West newsletter draft summer 2013

Dear West Parents, I cannot believe that I have reached the end of my first year as Housemistress.

This time last year, I had no idea of what to expect, which was probably a blessing to be honest. As I said to the girls at House Prayers, there has been laughter, tears and everything in between and I have loved it (mainly)!

The girls have unbelievable house spirit which has been evident at every house competition and we have certainly had a successful term in that regard, winning House Athletics, House Swimming, House Golf, House Cricket, Senior Tennis and Senior Rounders.

A main event of the term was the Charity Day, which you can read about elsewhere in the newsletter. In future, I think my silly ideas need to be ignored (though Mrs Burns did try and warn me what was ahead) as we really did have to work hard and the house turned into a sweatshop for the weekend. Still, we raised a lot of money, which was the point, and this money will be distributed to the charities this summer.

On a personal note, I would especially like to thank Sophia Ambrose, Livvy Farrer and Amy Sansom for their efforts; everyone worked hard, but these three really did go above and beyond!

However, the main focus has been exams and the house has felt very empty in the last two weeks since the last exams took place and the Upper Sixth and Upper Fifth relaxed or did work experience. During study leave itself, the house was full, with many girls deciding to stay in school during this period of time, in order to benefit from the routines and many clinics on offer. I do think this was a wise choice and they managed to maintain a purposeful approach throughout; hopefully the results will reflect all the girls' hard work! The last 48 hrs in West were very emotional as we said goodbye to the leavers, who will be missed hugely. We had a champagne brunch with the U6th parents and girls, House Prayers, Speech Day and the Leavers' Service and Ball; there were a lot of tears (theirs and mine) but I do feel these girls leave Cranleigh ready to take on the world. I look forward to hearing all about the next exciting chapter in their lives. In particular, I would like to thank Hebe Westcott, Nancy Newberry and Izzie Simpkin for their unfailing support, unwavering loyalty and all their help in running West this year. They have been unbelievably good and I could not have got through this year without them. They have complimented each other hugely and led by example. I know that Tilda Martin, Alex Adams and Issi Rennocks have a tough act to follow but from watching them take on their leadership roles this week, they are more than up to the job! All that remains is for me to thank all the people involved in making West run smoothly and the happy place it is, our cleaners (who do a great job and are extremely patient), to the matrons (also incredibly patient), to the tutors who look after the girls' interests so well, to Mrs Burns and Miss Lockwood for all the hard work they do and their unfailing good nature and to the girls themselves for making me and my family so welcome in our first year here.

As well as the Upper Sixth, we say goodbye to some tutors who are moving house, to balance numbers: Miss Gibson and Miss Warner who are going to North, Mr Neill to Cubitt, and Miss Yates to Loveday. They will be greatly missed and have all done a fine job in West. However, we welcome three new tutors in September, Miss Parry (as Warden), Mr Saxel (who many of you know, and he spends so much time in the house, he may as well tutor here) and Miss Wyles (a new Maths teacher). I am certain the girls will make them feel very welcome next year.

I wish you all a very relaxing summer, whatever you have planned, and look forward to seeing you all again in September.

Andrea

The girls’ house bouldering competition took place on the first Wednesday of term. The mighty west team consisted of Ellen Dixon (captain), Ellie Smith, Zoë Dixon and Pip Johnston as a reserve. The stakes were high and chalk went flying as both the South and West teams climbed with apt skill and agility. In the end the South team (whose captain was Livvy Walliker) won by an extremely narrow margin, but the west team spirit never faltered- Zoe Dixon

JUNIOR BADMINTON This year West were very unfortunate to lose in house badminton even thought everyone was full of the enthusiasm, with energy was flowing out of all of us. Liv Camsey, Tara Kohler, Tess Lenselink, Abi Dahl, Sophie Miller, Charlotte Tristem all took part in this house event and all played three games. Although we didn’t win, what we lacked in skill we made up for in house spirit. The support from the side-lines made the event fun and encouraging – nothing wrong with a bit of friendly competition! Sophie Miller

SENIOR BADMINTON It started off with Nancy Newberry, running round the house finding people to play only minutes before it was due to start, arriving fashionably late for badminton, we got into pairs which were, Georgia Pask and Sop Ambrose, Briony Pearson and Emily Wolley (Wally), and Steph Cooper and Issi Rennocks, and some had never played badminton before. Despite having great house sprit and determination, Bri and Wally, and Steph and Issi lost all there matches (3/3). However Georgia and Sop won 1 of their matches. As a result we lost badminton, however we went down fighting, and did not give easy wins for South, shown by two injuries such as a pulled wrist muscle (Issi) and a injured knee (Wally). Well played

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon in June but things didn’t initially look too bright for the West girls. South arrived armed with their game faces preparing their fielding turf, as we held our breath and hoped for the best as we prepared to bat. Between ‘sticky wickets’, tight fielding and the odd ‘chinaman’ delivered by the South bowlers, there seemed to be little hope for our opening batsmen. The afternoon was endless but Mr. Saxel never failed to offer enthusiastic words of encouragement between innings. Backed by a vivacious supportive crowd, teamwork and grim determination we sailed through the afternoon with an amazing win! West really proved to be the dark horse. Genie Barretto

Junior House Rounders was a very successful event, not because we won (because we didn’t) but we because we were fuelled with house spirit and team amity. Our 4th form A’s were victorious in their win, with Beth hitting some great hits. Conversely, our 4th form B’s narrowly lost but were very energetic and put up a good fight. In the B’s Hanna and Annie did some great hitting. The L5th A’s, who were captained by Tess, also narrowly lost 13-11. However there were amazing catches made by several members in the team, but notably Grace Walker’s where she sprinted from 3rd deep to 1st deep to catch the ball. Finally, the L5th B’s, captained by Nell, lost by 12-11 so a very close call. In the end the day proved to be great fun and proved how team spirit can make any event great fun. What also proved to be very humorous was the ...But the Seniors won fact that Doc Sax sported a purple T-shirt (South’s house colour) whilst Mrs Frett wore pink the Rounders Cup! (ours)!

Tess Lenselink and Tilda Martin

In the days leading up to this event, the house saw preparations, practise and tactics in full flow. Everybody competed with great enthusiasm and the support from the side showed West’s house spirit at its best. It was a close competition, with the 4th and 5th form winning their sections, but the 6th form being beaten by south. However overall West won with the squadron relay epitomising the excitement of the afternoon and West pulling through to victory. As Doc Sax put it, it was the best possible outcome, with Mrs. Frett being pushed in the pool by the U6th South girls due to their early conviction of their win! Thank you to Ellie Connor and the two sports prefects, Becky and Immy for organising the team!

Hannah Wallis In house golf, we won, despite south having more players the west team showed it was quality not quantity that mattered. In both round one and two we won convincingly. Jen Vincent, Chloe Nicholls, Grace Walker, Hanna Walker, Libby Brake, Milly Delaney and Hetty Pakenham-Walsh all took part with great enthusiasm. We all are pleased we won as it was Jen Vincent s last house golf! Grace Walker SENIOR TENNIS West won the House tennis yet again, the competition was challenging for all players considering the typically bad weather. There was a great turnout of supporters, bringing house spirit to the event which participated to the success of each match.A special thank you to Hebe Westcott and Scarlett Rudd for leading our to team to victory, and a very Well done to everyone that took part. Tara Beamish JUNIOR TENNIS All the junior year groups gathered together to play a game of tennis. It started out a friendly match, although the housemistresses of both sides turned it into a serious matter. Cathy gathered all the Westies together for an encouraging team talk. Calnan and Camsey as our 1st pair won their match against south’s 2nd pair and had a close defeat to South’s 1st pair. The overall result was South 90, West 70. West tried their best and had a great time! Congratulations all participants; Charlotte Calnan, Liv Camsey, Megan Batchelor, Jess Pilling, Beth Porter, Emily Thorpe, Zoë Dixon, Libby Brake, Grace Walker, Hanna Walker, Abby Frett, Sophie Heaver, Sophie O’Neill and Ella Gosper .– Sophie O’Neill

House athletics was truly an amazing event. The atmosphere was simply buzzing with cheering all around as Cubitt, Loveday, North, South, East and West all arrived ready to prove themselves in the grueling physical showdown. Down by the Lowers the events began- but we could stand the pace? Our juniors were on fire and set the standards high as first up was Emily Thorpe in the high jump who flew over the crossbar with ease. Shortly followed by the 100m race, she wowed the crowd yet again with a time of 12.69 followed by Libby Brake who achieved an amazing 13.86. Our 200m runners Sophie O’Neill and Sophie Thornton Wood showed off their skills as they placed 1st and 2nd.And keeping the fire a blaze in concluding the junior segment was Pip Johnson with the javelin, obtaining a distance of 24.19 and Tabz Bowden with times of 2.44.36 in the 800m and 5.34.26 in the 1500m races.

As the afternoon continued , the ball was kept rolling as our intermediate all-star runners Tats St. Pier and Tara Kohler gained breathtaking times of 2.54.45 and 2.54.89 in the 800m race. Grace Walker and Sophie Miller also displayed tremendous determination in the 100m attaining incredibly close times of 13.45 and 13.54. Sophie and Tats, working in tandem did not cease to amaze in the 200m crossing the finish line with times of 28.37 and 30.22. Placing first and second in the 300m were Chloe Nichols and Jen Vincent who also gained impressive times of 40.26 and 50.01. Rounding off the intermediate events was Tats St. Pier in the shot put attaining the furthest distance of 8.74.

Our seniors brought it home as the afternoon drew to a close. Georgia Hart obtained first place in both the 100m and 200m races with times of 13.32 and 28.77. In the high jump, Olly Al Marzook’s techniques blew the crowd away as did Hebe Westcott with javelin, placing first with a distance of 20.51. And in one of the longest races of the afternoon, Rachel Lubbock and Alex Adams achieved brilliant times of 6.08.54 and 6.20.44 in the 1500m.Through the help of ‘Calippo’s’ and despite the initial grim, rainy weather, the day was concluded with an overall win with match results of 208 points.

Genie Baretto

The West Charity Day 2013 evolved into a West Charity Term! We started off with the idea for a cake sale, then someone suggested tie dye t-shirts , then personalised mugs, eco shopping bags and before we knew it there was a frenzy of taking in orders, buying in t shirts, dye and transfer paper, and the girls brought ingredients in from home to make the cakes.

What seemed like a crazy idea to start with took shape quite quickly as the girls took ownership of the whole event. Livvy Farrer and Sophia Ambrose masterminded the cup cakes (at least four different recipes) Hannah Wallis, Alex Adams and Cathy Hobbs and Georgie Beamish took control of the ‘dye station’, Milly Black and Issi Rennocks took control of the Eco Bags, and Abi Camsey helped Miss Yates create some beautiful mugs.

Girls from all year groups gave up their weekend to come in and join in with the production lines.

We made some beautiful boxes of cakes, but we also made enough extra Tiffin, Rocky Road, cakes and biscuits to host a cake sale in Gatleys the next week, and the tie dye t shirts proved to be so popular we ordered in another batch to make and sell to the rest of the students in the school. ( A few are still available at the reduced price of £5!)

None of this could have happened without the amazing organisation skills of Amy Sansom, who took all the orders, and managed to keep a very complicated spreadsheet up to date. At times she seemed to be the only person who really had a handle on what was going on!

The whole event raised well over £2000 for three Charities very close to our hearts in West; Tildy’s Trust, Beyond Ourselves, and Plan- UK’s ‘Because I am a Girl’ campaign, which gives a voice and opportunity to girls worldwide.

Thanks to all of you who supported the event!

A fond farewell to all our UVI Leavers!

Also Goodbye and Good Luck to Saskia Bridgen, Holly Partridge, Lizzie Roberts, Sophie Tolley, Jen Vincent and Betsy Marshall who leave West this term!