Boarding Newsletter Christmas 2019

Cobham Hall Boarding News: Christmas 2019 Happy Holidays! The December Newsletter.

By Amelie Strohmeyer and Lisa Frey, Gap Assistants

This half term has been all about festive celebrations. Whilst our Year 11 and Year 13 girls have been busy working hard preparing for their GCSE or A Level trial examinations, in Boarding we have been busy having lots of fun!

All of our Boarding students have been taking part in many activities; going out to the pantomime, putting up Christmas decorations, Christmas shopping in Westfield and dining out.

Boarding staff would like to take this opportunity to wish our leaving short stay Boarders the best of luck for the future: Angela, Ines, Blanca, Daniela, Mercedes, Maria and Cristina will be dearly missed by everyone here at Cobham Hall!

Keep on scrolling to see all the great photos we have captured so far this term. Make sure to keep-up-to-date with life in Boarding by following us on Twitter @CobhamBoarding

Main Hall, Brooke House & Bligh House

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Daniela and Jasmine in Bligh House and Jessica K, Lilly, Queenie, Lok Yi, Lok Man, Chioma, Amelia and Aoife in Brooke House.

We hope you all enjoyed your special day and ate lots of yummy cake!

Bonfire Night

Cookie Baking On Saturday 16th November Bligh House girls went to make some chocolate cookies which were delicious and should be made at home too!

The recipe is —150g salted butter, softened, 80g light brown muscovado sugar, 80g granulated sugar, 2tsp vanilla extract, 1 large egg, 225g plain flour, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, ¼ tsp salt, 200g plain chocolate chips or chunks.

Heat the oven to 190C/ fan 170C/ gas 5 and line two baking sheets with non- stick baking paper. Put 150g softened salted butter, 80g light brown sugar and 80g granulated sugar into a bowl and beat until creamy. Beat in 2tsp vanilla extract and 1 large egg. Sift 225g plain flour, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda and ¼ tsp salt into the bowl and mix it in with a wooden spoon. Add 200g plain chocolate chips or chunks and stir well. Use a teaspoon to make small scoops of the mixture, spacing them well apart on the baking trays. This mixture should make about 30 cookies.

Bake for 8-10 mins until they are light brown on the edges and still slightly soft in the centre if you press them.

ENJOY!!!!

Ines, Year 7.

Farewells Boarding staff would once again like to take this opportunity to wish our leaving Boarders the best of luck for the future: Ines, Daniela, Mercedes, Cristina, Maria and Angela will be dearly missed by everyone here at Cobham Hall Boarding!

Hello, my name is Angela Hebestreit and I am a short stay boarder at Cobham Hall.

My experience here was very positive because I have never been to a boarding school and I thought I would never like it.

But now after three and a half months I have to say that it was the best experience during my time at school. The teachers care a lot about you and try to help you in every possible way. The boarding staff were always there for me if I had a problem or I could just talk to them and Miss D's tea is the best medicine when you have a cold;) I would love to stay longer but I think to get a taste of life in a boarding school that three months is a perfect time.

Angela, Year 11.

Creams

Westfield

I really, really enjoyed the trip to Westfield

Shopping Centre last Sunday. I felt like I spent all of my money there because my friends and I went ahead for some food first, and I bought an amazing shirt at TopShop that I absolutely adore. I do hope that we have the opportunity to go there again!

Molly, Year 9.

Escape Rooms On Sunday 10th November 2019, the girls of Bligh House went to the Escape Room in Gravesend which is a room meant to challenge our intellectual assets. The story behind our escape room was the need to find out who had betrayed our organisation and to release a hostage. Within a time limit of one hour, we managed to complete the first part of our mission, but ran out of time before we could free the hostage. We were admittedly placed under a lot of pressure and we did panic but overall it was an exciting trip that tasked our brains to think outside of the box and tested our teamwork skills. Definitely a trip I would like to go on again!

Winter Wonderland

This weekend we went to Winter Wonderland and it was honestly so fun. Christmas is one of my favourite holidays and starting off December with a trip to Winter Wonderland was great. We got there around 12:30 and upon arrival I instantly noticed the Ferris wheel, the top view was breathtaking and immediately knew that I had to go on it so after getting an amazing crepe and hot chocolate my friend and I headed straight there. Luckily the queue wasn't really that long because we got there early so we managed to go on many rides.I'm genuinely so happy I got to go because not only was this my first time there it was a great way to destress before Year 11 mocks, so a massive thank you to the Housemistresses that took us there and Merry Christmas!

Hafizah, Year 11.

Cinema On a Wednesday afternoon we went to see Frozen 2 and it was a lovely experience because I used to love Frozen and I don’t watch movies often. So watching Frozen 2 was an amazing opportunity and the storyline broke my heart. It was so sweet and I was talking to my friends about it and I would love to go to watch another movie.

Lindi, Year 7.

Thanksgiving My name is Isis and I’m currently in Year 10. I joined Cobham Hall at the beginning of Year 8. Since then none of my Thanksgivings spent at the school have been quite as delightful and fulfilling as this one. Usually, it is during Christmas that I finally get the amazing Thanksgiving dinner that I've been waiting for. I’d make it with my mom so it would be cooked right (the American way). However, this year the entire game had changed because we planned to make and host an amazing Thanksgiving dinner for all the girls in Bligh House. I wasn’t only on board with this idea because I’m American but because as Head of Bligh House I think that it’s important for girls that come from all different countries and backgrounds to experience the joys of a different culture. It started off well, I played a very patriotic song called ‘God Bless the USA’ (by Lee Greenwood just in case you wanted to check it out) which definitely had me in the mood to make some scrumptious apple pie! Dishes were made, plates were washed, and everything was going fantastically.... until the onions. Cora and I cried for many minutes trying to hold it together but we just ended up on the floor until Ms.Tomlin, asked again for our help. It was complete agony. But, after the onions were cooked and mixed with the yummy breadcrumbs for American stuffing (the best type of stuffing if you ask me) it was bearable. Overall, the evening was great, and I couldn’t have imagined a better one, it made me feel as if I was at home. After all, home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling.

Isis, Year 10.

Christmas Tree Decorating

Spending our time out of normal routines was something good and to help the Cobham Hall Christmas experience for the new students was lovely. Everyone who helped out had smiles and enthusiasm and happiness all around and that’s the Cobham Hall spirit.

- Taina, Year 9.

Maidstone & Pantomime

Our trip to Maidstone and the pantomime was really fun. It was a good day to do some shopping and look around the Christmas market as well. The pantomime was Beauty and the Beast, it was very funny as some jokes were quite politically incorrect which did add to the humor a bit, and the songs were really fun to sing along to as well. A bit of fun before another week of stressful exams!

- Budour, Year 13.

Merry Christmas!

For more activities and photos follow us on Twitter‌

@CobhamBoarding

Reminder We kindly ask that before your daughters return to Cobham Hall, all clothing, especially new items, be named and labelled clearly.