LEWESTON LIGHT Gaudere et Bene Facere AUTUMN
LEWESTON LIGHT!
I hope that you enjoy reading our Autumn Term Leweston Life and that it provides an insight into life at Leweston, as well as highlights some of the pupils' many accomplishments this term.
I would like to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
John Paget-Tomlinson Headmaster
TERM
2021
ART AND DESIGN Leweston Sixth Form students produced artwork for the #1Life1Voice Stop Modern Slavery project during their General Religious Studies lessons this term. Their work was displayed in the Salisbury Cathedral Chapter House in October alongside the Magna Carta. The project included a Young Peoples’ Modern Slavery Art Exhibition, national and regional guest speakers, County Lines training for Years 7 to Year 11, and local radio interviews by experts. Congratulations to Ellie, Daniel, Lucie and Amalie, who have been awarded 2nd place for their work.
MUSIC SCHOLARS CONCERT The Music Department have been delighted to host an array of concerts this term, as we move away from virtual events. We heard some spectacular pieces at the Music Scholars' Concert, with performances from our specialist musicians in Years 7 to 13.
NANCY ROTHWELL AWARD IN ART Congratulations to Art and Design Scholar Jessica, Year 10, who was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ in the Nancy Rothwell Award, a competition run by the Royal Society of Biology. Jessica's work 'Maned Wolf' is being exhibited at the Whitworth Gallery and earlier in the term she got to visit to see it on show.
Eleven Leweston riders and twelve horses made the five hour drive from Dorset to attend the 2021 NSEA National Championships at Keysoe International.
LEWESTON EQUESTRIAN TEAM WIN 2021 NSEA NATIONAL TITLE
The highlight of the four day show was our team winning the National Title in the Regional Points League Final. The eight squad members rode one show jumping round against the clock at four different heights (70cm, 80cm, 90cm or 1m). Leweston won the class by producing six fast, clear rounds and were delighted to be presented with the 2021 title and lots of lovely prizes and rugs. Many congratulations to Josie, Henrietta, Molly, Tara, Maisy, Madeline, Mia and Charlie. Read more on our website.
NSEA EVENTERS CHALLENGE QUALIFIER AT PONTISPOOL EQUESTRIAN CENTRE Our team in the 80cm competition (Jessica, Poppy, Henrietta and Tara) all rode almost foot perfect clear rounds, the only team to do so, winning a class which had 17 teams and 70 individuals. Poppy had a fantastic round which saw her take fourth place which mean she qualifies as an individual as well as part of the team. The 90cm Eventers Challenge Class had 10 teams and 54 Individuals entered and our teams took first place (Loveday, Charlie and Madeline) and third place (Madeline, Henrietta, Jessica and Poppy).
We regularly share profiles of our students on the news page of our website and across social media. Focusing on academics, sport, the creative arts, boarding and Sixth Form they are a great way to learn more about what it's like to be at Leweston in the students' own words.
Recent profiles include Magdalini, Year 13, who shared what its like to be an international boarder. Oliver, Year 9, discussed his favourite subjects and his ambitions for GCSEs. See more student profiles on our website.
"In summary, if I could describe the Sixth Form experience in three words I would say that it is fun, challenging, and rewarding and something so far that I am really enjoying!"
Over the course of the Autumn Term our boarders have enjoyed a variety of in-house and off-site activities. They kicked off the start the term with Zorb Football and archery tag which proved entertaining for both pupils and spectators!
The students have even got creative and learnt how to make pizza in true Italian style!
Their trip to Go Ape coincided perfectly with the Boarding Schools Association’s International Boarding Day which focused on the theme of Health and Wellbeing. They bravely tackled any fear of heights head on, demonstrating great physical and mental strength and, as a result, getting the very best out of the experience.
The weekend programme provides boarders, and day students, with a variety of activities to strengthen their minds and bodies, and Flip Out Somerset was a perfect example. The boarders got to use trampolines, obstacle courses, foam pits, basketball trampoline dunk and a soft battle ground!
U12 GIRLS WIN DORSET IN2HOCKEY TOURNAMENT AND BECOME COUNTY CHAMPIONS Well done to our U12 girls who won the Dorset In2Hockey Tournament, becoming County Champions! We saw some brilliant play and were proud to see how well the team conducted themselves both on and off the pitch. They will now join the U11s and U13s at the Regional Championships next term.
INTERMEDIATE GIRLS COMPETE AT THE ESAA CROSS-COUNTRY NATIONAL CUP FINAL
On Friday 3 December, six students travelled to Newquay to represent Leweston School in the ESAA Cross-Country National Cup Final for Intermediate Girls. Congratulations to Amelia, Freya, May, Year 9, Lucy, Daisy and Molly, Year 10, who despite gale force winds, sunshine, hailstones, mud and many hills finished a superb 17th place. An outstanding achievement, with 438 entries from all over the UK in their age group!
OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST KATE FRENCH VISITS LEWESTON At the end of term we had a very special visit from Kate French, Olympic Modern Pentathlon Gold at the Tokyo Olympics. During the day, Kate met a number of the senior students who take part in the family of sports that make up Modern Pentathlon. The students had the opportunity to ask questions about Kate’s life as a Modern Pentathlete and how she got to the Olympics. The students thoroughly enjoyed asking questions about her training and even got to see her fantastic gold medal.
BATH RUGBY ROADSHOW On Sunday 31 October, Leweston, in partnership with Bath Rugby, hosted a Rugby Masterclass Roadshow for over 80 players across the local community. We welcomed boys and girls of all abilities aged between 7 to 16 years old. The Masterclass covered skill based training, moving on to contact based training for appropriate age groups and finished off with a question and answer session with Bath’s professional players Tom Doughty and Darren Atkins.
"I learnt so many skills such as how to work within a team, what nutrition is good and bad for the exhibition, how to plan a route and how to navigate with a map and compass."
YEAR 9 STUDENT
KS3 PRODUCTION THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL Well done to all our Key Stage 3 students who worked so hard this term on the Autumn Term production of The Little Match Girl. Thank you to Miss McIntosh and the Drama Department who worked hard to ensure that the production could go ahead.
DUKE OF EDINBURGH Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh students embarked upon their qualifying expeditions in the New Forest. Having already taken part in their practice weekend, the Silver groups were quick to get moving, showing off their expertise to the external assessors. While the Bronze team quickly found that communication was the key to success and that they would have to work together to complete the expedition. A special thank you to Holly and Daisy who, despite already qualifying, put others before themselves and completed the Bronze team at the last minute. We are very proud of the effort and commitment that the students put into the weekend. Well done to all the teams who qualified.
RHETORIC Rhetoric is an academic enrichment option for pupils in Years 7 to 9 and at the first meeting of the term pupils enjoyed tackling some logic puzzles in pairs before learning about the elements of a formal debate. They then put theory into practice working in two mixed year group teams. The motion was “This House believes the monarchy should be abolished.” The motion was carried based on the strength of the arguments and rebuttals only. The students learnt how to argue effectively and persuasively, regardless of their own personal opinions. Congratulations to everyone who showcased brilliant formal debating skills and to Felicity, Year 9, who won best individual contribution.
RAISING MONEY FOR CHARITY This term we had a number of awareness days to help broaden our students minds and develop a sense of citizenship. We wore odd socks for Anti-Bullying Week, spots and stripes for Children in Need and members of staff and even some parents grew a moustache in aid of Movember! Thank you for your continued support with our charitable endeavours.
CHARLIE UNWIN TALK ON PSYCHOLOGY Renowned coach Charlie Unwin visited Leweston on Wednesday 24 November to give an inspiring talk on using psychology to perform at your best. He talked in detail about achieving 'flow' and how to obtain results under pressure. Answering a number of questions from students at the end of the session.
YEAR 12 TAKE THE LEAD AT OUTPOSTS! On Thursday 3 October, Year 12 students departed Leweston for a unique and exciting residential in the Quantock Hills. Run by Outposts, an experienced centre for outdoor education, the two-day programme tested and developed our students’ determination, communication, problem-solving and leadership.
CREATIVE WRITING SCHOLARSHIP Congratulations to Daisy, Year 11, who took part in the 2022 Immerse Education Essay Competition and has been awarded a scholarship for their upcoming Creative Writing Summer Programme at Cambridge University. Immerse Education wrote to Daisy to say: “This was a record breaking competition as we received thousands of entries from students attending leading schools all over the world. Each of our judges commented on the extremely high quality of essays that we received this year across all categories, and it was clear that our candidates had invested significant effort in researching and writing their essays. Congratulations on being recognised as one of the highest calibre of entries this year.”
SENIOR MATHS CHALLENGE The Senior Mathematical Challenge is a 90-minute, multiple-choice challenge which encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems. The problems on the Senior Mathematical Challenge are designed to make students think. Most are accessible, yet still challenge those with more experience.
IET FARADAY CHALLENGE DAY WITH YEAR 8 In November, Year 8 took part in the IET Faraday Challenge Day where they gained experience being an engineer for the day. The students were given the opportunity to research, design and make prototype solutions to tough engineering problems as well as see the benefits of careers within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). At each event, teams compete to win a prize for themselves and a trophy for their school. The top teams across the UK get an all-expenses paid trip to the National Final to compete for a cash prize. Well done to Team 6, Sabiq, Jonas, Tom, Verity, Alice and Esme, who won the challenge and are in with a chance of competing at the National Final.
YEAR 9 ENGINEER DAY Cdr Kitchen MBE (BEng CEng MIET Royal Navy) visited Leweston to talk to Year 9 students about her extraordinary life as an engineer in the Royal Navy. The students then completed a number of engineering challenges including building a tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows, making a catapult out of lollypop sticks, producing a bridge from straws and designing a flood resilient and resistant house. Working in small groups, the students developed important teamworking skills.
CHRISTMAS 2021 AT LEWESTON Despite Covid-19 restrictions, we have managed to have another wonderful Christmas here at Leweston, seeing many staff and students participate in festive activities. The boarders had a day out to Bournemouth's Winter Wonderland to go ice skating and went to the Octagon in Yeovil to see the pantomime Mother Goose. They also indulged in their very own hot chocolate station. The Sixth Formers wrapped boxes for Sherborne Food Bank to fill with food to support those in need this Christmas. The Christmas Concert was a hit with fantastic performances from the Staff and Sixth Form Choir, Schola Cantorum and other instrumental ensembles. Finally the traditional Carol Service was back this year finishing the term with stunning performances in the beautiful Sherborne Abbey.
The last full day of term saw Inter-House sport competitions with the girls competing in hockey and the boys rugby. The competitiveness and level of skill on display were both of an exceptional standard. In hockey, More came out on top with one goal difference better than Mayne. In Rugby Years 7 to 9, Campion took the lead in the touch Inter-House competition, and in Years 10 to 13 More took the title. Congratulations to all our players who have shown great enthusiasm, flexibility and heart whilst playing and training this season!
SCHOOL NEWS Keep up to date with the latest news from Leweston on our website and visit the School Blog for regular articles and thought-pieces written by members of the school community.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Whole School Open Morning: Thursday 28 April 2022, 10am 11+ and 13+ Scholarship Application Deadline: Friday 7 January 2022 11+ Scholarship Assessment Days: 31 January and 1 February 2022 13+ Scholarship Assessment Day: 24 and 25 January 2022 Year 7 Assessment Day: Friday 21 January 2022
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