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You are here: Welcome | Newsletters, News and Photo Gallery | Archive News and Newsletters Academic Year 2010/11
NEWS AND NEWSLETTERS FROM RANBY HOUSE SCHOOL
Sports Results - The latest sports results can be found in the Headmaster's Newsletters
NEWSLETTERSSUMMER TERM 2011Click below for the Headmaster's Latest Newsletter
Summer Term 1 Summer Term 2 Summer Term 3 Summer Term 4Summer Term 5
SPRING TERM 2011Click below for the Headmaster's Latest Newsletter
Spring Term 1 Spring Term 2 Spring Term 3 Spring Term 4 Spring Term 5
AUTUMN TERM 2010Click below for the Headmaster's Latest Newsletter
Autumn Term 1 Autumn Term 2 Autumn Term 3 Autumn Term 4
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Emily Mitchell recently became the Champion of the U14 Girls' 300m race at the IAPS National Championships held at the Alexandra Athletics Stadium, Birmingham.
Emily broke the school record she set, at the Leeds meet of 48.0 seconds, by over 4 seconds coming first with a time of 43.93 seconds. Emily has broken the school 1500m record and the 300m record twice in the space of 2 weeks!
The U14 Girls’ 300m race was a well fought contest with a photo finish.
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Our pupils recently performed a stunning Summer Concert in front of their parents, friends, staff and guests. The repertoire was extensive and it was wonderful to see so many pupils actively enjoying their instruments and voices. The concert ended with a fantastic performance by the Orchestra, who played Mission Impossible by Schifrin and then Jamaican Rumber, a traditional West Indian song.
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The recent Summer Fair at Ranby House School was a huge success with pupils, parents, staff, friends and visitors all enjoying a wonderful morning.
The event started with the arrival of the Headmaster, Mr David Sibson, in a helicopter kindly supplied by Kuki Helicopters who also arranged for a Porsche to be available for viewing, much to the delight of many of the parents who took the opportunity to peruse the vehicle!
The children were responsible for many of the stalls and these included a chocolate fondue, “splat the rat”, a “human fruit machine”, face painting, “the good life” who were selling cakes, jams and plants a specific cake stall which, as always, was highly popular, apple bobbing and penalty shoot out.
The Ranby Parents Group ran a BBQ and also served Pimms on the lawn. A fantastic and memorable event, where we were fortunate with the weather too!
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The Board of Woodard Schools (Nottinghamshire) Ltd is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Gavin Horgan as the next Headmaster of Worksop College from September 2012 following the retirement of Mr Roy Collard who has led the College with great distinction over the last 17 years. Mr. Horgan will join Worksop College and Ranby House School from The Glasgow Academy, where he is currently the Deputy Rector.
Mr Horgan was educated at Stonyhurst College and then Oxford University where he read Classics at Exeter College. He has considerable experience in the independent and maintained sectors both in the UK and overseas. Latterly he has held senior teaching and management positions at St George’s College, Buenos Aires and at Archbishop Tenison’s School in London.
Alongside his busy teaching career, Mr Horgan has devoted much energy to several charitable and humanitarian causes including War Child, the Jubilee Action Charity and the Red Cross. He has served as Chairman of Lambeth Safer Neighbourhoods Police Consultative Committee and is a qualified Winter Mountain Leader.
Mr Horgan is married to Alison and they have a 13 month old son, Frederick.
The Governors are confident that in Mr Horgan we have a talented, experienced and indeed inspirational leader who will take our newly unified school on to even greater success and achievement.
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A wonderful afternoon was enjoyed by all those who took part. We were incredibly fortunate with the weather, managing to dodge the heavy rain clouds!
Every child competed in one or more event and there was plenty of encouragement by the children for their teams ensuring an enjoyable contest.
The results were as follows:-
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Years 3 & 4 |
Years 5 & 6 |
Years 7 & 8 |
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1st |
St. Dunstan |
St. Alban |
St. Alban |
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2nd |
St. Columba |
St. Columba |
St. Columba |
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3rd |
St. Benedict |
St. Benedict |
St. Benedict |
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4th |
St. Alban |
St. Dunstan |
St. Dunstan |
Overall joint winners were St Alban and St Columba.
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Mr Gillard, Head of Chemistry at Worksop College, recently visited Ranby House School to discuss and demonstrate rocket launching with our Year 8 pupils.
Mr Gillard is extremely well practised and qualified to explain the technology of rocket launching and flying as a team of Worksop pupils, under the guidance of Mr Gillard recently became the UK finalists, beating off 19 other contestants to become the winners of the UK Aerospace Youth Rocketry Competition. They will now go to the Paris Air Show to compete against the French and American finalists in the International Rocketry Final for the world title.
Mr Gillard explained to the Ranby House pupils the aerodynamics of rockets and the various kinds of rockets, particularly in respect of how they return to earth.
He then demonstrated with many different varieties of rocket by launching them and allowing the pupils to watch their flight up and their return journey to the ground.
A spectacular morning was enjoyed by all the year 8 pupils and our thanks go to Mr Gillard for his demonstration.
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Years 1 & 2 at Ranby House School recently visited the South Yorkshire Police Dog Training School, near Hillsborough in Sheffield together with a visit to South Yorkshire Police Mounted Section at Ring Farm.
The visit supported the pupils work in the PSHE (personal, social health education) part of the curriculum, with a focus on people who help us.
Years 1 and 2 were privileged to witness a specialised training session at the Dog Training School. The dogs took part in a display of obedience and agility with their specialist handlers.
Finally, the pupils headed to Ring Farm which is home to the South Yorkshire Police Mounted Section. Much fun was had by all when the children were actively involved in creating very loud noises using dustbin lids, empty water butts and oversized shakers to recreate the noises which the horses could be exposed to during crowd control exercises at football matches, demonstrations and large scale public events.
After visiting the stables and sitting in the police horsebox, the children were photographed with 'Wadsley' the largest of the horses in the section.
The journey back to Ranby House School was buzzing with conversation about the visit and which of the activities the children had enjoyed the most.
Our thanks must go to South Yorkshire Police for making the visit so informative and enjoyable.
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A wonderful afternoon was had by all at the Nursery Fun Activity Afternoon. Amongst other activities, the children took part in running races, sack races and angel races. In addition there were parent races and sibling races.
The spectators all thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon and the children were delighted to take part in the various activities.
For all the photographs, please click here.
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After their final Common Entrance examination Year 8 very excitedly departed for Walesby Scout Camp where they enjoyed a wonderful and relaxing twenty four hours.
They spent their time involved in outward bound activities and team building exercises. These included raft building, kayaking, a climbing wall, archery and building the highest crate tower possible!
They sat around the camp fire as the sun went down and then slept under canvas. A great time was had by all.
For all the photographs, please click here.
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Harry Betts, having missed out on England U16 selection due to breaking his ankle has made an excellent return to fitness and form.
Harry returned to the pitch in the last quarter of the game for his senior school, Oakham, against Whitgift in the Daily mail Final at Twickenham and made a considerable impact straight away.
Harry was drafted back into the England fold for the Wellington Festival over Easter where he made appearances for the England U16 Blue XV in a hard fought defeat against Scotland Under 17. The squad then regrouped and finished off their festival with a 29-5 victory over the North of England.
Harry, who is part of the Leicester Tigers Academy said – “I was most fortunate to be part of a great set up, and being presented my first England shirt will always be a very proud memory”.
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On a beautiful May day all our Year 7 pupils together with some members of staff boarded a coach bound for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
The pupils enjoyed a very interesting and inspiring day at the park viewing the various sculptures and artefacts, drawing different objects and then creating their own sculpture.
They were enthused by the guides and educators from the park and all the pupils thoroughly enjoyed and gained from this rich learning experience.
Further photos are available to view on the school website.
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For the second year running Ranby House School recently hosted an activity morning for children who attend schools in the locality. The school was thrilled with the very enthusiastic response to the invitation with thirty nine children, more than double the first year's attendance, from ten local schools registering for the Saturday morning of activities which included: Tennis, Orienteering, Cookery, Music & Drama, Athletics, Art & Craft and Design Technology.
The children all undertook three of their favourite activities with specialist staff and had the opportunity to have free time on our newly extended Adventure Playground trail whilst they enjoyed their morning break.
From the look on their happy faces all our visitors enjoyed their activities which they undertook with great enthusiasm and excitement. Many of the children departed with full “goody bags” containing the named key rings, chocolate cookies, windmills and various other artefacts that they had designed, created and made in their various activities.
A very happy morning was enjoyed by one and all.
Further photographs of the children enjoying their fantastic morning can be viewed by visiting our school website and following the link to our photo gallery - www.ranbyhouseschool.co.uk.
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Congratulations to St Columba who recently won the Year 5 & 6 Group Rounders competition.
There was super competitive play from this young group. Excellent batting and thoughtful, supportive fielding. The matches were very entertaining and exciting to spectate.
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All our Year 6 children recently visited two churches in Retford. The Well, which is the Baptist Church and St Michael’s a Church of England church.
They enjoyed a wonderful morning exploring the differences and similarities between the two churches and being shown the various religious symbols and signs.
Our thanks must go to both churches for supporting and encouraging this visit and for accommodating our pupils who all had a thoroughly interesting and happy morning.
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Our Nursery Teacher, Mrs Emma Bowden is very interested in learning outdoors and has undertaken research into Forest Schools. She would like to complete her Masters dissertation on the value of learning outside the classroom with the emphasis on Forest Schools and its ability to motivate children in all aspects of the curriculum.
Studies conducted into the effects of Forest Schools has found that children had an improvement in their confidence, social and communication skills, motivation and concentration, physical skills and their knowledge and understanding.
Mrs Bowden has set up Learning in the Forest sessions to allow our Pre-Prep children to access the wonderful school grounds here at Ranby House School. The children will be accessing activities such as making mini-beast habitats, shelter building, natural artwork and imaginative play along with team building, taking managed risks and exploring the environment throughout the seasons. We are very fortunate in having Mrs Helen Platt-Hawkins, an Art Teacher at Worksop College coming to lead an art workshop with the group.
During the sessions the children are encouraged to take risks and initiate activities as a group. Already we have seen children identify safe places to explore, use sticks as instruments and work together to move logs to make a seating area. They have shown awe and wonder looking up through the canopy of trees with one little girl saying ‘Wow! That is the biggest tree I have ever seen!’ It offers opportunities for children to share their knowledge and learn from others with statements such as ‘Look at this hole, what creatures might live here?’ and ‘The rings show how old the tree is. This one was very old.’
The quieter children seem more confident and the atmosphere in the nursery is one of excitement on a Wednesday morning. Wearing jogging trousers and wellington boots the Nursery head out on another adventure together chatting together. In base camp they share snack discussing what they have discovered that morning.
The next step for Mrs Bowden will be to complete her level three Forest School leader course and for Mrs Sibson and Mrs Barnett to complete their training to ensure that Ranby House School can become accredited as a Forest School. These are exciting times for Ranby House and the development of the school and it is hoped to be able to extend these sessions further up the school.
For all the photographs of our chidren enjoying their Lessons in the Forest, please click here.
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Recently, the extensive new adventure playground at Ranby House was officially opened by the Captains of School together with two members of the Pre-Prep.
The school has had an adventure playground for some years, however the Ranby Parents Group decided to raise money for a more extensive and challenging adventure playground which would provide enjoyment and entertainment for all children at the school.
The official opening of the new adventure trail designed and built by Kompan was celebrated with many families picnicking in the grounds of the school on a slightly blustery but nevertheless dry afternoon before the first exeat weekend.
Our Headmaster, Mr Sibson welcomed families, friends, staff and governors to the opening and thanked the RPG for their generosity in providing the amazing new facility. Each of the four ribbons were cut by four members of the school community, Jake Turner Head Boy, Emily Mitchell Head Girl, Phoebe Emmans and Ptolemy Chapman both members of the Pre-Prep.
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Recently, the Theatre at Ranby House School housed an amazing and wonderful exhibition of pupils art and design technology work from the past academic year which was viewed and enjoyed by proud parents, friends, staff, the school community and governors.
The vibrancy of colour, the use of texture, together with the artistic and design competence of our children was truly awesome.
Mr Davis and Miss Khan put an enormous amount of time and effort to ensure that every child in the Prep School had their work displayed, together with the children from the Pre-Prep School too. It was a fantastic celebration of our pupils work, enthusiasm and dedication.
All the photographs of the exhibition can be viewed on our photo gallery.
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At Ranby House School the Pupil School Council decided to raise money for the very worthy charity, the Red Cross.
On Friday 13th May they encouraged all the pupils in the Prep School to come dressed in mufti with “Crazy Hair”! For this privilege they were each asked to donate £1 to the Red Cross and also to bring in any spare coins to fill an outline of a cross at morning break. The cross was successfully completed with a large amount of small change being used to ensure that a large cross was marked out near the teaching rooms. Over £300 was raised for the Red Cross which was a fantastic achievement.
The children were allowed to dye their hair, frizz it, straighten it, tie it up, wear a wig and generally design a creation that was Crazy! The outcome of some of the hair-do creations was truly remarkable and eye-catching!
The one proviso was that hair needed to be of normal colour and design by Monday morning!
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Congratulations to our Under 14 Girls' Athletics team who recently returned from the Worksop College Athletics Meeting with a trophy to show that they had won their respective section of the event.
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Many congratulations to Elienor Pickles and Daniel McLean on recently gaining a Sports Award from Worksop College.
Ellie received her award for Swimming and Daniel for Cricket.
A fantastic achievement by both pupils, many congratulations on your success.
Recently Year One and Year Two spent the day at Perlethorpe Environmental Centre where they learnt about animal habitats and the historical aspects of Perlethorpe Church and Thoresby Hall.
The morning activities included a walk into the woods where the children built habitats for a fox, badger, rabbit, owl, hedgehog and squirrel. They learnt the animals' need for shelter, protection from predators and camouflage. There were some interesting designs! This was followed by a mini-beast hunt.
It was a perfect day 'Out and About'!
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Having had to postpone our Confirmation Service in December, due to the inclement weather, on Saturday 7th May we welcomed the Bishop of Sherwood to St Augustine's Chapel at Ranby House School for our Service of Confirmation. Fourteen pupil candidates were confirmed with members of the school community, family and friends in attendance.
The service was a wonderful celebration and those receiving this important sacrament were very well supported.
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Recently, the Ranby Parents Group organised a fantastic and vibrant fashion show, with Ranby House pupils modelling the clothes.
The evening was great fun, with the children enjoying their stroll on the catwalk enormously in front of an appreciative parental audience.
The proceeds of the evening will be going towards the next project that the RPG is undertaking.
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Ranby House pupils have celebrated The Royal Wedding in style. The summer term having started earlier in the week, the staff and children were determined to enjoy the day to the full.
All the children in the Prep School came dressed in Red, White and Blue and the Pre-Prep children came dressed as Princes and Princesses.
Although normal lessons took place during the day, the Prep School children watched the Royal Wedding live in the Theatre on a big screen. They watched the guests arriving at the Abbey with excited anticipation and chat. However, once Catherine Middleton and her father arrived at the Abbey doors, they fell into silence with concentration and admiration and you could have heard a pin drop! The children returned to the Theatre for the Royal couple's appearance on the balcony and that all important "first kiss"! Pre-Prep children also had the opportunity to watch parts of the celebrations on the television.
Later in the day Year 3 & 4 children had a street party with “wedding cake” complete with red, white and blue icing, and the Pre-Prep had celebrations of their own with the children having had the opportunity to design and make a crown. They too enjoyed “wedding cake” and at the end of their school day had been invited to a Prince and Princesses Party organised by the Ranby Parents Group.
The older pupils enjoyed a “Royal Tea” in the latter part of the day again consuming “wedding cake” and sandwiches.
A wonderful and exciting day for all the pupils which they will remember for the rest of their lives.
Photographs of the festivities can be viewed on our photo gallery.
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It has just been announced by the BBC that Worksop College is one of the four winners of the BBC Schools' Question Time - an amazing achievement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/schools_question_time/default.stm
Worksop College's Question Time was part of the BBC nationwide competition of which Worksop College was in the final 15 out of roughly 2,000 applicants.
The final stage of the competition was to stage a Question Time which was adjudicated by BBC judges.
After months of preparation the event took place in the Churchill Hall in front of a full house of participating spectators and a panel professionally chaired by Mrs Gail Robson-Bayley. The panel included Rosie Winterton MP, Mark Simmonds MP, Lisa Gee (Director of the Harley Foundation), Jack (pupil at Worksop College & ex-Ranbian) and Rosie (pupil at Worksop College & ex-Ranbian). The event was also streamed live on the web.
For being one of the four winners, two pupils from Worksop College will now join David Dimbleby and the Question Time team for a workshop in May.
They will also get the chance to see behind the scenes of a Question Time production in July.
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On the last day of the Spring Term the whole school gathered in the School Chapel and were led by the school Chaplain, Father Darren Moore, in a very beautiful and uplifting Palm Eucharist. The Vice-Provost, Father Alan Parkinson, was also in attendance. It was a reflective and fitting end to a busy term during the period of Lent.
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Year 7 pupils at Ranby House School recently put on a stunning performance of the famous musical ‘Joseph’. All the children in the year group took part and thoroughly enjoyed entertaining their parents, siblings, friends and staff on two consecutive nights to full-house audiences in the school’s Theatre.
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The U11 girls won two pool matches and, as runners-up in their group, played two more matches placing them third in the tournament which was a fantastic achievement. Congratulations to all those who took part.
The year 7 & 8 Boys’ Group Hockey was recently won by St Dunstan, after some highly competitive and skilled play.
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The Board of Woodard Schools (Nottinghamshire) Ltd has announced exciting plans for the development of Ranby House School over the next two years. Following developments in recent years of the purpose-built Performing Arts Centre and refurbishment of the Chapel, the Governors are now planning a further investment of half a million pounds in classroom development and state-of-the-art teaching facilities.
In response to the increasing trend toward conventional Monday to Friday day schooling for under 13 year olds, the Board also announced the phasing out of boarding and Saturday morning lessons at Ranby House but stressed that competitive sport would continue to be played on Saturdays and the School would maintain its reputation for sporting excellence. The Board also underlined its continuing commitment to the overwhelming educational advantages of prep school education up to the age of 13 and confirmed that under 13s would continue to be educated on the Ranby House campus whilst still benefiting from advantageous curriculum developments which will allow a smoother and more productive transition to Worksop College and other senior schools.
None of these changes apply to Worksop College which has its own ongoing investment programme and where boarding continues to flourish.
Ranby House School and Worksop College will be holding their respective summer Open Days on Saturday May 7th and families and children are warmly invited to attend to view either School and meet the respective Headmasters, staff and pupils. Please click here for further details.
What an exciting and 'heart stopping' afternoon!
In the first round of the Midlands Finals the Ranby House School team faced 3 teams:
v Chellaston (Derbyshire) won 7 - 0 ( this gave us an encouraging start)
v Newcastle (Staffordshire) won 3 - 0
v Leicester GS (Leicestershire) lost 0 - 1
We came first in our group on goal difference.
We then progressed through to the next round and met Bablake School (Warwickshire). At full time the score was 0 - 0 which meant the game was to be decided on penalty flicks.
What a tense time! Three penalty flicks would have been bad enough but we were 'flick for flick' after eight and it was then sudden death (incredible nerve demonstrated by Phoebe Leach GK and Pippa Emmans, Grace Easterbrook and Philippa Wilson who took the flicks). Unfortunately, our last flick hit the post and, as a result, we met Trent College ( Derbyshire) in the semi finals - a hard fought game which we lost 2 - 0.
The girls gave their all and I was so proud of the whole team; they were a credit to Ranby House School.
Final placement - 6/16. Bromsgrove and Kings School both through to the National Finals (Worcs).
Jane Bott
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Year 6 history this year has involved looking at Victorian life. Whilst reading about events that happened more than 170 years ago is all very well there is nothing quite like going back in time and experiencing it for real!
Okay, we don’t actually have a time machine at Ranby House, but a trip to the Workhouse at Southwell run by the National Trust is certainly the next best thing.
Southwell Workhouse was founded back in the 1840s by a local clergyman and funded by the parish. When Year 6 visited it recently not too much had changed since those early days!
The staff, predominantly volunteers, were dressed in period costume and treated the children as genuine, bona fide paupers. Our boys and girls were dressed in workhouse uniform and were treated just as though they had fallen on bad times. The boys and the girls were segregated before meeting the Master and Matron who spelled out exactly what was expected of them. They were then taken under the wing of some adult paupers who knew how to play the workhouse system and gave them the benefit of their wisdom and experience.
We had a tour of the dorms; we saw the work rooms and were told about the jobs we would have to do. The children then had a ‘proper’ Victorian lesson with benches, slates, rote learning, the 3 ‘rs’ and a severe looking school mistress in shawl and bonnet.
The rest of the day included taking a look at various workhouse artefacts and finally some role play where our children got to grips with the reality of workhouse life pretending to be a real Victorian family in a difficult situation.
The aim of the day was to try to make Year 6 realise just what Victorian life might have been like in the workhouse and I think it was a great success due entirely to the superb staff whom put on fantastic performances to transport us back to a former time.
Well done Year 6 on responding so well to the day and well done to the National Trust and Southwell Workhouse who did such a great job!
Fr Darren Moore
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Recently, Year 4 visited The Harley Gallery where they enjoyed a fascinating day which included seeing a very old tree being felled, hearing about Organ building and restoration and they also created some wonderful artwork.
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Recently, Year 3 & 4 visited Creswell Crags and spent a fascinating time visiting and exploring one of the caves and carrying out some practical experiments on ‘Rocks and Soils’ to support their curriculum.
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Former Ranby House pupil, Harry Betts, is to play in the rugby final of the Daily Mail Cup on 6th April 2011 at the hallowed ground of Twickenham for his senior school. This competition is for the U18 age group and Harry, age 16 years will be playing up two years as he is currently in Year 11.
It is a fantastic honour to have been selected at such a young age and reflects on Harry’s sporting prowess, determination and ability.
On a sunny spring day at Cannock, the boys came third in their pool, but then went on to perform much better in the play off tournament, winning their next two games against St. Bede’s and Thomas Telford schools. Ranby House came ninth out of the sixteen schools.
For our team of participants, a very enjoyable festival of hockey.
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Will Woods and Luke Jones, both of who are ex-Ranby House School pupils and now in the Upper Sixth at Worksop College have gone through to the finals of the BBC Schools’ Question Time.
Worksop College's Question Time is part of the BBC nationwide competition of which Worksop College is in the final 15 out of roughly 2,000 applicants.
The final stage of the competition is to stage a Question Time which will be adjudicated by BBC judges.
After months of preparation the event will take place in the Churchill Hall in front of a full house of participating spectators and a panel professionally chaired by Mrs Gail Robson-Bayley. The panel includes Rosie Winterton MP, Mark Simmonds MP, Lisa Gee (Director of the Harley Foundation), Jack (pupil at Worksop College & ex-Ranbian) and Rosie (pupil at Worksop College & ex-Ranbian). The event will be streamed live on the web.
The driving force in terms of the preparation and delivery process involved in the finals has been led and instigated by the two pupils themselves.
For further information and tickets please visit the dedicated website that has been created especially for this event:-
www.worksopcollegequestiontime.co.uk
Many congratulations to the following Year 8 pupils who have recently received the following Scholarships, Awards and Exhibitions to their senior school:-
Eleanor Payne Worksop College
(Music Exhibition)
Gabriella Dunn Lincoln Minster
(Sports Award)
Scarlett Clarke Queen Margaret’s
(Dance Scholarship)
Emily Mitchell Repton School
(C B Fry Award, Sports Exhibition)
George Duncan Worksop College
(Academic Scholarship)
Millie Wan Marriott Worksop College
(Academic Scholarship)
Isabelle Woods Worksop College
(Academic Exhibition)
Henry Pymm Worksop College
(Sports Award)
Aggi Smith Worksop College
(Sports Award)
Recently, Year 4 visited Jorvik and 'The Dig' in York.
The children were very excited to be given the opportunity to be archaeologists for the morning and using trowels they excavated artefacts from Roman, Viking, Mediaeval and Victorian times. They also sorted and examined bone, pottery, shell and brick and studied the skeleton of a Viking warrior.
The educational experience for the pupils was fantastic and they all thoroughly enjoyed themselves too.
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Recently, the Bassetlaw Orienteering Festival took place at Ranby House School on a fine but chilly afternoon.
Six schools attended each with a team of 12 children – Sir Edmund Hillary Primary, St Joseph’s RC Primary, Sturton Le Steeple Primary, Carr Hill Primary, Ranby Primary and Ranby House School.
It was a festival of orienteering to introduce the children to this exciting activity and although the children were timed, it was a non-competitive event.
There were three courses, a short course, a labyrinth and a longer course across the extensive school grounds.
Some parents and friends came to spectate and all those who took part had a fantastic and enjoyable afternoon.
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For Friday 11th March the Boarders’ Forum at Ranby House School had invited day children to come and have fun and board for the night in aid of Red Nose Day. It was agreed that the boarding fee would go towards raising funds for Comic Relief. In total 26 day children took up the offer to board for the night – unfortunately not everyone who wanted to join in the evening was able to stay, owing to a shortage of beds as three of the dormitories are uninhabitable at present, having been badly flooded at the end of last year during the icy conditions.
After school the children made delicious Red Nose Biscuits with the Headmaster and then undertook exciting and fun games in the Sports Hall organised by the duty staff.
Later, the Year 7 & 8 boarders put on a “Do Something Funny For Money” Variety Show for the younger boarders. This was highly entertaining and thoroughly enjoyed by one and all.
Just over £800 has been raised by the Boarders’ Forum for Comic Relief, a fantastic achievement by all those who took part.
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Ranby House School is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of its founder, Revd Nathaniel Woodard. Woodard, whose contribution to the Victorian education system is widely believed to be the most influential of any individual, but who remains a relative unknown in today’s society.
Monday 21st March will see bicentennial birthday Eucharists celebrated simultaneously throughout all Woodard Schools in the UK. Ranby House will be celebrating by holding its weekly Eucharist Service at 8.45am on Monday 21st March. All pupils in the Prep School will be attending along with parents, school governors and friends of the school.
In addition, services will take place in Cathedrals in Exeter, Newcastle, Peterborough, Blackburn, Llandaff and Rochester. The day will also be celebrated with the launch of the book ‘In search of Nathaniel Woodard, Victorian Founder of Schools’, written by David Gibbs.
Monday is the most significant day in a year-long calendar of events to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary, culminating in a service at Westminster Abbey in November, which will be attended by senior members of the Royal Family.
The Revd Canon Nathaniel Woodard recognised the importance of excellent education for all sectors of society. He began to realise this vision when he purchased 500 acres of land and started to build Lancing College, and the foundations of its famous Chape,l in 1868. This was the first of the Woodard Schools, which reflect his aim “to provide a good and complete education…of sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly grounded in the Christian faith.”
Worksop College was the last school to be founded by Nathaniel Woodard in his lifetime. Worksop College was opened in 1895, four years after Woodard died. When the College outgrew its then facilities in 1948, the Junior School was moved to Ranby House where the current Prep School was established.
Now the family of schools includes maintained sector schools in some of the most challenging inner city areas of the country and Academy projects.
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Many congratulations to St Columba on winning the Year 5 & 6 Group Football competition. As always the games were played with good humour, great skill and strong house spirit.
Five staff at Ranby House School recently ran the Retford Half-Marathon in aid of Cancer Research UK.
Darren Davis, Amina Khan, Nicola Cole, Chris Ward and Mark Pymm, all teaching staff at Ranby House together, with Helen Platt-Hawkins who used to teach at Ranby House but is now at Worksop College, as well as Jonathan Exley (husband of a member of staff at Ranby House), all ventured out recently on a cold and damp Sunday morning to run the Retford Half-Marathon.
Cheered on by their family and friends and despite some staff carrying training injuries they all completed the course and were delighted with their achievement.
If you would like to support them by donating to Cancer Research UK, a very worthy charity, please go to http://www.justgiving.com/Ranby-House.
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Thank you to all the parents that played in the 'friendly' Netball recently. It was a very successful and enjoyable evening. The staff were beaten 9- 5. The game was very competitive and there was some excellent play from both teams, but good humour abounded!
We are looking forward to a ladies Staff v Parents Rounders match and mens Cricket match in the summer term, date to be arranged.
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Jan Richardson MBE, Chair of Woodard Academies Trust, was honoured by The Queen on Thursday 10 March during a day of investitures. Jan was awarded an MBE for services to education and to the community in Nottinghamshire.
Her exemplary commitments have been to a youth education charity, SkillForce; the Academies Board of Woodard Schools; the Nottinghamshire Education Business Alliance, the Board of Woodard Schools (Nottinghamshire) Ltd, and as a Justice of the Peace at the Families Division, Mansfield.
Speaking just after the event, Jan commented: “The Queen spoke specifically to me about my work with the academies and SkillForce and how they support young people. The Palace was absolutely stunning and I felt humbled. As inspired as I was today surrounded by exceptional people, I am equally inspired, encouraged and supported by wonderful people at Woodard and SkillForce who are committed to improve the lives of young people and help them to make the most of their opportunities”.
Woodard Corporation Chairman Tom Fremantle agrees: “Jan’s contribution to children and young people stands out as an example to everyone. She is an inspiring, imaginative and generous colleague and friend here at Woodard.”
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Many congratulations to St Alban on winning the Year 7 & 8 Group Football competition. As always the games were played with good humour, great skill and strong house spirit.
Once again Book Week proved to be an action-packed event.
The storyteller Adam Bushnell, kept pupils entranced with stories of dragons and Jade Emperors. The Chinese artist Choi Chin, introduced pupils to the delicate art of Chinese painting and the children were also entertained by an authentic Lion Dance Troupe, complete with gongs, drums and cymbals.
As always, the highlight for many pupils was the opportunity to dress up. This year the children in the Prep School all came dressed in a Chinese theme and the Chinese Banquet lunch was greeted with huge excitement and enthusiasm.
The school was alive with colour, laughter and smiles.
Please click here for page 1 and please click here for page 2 of a montage of photographs from the Book Week. To view further photographs of the exciting week, please follow the link to the photo gallery.
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Five members of Ranby House School staff (Chris Ward, Darren Davis, Amina Khan, Mark Pymm and Nicola Cole) will be running the Retford Half Marathon on Sunday 13th March on behalf of Cancer Research UK. As a staff we appreciate how much you and your family contribute, through the school, to various charities but if you would like to make a donation in support of their endeavours for this worthy charity, please feel free to do so using the following link:- www.justgiving.com/ranby-house
Recently, Worksop College held their Preparatory Schools’ Cross Country meeting. This year, the meeting was attended by 12 prep schools.
Ranby House School took the U13 Boys’, U13 Girls’, U11 Boy’s and U11 Girls’ Cross Country Teams. All the teams performed extremely well.
The Under 13 Boys’ and Under 13 Girls’ teams won their respective competition with a score of 17 points.
Special mention should be given to Emily Mitchell who won the Under 13 Girls’ race and to Joel Phillips who won the Under 11 Boys’ race. There were also good performances from Oliver Dane, George Finlay, Aggi Smith, Henry Pymm, Freddie Haith, Philippa Wilson, Ellie Payne, Ellie Pickles and Ellie Jackson who all finished in the top 10 places.
As a result of the tremendous efforts and achievements by all the Ranby House runners, the school was awarded the Champion School Trophy for the meeting.
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Recently, the U11 Girls’ Hockey Team represented Ranby House in an attempt to qualify for the Regional finals.
Their performance on the night at Worksop College was excellent. They played well together as a team and supported each other in both attack and defence. Special mention must go to Abigail Speight and Fenella Snipe who each scored a hat trick.
The parents were thrilled to watch the action as the tournament progressed over two hours.
The results were as follows:-
v Grosvenor School – won 4-0
v Linby School – won 8-1
v St Peter’s C of E Primary – won 4-0
The Ranby House team were winners of the tournament and will now represent Nottinghamshire in the Regional Finals, along with Grosvenor School who were runners-up. This will be held at Cannock Hockey Club on Tuesday 29th March. Well done everyone and good luck in the Finals.
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The Chairman of Governors of Worksop College and Ranby House School today announced the planned retirement of Mr. Roy Collard at the end of the Summer Term 2012. By that time, Mr Collard will have completed 38 years devoted to delivering an outstanding education to two generations of young people, including 18 years of distinguished service as Headmaster of Worksop College and latterly with responsibility for Ranby House School.
Roy Collard has built Worksop College into one of the Midlands’ leading HMC independent schools and has recently initiated the amalgamation of Ranby House and Worksop College into a single school offering independent education to boys and girls from 3 to 18 years, including boarding provision for local, national and international students.
Ranby House and Worksop College are part of the Woodard Foundation. Established by Nathaniel Woodard in 1848, all Woodard Schools have an outstanding reputation for providing academic excellence coupled with unrivalled pastoral care, and Worksop College and its prep school Ranby House both focus on the individual child in an environment where every student is valued for themselves and encouraged to give their very best.
Arrangements for governors, staff, parents, and current and former pupils to thank Mr Collard for his services to education and the schools will be announced nearer the time.
In the meantime, the Board of Governors are recruiting a successor with the vision and talent to continue the excellent work of Mr. Collard and to take this strong and successful school forward in the 21st Century.
Ranby House School pupils had a wonderful ‘World Maths’ Day on Tuesday March 2nd in which the whole school participated in the online mental maths challenges.
During the ‘live’ period of World Maths Day, pupils at the school answered more than 37,000 correct questions, contributing to a massive score of more than 428 million correct answers around the world.
Congratulations must go to Samuel Ratcliffe, a year 7 pupil, who answered an astonishing 3197 correctly.
Recently, pupils from Ranby House School attended the Worksop College Prep Schools' Chess Tournament. After some good play, the U11A & U11B teams both won their trophies.
The U13A team were undefeated, winning two matches and drawing two matches. A good performance was put in by all the players in the team, but not quite good enough to win the trophy.
The U13B team, on the day were outplayed, although they fought each board very hard.
Congratulations must go to all our pupils who took part in the tournament.
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Recently children in the Pre-Prep had a wonderful time experiencing Chinese culture and tradition which they thoroughly enjoyed and gained huge benefit from.
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Recently, three teams of Ranby U13 Boys and Girls took part in the Nottinghamshire County Rounds of the Schools' National Mini Hockey Competition.
This was held on the new astro turf at Worksop College and involved both State and Independent schools.
The games were played in good spirit and a high level of skill was displayed. Many of the children demonstrated great determination and improvement as the Competition progressed throughout the evening.
The final result:
Ranby Girls' B team, Runners Up
Ranby Girls' A team, Winners
After an exciting end to the boys' competition, the final placement was decided on penalty flicks.
The final result:
Grosvenor School, Runners Up
Ranby Boys’ A team, Winners
All three of our teams are now eligible to play in the Midlands' Regional Rounds to be held at Cannock next month.
Well done to everyone who participated and who tried their very best.
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Congratulations to all the pupils who took part in this year’s Individual Music Festival.
Preliminary rounds, held over a four day period, were adjudicated by members of the teaching staff. A representative number of pupils were chosen to go forward to the three finals, held on the afternoon of Thursday 10th February.
These finals were adjudicated by Mr. Tim Uglow, Director of Music at Worksop College. The finals provided nearly seven hours of entertainment and competition.
The results are as follows:
Junior Final winners: Eleanor Smith (guitar); Abbie Willgoose (woodwind); Douglas Barnes (Year 3 piano); Harriet Brown (Year 4 piano); Dominic Leach (voice); Alex Daubney (percussion); Imogen Bennett, Eleanor Smith and Florence White (junior ensembles).
The overall shield winner was Harriet Brown.
Intermediate Final winners: Nathanael Durham (guitar); Megan McKay (strings); Ellen Knight (clarinet); Emilie Pymm (flute); Alice McShane (Year 5 piano); Megan McKay (Year 6 piano); Patrick Gallagher (percussion); Emily Tarbatt (Year 5 girls’ voice); Millie Groves (Year 6 girls’ voice); Eleanor Cooley, Megan McKay, Ellen Knight, Abigail Speight and Chloe Waring (ensemble).
The overall shield winner was Megan McKay.
Senior Final Winners: Claudia Bowring (guitar); Nathan Barrow (strings); Martha Dowding (clarinet); Charlotte Willis (flute); Phillippa Wilson (piano); James Tarbatt (percussion); Will Clothier (boys’ voice); Emily Blackmore (girls’ voice); Grace Easterbrook, Charlotte Willis and Alice Exley (ensemble).
The overall shield winner was Charlotte Willis.
The photograph below shows the Junior finalists with winner Harriet Brown.
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The photograph below shows the Intermediate finalists with winner Megan McKay.
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The photograph below shows the Senior finalists with the winner Charlotte Willis and the adjudicator Mr Timothy Uglow.
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Following on from their English studies of Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, and to extend and develop their knowledge, 7A recently visited the Holocaust Centre at Laxton where they went on 'The Journey' and then had an amazing talk from Steven Mendlesson, a holocaust survivor.
The children gained an enormous amount from their visit and talk and it added to their understanding of the events of the holocaust and what it was like to by a Jewish child at that time.
In addition the children have had the opportunity to pack a suitcase as if they were going on the Kindertransport and to discuss with their families what they would wish to take.
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On a cold and very wet Saturday morning, on the 5th February, the Ranby House School Cross Country Team travelled to Kirkby in Ashfield for the County Schools’ Cross Country Championships, having previously become Champion School in the Bassetlaw District Cross Country and were therefore representing Bassetlaw at the County Finals.
We are delighted that after a very wet, slippery and muddy run the Ranby House team were the overall Schools’ County Champion for the Year 7 Boys’ Race and runners-up for the Year 7 Girls’ Race. They were also part of the Bassetlaw Team who became District Champions.
The joint team from Worksop College & Ranby House School for the Year 8/9 Boys’ race and the Year 8/9 Girls’ Race, although not in the final placings, put in some very strong individual performances. In particular, Emily Mitchell who came in 9th and is now the County Reserve runner and is hoping to attend the National event.
As was the case at the Bassetlaw Championships, there were some superb individual results. In particular excellent performances were put in by George Finlay (2nd), Oliver Dane (3rd) and Freddie Haith (7th) in their Year 7 Boys’ race and Philippa Wilson (3rd) in the Year 7 Girls’ race.
A fantastic effort and achievement by all those who took part.
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On the evening of Thursday 3rd February a number of parents and staff took the opportunity to display their skills on the 5-a-side football pitch.
Some great skills were shown and on this occasion the staff claimed the bragging rights with a hard fought aggregate win. Great spirit was displayed on the pitch and a well-deserved drink at the Chequers Pub finished the evening.
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The Group Cross Country took place earlier this week with huge team spirit and determination by all runners. Year 3 & 4 pupils ran a shortened course, Year 5 & 6 ran the intermediate course and then Years 7 & 8 ran the full cross country track.
Many congratulations to all the pupils on their efforts in securing their places and congratulations to St Benedict Group on being the overall winners.
The placings of the Groups were as follows:-
1ST - St. Benedict
2ND - St. Dunstan
3RD - St. Columba
4TH - St. Alban
For a more detailed breakdown of placings, please click here for the overall results.
Please click here for the winning placements.
Ranby House School raised an impressive amount of money from the Art & DT Exhibition held in the summer term 2010. Half the money raised has already been presented to the Chernobyl Children’s Project. The pupil School Council decided that they would like to donate the other half of the money to a very worthwhile school project based in Zambia, called the Ituna Community Project.
The Ituna Community Project was registered as a UK based charity in July 2006 to work in partnership with the Racecourse community in Kitwe, Zambia. Their mission statement continues to focus their actions:- "To empower Ituna Community School, Kitwe, Zambia, to develop a self-sustaining educational facility which positively impacts the future lives of the children and wider community."
Dr Mary Grafton one of the Trustees of the project and the Treasurer recently attended a Chapel service at Ranby House School where she was presented with a cheque for £420 from the pupils.
For further information on the Ituna Community Project, please click here.
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Recently, Olympic hopeful Senior and Junior Triple Jump Champion Laura Samuel together with GB 800m Runner Charlotte Best joined Ranby House School pupils who were taking part in a sponsored activity for the Sports For Schools Challenge.
Some of the money raised will go towards Ranby House School who have decided to donate their monies (hopefully in the region of £1,000) to the Cedar Foundation, which facilitates positive social change in Bulgaria by assisting in the provision of quality, community-based care for disadvantaged children and young persons. The remainder of the money will be received by Sports for Schools, who make contributions towards the training costs and resources for young hopefuls working towards the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The pupils took part in four different strenuous physical activities over the course of the morning. However, the real excitement was when Laura Samuel gave a demonstration of her skills as a Triple Jump Champion to the whole school and staff.
The photograph shows the two sportswomen with four of Ranby House School’s hopeful sports scholarship candidates who will be sitting a Scholarship to their respective senior school shortly.
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The Ranby House School “Mummers Group” celebrated its twenty-third year of operation by performing "St. George and the Dragon" – a traditional Mummers’ Play - a total of seven times in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, the charity having been chosen by the pupil performers.
The performances were held at a number of private houses as well as the school. Unfortunately, some of the performances before Christmas had to be cancelled due to the snow.
However, despite the inclement weather, the total raised was £1320 (a new highest figure for this event!). The picture shows the children with the cheque, for an impressive amount, before it is presented to a representative of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
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Pupils in Year 6 recently visited the Lowry Gallery, in Manchester, where they enjoyed an extremely interesting and informative day enhancing their study of the arts.
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Year One and Two children in the Pre-Prep had a very exciting visit to Creswell Crags last week.
They were split into the Mammoth Tribe and the Lion Tribe and each tribe was led to a cave by Nicklin, 'a cave woman', who told them the story of Luti and the Wolf. It was very dark in the cave so the children were glad of their helmets with lights on.
Following the visit to the caves, the children went for an 'archaeological dig' where they found hidden bones of reindeer, hyena, horse, wolf, lion and bison. The pupils learnt how to use a shovel, a trowel and a tooth brush to clean off the sand. They were amazed and astounded and could not believe that the mammoth tooth found measured 30 cms!
A very exciting and informative day was enjoyed by all the pupils.
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On Friday 14th January a team of runners from Ranby House School attended the Bassetlaw District Cross Country Championships held at Mount St Mary's.
Ranby House School were the overall winners for the Year 7 Boys Race and the Year 7 Girls Race. The joint team from Worksop College & Ranby House School won the Year 8/9 Boys Race and the Year 8/9 Girls Race.
There were also some superb individual results as shown in the table of placement below. In particular superb performances were put in by Oliver Dane, Philippa Wilson and Tom Winning who all came first in their respective races, followed very closely by other members of the Ranby House Team.
A fantastic achievement by all those who took part. Many of our runners have gone on to qualify for the County Championships in early February.
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PLACE |
YEAR 7 BOYS |
PLACE |
YEAR 7 GIRLS |
PLACE |
YEAR 8/9 BOYS |
PLACE |
YEAR 8/9 GIRLS |
|
1 |
O. DANE |
7 |
M. FOULDS |
10 |
H. PYMM |
3 |
E. MITCHELL |
|
2 |
G. FINLAY |
6 |
J. GREGORY |
9 |
A. SMITH |
5 |
E. PAYNE |
|
12 |
C. JONES |
1 |
P. |
1 |
T. WINNING |
22 |
P. EMMANS |
|
7 |
F. HAITH |
8 |
M. |
2 |
L. REEP |
2 |
G. HIRD |
|
21 |
H. MAW |
10 |
O. STOCKS |
4 |
H. GRAHAM |
7 |
R. HAITH |
|
13 |
H. RIDDLE |
9 |
G. EASTERBROOK |
35 |
T. HORNER |
27 |
S. ANGLE |
|
|
|
22 |
P. LEECH |
38 |
T. SMITH |
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Worksop College and Ranby House School Governor, and Woodard Schools (Nottinghamshire) Ltd board member Jan Richardson, has received an MBE for services to education and to the community in Nottingham. This reflects her outstanding contribution to a number of voluntary and public service organisations as a trustee, board member, and Justice of the Peace, in Nottinghamshire, regionally and nationally, with significant commitments to two educational charities.
Her exemplary commitments have been to a youth education charity, SkillForce; the Academies Board of Woodard Schools; the Nottinghamshire Education Business Alliance, the Board of Woodard Schools (Nottinghamshire) Ltd, and as a Justice of the Peace at the Families Division, Mansfield.
Her peerless commitment, great wisdom and unquestionable dedication to Woodard Schools (Nottinghamshire) Ltd and the Woodard Academies Trust have earned her enormous respect within the Woodard family.
Woodard Corporation Chairman Tom Fremantle commented: “Jan’s contribution to children and young people stands out as an example to everyone. She is an inspiring, imaginative and generous colleague and friend here at both Worksop College and Ranby House School; both schools extend their congratulations to her; it is a much deserved award.
“Jan has taken a leading role in Woodard Schools (Nottinghamshire) Ltd which educates 750 children in the private sector, encouraging closer ties with the maintained sector. She volunteered to help in the early stages of the Woodard Academies Trust to enable new Academies to benefit from the experience of Woodard schools, and she has recently been appointed its Chairman. In short, she is a remarkable inspiration to all who come in contact with her.”
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The day after the end of term, the non teaching staffs at Ranby House School and Worksop College held their annual Christmas Lunch and Raffle. Each year the profit of the raffle goes towards supporting a local worthy cause. The staff decided this year that they would like to support the renal dialysis unit at Bassetlaw Hospital so the £600 raised will be given to Bassetlaw Hospital in the New Year.
Pupils, staff, families and friends all enjoyed a wonderful celebration of traditional Christmas readings and music in St Augustine's Chapel to conclude the end of the Autumn Term and the start of the Christmas holidays.
The Chapel Choir sang magnificently and the children who were chosen to undertake the readings read superbly.
The roof of the chapel was nearly raised during the final carol of Hark the Herald Angels Sing. A truly wonderful celebration to round off a very busy, industrious and enjoyable term.
On Tuesday 7th December we were delighted to welcome a parent, Mrs Baxter, to our chapel service to inform us about the Chernobyl Children’s Project UK.
Half of the proceeds from last summer’s Art & DT Exhibition were donated to this project after the school council deliberated as to where the proceeds should be sent.
Mrs Baxter explained, to the pupils, the Chernobyl disaster, the after effects and how the money would help the children that live in Belarus to spend time away in the UK for very special holidays.
At the end of the chapel service the children presented a cheque for £423.00 to Mrs Baxter who received it on behalf of the Chernobyl Children’s Project UK.
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On Friday 10th December the Boarders took part in their very own talent show – ‘Snow Factor’! The evening was organised and hosted by our Gap Students and was a huge success. There were dancers, singers, instrumentalists, practical jokes and hilarious sketches. The junior boys even turned themselves into a Christmas tree! Well done Mr Sheen, Miss Fisher and all the boarders on producing a thoroughly entertaining evening.
More Christmas festivities were enjoyed on Sunday evening as the boarding community sang Carols around a roaring fire in the Main Hall before tucking into Mince Pies, Christmas Cake and Hot Chocolate!
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The Pre-Prep production of ‘Children of the World’ took place on Thursday 9th December.
The story began 'in the heavens' where the angels, Year 2 girls, found out which countries they would visit to discover different Christmas traditions. Children from Year 1 sang a Polish song and performed an American cheerleading song and dance routine. Reception children, dressed as Chinese and Irish children, sang and danced whilst Year 2 boys narrated the story, dressed as Australians.
Mrs Pat Connor, Head of Pre-Prep said “this vibrant production, rehearsed in three days due to the extreme weather conditions of the previous week, was a resounding success owing to the childrens’ enthusiasm and played to an appreciative audience in the school's Theatre”.
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As part of a series of new initiatives aimed at promoting activities in the playground, Ranby House School recently invited Wendy De Burnay, the Principal of De Burnay’s School of Dance, Retford, to provide a taster session on Cheerleading for children in Nursery and Reception and then a Cheerleading activity for children in Years 1 & 2 of the Pre-Prep.
The children enjoyed a wonderful afternoon experiencing this amazing dance form and great fun was had by all those who participated.
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Ranby House School are thrilled that Year 6 pupil, Megan McKay, has just won a place in the Under 12’s National Children’s Orchestra. Megan, who is a highly accomplished and talented musician plays both the violin and piano and also attends, on a Saturday, the Junior Royal Northern College of Music.
Rachel White, Director of Music at Ranby House School, said “this is an amazing achievement and we are delighted that Megan has won a place in this highly talented and prestigious orchestra”.
On two consecutive nights the Year 6 children at Ranby House School recently put on a stunning performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the delight of parents, friends and staff.
From the amazing Willy Wonka and the Oompa Lumpus to Charlie Bucket and the other Golden Ticket winners the children entertained, amused and thrilled their audiences.
Mr Tony Mingham, Head of Drama, said “I am grateful to all the staff who have assisted in the production, but most of all to the pupils for their enthusiasm, good humour and effort.”
For further photographs, please click here.
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Recently, Ranby House School entertained Tuxford School in the opening match of the Bassetlaw Schools Chess Competition. After some close boards Ranby House won the match 7-2.
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A team of nine represented Ranby House School at this years British Schools Orienteering Championships that were held in Wormley Woods, near Broxbourne, in Hertfordshire.
Over 160 schools attended, bringing around 700 runners. We all had early starts so did not have much time to spare once we had arrived at the event
The school was entered in the Middle/Prep Schools section of the championships and we were looking to improve on the 9th place that we achieved last year. After a long wait, during which time many other runners went around our course, we found out that we had come in 5 th place overall in our schools category.
Individually, everyone did well and got around their respective courses. Well done to Alan Brown, Huw Brown, James Recaldin, Oliver Wilson, Jordan Burke, William Paul, Abi Nicholson, Amy Johnson and Tom Clough on such a good performance.
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For Children in Need, the Boarders’ Forum, comprising of boarders from Ranby House School, decided to invite day children to board for the night on Friday 19th November. Over 40 children accepted the invitation to board and it had been agreed that their casual boarding fee would be donated to Children in Need.
With so many additional children “booked in” for boarding, the Boarders' Forum decided to ensure that additional monies were successfully raised for Children in Need. It was decided to hold a sponsored 'Eat with a Cocktail Stick Challenge'. There were three categories; Mini Jelly Babies, Raisins and Cold Baked Beans. The children were sponsored to eat as many as they could in 30 seconds using only a cocktail stick!
The children also played games such as “Pin the bow-tie on Pudsey” and pop the balloon and participated in various team activities which ensured that a fantastic evening was had by everyone who took part. The two dedicated boarding houses were buzzing with excitement, activity and enjoyment.
Mr Rob Searle, Head of Boarding, said that the evening “was a huge success with nearly £3,000 having already been raised with still further sponsorship to be returned”.
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On Friday 19th November on a cold, damp and foggy day the U11 Girls’ Hockey Team headed for Repton School for the IAPS U11 Girls’ Hockey Tournament accompanied by Mrs Cole and Mrs Bott.
Finding themselves in a tough group the girls did very well and played their way through to the second round. After a well fought match against The Elms, Colwall, the score was nil all. The match therefore went to a nail biting finish with penalty flicks. Ranby House were ‘pipped at the post’ by The Elms School who went through to the next round.
A great day of hockey was enjoyed by all. The girls’ showed excellent potential and skill, together with good sportsmanship. Well done to all those who took part.
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With the generosity of our parents and pupils, as well as the staff, Ranby House School is delighted to have been able to send 170 Christmas Shoe Boxes to this year’s Samaritans Purse Appeal, (40 from the Pre-Prep and 130 from the Prep School).
The shoeboxes have been thoughtfully filled with toys, accessories, toiletries and sweets for boys and girls in areas of the world where there is great poverty and hardship.
This year our shoeboxes are destined for The Crimea in Russia.
A volunteer, from Samaritans Purse, who collected the shoeboxes said that our boxes from Ranby House would be added to over 2,000 collected from the Doncaster area.
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On Saturday 13th November 2010, Year 4 gave a superb performance of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. This version was written by Jacqueline Wilson in which the beast is a giant slug (played by Charlie Furniss). Beauty (played by Harriet Brown) is a girl who can’t stand slugs! All Year 4 were involved as either Beauty’s family, the Beast’s willing hands or as part of the garden!
Very well done to all those involved for providing a fantastic and entertaining morning for their parents and friends.
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The Year 5 & 6 Girls’ Group Hockey was held last Wednesday on a cold autumnal afternoon. This did not dampen the girls enthusiasm and there was some excellent play together with a strong competitive spirit. After a well fought competition, St Columba emerged as victors, with St Alban second, St Dunstan third and St Benedict in fourth place.
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Five Ranbians travelled to Culford School on Sunday 7th November to trial for the Midlands Prep School Barbarians.
The boys were Aggi Smith, Callum Huddlestone, Jake Turner, Henry Pymm and Joel Phillips.
The competition for places was very competitive with 70 boys trailing in the U13 age group and 40 boys in the U11 age group.
Congratulations go to Joel Phillips who has been selected to play for the Midlands U11 team. He will play against the North at Worksop College on the 28th November.
The Sports Tour to Holland has returned safely after a very successful and enjoyable tour, where Rugby matches were played by the boys and Hockey matches by the girls, together with some sightseeing of Amsterdam and the locality. The Boy's Rugby team won both their matches and the Girls' Hockey Team won one match and lost one match.
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Earlier in the term the Ranby House School Year 5/6 Boys' Cross Country Team & Year 5/6 Girls' Cross Country Team qualified to represent the Bassetlaw area at the County Cross Country Finals.
Both teams recently travelled to Sutton in Ashfield for the finals competition. We were delighted that the Boys' Team and Girls' Team ran extremely well and each team secured second place. In the Boys' Team, Joel Phillips came first overall after a superb run.
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As part of the contemporary initiative, 'Sing-up', Ranby House School held a Schools' Choir Day on Tuesday 19th October to help support and enhance this exciting ambition to get all children singing. Sing-up’s drive is to put singing at the heart of every child’s learning. This improves learning, confidence, health and social development. ‘Sing-up’ believes that singing has the power to change lives and help to build stronger communities.
Six primary schools from the locality (St Joseph’s RC Primary School, Rampton Primary School, St Mary & St Martin Primary School Blyth, Ranby Primary School, King Edwin Primary School and Todwick Primary School) joined the Year 5 & 6 children at Ranby House, in the school’s theatre, for this new event on their school calendar. With 200 children taking part the day was exciting and fast moving as the pupils built up a repertoire to perform at a concert that was held for all the parents at the end of the day. Some of the songs that they learnt were from the Sing-up list and included the Gospel Medley, Hey Mr. Miller and John Kanaka, in addition they also sung Do-re-mi and A Spoonful of Sugar.
As was hoped, this was a fantastic choral day which benefited all those that took part, not only in terms of encouraging them to sing, but also in building relationships with other children from other schools and then having the opportunity to perform at the end of the day. During the performance the children “raised the roof” with their renditions, to the delight of those parents fortunate enough to be able to attend the concert.
Rachel White, Director of Music at Ranby House School, said “The children were brilliant. They were enthusiastic, listened, worked hard and sung their hearts out and above all had a great time.”
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Ranby House orienteers enjoyed a successful day at Witton Country Park, in Blackburn, when they competed in the British Schools Score Orienteering Championships. Around 60 schools attended bringing over 400 children to run on a hilly course. Ranby House Boys and Girls teams both came second overall in the Middle/Prep Schools section which was a very pleasing performance. Individually, strong runs were recorded by Huw Brown, Alan Brown, James Recaldin and Sam Godley who all managed to finish in 4th place, missing out on a medal by a whisker.
Well done to everyone who made the journey.
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Matthew Lambley who left Ranby House School in 2001 recently competed in the Hammer Throwing in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. He finished tenth with a throw of 62.95m. A fantastic achievement for one so young.
On Saturday 9th October the U12A Girls’ Hockey Team headed for the Oakham Mini Hockey Tournament.
A most exciting and nail-biting afternoon was enjoyed by all with wonderful parental support for the team too.
Our girls displayed an excellent level of skill and played together as a team throughout the whole tournament. Mr Foulds and I were very proud of the girls' overall achievement and they proved to be great ambassadors for Ranby House.
Initial round, all matches were 12 minutes one way:
v Spratton Hall Lost 0-1
v Oakham Won 2-0
v Denstone Won 1-0
We finished 2nd in our group and met Wellow House in the semi-finals. Although we lost this game, 0-3, our girls continued to support each other and went on to play Old Buckenham Hall to determine 3rd and 4th place overall. This proved to be a super, evenly contested and exciting game which resulted in a well-deserved 1-1 draw.
Spratton Hall won the tournament. Wellow House were 2nd and Ranby House were equal 3rd with Old Buckenham Hall.
Ellie Jackson was awarded one of 3 players of the tournament and I am sure that she would agree that this would not have been achieved without the support and determination of the rest of the team.
Hockey at its best!
Match report by Mrs Jane Bott
The year 3 children enjoyed a fascinating trip to York on Monday 11th October, where they visited the Jorvik Centre and 'The Dig'. Highlights of the day included digging in the excavation pits to uncover Viking finds and looking at Viking excrement and understanding how its discovery helped archaeologists learn more about the Viking diet.
To celebrate all things poetic, Ranby invited performance poet Mike Smith into school for the day. Pupils from Foundation to Year 8 took part in performance workshops, exploring the way that words and actions can be expressed in performance and how we can generate ideas for performance poems from our own experiences. Pupils participated in ‘pumping up the language’ using their bodies to help them and joined Mike as he performed his poems, absorbing the rhythms of ‘ordinary language made special.’ A fantastic day for all involved!
The Pre-Prep children recently had a memorable, exciting and wonderful day when they experienced different cultures by holding a ‘World of Cultures Day’.
The children and staff came to school dressed in the clothes of a country of their choice, which ensured a fantastic array of cultures, from Spanish, American and Asian to Oriental, Mexican and French. At lunchtime they were treated to a feast of foreign foods to try.
During the day the Pushpanjali Dance Company provided four workshops where children learnt Indian dance routines, hand and facial gestures and how these were included in the art of story telling.
The day closed with a presentation to parents of the various dance routines learnt. It proved to be a vibrant experience for all those involved.
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The pupils in Years 6 & 7 have started our Ranby House fundraising for this academic year with their support for LEPRA.
LEPRA is a charity that supports and cures those with leprosy in the developing world. It costs just £21 to cure someone from this terrible disease and all of our children were encouraged to do their best to raise that amount. Many of our students managed it and collected more besides and were rewarded with a LEPRA tee shirt!
Well done to all those in Years 6 & 7 for their wonderful effort. A special ‘well done’ goes to Daniel Horner and Evangeline Levick who made an extra special effort and raised enough between them to cure 6 people from leprosy. For this fantastic endeavour they have received rather attractive lapel badges in recognition of their achievement!
We are still collecting for LEPRA and will continue to do so until after half term. If you have LEPRA envelopes at home then do please bring them in!
In total Ranby House School has thus far raised £420.20.
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As part of an initiative of the Bassetlaw Twinning Association, of which the school is a corporate member, we hosted a French Student, Claudia Balmisse, from Aurillac who came to this area for work experience. Whilst at Ranby House School she was a “French Assistante” working within the French Language Department. Claudia stayed at the school for a number of weeks in the summer term and also assisted with boarding activities.
The following is an account, taken from the Bassetlaw Twinning Association September Newsletter of her stay at Ranby House School.
‘My stay in Ranby House went very well. The staff made sure that everything was all right during all my stay here. I discovered that the pupils were very polite and respectful. They are very open and ask lots of questions. I was very surprised to see all the activities they took part in compared to French pupils. One feels very clearly that in this school there is a feeling of belonging to a group. There is a lot of support between the pupils and the staff.
The French lessons went well. I have helped Mrs Quinlan to mark some of the pupils’ work. I have attended the rehearsals of a play during which I intervened to correct the pronunciation of some words. I had the opportunity to record my own voice to help the children to understand the French accent. Outside lessons I had a lot of discussions with the pupils. I went with some of them to The Butterfly House and I took part in their Summer Fayre 2010.
I would like to thank Mr David Sibson for accepting me in his school and for providing accommodation. Thanks also to Patricia Quinlan and Tony Mingham for offering me the assistant’s job and finally to all the staff of Ranby House School.’
Ranby House School has recently held two wonderful services of Harvest Festival Thanksgiving.
On Friday 1st October the Pre-Prep celebrated their Harvest Festival in St Augustine's Chapel led by our Chaplain, Father Darren, with many family and friends joining in the celebrations. Shown in the photographs are children from Year 1 acting out The Enormous Turnip during the service and children from the Prep School with some of the donated produce.
On Saturday 2nd October the Prep School celebrated their Harvest Festival, with a full school Eucharist and the Chaplain of Worksop College, Paul Finlinson, came and preached a wonderful sermon at the service.
All the abundance of produce very kindly donated by all our families will be distributed to those in need in the local community.
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Congratulations to St Dunstan who recently won the Group Singing Competition with a rousing rendition of "Just a Spoonful of Sugar" and a superb small group piece of "In the Jungle".
All the Houses had practised hard for this exciting annual event and by the happy faces they all looked to be having a fun afternoon taking part in the competition and joining in with their Group's singing.
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Congratulations to the following Year 8 pupils who were elected by the pupil body to positions of responsibility on the Pupil School Council for this academic year:
Chairperson: Isabelle Woods
Vice Chairperson: Huw Robinson
Secretary: Christopher Crabb
Treasurer: Millie Marriott
The first task for the ‘executive’ is to organise the election of year group representatives.
Ranby House were delighted that Year 6 pupil, Joel Phillips, came in first at the recent Bassetlaw Primary Schools' Cross Country meeting which was held on Tuesday 21st September at Kings Park in Retford.
Despite stiff opposition, the boys' and girls' teams both did extremely well, with the Year 5/6 Boys' Team of Joel Phillips, Ryan Wright, Alan Brown and Joe McCallion coming third overall, and the Year 5/6 Girls' team of Mia Main, Olivia Stocks, Zara Pickles and Victoria Searle coming second overall, just 4 points behind the winners.
Both teams have qualified to represent The Bassetlaw area at the County Finals later in the term.
Year 5 recently visited Bosworth Battlefields as part of their History studies. They all thoroughly enjoyed a wonderfully exciting and informative day.
Bosworth is a site of national historic significance, being the location of one of the three most important battles fought on British soil. It is the site where the Battle of Bosworth took place in 1485, and infamous as the place where King Richard III lost his life and crown to Henry Tudor and thus where the Tudor dynasty was born.
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Ranby House School Parents Group hold an annual invitation Ladies Tennis Tournament each June and the proceeds this year enabled a cheque for a total amount of £513.59 to be presented to Macmillan Cancer relief.
Macmillan County Chair, for Nottinghamshire, Mr Richard Bond, is seen here taking receipt of the cheque, by two Ranby House pupils, Charlie Furniss and Philippa Wilson, whose mothers took part in the play on the day.
Approximately 60 lady competitors battled to win court trophies which were kindly donated by “Stanley Hunt Jewellers”, and Mr Ken Forbes of “K & H Sports” donated all the tennis balls. An exciting and strenuous, but fun-filled, day was enjoyed by all, mainly due to the faultless organisation of tournament volunteer co-ordinator, mum, Mrs Sue Furniss. Mrs Furniss had the unenviable task of arranging all the match-play on the day followed by a super two-course luncheon where all puddings were supplied by “Puds for Parties” of Newark.
Mr Bond expressed his sincere gratitude, on behalf of Macmillan, that Ranby House School Parents Group thought fit to donate such a significant amount this year to Macmillan.
The annual event of Macmillan’s “Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning” is officially held this year on Friday 24th September. Volunteers throughout the country hold coffee mornings in order to raise funds – this year the Dukeries Fund-raising Committee are holding their fund-raising coffee morning on Saturday 25th September at North Beck, Low Street, East Drayton where coffee and cakes will be on sale and a chance to view and purchase a selection of paintings by local artist Brenda Bond. Macmillan are also offering a chance to win a “shopping spree” at Marks and Spencer – the events starts at 10.00am and runs through till 1.00pm.
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Click here to view the video link to the Worksop Guardian.
Article from the Worksop Guardian website dated 23rd July 2010:
'A Year Five Ranby House School pupil has been offered a highly prestigious and coveted place at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music. Megan McKay, 10, is delighted to have secured her place at the Royal Northern on Saturdays.
Megan is about to sit her Grade 6 violin, and after only 18 months tuition is studying Grade 4 piano. Megan will take part in the Academic Studies component of the Junior RNCM timetable.
She will study theory, harmony, composition, aural perception, sight singing and improvisation as part of her musicianship training.
Megan is delighted and thrilled with her recent achievement and deservedly so, according to Ranby House School music director Rachel White .
" Megan is a highly talented young musician and a name to look out for in the future," she said.
Many congratulations to the following children on the announcement of these positions of responsibility:-
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Head Boy |
Jake Turner |
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Head Girl |
Emily Mitchell |
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Deputy Head Boy |
Will Clothier |
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Deputy Head Girl |
Arabella White |
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Head of Chapel |
Harriett Cundy |
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Heads of Choir |
Jordan Burke Emily Blackmore |
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Head Librarians |
James Hawkins Molly Carroll |
The following have been appointed Group Captains or Heads of Dorm for this term:
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St Alban |
Daniel McLean Sabrina Harrison |
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St Benedict |
George Isaacs Gabriella Dunn |
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St Columba |
Henry Pymm Olivia Kennedy |
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St Dunstan |
Huw Robinson Millie Wan Marriott |
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Head of Dorm (Boys) |
William Paul |
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Head of Dorm (Girls) |
Emily Blackmore |
Finally, this term’s sports captains are as follows:
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Captain of |
Aggi Smith |
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Captain of Hockey |
Emily Mitchell |
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