I was absolutely delighted to attend our PTFA Burns Night last night. As last year, it was such a fun evening full of laughter and fantastic food, courtesy of Kerry and Sarah, followed by a Ceilidh led by the brilliant Stomping Boondocks.
It has been a fantastic week for English this week. On Tuesday, two brilliant teams of our Form 8 pupils took part in the annual Rotary Youth Speaks competition at Bridport Town Hall.
Team Birds of a Feather – Rosa, Lottie and Louis – delivered a thoughtful and passionate debate on whether game bird shooting should be banned. Team Cosmos explored the ethicality of space travel with impressive insight and maturity. All of our pupils spoke exceptionally well, and we are incredibly proud of the maturity and skill they demonstrated on stage.A huge congratulations to Birds of a Feather, who have been selected for the District Final at Taunton School on Saturday 28th February! We Wish the team the very best of luck as they progress to the next round!
We are thrilled to share that Finlay (Form 7), Violet (Form 3), Beau (Form 4), Lilia (Form 5), and Frank (one of our former pupils) were all shortlisted for this year’s DOMVS Storytime Competition! This year’s theme — “I will always remember how I felt in that moment” — inspired some truly moving and imaginative writing, and we are incredibly proud that so many of our pupils were recognised for their creativity. The shortlisted writers were invited to a special prizegiving event, where Lord and Lady Fellowes presented the awards. Every one of our pupils received a certificate to celebrate their achievement.
A huge well done to all of them — what a wonderful accomplishment!
This week in our celebration assembly we congratulated all the fantastic achievements of our pupils in English this week. We had an exceptional number of Well Done winners this week, as well as a large number of bronze house point badge winners. Our Academic Excellence winners this week were Eben, Penelope, Seb and Rosa. Well done to Romeo, Millie, Phin, Phoebe, Callisto and Lilia for winning the prizes for Commitment, Courage, Creativity and Compassion this week.
Forms 5 and 6 have enjoyed their very first jsax class music lesson with Mrs Emma-Louise Griffin, our new woodwind teacher this term. The pupils had a fantastic introduction to the saxophone, learning the basics of breath control, posture and producing their first clear notes as an ensemble. Mrs Griffin is already inspiring a real enthusiasm for woodwind across the school – teaching J-Sax in curriculum music and leading our Mixed Ensemble – and we are delighted to welcome her to the team. With her wide experience as a woodwind teacher for Wessex Music and across several Dorset schools, the children are in excellent hands, and we’re excited to see their progress as the term continues.
Finally, it was so lovely to hear how well the senior girls got on with their matches this week. Mrs Telfer says; ‘I was so impressed by how hard the U12/U13 girls worked and how well they played in Wednesdays match vs Bryanston. It wasn’t a win as far as the score went, however it was a win on so many levels for each player and the team as a whole. The girls put in a strong performance, working hard across the court and showing great determination to ‘want’ the ball. The shooters converted opportunities well, scoring confidently and applying pressure around the circle. Defensively, players read the game effectively, demonstrating good vision and anticipation to make key interceptions. Players of the match chosen by Bryanston were Rosa and Lottie for their constant effort and game awareness throughout’.
Mrs Wilson also shared how well the U10 team performed at Bryanston – against 3 separate teams! So much improvement from last week with their footwork and movement skills. Players of the match were Alice and Lilia for their attacking work in the circle and shots scored!
We are very proud of the girls and look forward to them making further progress in their Netball!
We hope you have all had a wonderful weekend.
David
