‘Recite’

After all the disruption of the past few years, it really was business as usual this year at Recite. We were back in the Inner Barn, Years 3 & 4 had very helpfully put the stage up for us (!) and we were delighted to welcome back Father David Twinley as a judge. Father David judged my first ever Recite in 2011 and has stepped in several times over the years to adjudicate. Helping him out this year, we were really pleased to be able to welcome the new Head of Year 7 and 8 English from Hurstpierpoint College, Rebecca Hartley.

The standard in the heats for Recite was higher than ever this year and from Year 5 and above, we had five finalists from each Year group – there’s nothing like making life difficult for our visiting judges! In the event, however, decisions were made quite quickly and very amicably. The list of winners and Highly Commended for the individual entries ran as follows:

Years 3 & 4

Winner – Sophie Ratcliffe reciting If by Rudyard Kipling. Highly Commended

Saskia Bladd-Symms reciting The Dentist and the Crocodile by Roald Dahl.

Years 5 & 6

Winner - James Ratcliffe reciting an extract from Beowulf (translated by Seamus Heaney).

Highly Commended – Strawberry Frizzell reciting The Forlorn Sea by Stevie Smith

Jessie Tustin reciting Nobody Wants Me by Georgie Adams and Selina Young.

Years 7 & 8

Winner – Wade Stormonth-Darling reciting Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas.

Highly Commended – Beatrice de Courcy-White reciting Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

Olivia Finn reciting The Listeners by Walter de la Mare.

Eliza Fearon reciting Wendy Darling by Stephanie Rosanna West.

As you can see, the offerings were eclectic and the whole event was thoroughly entertaining. I can’t wait to see what next year will bring – it might be time to start looking for a poem now!

Laura Hutchings

GeographyFieldTrip

The purpose of our Fieldwork trip to the Jurassic Coast (UNESCO World Heritage Site) was to investigate in detail Geomorphology, in terms of erosional and depositional processes. Our fieldwork centre (Leeson House) was excellent. Day 1 started with a classroom session which highlighted the Geography Fieldwork that the pupils would be undertaking over their stay at Leeson House. The first investigative session involved a comparative study of 6 key points on Lulworth Cove. The aim of the session was to investigate how the waves affect the beach at Lulworth Cove. The pupils were divided into research groups and they all worked effectively and purposefully throughout the morning session on their data collection and recording skills. They were all commended for their positivity, teamwork, research skills and detailed recordings by Pete (our excellent Fieldwork Tutor). The teams managed to achieve all 6 research points which, is in itself, a significant achievement, as most groups only manage 4 (GCSE groups).