowden Assassin, the boys have been having a lot of fun. Tutor trips in the nearby areas have included bowling and trampolining and we’re already finalising plans for the House Dinner (May 12th) at Dale Hill Golf Club.

Once again, we’ve got to thank the Senior Four for their dedication and energy to seeing the day to day routines work for everyone and for their creativity in bringing new ideas to fruition. It’s been great to see so many reaping the benefits of taking part in the recently launched House Run before school and our commitment to getting teams out for competitions has been very positive indeed. To top it off this term, Wear What You Like Day and the House Shout were both massive successes! This is attributable to the partnership and shared responsibility that the boys have cultured this year – well done, guys!

Happy Easter everyone! It's been a good term for School Lodge. We've been rehearsing long and hard for House shout (which was last night). Photo's will be uploaded to Facebook today. In the end, it was a great night and the boys enjoyed seeing all of the other houses perform.

We've also had some excellent sports fixtures, capping off Spring-Hockey with some well-deserved victories. Six of the boys are off on CCF camp as we speak; heaven knows how they're coping camping with this wind and rain, but I'm sure they're having a great time. And the boys have been working hard academically, getting ready for their end of year nine exams next term. This weeks Dominos pizza night was a nice way to end the term, and from all the staff in the House we wish you all a very well-deserved break for the Easter Holiday.

Pete Rogers, Housemaster

We started off the Spring term with a bang (and some whimpers) on the first Friday with a trip to the Theatre Royale in Brighton to see the Rocky Horror Picture show. A great night out followed by Domino’s Pizza. We continued the food theme over the term with our dinners, Italian night for Year 13, American BBQ night with Year 12, South African night for Year 11 and Year 10 finishing up with their Mexican night.

Although it has been a very short, damp and dark term and much of the focus was, inevitably, on Mocks and preparations for the summer exams the house still managed to find time for countless games of football and to choose some costumes for Wear What You Like Day!

The boys have crammed a lot in with Arrow Tag, roaming around the Kent countryside in beautiful spring weather, the increasingly popular coach house, visits from old Cornwallis boys ranging from those who left in 1955 to those who left last year. Five of the boys were also out skiing with me over the half term, and it was great to see Cornwallis boys back out on the snow. Keanu has brought his GCSE food tech skills back out and has prepared some good weekend snacks, with the homemade Nando’s just edging out the burgers for top place. Opal the chewpuppy has also provided much entertainment as well as some moments of brief terror when she finds an unattended sock. Being raised by 40+ boys is certainly giving her a robust outlook on life but unfortunately, not a very trim waistline!