Summerhill

SUMMERHILL HOUSE

This year’s buzz words were ‘bubbles’, ‘learning zones’, ‘breakout rooms’, ‘one way systems’ and being ‘pinged’.

Although we had hoped not to have another year of remote learning and unpredictability, I was yet again incredibly impressed with how the students in the House continued to show resilience and motivation to face the challenges that the pandemic threw at us. Whether it was in school or remotely, they continued to support the House and show fantastic House spirit, expertly led by Charlotte, Hannah and the team of House prefects.

We were delighted at the start of the Autumn term to welcome everyone back to school and to have all the boarders back in their rooms and especially those who returned after their 2 weeks of quarantine. It was great to hear the noise and buzz return to the House. We had a fantastic start to the Inter House competitions with our Year 9s, 10s and 12s winning the Hockey. They played with real enthusiasm and it was a whole House effort, with those not able to take part making banners and cheering everyone on. This term also saw each of the tutor groups organise and lead some of our House assemblies, which included ‘How to make the world a better place over Christmas,’ ‘Charitable giving in the age of Covid’, ‘Giving thanks to others’ as well as some homemade videos from the Sixth Form on staying positive. Our boarders fully embraced the weekend activities, which included getting very muddy doing an orienteering course around the campus, walks, yoga and climbing. In preparation for the traditional Summerhill Christmas Day, the boarders crocheted stars and snowflakes for the tree and made origami decorations and stockings. This became a daily evening activity and the end results were fantastic – the common room became very festive! Due to being in year group bubbles, we had to slightly alter the tradition of making our own Christmas dinner and instead the boarders chose a menu that included chicken nuggets, curly chips and stuffing balls. Not quite the traditional Christmas meal, but a memorable one!

Lockdown returned for the Spring term, but that did not stop us from keeping the House spirit going. Charlotte and Hannah, along with all the Year 13s, were superb at coming up with imaginative ways to keep us all connected on Teams. The whole House doing the macarena and other dance routines remotely at 8.30am in the morning is definitely one of the highlights! Many in the House got involved with the weekly PR Lockdown Challenges and, in the Race Around The World Challenge, 21 students in Summerhill featured in the top 10 for their year groups, with Lily L, Emily H and Rebekah N running the highest amount of kilometres over the term for their respective years. It was fantastic to welcome everyone back to school at the end of this term, with a little bit more normality. We were able to compete in the House Netball, have our breakfast clubs again and it reminded us of how special it is when we are able to come together as a House. The challenge was set for the inter tutorial sunflower growing competition!

The Summer term saw us in year group bubbles and having lots of team-building exercises in tutor time. We performed really well in the House Cross Country Relay, with Summerhill winning the intermediate race which saw Bea, Olivia, Gaby, Poppy (Year 9) and Emily H, Ella, Aoife and Phoebe (Year 10) run great legs and the Senior team (Marnie, Anisha, Niamh, Ciara, Rose, Madi and Phoebe H) enjoyed themselves, running in their onesies! Thanks have to go to all the Summerhill supporters who were always there to give the competitors a real boost with their cheering and shouting at Inter Competitions.

Charlotte Head of House

The end of the year saw KATS, in which AyoOluwa beautifully sang a solo of ‘True Colours’, along with Tati and Louise performing in the ensemble. Congratulations went to Louise and Phoebe, who were awarded the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music and Drama Awards’ respectively, and to Bea G who was nominated for the Drama Assessment Award. It was great to be able to end the term with having some fun and games with our new Year 9s coming to the House, Sports Day and the Year 13 Dinner, where we said a final farewell to our leavers.

Over the year, there were many things the students in the House got involved with. Charlotte and Hannah introduced the ‘Summerhill Star of the Week Award’, which is given out for acts of kindness, for something that a member of the House has done which is inspiring, or for an outside of school achievement. Naomi W was instrumental setting up and editing the Kingswood Arts and Literary Magazine (KALM). Niamh, Rose, Anisha, AyoOluwa and Tati led very interesting and thought-provoking talks for the Cultural Discussion Group and, despite the restrictions of lockdown, money was still raised for charity: Sophie F ran to raise money for the South West Hospice and Niamh and Mimi ran to raise money for Movember.

Mrs Alex Matthews (Senior Housemistress)

HOUSE AWARDS:

• Perseverance Award: This award is given to someone with qualities of determination and enthusiasm, that leads to achieving. This year it went to everyone in the House, for the resilience and determination they all showed during another year of Covid-19. • Good Egg Award: Phoebe Leung • Summerhill Dragon Award for Sport: Niamh Weldon

• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Award:

Charlotte Houghton

LEAVERS

We said goodbye and thank you to Gin, our matron, who retired after 32 years in Summerhill. She has always been so kind, reliable and dependable. Her service and dedication to the House has been second to none – 32 years without a day off sick shows her commitment and loyalty. She always had time for everyone and we are going to miss her very much. We also say goodbye and a big thank you to Mrs Nash who, having only been in Summerhill as a tutor for 2 years, made a huge impact. She was always so incredibly loyal and supportive to her tutees, was great at coming up with ideas for us to do as a House and was always there to support House events. We wish her the best of luck in her new Head of Drama role. We also said our goodbyes to Sonia and Bekah in our final assembly, who we wish well in their new schools.

My thanks also goes to the fantastic team of tutors, matrons and prefects for all their hard work and support – the House would not function without them. Good luck to all our leavers and thank you to Charlotte, Hannah and Tati for their inventiveness, warmth, empathy and ability to bring the House together in very different circumstances.