Leweston Boarding Life | Spring Term 2023

The Spring Term has been incredibly busy in Eleanor House with the girls making the most of all opportunities available to them. Those in their exam years have made good use of the extra academic support on offer from our boarding Florins, the pastoral support of House Parents and the opportunity to access the school gym every day in order to keep them both physically and emotionally strong.

As always, the boarders have enjoyed an array of boarding activities during evenings and weekends with our most popular trips this term being Go Karting, Monkey World and shopping in Exeter. We also enjoyed two quizzes this term for Australia Day and International Women’s Day which were organised by our fantastic Gap Assistants and were great fun! We also thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year and the authentic dishes created by some of our international boarders in the boarding kitchen were delicious!

After a period of great excitement and anticipation our new Prefect team was announced and we are incredibly proud of all our boarders who have been appointed in their leadership roles. We know that you will all do a fantastic job!

It was an absolute pleasure to take the Year 13 girls in Eleanor out for dinner at Tamburino’s at the end of this term. It was lovely to spend some time together relaxing and enjoying good food and conversation prior to the busy summer term. I hope that all our boarders have a lovely Easter break and we look forward to welcoming them all back to school in April.

ANTONYHOUSE MRCANNONANDMRPURCHASE

It’s been a fantastic term in Antony House with lots of success being achieved ranging from sporting to academic. Our Family have really shown how capable we are of being GREAT! This term has seen the boys receive a total of 370 green flags and many of our senior boys have been awarded Prefectships for the next Academic Year. It is with great pleasure that we can say Leweston School’s first ever Head Boy is from Antony House.

The boys have continued to do us proud in representing the school across hockey fixtures, Cross Country meets, swim galas, fencing competitions, Pentathlon Training, public speaking competitions, and many more events. The weekend activities schedule has also offered the boys the chance to take part in Go-Karting, a trip to Splashdown, a visit to Monkey World, Archery, the Sea Life centre.

The boys are thrilled with the return of House Meal Night, where Boarders choose what’s on the Menu each Thursday.

MARTHAANDCECILIA MISSROBINSON

It was lovely to have all the girls return to us after their Christmas holiday; catching up with everyone and hearing about their family traditions over the festive season.

This term has seen Martha & Cecilia house go from strength to strength. With Boarding being so popular the Houses have grown, with us welcoming many new faces! This has meant new friendships and many laughs.

Weekend activities continue to be a source of fun and an opportunity to explore. With everything from Monkey World and the Sea Life Centre, to Go Karting and Archery, (to name a few!), the girls have had packed weekends with something for everyone.

Levi (my dog) has thoroughly enjoyed being a frequent visitor to Martha and Cecilia Houses and, with the shouts of ‘LEVI!’ often rebounding down the corridor, I can safely say he is beloved by many in the houses. Offering an abundance of cuddles, and much entertainment, Levi loves the girls as much as they love him.

As always the girls continue to achieve both academically and outside school with fantastic results across sports and speaking competitions. My emails have pinged daily with notifications of many green flags!

It has been a wonderful term and, for me, the girls have been truly welcoming and lovely. As Mrs Ovey returns from her maternity leave I say goodbye to seeing the girls more regularly – but I will still be around on Tuesday nights and weekends for fun and laughs with all the Martha & Cecilia girls.

WEEKEND ACTIVITIES

MonkeyWorld

Monkey World is a rehabilitation and rescue centre for monkeys, they aim to stop the illegal smuggling of apes out of Africa and Asia. The borders loved the opportunity to look around the park whilst gathering knowledge regarding all of the different monkeys. They have over 250 primates from 20 different species!

Archery

The boarders got to try their hand at archery at Gorcombe Extreme Sports in Blanford. As the boarders progressed throughout the activity the instructors added balloons to the targets. Although there was no one as good as Katniss Everdeen there were many boarders hitting the bullseye. This trip was a success with everyone laughing the whole day.

Cinema

At the beginning of the term, the boarders were lucky enough to go see Avatar 2 in the Yeovil cinema. This was a nice way to ease back into boarding and school after the busy Christmas break.

WeymouthSeaLifeCentre

The first weekend back to school after Christmas break, the boarders headed off to the Sea Life centre. The boarders all loved interacting with starfish, discovering interesting facts about all the marine life, and witnessing the conservation efforts of the Sea Life team. Afterwards borders enjoyed time at the Weymouth arcade during the sunny afternoon.

WEEKEND A

Go-Karting

The boarders definitely found their ne Haynes Motor Museum! Adorning them driving suits; the boarders all looked l er pursuing each other around the track ut their fastest time, before strategizing

ExeterShoppingTrip

Mrs Simkins-Smith recently took a group of boarders down to Exeter for a shopping trip. Everyone enjoyed themselves; having boba, getting lunch and buying clothes!

Splashdown

Although it’s not summer yet, the boarders don't miss out! Splashdown is an indoor water park that the boarders got to experience recently. They travelled to Poole and enjoyed hours of fun on the water slides and rides. Many people faced their fears and went down the Infinity Ride.

Movienights

On the weekends the boarders watch a movie on a Friday or Saturday night. Movie nights are very popular and are always accompanied by a selection of snacks and drinks. The boarders enjoy coming together in one place to socialise and enjoy a film

EasterActivities

For our last weekend of term we celebrated Easter with a number of themed activities. To start, the boarders made some edible Easter nests which tested our patience as they needed 2 hours to set before they were ready to eat! We filled the time with a range of fun activities from space hopper races and egg and spoon races to board games. The highlight of the day was a visit from the Easter Bunny himself who had hidden eggs around the school for the boarders.

Special Achievements in Boarding Sporting

PublicSpeaking

Weronika, Michal and Monica all attended an international public speaking competition. Congratulations and well done for all involved.

(Thank you Mrs Quick!)

Choir

The Schola Cantorum travelled to Taunton Music festival to compete against many other local schools. The choir were very successful and came home winning their category with a distinction. Thank you DR Milestone and Mrs Betley for all your hard work.

The following students were involved with the choir and we would like to acknowledge and congratulate these talented individuals.

Lio

Darcy Ru

Florence Felicity

Hazel Tully

Yvonne

Maya

Daisy

Alice - Dorset Netball Satellite Academy Programme & U13 netball team that finished runner up at the North Dorset Schools Tournament

Ola - U13 netball team that finished runner up at the North Dorset Schools Tournament.

James - representing Yeovil in JPL and apart of the U15 team qualifying for regionals.

Alfie - member of the U15 team qualifying for regionals.

Charlie and Alfiedeveloping their rugby by representing Bridport and Sherborne RFC

An all boarding relay team (Archie C, Tom, Bruce and Michal) was entered into Claysmore Relays and came second.

Henry , Matthew and Tomall members of the three person sixth form team that finished second at Biathlon Championships.

Milly - 1ST netball team and XC team

Charlie -1ST netball team and XC team

Ginny - 1ST netball team and XC team

Ellen - XC team

Izzy - 1ST laser run & 2ND triathlon

Tom - 1st laser Run, triathlon & tetrathlon. Part of a LPA winning team

SixProduction

The end of term brought with it the much awaited school production of Six. Many of our boarders took part in the performance. Staff and students alike thoroughly enjoyed the production and were incredibly proud of all those involved. It was unanimously agreed that we have some very talented singers, musicians and performers who should be proud of their exceptional contribution. Huge congratulations to all those involved in the production.

The following girls performed in the musical:

Daisy (Jane Seymour)

Hazel (Catherine Parr)

Lio (juror)

Maya (juror)

Darcy (juror)

Jess (Tudor Musician)

WEEKLY ACTIVITI

Letter Writing club

“Letters are written memories and personalities”

A weekly club started in October 2021 by a spark of a hobby that quickly developed into a strong passion From the start I have not missed a session as it is a fantastic way to wind down before bed, giving a healthy break from heavily dominating technology and the speed of everyday life into a strong passion. .

- Ondine

The boarders thoroughly enjoyed the wax sealing sessions supervised by boarding staff. Thank you to Ondine for letting us borrow her beautiful wax stamp.

SportsHallgamesandswimming

Two of our most popular week day activities are Sports Hall Games and Swimming. The pool is open on Wednesday evenings and boarders are welcome to swim laps or enjoy a ‘free swim’. A huge bonus of boarding life is that students are able to make use of the school facilities on evenings and weekends. On Thursdays Mr Cannon runs ‘Cannon’s Crazy Sports Hall Games’ which gives students the opportunity to burn off some excess energy, work as a team in a competitive environment and get to know other boarders. With music playing, laughter and competitive shrieks echoing around the sports hall it is obvious to see just how much fun the boarders have each week.

Chinese New Year

This term also saw the celebration of Chinese new year. The boarder's all joined in with making some beautiful decorations for the Boarding house. This year is the year of the rabbit so all the boarders had a look at what this represents. Some of the boarders cooked up a feast and introduced their friends to new dishes that they would traditionally eat with friends and family in celebration.

CHARITYBAKING

Year 9 boys and girls enjoyed decorating a range of cookies and cupcakes for the NSPCC bake sale, which raised money for the protection of children fund.

WORLDBOOKDAY

For reading week the Boarders organised a Blind Date with a Book, for the rest of the school to enjoy. During house meetings the boarders were asked to recommend books that they have enjoyed and would like to share with others. The books were then wrapped to hide their title and author in order to entice the reader.

QUIZZES

During the term there were two quiz nights held for the boarders. One quiz night was all about Australia Day and life down under, with plates of fairy bread handed out - and although the students originally did not like the idea of fairy bread, it was gone within minutes! The second that was held was a quiz about powerful women in the world inspired by international women's days. Both of these quizzes were a hit.

This term we have been lucky enough to experience 2 snow days and the boarders thoroughly enjoyed themselves making snowmen and throwing snowballs before heading back to the boarding houses to warm up with hot chocolate.

The Boarding Staff would like to wish all Leweston families a safe and Happy Easter!

Important dates for Summer term