EDITORS
Emily Coleman
Suzanne Knight
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Millie Pilkington, Sophie Lindsay, Mark Rogers, Emily Coleman
CONTACT
Sandroyd School, Rushmore
Tollard Royal
Salisbury
SP5 5QD
01725 530 125
marketing@sandroyd.com
WITH THANKS TO ALL
In an academic year that started with routine Covid testing across the school, the staff and children adapted brilliantly to ensure business at Sandroyd continued as usual. The dance studio was converted into our testing station, manned mainly by Mr Webster and Mrs Carlyle-Clark, and the idea of sticking a small cotton bud up your nose twice a week became the norm. Thankfully the frequency of testing subsided as the year continued.
Looking back, it is clear that flexibility and adaptability were the two main attributes of our pupils and staff that allowed the school to continue to thrive throughout the pandemic. Ironically, it is these two skills that employers of the future have cited for many years as the qualities the future workforce will need. I do not doubt that if that is the case, our current Sandroydians will thrive in the world of work in years to come!
The 2021/22 year was another stellar one at Sandroyd. We enjoyed many successes on a group and individual level. I continue to be wowed and inspired by the energy, enthusiasm and efforts of Sandroydians and the Sandroyd staff. The Year 8s will be very much missed, and we look forward to following their progress from afar as they head on to their senior schools. We also sadly said goodbye to several legendary staff members, many of them long serving, who move into retirement or on to enjoy fresh challenges within education.
I hope the pages in this magazine reflect the buzz and joy surrounding Sandroyd through the last academic year. So much was achieved, all as a result of the entire community continually striving to shine!
Alastair Speers
This year The Walled Garden has been buzzing with the excitement of the opening of our new bespoke nursery building and the development of the playground spaces. The children have loved thinking how they can ‘Make their Mark’ on the world in a positive way, and we also learned a huge amount from the many different speakers who came in to share their knowledge of different countries and cultures during our ‘Around the World in 50 Days’ topic.
Trips out have included: a visit to the foodbank; exploring Wardour Castle; picking autumnal veg at the Pumpkin Patch, and a whole Walled Garden trip to the Winchester Science Centre.
We have loved welcoming parents back into The Walled Garden for Curriculum events, our Open Classroom morning, class assemblies, the Nativity, The Walled Garden Showcase and a number of social events. The children have also been making the most of the Sandroyd site with Games, swimming, dancing, horse riding, bike riding, den building, music ensembles and Outdoor Learning.
What a busy year!
Jenny Macalpine Head of Junior Department
We have had an incredibly busy and productive year in the Junior School! Public speaking, recitals and drama productions have pushed the children out of their comfort zones and have allowed them the chance to develop a wider range of skills and resilience. In the classroom, the children have enjoyed an exciting range of topics and have inspired us as teachers with their enthusiasm and energy. We finished our summer term with an action-packed Skills Week, which was a fantastic opportunity to build on life skills and celebrate all that the children have achieved this year.
In Year 3, we have chosen this year to study a wonderful range of topics across the curriculum. In Humanities, we looked at romans in Britain, rivers, mountains & coasts, as well as vikings: invaders & settlers. Our science focus has been light & shadow, rocks, and plants. In English, we have studied children’s favourites such as ‘Esio Trot’ and ‘The Hodgeheg’, as well as other contemporary texts from Michael Foreman and Neil Gaiman. Our French lessons focused on learning greetings, pleasantries, and numbers and dates. Finally to maths, where we have built up further strengths in all areas, and the pupils particularly enjoyed length, fractions and time.
Emma Bell
Year 4 have had a very busy and exciting year at Sandroyd. In the autumn term we eagerly took part on our Mayan day at school, where they made a Mayan meal out of the fruits in the rainforest (including chilli hot chocolate!, a Mayan delicacy!). The children have really loved our topic on a fabulous book, Ice Palace. We spent time building shelters on World book day. Great team work ensued, when they had to sit inside the shelter to see whose was most waterproof. A few soggy children later, there was a clear winner!
In the summer term, keen to have a more global perspective, we have been busy exploring the issues around refugees through our class book The Boy at the Back of the Classroom. Alongside this we have been studying the home front in World War 2. We planned an exciting day where we went to Eype Beach to see an old WW2 Look Out. The children did a superb performance in the Year 4 play, based on a fairy tale theme. Well done everyone on a fantastic year!
Poppy McKay
By Xander
Year 5 have been incredibly busy in and out of the classroom this year. From writing our own fables and discovering myths and legends, to joining Michael on a desert island in our topic, Kensuke’s Kingdom. The children have let their imaginations run wild, creating their own ‘vile child’ that won the sixth golden ticket to Mr Wonka’s chocolate factory, and wrote some incredibly persuasive and emotive magazine articles to highlight the plight of the orangutans and chimpanzees.
They ‘circled’ the world of geometry and decimals and ‘squared up’ to tricky angle measuring, which left them with an ‘acute’ sense of dread for the topic! But they persevered and left with a certain ‘degree’ of accomplishment.
They delved into the world of monotremes, marsupials and placental mammals and discovered incredible facts about different life cycles, producing some simply outstanding written work and illustrations.
WW2, the Tudors, volcanoes, rivers, the water cycle and global trade. They smashed them all, not to mention their fantastic achievements on the sports pitches and in the swimming pool.
A fun-filled and extraordinary school year, where friendships grew (along with the children!) and new skills were learnt. All topped off with a trip to the Isle of Wight! Pete Redden
I write this just as CE results for this year’s leavers have been published. Most children leaving Sandroyd will still have one more year of compulsory Latin before they can choose it - or drop it! – for GCSE. A few will never again sit through another Latin lesson, and may well (I fear) be heaving a sigh of relief; it will be many years before they perhaps look back and see the benefit of what they have learnt - forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit, in the immortal words of the poet Virgil. And while that line is certainly beyond prep school Latin to decipher, their prep school Latin will supply a clear understanding of the word ‘immortal’, meaning ‘undying’ or ‘deathless’, from mors, mortis f - death. However, revenons à nos moutons… to the decidedly unsheeplike Year 8 leavers, who have weathered the whole Covid storm, and still come out with some excellent results at CE. This year’s three academic scholars have been particularly rewarding to teach; Freddie, Will and Xander have been unflagging in their enthusiasm for the higher complexities of Latin grammar and syntax, and will fly the flag for Sandroyd Classics at their senior schools.
In October Annelise Gray, author of Circus Maximus – Race to the Death, came to Sandroyd to talk to all from Year 5 upwards about chariot racing and how she went about writing her novel. This was an inspiring talk and Sandroyd was for a while strewn with copies of the novel. We look forward to the sequel!
Year 7 Latin lessons this year were based on the wrath of Achilles, and 7FD entertained the whole school with their 5 minute Iliad, performed with gusto in Latin during a performance showcase session.
In the summer term the whole of Year 6 travelled back in time to experience life under Roman occupation at New Barn Field Centre near Dorchester; they weighed up Roman armour and weapons, drilled as Roman soldiers, and tried their hand at making the ancestor of Savlon and Germolene from plantain leaves, which we tread underfoot everyday without realising!
As the Salisbury Classical Association’s Classical Speaking Competition once more failed to get off the ground this year (lingering tentacles of Covid) we indulged in a bit of fun after the summer exams, with all Year 6 and Year 7 performing well-known children’s stories in Latin to the rest of the year group, and to staff judges; tres porcelli parvuli (Three Little Pigs) squealing ‘auxilium!’ running away from lupus magnus et malus, little bear crying ‘quis polentam meam consumpsit??’ in Auricoma (Goldilocks), and Palla Rubra (Little Red Riding Hood) wondering ‘quam magnos oculos/aures/ dentes habes, avia!’
But learning Latin is still a serious business, and I make no apology for the frequent chanting of noun and verb patterns that can be heard from the Latin classroom; rote learning is an important element of learning any language and if children do not decline regularly, you can be sure their Latin will! Quizlet continues to sweeten the pill of vocabulary learning, and victory in Quizlet is all the more enticing for the accompanying jelly bean or alpha!
And for those children who have been bitten by the bug of Classical languages, Thursday evening has seen a few stalwarts coming weekly, and slowly but surely taking their first steps in Ancient Greek. In a few years they may well be tackling Homer in the original!
Harriet Blanco Head of Latin
Digital Learning has always tried to balance the three components of office skills, media manipulation, and coding with computational thinking.
I continue to be amazingly impressed with the sheer creativity, imagination and hard work that Sandroyd pupils put in during (and often outside of) lesson time, with some phenomenal pieces being created. The Year 6 coat of arms project, for example, always produced some superb finished designs, and the Year 8s always impress with some seriously geeky functions in Google Sheets, but all year groups impress. New projects this year included virtual trips from travel spots around the world created by Year 8 using the Google Earth projects facility, and videos made of stop frame animations and in the Puppet Pal app in Year 3.
Toby Carson Head of Digital Learning
We were delighted to welcome Mrs Williams into the department at the start of the year, allowing us to teach the three classes in each year group concurrently. Once again, the children have achieved outstanding results in English, with all three scholarship candidates gaining ‘A’ grades; at Common Entrance, over 80% of the Year 8s were awarded either an A or a B. Most importantly though, the children are enjoying their English lessons; we continue to introduce them to a broad range of fiction and non-fiction texts as well as poetry and plays – highlights have included The Arrival, Holes, Journey’s End, Frankenstein, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Private Peaceful, The Odyssey, Refugee Boy, Danny the Champion of the World, Of Mice and Men, Journey to the River Sea, Romeo and Juliet and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
Henry Knight Head of English
In December we saw the renewal of the Bridmore Public Speaking Competition; it is the culmination of all the work we have done on public speaking in the second half of the term and it is very much an integral part of the English curriculum.
Every child in Years 3 to 8 was asked to prepare a 3 to 5 minute speech on a subject of their choosing; Years 3 to 6 were speaking to inform and Years 7 and 8 were speaking to persuade. Plenty of time was given over to research during Strive and several English lessons, both at school and online, were spent writing drafts (done on Google Classroom this year!) and practising speeches.
Over the course of the last week there were class ‘heats’, where all the children were given the opportunity to perform in front of their class. As English teachers, we were all so impressed by the quality of their work, both in terms of the content of their speeches and their delivery – it is a fabulous skill to learn at such a young age and they all spoke confidently and with the utmost clarity. It was incredibly difficult to choose just two or three finalists from each form, as so many of them deserved a place in the last round.
The final was split into two – as usual – with the Junior competition (Years 3 to 6) happening first, followed by the Senior competition. Once again, we decided to allow the staff to judge – there were 18 members of staff judging the Junior Final and 27 for the Senior one. This year, Mrs Blomfield very kindly – and quite brilliantly – gave each of the finalists some feedback on their performance at the end of each final.
All the finalists were absolutely superb and, once again, it was incredibly difficult to split them – the Junior winner beating his closest rival by just one point!
The winners were as follows:
Junior Overall Winner: Hugo Sharrocks
Senior Overall Winner: Xander Sharrocks
…very much a family affair this year!
It was, as always, a brilliant competition: enormous fun, hugely entertaining and, undoubtedly, of great benefit to all.
The final Monday of the Lent term saw the renewal of the Stowe Verse Speaking Competition. Every child in the school spent the last couple of weeks learning, by heart, a poem of their choosing. Each pupil then performed their poem to their class and at least two from each form were chosen to go through to the final. Once again, there were two finals – a Junior Final for Years 3, 4 and 5 and a Senior Final for Years 6, 7 and 8.
There were 10 finalists in the Junior competition with poems ranging from the classic ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ by William Wordsworth to the more modern ‘I Hypnotised the Teacher ‘ by Ken Nesbitt. The judging panel was made up of 13 staff who gave marks in four categories – memory, voice, performance and empathy. As with last year, there were only two marks between first and second place. Congratulations to Gus, Hattie and – the Junior Winner – Jasper with his superbly engaging rendition of ‘Symphony in Yellow’ by Oscar Wilde.
The senior competition comprised 27 entries – once again, the largest field ever – and a panel of 22 judges. The finalists’ choice of poems included: ‘The Dentist and the Crocodile’ by Roald Dahl; ‘The Listeners’ by Walter de la Mare; Roger McGough’s ‘I am not Sleeping’; and ‘To a Mouse’ by Robert Burns; two of the finalists had even written their own poem. James and Claudia took third and second places respectively and the senior overall winner was Patience with an incredibly dramatic version of Michael Rosen’s ‘Strict’.
A huge thank you to Mrs Blomfield, who gave insightful and encouraging feedback to every single finalist - in both competitions. Finally my thanks to all the judges, to the audience and to the English teaching staff for helping the children prepare and perform their poems.
It has been a busy year for our EAL pupils at Sandroyd. A new role of EAL Ambassador was created by the children and they were given the opportunity to decide what this role would entail; what they would like to do to enhance the EAL pupils experience within the school community. Their suggestion was an ‘EAL Club’, to be held every week to include games, hot chocolate and biscuits. It was a fantastic success and a wonderful way to welcome new EAL pupils and get together as a group of mixed ages sharing experiences and supporting each other. A new tradition that we will continue.
Some wonderful work was produced, books read, speeches practised and the majority of our pupils prepared for their external Cambridge English Exams which they did in the summer term. All pupils received excellent results demonstrating the progress they had made with their English during their time at Sandroyd.
They rounded up their time by producing an excellent video introducing the school to the new EAL pupils arriving the following year. As well as passing on important advice for life at a boarding school, they also include a guide to some essential survival vocabulary that they would not have necessarily encountered in an English lesson back in their own countries for example: ‘Prep’, ‘Trolley’ and ‘Tuck’! Kat McLean - Head of EAL
It has been another busy year in the geography department, with the introduction of a new CE syllabus and the best ever geography CE results achieved by the Year 8s.
In October, the Year 8s again ventured to the New Forest to collect their data for the CE fieldwork project. As with last year, the heavens opened and emptied a deluge of rain on everyone! It was a minor miracle that any data was kept dry to be used on our return, but the different working groups did a fabulous job. The end results continue to improve year on year.
I am delighted that Mrs. Browning-Stamp has taken on the role of running humanities for the junior wing of the prep school. She has devised an exciting and enriching syllabus that will give the younger pupils a great start to learning about all things geography.
Geography has never been more relevant in today’s world than now. With the recent summer weather, floods in Pakistan and extreme weather events globally, the importance of learning about the physical world and our own fragility in it, is what we aim to do here at Sandroyd.
Ed Lyddon Head of Geography
The History department has enjoyed a good year full of highlights and achievement. In the Christmas term the focus as ever was on getting the necessary essay writing and source analysis skills in place for CE. Outstanding performers in the Christmas exams were: Sam Shiel, Otto Gibbs and Virginia Manners. The spring term always includes the oldest prep school competition in existence, and in this edition of the Townsend Warner History Prize our scholars represented us well with Freddie Smith coming in the top 60 out of over 1000 competitors. The summer term saw various trips from various year groups, but the highlight as always was the Chalke Valley History Festival. Some outstanding results were achieved at CE (especially Molly Fletcher’s A* to Bryanston).
Freddie Cartwright Head of History
This has been another successful year in the maths department, not just in terms of academic recognition but also in how the children throughout the preprep and prep school are clearly benefiting from the introduction of the White Rose maths scheme that we began using two years ago. Whenever I walk into a maths lesson it has been wonderful to see how enthusiastic and engaged the children are and I am extremely grateful to my wonderful team from Nursery through to Year 8 for their devotion to ensuring that each child has a positive experience. On the national maths challenges news front, we have had another exceptional year with nine year 7 and 8 pupils being awarded certificates in the Intermdieate UKMC (aimed at Year 9 and over) and twenty-six Year 6, 7 and 8 children beng awarded certificates in the Junior UKMC (aimed at years 7 to 9).
In the Intermediate challenge, Will Fuller, Otto Gibbs, Hector McGregor, Toby Simpson and Josh Spolton all made it through to the second round. Toby and Hector performed incredibly well to be awarded a certificate of merit, as they are both in Year 7. In the Junior challenge, Will Fuller performed at such a high level that he went through to the Olympiad round. Marlborough College have gained an outstanting mathematician. Toby Simpson, Hector McGregor, Xander Sharrocks and Francis Carian all reached the second round known as the Grey Kangaroo. I have recently received the results and am very happy to announce that Toby and Will were awarded a Merit certificate.This is a very rare and exceptional achievement. Many congratulations to Toby and Will, but also to all the children who reached the second round.
In Years 3 and 4 some of the children have recently competed in the First Maths Challenge online. Very well done to all of the participants and especially to those who achieved a Bronze or Silver certificate. This term we have added a parent guide to the maths section of the school website. I hope that this proves useful if you would ever like to support your child with their maths at home but worry that you may confuse them with a different approach.
Nicky Brady Head of MathsLearning a foreign language is an exciting and challenging experience for all pupils. It allows each child to discover another culture through its language and therefore enables him/her to become aware of the differences and similarities between their own culture and that of France, Spain or Germany. It develops communication skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing which will be very useful as pupils progress to senior school, university and beyond and contributes to each pupil’s personal and social development. It promotes social interaction, opens the mind to other traditions and encourages sympathetic and understanding attitudes towards others.
I come from a family of linguists and was passionate about language learning from a very early age. At Sandroyd my primary aim, as head of department, has been to instil a genuine love of the language they are learning and so develop confident and independent foreign language learners. As a department we strive not only to produce excellent results in Common Entrance and Scholarship, but to create a happy learning environment in which all pupils are inquisitive, intellectually stimulated and self-motivated. We want them to discover as much as they can about the language, its culture and its people.
This academic year has been our first full year without any interruption from Covid lockdowns and much has been achieved in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 with Mrs Campbell-Hill sowing the seeds, then Mrs Bell in Year 3 and Mrs Williams in Year 4. Madame Cournil and I have worked as a vibrant team with the older pupils to steer and encourage Years 5-8 to prepare for and experience the rigours of Scholarship and Common Entrance. Pupils in Year 8 leave us with a solid foundation of vocabulary and grammar, having covering a wide variety of topics including ordering food in a restaurant, explaining symptoms to a doctor and their favourite type of holiday. They are also able to talk and write confidently about their school, family, friends, hobbies, their house and town just to name a few.
I know that Madame Cournil is looking forward to organising the Year 7 French trip for Skills Week in 2023 after a three year break due to travel restrictions. Travelling abroad is such a boost to every pupil’s language skills and broadens their minds, allowing them to experience first-hand how a country and its people tick.
Jane Bradbury Head of Languages (2006-2022)The Year 6s have continued their science education in the labs this year. They have learnt how to use Bunsen burners, made a stinky indicator solution from cabbage when learning about acids and alkalis, and designed and created their own creatures whilst learning about adaptations and the work of Charles Darwin. Year 7s have enjoyed lots of chemistry this year, looking at chemical reactions when learning about elements and compounds. They have also enjoyed learning about distillation and chromatography.
We are all very proud of the Year 8s and the fantastic Science CE and Scholarship results they achieved. With so much information to learn and apply they have done exceptionally well and we look forward to hearing about their future successes in the subject.
Simon Acton - Head of Science
As the restrictions have lifted it has been wonderful to be able to open up the school for performances to live audiences this year, and the children have certainly made the most of every opportunity! Our weekly internal showcases have not only helped to boost performance confidence for the children but have also enabled us to have some visitor performances, a welcome treat and wonderful learning opportunity. We had a number of pupils aiming for scholarships this year in all aspects of performance arts at a number of different schools and it was lovely to note the commitment and hardwork applied towards these assessments. This year we have enjoyed our Harvest Festival Service, Remembrance Service, The Year 8 Production of The Lion King Jnr, The Walled Garden Musical Nativity Production, The Carol Service, ‘Back to the 80s’ Dance Show, The Year 5 Play ‘Three Musketeers’, The Year 6 Play ‘Hamlet, What was The Question?’, The Spring Concert, The Year 3 Class Assembly ‘Rocks’, Busking at The Jubilee Fete, ‘Mixed Up Fairy Tales’ a play written and performed by Year 4, The Year 7 Showcase and The Year 8 Leavers Concert to name but a few! In addition a large number of pupils have undertaken ABRSM Music Exams, Trinity Musical Theatre Exams, LCM Musical Theatre Exams, RBA Ballet Exams, LAMDA exams and Trinity Music Exams all passing with flying colours!
Kate Blomfield Head of Performing Arts
The Year 8 pupils performed a wonderful production of The Lion King Jnr at the end of the Autumn term. This was no mean feet especially as all but 5 pupils caught covid in the lead up to the event! The cast worked so well together and supported each other throughout, the hallmark of this year group. The ensemble groups in the Lion King have a key role to play as they provide the majority of the atmosphere, scenery and harmonies and this very quickly became apparent to all with the quick costume, vocal and character changes from blades of grass, to wildebeest, to hyenas and to pride land animals, the changes just kept coming. The soloists carried out their roles with confidence and accuracy, many using head mics for the first time and carrying solo vocals with clarity above the chorus harmonies. Behind the scenes a lot of work went into the scenery, props, lighting and costume designs led by our group of Performance Arts and Art Scholars. The creation of large scale 3D animals costumes for the elephant, giraffes and rhinos as well as the tonal blend of costume choice in particular adding to the overall look and atmosphere of the show.
Year 7 pupils went back to the 60s and 70s for their end of year Showcase. Performing a variety of dance, drama and music and also undertaking a silent auction of fabulous art created by the pupils. The auction raised a fantastic total of £1,153 for our charity of the term. It was wonderful to see the confidence and team effort put in by all the pupils. A big thank you to Mrs Blyth and the peri team for all their hard work and support for this vibrant and wonderful event.
Kate Blomfield
“Two be or not two be?” That was, sort of, the question for Year 6! Geoff Bamber’s comic spin on Shakespeare’s tragic play, Hamlet, provided a script that was full of twists and turns and hilarity, which Year 6 pupils thoroughly enjoyed performing. The audience was delighted by a screeching princess, some fiendish bodyguards, multi-tasking clowns, dastardly plots involving poisoned chalices, and some (rather dubious) sword fighting, with more murders than in Midsomer! Every pupil in Year 6 had a speaking part and was involved in the production, which also featured some medieval-style music composed entirely by the children.
Sam Williams
Year 5 performed a wonderfully comic take on the life of 17th Century France, with their production of The Three Musketeers. The audience were delighted by scenes depicting D’Artagnan and the Musketeers in the middle of a struggle for power between the King and the villainous Cardinal Richelieu, which was not to be taken in any way as historically accurate! It was fabulous to see our Year 5 pupils putting into action all of the drama skills they have learned to date. A huge thank you must go to Mr Cartwright and Mrs Carlyle-Clarke who directed the Year 5 pupils so wonderfully.
Being a largely creative and dramatic year group it was decided by the children that it would be better to write their own play than perform a published piece…as a result a hilarious combination of different fairy tales was constructed and performed. Through the development of the script, plot planning, staging, costume and scenery design the children touched on many key theatre skills alongside their acting skills.
Kate BlomfieldYear 3 produced a wonderful assembly based on the topic of rocks. They entwined geology, geography, music and history to entertain their audience with information, songs, dance and a little bit of creative licence. It was wonderful to see the pupils getting back up on stage and performing with such confidence.
Kate Blomfield
This year The Walled Garden headed to Bethlehem with a hoedown themed Nativity entitled Prickly Hay. The Year 2 pupils lead the whole cast with confidence and gusto and undertook solos and longer speeches with ease. All of The Walled Garden pupils from our youngest Nursery to Year 2 performed with poise and comic timing throughout. Many thanks to all of our audience members who supported so wonderfully.
The lights in the dance studio are always on and the music is always turned up as dance clubs and lessons have continued to thrive at Sandroyd.
From The Lion King, through performance assemblies and culminating in the ‘Sandroyd Radio - Back to the 80’s’ dance show and outstanding performances in multiple end of year showcases; dance is always on the program. A huge highlight this year has been the start of Pointe Ballet lessons with Mrs Wilson, a huge demonstration of how focused and determined our pupils are to progress and learn.
Eloise Elmore Head of Dance
U13
The season began with great enthusiasm but also under the confusion of playing old under 12 rules. After a solid, if ring-rusty, victory over Salisbury Cathedral School, the team travelled to play a much larger Hazlegrove side away. A superb effort through the entire match could not stop the first defeat of the season but there was only one try between the teams.
The next three fixtures provided great victories over Sherborne, Monkton and Dauntsey’s, no mean feat against schools with nearly double the number of boys. Perrott Hill were easily dispatched and the season finished with a pulsating game against Farleigh.
Despite a close defeat, it had been a superb season, with improvement and effort high on the agenda and the team were a pleasure to work with throughout. Well done!
Barry IrvingTo the distinguished list of unbeaten teams including the 1974 British Lions and the 2004 Arsenal ‘Invincibles’, we must now add the 2021 Under 12A Sandroyd Rugby Team. Although invariably smaller in stature than the majority of our opponents, the boys employed a high tempo style of rugby based on superior fitness, complemented by a commitment in the tackle which neither I nor Mr Knight have witnessed previously. Nowhere was this better in evidence than the now legendary Battle of Dauntsey’s, where Rory Ridland (eventual winner of the inaugural coveted ‘Man of Steel’ trophy), exhorted his team mates to front up and take the fight to the Devizes Behemoths. Victories against Farleigh and Salisbury Cathedral School amongst others were equally hard won. It would be unfair for me to single out other individuals for plaudits, simply because I am unable to identify a player who left anything on the field throughout the season. We genuinely
witnessed the essence of teamwork and friendship develop from a previously talented yet disparate group of players who leaned to perform at a level exceeding the sum of their parts.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the so-called B Team, who created selection conundrums throughout by their efforts in training, and kept players focused in the knowledge that any dip in form might enable others to step up and take their place. Furthermore, I cannot overstate the importance of the unwavering support of our marvellous parents who often outnumbered their counterparts at away fixtures. It is hugely appreciated. My thanks also go to Mr Knight for his coaching prowess. The only casualty of this memorable season was to the coach, who having promised to provide pizza in the event of an unbeaten season, is to this day recovering from ‘open wallet surgery’. It was worth the pain, boys!
Martin RayThe U11A team had a very successful season despite some untimely injuries throughout the season. The boys had a tough triangular against Kings Hall and Millfield at the beginning of the season which prepared them for things to come. The boys learnt quickly and ensured they took their chances to score more often than not, and then battled as a team to prevent the opposition getting back into the game. The highlight of the season was getting to the final of the Canford tournament but unfortunately they came up against a very good, big and quick Walhampton team. The boys that represented this team should be very proud of what they achieved and I know they will keep improving as they continue up the ranks!
Tom Blomfield
The Year 3 and 4 boys have had excellent seasons and have shown that they are already a force to be reckoned with, and have a bright future ahead of them.
The boys spent the term playing tag rugby, despite the powerhouse combination of Johnny Hooper and Tommy Baker being desperate to upgrade to contact. Jasper Ridland was tireless in defence, pulling off some stunning mid-air tags, and Freddie Corrie, Xander Bell and Reggie Herbert ran fast and elusively.
Freddie Cartright
This group of boys has shown that they have the potential to go on and impress on the rugby pitch. They have had a spectacular season showing true grit to work hard for each other which has on a regular basis put them in the winning position. They have also worked on improving their technical skills, although to be truthful, this group of boys just wanted to play matches. The highlight of the season was the fabulous winning streak they enjoyed at the King’s Bruton Tournament, eventually beating Hazelgrove and Monkton; teams they had narrowly lost to during the season, to finish on top. All the U10s should be proud of the way they played their rugby and the future looks bright as they move up into the senior part of the school.
Following a two-year hiatus, it was a relief to return to a form of normality at Sandroyd. The girls were obviously looking forward to returning to competitive sports at school. After such an absence, our key aim was to increase participation across all sports at Sandroyd. In the autumn term, hockey is the main girls’ sport and I am pleased to confirm we had more girls taking part in competitive sport than we have ever had in Sandroyd history. We are immensely proud of our children every time they take to the sports field, knowing they will give their best, and show great
sportsmanship and commitment to their team.
In the senior years, we were able to field a record number of teams, including 1st to 5ths in hockey. The 1st & 2nd teams had a number of notable accomplishments, including a trip to Eastbourne for the U13 IAPS, the Canford tournament, the Bryanston tournament, and the annual hockey tour to Cornwall. We had a record number of girls experience success with the Dorset County hockey squad, namely Oriana B, Virginia M, Olivia C, Laura W & Daisy B winning places in the competition squad for 2021/22.
A number of these girls also took part in senior school scholarship assessment days and Oriana B & Laura W were successful in gaining scholarships to Canford and Kings Taunton respectively. The 1st and 2nd team girls also showed great leadership at school, led by hockey captain Virginia M. The team helped run our U9 hockey festival by umpiring, mentoring, and even serving match teas. One pupil was heard to comment “how do you do this job? It’s so hard!!” Our youngest Sandroyd hockey players are very lucky to have such positive female role models to look up to.
Faith GoldingThe U11 girls had a fantastic season on the hockey field, going from strength to strength with a real desire to improve. Both the U11A and U11B came up against some strong talented sides but showed resilience and determination, keeping their composure and formation on the pitch. The U11A competed at the Hockey IAPS which was fast paced and a tough day out but they learnt from this experience and came bouncing back a few weeks later to win the Bryanston Tournament. I look forward to seeing the girls back on the pitch next season. Well done. Flo Kerr
The mighty U10s! What a brilliant season they had. After establishing their roles within the team the girls were unstoppable. Brave and reliable is how I would describe our two goalies Penny and Amelia. They never gave up when it came to protecting their goal line and with the help of Emily-Rae, Bella and Sophia in defence not many balls got past them. Holding the midfield was Ottilie, Olivia, Annabel and Jemima where they created an excellent link and allowed the game to flow quickly back up the pitch. Finally, the goal scoring sensations of Savannah, Xanthe, Red, Alana and Viva took the U10s into top spot with an unbeaten season. Well done!
U8/9
Our U8 and U9 girls hockey teams took part in a number of fixtures against our local teams. They learned how to play as a team, which end of the stick to hit with, and also how to win and lose with grace. At this early stage, it is vital the girls learn to work together and develop the technical skills of hockey. Stick skills take time to develop and our U8s and U9s were given many opportunities to practise these skills every week. It is key at this age that competition is fun and a learning experience, rather than a source of stress. Every girl in the youngest age group made huge progress and more importantly, learned how to love hockey in a fun environment.
Faith Golding
The 1st Hockey season was one of the most successful in recent years. The team only lost 2 games in the normal school fixture list and had some memorable wins, notably against Hazlegrove and Dauntsey’s. We finished 3rd in the In2Hockey tournament and were knocked out at IAPS in the Cup quarter final on penalty strokes. The season was finished off with an excellent tour to Cornwall which all the boys enjoyed. The most pleasing aspect of the season was the way the boys played as a team and developed throughout the season. The team were well led by Jack Rogers and colours were awarded to Will Fuller, who was the team’s top goal scorer and Sam Shiel who managed to keep us in games with some superb goalkeeping.
Tom Blomfield
Played 13, Won 7, Drew 2, Lost 4
The season started with some early defeats for the under 11s but to the trained eye, it was obvious each match was showing gradual progression and improvement. A 4-0 victory over Port Regis lit the blue touch paper, and they used this as a catalyst to win the South West IAPS e competition in Bristol. There were comfortable wins against Perrott Hill and Sunninghill and the team were inches away from equalising against Hazlegrove in the final seconds in an end to end contest.
The last match against Stroud demonstrated how far the players had developed both individually and as a team. Sweeping passing and committed defence finished the season off on the right note with a 3-1 win.
Barry Irving
This has been a stellar season for the U10s winning all of their regular matches, bar two across both the A and B teams. The boys worked hard on their basic skills as well as their positional play which afforded them, at times, clear dominance over the opposition. A key feature to the success this season is how quickly those boys who had not played hockey before picked up the fundamental skills and contributed to the whole team dynamics. A mention must also be made to our four goalkeepers who performed fantastically in matches while working hard to pick up the skills during practice sessions. This group of boys have all the attributes needed to develop into a fine hockey playing unit going forward.
Trevor WebsterThe term started unfortunately with two defeats. However the boys learnt from their mistakes, and once they got the hang of spreading the ball to the right wing and crossing it into the D, they never looked back. Theo Peppitt and Arthur Sprake were formidable in defence and Otto Berchem and Chai Timblick tireless in midfield.
In both Sports, Aydn Yaffele, Finn Pillai, Isaac Walbanks, Teddy Boland and especially Orlando Heath showed a lot of promise for next year.
Freddie CartwrightThe 1st team had a brilliant seasonfrom humble beginnings in Cornwall on tour playing on the coldest court in the South West and losing 2-26, to the highlight of the quarter finals at the regional IAPS. This season, we took on teams who historically have challenged us in the past such as Port Regis, Hazelgrove, and Dumpton and matched them on court. The girls developed a positive mindset and learned that grit and determination can be just as important as ball skills.
A particular highlight of the season was our victory against Port Regis at home which was played with a competitive spirit. The game could have gone either way but our girls dug in and fought hard to win 13-12. The most pleasing part of the season for me was the development of our shooting, helped by our 100 Club. This club was open to everyone at Sandroyd, membership was based on playing 100 shots at goal as often as possible. The winners at the end of the season won a limited edition match ball and Oriana B and Savannah WB finished in top spot.
Over the course of the season, we played twelve friendly fixtures, winning seven of them and scoring 120 goals. Special mention to Margo P and Sophia B from Year 7 who more than held their own, playing up a year in the
The 2nds had an outstanding season, forming a tight team from the outset. Despite having a depleted team mid-season due to Covid the girls showed versatility and teamwork. Claudia and Tilly dominated the defence with Holly being the glue in the mid court. Georgia Lance earnt a well-deserved place in the team after half term becoming one of our strongest shooters. The girls accumulated over 140 goals throughout the season which is a tremendous achievement. The highlights were coming runners-up at the Millfield Tournament and the final games of the season against Clayesmore. It was neck and neck until the final quarter where Sandroyd turned it up a gear and made every pass count, winning 15-12. Well done to you all.
Kerr1st team and finally particular congratulations must go to our captain Olivia C and top shooter Oriana B for leading the team brilliantly.
Faith Golding
As mentioned before, we have had more girls than ever taking part in sport at Sandroyd. This increase in numbers has enabled us to field 3rd, 4th and 5th teams in netball. The girls in these teams scored in excess of 80 goals between them and were ably captained by Amelia B, Grace G & Xenia C. These three girls led by example and showed flexibility and determination throughout the season.
Faith Golding
U11
This was a term of constant improvement from every girl in the U11 squad. They had not played matches for two years, since Year 4. Our competitive edge was a little rusty to start with, so we had a couple of tough fixtures against Hazlegrove and Chafyn Grove. The girls fought hard in all their matches but it showed we had plenty of work to do. On the plus side, we were starting to see specific strengths come to light for when the girls would be playing full seven-a-side netball next year and they an specialise their positions. Xa, Tatty and Romilly were proving to be consistent shooters, with India and Rose performing well in defence and intercepting at key moments in matches to ensure victory. We had some well deserved victories against Hanford and Clayesmore and some slightly easier matches against Knighton and Salisbury Cathedral School.
A slight change to the timetable in September meant that the girls had been able to sneak in a regular netball session every two weeks before the start of January. This made a huge difference to their game and the basics were well established. ‘Bee Netball’ requires all of the girls to rotate into every position which can be daunting but the U10’s were confident and applied all they knew resulting in some brilliant pieces of set play and some seamless goals. There were undoubtably various tough matches but they should all look to next season with confidence. As do I, well done.
Rosie MullensU8/9
The girls played a huge amount of netball this term - Bee netball has arrived at Sandroyd!
What is Bee Netball? Bee Netball is friendly, high-energy, and carefully designed for children.
Bee Netball is England Netball’s fun and nurturing programme for children aged 5-9 at the beginning of their team sport journey. It is designed to introduce children to netball skills: throwing, catching, footwork and shooting. More importantly, the programme is designed to support every child’s personal development on and beyond the court. All activities are underpinned by our Beeliefs; our core values are focused on improving your child’s belief in their own ability. The girls at Sandroyd played small
Our toughest match of the term was when we travelled to Stroud. This was a new fixture for us and the girls felt overwhelmed by the occasion. Stroud were very strong and the girls were a little downhearted having worked hard on their core skills, but true to form they picked themselves up again and both A and B teams finished the term with comfortable wins against Clayesmore and Castle Court.
Lulu Greensided games against our main opposition schools and scored more goals than any other team in the school! The U9 girls finished their season with a tremendous festival at Millfield, playing some brilliant netball and scoring lots of goals.
Faith Golding
U10s
The U10 Cricket team was a pleasure to coach and umpire matches for. They were a formidable side with many of the players representing county teams outside of Sandroyd. Their sportsmanship both in defeat and victory was exemplary and I was very proud of them, especially when other coaches and umpires commented on this. There were a number of games which went to the final ball; the All Hallows game was particularly exciting as it had been decided before the game that there would be no extra balls, and when we needed 4 off the last ball to win and they (accidently) threw a wide, it was rather a contentious finish to the game. A minor blemish in an otherwise unbeaten season. There was much progress made throughout the summer, both in terms of their cricketing ability and their teamwork, especially when the stronger players took time to guide and support all the other members of the team.
Simon ActonU11s
It was such a joy to welcome the pupils back onto the cricket pitches of Sandroyd without the restrictions we had been faced with over the past couple of years. It was a freedom which the pupils clearly relished as we could continue with mixing both the top two years into the seven senior cricket teams. The mood was equally enhanced by the wonderful weather we encountered as the hot summer months brought a large number of fixtures with few being affected by rain. Indeed, across the senior teams a total of 58 fixtures were due to be played with just the matches against Monkton affected by the rain.
With the senior girls and boys training together and learning the hardball skills needed to progress in the sport it was always going to be a challenge to give all the opportunity to play a good number of competitive matches. With some schools requesting softball matches and some schools not integrating their girls into the hardball game it did make selecting teams challenging but credit to the pupils who played every game to the best of their potential no matter which format they were faced with.
Highlights of the season must be the 1st XI fine win over Dumpton, a team we have struggled against over the past few years. The senior girls also enjoyed a wonderful day of tournament cricket at Marlborough with the added bonus of being coached by past and present England national players.
Towards the end of the season one of the highlights had to be the Parents v Leavers match. With the games played on a wonderfully sunny Sunday the parents took to the field and soon realised that their children had the upper hand posting an impressive total. The parents’ batting after an indulgent tea was less impressive but with an uncanny ability to edge the ball or to somehow keep the good ball out they edged ever closer to the winning score. However, some disciplined bowling saw the Leavers just cling on to a famous victory and were able to retain the trophy. A huge thank you to all who participated and helped in making the day enormously entertaining and memorable.
Congratulations must go to Laura Wilde and William Fuller for being made Captains of Cricket and to Oriana Bowater, Laura Wilde, William Fuller and Alfred Hunt being awarded their Cricket Colours.
Lastly, a particular mention must be made of Mr Wilcox for all his and his team’s effort in preparing excellent wickets for us all to play on and of course thank you to all the parents for their support throughout the season.
Trevor Webster
A fantastic day at Walhampton school for The Junior Wessex Athletics Championship. A number of very high performances throughout the day. Particular mention to those who finished in the top 5 out of 29 schools.
Xanthe Wilson: 1st High Jump
Savannah Wolseley Brinton: 2nd Ball Throw breaking the school record.
Reggie Herbert: 3rd 75m & 3rd Long Jump
A blistering day at the newly refurbished Kings Park Track. A first experience for all of the children who went and the competition was extremely high. There were 26 schools in the event.
Medallists were: Will Fuller: 1st 800m - Qualified for Nationals
Will Rooke: 1st Shot PutQualified for Nationals
Hugo Dutton-Medlock: 2nd High Jump and HurdlesQualified for Nationals
Jasper Lee: 3rd Long Jump and Hurdles
It is also worth noting that 9 athletes as well as all the 7s and 8s relay teams qualified for their finals.
It was with great pleasure that I set up for Sports Day this year after 4 years of disruption due to Covid and the great British weather! The children were all well prepared and excited to compete for the Athletics House Cup. It was clear from the start that after such successful trips to both Senior and Junior Wessex that the level of competition was going to be high. The weather conditions were perfect (although not for the picnic lunch!) and school records were broken throughout the day. Freddie Corrie smashed the Year 4 long jump with a leap of 4.06m. Charlotte Carnegie, Claudia Davies and Virginia Manners all broke records on the track and over in the discus Sophia Bryant did a magnificent throw of 17.91m to earn her title.
Savannah Wolseley Brinton also broke a school record for the Year 5 girls rounders ball throw at Junior Wessex with 36.65m. Congratulations to Ebble who won the House Cup and to Will Fuller and Virginia Manners on becoming the Victor and Victrix Ludorum.
There were many personal bests and the highlight for me was watching the relay teams storm around the track with their fellow house members cheering them on.
A huge well done to all the children and thank you to Mr Darral Wilcox and his team for making the track and grounds look exceptional as always.
Rosie Mullens
75m
Y3 Adyn Yafele and Susie Hadfield
Y4 Reggie Herbert and Charlotte Carnegie
100m
Y5 Bear Wilkinson and Red Brooks
Y6 James Hitchens and Bea Cordle
Y7 Rory Ridland and Margot Prior
Y8 Antonio Perez- Maura and Virginia Manners
200m
Y3 Munro Gilbey and Ottilie Holbrook
Y5 Bear Wilkinson
Y6 Campbell Clarke
Y7 Rory Ridland and Claudia Davies
Y8 Jack Rogers
800m
Y6 Antony Ashley-Cooper
Y8 Will Fuller and Oriana B
Hurdles
Y4 Freddie Corrie and Phoebe Cumberlege
Y5 Gus Galvin and Xanthe Wilson
Y6 Hugo Dutton-Medlock and Xa Herbert
Y7/8 Jasper Lee and Georgia Lance
Throw
Y3 Munro Gilbey
Y4 Xander Bell and Charlotte Carnegie
Y5 Luc Moulle-Berteaux and Savannah Wolseley
Brinton
Long Jump
Y3 Orlando Heath and Flora Middlemiss
Y4 Freddie Corrie and Hattie Speers
Y5 Xander Robinson and Jemima Burnell-Nugent
Y6 Campbell Clarke and Bea Cordle
Y7 Jasper Lee and Enna Davies
Y8 Will Fuller and Virginia Manners
High Jump
Y5 Charlie Lance and Xanthe Wilson
Y6 Poppy Coombes
Y7 Will Bullen and Rosie Shaw-Porter
Y8 Ollie Coombes and Olivia Cummings
Javelin
Y6 Rufus Bond and Y7 Hugo Spinks
Y8 Pablo Garcia and Daisy Bridge
Shot
Y6 Will Rooke and Tatty Hodgkinson
Y7 Fabian and Sophia Bryant
Y8 Michael Gilbey and Florence Undery
Discus
Y6 James Sefton and Kezia Asafo-Adjei
Y7 Sam Irving and Sophia Bryant
Y8 Guy Palmer and Oriana Bowater
Relay
Y6 Wylye (mixed)
Y7 Avon (Boys) and Ebble (Girls)
Y8 Ebble (mixed)
Victor Ludorum - Will Fuller Victrix Ludorum - Virginia Manners
House Scores
1st Ebble 235
2nd Avon 201
3rd Wylye 199
4th Nadder 157
We have had a very busy and successful year in the riding department with various events and competitions as well as lots of lessons and some pony club activities. The younger riders have been competing at NSEA grass roots show jumping and rode well in the qualifiers at local and regional level during the autumn term and qualified for the Championships at Hickstead. The senior riders have been successful at NSEA events and qualified for the Eventers challenge at Hickstead in May, won their class at the NSEA ODE at Stonar also in May and have qualified for arena eventing and show jumping classes at the Nationals at Keysoe in October. There was also our first dressage team qualifier which they won and went to the County finals at Hickstead in May. Read on for the reports.
Frances Cattell
We had 10 riders at Hickstead in August for the Grass Roots Championships and they didn’t let us down. There were 3 rings running. A very long hot day but everyone was very happy at the end if a little tired and dirty!!
The team of Bo, Poppy, Margot and Harry won the 40cm class by a huge margin. This was judged on style and the way of going and they were 28 points ahead of the second placed school. Bo was also individual 1st, Harry 3rd, Margot 6th and Poppy 11th out of 35 riders.
Next the 50cm class, the team of Bo, Margot, Poppy and Gigi won this class too. This was against the clock and they were 3 seconds faster than the second placed team. 64 riders in this class and all our riders were in the top 20. More champion sashes for them!
Later in the day Harry, Poppy, Georgia and Olivia C rode in the mixed height class and came 5th as a team.
There were also show jumping qualifiers for Keysoe in October and some good results in this ring too. The 70/75cm class was very competitive and the team of Molly, Olivia, Georgia and Charlotte rode well and finished 4th as a team and Molly won the class so qualified for the champs as an individual.
In the 80/85cm Molly, Charlotte and James won the class with the only team going clear so qualified for Keysoe at this height and James was 4th and qualified as an individual.
In the 90/95cm class Molly and James rode as individuals and both went clear with James coming 3rd so he qualified at this height too.
We had 3 teams entered for Stonar ODE which is the biggest number representing Sandroyd in this competition.
In the 8-11yrs Willow, Rosie, Rose and Bo all rode well in the dressage, a couple of fences down in the show jumping and 3 good clear rounds on the cross country.
In the 12-15yrs there were 2 teams. The Purple team consisted of Daisy, Molly, Will and Lily and the White team of Olivia, Grace and Virginia. All 7 riders rode well in the dressage. In the show jumping they had 6 clear rounds and then cross country all tried hard with most completing the course.
The younger team of Bo, Willow, Rose and Rosie won the class with the Purple team in second place. Individually, Willow 10th, Rosie 8th, Rose 7th and Lily winning the class in 1st.
Some very excited riders left school on Friday at the beginning of half term with their ponies and parents for the journey to Hickstead in West Sussex for the NSEA Championships.
The ponies were taken for a short ride in the evening and then put to bed for the night. Meanwhile burgers and sausages were cooking in one of the lorries and supper was eaten whilst a cricket game was being played. The only equipment was a bat so the stumps consisted of 2 shavings bales and the ball was a bandage wrapped in a sock (well done Will!)
It was a big class of 37 teams (271 individuals) which started at 9am and finished at 5pm.
Will, Molly, Daisy and Lily were up and ready on their ponies by 8.30am. Having warmed up they then went to the ring and all rode very well, a couple of poles gave them a team score of 4. The team dressage was up next with the team of Molly, Daisy, Lily and Grace. This is the first time ever Sandroyd has had a dressage team and it went well, with the team finishing 8th and our first ever dressage champs rosette.
Grace, Rose, Rosie and Willow then completed the Eventers round. Again they all rode well and finished with zero score which meant it came down to the team nearest to the optimum time. The team finished in 10th place and the first team was 16th.
Keep Reading! The library motto is still going strong. Another fabulous team of enthusiastic librarians has worked hard to promote reading all year. We kicked off the year with the Book Buzz scheme, a school reading programme for 11 to 13 year olds from the Book Trust charity. An eclectic collection of books, including fiction, non-fiction and graphic novels was presented to our Year 7 and 8 students. Each child was able to order a book of their choice, which they could read, keep or swap. Indeed a fantastic buzz was created amongst students, with many books becoming firm favourites. The librarians delivered two lively assemblies to promote the various activities on offer in the library, and recommend the most popular books of the term across the year groups. The library was not going to miss out on the publishing of our very own Mr Attlee’s new children’s book, “Lost at the End of the World” and we were lucky enough to have Mr Attlee treat us to a lecture explaining the inspiration behind this exciting children’s adventure in Patagonia. He gained many fans, who cannot wait for his new book.
Harry Potter devotees were delighted to be transported back to the library - by floo powder of course - after last year’s virtual event. Young wizards and witches were able to get face paint, attend a potions class, and decorate wands. The evening was rounded up with a Harry Potter themed bingo and a quiz, and Chocolate Frogs and Many Flavour Beans were won. And thanks to an “Accio” spell…a special treat of ginger beer ice-cream was magicked into the library at the end.
Later in the term, Sandroyd Book Week encouraged everyone reading more than ever, with our “Get Caught Reading” event throughout the week. There was also a read off and Junior and Senior students could win a Golden Ticket every day, for answering the literary question of the day every lunch time. Finally, students of all year groups battled it out in our Bananagrams tournament.
The Summer term’s big library event was to take part in the Carnegie Shadowing group. The Sandroyd Shadowers, our team of book critics, were busy reading the eight shortlisted books, submitting reviews and art work to the Carnegie website and voting for their favourite. This year’s selection was particularly challenging, with themes such as slavery, racism and the Japanese tsunami disaster. Life affirming novels were also firm favourites amongst our young judges.
Books Café took place twice a week to discuss all things literary and recommend books old and new and as I write this, we are planning the Sandroyd Summer Books Bingo. I am looking forward to more Sandroydians than ever taking part and reading as many books as possible from the recommended genres.
A heartfelt thank you to the student librarians for helping me to inspire a love of reading in their peers and to run the library. Keep reading!
Céline Cournil
This summer, Year 3 enjoyed a full and extremely varied Skills Week. They were delighted to meet Avtar, an expert in Hinduism, who introduced them to the world of Hindu art and dance, story-telling and cooking. It was a wonderful day of colour, music and spice!
Next, pupils were transported back in time to the Viking period at the Ancient Technology Centre. There was much work to be done including cleaning clothes, making bricks and chopping firewood. The leaders then gave the children the daunting task of making supper from scratch; it was hot work in the longhouse, grinding the rye for bread and chopping vegetables for the stew.
After a cosy night staying in the longhouse, the children were up and looking forward to another slice of history, this time at the Chalke Valley History Festival. Here, groups were invited to experience what it was like in a Second World War trench, complete with explosions, smoke and the odd casualty! A wide range of activities were enjoyed from Roman cookery demonstrations to medieval medicine.
At the end of this busy week was a well-deserved Wellbeing Day, where pupils could wind down and relax through drama, art and mindfulness activities.
Our Year 4 Skills Week began with an interesting guest speaker Tarzee, who helped us to learn all about Indian religion, dance, clothing, music and food in fascinating ways. That night, we enjoyed drinking hot chocolate around a fire and camping under just a few stars as it was the longest day of the year. Linked to our WW2 topic, we travelled to Eype on Wednesday where we based ourselves in a homely and inspirational bungalow. On a long and hilly walk, we discovered look-out shelters along the stunning coastline and developed our landscape sketching and drawing skills. The weather was fantastic and we were pleased to eat our picnic on the beach, paddle and some of us even found fossils. On Thursday we drove to the History Festival and made the most of the opportunity to chat to land girls, learn from soldiers and experience life in the trenches. Not surprisingly, after such a busy week, we used Friday as an opportunity for mindfulness all day!
The Year 5s started Skills Week on the Tuesday with some excellent outdoor activities organised by Wild Edge and interview practice sessions run by Oppidan. On Wednesday, they set off on their PGL adventure to the Isle of Wight! Whilst at Little Canada, the children had a fantastic time taking part in a variety of activities such as kayaking, climbing, and high ropes, which pushed the children to test themselves and work together as a team. It was fantastic to see the Year 5s demonstrating perseverance, resilience and above all empathy when interacting with others. The children returned to school tired, grubby but very happy after a great few days away.
This summer the whole of Year 7 travelled down to the North Cornish Coast with Mr Knight, Mr Cartwright, Mrs Green and Miss Batty. On arrival at Polzeath Beach they were shown the caravans that were to be their homes for the week, and spent the next four days, surfing, sailing, waterskiing, paddleboarding and generally going on adventures around the Camel Estuary. There was a bike ride along the Camel trail, a shopping trip to Padstow, and a tractor tour of the local shellfish farm. There were beach games in the evenings and a movie night in the Tubestation café with hot chocolate, whipped cream and marshmallows! There was even a chance to try out the new version of tennis (Padel) at the Point Sports Club, but for many the highlight was crabbing off the rocks by the Camel Ski School in Rock.
Madame Bradbury joined Sandroyd in September 2008, as Head of French. A passionate linguist, she showed huge dedication teaching her students and instilling in them a love of languages. She fell in love with Spain and the Spanish language in her youth and even managed to introduce some Spanish teaching in the children’s busy timetable.
Madame Bradbury’s “pride and joy” were the yearly Year 7 trips to France. She led no less than 12 extremely successful French adventures for Year 7 students. Her caring personality led her to become a beloved house parent for our senior girls.
Jane was also a most valued colleague and friend. As such, she took on the role of Chair of the Staff Committee and took it to new heights. She left us this summer to go and follow her lifelong dream to live in Spain with her husband Keith. Hasta la Vista!
Mrs CC left Sandroyd at the end of the spring term after 28 years of service to Sandroyd. Abi left to take on an exciting new role as Head of Semley Church of England School.
While at Sandroyd, Mrs CC taught just over a thousand Sandroyd children. She started by working in the stables before qualifying to become a teacher and then working for many years in the Junior Department. She ran the Junior Boarding House; she directed over twenty Year 5 plays and costumed well over sixty school performances. More recently, she was the Director of Studies and one of Sandroyd’s Deputy Heads.
A great friend to many and an exceptional, selfless teacher, friend and colleague. We wish her the very best of luck in the future.
At the end of the summer term, we said au revoir, but hopefully not adieu, to lovely Liz Davidson. Liz had come to Sandroyd 20 years ago, and during that time established herself as a pillar of the school community. She was (and still is, of course!) warm, funny and kind, and an excellent learning support teacher.
Generations of Sandroydians and their parents trusted her with their worries and woes, as well as relying on her for educational support. She made learning fun, and many of her protégés have gone on to great things. I know that so many of them will remember her with huge fondness – always.
Liz will be a hard act to follow – and very much missed by everyone.
Mr Harris worked at Sandroyd for five years across a number of different departments, starting within the domestic team and later moving to work in The Walled Garden, during which time he trained as a Teaching Assistant. He was a valued and versatile member of the team there, ably supporting all the classes and running the hugely popular Sports Club. Mr Harris’ new adventure has so far taken him to Whistler in Canada, where he is currently working and taking every opportunity to hit the slopes on his snowboard.
Mr Ray joined the team in September 2016. He carried out many roles in his time with us but first and foremost was an outstanding member of the maths department.
Martin inspired and encouraged the children at all levels and was respected enormously by them. He was also an experienced Games taker and thoroughly enjoyed coaching his various teams.
Martin introduced the Man of Steel rugby award which was presented weekly in our celebration assembly and was a coveted prize by the players. He held the role of Senior Master and oversaw the discipline in the school. Martin carried out this role fairly and sensitively. We wish him well with his new position of Head of Maths at Spratton Hall, and thank him for his contribution to life at Sandroyd.
Miss Lee joined us in 2020 following the first lockdown and immediately threw herself into life at Sandroyd, initially as an Assistant Houseparent in the Rockies and Atlas boarding houses, and also as a member of the Sports Department. She developed her role, moving to work in The Walled Garden, where she trained to become a Teaching Assistant. Known for her happy and willing attitude, Miss Lee was a valued member of the team. She has left Sandroyd to develop her teaching and is currently supporting children in Key Stage 1 at Dumpton.
Mr Knight joined Sandroyd in September 2020 as Head of English, with a mission to inculcate a love of reading and an overall passion for the subject, in all Sandroydians. His enthusiasm for all things English related was infectious; from Bridmore and Stowe to the Year 6 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, even down to his role as Herod in the staff pantomime - a performance which noone will forget!
A keen sportsman, Mr Knight also coached boys’ games, in particular the Under 12s, across all sports. His larger than life character, sense of humour and booming voice inspired all whom he taught. Whilst we congratulate him on his new role as Head of Years 7 and 8 at St George’s Windsor, he is much missed.
Mr Redden joined the school in January of 2019 as a Year 3 class teacher and then moved on to teach Year 5 for the following three years. He quickly became an integral part of the school, appreciated by children and staff alike for his brilliant sense of humour, enthusiasm and passion for teaching. The children who were lucky enough to be taught by him still happily reminisce about the weekly shot pot, fantastic fancy dress and occasional visits from his magical ‘twin brother’, Redondo. He will be greatly missed and we wish him all the best in his new role.
