Boarding at St George’s School

BOARDING NEWS MAY 2016

On Thursday 5th May we planted

three fruit trees to become part of the

Boarding Schools' Association's

Boarding Orchard. Launched by the

Boarding Schools' Association to

help mark their Golden Jubilee year

and symbolising boarding schools'

commitment to growth and the envi-

ronment, the Boarding Orchard aims

to be the largest orchard, by distance,

in the UK and involves boarding

schools joining the orchard by plant-

ing fruit trees in their grounds. St

George's have planted a Victoria

Plum Prunus Domestica outside

School House and two Bramley Ap-

ples Malus Domestica - one in the

Crosthwaite house garden and one in

the Keswick house garden. St

George's joins around 70 other

boarding schools across the UK, and

even some as far afield as Switzerland

and the USA, who are also part of

the Boarding Orchard. Chris Wet-

ten, Boarding Head Boy and Anjola

Ogunade, Boarding Head Girl,

spoke on behalf of their respective

houses. The Reverend Warner led

prayers to bless each of the three

trees. The trees were supplied by

Flamstead based Majestic Trees.

Click here to see which other schools

have joined the Boarding Orchard.

The Boarding Orchard

Boarding at St George’s School

May Ball

Saturday night saw one of the highlights of the boarding calendar with the Hawaiian themed May Ball. The

Boarding Head Boy, Chris Wetten, and the Boarding Head Girl, Anjola Ogunade, as well as the team of

boarding prefects have been juggling hours of preparation with their studies since the beginning of term in

order to make the May Ball happen. I hope that they all felt proud of their efforts on the night itself. It was

certainly evident to all that attended. The evening kicked off with drinks in the Grant Quad whilst the enter-

tainment for the evening, Steel Pan Band 'Pan Ulitmate' played. The sun had been trying to shine all day and

we were blessed with some evening rays to accompany the al fresco starter which was a selection of tropical

dishes including Hawaiian chicken strips served with a sweet chilli dip, coconut lime shrimp skewers, chicken

kebabs and Mozzarella Fingers. We then headed inside for our main course of grilled marinated chicken

with a tropical salsa accompanied by yams and garlic and lemon green beans. The main course

was preceded by the Headmaster's speech which you can read below. Dessert was a tropical fruit sundae and

a quick table clear made way for the disco, expertly put together by Mr Pickard and his Year 12 DJ crew.

Thank you to everyone involved in the planning of this event and well done to those boarders who made an

extra special effort to match their outfit with the theme of the evening.

Boarding at St George’s School

Theme Nights

The catering team have continued to

provide us with excellent theme

nights. This is a project gathering in

momentum and not stopping with

the food. Music, flags and traditional

costume add so much to these occa-

sions not to mention the delicious

and authentic food. The most recent

theme night was on Tuesday when

they produced for us a Moroccan

themed dinner, the creation of our

very own Sous Chef, Zahra Oukhel-

lou, ably supported by the rest of the

catering team. The menu included

b’stilla, lamb tagine, chick pea & sul-

tana doriez, zaalouk, taktouka and

kholoz. Prior to this, we had enjoyed

a Greek night with dishes that includ-

ed kleftiko, beef moussaka, halloumi

& vegetable kebabs, spanakopita,

battered courgette and Greek salad.

We have a Spanish flavour to look

forward to after half term!

Boarding at St George’s School

Activities

The Summer Term brings so much aside of the stresses and strains of exams. Longer evenings, sunshine and

warmth make such a difference and we have taken full advantage with a vibrant range of activities both during

the evenings and at weekends. The warmest weekend so far, which was the weekend following the May Bank

Holiday, was an excellent excuse for water pistols, barbecues and an open-air film night in the Crosthwaite

garden thanks to Mr Pickard’s creative and technological expertise. Several boarders took part on the Big

Curry Run and we are all looking forward to the Hillingdon and Butlins trips after half term. The recent

paintballing trip to Delta Force was, as anticipated, a big success as I am sure the Year 12 to Go White Water

will be later in June.

Boarding at St George’s School

Royal National Children's’ Foundation

I am pleased to be able to report that a small yet talented and dedicated group of girls in Years 7, 8 and 9

organised their own ‘bake-and-sell’ to raise money for the RNCF. They raised a modest amount and I hope

that the group will organise similar cake sales as the year goes on. I also hope to see other fund raising groups

emerging as the year goes on. There remains the opportunity for you as parents to support the work of the

RNCF. For more information about the RNCF and to find out how you can donate, please click on the im-

age.

One or two dates for your diary:

Sunday 19th June Year 12 White Water Rafting trip

Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd July Exeat Weekend

Monday 4th July Activities Week

Saturday 11th June Hillingdon Outdoor Activity Centre

Sunday 16th July Butlins

Friday 22nd July End of term at 1100

I am sure that you are all already aware that we break up for half term on Friday 27th May at 1455. Boarders

should return to St George’s between the times of 1600 and 2000 on Sunday 5th June ready for the second

half of the Summer Term to begin on the next day. Houses will not be open until 1600 so please ensure that

your travel arrangements take this into account. Especially for those who are part way through a busy exam

schedule, I wish you all a purposeful, restful and enjoyable half term. Well done so far and keep going!

JT

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

Boarding at St George’s School

Headmaster’s Speech Saturday 14th May 2016

This is now my third Boarders’ May Ball since I became Headmaster at St George’s in April 2013. For those

of you who were here when I started you will remember that I said the main reason I wanted to come to St

Georges was because it is a boarding school, and this remains to be the case. There is something very special

about a boarding school, its sense of community and common purpose gives an additional dimension to

school life. In the three years I have been Head I have been using that time to find out what is most valuable

about boarding at St George’s, what works well and what we could do to make it even better. I think it has

been important to take time to assess what works well, what is rich and important to the boarding community

and not rush in to make too many changes for change’s sake.

Now along the way we have had some changes. Some staff have left and some have joined us, as have some

students, and not always because they finished their A levels or GCSEs. We have had three Directors of

Boarding in those three years: Mr Gibbs, Miss Hooker and now Mr Timmins who joined us at the start of

last term. Now that Mr Timmins has had some time to settle and to get to know us all I think now is the time

to think about the future that we want and what we want St George’s boarding to look like. So this evening I

want to share with you my vision for Boarding at St George’s. I want to create a boarding community where

people love and long to be part of it. I want St George’s to become what Saatchi and Saatchi call a

‘Lovemark’. Lovemarks transcend brands. They deliver beyond your expectations of great performance.

They reach your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can’t live

without. That’s what I want St George’s Boarding to mean to every boarder.

To achieve this we need to make sure our values and ethos match our everyday practice. Our first priority

has to be your safety and welfare and that does mean having good systems and structure in place. But within

the limits that this might place on us we need to listen and respond to boarders as individuals and as a body.

We value boarders as young people; caring about you not just for you. We take more of an interest in ‘you’,

the individual, as a whole person, Understanding you are more than a boarder and a student. We provide

support and guidance to help you navigate the challenges of being a teenager and young adult. We provide

clear, consistent and fair boundaries.

We, as your boarding staff and most valuable resource, are excellent role models. As we need to listen and

respond to the needs of boarders, we all need to listen to staff and show that we value their views. The school

needs to ensure staff have a clear set of standards and job descriptions. We need to trust them to do their job

well, hold them to account when they don’t and provide them with help, support and guidance when re-

quired.

From the information for the ‘Point-in-Time’ surveys which most of you completed in November, our own

surveys, student meetings with Governor and conversations with individuals; I believe the first and most im-

portant thing we can improve, so that we can create a boarding community where people love and long to be

part of it, is that we need to be better at listening and responding to each other.

To this end I have tasked Mr Timmins to plan and develop a St George’s ‘Boarding Conference’ which will

take place early next term. I want the conference to be an opportunity for every member of our boarding

community to come together and design our future. I want student and staff to work collaboratively, mixing

ages, genders and roles so that everyone has a voice and a part to play. So in what remains of this term Mr

Timmins will be looking to all of you to help and support him so that he can help and support us in making

St George’s boarding a community where people love and long to be part of it.

I believe this is a vision that we can all share and everyone can contribute to, even those of you who will be

leaving us at the end of this term. As they say the ship is about to sail so you need to decide if you want to be

on-board. I hope you do!