The term got off to a flying start and it is often said that the Lent term has the same number of activites as Michaelmas, just condensed into 10 short weeks! The boys hit the ground running after a well earned rest and the first weekend saw a new house competition in the form of a good, old fashioned sports day!
With two boys from each year group taking part, Kayode, Reims, Sasha, Weichen, Ivan, Sam O, Ollie B, Max BB, Fin D and Lochlan braved freezing temperatures and rolled back the years with a sack race...
... an egg and spoon race...
... a wheelbarrow race ...
... a 3-legged race ...
... and lots of other activities in what was a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon. The competition seemed to come down to which house could bend the rules the most, without being noticed and it is perhaps credit to our honesty, that we finished 4th boys' house!
Skipping wasn't Weichen's forte...
House Badminton
House badminton was a keenly attested affair with a few houses, us included, in with a good chance of winning. We dominated the group, beating New 6-3 and Orchard 8-1 to progress to the semi finals the following weekend.
The squad for the first round of matches was Ed (captain), Michael, Lochlan, Fin D, Kayl and Max BB and due to injury and illness, we had to reshuffle for the following weekend.
Kayl and Max BB had to be replaced by Tom E and Dhafi and although we fought valiantly, we succumbed to Priory 4-5 in a very close encounter.
Drama: Devised GCSE play
The O block Drama pupils treated us to a fantastic production towards the end of January, in what was the culmination of a long standing piece of coursework. The pupils wrote, directed and starred in what was an original script with a unique take on the fall of the Berlin Wall. Complete with a Jeremy Kyle opening scene and some engaging monologues, it was a superbly executed piece of theatre.
Hockey - Super 6's
The house hockey got underway this term with a junior 6's tournament for the boys. With Will O and Will I our sole A team representatives, we went into the tournament hoping to upset the odds and come away with an unlikely victory. We managed a win and a draw but spirits were high and the game played in the right spirit as we battled to a 5th place finish.
House Harmony
House harmonies is one of the most anticipated evenings of the year. It is a culmination of three weeks' hard work and our group of Jude, Henry, Yuto, Leo, Dan and Will O worked tirelessly on a demanding Jersey Boys medley. The camaraderie amongst the group was tangible and it was great to see them having such fun in rehearsals along the way. On the night we perhaps did not produce our best, but it was evident from the audience reaction how well it was received. If you want to relive the evening click here
Particular thanks should go to Dan for leading the group, Leo for the arrangement and Bruce Parry who came in and assisted the group during rehearsals.
It was a fifth and final house harmony for this pair of upper sixth musical stalwarts and their contribution was again greatly valued.
Cross Country
As well as being the hockey term, Lent is traditionally the cross country term too and we had several boys enjoying this as their sports option. Rory (seen here at the Derbyshire Championships) claimed victory in the East Staffordshire regional event and then followed this with an excellent 2nd place finish at the Derbyshire Championships, qualifying for the national championships in March.
Unfortunately it was not to be his day at the nationals as circumstances consipred against him. Injury, illness and bad luck all took their toll but Rory was to bounce back in style just 3 days later....
Parker 100
As well as competitive races, many pupils take on the Parker 100 challenge this term. Set up in memory of Chris Parker, a former teacher and master of cross country, pupils undertake a personal challenge to run 100 miles in the 10 weeks of the Lent term. Averaging 10 miles a week is a tough ask alongside the busy Repton week and injury, illness and the weather always play their part. Three boys completed the challenge this term, the first of which was Jude in week 8!
Weichen and Tom B both completed in week 9, within a day of each other and they too get to wear the Parker 100 tie in recognition of their achievement.
Rock It!
The annual school rock concert was as good as ever this year and three Cross boys were involved on the night.
Reuben was part of the group DC/AC who played the energetic Are You Gonna Be My Girl and Back in Black
Jude was part of the band Girls! who wowed the crowds with Havana and Glitter & Gold
But perhaps the performance of the night went to Sam and his group 14:22 who played a superb set out of the 90's and early 00's featuring Franz Ferdinand, Oasis and The Arctic Monkeys.
Themed meals
Throughout the term our wonderful kitchen staff of Sally, Paula, Sue and Jane have worked hard to provide the boys with a nutritional, healthy diet. They have also injected some themed meals too which have gone down well - credit to Mrs Wilson and Lynne for the decorations!
Here celebrating Burns Night...
...Chinese New Year...
...St. Patrick's Day...
and an early Easter lunch!
House Music
The individual house music competitions were held on two Sundays either side of half term. There were impressive performances from a number of boys in the house and it is worth mentioning that every entry into the competition gains points for the house.
Credit therefore goes to Yuto, Weichen, Will I, Reims and Jude who all entered and we look forward to seeing in future finals.
The following made the final 5 of their event and as a result were highly commended for their performances:
- Senior Classical Song - Dan AR
- Senior Contemporary Song - Yuto
- Junior Contemporary - Sam S
- Senior Contemporary - Reuben
- Senior Jazz - Dan AR
However particular praise should go to Leo and Ollie W who both performed superbly in their respective categories. Leo won the Junior Classical Song and Junior Brass while Ollie won Junior Strings and Junior Woodwind.
It is the third straight year that Ollie has won the junior strings title, a record that cannot be broken.
We look forward to seeing them both in the final of Young Musician of the Year, where we will have four of the seven junior entries!
House Chess
The house chess team was competing to be the first from the Cross to lift the title in recent memory. After our early opponents ran in fear our our reputation, we faced Latham in the final, with them yet to drop a board...
Lucas, Yuto and Qasim were imperious however, winning the tie 3-0 and with it the title of House Chess champions 2018!
Football
The boys 1st XI have had an unprecedented season of success, becoming only the second side to reach both the ISFA and ESFA finals in the same season.
The ISFA final against Bradfield was held at Stadium MK and was a fantastic experience for the whole squad. James P, Max BB and Jake were in the match day squad, with Karum as a reserve. Unfortunately it was not our night, as we bowed out 1-3, but all the boys can hold their heads high for a superb run to the final.
Jake seen here with the match ball after scoring to make it 1-2. We had the momentum at this point, but the game was then delayed by an injury which did not help.
The boys bounced back in style winning the Northern 8's just a couple of days later. They still have the ESFA final and the final game of the inaugural Hudl league to look forward to next term and a draw will be enough to see us secure the title in the latter…
Hockey
It has been a superb term for all involved with the hockey.
The 14A side have come on tremendously over the course of the season and put in some impressive results in the second half. Will I was part of the team that reached the semi-finals of the Midlands tournament, narrowly losing to Bromsgrove.
The 16A side were ruthless in their Midlands finals, winning their group games 5-1 v Rugby, 2-1 v KES, 13-0 NULS. There was a scare in the semi-final where we needed flicks to beat Oakham, before a comprehensive 6-0 v Rugby in the final. They now progress to the national finals next term with Mackie and Rory hoping they can go all the way and lift the trophy.
The 1st XI made it through the season unbeaten, winning 2-1 away at Canford (google it - a long trip!) on the penultimate day of term, to reach the national semi-final. They will play Dean Close on 25th April with a potential final the day after. Fin N is the current top scorer (with no fewer than 7 in one game!) and James H, Ollie B and Jonas are all part of the side captained by our deputy head of house, Tom E.
The under 15 sides are also worthy of note, with all three securing undefeated seasons! Will O in the 15A, Rex in the 15B and Jude, Ethan, Max, Rohit, Tehmur, Wesley and Weichen in the 15C side.
Senior House Hockey
We went into house hockey with high hopes, given the strength of our team. We opened up with a 2-1 victory against Orchard which we were a little wasteful in, but ultimately got the job done.
We followed this up with a 4-1 win against Latham and our best performacne of the afternoon to beat New 2-0.
A 5-3 win against School meant that we went into the last game knowing a draw would be sufficient to claim the title. However, Priory had their own ideas and ground out a 1-2 win, meaning that we had to wait nervously on the results of the other games to hear our fate.
Fortunately, School beat New which crowned us champions for the first time in recent memory!
Oh What a Lovely War
The school put on another wonderful production this term with a first standalone musical. Oh What a Lovely War was a triumph and a fitting tribute in the 100th year since the end of World War One.
Jude (here far left) was superb in role, both in speaking parts, where he gave us his full repertoire of accents and also in the songs. He was also assistant director and the production was the culmination of a significant commitment on his part.
Junior House Hockey
The final week house competition extravaganza, or week 10 as it is affectionately known, began with junior house hockey. Again, our team looked the underdogs on paper, but what we lacked in talent, we made up for in effort, application, athleticism and competitiveness. We lost 0-2 to Orchard in the first game before beating Latham 1-0 thanks to a Will I goal. We then drew 1-1 with favourites New thanks to a Will O effort and a resolute defensive display. A tight contest with School, who were eventual winners, finished 0-1, before we played out a 1-1 draw with Priory in the final game. We finished a creditable 4th overall.
Barnes Squad
The A block competed in the annual Barnes Squad competition, in what is a test of knowledge, skill and teamwork across a multidiscipline series of events. It is fair to say that our team had strengths (RAF = 1st place!) and weaknesses (most other things...) but the boys enjoyed themselves on the day and competed in good spirits.
The pool task tested treading water and swimming with objects.
At the range...
First Aid - can you remember DR ABC?
The RAF task included aircraft recognition and classification, as well as a flight simulator that Ethan got to grips with straight away.
Weapons handling was a tricky task...
The climbing wall - how many climbs in 6 minutes...
The boys did not come away with any silverware, but some way well go on to be NCO's in future years.
Steeplechase
The word steeplechase is enough to send a shiver down the spine of many a Reptonian. The most dreaded event in the school calendar gets talked about for weeks in advance - will it be on? Will it be cancelled?
As ever, the weather would not beat us and the whole school turned out on a glorious spring afternoon to take part in this Repton tradition. Rumour has it some pupils afterwards were heard saying, "That wasn't so bad"
In the senior event, the top 10 runners from each house contribute to the overall points score, whereas in the junior event it is the top 15.
The 'Race For The Gate' is an unofficial title and an effort to secure this often is with sacrifice to your overall run! Lochan here finishing 3rd...
In the senior event, the boys and girls all head off at the same time!
James was our first senior home in 9th
Archie in 15th
Ollie in 21st
Max in 28th
Felix in 29th (my camera suffering focus issues from Felix's pace!)
Peter in at 32nd
Reuben 52nd
Lucas 56th
Karum 65th
and Henry in 67th completed our scorers. We finished 5th overall.
The junior boys was keenly contested with a picture of Ollie here (22nd) whom I missed on the finish line!
Reims 3rd in the junior 'Race For The Gate'
Rory finished in 1st place in a new record time of 23min 25secs, over 3 minutes ahead of 2nd place. This beat the previous course record by 34secs that had stood since 1993. Moreover, with the seniors running a shorter course this year, Rory's time would have been enough to win the senior race by over 2 minutes!
Ivan in an excellent 6th place
Likewise Will O, our first A blocker home in 9th
Dhafi was our first B blocker home in 36th
Freddy in 41st
Tehmur in 42nd
Reims in 44th
Rex in 47th
Yanis battling through illness to finish 50th
Leo 53rd
Will I 57th
Weichen proving that the Parker 100 is ideal preparation in 59th (bettering his 120th from last year)
Tom B in 64th
and Kayode in 67th.
Here is Rory collecting the trophy for the best individual performance in the juniors and as a team, we finished an impressive 2nd.
The Russell Cup
The Russell Cup is the senior CCF competition that is competed for across all 10 houses, by any members of O block or above. This was the final event in a hectic week and our 12 willing participants went in full of confidence for the challenges they were to face.
The Physical team had to negotiate the obstacle course and a pool task, whilst the Skills team faced a more varied assortment of tasks.
The skills team attempting the map skills.
Tom showing us how it is done on the mountain bikes - part of the obstacle course.
Flipping tyres!
Shooting for the skills team
First aid
Superstars!
The pool task required careful planning...
Of the seven events, we won an impressive three: climbing, pool task and superstars. We also lifted the trophy for best overall Physical team. However we were narrowly pipped to the post by New house, who performed more consistently across the disciplines, to finish 2nd overall.
Dates for your diary
- 16th April - Summer term begins (boarders back 8pm)
- 22nd April - CCF Field Day
- 25th April - Music Competition final
- 25th April - Boys national hockey finals
- 28th April - B block parents meeting
- 6th May - B block Coffee Concert
- 12th May - Headmaster's Seminar Series
- 25th May - A block parents meeting
- 25th May - 1st team Sporting Dinner
- 25th May - Half term begins at 4.30pm
- 3rd June - Boarders return by 8pm
- 25-26th June - Summer School Production
- 27th June - Leavers' Concert
- 30th June - Speech Day