More fun was had when the second group of our boarders visited the BBC studios in Norwich. The pupils enjoyed having a go at presenting the weather and news as well as learning about what it takes to direct a programme:
Taverham Hall School – Independent Schools Norfolk
The children enjoyed our annual Burns Night celebrations in their ‘Scottish Castle’, ending the evening with some energetic dancing in Big School, dressed in a variety of tartans.
The evening began with a welcome to our top table speakers and guests – Tom, Louisa, Ben, Mr Hamilton, Miss Pennell and Mrs Marles. After the Selkirk Grace by Ben, we enjoyed fabulous Cock-a-Leekie soup made by Debby and then the haggis was piped in. Mr Hamilton gave the address to the haggis before everyone tucked in. After the “Tipsy Laird” we all enjoyed the speeches and gave toasts with Irn Bru.
It was a fabulous evening, thoroughly enjoyed by all:
Taverham Hall School – Independent Schools Norfolk
Our boarders started this Spring Term by planting out some garlic and blackcurrant bushes. They also moved some strawberries to their new bed and we look forward to enjoying the fruit later in the year. We are also excited to see that the spring bulbs planted last term are also beginning to show and are very grateful to the Friends for donating the tubs for these.
The boarders have enjoyed games of Sardines, Scottish dance practice, dragon making and lots of table tennis recently. Last Thursday everyone joined in the fun at our Chinese New Year Party. The dining hall was decked out with dragons and decorations, including tiny Chinese tops kindly lent by Mrs Crabtree. Wearing Chinese-style hats, Mrs Midgley and Mrs Ives handed out New Year envelopes containing chocolate coins, to represent Chinese gift giving. Many thanks to our kitchen and domestic staff for all their support as we enjoyed a superb Chinese supper, eaten with chopsticks by many!
Mr Newton had us all enthralled after the meal, as we listened to his Chinese story about magicians. After playing some Chinese games in Big School, everyone gathered again in the dining hall to try some New Year cake and fortune cookies handed out by our very own dragons. All children received a Chinese calendar scroll and, once again, we are very grateful to George Young for providing the cake and extra treats.
All events listed below start at 18:00 hours
Thursday 19th January – Chinese New Year Celebration
Wednesday 25th January – Burns Night Celebration
Wednesday 1st February – Trip to the BBC
Thursday 9th February – Valentines Evening
Tuesday 21st February – Shrove Tuesday Celebrations
Wednesday 14th March – Chocolate Making Evening
Wednesday 14th December was a special day for our boarding community – the day of the Christmas Party!
In the drawing room, party food was served to the children by some wonderful angels (Mrs Pullinger, Mrs Goldsmith and Miss Pennell) who were very ably assisted by our butler, James Bond (Mr Martin) and our musical accompaniment for the evening, Mr Drew-Batty.
Before dessert, the children were entertained in the inner hall by Taverham Hall’s very own Girl Band, “Fair Play” who performed the song ’Mama Mia’, bravely accompanied by our 2 boy gaps. Our thanks go to Mrs Hambidge, Mrs Steed, Miss Chapman and Miss Hume who put up a fabulous performance which was greatly enjoyed by all!!!
After dessert, which included glittery snowball cakes and special edible table decorations, Father Christmas arrived to the delight of the children, who were very happy to receive his gifts of chocolate coins and sweets. Soon afterwards, Mr Crossley amazed us all with his magical tricks whilst others enjoyed singing Christmas songs with Mr Drew-Batty and had fun trying to create snow with some special kits donated by our parent, Mrs Walker.
A big thank you also to all our kitchen and domestic staff who helped to create a superb party evening.
Last week our boarders enjoyed a variety of activities. Following on from Matron Ives’ Wembley experience, the girls got out their dressing-up clothes to put on their own show of Strictly Dorm Dancing. Matron Ives and Miss Hausmann were greatly entertained by some fabulous mock-ups of the show! In the meantime the boys were helping to cut out stockings for the Christmas dorm decorations, in between their turn to bat and bowl in mini cricket.
On Tuesday several day pupils joined in with some great team games in Big School because they had stayed for tea during the Year 5 Parents’ Evening. Unfortunately our plans to go bowling on Wednesday evening had to be re-arranged as the off-peak slots had been booked up by bowling matches. Instead we went out ‘shopping’ and picked up an ice cream at MacDonald’s on the way home.
On Thursday the week finished with a treat from Mr Wood who had prepared a super Quiz Night for our boarders. The various teams all worked hard on answering questions ranging from a cartoon round to landmark buildings and sport. This quiz was a huge success and as a result there are now plans to have a Quiz and Chips event next term because everyone enjoyed it so much!
Last Monday Mrs Midgley was delighted to watch a play devised by our youngest girl boarders, as well as experiencing an assembly in the Inner Hall run by the ‘Headmaster’, Hannah. What initially started out as a game of sardines, on Wednesday night, turned into a fun drama time in the Inner Hall. Later that evening the girls visited the Boys’ House and enjoyed joining in with the mini cricket game and the racing car tracks.
Thursday was a great evening, which started with a birthday tea for Maya, followed by an exciting Table Tennis Tournament run by Mr Martin.
Boarders’ Table Tennis – written by Henry
The first match was Miss Branwhite and Oliver v Mr Martin and Charlotte. It was a gripping first match but sadly Mr Martin and Charlotte lost and went into the B Team semi-final. As matches went on Harry, Emily, Miss Hausmann and Molly, joined Mr Martin and Charlotte in the B Team semi-finals.
In the A Team Ed and Maya, Louisa, Tom, Harrison and Ryan, joined Oliver and Miss Branwhite. As the final was the best of three, the teams had to work hard. It was 4 – 0 to Harrison and Ryan with an amazing come-back by Louisa and Tom with them both making brilliant shots. Overall Louisa and Tom were the champions as they had worked well as a team. Harrison and Ryan came 2nd with Miss Branwhite and Oliver coming in 3rd.
Last week the girls worked hard to complete their shoe designs – we even managed to persuade some of the boys to take part too, designing whilst watching a DVD! In addition, the girls enjoyed playing ‘Happy Families’ and were busy writing letters home.
On Wednesday we welcomed 16 of our Year 5 day pupils to stay over for their special year group sleepover. They enjoyed their evening very much, with a Taverham Hall School Quiz and team games in Big School whilst some of the girls had fun making iced buns in the kitchen with Matron Ives and Debby. Of course the real excitement was being up in the dorms where everyone enjoyed watching a DVD together or playing mini cricket. They all settled really well – do come and join us again soon!
Thursday evening’s activity was a tremendous Sock War, run by Mr Worrall in the Sports Hall. Mrs Midgley was quite envious of the boarders having such fun, as she photographed the event.
The week ended with the presentation of prizes for the shoe design competition. Matron Ives commented that there were some amazing creations which would cause ‘Jimmy Choo’ some concern over the competition they may have in a few years time! We had the ‘underwater shoe’, heels on wheels’, ‘ice cream parlour shoe’, and ‘flag shoe’, to name but a few.
The winners of the competition were;
1stLydia - Brollie Boot
2nd Matilda – Eiffel Tower Shoe
3rd Louisa – Button-up shoe
4thTom – Invissy trainer
The designs are on display in the dining room if you wish to take a look. Matron Ives would like to thank all the children for taking part and putting a lot of time and effort into their designs.
Thanks also to Mrs Golden for giving us the idea and for judging, together with Mrs Richardson, which is always an extremely hard task.
Our boarding community enjoyed a fun-filled Pumpkin Night this week. We were delighted with the number of superbly carved pumpkins. Tea was full of strangely named drinks and food amidst some lovely decorations. Our pumpkin night walk took us on a search for lit pumpkins, leading us to Mrs Goldsmith’s home. Thanks to Mrs Goldsmith who kindly came back to school to judge the boarders’ pumpkin competition. Congratulations to Carys, the overall winner. Matron Ives later led the boarders in a Boogie Session, dancing to a CD of special spooky music kindly lent by Matilda. Spooky sweet treats were also shared!
Last Wednesday evening our boarders enjoyed a trip to BBC Norwich. We were made extremely welcome by the BBC guides and once ‘Look East’ was off-air our tour began. We crept past the post-programme meeting to look inside the dressing room. As we crept past again, the news readers greeted the children, which was lovely. Our next stop was in the radio studios where we posed by microphones and learnt about the various warning lights used when on-air. Read the rest of this entry »
