Boarding at St George’s School

BOARDING NEWS CHRISTMAS 2017

106 days have passed since we welcomed new boarders and their families to the boarding community and to St George’s. Since I last wrote, we have had snow with a small number of boarders seeing it for the first time, and we have had two formal dinners the first being the Senior Dinner and the second being the Boarders’ Christmas Dinner which came only 24 hours after the whole school enjoyed Christmas Lunch! At the Senior Dinner we welcomed our guest of honour and ex-boarder, Laura Wilson, who now works in the UK and America in TV and film production. She spoke at length about her memories of boarding at St George’s and about the lessons for life and opportunities that boarding gave her both then and now. Her key message, and one which is hard to argue with, is that of friendship. It was warming and encouraging to hear that Laura still considers those friends made in Keswick as some of her closest and I would hope that our current boarders will still be in touch with the friends they make here in decades to come.

We spend a lot of our time communicating in various ways about things to avoid and things NOT to do. Some boarders may well be becoming tired of me telling them the significance of the number 257...apparently this is the number of minutes per day that we should not exceed in terms of our social media usage or screen time. However, I am going to jump on a bandwagon and talk about things to do, things to encourage and things to do MORE of. Some of you may have read the Headmistress’ newsletter dated Friday 8th December where she wrote about wellbeing. I happened to be on the same course that she attended and came across a gem of an acronym: GREAT DREAM. What I like about this is the fact that I can do at least some of this immediately. What I like even more about this is that every boarder can do at least some of this now. Boarders...don’t be surprised if you see this poster every which way you turn when you return in 2018!

Boarding at St George’s School

As it does at St George’s and despite the weather, the Christmas build up has been gathering momentum for some time. In

fact, the only event to have suffered has been the trip to The Making of Harry Potter. This is rearranged for next term and it goes without saying that it is hoped

that all who signed up for the trip will be able to make it in the new year plus anyone else who is interested. So, as the snow thawed, the dining room was packed for the

Boarders’ Christmas Dinner last Wednesday which was followed by an excellent Christmas Entertainment in the assembly hall. The year 13 boarders stole the show as they lip-synched, danced and acted out a festive medley. Crosthwaite opened their doors on Thursday evening for mince pies and glasses of a warming mulled fruit juice. On Friday, party games at the Keswick Christmas Party were followed by the Crosthwaite Film Night which took us smoothly into Saturday evening for the disco which, I am glad to say, did include some classics which us staff appreciated even if the students did not! On Sunday, timed to coincide with the Carol Services, the girls in keswick hosted their annual Christmas Fayre raising money for Elizabeth’s Legacy of Hope. I am pleased to announce that in excess of £300 has been raised as a result.

Boarding at St George’s School

You may well have seen that over the course of the term, plenty of boarding news has featured

on The School’s Facebook page. To keep up with boarding news in 2018 as well as St George’s

news in general may I take this opportunity to direct you to the school’s Facebook page which

can be found either by clicking on the link above or by visiting:

www.facebook.com/stgeorgesharpenden

Dates for your Diary

Wednesday 3rd January Boarders return. Houses open at 4pm

Thursday 11th January Year 8 Parents Evening

Thursday 18th January 16-19 Information Evening

Thursday 1st February Year 9 Parents Evening

Friday 2nd February Deadline for Year 11 to submit 6th form applications to tutors

Friday 9th February Boarders depart for half term at 14:55

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and I look forward to welcoming you all back in 2018. Have a safe journey home followed by a super holiday!

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

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