Hall

HALL HOUSE

We welcomed some of our Hall House boarders back to us in the middle of August to allow them to quarantine prior to the start of the academic year 2020/21.

We also welcomed boarders from all of the other houses to Hall so they could complete the fourteen day quarantine period in time to start lessons in September. Strange times! True to the nature of our students at school, they all coped admirably with the confinement that being stuck in isolation brought and we were able to fully prepare the House to welcome everyone back from the start of September.

With learning zones and year groups unable to mix, the challenge for the year was how to sustain the fantastic Hall House spirit with such restrictions. However, thanks to the use of MS Teams, we were still able to communicate with one another, albeit on electronic devices.

At the start of the year, our Year 13 students were presented with their Hall House ties and wore them with pride throughout their last year at school. The tie has become a great way of recognising who are the elder statesman of the House for our younger students. The end of year celebrations felt a little muted but I feel it is better to think of them as unique. The final House Assembly was broadcast live with the Year 13 students and it was wonderful to share their laughter and tears, and tears of laughter (!) as we reminisced over their time at Kingswood. Some of the boys have been with us for fifteen years. As ever, we hope they stay in touch and we always look forward to hearing all about the adventures they are having.

I would personally like to thank our Head of House, Harry Maskell, for the way he led Hall alongside Byron Chan (Head of Boarding) and Tayo Sawyerr (Deputy Head of House). We could not have asked for more positive role models in a year full of so many challenges.

As we were not able to meet in person as a whole House each week, we made sure that the weekly online House Assemblies carried more significance than ever before. Each week we would recognise our “#hallhousehero of the week”, which was awarded for a variety of reasons. One week, Callum Chamberlain was recognised due to the superb effort he put in when raising money to purchase sleeping bags for the homeless; another time Cyrus Chan was given the award due to the fantastic way he was keeping fit whilst back home in Hong Kong. He resisted the temptation to attend lessons online and then stay on electronics to socialise and made a point of hiking around the Hong Kong countryside. Rebecca HarringtonWills, one of the Hall Housekeepers was recognised one week for all of the help she had given in looking after those in quarantine, and Tayo Sawyerr and Byron Chan were both #hallhouseheroes for their musical contributions to the whole school. Lots of different Hall House heroes, for lots of great reasons. However, the ultimate Hall House Hero recognition was given at the end of the year and it was awarded to Mr Chua. The way he had ensured he was always there to put in so many extra hours and days to look after our boarders who stayed in Hall as they were unable to get home was quite something and so it was only fitting we recognised this effort that had been maintained throughout the whole year and added his name to the honours board.

The unusual year prevented us from enjoying House Entertainment in the familiar way, but we were able to play Dodgeball at Easter with just the Hall and Fonthill sixth formers which was as memorable as ever. We look forward to re-establishing end of term House Entertainment with Fonthill in 2021/22.

Harry Head of House

Some of the boys have been with us for fifteen years.