May 1956

THE JUNIOR SCHOOL First of all we should like to offer our sympathy to Miss Gypson, whose father died shortly after the end of term. He had been ill for some time, but his death came as a great shock.

When looking over last term, one is surprised at the great number of things which happened in so short a time. As soon as the General Knowledge was over and done, the "Rookeries" started, and many of the more enterprising stall-holders had made their fortunes in marbles before the ice and snow descended upon us. Then sliding, generally in the most unsuitable places, was the order of the day. After this cold spell, the thaw came quickly, and we just had time to play our one rugger match and be overwhelmingly defeated by St. Martin's before more snow than ever descended upon us, and boxing was the only alternative to somewhat boring walks.

The inter-House boxing resulted in a tie for first place between Ainsty and Elmet, with Alcuin one point behind. This year we gave points for the preliminary bouts, and chose the best and closest fights for the finals. Until nearly the end of February we were unable to play further games, but the fine weather in March gave us just enough time to complete the rugger and soccer House matches, as well as run off the cross-country events.

Alcuin won all their Senior rugger matches, and so gained the shield. Elmet had no difficulty in defeating their rivals in the Middles matches, which speaks well for their chances next year, and Wentworth carried off the honours in the Junior events.

The cross-country was won by Ainsty, with Wentworth a very close second. We ran the competition on the usual lines, each House running against the three other Houses in a league, and with a grand all-against-all championship on the last day. This seems to be as good a way as any of giving everyone exercise when there are not enough playing-fields to go round or when the grounds are unfit for play.

This has been the season of "selection exams.", and candidates have been kept hard at it this term. Boys have been pitting their brains, with varying success, against the wiles of no fewer than twelve different education authorities. No definite results are yet known, but we do know that several boys have already fallen by the wayside.

The health of the School, probably owing to the bad weather, has suffered a little. There has been no real epidemic, but for a very long time the sanatorium has been full or nearly full. We have never had as many as fifty boys away at once, but some two-thirds of the School has had at least one spell of absence, and several boys have had either a second whack of the same germ or else caught a rival disease after recovering from the first.

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