LEWESTON LIGHT Gaudere et Bene Facere SUMMER
TERM 2021
LEWESTON LIGHT!
Although there have still been some challenges to overcome this term, I have been so proud of the students' and staff's ability to get the most out of each and every situation.
I hope that you enjoy reading through our Summer Term 2021 'Leweston Life' roundup and that it provides an insight into life at the Senior School, and in the Sixth Form, as well as some of the accomplishments of the summer.
John Paget-Tomlinson Headmaster
MUSIC CONCERTS Leweston Music Department was delighted to host an array of concerts this term, although the events still had to be held virtually. However, with every cloud comes a silver lining, and this meant we were able to welcome friends and family from across the country and even further afield. We heard some spectacular pieces at the KS3 Music Concert, with performances from our talented musicians in Years 7 to 9. Whilst the Music Scholars' Concert, featured all of our Senior School Music Scholars' on a variety of instruments, playing an eclectic repertoire.
JAZZ BAND On a sunny June weekend, our Senior School Jazz Band supported the 'Church Tower Tea Party' in Yetminster in aid of the Sherborne Food Bank and other local charities. A fantastic total of £700 was raised and their brilliant live music was enjoyed by villagers throughout the afternoon.
ART AND DESIGN During their Design lesson on ‘Move Up Day’ - an opportunity to experience the timetable and year group that they will be joining in September - next year’s Year 7 and Year 8 made decorative twizzlers, learning how to use the line bender mould and laser cutter to cut their plastic shapes.
TEAM WINS AND INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS AT MORETON This term our Leweston riders were over the moon to take part in competitions again.
Congratulations to the five individuals and three teams who qualified.
In April, they had three busy days of competition at Moreton Equestrian Centre where they achieved six team wins and 20 individuals qualified for the NSEA Championships.
Our riders finished the busy week of competition with another fantastic team first in the Moreton-Russell ODE90!
On the day one, our riders produced some super show jumping results and were named the new Dorset County Champions! The second day saw a change of kit and discipline as the team competed in the NSEA Dressage qualifier for Addington in October. Huge congratulations to our Team 1st and the six individual qualifiers for the event. Our cross-country kit also got an airing in the NSEA Arena Eventers Challenge qualifier for Hickstead in May.
NSEA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM TITLE Leweston's Intermediate ‘Team Navy’ took top honours against 33 teams competing in the 9095cm arena eventing at the NSEA Championships at Hickstead. The Championships attract school teams and individuals from across the Country and were run under very strict Covid regulations (restricting numbers on site and socially distancing at all times). Leweston competed in nine team events and had 11 individual qualifications. Seven of our teams were placed in the top eight, showing the depth of talent we have in our equestrian squad. The courses were technical and challenging befitting a National Championships.
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 Theo (Year 10), who has been awarded a Head's Commendation and the Leweston Learner Spring 2021 Award for Art. Eloise (Year 11) also discusses her impressive achievements in Music and the various opportunities she has been given at Leweston. View more on our website.
"I love being at Leweston as I can be part of so many groups; Flute Group, Scholar, Into the Sixth Form Choir, Jazz Band, Baroque Ensemble and Show Choir."
Over the course of the Summer Term our boarders enjoyed a variety of in-house and off-site activities. They had the opportunity to take part in an afternoon of indoor climbing activities at Ready2Climb in Yeovil and an adrenaline-filled trip to Thorpe Park!
The BSA challenged schools to join together to walk the equivalent of the distance across Africa. Individual schools could contribute by undertaking a series of tasks. Everyone was delighted to be able to be a part of this brilliant challenge and to contribute 30k to the total. Lots of fun was had at their laser tag activity with Laser Guys and, in true Leweston style, they showcased real resilience continuing throughout the horrid weather. In addition to the activity programme this term they undertook the Boarding Schools Association (BSA) and Limitless #BoardersGoGreen challenge in the lead up to National Boarding Week 21-27 June. The boarders planted a total of six trees in the school grounds – five oak trees wgrown from acorns found at school and one apple tree which grown from a seed discovered in Miss Robinson’s apple!
After the afternoon of planting boarders got to cool off at a fantastic pool party which included an inflatable session and refreshments and snacks from Cedars Café.
INTER-HOUSE TENNIS FESTIVAL Over 50 students entered the different year group competitions at Leweston’s Inter-house Tennis Festival this term. The Festival involved a doubles round-robin tournament in which pairs played off against all other pairings and earnt points for their House through match wins. Congratulations to all students who attended the Festival, we saw some strong players and closely contested matches!
PUPILS SELECTED TO REPRESENT TEAM GB 12 Leweston pupils took part in the National Biathle in May. The event was a selection qualifier for the Great Britain team at the World Biathle in Wieden, Germany, in August. The Biathle is a continuous Run-Swim-Run completed over various distances depending on age. Everyone competed brilliantly with three pupils selected for the GB World Biathle team! We also had 17 athletes taking part in the National Triathle on site in June. The Triathle is a continuous Shoot-Swim-Run competition completed two or four times through at various distances, depending on age. Again, there were some excellent performances, with four athletes being selected to join the World GB Triathle Team!
GOLD AT THE DORSET SCHOOLS' NATIONAL ATHLETICS AND THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS' BIATHLE CHAMPIONSHIPS Leweston students achieved some excellent results at the Dorset Schools Athletics Championships held in Poole this term, with our athletes gaining six Gold, three Silver and ten Bronze medals! Leweston enjoyed hosting the National School’s Biathle Championships on Sunday 27 June. Everyone competed brilliantly and our athletes achieved more amazing results including Individual Gold, four Team Gold, and two Team Silver!
SPORTS DAY 2021 On Monday 14 June, the Senior School enjoyed their annual Sports Day in beautiful sunshine. The morning saw the field events including shot, discus, javelin, long jump and high jump with the afternoon full of track events. Everyone took part with great enthusiasm and Campion House were named the overall winners. The event also saw many existing school records broken and lots more new ones set!
I think DofE is such a great thing to do as it can teach you so many new things that can be valuable to you even after you have completed your award, and you can also share many great experiences with your team. YEAR 9 STUDENT
DUKE OF EDINBURGH KS3 PANTOMIME This year our Key Stage 3 students have worked hard to overcome some of the challenges of online learning whilst continuing to put their drama skills into practice, rehearsing for their production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Originally scheduled for Christmas the performance eventually took place in June and, sadly, we still unable to welcome an external audience but we were able to share the performance with family and friends virtually! One audience member said “It was lovely to see the students looking so excited on the stage again; I was blown away by the talent – it was like seeing a professional pantomime!”
This term our Bronze and Silver DofE students completed their First Aid and Training Programmes. Students learnt a range of new skills such as bag packing, first aid, navigation, stove safety and how to safely put up a tent. They all demonstrated excellent team work and formed new friendships along the way. Towards the end of term, students took on the challenge of either their practice or qualifying expeditions. The intrepid hikers started with great enthusiasm, keen to learn new skills. The groups quickly found communication was the key to success and that they would all have to work together to complete the expedition. Well done to all the Bronze teams who successfully qualified. We now look forward to taking the Silver participants to the New Forest in September for their final expedition.
ACTIVITIES PROGRAMME Life at Leweston is a busy one, all pupils are encouraged to take part in a number of activities outside their normal academic, musical and sporting commitments and Leweston offers a choice of over 50 different activities, clubs and societies each term. Above are some examples of the clubs and activities that have been on offer to our Senior School students throughout the Summer Term.
BOOKS2AFRICA 24 HOUR CHARITY TRIATHLON
The school bus was loaded up at the end of term ready for delivery of all our book and textbook donations for Books2Africa.
It has become a Leweston tradition for Year 13 Leavers to finish their school days with a 24 Hour Triathlon in aid of charity. This year they participated in dance, rounders and cycling to raise funds for Young Minds. The students chose this charity as they were very aware of the increased challenges and emotional pressures which young people have faced during the pandemic and of the need for easily accessible, first class mental health support.
The charity is doing fantastic work to improve education in Africa through the provision of books and other educational resources that enable individuals to achieve their full potential.
We are very proud of all those who participated and managed to smash their fundraising target of £1000, raising a total of just under £1,500! They all put in so much effort, not only in the Triathlon (cycling over 789km!) but at fundraising events in the lead up.
GEOGRAPHY FIELDTRIP WORK Year 10 enjoyed the beautiful weather and stunning coastal scenery of the Jurassic coast in May as they undertook fieldwork as part of their GCSE course. Students examined coastal processes and coastal management on both Swanage and Studland beaches and also undertook a variety of data collection. Year 7 studied Settlement this term, learning about settlement shapes, functions and hierarchies. They had the chance to put their excellent class work into practice on a local field trip to Sherborne Old Castle and town centre. Meanwhile, Year 12 travelled to Skern Lodge in Appledore, Devon, to complete three days of data collection, analysis, and general fieldwork skills in preparation for their NEA (Non Examined Assessment). The students gathered plenty of ideas for their own NEA data collection over the summer holidays.
LEITHS DISTINCTIONS! This term we were delighted to announce that all our students who completed the inaugural Leith’s Certificate in Food and Wine were awarded a Distinction as their final mark. Over the past two years, they have created an impressive portfolio of work including timed plans, personal projects, cookery at home and menu plans!
A LETTER FROM DOWNING STREET... After studying ‘Global Issues’, many Year 7 students chose to write letters to people of importance about global warming and climate change, as well as our current reliance on plastic and the devastating impacts this is having on our planet. The students were delighted to have had several replies to their concerns including responses from local councillors and Downing Street!
SPEECH DAY 2021 We were blessed with beautiful weather for this year’s Senior School Speech Day which, breaking tradition, was held outside the Manor House. Although we were only able to welcome Year 13, their parents and staff on site, we were delighted to be able to live stream the event to the rest of the school community via Zoom. The event was a lovely way to celebrate all of our students’ achievements this year, presenting them with their well-deserved awards. We heard from Mr Paget-Tomlinson and our newly appointed Chair of Governors, Mr Ian Lucas. Head Prefect, Pippa, addressed the school and her fellow Year 13’s with a heartfelt speech looking back at her time at Leweston (not a dry eye in the house!) We would also like thank to our guest speaker author,
restaurant owner and MasterChef winner, Shelina Permalloo, who inspired this year’s leavers with her own personal journey.
At the end of term everyone got to experience a variety of trips and activities both at Leweston and off-site. Included in the week's busy schedule were: - An array of fun team building exercises for Years 10 to 12 - House Cricket matches for the entire Senior School - Adrenaline-filled tree climbing in the famous Cedar trees - A House Quiz across the school grounds - A water sports trip to Portland for Year 7 - A fun day at Dorset Water Park for Years 7 and 8 - Cycling through Haldon Forest for Year 9
SCHOOL BLOG 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 Mornings: Thursday 23 September 2021, 10am Thursday 28 April 2022, 10am Virtual Open Events (Senior & Sixth Form): Wednesday 10 November 2021, 5pm Tuesday 8 February 2022, 5pm
Scholarships: 11+ and 13+ Application Deadline - Friday 7 January 2022 Year 7 Assessment Day - Friday 21 January 2022 16+ Application Deadline - Friday 12 November 2021
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