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Wincanton 2022 Christmas Fair

Wincanton Racecourse

Tuesday 22nd November 10-4pm £5 entry

Clemmie Law, aged 8

Sherborne Prep

Clemmie was 9 months old when she started riding, her mum having safely strapped her into a little wicker basket saddle. 7 years on, she’s still going strong, now riding Rosie, her exracing pony and Reggie, whom she shares with her brother. It’s with Reggie that she has won most of her medals.

A unique and exciting element to Clemmie’s riding is her participation in Tetrathlon – a competition organised by The Pony Club comprising shooting, swimming, running and, of course, riding. Tetrathlon is a variant of, and major recruiting ground for, the Olympic Modern Pentathlon. Competitors progress through the levels with age and having turned 8, Clemmie will now be shooting with air pistols, running cross-country over 1000m and swimming as far as she can in 2 minutes. It’s a special kind of girl who receives a pistol for her 8th birthday!

Clemmie’s Cattistock Hunt Show Jumping Team took first place in the regional championships this year and has already qualified for next year’s event. Not one to rest on her laurels however, Clemmie is quite literally raising the bar and aiming to take on bigger jumps in 2023. She also helped the newly registered Sherborne Prep Show Jumping Team reach third place in their most recent competition.

Clemmie’s bedroom is proudly adorned with her pony’s winning sashes and rosettes. Another challenge for 2023 will be finding room for more!

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KATHARINE DAVIES

PHOTOGRAPHY

Portrait, lifestyle, PR and editorial commissions

07808 400083 info@katharinedaviesphotography.co.uk www.katharinedaviesphotography.co.uk

Children’s Book Review

Hazel Roadnight, Winstone’s Books

The Very Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Tim Lihoreau and Philip Noyce, illustrated by Olga Baumert

(DK Children 2022) £20 hardcover Sherborne Times reader offer price of £18 from Winstone’s Books

This excellent book is many things, all together. Firstly, it’s a picture storybook. Ava and Jayden hear sounds coming from a large, round building that looks like a birthday cake. They sneak inside and find a musician, playing the violin. At this point, the book turns into a fascinating reference book and tells us all about the violin and the piece of music being played. Then, you can press the page and hear the music, actually playing from the book! Through their journey, Ava and Jayden find out about ten different instruments and ten different places and you get to hear ten beautiful pieces of music. It’s an inventive and beautifully illustrated book that can be enjoyed by children of all ages, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and anyone with even the slightest interest in music.

shop.winstonebooks.co.uk

Music to Their Ears

Celebrating 10 Years as Sherborne’s Independent Bookseller 2012-2022 8 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3PX www.winstonebooks.co.uk Tel: 01935 816 128

AT THE TABLE Michela Chiappa FISH PIES IN A MUG

Iam always trying to find creative ways to cook fish as it’s not always a favourite for the kids but is so good for them. My family love these fish pies in mugs; they adore the novelty of having their own mug and it’s a really creative and simple way to cook – you can even get the kids to help you cut the pastry. I find getting the children to help in the kitchen will also help them explore new flavours and meals. Fish pie is one of my personal favourite dishes but a traditional method can be rather time intensive whereas this recipe can be prepared in 10 mins from start to finish. A lovely autumnal meal.

Prep time: 10 mins Cooking time: 20-30 mins Serves 4

Ingredients 600-700g fish (salmon, white fillet or smoked haddock) 300ml creme fraiche zest and juice of 1 lemon fresh parsley (you can also use thyme or dill) 1 pack of pre-rolled puff pastry (approx 320g) salt and pepper

Method 1 Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4. 2 Cut the fish into approx 3cm chunks. 3 Mix the fish with creme fraiche in a medium bowl, adding the zest and juice of lemon. Season with herbs and salt and pepper. Set aside. 4 Use the top of the mug to cut out discs of puff pastry and set aside. 5 Pour the fish mixture evenly into 4 oven-proof mugs. 6 Place a pastry disk on top of each mug (optional - brush pastry with some milk). 7 Bake in the oven for 20-30mins or until the fish is cooked through and the pastry is golden.

@michela.chiappa

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Baby at the Table: A 3-Step Guide to Weaning the Italian Way (Michael Joseph) £16.99. Sherborne Times reader offer price of £14.99 from Winstone’s Books

Simply Italian: Cooking at Home with the Chiappa Sisters (Michael Joseph) £22 (hardcover). Sherborne Times reader offer price of £20 from Winstone’s Books

HERE WE GO…

Mark Roca, Head of Sport, Sherborne Prep

‘In the end, it’s extra effort that separates a winner from second place. But winning takes a lot more than that, too. It starts with complete command of the fundamentals. Then it takes desire, determination, discipline, and self-sacrifice. And finally, it takes a great deal of love, fairness, and respect for your fellow man. Put all these together, and even if you don’t win, how can you lose?’ – Jesse Owens

For me, this quote from Jesse Owens sums up all of the benefits that sport experiences have on a human being, no matter the age. Nelson Mandela also once said, ‘Sports speak to youth in a language they understand.’ Every child can relate to sport; this is why it is important for schools and parents to use it as a tool to support their young children’s development. The physical, social and emotional attributes and skills that are gained, and the experiences they have, from sporting opportunities, help to equip them to deal with the challenges and demands of life.

Our ethos on sport is not too far from the perspective that Jesse Owens portrayed in his quote. We provide the children with sporting opportunities in a structured, competitive and fun environment without any pressure, and we focus on the development of the individual. If we win our competitive fixtures then that is a bonus, however, if we are showing desire, determination, fairness and respect whilst participating, then who is losing?!

I have been a Head of PE at two other schools and worked in three schools before working here and the sporting provision that was available at these establishments cannot even be compared to the provision the students have here. I am amazed by how much sport is put on for these lucky students. In each week we provide one hour of swimming, an hour of PE, 4 hours of games, 1 or 2 fixtures per week and our pupils have enrichment sport 4 days a week after school and on Saturday mornings. A single student could potentially take part in 13 hours of sport in the week – it is remarkable. There are a significant number of students who are currently taking part in rugby, hockey, cricket, football, swimming and gymnastics sessions, every week!

With the introduction of the Pre-Senior Baccalaureate (PSB) at Sherborne Prep, we are evolving our curriculum to provide a truly enriching academic and holistic educational experience for our children. The PSB model places more focus on learning skills and personal characteristics within lessons such as leadership, collaboration, independence, reviewing and improving, and communicating. We are finding that sport naturally provides plenty of opportunity for the students to practice these skills; they are leading the half-time talks, taking turns to lead warm-ups, being given tactical challenges to explore in groups, I could go on…

My aspirations for children in sport? Well, I aim to encourage all of our children to seize the opportunities on offer to them, to enjoy their sporting activities and to learn from them, to become the best version of themselves that they can be.

Sport provides experiences that our children will cherish and remember for the rest of their lives and I am confident they will leave us having acquired a love and passion for sporting activity – for life.

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Andrew Griffin-Raphael, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead (EDI), Teacher of Chemistry, Sherborne School

In schools, we aim to educate our pupils, to create tolerant and compassionate young people, who are confident and empowered to go into the world and aspire to make a difference, to be themselves and to co-exist peacefully alongside people of different beliefs, cultures, backgrounds and diversities.

At Sherborne, we have an LGBTQ+ Society, International Society and the Equality and Diversity Action Group. Diversity Week at Sherborne School raised the visibility of LGBTQ+ support in the School and demonstrated our commitment to pupils, staff and our community to be inclusive and welcoming. An outward display of the School’s commitment was the raising of the Pride flag and colourisation of the Sherborne Penny on social media accounts.

This really brings me to the crux of why I am writing this piece. In April I was appointed to the new role of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead (EDI) in addition to teaching Chemistry. I’m really just at the beginning of my own understanding of the role but the more I learn the bigger the job gets, so where to start? Well, I’m going to start at the end of the title – Inclusion.

I have been told by many people that they are inclusive, and I consider myself to be inclusive. That is, we do not knowingly exclude others because of something we know about them. We even support our inclusivity with statements like ‘I’m not homophobic – I have friends that are gay.’ Or perhaps, ‘I treat everybody equally, regardless of their differences.’ Is this inclusion or just a lack of exclusion?

To be inclusive in a way that makes a difference, something needs to be done. In Sherborne, this means actions need to be taken that allow a person to see that they are welcome to bring all aspects of themselves to the School, whether they are a pupil or a member of staff. As a caring institution with kindness at its core, showing everyone that they are not just accepted but are celebrated for the richness they bring to the School is important. That all are encouraged to flourish and contribute fully, is one pillar of continued success.

Occasionally a student will ask something like, ‘Why do they have a gay rugby team? That’s not inclusive. Why can’t they just be part of a normal rugby team?’ That’s always interesting when you work in a single-sex school. (A quick look at professional sport quickly goes to show that it’s not as simple as just being out, but it is certainly getting better.)

As the EDI role develops, I will champion inclusivity – celebrating the diversity we already have and shining a light on areas where perhaps we do not have pupils or staff represented so that anyone looking in and considering joining us will see that we are ready to welcome them and all of their experiences into our community. Celebrating specific days, weeks and months sometimes seems false but in reality, we use them to remind ourselves and learn a little more about the many different elements of our community and to celebrate their history and successes, whilst taking care to ensure we continue to highlight relevant examples throughout the rest of the year, as part of our normal routine.

A key element here is growing student voice, enabling different students to share their experiences in small groups and hopefully to the wider School community, to help others develop a better understanding of experiences they do not have. For example, having a Chinese-themed meal around Chinese New Year is not the same as knowing what really goes on in a Chinese community over that period and understanding what our pupils are missing out on whilst living in Sherborne. Imagine staying in China and an ‘English Christmas’ being reduced to a turkey roast dinner with a cracker! Having a better understanding of the experiences our friends are missing out on and perhaps being able to share in those experiences will build a community where people are not just included but feel that they belong.

Our primary aim is to educate and prepare boys for the world they are entering whilst making sure our own community demonstrates and grows the values we want them to reflect. Genuinely acknowledging and learning from others’ experiences will transform our young people from knowing the right thing, to doing the right thing. They need to be ready to embrace the diverse range of people they will encounter and know how to learn from them and build inclusive, welcoming communities where people feel they really belong.