SCHOOL HOUSES

This edition of the Shebbearian marks the end of Pollard’s second year as a co-educational house. Two years ago I set the goal to forge a true identity for our house and the Pollardians within it. I am pleased to say this has now most certainly emerged and it’s great to hear pupils and staff alike talking about what we stand for as a collective. Prior to our first Pollard House Dinner held in March, I asked the house members to write down what they thought we stood for and I thought I would share some of these thoughts with you all now.

Pollardians believe we are proud, and this is clear when house mates support their peers in our house competitions. We believe we are honest, a house that holds our hands up when we don’t quite meet the standard and we reflect on the ways to improve. We get stuck in, you only need to view our sports day sign up sheet completed in record time to know this is truly the case. We are a family, within the Shebbear community, who rally around each other, support each other through good and bad, and come together to celebrate our successes. It was also interesting to read about the not-so-goods. One suggested we are grumpy - yes, at times, we can all be! But with the support of those around you we can all brighten each other’s day. We are opinionated - EXCELLENT! Channelled in the right way and through the right forums we will make our community a better place to be, a job our school council members have performed impeccably. And, apparently, we are suck ups - well, if it gets you where you need to be…

We have had many highlights this year. The House Dinner was a fantastic event and I was impressed with how well tuned out everyone was. We look forward to running more events like this in the future. We were well represented by our tutor groups at the Spring Fete, back by popular demand, and we enjoyed having our Pollard parents back on campus to enjoy the day with us all.

Sports Day was held in May this year and there were great celebrations when Pollard were announced as the winning house! We have our fingers crossed for the House Cup this year as well!

As always, a huge thank you must go to our tutor team; Mr Pomroy, Mr Sanders, Mrs Parker and Mr Quance who have been on the sidelines supporting our pupils with all their pastoral, academic and co-curricular needs. They are an awesome team who I am pleased will continue to support their tutees next year.

Pollard House has been a huge part of my life for the past 7 years. I initially joined the then boys boarding house as a houseparent under the leadership of Mr Sanders in 2015, then as deputy Housemaster under Mr Law before taking over the reigns as Housemaster of Pollard in 2019 as it moved into a new era as a co-education day house and boys boarding house. I am immensely proud of the development the Pollard pupils show and the way they handle the challenges school presents them. I am hugely grateful to the tutors and boarding house staff who have worked tirelessly alongside me in building the identity and sense of belonging that all Pollardians and boarders experience here. The pastoral care the team offers is truly top notch and because of this I leave confident that Pollard will continue to thrive in its next era. It is now time for me to hand over the ranks as my own family expands and new adventures await. I will always be watching from the sidelines cheering on the House.

COME ON POLLARD!!!

Mr Deakes Pollard Housemaster

It was with great pleasure that I was able to take over the leadership of Ruddle House from Mr Sanders in January. Mr Sanders had done a fantastic job with both the boarding and day element of the House and set Ruddle up in a very strong position in the most important aspect of the House system, that of the Inter-House Cup. Ruddle were in first place with a very healthy total of 710 points, giving us an excellent lead over the other Houses.

This may well be something that will come back to haunt me, as Niall said in his House address, ‘going into 2022 with such a strong lead should guarantee success, so anything other than 1st place in July would have to be down to Mr Clewley!’ I have been very proud of all of the achievements and contributions from all pupils within Ruddle. We truly are a united House working together and forging strong relationships.

We had outstanding efforts and showings from every team in the inter house University Challenge competitions, Science week competitions, cooking events and most of all Sports Day, where we started strong and were in 1st place briefly before losing ground to the other Houses, most definitely not through a lack of effort or endeavour from our House members. Some notable efforts were made by Benjamin G, who, having only joined the school a week earlier, threw himself into numerous events. Other notable efforts came from James F, Zaynah and Charlotte M and again it was Niall leading through example as he literally dropped everything to run to the start line of the senior 100m event, getting there just in time to fill the space

that had appeared through injury.

Although my role this year has been to focus on the day aspect of the House, we cannot forget that Ruddle is at its core a boarding house and the girls have shown tremendous resilience this past two terms. Mr Deakes expands on this more in his boarding report, but I have been amazed by the positivity and adaptability of the boarding community as they really have taken all of this in their stride. Fingers crossed for no more storm damage and a much smoother year in boarding from September. I think that there needs to be a huge thank you to Mr Deakes and all of the boarding staff for all of their efforts, managing these seemingly endless changes and challenges.

This year saw the first of the annual House dinners (although Ruddle dinner has existed in the past, this was only as a boarding event and this House dinner was a whole community affair). Restaurant 1841 was transformed by Mrs Conway and Mrs Fenwick, ably assisted by Will and Yasmin in Lower Sixth, who laid out all of the decorations and made the venue look truly amazing. We then enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Adam and his amazing team. Niall gave an exceptional speech before introducing our guest speaker Mr Jack Horwell. Jack’s talk about his experiences at Shebbear College and how the relationships forged here prepared him for future life, as well as how being the Head of a Primary school means he has to take all manner of roles, was genuinely interesting and inspiring. Although not part of the planned evening, one of the highlights has to be the determination of the 5th and 6th Form pupils to re-enact a scene from the Disney film, Up, by tying as many helium balloons as possible to Mrs Lovett’s mini speaker, in an aim to get lift off, they did manage it in the end!

The pupils in Ruddle have been representing the House in all areas of the school, academic, drama, sport, music and art. You name it and there is Ruddle representation. I am very proud of them all and the effort they put into their ventures. I am also very pleased to have such an amazing, dedicated team of tutors. Thank you to Miss Kaur, Mr Drake, Mrs Shamsolahi and Mrs Aliberti for all of their time and hard work that goes on behind the scenes. All of the tutors really do have the best interests of their tutees at heart and constantly push for them to get the most they possibly can out of their time at Shebbear College.

Last of all I would like to thank Niall for his hard work as Head of House and welcome Mitzi to the role for next year.

It was great to start the year as WAY HOUSE CHAMPIONS! The hotly contested house cup was awarded to Way House at the last Chapel of the Trinity term 2021. Our new Head of House, Ben, collected the cup on behalf of Way House, but I would like to thank the outgoing Head of House Bridget for her strong leadership which led to the victory. The victory was a testament to the strong family ethos that has grown in Way House over the last year and a great team of pupils who joined in everything they could to ensure we gained as many house points as possible.

This year started with Mr Clewley and Mr Giles continuing as the Way House Sixth Form and Form 5 tutors respectively. We were delighted to welcome Dr Fox (Form 3 & 4) and Miss Richardson (Form 1 & 2) to the tutor team, with Mrs Garnett continuing in Way as well. At Christmas, Mr Clewley took over as Ruddle House Master and we welcomed Mr Wilson into Way House to ably take over as the Sixth Form tutor, ensuring that they had no excuse to be late for registration! I wish to thank the Way House prefects this year, they have been led by Head of House Ben (who was more than happy to transfer in from Thorne House to lead the pupil body!) and all of them (Deputy Head of House Nathan, Jolyon, Yasmin and Charlotte) have been helpful and utterly dependable at all times and are fantastic role models to our younger pupils. They are currently looking at how we can improve the common room even further, after the arrival of our new house furniture in house colours in September.

Covid has continued to affect how we operate as a house this year. At times we were not allowed to meet as a group, meaning house assemblies were virtual and registrations were all taken in tutor rooms. There were also times when parts of our house were working remotely due to high levels of Covid, but we remain a strong unit and we collectively wish our Upper Sixth and Form 5 pupils the greatest of luck with their examination results and wish those who are moving on to pastures new every success.

Aside from a few Covid blips, it has been great to see a return to competitive sport and the performing arts. I have often felt like a proud mother watching the Way House pupils perform this year in sporting fixtures, musical concerts and of course the wonderful production of Grease.

In February I was delighted to host the first Way House dinner at Shebbear College. The pupils were treated to delicious food, entertainment in the form of magic and glass walking and also a speech by Old Shebberian Niall Marks. Niall, whilst not in Way House, was a former tutee of mine who I was very proud to welcome back to Shebbear. He told the pupils how the increasing amount of technology he was introduced to at Shebbear has influenced the way he runs his successful business today. Niall also reminisced about his great days at the college, being with your friends all day long and even mentioned a few little tricks he played on staff but we won’t say any more about that here!

‘VIT VIA VI’ –THE WAY IS FORGED BY STRENGTH –

(WAY HOUSE MOTTO).

Mrs Cardoo Way Housemistress

The 2021-22 academic year has seen somewhat of a return to ‘normal’ life at Shebbear College. With the House system in its second year since being introduced, this normality has allowed Thorne House to grow and thrive, despite some intermittent disruption due to Covid-19 lingering! The sense of identity within Thorne has been stronger than ever, and the competitive nature within our pupils has led to some outstanding contributions from individuals and teams in pursuit of success. The camaraderie between members of Form 1, right up to our Upper Sixth has been a delight to see and the strong sense of belonging to Thorne House as a collective has stood us all in good stead throughout the academic year.

This year has seen a number of newcomers to the House, both within the pupil body and in the tutor team. Forms 1 and 2 have been led by the ever energetic Mrs Sadler-Smith, who has created a really positive environment for the junior members of the House to flourish. Our Form 3 and 4 pupils have had their own tutor groups this year due to the larger size of the group, with Mr Grey joining us and overseeing the development of a talented group of Form 3 pupils, and Miss Barber, supported by the returning Mrs Burges, taking charge of our Form 4 Thorneites. Mr Chandler has been ably assisted by Mrs Davey in supporting our Form 5 members in a year which has seen a return to the normal stresses and strains of public examinations.

Meanwhile, Mr Banyard has taken the reigns in terms of tutoring our 6th Form contingent, and his expertise has been invaluable in supporting our oldest pupils through the rigours of 6th Form life. My utmost thanks go to all members of the tutor team, who have continued to ensure that the best possible pastoral and academic support is always available to each member of Thorne House.

A new Sanctuary team has of course been assembled this year to give pupil voice and representation. Lauren has been an excellent Head of House and has worked tirelessly to support events and rally the troops throughout the year. Lauren’s calm and measured approach has been invaluable in leading Thorne pupils this year, and my thanks go to her. Lauren has been assisted in her duties by Senior Prefect Tom, who has brought his usual good humour and energy to the House this year. A number of Lower 6th Form pupils have also stepped up to fill roles of responsibility, which has been great to see. Mitzi, Will, Carlota and Jack have proven to be a strong prefect team, and the experience will be of great benefit to them next year. Many thanks to you all.

This year has contained so many highs from a House perspective, but one undoubted highlight would have to be the inaugural Thorne House dinner. We took on the baton and responsibility of being the first House to host this event, and a fantastic evening including a Michelin star worthy three course meal and entertainment in the form of a magician ensued. The event was thoroughly enjoyed by all who came and we very much look forward to hosting next year’s dinner already!

In summary, in what has been an extremely busy academic year, the energy and commitment of all members of Thorne House throughout its duration has been remarkable. It has been a pleasure to oversee the development and involvement of our own community within Thorne House in wider school life and I wish all members a restful summer and the very best of luck to all of you who have been involved in exams this Trinity Term.

Mr Law Thorne Housemaster