Boarding at St George’s School

BOARDING NEWS MARCH 2018 At last...sunshine! The clocks have gone forwards and my walk across the Watts Playground to

breakfast this morning was straight into a gorgeous sunrise. When you read this newsletter there is

every chance that I will be perched on a rock or stood on a windswept beach on the North

Norfolk coast trying to capture further sunrises on my aging Nikon camera!

I feel very proud to be part of the boarding community here at St George’s and I am

continuously reminded by this on a daily basis either by individual boarders or by groups of

boarders. This is sometimes because of their achievements whether it be in the classroom or in

their exploits during their own free time or on the numerous trips that take place at the weekend.

These achievements are not always obvious and it might be the more subtle, even unexpected,

acts of kindness or moments where someone will put their own needs last in an effort to help

someone else that actually shout the loudest.

The recent trip to watch Aladdin The Musical was a wonderful example of this as some of the

more senior boarders really stepped up to the plate to assist during a couple of busy moments on

the tube and during a frustrating wait at St Pancras when we arrived there only to find the next

two trains to Harpenden were cancelled! Shania, Toni and Mofe - well done on playing your part

in this! Lacrosse and rugby teams have seen boarders representing the School in abundance

and three boys (Gonzalo de Lorenzo, Terence Hitchins and Oliver Shaw) were selected for the St

George’s Dragons XV. There have also been several successes in individual sporting pursuits too.

Eleanor Scranage-Harrison’s skiing success continued over half term with a silver medal in the

slalom at the English Alpine Championships. Micha Sanghera was part of the St George’s fencing

team that won silver at the Hertfordshire Schools Fencing Competition and Anjola Sanni was

awarded ‘Best Student’ at the Jordan Thomas Karate School. In the latest round of

commendations, 21 boarders were recipients of House Commendations and 5 earned a

Headmistress’s Commendation: they were Lolia Amabibi, Juan Azqueta, Eromo Egbor, Tomilola

Oye and Serena Ponton. Well done to you all!

Earlier this term, we welcomed our new Prefect Team headed up by the Boarding Head Boy, Ben

Raeves, and Boarding Head Girl, Kelly Baker. The team are a unique blend of experience and

new blood in terms of boarding and we are looking forwards to their year in office.

Boarding at St George’s School

On the trips and activities front, many will be saying “We got there in the end!” having had to

postpone two trips because of the unprecedented amount of snow. Trips to The Harry Potter

Experience, Water Zorbing, Top Golf and Aladdin The Musical have been really well attended

and they have run alongside afternoon and evening activities which have included dance,

yoga and the extremely popular knitting! You will shortly be receiving information about the

Summer Term activity programme.

Earlier this term, we welcomed Mrs Lucy Loughlin who is working in Crosthwaite and Keswick

Houses as a non-resident Boarding Tutor. She has settled in really quickly getting to know boys

and girls, as well as staff, and has made what can only be described as a brilliant first impression!

It is with sadness that we say a heartfelt ‘goodbye’ to Mrs Mel Baksalara as she retires. Mel,

affectionately known as ’Mrs B’, has worked at St Georges for 11 years as the Matron in Keswick

House having previously worked at Polam Hall School in County Durham. Mel’s daughter worked

in Skiddaw House for many years and Mel’s granddaughter was a student at the School. Many of

you will also know Jan, Mel’s husband, who also worked at St George’s before taking retirement

last year. It really is the end of an era! Mel and Jan will be moving to Langford which is just

outside of Biggleswade in Bedfordshire to be closer to her family. I know that they will be looking

forward to getting away on an even more regular basis in their much loved motor home! On

behalf of the boarding community at St George’s I would like to thank Mel for all that she has

done during her time here. She will be sorely missed by both boarders and staff.

Boarding at St George’s School

You may well have seen that over the course of the term, plenty of

boarding news has featured on The School’s Facebook page. To keep up

with boarding news in 2018 as well as St George’s news in general may I

take this opportunity to direct you to the school’s Facebook page which

can be found either by clicking on the link to the side of the page or by

visiting...

www.facebook.com/stgeorgesharpenden

We are always keen for you to contribute to the Ofsted ParentView survey, which

a number of parents of both day pupils and boarders have already contributed to.

There are some extra questions on it specifically about boarding which we are

interested in.

Click here to give your views

Click here to see what other parents have said

Dates for your Diary

Sunday 15th April Boarders return. Houses open at 16:00

Saturday 21st April Boarders’ Easter Dinner

Sunday 22nd April Hillingdon Outdoor Activity Centre

Friday 4th May Boarders depart for Exeat weekend at 14:55

Monday 7th May Boarders return. Houses open at 18:00

Thursday 10th May Last day of teaching for Year 11

Sunday 13th May Paintballing

Tuesday 22nd May Last day of teaching for Year 13

Friday 25th May Boarders depart for Half Term at 14:55

I would like to wish you all a Happy Easter. Have a safe journey home followed by a

super holiday. See you in just over a fortnight!

JT