West newsletter summer 2014

Dear West Parents, I can hardly believe another year has gone by; it seems no time at all since I said goodbye to last year's leavers. Here I am again though saying goodbye to a delightful group of girls that I am certainly going to miss. They have been fabulous and I have been immensely grateful to them for how well they have supported me and what I am trying to achieve in West. They have remained a united front throughout the year and have showed that a girls house does not have to be full of drama! Their kindness towards each other and the other girls in the house has been really lovely to see.

It has been a fantastic term, starting off with our hugely successful Charity Day; can I thank you all for your unbelievably generous donations. With the T-shirts as well, we raised somewhere in the range of £7000, and this is an unbelievable achievement.

Additional thanks must go to Miss Webb and Hannah Wallis, who did such a good job running a smooth, fun but very tiring day!

Most of the term was taken up with exams for the top three year groups, so it is a testament to their goodwill and support for the house, that it did not stop them playing sport for the school or for the house. As such we stormed to victory in House Climbing, House Swimming, Senior House Tennis and Badminton, House Cricket and House Golf, though I have mixed feelings about the swimming and I ended up taking a dip myself!

Good luck to my leavers and please come and visit us soon, and in the meantime, I wish all of you a peaceful and relaxing summer.

Andrea

PROGRESS: Natalie Gillott, Eloise Hood, Jess Pilling, Poppy Heaver, Georgie Pask.

EFFORT: Ally Bayne, Katie Harnby, Megan Batchelor, Ellie Smith, Genie Baretto.

HALF COLOURS: Brianna Longson, Sophie O’Neill, Charlie O’Neill, Deescha Chandrasma, Gracie Escolme, Zoe Dixon, Pip Johnston, Ant Kennington, Sasha Kennington, Rachael Smith, Emma Kendall FULL COLOURS: Lexi van Breugel, Ellen Dixon, Karina Bondereva, Steph Cooper, Briony Pearson, Kristie McClaren HOUSE BADGE: Hannah Wallis, Georgie Beamish HOUSE NECKLACE: Alex Adams, Issi Rennocks HOUSE SHIELD: Matilda Martin, Cathy Hobbs WEST TRANSFORMATION: Tara Beamish WEST PERSEVERENCE: Abi Dahl

CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE!

Visibility was poor that day, clouds of white chalk falling all around. People were dropping like flies, and the West Climbers turned to each other with a single goal in mind: accomplishment. ‘The wall’ was vast and the over-whelming colours would intimidate most, but not West. Rosie Kilty decided to hit off the West team by scoring a daring over-hanging black in the corner. Pip Johnston was also off to a solid start and didn’t hesitate in addressing several climbs which would make others queasy at the prospect. Zoë Dixon and captain Ellen Dixon schemed in the corner, convinced that that scary looking pink and black was all talk and no chalk, quickly calling their team over to try it. After a gruelling couple of hours West regrouped and decided: “It’s all or nothing”. The clock was ticking and West scored their final points. The moment had arrived – it was scoring time… West won with a score of ‘…’. Both teams did well, having fought fearlessly and tirelessly for hours. Congratulations for both teams were in order however West were particularly ecstatic, dropping their harsh diet regimes in order to divulge themselves in the glorious winner’s chocolate: Cadbury’s. Ellen Dixon

West won the House swimming! It was great team work in all years, and fabulous organisation from Hannah Wallis and Abi Dahl. Notable performances from so many girls, but particularly Amber Magee, Tori van Beugel, Megan Batchelor and Liv Camsey!

West stepped onto the field with high spirits and fighting determination for the girls’ house cricket on the sunny afternoon of the 9th. Annie Piper opened up the bowling with a solid over, and Charlie Hills showed that the 4th form cricketers should not be overlooked with her bowling. Wickets were taken by Libby Brake, Pip Johnston and Beth Porter. At the end of the first innings, West stepped up to bat, chasing a total of 67, with Annie Piper and Charlotte Tristem opening, who scored a combined score of 24, with Annie not out. Chloe Nicholls also had a successful batting innings, scoring a total of 13 not out, and other good performances came from Libby and Beth. In the end, West came out on top with a total 71 for 3, beating South by 7 wickets.

U6 lost, U5 lost ( Bs by only half a rounder!) L5th lost but in the 4th form the Bs won! Special mentions to Olivia Charman, Katie Harnby ( for an amazing catch) and Beth Porter ( for switch hitting!)

This year, the West House Music Evening was held in the atrium of the Emms centre. The evening consisted of eighteen individual fantastic performances, finishing with a whole house finale of 'Let it Go' from Frozen. What a triumph! To be honest, by far the loudest part of the evening was all the West girls thanking and cheering for Mr Saxel who had organised the whole event but who was sadly unable to be there on the night. Huge thanks must go to Mr Clarke who stepped in at the last minute to accompany everyone, but most importantly to Mr Saxel for everything he had done for this special evening. Cathy Hobbs House golf was another of West's many successes this term. the competition was played over two rounds, with West winning both. the overall scores were West 140pts and South 119pts. well done to the whole team: Chloe, Megan, Grace, Libby, Hanna and Annie. Chloe Nicholls

West won the senior tennis competition this year, with outstanding performances from Ant and Saha Kennington, Liv Camsey and Charlotte Calnan, Tilda Martin and Tara Beamish, Megan Batchelor and Ellie McAleese, Cathy Hobbs, VCharlotte Tristem, Zoe Jackson Chloe Nicholls and Lexi van Breugel.

House Athletics 2014 This year’s house athletics demonstrated West house’s strength and determination.

The sun was out keeping us all motivated and all West girls tried their very best to contribute and give it their all whether it was a field or track event. Being the united house we are, we were lucky enough to have the whole of the house come and support even if they weren’t already involved in any events. It was great to see the smiles on the girls faces after they had finally achieved a placing or even just because they had taken part in order to help the house. With all our efforts put together we managed to be awarded with the following results: Jnr South 81 West 50 Int West 85 South 56 Snr South 85 West 54 As a result we unfortunately just lost to south. However, it was a lovely day competing together and we all had fun doing our events. Sophie O’Neill

West travels ‘around the world in 80 ways’ for charity day On Saturday 26th April, the girls of West House spent an afternoon and evening taking part in 80 different activities to cover as much distance as possible ‘around the world’ in order to raise money for charity. Activities included swimming (with events from the more conventional freestyle and backstroke, to doggy paddle and ‘granny breaststroke’), running, marching, hopping, skipping, leopard crawling, badminton, football, hockey, netball, three-legged races, pogo-stick jumping, backflips and cartwheels to name but a few.

With real house spirit on show, all the girls put in a huge amount of effort as they took part in the events at different locations around the school campus. By the end, all seemed to agree that the challenge had actually been far tougher than they imagined that it would be, especially as many pushed themselves to achieve personal targets, whether it was swimming a mile butterfly, completing 1000 step-ups, or just managing the one cartwheel. Although some of the maths had to be a little creative at times, it was estimated that the activities ultimately covered nearly 2000km – enough, we believe, to get from Cranleigh to Morocco or Croatia! It is no wonder that everyone enjoyed the BBQ afterwards.

Thanks to some very generous sponsorship and the sale of charity T-shirts, the girls’ efforts have raised in the region of £6000 for a number of charities. Each year-group selected a charity that they wished to raise money for, with the Fourth Form supporting Cancer Research, the Lower Fifth Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Upper Fifth the National Autistic Society, the Lower Sixth Beyond Ourselves, and the Upper Sixth Tildy’s Trust and Children with Cancer UK. A huge amount of credit must go to Hannah Wallis, this year’s charity rep, who came up with the idea in the first place and put a huge amount of effort into the creation of the T-shirts and the organisation of the day. Thanks too to all the girls for their efforts, to all sponsors for their generosity, and to all the tutors for giving up their time to make this event possible. SLW

A fond farewell to all our UVI Leavers!

Also Goodbye and Good Luck to Nell Mitchell, Kate Brockman, Grace Walker and Ella Hampson!