@RHB Termly magazine
Summer 2022
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Things to look forward to next term… Year 5 and Year 6 Trip to Harry Potter Studios
Edinburgh Expeditions
Berkshire Independent Schools
Gold Duke of Edinburgh Practice
Dance Festival
Expedition
Sports Day
Year 6 PGL Trip
Junior School Production of James
Year 7 Trip to Paris and Disneyland Paris
Year 10 Geography Field Trip Year 12 Biology Field Trip
A Word from the Principal.................................. 4-5
We Shall Give Back.. ............................................. 15
Reddam Reading.................................................... 6
Core Values in the Junior School. . .................. 16 -17
Sport Stars............................................................. 7
Science Week....................................................... 18
Performing Arts.................................................. 8-9
Diversity in Art and Design................................. 19
Mental Health Week........................................10-11
Boarding News. . .............................................. 20-21
Early Learning at Reddam House.. ................... 12-13
Summer Camps............................................... 22-23
Bronze and Silver Assessed Duke of
Year 3 Trip to Roald Dahl Museum
and the Giant Peach
Contents
Year 9 France Battlefields and Paris Trip
Year 8 Trip to Paris ISA Athletics Competitions ISGA Junior Open at Drayton Park
Swimming Galas
Oxfordshire
Netball PGL Tour
Prize Giving
Dance Showcase. . ................................................. 14
Address Bearwood Rd, Sindlesham, 2 Wokingham RG41 5BG, UK
Telephone 01189748300 Email registrar@reddamhouse.org.uk
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01 A word from the Principal, Rick Cross Introduction
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elcome to the @RHB magazine as we
brand new kitchen space, an enormous games room
head towards the Easter break and
and soon an exceptional cinema room. Reddam is
end of the Spring term. The conflict
a school with huge potential, and as we continue
in the Ukraine has cast a long shadow since half
to grow and improve, we remain ambitious. We
Reddam House is a community. This term we have worked
term, and our hearts go out to all those affected.
launched Reddam House Summer Camps this term
hard to improve our togetherness, helped by the lifting
and look forward to welcoming our first intake in
of covid restrictions. By launching ‘Connection: Enabling
July to enjoy a premium experience, combining
Dialogue at Reddam’, we have already begun to improve
STEM and language courses with sport, performing
student voice and parental voice, via the PFA. Indeed it
arts and adventure experiences. In the classroom,
has been a pleasure to work with the PFA this term, and
Reddam is one of a handful of schools to pioneer the
I’ve enjoyed the many social occasions they have helped
new Inspired AI programme, developing new ways
deliver, most notably the Burns Night Ceilidh and the
to personalise learning. From small beginnings will
Junior School Disco.
and improve, we remain
Despite a storm forcing us online for a day, the school
ambitious."
The school community was quick to offer help, galvanising support from the student and parent body to collect much needed supplies and deliver them to the Red Cross in Yateley. I know many in our community have strong family connections to those affected, and we will continue to offer help and support where we can. These actions chime with our school motto, ‘We Shall Give Back ’, and students from across the school have campaigned and supported various initiatives this term, most
come great things, and as I write, Inspired have also launched the world’s first metaverse school, based on the architecture of Reddam House!
in our beautiful setting, with Summer Fairs and Summer
saw students and staff spending a day chained to
and elsewhere. You will read many highlights in
Balls. Before we celebrate, students will sit the first full
an 8kg kettlebell, symbolising the invisible burden a
this magazine, but I would like to mention a few
set of public exams since the pandemic cruelly robbed
mental health difficulty can represent. These actions
here. The term ended in magnificent style with the
them of the chance to show just how good they are. I wish
fill me with pride when I talk about Reddam House, a
whole school production of Matilda – the musical.
them all the best in their preparation.
school firmly grounded in its values.
The dedication of students and staff has been
At the beginning of the term, we opened our new boarding house at the top of the mansion. Aptly named ‘The Loft’, students moved into what must be some of the best boarding accommodation in the country. We are still building and expanding,
best they have seen yet at Reddam, as was the case with the Dance show just before half term. On the
we continue to grow
continue doing so. We look forward to the summer term
The students have been busy too, in the classroom
It has been a busy term for new ideas and ventures.
huge potential, and as
has weathered many challenges and is in good shape to
notably in the ‘Carry the Burden’ campaign, which
outstanding, with many commenting it was the
" R eddam is a school with
Congratulations to everyone this term for all your efforts, and I hope you enjoy reading more about it in this wonderful magazine.
sporting fields, the Y10 girls were triumphant in the ISA National shield competition, and the Boys 1st XI went on the best cup run the school has known so far.
but students can now enjoy ensuite bathrooms,
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02 Reddam Reading
Sport Stars Congratulations to Edith, Francesca, Hattie and Charlie who each won gold in their respective relays
At the beginning of March, we celebrated World Book Day in style!
at the ISA National Swimming Finals. Edith also finished with silver in the Year 9 100m backstroke.
Our Senior Netball teams won the end of season tournaments in the highly competitive
Our U16 footballers were unbeaten in the
B and C leagues.
National Football Tournament in Nottingham.
Caught Reading We had some wonderful entries to the Caught Reading competition…
Our year 10 girls travelled to Nottingham for the
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Well done to our Cross Country runners from the
U16 ISA Netball championships at Nottingham
Junior, Middle and Senior Schools who took part in
University. The competition was fierce, but they
the ISA Cross Country Championships. The boys'
topped the championships and brought the
U14 and U16 teams both won the trophy!
shield home to Reddam House!
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Performing Arts Our audiences returned to the theatre this term for some awe-inspiring productions.
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wo performances of Cinderella began with children from Stage 4 and Reception, followed by Years 1 and 2. Some of the people on the stage were
just three years old! Showing true resilience, the children performed the show that was postponed at Christmas due to Covid. Cinderella’s glittering carriage flew across the darkened theatre stage as she was transported to the ball, and the atmosphere was electric.
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owards the end of term Year 7 to Sixth Form students took to the stage in Matilda. Performances were magnificent and it was wonderful to see the Sixth Form students
performing alongside the Middle School, all with main parts and solos. With outstanding stage design and costumes, the show was an emotional rollercoaster; funny then sad, intense then light-hearted, and always hugely impressive.
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Mental Health Week e celebrated Children’s Mental
During the week, students enjoyed wellbeing walks,
Health Week with a variety of
A2B lessons focused on a range of related topics,
events designed to raise awareness
there was a crocheting session and mindfulness
of emotional wellbeing and how this links to
as well.
resilience and general mental health. We also touched on the importance of sleep and how the teenage brain works. We constantly remind students that ‘it’s okay not to be okay’ and have many systems in place across the school to support wellbeing. We encourage students to share their feelings and reach out if they need someone to talk to. Events included David Wheeler, a professional footballer for Wycombe Wanderers, who delivered a RED talk on anxiety. He shared his personal
Carrying The Burden
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o show that there is more to mental health than meets the eye, and that it isn’t always possible to see what people are dealing with, students and
teachers from Years 8 to 13 created a challenge whereby they were handcuffed to an 8kg weight for 24 hours. They carried it with them everywhere before passing it to the next person.
experiences on this subject and it was fantastic for students to hear the message that anyone, no matter how successful, can be affected by a range of mental health issues. There was also a Sixth Form wellbeing committee and peer mentors who encouraged students to drop in for a chat.
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Early Learning at Reddam House At Reddam House Early Learning School we
Reading is most definitely a special part of our
promote a love of reading with our children.
curriculum. We offer the children a diverse range
With our babies in Stage 1 through to our Stage 4
of books to capture their imaginations, extend
children into the Juniors and beyond. We create
their language and support their oracy skills when
a literacy rich environment that supports our
becoming storytellers themselves. World Book Day
children to develop their understanding of the
is an exciting day in our bursting calendar full of
world around them through the power of story.
exciting events. However, to us book day is every
We treasure our time spent sharing stories with
day. We look forward to welcoming you to our
our children in the classrooms, ateliers and of
school anytime for you to see the magic in stories
course our magical forest.
come alive within our beautiful environments.
Once upon a time, through the hundred- and
the 'castle school' through our forest. This day
twenty-five-acre wood, a beautiful school lived.
is a day that that they celebrated the power of
In that school there were little people who brought
imagination and what the potential a storybook
so much joy to all their big people. The little people
can offer each of us.
filled their days foraging for treasures in the forest and expressing themselves in their autonomous ateliers.
The little people treasured this day and each day that their imaginations had freedom to explore the wonderful world of make believe. That night they
Every year, on a special day, the little and big
went home to their beds and dreamed more
people who went to that school celebrated the
dreams of what their storybook friends and
wonderful world of books. There were pirates and
worlds had to offer.
princesses, dragons and fairies, caterpillars and tigers and many more characters skipping across the cobbles into their school filled with excite and delight. This day was called World Book Day. The little people enjoyed stories galore from their teachers and older children who visited as a surprise from
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They all lived happily ever after in a world filled with story, puppets and joy and they could not wait to return to the school that they called Reddam House Early Learning School. The End. Miss Georgina Tait Head of Early Learning School
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Dance Showcase
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erformers from the Dance Department put on a spectacular showcase to celebrate cultures, styles and influences from ‘Around The World’. Dances were
inspired by genres including Japanese Martial
We Shall Give Back We took an enormous donation to the Red Cross to support the refugees and all those affected by the conflict in the Ukraine.
Arts, Irish Riverdance, the Highland Fling and the Sailors Hornpipe. There was also a high impact performance from our GCSE and Dance Scholars,
Marathon de Sables
showcasing solo performances, competition dances and the students’ own choreography.
Mr Cross completed the Marathon Des Sables, a 250+km, self-sufficient ultra-marathon in the Sahara Desert. It is billed as the 'Toughest Footrace on Earth'. Mr Cross is completing this challenge in aid of two charities; Camfed – a pan-African movement empowering girls' education and First Days – a Wokingham based charity that works to reduce the long term effect of poverty on children by equipping them with the essential items they need for their early years and at school. More details will follow in next term's magazine.
We see you In line with our school motto, ‘We shall give back ’, a group of Year 8 students entered a charity run in support of an organisation called Trulife. Trulife travel to schools in South Africa to help and educate students on a range of topics. This particular event was targeted at raising awareness and funds in the fight against gender-based violence. Students participated in six teams to run 100km in ten days, and each team represented one of Reddam House’s values; Kindness, Courage, Respect, Responsibility, Integrity and Ambition.
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Core Values in the Junior School hroughout the Spring Term in the Junior School, we have focused on two of our core values, Responsibility and Ambition.
First came Responsibility and we considered new resolutions and how to progress even further
Underpinning everything we have done this term is
following the successful Autumn Term. Even our
the desire to ensure that we are fully engaged and
youngest students, aged four, felt empowered by
listening to both our pupils and our parents and
understanding that they could take responsibility
community. Opportunities for student voice have
for things in their lives and contribute to the wider
never been so strong with regular School Council
community and world. At Reddam House Junior
After the half term we moved on to Ambition, which
School we understand the importance of developing
Meetings, Year 6 Portfolio activities, pupil voice
has been shown in vast quantities over the year so
independence and what an empowering gift this is
meetings and pupil questionnaires. It is important
far. We reflected on the impact of metacognition
to our pupils.
we are a listening school and we know the value of
and learning to learn in our community and there
our pupils understanding the impact they have on
were some wonderful examples daily of students
their future. I have also enjoyed meeting with the
challenging themselves in class and being more
PFA and speaking to parents at a range of events
ambitious than before. A shining example of
and look forward to more of this next term.
Across the school we considered responsibility to our environment as our Year 6 Eco Senators inspired our School Council into action. Then in February we held our first ever ‘How to Day’, an off-timetable day which saw students engaging in practical workshops such as First Aid, Finance, Textiles and Map Reading. The day was a huge hit and one we will look to repeat again, drawing on the expertise of both parents and staff to provide learning of a different kind.
ambition has been on the sports pitches this term, with our teams showing wonderful spirit and winning many of their netball, football and rugby
Mrs Cassie Morris Head of Junior School
matches. Our U10A Boys team even managed to stay undefeated the whole season – an incredible achievement! Swimming galas, biathlons, House Music, Enterprise Club, Junior Discos, World Book Day activities and more have ensured this has not only been a term of hard work, but also of fun and fulfilment. For the first time this Spring we have also introduced a class led element to the weekly assembly and it has been wonderful to invite parents in to watch their children on stage. Themes have run from The Great Fire of London to the meaning of the word LOVE and it has been super to see the children leading on the content and speaking and singing so confidently.
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Science Week
Diversity in Art and Design In Art and Design, the Middle and Senior School students created an art installation inspired by the Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei. As part of a project on Diversity they studied his work,
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‘The Sunflower Seeds’ and the Indigenous Australian art dot technique. The Middle School students made paper sunflowers
e exploded into Science Week
and Senior school students each added a dot to construct the
with a wonderful assembly led by
sunflower. The combined elements for the installation offered
two Sixth Form Scientists.
pleasure, happiness, and enjoyment to all who viewed it.
They demonstrated a mini jet engine simulation and students learned about the turbulent life of Fritz Harber, a Scientist whose inventions are linked to fertilizers that saved millions from starvation, chlorine gas that killed thousands in the war and chemotherapy still being used to saved lives today. Elsewhere in Reddam House, Junior School Science students applied their understanding of forces and Newton’s laws of motion to develop and launch their own water rockets. They compared the acceleration of their rockets in accordance with Newton’s 2nd law: F=m*a. Year 7 conducted an experiment to investigate the ability of a pencil to conduct electricity. Under Dr D’Rozario’s supervision, they made a complete circuit using the graphite inside the wooden pencil and they discovered that the heat from the flow of electrons would cause the wood to catch fire. STEM club students took on a huge project to look at combustion and the impacts, which involved using mathematics, chemistry, engineering and biology. They assembled over 40,000 matches, spelling out the words REDDAM HOUSE and then watched it combust!
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Boarding News
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he Spring term has offered the ‘light at the end of the winter tunnel’ and with the COVID restrictions lifting, it has meant that the Boarding Community has been able to move back rapidly towards normality with more mixing, sharing and most of all, fun!!
We have been able to run a full programme of weekend trips and evening activities, as well as our normal prep arrangements. In school, the term has been action packed with lots of House events, talks, fixtures, mocks and exam preparations. With the warmer and lighter evenings returning slowly, it has been lovely to see boarders sitting outside and enjoying the wonderful campus again, without masks and metre gaps between them, or bubbles! This term has also signalled the birth of the third boarding house at Reddam, with ‘The Loft’ opening at the start of the spring term and slowly expanding with the final piece of phase one, the cinema room, expected to be completed by the start of the summer term. It has offered us a truly wonderful space to live and grow up in! Mr Andy Towse Director of Boarding
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R E DDA M HOUSE SU M M E R C A M P 2 0 22 D AY A N D R E S I D E N T I A L C A M P S F O R 8 - 1 7 Y E A R O L D S PROGRAMME INFORMATION Filled with excitement, activities and challenges, where campers from all over the world come together for a summer of unforgettable experiences. Hosted within a magnificent mansion building, within in our stunning 125-acre private campus, and with some of the county’s best sporting and Performance Arts facilities.
Summer Camps Are you ready for a challenge this summer? Join us for a summer full of adventure!
DATES 17th July to 30th July 31st July to 13th August
CAMPS AVAILABLE You can decide the best camp for your child, by choosing one morning option and one afternoon option. MORNING
All campers will have a weekly Academic and
Booking is now open and we look forward to you
Cultural Excursion to an enriching site, allowing
joining us to make our first Summer Camp a real
students to share and see local culture and make
success. If you would like any further information
long-lasting memories. Residential campers will
about the camps for this year, please contact
have a weekend ‘Big Day Out’ to a local attraction
the Summer Camp Director, Polly King
allowing space to relax and have fun. These are all
(p.king@reddamhouse.org.uk) and she will
age specific and appropriate for our campers and
gladly answer your queries.
their new friends. The course will end with a final performance / presentation to display newly acquired skills to an invited audience of family and friends.
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“We believe camps are an essential part of life; learning skills such as personal development, independence, communication, tolerance and sharing, which are all aspects that will stay with a person and shape who they become.”
DURATION 2 weeks session
• Language (English or French) • STEAM *(science, technology, engineering, arts, maths)
AFTERNOON •A dventure Camp (Mountain biking, Survival skills, Rock-climbing, Camping, Canoeing) •M ulti-activity Camp (Football, Cricket, Volleyball, Tennis, High ropes, Swimming) • Performing Arts Camps (Creativity, Dance and Theatre)
*Campers will also enjoy weekly cultural and experiential excursions
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Bearwood Rd, Sindlesham, Wokingham RG41 5BG, UK 24
+0118 974 8300 registrar@reddamhouse.org.uk reddamhouse.org.uk
