DIXIT
EDITION 33 12th October 2018
The weekly newsletter for the Holyport College family
DofE awards ceremony Last night we had our 3rd annual Duke of Edinburgh’s Award ceremony to celebrate all those participants who have completed their Bronze and Silver DofE. During the evening we were entertained by a number of outstanding solo musical performances with Lily Smyth singing Adele’s “Make Me Feel Your Love,” Eloise White played Nefeli by Ludovico Einaudi on the piano and Hector Walker played and sang “All Of Me” by John Legend. In a surprise addition not only did Mr Walker provide some lovely background piano music as the audience arrived he also took to the mic to entertain us with a song (see @holyport_hums Twitter for a sneak preview!) Three of our participants also shared their experiences of DofE with Azeezah Okaya, Sofia Cardoso and Jack Fulford all regaling the crowd with numerous amusing anecdotes! We were joined for the evening by Megan Powell, a Dare to Lead crew member from leg 1 of the 2017-18 Clipper Round the World yacht race. Megan provided a fascinating insight into life aboard a 70ft yacht with 21 other crew, during a 33 day race across the Atlantic from Liverpool to Punta del Este. Her tales of endurance, adventure and the importance of teamwork and perseverance were very inspiring, with Mr Boyle suggesting that even he would consider such an adventure! Many congratulations to the 66 Bronze and 35 Silver recipients for everything they achieved to complete the award. The participants particularly want to say a MASSIVE thank you to the indefatigable Mrs Day who has worked tirelessly all year to ensure that every element of the DofE has happened.
@holyportcollege
www.youtube.com/holyportal
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DIXIT 12th October 2018
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IN THIS EDITION
From the Music Rooms Anima’s Paris Concert Tour
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From the Scholars Last night’s visiting speaker
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From the Sports Field Reports from recent fixtures
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From the Calendar Upcoming events and dates for your diaries
@holyportcollege www.youtube.com/holyportal 2
FROM THE MUSIC ROOMS
DIXIT 12th October 2018
Anima’s Paris Concert Tour 5-8 October 2018 Following intense audition rounds and a very narrow 4 week rehearsal period, our elite choir Anima went to Paris last weekend to perform on an international platform. We prepared a 30 minute sacred recital for Notre Dame Cathedral and a 20 minute spectacular for Disneyland Paris. With a very full schedule, our students delighted crowds with ad hoc performances outside the Louvre and Eiffel Tower, enjoyed a Seine boat trip, explored Montmartre and of course had a spectacular day at Disneyland, in addition to our formal concerts at Notre Dame Cathedral and on stage at Disneyland Paris. The students performed brilliantly and we got very high praise indeed from many spectators and Disneyland even said that we would not need to audition if the same group to wished to return! Several audience members at Notre Dame Cathedral made a point of going to talk to our parents and staff who were supporting and comments included “You must be so proud. I was moved to tears. Your children have lifted my week.”
To learn and perfect fourteen 2, 3 and 4 part harmony songs from a range of genres including sacred choral and musical theatre is in itself a tremendous achievement. To be able to do that when you’re aged between 13 and 17 alongside full time boarding school with so many other commitments shows remarkable dedication. Factor that these wonderful young women had only 4 weeks to do all this and the fact that we are not an auditioned or dedicated choir school (just a normal state school trying to do its very best for the students) and it shows the sheer scope of what Elizabeth, Imogen, Anna, Jacqueline, Eloise, Cate, Arte, Grace, Teagan & Apple have achieved. Our feedback from a great many people has reinforced this. Bravo, Team Anima!
@HolyportExpArts
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DIXIT 12th October 2018
FROM THE MUSIC ROOMS
Tremendous thanks and gratitude must go to Miss Lunney for helping to staff the trip, to Latymer Upper School for allowing Apple to come with us for one final Hurrah, and of course to LVS Ascot for letting us borrow the amazing Mr Bryant to come and accompany. To read and watch the full story of our tour, including some lovely video footage, please see @HolyportExpArts and #HolyportAnima_Paris2018 for comprehensive coverage. Mrs Bryant, October 2018
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE UPDATE The show has been rescheduled for February to allow us more much needed rehearsal time. This now means that there are NO Sunday rehearsals before Christmas, but cast will be expected to attend on Sundays in January and February. Rehearsal schedules will be published after half term. We are delighted to confirm that due to the need to extend our rehearsal period, we have succeeded in securing a booking for the Courtyard Theatre at Norden Farm Arts Centre and so performances will now be as follows: Wednesday 13 February - evening performance Thursday 14 February - matinee and evening performances Come and spend Valentine's Day with us! We are thrilled to be working with the team at Norden Farm again following our successful run of Grease in 2016!
@HolyportExpArts
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FROM THE SCHOLARS
DIXIT 12th October 2018
How to survive in a Post-Truth World! Fake news, the slow death of print media & the dubious power of media magnates were all on the agenda with Alejandro Gonzalez, our visiting speaker from the Financial Times this week. Alex is a production journalist on one of the FT's weekly papers and treated us to a thought-provoking tour d'horizon of the newspaper world. The questions from our interviewers, Danielle Hawkins & Juliette Salgado-Smith, were as sharp and well-prepared as ever and Alex was pushed on a number of issues including the relevance of newspapers in our increasingly atomised society, which political party the FT was likely to favour at the next election and his all-important advice for budding journalists in our audience! On balance our guest was optimistic about the new age of social media and encouraged students to get involved and make sure their voices were heard whatever their preferred platform was! Our next visiting speaker on November 1st will be our first scientist of the term, Mr Tim Mollart, a specialist in diamond engineering.
@HPCSixth
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DIXIT 12th October 2018
FROM THE SPORTS FIELD
Another great 2 weeks on the Sports Field for all of our Holyport athletes, lots of success to highlight! Fives A big thank you to everyone who has been attending our Friday Fives club at Eton. It has been great to see lots of new faces around and the competition has been fierce! If you would like to attend please speak to Miss Kerr. Saturday Morning Fixtures: Last weekend provided a show full of great performances across all of our fixtures.
Our Hockey teams played against LVS last weekend, putting in a great amounts of effort and were an absolute pleasure to watch. It was lovely to see so many siblings playing and representing the school!
ďƒŠ Congratulations to Thandi for being named MOM this weekend. @Holy_Sport
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FROM THE SPORTS FIELD
DIXIT 12th October 2018
Our Rugby teams also represented the school last weekend against LVS. Many great games played and the boys are coming on very well, All 3 teams this weekend came away wins. Weekday Fixtures:
Congratulations to our Year 9 Rugby team who came out on top against Maiden Erlegh in the County Cup last week.
Also in County Cup action last week, our U14 footballers secured a 2-1 win against Leighton Park putting them through to the 2nd round. Our U14’s got through to the plate final of the Berkshire Hockey tournament this Monday; well done Girls!
Our Boarding students have been loving polo this half term!
Our Year 7’s had their first competitive match this week against Claire’s Court, was so great to see so many smiling faces after a tough game!
@Holy_Sport
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DIXIT
FROM THE CALENDAR
12th October 2018
Some Dates for Your Diaries Friday 12th October—half term starts at 3.45pm Monday 29th October—Inset day/boarders return after half term
Tuesday 30th October—Year 9 parents "keeping children safe" social evening Tuesday 13th November—Year 10 parents "drugs and alcohol awareness" social evening Friday 16th November—Exeat weekend Saturday 17th November—Dad’s Club Gourmet Dinner Wednesday 28th November—Celebration of Achievement evening Tuesday 11th December—Carol Service at Eton Chapel Friday 14th December—end of term, school finishes at 2.15pm
A reminder that if you’re shopping online, booking a holiday or doing another kind of online transaction you can raise money for free by using easyfundraising. The link to sign up is: http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ invite/3FPUL2/ and look for Friends of Holyport College Fundraising Committee. Thank you so much!
Parents’ Evening Dates 2018/19
Reporting Dates
Year 7 and 8 parents’ evening: Monday 5th November 2018
Sixth Form interim reports: Friday 12th October
Year 11 parents’ evening: Wednesday 5th December 2018
Year 7-11 interim reports: Friday 9th November
Year 10 parents’ evening: Wednesday 6th February 2019 Upper Sixth parents’ evening: Monday 25th February 2019 Year 9 parents’ evening and GCSE options presentation: Wednesday 24th April 2019 Lower Sixth parents’ evening: Wednesday 1st May 2019
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