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REVIEW OF THE YEAR
Girls’ boarding I’m often asked what it’s like being a houseparent, and I say it’s lovely, (the girls), exhausting (the hours), stressful (the Inspection) but also fun, challenging and crazy at times: always enjoyable and ultimately very rewarding. And this is why: The girls are great fun, there’s plenty going on, and with a couple of notable exceptions we mostly enjoyed a healthy year. In fact, when asked what her greatest achievement in boarding was, one of the 2s answered “I didn’t get nits.” She was lucky: in spite of the way Matron Sarah regularly holes herself up in the surgery armed with a box of nit combs having announced “I’m doing the nit checks. I may be some time,” we just can’t manage to eradicate them entirely. Another response to the question was “I have made friends with everyone in my year”, something which gets easier for the girls as they get older and more of their friends become boarders. It seems to be in the 3s that most friendship issues raise their ugly head: by the following year the girls are either too busy to fret, or have matured enough to deal with any natural ups and downs in their relationships. The 3s have Friendship Club on Wednesday evenings, an opportunity to talk through problems and issues in an unthreatening way. Being given the chance to air their feelings and to hear that everyone wants to be a good friend helps the girls to resolve their difficulties as soon as they arise, and this year the 3s have been a delightful group. The biggest success of the year must be the Sloppy Sundays we’ve enjoyed each term. In the autumn, Sarah and I gave the girls breakfast in bed. A real treat, but funnily enough, none of them seemed keen to reciprocate the following weekend, when we suggested that it was our turn! In the spring term, the girls watched television as they nibbled their croissants and in the summer it was warm enough to have breakfast outside on the patio. There is nothing like a relaxed start to the day to give you that proper Sunday feeling, and the girls really enjoyed it. The craziest occasion was our Easter egg hunt relay in the dorms. The girls were split into four teams, and searched for colour-coded eggs hidden by Mr Ford. As it was a relay, they had to wait for the girl before them to come back with the right coloured egg, before they could set off for their turn. All but one was found, and we’re sure that the screaming, shouting and pounding feet only added to the fun. Perhaps dorm decorating gave us the most impressive moment. These girls don’t just decorate, they put on a performance and each bedroom becomes a themed grotto. Pity the poor judge who has to decide between an oriental family Christmas, an elves’ workshop, Christmas
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around the world and a musical party complete with festive songs. Each dorm was so different last year, and each reflected the character of those who slept there. And talking about who sleeps in dorms… Sarah and I spend ages trying to get the right combination of friends into the right rooms. We know how important this is to everyone, and we take it seriously. In the autumn term we allocate the bedrooms ourselves, but in the other terms we ask the girls to write down the names of one or two people they’d like to share with. But no matter how long we take over it or whichever way we do it, somehow we can’t get it quite right. However, as we always tell them, it’s only for Whisper Time and sleep that you have to be in your own dorm: at any other time you can be with other people. And so I would ask you all to give it a bit of time. Most people settle down pretty quickly, given the space and support to do so and indeed, one of the huge advantages of being a boarder is the opportunity it gives you to learn to get on with everybody, and it's amazing to see how quickly the girls manage this. We are sad to say goodbye to Mr Westlake who has been part of the Park House team, helping to put the girls to bed on Tuesday evenings, and to Frances Wood, who has worked in the girls’ house for 17 years, covering evenings off for the full-time staff. We wish them well and thank them for their contribution to making Park House the happy, settled and comfortable place it is. EC