Our Boarding Newsletter: Christmas 2020
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year — Enjoy Your Holidays!
By Natascha Küsel and Luka Anna Knierim , GAPS
This half term has been all about taking care of each other and staying safe. As we entered another national lockdown, we had to stick together even more than before. The girls kept focused on school, studying continuously for their upcoming exams. We are very proud of our girls for managing such a hard time so well! During this term, we have arranged a lot of indoor games such as a self-made escape room as well as movie nights and take away evenings. Even though our Birthday Girls were not able to celebrate their birthdays outside of Cobham Hall, we made sure they had a good time here with us. On top of that, we did a little competition to keep the Boarders entertained. So who’s done better? Team Christmas or Team Thanksgiving? Look for yourself and decide which team you would join!
Make sure to keep-up-to-date with life in Boarding by following us on Twitter @CobhamBoarding Brooke House & Bligh House
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T
his year due to Covid,
students haven’t been allowed to leave schools
and so we haven’t been able to enjoy our weekly trips to Bluewater. But the school has made a special arrangement so that we, the Year 11’s to 13’s can enjoy the luxury of going out and doing essential shopping at Asda. These trips happen every Tuesday evening and are a lot of fun. Our local Asda even comes with a McDonalds which is an added bonus Toni, Year 11
I
enjoyed the Nandos Take Away
since the food was amazing and it was a nice experience because of the fact we are in a national lockdown and cannot go anywhere. We also played Among Us and watched a movie called 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' which brought us all together.
Lindi, Year 8
B
ligh House and I did an evening
where we played Among Us and ate Nandos together. It was fun to hang out and talk with all our friends. It was amazing. Due to the lockdown the chicken was brought to us because we had it delivered. It was great. Thank You so much for the evening.
Natalie, Year 9 2
O
ne weekend we had an escape
room. It was very exciting because it did feel like a real experience. It was very dark and there were spider webs around. I liked the decorations because it was Halloweeny. The ideas were really creative especially the first room with the pictures and the codes. The TV that helped us figure out the code was also very interesting. The way everything came together was nice. Yaka, Year 10
D
ue to the COVID-19 crisis we weren’t allowed to leave the school so the
Housemistresses created an escape room for us instead. It was an experience I will never forget. The escape room was really fun and exciting. There were a few rules we all had to listen to before going in and we weren’t allowed our electronics like in a normal escape room. The riddles were hard to crack which made them very much fun. The lights were turned off giving it a spooky theme. It was very fun and I would definitely do it again!
Nadirah, Year 10 3
G
ames night was very fun we did a lot whole of things like, Among Us,
tag, card games, hide and seek and lots more. The one I enjoyed the most was when we played hide and seek and tag. It was so fun and I laughed a lot. I really loved it and hope to have more games night.
Pere, Year 7
O
n the 22nd November, a group of both students and staff gathered
around a table in the Boarding House to play Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons, also known as D&D is a tabletop role-playing game, where the players get to create their own characters to play as through the adventure that they go on. The adventure is narrated by the Dungeon Master, but the flow of the story is ultimately decided by the players as they make their way through the world that is set out before them. Whether the party chooses to battle dragons or help the local village, they must work together to achieve their goal. On this occasion the party consisted of two elves, two halflings, a Dragonborn and a human who found themselves sailing to the wintery trading island of Niarath where the lord’s son was causing trouble. Upon arriving they met a Tiefling who promised to both help and pay if in part they helped to stop the lord son. Taking pity on the village and spurred on by the promise of a reward the party agreed to help. So, the party set off towards the tower where the lord’s son was to be found. Throughout their journey, they had to fight bandits, wolves, sprites and violent plant life, until they made their way to the tower. After vanquishing the son, the adventurers found a torn off letter piece which mentioning the fact that the lord’s son was working with other people. Upon reporting this to the Lord he asked if the party would investigate this matter. This left the party with the choice whether or not they wished to continue the adventure or not. The players had fun laughing at their terrible rolls and celebrating their friend’s successes fleshing out the worlds narrative and building up their characters relations with one another. All this accumulated in an afternoon of fun. Lex, Year 11 4
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n Cobham Hall we made crepes. It
was so much fun making them with my friends whom I consider as my family. Some crepes were made beautifully while some were burned or looked like a pancake; which was the definition of mine. Someone helped me with mine but it was so tiny. At the end of the day, there was a lot of Nutella involved with sweet sugar strawberries. That’s one of the awesome things about Cobham Hall we are a team.
Kachira, Year 8
O
n Saturday we made crepes and it was amazing, I had so much fun!
Yaka, Natalie and I were in the same group and made the best crepes with the help of Miss Küsel, of course. We used a crepe machine which was a first and then added some fresh strawberries, banana and Nutella. Next time we do crepes I’m definitely coming along.
Jasmine, Year 10 5
T
he bonfire was very fun I had a great time. We got to
roast marshmallows by the fire and everyone was very happy. We enjoyed the music and the great time spent together in Boarding. It was originally planned to be outside but as the typical British weather appeared we moved the activity inside of Bligh house.
Kat, Year 9
W
e actually had a campfire outside on the
school grounds on Sunday evenings with marshmallows and hot chocolate. But then it started to rain and so we turned on the fireplace in the Boarding House and tried to roast our marshmallows there. A Housemistress then had the idea of putting the marshmallows between two cookies and spreading chocolate over it. Later, after everyone was done with their marshmallows and everything was tidied up, the girls made hot chocolate with marshmallows which was really good. Despite the rain, we still had a nice Sunday evening.
Clara, Year 10
B
ecause of COVID-19, the school couldn't have their annual bonfire night.
So instead Boarding hosted their own. The fireplace was lit up and there was chocolate, marshmallows, graham crackers and even bread dough! It was a success as many people made smores, and I hadn't had them in a long time so it was definitely a good experience Nabeelah, Year 9
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T
o celebrate Chioma’s 18th birthday, we
ordered Nigerian takeaway and her favourite cake. We ate and watched Madagascar the movie. It was a really fun and cute night! Chioma enjoyed herself and so did we.
Kareema, Year 13
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W
e celebrated my sister’s birthday with Brooke and Bligh House. We had
Nigerian takeaway. It was so good. We watched a movie called Ballerina. We sang happy birthday and ate chocolate cookie cake. It was very sweet and I enjoyed it a lot.
Anjola, Year 10
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L
ast Sunday the
Housemistresses celebrated Thanksgiving with us. With the help of Isis, they made us a Thanksgiving dinner and cooked us original American food. We had American stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey, green beans, apple pie and sweet potatoes. The common room was set up really nicely and we even dressed up nicely too. We played music and danced. In the end, it was a very joyful experience and we had a lot of fun.
Svannah, Year 10
A
s I am American, Thanksgiving is very important to me and if I’m honest it’s
one of my favourite holidays. To give the best experience of Thanksgiving dinner I assisted in helping the Housemistresses make the dinner for Bligh house. My mom even brought American stuffing mix and canned pumpkins to replicate those traditional dishes as we would have on thanksgiving. The food was amazing and reminded me of the US. After dinner we all came together and danced to music, it’s truly a night I’ll remember forever.
Isis, Year 11 9
T
hese past couple of days
everyone in the Boarding House has contributed to helping to decorate with loads of different decorations to help make the place more Christmassy. Our personal favourite is the glowing dĂŠcor around the fireplace. Ayobami, Year 8
Tobi, Year 9
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he Christmas Decorating also took place in Brooke House. The
girls came together to bake Christmas biscuits with Miss Shipton and Miss Ortiz. The Christmas trees, Santa Clauses and snowmen were iced afterwards. 10
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e had Christmas dinner before
the end of term. Each student helped the teacher to make dinner. We had even more fun with our friends while hosting the Secret Santa event.
Amy, Year 13
O
n Saturday 5th December, our
Boarding Christmas dinner took place. I loved the fact that we all cooked together with some Christmas music on. In the morning we decorated the tables and at 6 pm the girls were supposed to come to Brook House. As you know this last thing I said wasn´t possible because of COVID-19 but I still had lots of fun, since after dinner we played the Wii. Candela, Year 12
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We kindly ask that before your daughters return to Cobham Hall, all clothing, especially new items, be named and labelled clearly.
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