The Boarding Review
Welcome to the latest edition of our SGS Boarding Review Magazine! As the Head of Boarding, it is a pleasure to introduce this collection of stories and highlights that showcase the vibrant life within our house over the past half term.
This Review reflects the incredible journey our students have already been on since the start of the year, undeterred by the rather constant rain!
Our boarding community is built on a foundation of three core values that we see in action every single day: Enjoy, Respect, and Achieve.
Enjoy: Whether it is through weekend excursions, evening activities, or simply sharing a meal in the dining hall, we strive to create an environment where every child finds joy in their surroundings.
Respect: Living together requires a deep sense of mutual respect. Our boarders continue to impress me with their kindness toward one another and their commitment to maintaining a supportive home for everyone.
Achieve: Achievement in our house is not just about academic results; it is about the personal milestones each child reaches, from mastering a new skill to showing resilience in the face of a challenge.
At the heart of everything we do is the belief that every child is unique. It is our mission to ensure that within these walls, all children will flourish, finding their own path and developing the confidence to succeed in all areas of life.
As you look through the following pages, I hope you get a true sense of the warmth and energy that make our boarding house so special. Thank you to the staff and students who have contributed to this issue and to all our parents for your continued support of our boarding family.
Kazeem was in the area, visiting a friend, and popped in to Boarding. Kazeem left 17 years ago and was our Head Boy 2007-2008. He was amazed at the changes since his day.
Goodbye to Helena
Helena has been a stalwart member of our cleaning team for many years and it was sad to see her leave. Students will still see her however, as she has changed jobs within the school and now works in the catering department on our Shooting Field site. A fine spread was laid on and Ms Willard also had small Christmas gifts for all of her team.
Visit from an Old Boy
Karaoke Night
Boarding students gathered on a Saturday evening for a Karaoke night. Most went for group renditions of well known songs.
Domino Run
After a few mishaps boarding students managed a very respectable domino run… though it was started by accident.
The picture below shows an ambitious combination of direction changes and lane splits but ,with three people working on it simultaneously, the result was inevitable.
Sushi Making Night
Armed with a large and varied selection of ingredients boarders settled down to an evening of sushi making. Some went for extremely large, and somewhat unstable, rolls whilst the old hands made more compact and traditional sized sushi. All their efforts were consumed with gusto though one or two were surprised by the amount of wasabi paste that had been used to “spice things up a bit.”
Teddy Travellers
Boarding students were asked to take one of our boarding teddies with them over the first term holiday for a few photo opportunities.
ReMap Lessons at our Lower School Sites
Boarding students provide an amazing resource for teaching our dayschool students about their home countries. A number of our students went to our lower school sites to give presentations and answer questions. Below are talks about Nigeria, the Falkland Islands and the Island of Sark.
LEGO—the
Star Wars fleet is fully built
After a term of building we have most of our Star Wars models completed ready, to move on to models of a different style.
Personal Safety Talk
PC Sally Scott, accompanied by John Sampson from the Neighbourhood Wardens, came in to give our students some instruction on staying safe. This included who to contact in an emergency as well as just what constitutes one. Sally went on to explain the dangers of online contact and the various traps and pitfalls to watch out for on social media.
Year 11 post trial exams bowling
Mr & Mrs Hammond took our Year 11 students bowling after their trial GCSE exams to de-stress a little. Two students were ahead of Mr Hammond though each had bowled extra frames and he was victorious in the end.
Mug cakes
Mrs Franks gathered a small crowd of students eager to see if the legendary “mug cake” was actually a real thing. Armed with a variety of ingredients, a recipe book and, of course, the all important mugs, they began to mix and stir. The “mix in the cup” method created very little mess and soon the microwave was happily humming away.
Burns Night
With the promise of Haggis as part of the evening meal Rod, one of our boarding governors, came in to play the bagpipes in celebration of Burns Night. Some of the boarders actually quite liked it!
Welcome to our Chinese Visitors
We were pleased to welcome a group of students, and their teacher, from China for just over a week. It was a grey and drizzly morning when they arrived having been collected by our school minibus. Ms Murton was there to greet them and to help them settle into Bennett House.
The students had the opportunity to be involved in boarding activities, such as cooking club, and went on their own outings at the weekend.
Our visitors attended the upper school during the week and had their meals in Boarding. “Boarding buddies” were on hand in school to make sure that all went smoothly and some firm friendships were made.
Basketball Trip
After a late midday meal boarding students left, on yet another cold and rainy afternoon, headed off to Surrey sports park to watch the Surrey 89’ers play the London Lions.
There was an impressive cheerleading display at half time.
The 89’ers were the victors with the very appropriate score of 89 points. After the match there were opportunities for autographs and selfies with the home team.
Outstanding!
Head Teacher Mr Timmons came to Boarding to announce the result of our recent Boarding OFSTED…. Outstanding in every category! Add to that there were no suggestions for any possible improvements, which made this a perfect score.
