BEHIND THE STUDY DOOR
As the wonderful children’s book The Crayon Box that Talked states: 'Each one of us is unique, but when we get together, the picture is complete' (Shane DeRolf). If we look at Howard Gardner’s Eight Aptitudes, there is no doubt that for all our pupils, many of these have been stimulated at some point this week.
Shane DeRolf's book is an excellent example that we are all different, not just in terms of looks, but also character and personality, as well as strengths and weaknesses. Individually, this is what makes us unique. It is what forms our own individual fingerprint on the world and on those around us, and means that each of us really do matter. Collectively, we come together with all our different aptitudes and temperaments and we create something wonderful.
We can all make a positive impact on other people’s lives. Kindness, modesty and selflessness are the key attributes in creating a happy, tolerant community that celebrates differences. This development of key emotional intelligence in our children is even more important as we see many traditional societal networks breaking down.
Padre Jonathan spoke about 'miscommunication' in his sermon in St George's Chapel on Sunday morning. With so much news and information being broadcast everyday via social media, we are exposed to a great deal of miscommunication. At the click of a button, our children have access to a wealth of information about a huge variety of different lifestyles and opinions, that don’t necessarily promote diversity of thought or acceptance of differences. The fact that young people have the ability to connect with these contemporary ideas is very exciting, but it is those key values that one learns when part of a community that are vital if we are to avoid our children being drawn into some of the narrow prejudices that we see around the world.
Our young people do matter, they are unique and they have the ability to make a huge difference to all that they interact with. Through this and through a shared desire to be proudly different from one another, we can ensure that like the box of crayons 'when we get together, the picture is complete'.
William Goldsmith
Celebration Assembly
Congratulations to the following children who received these awards in our Celebration Assembly this morning:
Head Master's Commendations
Ekam R, Millie W, Tom G, Baptiste A, Gracie M, George H and Raphael K: for fantastic homework completed in the style of a newspaper, based on Emperor Claudius' invasion of Britain.
Lara H, Andreas L, Matilda U-I, Poppy J, Charlie H, Tabitha P and Leah H: for creating a poster on ice creams in French.
Adhrit P and James E: for showing leadership skills by organising the Class Assembly for World Book Day.
Spirit of St George's Awards
Keiran E: for showing great kindness to others.
Sports Players of the Week
Years 3 and 4: Mariella O'B for teamwork - being a great team player during the match on Friday
Years 5 and 6: James C for enjoyment - working tirelessly this season and as a result enjoying his rugby
Years 7 and 8: Harry W for pursuit of excellence - working consistently to improve his skills.
World Book Week
The annual celebration of authors, illustrators, books and reading is one of the school's favourite days and this year the occasion was extended to include activities taking place throughout the week in both the Prep and the Pre-Prep.
Classroom doors were imaginatively decorated in the theme of a book or author and during the week a variety of quizzes and craft activities took place in the Library. There were lots of opportunities for sharing books, paired reading, watching author masterclasses on the World Book Day website, making book marks and designing book covers.
On Tuesday author John Harris entertained Years 3 - 8 with some exciting and engrossing stories, taking each year group from laughter to gasps of surprise (and back again).
On Thursday Year 6 presented an interactive assembly on their favourite books with a quiz on the most popular authors.
World Book Week would not be quite complete without dressing up as a favourite book character and both Pre-Prep and Prep staff and children embraced the occasion with enthusiasm. Donations to Book Aid International raised over £500.
On Thursday Years 4 - 8 took their pencil cases to a workshop given by the celebrated book illustrator, Bill Greenhead, who showed them how to draw cartoon characters in a variety of styles. It was great fun!
To round off the week, on Friday various staff were positioned in classrooms around the school to read 'The Big Story' - a genre of story or passages from a favourite book. Years 5 - 8 were able to select where to go and which reading they would like to listen to.
NSPCC Assembly
On Tuesday a team from the NSPCC were in school delivering assemblies to Years 1-7 about staying safe, and what might make you unsafe and where to go for help. The team then held workshops for Year 5 and 6 which were engaging and got the children thinking and discussing different situations.
Year 5 Remembrance and WWI Workshop
Linking in beautifully with their history topic this term, Year 5 visited Eton Museum for a workshop on World War 1 and Remembrance. During their session they learnt about an old Etonian, Henry D, his time at Eton and his involvement in WW1 as an officer. They studied sources to find out more information and looked at relics from the war, including a Princess Mary Box. They learnt that Henry sadly passed away in September 1918 whilst retrieving a fellow soldier from no man’s land.
Senior Schools Fair
We welcomed over 30 schools to our Senior Schools Fair on Monday evening and hope that the event was useful for those parents who attended. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Head Master.
Parents' Group
Quiz Night
The Parent’s Group quiz night is fast approaching on 21 March - don’t forget to book your team now. If you don’t have a team, don’t be shy – contact the Parents' Group on stgeorgesparents@hotmail.com and they will help create a team for you.
Second Hand Uniform Shop - Request for Donations
The school second hand uniform shop is busy preparing for the Trinity term. Their stock levels are low on summer dresses and cricket tops, plus there is always high demand for good condition blue polo shirts. We’d be really grateful if you are able to donate any of the items above once your children have outgrown them. Please drop them by the second hand uniform shop door any time when then shop is open.
The second hand uniform shop is a hugely successful fundraising stream for the Parents' Group and we are hugely grateful for any donations.
Zimbe!
For anyone who has children performing in Zimbe! next Thursday in St George’s Chapel - don’t forget to purchase your tickets in advance. They can be bought online on the Windsor Festival website – tickets.windsorfestival.com.
The evening promises vibrant African songs in the splendour of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. The Choirs of St George’s School are joined by The Queen’s Six, Jazz Quintet and the St George’s School Community Choir (you may recognise a few parents and teachers!) to perform Alexander L’Estrange’s skilfully crafted cantata which brings together music from all over Africa. You’ll be left humming the tunes and tapping the rhythms after a night suitable for the whole family.
Sports Report
Netball
It was a wet Wednesday afternoon for the U10 and U11 girls, who battled through their triangular netball matches despite being very cold! The U11 team played Holme Grange in their first match. There was some excellent tenacious defending from Willow W who connected well with Summer E on court. Well done to Yana V who received player of the match in a new position. The result was a draw. In their second match of the afternoon against Daneshill Prep, the team were put to the test in what proved to be a difficult match for the girls. There was an excellent effort from the whole team throughout the afternoon.
In the mixed U10/U11 matches, there was some great shooting from Leah H and Evie C who worked well together in the circle. Mansa H and Charley W made some excellent interceptions in defence and there was a good team spirit on display, despite the girls having never played in this formation before.
The U10 girls started slowly in their match against Daneshill who had a height advantage over our team; although we did have lots of opportunities to score, unfortunately we couldn’t convert. In the next match vs Holme Grange the girls came out strongly and performed better in all areas of the court. They quickly adapted to the height of their opponents and played a short, sharp game of netball. Well done to the team in both matches.
On Friday the U9s travelled to Holme Grange for their triangular matches with Daneshill Prep. Both red and blue teams performed extremely well and there was a great team effort on both courts throughout the afternoon. The red team got off to a great start with their win against Holme Grange, excellent movement in the circle from Jessica G and Siena L and Amelie W held the centre court brilliantly. The girls used the space well and dodged to get rid of their defenders. Daneshill Prep proved to be tougher competiton and the girls went down 3-1 in the first quarter, but with a few changes and a positive team talk, the girls turned it round to a win. There was some lovely play from Mariella O who was determined to not let her player free in both matches. In both the blue team matches there were some great passages of play; Katie K did a great job of marking her player and Celeste J reacted well to the situations ahead of her. Well done to the U9s!
Both U8 teams had success in their matches against Holme Grange and Daneshill Prep. The red team had two wins and the blue team drew and won. It’s really exciting to see the hard work and learning from both teams and it’s clear they are using what they have learnt in lessons. The girls all played a superb afternoon of netball.
Rugby and Hockey
Congratulations to all the Year 5- 8 on completing a very successful rugby season and making such fantastic progress over the last few months. The boys now move on to hockey with games against St Neot’s and Dolphin school in the coming weeks. Please may we remind you that all pupils taking part in hockey need a mouth guard and shin pads to play.
On Friday the Years 3 and 4 played hockey matches with St Neot’s School. It was a great afternoon; both St George's year groups enjoyed playing and learned a lot from the fixture and key lessons for next week. Well done to everybody for an excellent effort.
School Fencing Club Success : British Fencing Grading Day Saturday 7th March
Several of our school fencers attended the British Fencing achievement assessment in London on Saturday. They all did really well and all successfully passed their target grades, as assessed by a GB team coach. Well done to:
Radley, Alex L and George H : Grade 3
Gabriel RA : Grade 2
Kimon L, Barney H, Cecily M and Freya S : Grade 1
This week's birthdays are: Neev KS, Cassian C, Miles J, Adhrit P and Billy O’B.