April 2014
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The Stormont Spring 2014 Edition Many thanks to the whole Gayhurst community for their contributions to this Term’s edition of the Stormont
A note from the Head
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elcome back to everyone and I hope you had a happy Easter and you are enjoying, after all
the rain, the final arrival of spring. In spite of all the wet weather, we enjoyed a tremendous spring term of sport, music art and generally You can read about some of the events that took place on pages 12 to 15. We have even had some ‘firsts’ here at Gayhurst in the Sports Department. Our first gymnastics competition at the beginning of the year and our first street dance class has started on a Friday lunchtime much to the delight of so many of our senior girls and boys. Of course, we also enjoyed lots of our favourite annual spring term events. Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and Shrove Tuesday have all been celebrated throughout the School. Several Mathematics Challenges have taken place in both the Gibbs Hall and the ICT suite where we have been delighted to welcome numerous other local schools, please see page 9. Book Week, Art Week and Science Week have all seen a flurry of extra activity at Gayhurst along with preparation for our prose and verse competition and the Junior and Senior Spring Concerts. Being the beginning of spring, we have had visitors to the School of the feathered and four legged variety. The Junior School had the excitement of hatching eggs and a spring lamb taking up residence for a short period. Please see page 14 to see how the chicks turned out! Now we are enjoying the extra daylight I wish you all a happy and productive summer term and look forward to seeing you at our Open Morning on the 17th of May and at our various other summer events. Mr A J Sims Headmaster
Contents: Page 2 Nursery
Page 6 Year 3
Page 10 Years 7&8
Page 3 Reception
Page 7 Year 4
Page 12 Whole School
Page 4 Year 1
Page 8 Year 5
Page 16 Sport News
Page 5 Year 2
Page 9 Year 6
Page 18 School Council
Reception Nursery Weather watching in Nursery
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he children in our Nursery are always learning. The Nursery staff manage to tie all their activities into themes and special occasions. Of course, the focus of January and February was the weather! The sand in the sand tray was changed to salt to represent snow. The diggers and trucks have been replaced by arctic animals. The children put together winter themed jigsaws and made salt dough models of snowmen. The Nursery walls were adorned with frost crystals and penguins and poster painted snowmen were suspended from a special ‘painting washing line’, across the Nursery ceiling.
Chocolate heart Valentines
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ove was in the air in the Nursery in February. All the girls and boys chose their secret Valentine and bore them in mind as they cut out, baked and decorated heart shaped cookies. Pink icing and silver balls made the edible ornaments almost too nice to eat. Instead of traditional square cards, the children trimmed with lace, red hearts, and finished them of with a chocolate centre. And who were the lucky recipients of so much care and effort? Their mothers, of course!
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Reception Eat up now - chop chop!
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eception joined the rest of the School in learning about the Chinese New Year. This year saw the dawning of ‘the Year of the Horse’ on the 31 January 2014. The two Reception classes took their turn in using chopsticks to eat noodles. For some children this was the first time experiencing both eating with Chinese ‘cutlery’ and tasting traditional Chinese cuisine. Whilst the class waited to take their seat at the dining table, playmates played in the ‘lantern decorated’ home corner which had been transformed into a red and gold Chinese Takeaway Restaurant. Orders were scribbled on telephone pads, boxes were packed with imaginary orders and friends gossiped at the till.
Flip, flop, floor!
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eception greeted pancake day with much excitement; particularly with regard to the afternoon’s timetabled pancake race in the Reception garden. But before the practical fun, the girls and boys learnt all about Shrove Tuesday. They learnt that Shove Tuesday is always the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent. Fat, butter and eggs were traditionally forbidden, for Christians, during Lent and so making, and eating pancakes was a way to use up the ingredients before fasting.
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Year 1 Plenty of ‘Room on the Broom’
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he whole School celebrated World Book Day on Thursday 6 March. Whilst the Senior School was transformed into Hogwarts for the Day, the Junior School came dressed in their choice of favourite book characters. Year 1 had the unique idea of recreating one of their favourite stories - ‘Room on the Broom’. While each member of the class added a new twist to the tale they placed their ready prepared piece of ‘paper’ broom handle and constructed a broom of their own - with enough room for the entire class. Here are just a selection of the Year 1 costumes.
A class act
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ear 1 girls and boys really showed us what team work is all about. The girls and boys collaborated with each other to put together two fabulous class books. Everyone either wrote a piece of narrative or provided an illustration. When all the classmates’ content was ready the teachers secretly created beautifully bound over-sized books which were then displayed in the year 1 classrooms for everyone to enjoy
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Year 2
Ahoy! ‘me’ classmates
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ear 2 began 2014 learning about pirates. They have learnt about their day to day lives, clothes (bandanas to catch sweat!), jobs, eating habits and all round ‘smelliness’ due to their lack of washing and infestations of lice. The girls and boys learnt about the Jolly Roger Flag and its skull and crossbones and why pirates wore earrings (they thought it improved their eyesight!) and other jewellery to help them with sea-sickness. The children also discovered the habits of the Pirate Captains, like the famous Black Beard, who was born in Bristol in 1680. His real name was Edward Thatch. Year 2 were amazed that Blackbeard would set his beard on fire before a battle. Many of the children knew of the name of Blackbeard as he lives on in many books and movies.
A warm reception for chilly presentations
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t seemed appropriate that in the winter months, Year 2 should be learning about creatures from the Polar Regions. Each child undertook a research project at home. They chose an animal and researched it’s environment, eating habits, family groups and physical characteristics.
Having done the background work, all the girls and boys produced a large poster made up of text and graphics to present to their friends during a lesson. At the end of each presentation questions were asked and answered, really showing just how much the children had learnt about their chosen subject. The last presentation of the day was the about the emperor penguin. The class had great fun reproducing a penguin huddle so they could understand just how these clever birds keep themselves and their babies warm in such a challenging climate.
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Year 3
History meets Art
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ear 3 enjoyed making intricate mosaics in their Art lessons in January.
In the previous Autumn Term they have been learning all about the Romans and this included a trip to the famous Roman excavated site of Veralanium. The art project involved manipulating small squares and fixing them in place to make tessellating patterns with lines of symmetry. With such tiny pieces patience was the name of the game!
‘Secret’ History
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nother History lesson in the spring term saw the Year 3 girls and boys behaving very secretively.
Hiding from friends! Whispering behind their hands! What were the children doing? Of course they were burying Anglo Saxon Treasure and then designing maps with well thought-out clues for their friends to follow and hopefully discover the contents of decorated tins. So, no-one ended up with gold coins but the children learn a lot about historical artefacts and just how the past can be pieced together by clues in the form of discovered ‘treasure’.
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Challenging chair design
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n their art lessons this term Y4 have been designing chairs for a particular ‘character or occasion’. They have used their collected research to help their designs. After completing four thumbnail drawings of chairs, they then enlarged and refined one design which they will develop into 3D.
Year 4
The children are now experimenting with construction techniques to see what materials and processes work better for their design. They have been set short challenges to create a specific chair structure using basic materials such as masking tape, wire, lollipop sticks and card board. In the next stage of the project the children will build their chair structure and decorate their chair to reflect their chosen ‘character or occasion’.
Using Mathematics in the kitchen
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or a Mathematics homework with a tasty twist, Year 4 were asked to weigh and measure out ingredients in the correct quantities to make small cakes of their choice. The delicious end result then needed packaging and the pupils designed boxes for their ‘edible homework’. The entire product was then brought into School for judging. The girls and boys presented their ideas to the class and to Mr Whitaker, Gayhurst’s Head of Mathematics. Thomas Marshall took the top prize, with Harry Scot taking Silver and Thomas Arthey Bronze. The next prep? - eat your homework from the day before! This was a Maths lesson they wont forget in a hurry!
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Perfect puddle weather
Year 5
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Science lesson at Gayhurst got a little help from Mother Nature on a very cold Tuesday in January. Mrs Kearns said “I haven’t been able to complete this lesson satisfactorily for 10 years: I think last year it snowed!” Mrs Kearns is talking about how her ‘Changing State’ Science lesson has fallen foul of the British Weather time and time again. But not in January 2014: the rain fell, the sun came up and the puddles started to disappear. Year 5 logged the changing state of the rain water by first drawing around the puddle with chalk and then laying red string around the chalk line and measuring the string. The girls and boys then returned after 15 minutes and repeated the process to see just how much the puddles had shrunk. “It is a marvellous way for the children to see evaporation happen right before their eyes in a relatively short period of time,” said Mrs Kearns. Back in the classroom the children wrote up the experiment and could now fully appreciate the importance of temperature on the changing state of water.
Shri Swaminarayan Mandir
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eing situated in Gerrards Cross we are lucky to be close to the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir - otherwise known as ‘Neasden Temple’. The Year 5 children went to visit the temple as part of their RS studies.
Part of the trip included an interesting talk about the building, which is a beautiful piece of architecture just outside of central London. The pupils also attended an exhibition and were able to look at the fantastically carved decoration of the temple. The class had a rare chance to go out onto the balcony area at the front of the temple which provided a stunning view of the surroundings.
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Year 6 Musical Youth
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ear 6 Pupil, Kian Pourkarimi won the High Wycombe Music Centre’s Soloist Competition 2014 in the youngest age-group this term. Kian competed against 20 other children in his Year 3 to 7 category, playing his favourite piece, Allegro Molto by Tartini. Kian is one of Gayhurst’s most talented musicians and also plays the saxophone. “Kian is such a gifted musician, we are all very proud of him”, commented Miss Jenny Carr, Gayhurst’s Director of Music. Mr Damon Rob, Kian’s Clarinet tutor said, “Kian took the competition by storm. I couldn’t be more delighted”.
The High Wycombe Music Centre is a wonderful resource for children of all ages to join choirs, guitar groups and orchestras. The Centre has over 600 pupils. As well as the Friday and Saturday groups they run regular competitions and concerts throughout the year. Sue Grundy from the Music Centre said “music is a performing art and our competitions are a fabulous way to encourage the children to play in front of an audience”.
Mathematics for all....
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ayhurst School hosted several Mathematics Challenges during the spring term. The Challenges were organised by Mr Whitaker, Gayhurst’s Head of Mathematics. Local primary schools competed against each other in teams of varying sizes and with questions and rounds presented in varying fun and interesting ways. The Year 6 Mathematics Challenge held in January included Seer Green, Gerrards Cross CofE, Butlers Court, Little Chalfont and Thomas Harding primary schools. Each team of 4 competed against each other in rounds of 40 minutes to try and complete 40 testing mathematical puzzles. The surprisingly physical competition involves the teams split in half seated on different sides of the school hall. Adjudicators are seating in the middle of the hall to accept or reject the answers before allowing the teams to run to their opposing pair and proceed with the next puzzle. The school in the lead changed many times during the afternoon and at the end Gerrards Cross and Gayhurst had both successfully answered 39 questions as they began to agonise over the last one. First Gerrards Cross School offered an answer but it was incorrect, Gayhurst followed shortly afterwards but their answer was also off the mark. With both teams trying to find the final solution the atmosphere was tense. Gayhurst finally ran forward with a correct answer and they had won with 9 minutes to spare!
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“The atmosphere in the gallery was very creative and the children’s finished drawings were very impressive”
Year 7 and 8 Year 7 trip to the National Portrait Gallery
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uring January, Year 7 visited the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square. The students were taken on a tour of the gallery, led by an Art Historian. The tour focused on the theme ‘Signs and Symbols’ which looks at symbolism in art. They started in the Victorian section, looking at paintings of Queen Victoria, and progressed onwards to the 20th century Modern Art.
Youth Speaks
“It was a most exciting evening and both of our teams were excellent”
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n the last day of January, Gayhurst hosted the local heat of the Youth Speaks competition. Youth Speaks is a public speaking competition sponsored by the Rotary. The three schools involved were: Thorpe House, St Mary’s and Gayhurst. Gayhurst had two teams. In Team A were Bhushan Dadarkar, Ryan Cullen and Alfie Russell. Their topic was: Real Heroes. In Team B, were Ben Gill, Ben Hunt and Jonathan Battaliou. Their topic was: Tackling Sports. Mrs Kunzig, Year 8 Form Teacher, said, “It was a most exciting evening and both of our teams were excellent”. At the end of the evening, the winners of the intermediate section was Team B.
Paris 2014 - by Alfie Russell
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his year, years 7 and 8 went on a voyage to Paris. Whilst the journey’s main purpose was to participate in three sporting events, a rugby match, a football match and a hockey match, against a school called ‘The British School of Paris’ this trip also offered an educational and beneficial opportunity to learn and discover more about Paris and it’s History. We travelled from St Pancras Station to the Centre of Paris by Eurostar which took 2 hours. From there we travelled, by coach, to the school which was situated in the outskirts of Paris. We played the rugby match and then we travelled to the houses of pupils from the school. On the Saturday, we played a football match and then a hockey match. After this we took a train which travelled into Paris. We visited the Arc de Triomphe and went right the top. We also went on a boat trip which allowed us to see more of the many beautiful monuments. After this, we took the train back to the school and our host’s houses. Sunday arrived and we once again travelled to Parish by train. Then we were given a guide of all the famous sites of Paris. Notre Dame and The Louvre were two such stops. The tour was extremely fascinating and provided us with so much knowledge of the history of Paris.
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Gayhurst orators at their best.
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he annual Prose and Verse Competition is always greatly anticipated and this year was no exception. Heats began straight after the Christmas holidays and the pupils prepared some wonderful first round pieces.
As the weeks went by there was a lot of discussion amongst the senior school children as to which orators were looking likely finalists. The final of the competition was held in the Gibbs Hall and presided over by Mr T Grant, Head of English at Berkhampstead School. As usual, the variety of pieces presented to the parents made for a hugely entertaining evening. From Matthew Murphy’s ‘Slinkey Malinki’ by Lynley Dodd to Alec Stinton’s ‘Jumbo Jet’ by Spike Milligan. There were self-penned poems hilariously rendered along side the serious business of relating works by William Shakespeare. Mr Grant had a huge dilemma choosing the over-all most competent performer of the evening but eventually he chose Ryan Cullen’s performance of the stark and challenging ‘Dulce et Decroum Est’ by Wilfred Owen. Ryan had delivered his piece with such maturity and understanding it was a truly deserved prize.
Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned out backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!--An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.-Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin, If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs Bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.
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Whole School Events Walk Once a Week
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alk Once A Week was launched at the first Assembly of the new Spring Term. A representative from ‘Living Streets’, a walking charity, visited the School to introduce the ‘Walk once a Week’ initiative that began on Monday 13 January 2014. The Girls and Boys were being encouraged to walk to school once a week and collect monthly badges as they did so. Families who lived further away were provided with a ‘park and stride’ map so that they could park away from the school and walk in for the last 10 minutes of the journey. During the assembly the children were asked to think about the health benefits of not only walking, but also there being less cars on the road. The Junior School children were delighted to have ‘Strider’ visit them, the WoW mascot, to give them an extra incentive. The challenge has been a huge success and will continue in the summer term.
Art Week
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uring Art Week all the children were taking part in a project inspired by the Artist Holton Rower.
Firstly the children looked at a video of the artist in action creating his ‘Tall Paintings’. They decided that the painting reminded them of volcanos and waterfalls and rainbows. They discussed the parts of the painting they thought the artist controlled, such as the colours he chooses and the shape of the canvas. They then shared their ideas of the parts of the painting that are left to chance, like the flow of the paint and the pull of gravity. Following discussions the children recreated his wooden tiered canvas’s by stacking boxes of various size to create different levels. They then paper mache the boxes and painted them white, chose their colours and poured…… Each class created their own ‘Tall Painting’ by pouring free flowing paint into the centre of their canvas. The children chose the colours “Rower is mostly known for they wanted his ‘Pour’ paintings and it and together created a very is an incredibly simple but exciting and fun effective way for children to work of Art.
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produce stunning works of art themselves”.
JS Handwriting Competition
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ou might think that beautiful handwriting is a thing of the past; not at Gayhurst! The Junior School held their annual Handwriting Competition in February and the standard was extremely high.
Because there were so many high quality entries from Reception through to Year 3 it was decided that certificates would be awarded in each year for the top 3 places. The girls’ and boys’ work has been on display in the Year 3 building every since and serves to show just how much effort our children put into all that they do.
Skipping Workshops
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he Skipping Workshop Company visited the School in February for a day of skipping activities.
The Skipping Workshop encourages activity and exercise for children by teaching groups various different skipping games and rhymes. Each senior school year group took part in a workshop over the course of the day and then children who were identified as having a particular talent for skipping undertook some basic training so that they could lead their peers in the playground in group skipping challenges. Not only did the children enjoy learning this often forgotten skill, they learnt a lot about working together in pairs and small groups.
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Science Week
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cience week at Gayhurst School exploded into action with workshops, activities and specially selected lessons to cover as much ground as possible for a week of scientific fun. Children from the Nursery to Year 8 took part in investigations and experiments to discover just how much of what we do has a scientific element to it. The Nursery children enjoyed a bubble workshop, blowing bubbles throug a variety of every day objects. The girls at Gayhurst particularly enjoyed the soap making activity. The whole of the Senior School received special hairy, scaly and furry visitors as a mobile zoo came to the School bringing with them a variety of exotic pets. Magnetism was discovered and pulse rates measured as well as a final chance to see the Easter Chicks, who had hatched at School, before they went on to their new homes. By the end of the week, everyone had discovered something new!
Junior and Senior Spring Concerts
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t the end of the Spring Term both the Junior and Senior Concerts took place. The Hall was packed with standing room only to the hear the children of years 2 to 8 sing, strum and breath music into School.
At the Junior Concert there were solo performances from Isabelle Dusek, George Crane, Ehsan Rehman and Duncan Meazzo on the Piano, Matthew Ault on the Flute, Jake Kearns and Elijah Orr-Ewing on the Clarinet, Sam Matthew and Harry Sanderson on the Guitar and Ryan O’Connor on the Violin. Years 2 and 3 sang songs such as ‘Build it High’ and ‘Feed the Birds’ The Senior Concert had a medley of performances from the Swing Band, Chamber Choir, Guitar Group, Orchestra, Flute Goup, Middle Choir, Wind Ensemble, Brass Group, Percussions Ensemble, Saxophone Group, Clarinet Group and Senior Choir. Mr Robb and Miss Carr lead the various groups with their conducting and encouragement.
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It was a wonderful end to, yet another, busy term at Gayhurst.
World Book Day
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ayhurst School was transformed in Hogwarts for World Book Day. All the children in Years 4 to 8 were invited to dress up as their favourite Harry Potter character and spend the day taking part in reading activities and Harry Potter inspired workshops.
“Reading underpins everything we do. It is so important and bringing the stories and characters to life for a day is just one thing we can do to encourage our children to develop a life-long love of books”.
The day started with an assembly where the girls and boys were given their timetable for the day. The morning included ‘Stop, Drop and Read’ for everybody, including staff and Peer Reading where the Senior School children went to the Junior School to read to their younger friends, some of their favourite books. In the afternoon the School Houses were split into Hogwarts Houses and they all took part in workshops which included, Spell writing, Potion Marking, History of Magic and of course, games of Quidditch. The Junior School re-wrote their favourite books and acted out stories such as “Room on the Broom” by Julia Donaldson (see page 4).
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Swimming
Football
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he swimming squad have taken part in several galas this term The first of the year taking place at Maltmans and Gayhurst were competing against St. Columbus and The Beacon.
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There were some fantastic individual wins as well as the year 4 team winning both the freestyle and medley relays.
The tournament consisted of 10 teams with Gayhurst entering both their u8 A and B teams. The remaining sides were from Belmont Prep, Davenies, Beacon, Moulsford Prep, Northwood Prep, UCS, Thorpe House and Oratory Prep School. With the new field being used for the first time and the weather turning brighter and warmer the tone was set for a fantastic day’s football.
he Spring Term Football Tournament had changed slightly this term as, this year, it was played as an under 8 tournament.
The Gayhurst B team finished in 4th place in the group ending their tournament in a plate semifinal match against Moulsford Prep. The results for the A team in the group stages were; 3-0 win v Oratory Prep, 3-1 win v Belmont Prep, 5-0 win v Northwood Prep and 2-0 win v Moulsford Prep. In the shield semi-final the A team beat Davenies 2-0 in a closely fought match, making it through to the shield final where they again came out winners by 3-0 in superb style.
Football - Under 8s A Team
Cross Country - York House Race
Rugby - year 3 Plate winners
Rugby The British School of Paris visited Gayhurst in January. Battling incredibly boggy conditions and together with Drifters Rugby Club we played in a triangular rugby tournament at Hedgerley.
Cross Country
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everal cross country events managed to go ahead despite what has been an incredibly ‘wet’ term. The events included, York House, Hervines Park and the IAPS Cross Country Meet. Despite the extremely muddy conditions every race saw terrific performances individually, in year groups and in both the girls’ and boys’ races.
The rugby was of a very high standard and The British School of Parish won the tournament and Gayhurst finishing second. The Tournament was a great opportunity for the year 7 and 8 boys to meet the BSP children as they were hosting an exchange trip later on in the term. See page 10 for an account of the trip written by Alfie Russell.
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Rugby - training in Paris
Equestrian
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ur equestrian team was busy competing throughout the term in various events.
Early in the year Jake Barton became Tri County Champion and went on to represent Buckinghamshire at the National County Finals.
Sport News Skiing
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he Ski Team took part in the British Schools Skiing Championships in Les Houches this year, along with 400 other racers which included schools from Italy, France and Switzerland. We were extremely proud of all the girls and boys who gave 100% and produced outstanding performances against such talented competition.
Equestrian - Tri-County Champion “My favourite part of the trip was at the bottom of the run as I looked back at the course and I was amazed at what I had done…. also I loved standing in the Glass Box at the top of the world at 3,830 metres.”
Skiing - Gayhurst Ski Team
Gymnastics
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he talent of our gymastics teams and individuals goes from strength to strength.
Gymnastics - Key Steps One Team
Our Key Steps One Team came 2nd in the Gym Competition held at St Mary’s School. Key Steps Two came 4th. Well done to all of the children in their first completion!
Netball
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he Gayhurst netball teams have seen some exciting successes this term.
One of the most challenging events was the Netball High Fives Tournament which Gayhurst hosted. Ten teams attended from other local schools. Gayhurst finished the afternoon coming 2nd (Silver Medal!) and the girls were rightly proud of their superb performances in all the rounds.
Netball - High Fives Team
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School Council News The School Council has been very busy this term dealing with new ideas. We’ve had two meetings on the 6th of February and the 19th March. The main focus on the School Council this term was to set up an eco-council and we are lucky enough to have Mrs Lee from Maltmans Green come and help us with some ideas to help get us started. Some achievements of the School Council this term are: • • • • • • •
A new swing set has been placed on the adventure playground. A lunch timetable is in place so everyone has the opportunity to go in first. The salad bar items have been increased so there are more of ‘our favourites’. We are to have water bottles on Pease Field during the summer term. Two new water fountains have been placed by the office and by the art room. A table manners poster competition was held and the winners were voted for by the rest of the School. A large poster is now on display in the dining room. An end of term talent show will be held in the autumn term.
Overall, the School Council has had a successful spring term and we look forward to discussing new ideas in the summer term. by James Gowers 6C
Meet this year’s School Council
Ben
Bhushan
Alfie
James
Elijah
Eve
Fraser
Hugo
Ben
Jonty
Kieran
Millan
Tarun
Oliver
Robbie
Millan
Verity