Autumn term2018, Week 5

www.luctonschool.org5th OctoberAutumn 2018, week 5

QUIZ & CURRY NIGHTFriday 19th October

7.30pm, tickets £10.00Ticket price includes Quiz Entry Fee and a Curry

Supper. Quizmaster: Matt Crawford.Please contact the School Office 01568 782000.

In this issue:l Prep School Newsl Boarding Newsl Year 2 Croft

Castlel Year 6 Team

Buildingl Friends’ updatel Reception Bike

Dayl Sports Reportl Equestrian News

One of the services offeredby the Independent SchoolsAssociation to its members, isa pre-inspection visit thatassesses a school’s policiesand compliance, at the sametime, looking around theschool with the critical eyesof a full inspection.

Mr Huggett, the inspector,was extremely compli-mentary about the school,the staff and the pupils. He said he had “enjoyed the visit,had been fed well, met lovely people and enjoyed walkingaround and getting a feel for the atmosphere of the school”which, he said, was “extremely good and comfortable”. MrHuggett said, “The children were polite because they werenaturally polite and courteous, not because they felt theyhad to be.” He was “impressed that they opened doors,exhibited normal courtesies and engaged respectfully” withhim. He said that we have “a fantastic School about whichwe should feel very proud indeed” and that he “had notseen anything which concerned him”.

“All our documentation was done properly, was goodand everything was in order and in place”. cont. inside

A wonderful Wednesday

Well Year 2 really took the Magic of Booksto heart last week. They put on somewonderful sketches from different booksthat we then had to guess which scene andbook they were from. We had thewonderful scene from Matilda where MissTrunchbull has to listen to a song to spell‘Difficulty’; the first outing for HarryPotter and the choosing hat – and whocan’t remember that? We also visited JuliaDonaldson’s Room on a Broom with thecat, frog and dog all joining in. All of this toexplain the wonder and magic of books – aperfect plug for our subsequent Book Fair.Well done Year 2 and some well-learntlines, super!

Friday was also our Open Morning, withthe school looking even more shipshapethan usual. Our visitors were very compli-mentary about how polite the children areas well as the amount of work that weseem to cover. It is lovely to hear suchpositive comments as we often forget or,rather, can’t see the wood for the trees. Tohave some comments from unbiasedobservers is wonderful. The Book Fair wasa great success with the visitors was well,who reminisced about Book Fairs thatused to come to their schools. Things maychange but the love of a good bookdoesn’t.

More visitors came on Tuesday with theIndividual Photos in the Prep Hall. Great

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excitement ensued, especially for thesibling photos when the ‘big’ children cameto visit. It is always good to have the olderchildren come up and visit. Although forthe teachers we just wonder where timehas gone, Charlie in Year 11, when weremember him through Prep School! Wenow have the whole school photo nextweek (weather permitting) and that isamazing for the younger ones who can’tenvisage growing up at all!

Playtime has become more and moreinteresting as we add to the shed in theplayground. What is even more fun towatch is the children’s inventiveness. Thisweek they found some hessian sacks andbecame…sackmen. The tubes from the oldgoal are now perfect for shooting toy carsdown and the hoops are tied together tomake…well I’m not really sure but theyenjoy playing with them!

Don’t forget that next week is extremelybusy. Monday and Tuesday see our Parents

Prep School News

5th OctoberAutumn 2018, week 5 www.luctonschool.org

Evenings of this term. Remember that weare always here if you want to have a chat;it doesn’t have to wait until Parents’Evening. Just let us know and we will aimto accommodate. Our swimming squad isoff to Walsall for the ISA Regional Gala onTuesday. We wish them well and hope forsome to make it to the Nationals down in

London later on in the year. Finally, wehave the BAKE OFF and then the HarvestService on Friday. Bring your cakes in onThursday Evening or Friday morning andthen come and support from 9:30 or so. Yeswe are definitely getting busy!

Please do come along next week. It willbe in the Memorial Hall. Bring alongFriends and Family if you can. The morethe merrier; not only enjoying thechildren’s performances but also raisingmoney for a good cause

Forest School Devil’s Spit Day; Holly Trees as lighteningconductors, fairy rings, spotting theoutlines of an old ruin, discovering thatsweet chestnut shells are REALLY sharpand then the delight of building dens. Whata great hour or so!

News from theFriendsThe Friends Committee met on 2ndOctober to discuss this term’s FriendsEvents or events where we are helping out. 1. First up Quiz and Curry Night onFriday 19th October please let the officeknow if you would like a table reserved(you do not have to give exact numbers atthat time!)2. The Friends will be at the senior schoolproduction which is on the 5th and 6thDecember to deliver your refreshments forthe evening, it should be a great night, theproduction crew and actors have all beenworking hard! 3. The Christmas Fayre on Friday 29thNovember. Take the opportunity whilstyou’re picking up children to grab somefabulous Christmas gifts. The SecretsRoom, where the children can go andchoose a little gift and have it wrappedready for Mummy/Daddy for Christmas(no adults are allowed) is run by theNursery who are looking for unused

presents/donations. Father Christmas willtake time out of his very hectic schedule tovisit the School that day (and to providereminders for good behaviour!).4. The Friends will be organising a lovelyraffle hamper for the Nativity Play onFriday 7th December, so make sure youbring a few extra pennies in with you.5. Later in December we have ourFABULOUS Winter Glitter Ball (it’snot just Strictly who get a Glitter Ball thisyear!) this will be on Saturday 8thDecember, book early as tickets will belimited (buses home are included in theprice as we know you’ll all be clamberingfor a good night out!).

We are setting up Friends Of LuctonSchool (FOLS) Facebook page where alldetails of future events will be posted alongwith the amount raised and where it willbe spent! For example FOLS raised moneyfor a wooden Pirate ship which we intendto build for the nursery and reception classin the meadow.

Next meeting: Wednesday 14thNovember at 7:30pm in the MeetingRoom please do come along.

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The younger boarders in the cottage andCroft House’s Year 9 pupils enjoyed anexcursion to Legoland this weekend, whilethe older boarders went on a very populartrip to the centre of Birmingham (NewStreet) to spend, spend, spend! They alsoexperienced one of the UK’s major cities:a far cry from the rural setting of LuctonSchool. A good time was had by all andmany exciting new items and presentswere bought.

The younger boarders had a great timein the lego shop, enjoyed an exciting ride,a futuristic 4D ride and a delicious lunchand cake at the café. They were alsocaptivated by the mini-town, as was ourSouth African gap, Stuart, which is a legorecreation of Birmingham!

So many of the boarders were helpfulduring Open Day: giving tours, speakingto parents, serving, staying in their smartsuntil seven and behaving wonderfully! Itwas a long day and they did well.

Otherwise, the boarders have made the

most of the swimming pool, kitchenfacilities and our lovely new TV thisweekend. We’re glad they got plenty ofoutdoors air on Saturday though!

We also introduced Mrs Berry and MrsDaughtrey to the delights of boarding thisweek and they were splendid at gettinginvolved. Mrs Berry was particularlyhelpful on Saturday during her shift as sheran a trip that would not have beenpossible without her. Thank you both!

Boarding News

Continued from front cover: He madeparticular comment about our safeguardingbeing “as good as he had seen anywhere inany school and that we were blessed to havesuch an expert!” Nevertheless, he wascomplimentary about all staff he met andthere were hardly any areas he picked up onfor attention at all and even these were veryminor indeed and would not necessarily becommented upon by another inspector.

He said that we should be proud of ourlovely school and that we “should exudeconfidence and not be apologetic aboutanything”. Thank you so much to all of youfor your attention to detail in so manyareas; it is greatly appreciated and valued.

On another matter, I hope that you wereable to see the very positive light in whichLucton was presented in the BBC newsitem on Midlands Today (6.30pm

Wednesday evening). The filming was doneat School last Tuesday and was about OldLuctonian, Philip Witcomb, the son ofPablo Escobar, and his time as a schoolboyat “the beautiful but remote Lucton Schoolin Herefordshire”. Lucton certainly cameout of it extremely well and looked simplyidyllic in the superb shots taken by theBBC.

All wonderful news!

5th OctoberAutumn 2018, week 5 www.luctonschool.org

Yr 2 to Croft CastleOn Monday, Year 2 had a fantastic timeduring our trip to Croft Castle. Thechildren enjoyed using their maps to locateareas of the castle grounds, answerquestions as part of a trail and plan a routefor our woodland walk. We learnt a bitabout how horses were used during thewar, as well as discovering more about thewildlife at the castle. A highlight of thewalk was exploring the natural play area;the children had a great time buildingdens, balancing on the equipment andseeing how high they could go on theswings. The children loved using the stagein the play area too and took part inanother wonderful performance of ourprevious class assembly. As it was Ellouisa’sbirthday, we ended the trip by eating cakein the sunshine!

Yr 6 Team BuildingYear 6 had a busy day on Tuesday. Afterperforming their class assembly and havingthe School photos taken, it was time to getchanged into Forest School kit, brave thedrizzle, and walk up to Croft Castle. Therewe spent the rest of the day enjoying arange of team-building activities andmaking full use of the Natural Play Area.Thankfully, the weather improvedthroughout the day, and we arrived back atSchool tired, but dry! Some importantlessons were learnt about problem solving,communication, and perseverance, whichwill stand us in good stead now we’re backin the classroom. Huge thanks to ourinstructor, Suzie, ably assisted by Mr Wall; itwas a great day out.

JoeljoinsCountyTennisTrainingSquadTennis news:Joel has beenselected for the U14 ShropshireCounty Training Squad and willbegin his training sessions inShrewsbury at the end of themonth. Congratulations Joel!

Reception cyclistsReception had a wonderful ‘bring-your-bike toschool’ day on Thursday. Everybody was keen toride their bike and there were some super safetyand cycling skills on display. Well done, Reception!

5th OctoberAutumn 2018, week 5 www.luctonschool.org

Sports ReportU16 NETBALL v Ludlow SchoolLudlow played slick, fast netball, whichforced our girls to raise their game.Although we did not win this match, wewere competitive and at times also playedsome fast, slick netball as we learnt to adaptto more challenging conditions. It wasgood to see the defenders (Keira, Nell,Amelia and Chloe) work to improve theirpositional strategies, as did the attackerswho needed to stay ball side in order tokeep possession of the ball against theirmobile and athletic defenders. Ellie andAnnie (joint players of the match) workedtirelessly and effectively in the attackinghalf, as did Georgina who is always quietlyeffective at WA and it was encouraging tosee Megan regain confidence and drive asthe game progressed. Much was learnt inthis match that will help us prepare for theforthcoming U16 County Tournament!1st XV RUGBY triangularThe 1st XV got off to a cracking start ofthe season on Wednesday with a tritournament against Ludlow and Bedstone.

Our first encounter was against apowerful Ludlow team who weredominated by big forwards. The boys tookthis challenge head on with Ahmed S andTaylor M driving the team on. The ruckingspeed by the forwards especially wasexceptional and at half time we were 12-0up. In the second half, we were even better,with Luke B strong at the breakdownturning over a lot of ball. The highlight ofthe game was an exceptionally well workedteam try, utilising both the power of theforwards and some brilliant play from thebacks which allowed Jakub L to score inthe corner. We won by a solid 22-0.

The more experienced Bedstone team,with Shropshire county players, was atougher encounter. Nevertheless the boystook the game straight to them and scoredwithin the first minute with a crackingoffload from Kalen. In defence we werevery strong, applying a lot of pressure. Fin

took the game to Bedstone with somepowerful runs and solid tackling. A keymoment was some exceptional defence onour own try line followed by a turnoverfrom Taylor which really lifted the teamspirit. We gave away too many penalties andBedstone won by 9 points. All the boys canbe proud of their performance. Aaron Pplayed exceptionally well, making anumber of line breaks, with some goodoff-loads.U12 RUGBY v LudlowThe U12s played their first match of theyear against Ludlow who were also playingtheir first match. The game was a superbone as both teams matched each other fortries playing running rugby in thesunshine. The game looked be to be a tieuntil Ludlow stole a late try to win 4-3.

I am sure the occasion did wonders forthe confidence of many boys playingcontact rugby for the first time. We lookforward to next week playing against CCB.

All boys in Year 6, 7 and 8 who wereavailable represented school in sport onThursday and it was great to help playersdevelop through matches this week.U14 RUGBY v LudlowThe U14s played Ludlow on a beautifulautumnal day. The rugby matched theweather, it was hot, made you feel greatand produced some real success. MatthewD was in dominant form and provedunstoppable with his powerful surgesthrough the heart of the defence. The teammoved the ball well through the back lineand caused Ludlow problems all day withaccurate hands to the wings. Jack B, KianH and Finn M made lots of metres up the

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field. Alex D was excellent in thebreakdown as was Dominic Y.

The team was always in control and wonthe game comfortably-well done all!BADMINTON v Ludlow College 21-19This week we played a small but veryproficient team from Ludlow College. Thiswas our best win so far of the season, andour best technical performance. Theturning point of the whole match was thelast game of the final round, where sheerdetermination from Justin and Lek ensureda vital 21-19 win and overall victory.U13 FOOTBALL v LudlowLudlow brought four teams to play netball,rugby and football in glorius sunshine.

The U13 team started brightly andmoved the ball well and caused Ludlowproblems. In terms of possession, Luctonhad the lions’ share most of the match butcouldn’t find the final shot. Jack F was thecatalyst from the heart of defence, withEllis, Joel, Zac and Matthew finding spacein the midfield. The final pass to thestrikers didn’t always come off. Caught ona counter attack, Lucton conceded apenalty against the run of play, but WillMuckalt made a superb save to denyLudlow a goal that would have beenagainst the run of play. Herbie deliveredmany excellent corners as Lucton piled onthe pressure, Nathan had a couple ofchances that were saved or just shot widebefore Zac P finally broke the deadlock inthe final 2 minutes of the match to win thegame. Will W did a great job in the heartof the defence alongside Jack. Tom W wassolid at right back and Jayden was also veryeffective at left back. The shape and balanceto the team are improving all of the time!

U18 NETBALL v Sixth Form CollegeSome of the girls regretted having put onskins under there kit as we were playing inlovely sun and 20C heat; however they allplayed well. We played several combinationswhich bodes well for future flexibility.Holly, Millie and Harriet McF all mixedwell with Millie shooting on target most ofthe time. Equally the defence combinationsof Harriet B, Harriet McF and Alice alsoproved strong, and centre court of ChingM and Elsie proved very quick and surefooted! Grace and Alicia also worked welland the whole team seemed to grow inconfidence during the game which wewon convincibly even though it wasn’ttheir first team 23-10. Well done, girls!U14 NETBALL County TournamentWith a tough first match against St Mary’s,one which, despite a strong come back inthe second half, just eluded us, a 7-6 loss,the girls had to regroup and came backstrongly to defeat Fairfield 16-4. This wasfollowed by an equally nail biting 8-2victory against Wigmore. Unfortunately,despite tying with Bishops on points forthe highest runner up slot and a place inthe semi-final, we missed out on goaldifference. Harriet S and Georgia B wereexcellent captains, leading by example onthe court with focused, positive play. It wasreally encouraging to see great progress bythe whole squad, (which included allmembers of Year 9) throughout the day. U13 XV Rugby Tournament atLuctionians RCGrouped with Earl Mortimer, Whitecrossand Kingstone, started against EMC, weconceded two poor tries after makingsome needless errors and so were not off tothe best of starts, losing that fixture 2 triesto 1. We played better against Kingstoneending 1 try a piece. Our passing, runningand clear out at the ruck were all goodwith Sam, and Matthew prominent in theforwards and Ellis, Leo, Joel and Zack allmaking good breaks in the loose. In ourfinal group match we easily overcame a bigWhitecross team, 2 tries to 1. As group

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Equestrian NewsInterschools Show Jumping is next Sunday.We are hosting our Hickstead Qualifiernext Sunday and schools from all over thecountry will be attending! If any of youwish to come and watch/support pleasedo. I will also be looking for a team ofcourse builders to help pick up poles andmove fences on the day which would giveyou a grandstand view!Please contact Miss Coates if you can help

Jake’s BlogThe weather is lovely again at the momentand so the process of clipping which I hate

has started again! Mrs Loupart has beenbusy, firstly recovering from her fantasticresults at the weekend and then clippingand tiding loads of us! We had a pole clinicto watch last weekend which was greatfun, and then we have had a go this weektaking around various people-there isanother one this weekend to watch andjoin. Cirro and Storm took part which wasfun to watch!Next weekend is the Interschool’s ArenaEventing Challenge at school-I can’t wait!Several of us will be taking part and anyhelp would be most welcome. We areenjoying helping some new students andall is fun!

was great to see the girls come togetherand really enjoy the game. They were allvery excited.

The U9s were all getting familiar withthe game of hockey, always improving andlistening to direction on the pitch. Theywere playing a mixed team of girls andboys and didn’t give up at any point. Theirpassing really improved and they all startedlearning how they should use the space onthe pitch to get towards the goal. Well donegirls! We lost 5-0 but that doesn’t reflecthow they played.

Unfortunately the U10s came away witha loss of 3-0 but the score doesn't reflecthow hard the girls tried, again playing amixed team which did not seem to botherthem. We had some great breaks into theopposite teams shooting circle but wereunable to finish. Well done to the defencewho were strong throughout the game.

runners up we played Tenbury in the nextround and overwhelmed them by 3 tries to0, but that was our final match as thecompetition finished at 5 sharp. A positiveafternoon, with some excellent play, but wedo need to work on keeping our shape andsupporting. Two other players to mentionwere Tom and big Jack who scored our firstand last tries in the tournament.U15/U16 LACROSSE vs Shrewsbury The girls started off their lacrosse seasonplaying Shrewsbury away. It was a verytough match and the girls started to settleback into the swing of things, and Ella Cmanaged to score an impressive goal. Afterhalf time, the girls managed to put pressureon Shrewsbury, allowing a lot of attackingplay and goals to be scored. The defencewere making it very hard for Shrewsburyto get in, which reduced their goals in thesecond half. Well done to all the girlsplaying; Shrewsbury’s coach was verycomplimentary about their game play andsportsmanship. The player of the matchwent to Ellie Nicholson. U9 & U10 HOCKEY against ChristCollege Brecon Prep SchoolThe Prep School girls faced Christ CollegePrep School on Monday for Hockey. Thiswas their first match of the season and it P

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