St Hugh's Magazine - celebrating 2022-23 by st-hughs

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Contents Speech Day

Pre Prep

Sets

Sport

Salvete & Valete

Prep

Art & Design

Swimming Pool Transformation

Welcome to the St Hugh’s Magazine, celebrating our school life during 2022–23.

From the Archives

Boarding

Music & Drama

Ski Trip

Editor: V Jeffery Designed by Printed by Northend Front Cover: George and the Dragon — taken by L Fish, Year 2 Class Teacher Back Cover: taken by E Reynolds, Forest School Lead

Nursery

Wellbeing

Forest School

Year 8 Leavers

Speech Day L–R: Peyia F (Deputy Head Girl), Dan G (Deputy Head Boy), Poppy W (Head Girl), Headmaster Jeremy Wyld, Elliot A (Head Boy), Guest Speaker: Wing Commander Sonny Roe, Royal Air Force & teammate of the Atlantic Flyers.

Mr Jeremy Wyld, Headmaster Boys and girls, colleagues, parents, friends of St Hugh’s and our guest speaker — good morning and a very warm welcome in every sense as we gather in the Sports Hall at St Hugh’s for our annual celebration of achievements and success this year. It is always a pleasure to welcome you all to share in the children’s successes but I must also say, as I did yesterday to the school in final assembly, that everybody deserves success, not just those who come to the front today. I am blown away by the scale of the achievement that is on show every day. It is humbling for reasons I shall explain later. This morning is not intended to be overly formal; we are here to celebrate childhood, achievement and ambition, and our focus will be entirely on the children for whom it is our privilege to be trusted to teach and care for and your privilege to parent. I shall say more about our speaker today when I introduce him later on but having him here gives a context to something that is very important to us. Our Learning Dispositions from our Visible Learning programme are 4

crucial to what we do. However, before your eyes glaze over at the prospect of educational jargon, it is actually quite straightforward. These key characteristics shape every aspect of school life and are immediately understood by everyone. Those of you who have children who are in or have been in the Pre Prep will no doubt have heard them speak of Team Player Tortoise or Independent Iguana. Persevering Parrots also make a regular appearance, as do Reflective Rhinos. What do they mean? They are hooks for learning — weeks of struggling to tie up shoelaces and then to suddenly succeed makes you a Persevering Parrot; being part of a group that puts together a presentation makes you a Team Player Tortoise. It may sound simple and really it is. The other characteristics, or dispositions are Creative, Challenge and Curious. You

can then easily see how these have a meaning to the children. Building on this then shapes the curriculum as they get older. To be a reflective learner in Year 7 means looking back on their research for their Independent Project Qualifications. To be a Team Player means playing a role in the School Council or the cast of a play. Curious is what we want all our learners to be; Creative feeds their thinking and their responses. Finally, Challenge is some form of adversity, either in class or on the sports field or the stage and more broadly in everyday life. Overcoming this is how they learn and by developing the strategies to get them beyond the challenges, or out of the learning pit, is an ongoing lesson. So, to have a speaker today who embodies many, if not all, of these dispositions is a privilege and I am sure the children will absorb the life lessons that were no doubt learnt on the boat. Unfortunately you’ve got to listen to me for a little longer. Closer to home, we see life lessons all the time. I’d like to share a story. A couple of weeks ago, at the Lincolnshire

Show, I witnessed one of the most extraordinary acts of kindness by one child towards another. A little girl had been hurt — not on our stand, I hasten to add — and one of our children who was nearby went over to see how she was. To reassure her, he gave her the toy gorilla to keep that he had just toiled over winning to give her a distraction. This quelled her tears and gave her something else to think about. He wishes to remain nameless so I shall respect that, however, this moment was one to cherish — it was so touching that I felt I had to share it with you all. We regularly talk about random acts of kindness — it is a regular assembly topic — and this was one of those. Why am I sharing this? Simply because this is the innate nature of St Hugh’s. An intangible and unquantifiable trait of the community we are privileged to be part of. Of course, I’m not naïve enough to think that this is how it always is and, even standing here I know that at times we all slip. That’s what makes us human, after all, but, by taking note of the good around us, we can aspire to be more and more. There are similar examples every day from helping to carry books, to joining in with reading to the Pre Prep — these voluntary actions are a reflex, an instinct demonstrated by our — your — children to the wider community. Witness the Reception children going to the care home to give the residents a break from their routine, or our Ploggers going round making the local area a tidier place. Seeing them on stage, on the sports field, in the church, the music rooms, the classroom or even just around school they brim with confidence, but never arrogance. Recognising and nurturing this falls to the adults here. Without exception, the adults who work in the school are dedicated to their work. To teach children well, we need to engage with them as people first. They know if you care and are interested in them. After all, we are here to build great human beings, not just products of an education machine, to be consumed for a future workplace. By nurturing people values first; kindness, empathy, understanding, a good work ethic, flexibility, resilience, creativity, good judgement, excellence in expressing themselves, our children will most importantly of all have the best chance of being happy and confident and therefore will be prepared for whatever life throws at them, including the workplace of the future. It should never just be about work. Who even knows

what that workplace will look like and what the nature of the jobs that exist will be in future?

Childhood is precious and, we all agree, we see the best of it here before life as a grown up takes over. These children will be a long time grown up, let them cherish and enjoy it for as long as they can. Their interactions today shape their future selves and we are so lucky to play a role in this. It is apt at this point to make my thank yous. To the teaching staff as a whole, supported by the teaching assistants, your work in making the learning fun is priceless. The whole operation in school is about so much more than that — yes, our core purpose is teaching and learning, but the machine has to run as well. We are all brilliantly supported by a team who are made up of admin staff, boarding staff, catering staff, domestic staff, finance staff, medical staff, site staff and not forgetting our minibus drivers. That brief mention goes nowhere near doing them justice. I challenged the children yesterday to seek out any and every member of staff and to thank them for their work. I am privileged to have a team who is so dedicated to the wellbeing of the children in our care and who are invested in the life of St Hugh’s. Particular thanks go to Natalie Wallis and Richard Goodhand who keep the ship moving. To the Board of Governors, chaired by Richard Bussell — their support of the school is invaluable, as is the wide counsel and challenge that exists. Without them, volunteers all of them, much of the necessary expertise in various aspects of school life would be missing. To you all, the parents. Thank you. The trust you place in us by leaving your children in our care cannot be underestimated. The strength of the relationship which exists between you and the school is priceless. I mentioned earlier on about being naïve and I’ll use it again — I’m not naïve enough to assume we get everything right but I am honest enough to admit it when we don’t. I personally value the strength of the relationship that the school has with you as it enables transparency and openness — these attributes are my own personal learning dispositions as we collectively look after your greatest asset, your children. This next bit is a personal one — to Niki — thank you for putting up with me;

not easy, far from it, especially when I fail to practise my own preaching about work-life balance. I at home, in the words of one of my own school reports, am one who “tries hard but could do better”. Talking of my school reports, it is slightly surreal to have my own parents here — this is the first prize-giving of mine they have attended since I was a seven year old at prep school and won a judo prize… so when I said it is humbling and that I am in awe of the children’s achievements, I absolutely mean it — this particular stage was not one I was especially familiar with. Sadly, as is often the case at this time of year, we say farewell to some of our community. Not only to our leaving pupils who I shall address shortly but also to some members of the staff team. To Mrs Miranda Sim, Mr Paul Nicholl, Miss Zara Williams and Mr Duncan Morrison — we say thank you for all that you have done in so many areas of school life and in a relatively short space of time. We shall miss you all and wish you all the very best for the future. Mrs Kim Appleton retires this term after many years connected to St Hugh’s. We shall be gathering later on to wish her well as a staff but I want to take the opportunity to thank her for her support of the school as both a parent and a member of staff. With 15 years of directing the junior school play under her belt, you’d think she would have had enough of Rumpelstiltskin and Rocky Monsters but, no, she has volunteered to come back to help. We won’t say no. To our leaving pupils, many of whom have been here for many years, some since the Nursery, farewell. You have, collectively and individually, made an enormous contribution to life here and you will always be welcome back. We look forward to the day when you come along to our stand next to the main ring at the showground and reminisce with us. We will always welcome you and we will always find time for you — as well as find your photo in the school magazine. To our Year 8s — it is the end of an era. That era has been really significant for so many of you, with some of you being here since Nursery but with all of you sharing the experience of the last two years together. To you all — your friendships will carry through — we know that ex-St Hugh’s pupils keep us in their hearts and there is always a place in the St Hugh’s heart for you. To all our leavers, be you staff or pupil, fare well and fare forward.

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Elliot Ashton, Head Boy Welcome honoured guests, Headmaster, staff, and parents and, most importantly, all my fellow pupils. Well… here it is, this is the last day and last event at St Hugh’s… for me and the rest of Year 8 and anyone else that is leaving today. Nine years after I started in reception, standing in line waiting to go to lunch excited for my first meal at St Hugh’s. There was a very excited soon-tobe friend at the front of the queue but today was my first day. Mrs Wallis called me to the front of the line, making me feel very welcome from the first day… and that has lasted till my last day. It’s not all been good, here at St Hugh’s… There have been low points in my school career, but you will be pleased to know only two. The first is any day that a match is cancelled, that is never a good day. The second was when we were forced to give up our shorts in favour of trousers, moving from Year 5 to 6. I still haven’t really got over that, to this day. I do have a couple of apologies to make. The first apology is to the kitchen team. Over the last nine years they have all endeavoured and succeeded in providing us all with welcome and tasty, breakfast, lunch and tea, match teas for both ourselves and supporters, snacks and all done in good humour, and I have really enjoyed all my food here. But I have a confession… you look worried… but don’t worry I haven’t let a rat loose in the kitchen. My favourite meal has never really troubled the kitchen’s culinary skills, grabbing tea just before I jump on the bus. My favourite meal is a baked bean and plain pasta wrap… delicious! My second is in conjunction with my brother Toby who left here three years ago; we would both like to give a massive apology to the academic staff at school. Both of us have certainly given you all a challenge, as neither of us are naturally academic but we are both enthusiastic triers. You have all persevered with and encouraged us, and have ultimately succeeded in giving us a great start in life; always making us believe we could achieve beyond our expectations. There must have been times when it has felt like teaching a dog to sit! Mme Clayton I look at you particularly, 6

I would still struggle to order an ice cream in French… but would not hesitate to give it a go. One story that I remember was that I was getting pulled out of PE to do extra work and I was unhappy about it. Anyone who knows me will know how important PE is to me. On this day, Mr McDonnell came over to me and told me about how his mum made him do extra work over the holidays and how it had helped him in later life. This made me feel better about myself and the extra work. Thank you to all of you for giving me and my brother such a good platform for our next adventure. Now to the real reason I have enjoyed my time at St Hugh’s… The Sport. It makes every day for me worthwhile, from kicking the ball around the playground to PE to training, to matches, to Sports Day to cross country, to athletics, to swimming, whatever it is — it’s my thing. Apart from a couple of disastrous badminton pairings I’ve loved all of the sport. Mrs Felton thank you for organising the matches and for pushing us all to get involved. To Mr Short for this last year of rugby coaching. To Mr G for a successful hockey season. To Mr P for an enjoyable cricket season. And everyone else who has encouraged me and others in our sporting achievements. I’d like to thank teammates from Years 7 and 8 this year for some enjoyable matches home and away.

I would like to remind Spike to turn up to matches fully dressed in the future. Having arrived at Stamford for our rugby match, Spike took off his tracksuit to reveal only his skins, having remembered to put on none of his match kit, which was still back at school. And the relief on Mr P’s face when my very dodgy cricket bat finally broke while I was batting. Enjoying sport is not everyone’s thing but we all have something we are good at… and St Hugh’s is very good at finding that one thing, and making us feel good about ourselves. So thank you Mr Wyld and thank you to all of the staff, whatever your role is in school. My time at St Hugh’s has been fantastic and I only hope that the next chapter in my education journey is half as good as my time here at St Hugh’s. My top tip to all of the pupils at St Hugh’s is… get involved in everything — you might just enjoy it.

Poppy Wrisdale, Head Girl A very good morning Mr Wyld, teachers, fellow students, parents and, of course, guest speaker Wing Commander Roe. It is an honour to be stood here today. I was over the moon this time last year to be given the role of Head Girl. If not a little nervous, anxious and apprehensive, I knew with Elliot, Dan and Peyia we would work well as a team. I would like to say thank you to all the teachers for their support and everyone behind the scenes at St Hugh’s including matron, groundsmen, bus drivers and the cooks. St Hugh’s is made up of so many incredible people. It was my grandfather who suggested I go to St Hugh’s as he had so many happy memories here. He did say, however, he only won one award at St Hugh’s. Although he did make the school magazine for bowling five wickets for four runs. You can imagine the excitement when I came home last July to say I had been awarded Head Girl — something that has never happened in The Wrisdale family. It all started in March 2020, the start of Covid when I first set foot into St Hugh’s. As both my parents were key workers, I

was sent off to school. It was quite scary not knowing anyone but, along with my two sisters, we got on with it and made lots of friends. I remember the first teacher I met was Mrs Costello who was great fun although slightly bonkers! Sorry Mrs Costello, you are a fantastic teacher and looked after me well. I don’t want to dwell on the effects of Covid but celebrate all the wonderful opportunities St Hugh’s has given me and more importantly to have been part of an amazing school. We are all so lucky to be here. There are many things I have learnt in my few years at St Hugh’s with one being: never give up. With all my struggles with dyslexia and reading, and with the encouragement from my teachers, I realised with persistence it is possible to succeed. Never be scared of failure, it is part of growing up and only makes you stronger. I have made so many memories over the last few years. Every morning when I go into Mr Jeffery’s lessons he cracks his jokes, I laugh but I still don’t get the punchlines. Mrs Bonner-MacKenzie has been amazing. She has picked me up when I have been down and has been there for me through thick and thin. One of my greatest passions is textiles and fashion. She helped me to receive a distinction for my IPQ project (I am still to wear the lace dress I made). Mr Goodhand — I’m sorry, I’m still getting to grips with algebra, and maths for that matter! Mrs Waite — thank you for your help

with the extra lessons. Although, I’m sorry to say I won’t be using mind maps again. Just remember everyone: never be scared to ask for help, there is always someone to listen. Mrs Warwick-Smith — boarding has been amazing and I can thoroughly recommend full-time boarding with all the fantastic activities she arranges. Two weeks ago we had the most amazing time in Ullswater camping at an outward bound adventure centre. After an eight hour hike, I was for once so excited to get into bed. However, after a midnight loo stop in the pitch black (not ideal), I found myself headfirst in the banks of the river soaking wet, battered and bruised. My cries for help alerted Henrietta who came to my rescue. Thank you Henrietta for lending me some dry clothes. I was even more shocked this week when my mum received a phone call to say I had received a nomination from my instructor and been invited back over the summer. Thank you for the offer but I will stick to my own bed! I’m so excited to be following in Mr Wyld’s footsteps this September to Repton. If I turn out to be anything like him, my parents will be very proud. Although, I don't think I’m headmaster material. I just want to say a massive good luck to the new Head Boy and Head Girl. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Thank you to all my wonderful friends… friends for life. I will miss you all. Have a wonderful summer. St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Speech Day Prize Winners Award

Recipient

The Sim’s Plate – Sportsman of the Year

Elliot A

The Chambers Cup – Sportswoman of the Year

Peyia F

Shelbourn Awards – School Captains for

Aydin T

2023/24

Florence L

E & R Wilkinson Cup – English

Peyia F

A Wilkinson Cup – Creative English

Michelle F-B

Barr Cup – Maths

Dan G

Wiggins Davies Cup – Most Improved

Award

Recipients Annabelle J, Charlotte J, William C,

ESSA National Finals

Charlie T, Alicia T IAPS National Finals and ESSA

Charlotte T

Spike H

Athletics Badges for Competing at a National Level Event

Mablethorpe Cup – Science

Rico L

Award

Brown Cup – History

Brandon B

Hunt Cup – Humanities

Sam R

Lamming Shield – French

Dan G

C Wilkinson Cup – Art

Peyia F

Hunter Art Shield – Most Improved Artist

Poppy W

Paine Cup – Drama Singing

Alastair O

Maltby Cup – Services to Drama

Leo G

Langley Cup – Secondary Services to Drama

Imogen L

Sanderson Cup – Musical Theatre

Sophie T

Hilditch Shield – Unsung Heroine

Henrietta P

Gordon Davidson Shield – Unsung Hero

Mathematician

Swimming Badges for Competing at National Finals

Recipients Florence L, Elliot A, Rico L,

NPSA

Amelia F, Kitty W

Form Prizes for Effort and Attainment Year

Recipients

Reception

Charlotte F and Toby F

Year 1

James W and Joshua W

Year 2 (Maple)

Abigail B and Bonnie W

Brandon B

Year 2 (Elm)

Charlie S and George G

Sinnott Shield for Visible Learning

Elliot A

Year 3

George C and Henrietta C

The Daines Talbot Citizenship Award

Leo G

Year 4

Joshua F and Edward J

Radford Award for Academic Excellence

Dan G

Year 5

Sam H and Joshua N

Edmund Cup – Presentation in Year 8

Dan G

Year 6MC

Megan B and William L

Design & Technology

Rico L

Year 6BC

Ela H and Euan P

The Martin Needham Endeavour Cup

Sam R

Year 7

Wilf H-S and Amelia F

The Game Classics Cup

Dan G

The Wright Cup (All-rounder)

Huxley S

“St Hugh’s gave me the confidence and creativity to explore all the new opportunities Oundle offers.”

“Boarding at St Hugh’s allowed me to settle quickly into my House at Oundle – I am really enjoying all the sport here!” Huxley, Former pupil and now current Oundelian

Annabel, Former pupil and now current Oundelian

H E A R F ROM T H E H E A D To find out more about boarding at Oundle, www.oundleschool.org.uk please scan the QR code www.oundleschool.org.uk

www.oundleschool.org.uk

Salvete & Valete Valete Mrs Kim Appleton Kim Appleton was one of the everdwindling group of teachers who had actually been at St Hugh’s longer than I have, however, she seemed to possess the secret to eternal youth and energy; always appearing sprightly and a lot less haggard than me — certainly with less hair loss. I first came across Kim as I was walking along the upstairs corridor and past her classroom, which was always an oasis of calm, no matter what the range of characters in her form — and I should imagine there have been many varied and wonderful pupils down the years… When I actually met this teacher who ruled the roost with such calm authority I was amazed to find such a quietly spoken and diminutive figure emerging from the room. I think it was then that I realised that I (and perhaps all of us) needed to invoke my inner Kim when teaching. Having got to know her over the years, though, it became quite clear that Kim did not always play the mild-mannered teacher. By night she could be quite the party animal. Enjoying a celebratory curry in the dining hall after the end of an inspection, we were all settling into an evening of relatively civilised conversation, and collective relief, when, halfway through the night, imagine my surprise when glancing up from my chicken dhansak, I saw Kim dancing full throttle on the dinner tables! She had set the tone for the night to come. The music got louder, Mr Ward started on his party tricks, and it ended up with a thronging dance floor at one o’clock in the morning. Conversations with her also revealed that she is a keen Lincoln City supporter — putting aside this benighted point of view — I think I can now, in the light of the revelations outlined above, easily imagine our softly spoken Mrs Appleton at the front of the stands directing a few 10

choice words at unsuspecting centreforwards. Kim began her career in Edinburgh, teaching at a prep school which provided living quarters and after she met her husband David, the school moved both of them into a house which sounds like a highly civilised way to start out in your teaching career. Then, she moved down to Lincolnshire… Kim worked at the Conway school in Boston, and following its relatively abrupt closure she eventually started work in the Pre Prep at St Hugh’s — just a short hop from her home in Woodhall. That was in 2005! Eighteen years later, in her retirement year, Kim was still as committed to delivering quality teaching to our younger pupils as she was when she started. She worked in tandem with Tricia Cardovillis for many years and was a key member of the ‘upstairs gang’. Of course, she was not just restricted to classroom teaching; Kim was called on

to officiate sporting fixtures, swimming galas and arrange school trips, not forgetting her role as a parent too… and of course she single-handedly directed the junior play year on year. The enjoyment that pupils derive from the chance to perform on stage is obvious, and Kim guided them through this experience expertly. Rehearsals and performances alike were always carried out with that trademark Appleton inner calm… and sometimes a whistle! Kim, congratulations on your retirement, enjoy your time with your family, and I hope you continue to get away on your exotic holidays (in term time especially!). It has been a pleasure to teach alongside you, and I cannot finish without saying,… you’re going to be … “A Hard Act to Follow”! Mr Jeffery, Head of History and Geography

Mr Peter Hainsworth Mr Peter Hainsworth was well known as one of our minibus drivers and as our Site Manager, and retired at the end of the Autumn Term. We are especially grateful to Peter for his hard work as we emerged from the various lockdowns in ensuring that the site was kept operating ready for the return of the children — much of this had to be done at short notice and

with little warning. Not only that but he was routinely found up on roofs taking photos or switching at equally short notice to whatever task came his way via the blue chits in the office! We wish Peter all the best in his retirement, giving him more time to spend with his family — including the newest addition, granddaughter Autumn.

Mrs Miranda Sim

Mrs Clare Wingham

We said goodbye to Mrs Sim, 1:1 Teaching Assistant, as Thomas S moved on to his next school. We will all miss seeing Miranda and Thomas around school. We look forward to welcoming back Mrs Sim in the not too distant future when she will be working in school as an independent speech and language therapist.

Having previously been a member of the Pre Prep team, Clare re-joined us as a 1:1 Teaching Assistant and made another brilliant contribution to life at St Hugh's. Well known to everyone, she instantly made the role her own and was a committed member of the Teaching Assistant team, able to turn her arm to most things including Forest School. We look forward to keeping in touch with her in the future and wish her well for her next step.

Mrs Susan Sim

Mr Paul Nicholl We said farewell to Paul Nicholl who was a popular Teaching Assistant amongst our children thanks to his skills both in the classroom, outdoors in Forest School and on the sports pitch! Inevitably his role encompassed far, far more and has been hugely appreciated.

We said farewell to Mrs Sim in the New Year, as she took on a new position closer to home after seven years of excellent work and support to everyone here at St Hugh’s. Susan will be hugely missed and we thank her all that she did during her time here. Susan was on the front desk and in the front line for all that happened in school and juggled (much in the same way as Peter) the different demands and tasks which came from all angles. From all of us, good luck in your new role, Susan.

To all of our leaving staff, we wish them the very best and, with apologies to TS Eliot, "to fare forward, voyagers". St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Salvete Mrs Sarah Warwick-Smith Mrs Warwick-Smith became our new Houseparent. Sarah joined us from Uppingham where she was Deputy Housemistress in a boys’ house and Deputy Director of Sport. Gaining her degree from Leeds Metropolitan, her PGCE from Leeds Beckett and her MA from Bishop

Grosseteste, Sarah was previously a PE teacher at King Edward VI Academy in Spilsby, where she also taught RE and Science. Having arrived with her own family, husband Jake and their son, Grayson, they instantly settled into the St Hugh’s Boarding House family.

Mr Jake Smith Mr Smith joined us to take on the role of Site Manager following Peter Hainsworth’s retirement. As the husband of Mrs WarwickSmith, Jake was already a familiar face to those who knew him from the Boarding House. Jake has a background in estates work, having worked on the grounds and gardens team at Uppingham. Jake (R) is pictured with former Site Managers Peter Hainsworth (L) and David Broadbent (C).

Mr Duncan Morrison and Miss Zara Williams L–R: Mrs Sarah Warwick-Smith, Mrs Amy Foote, Miss Lara Fish, Mrs Hayley Revell and Mr Gareth Short.

Mrs Amy Foote

Mrs Hayley Revell

Mrs Foote joined us as Teacher of Art and Design. Amy’s degree is in History of Art from UCL and she has QTS following her PGCE from Bishop Grosseteste University. Amy previously worked at Banovallum where she was Assistant Head of Creative Arts and DT, and teacher of Art and Photography. Involved in setting up outreach work for primary schools in the Horncastle area, Amy is passionate about the opportunities that creative subjects can provide for all children.

Mrs Revell joined us in Pre Prep as maternity cover becoming our new Year 1 Class Teacher. Educated at the College of St Mark and St John in Plymouth where she qualified as a teacher with a BEd, she has taught with Service Children’s Education at Episkopi Primary School in Cyprus and at Lincoln Minster School.

Miss Lara Fish Miss Fish joined us as a Key Stage 1 Teacher in one of our Year 2 classes. She was previously teaching at Hartsholme Academy where she was a Year 2 Class Teacher and Geography Lead. Lara was at school at Clayesmore in Dorset and worked at Hazlegrove Prep as a Gap Student before training as a teacher in Lincoln at Bishop Grosseteste for her undergraduate studies and MA, and gained Qualified Teacher Status following completion of her PGCE. 12

We both welcomed and said goodbye to our two Resident Assistants who joined us on their gap year after completing their studies at Stamford and Sedbergh. They were a key part of the Boarding House Team and assisted in PE, Swimming and Games lessons. We wish them all the best in their future studies and careers.

Mr Gareth Short Mr Short joined our Sports Department as a PE and Games Teacher. He previously worked for Help for Heroes where he was a Sports, Activities and Fellowship Partner in their outreach programme. Gareth also worked for a number of years as a community coach with Saracens RFC and as a Rugby Development Officer across the Midlands with the RFU, as well as teaching PE in two schools in Lincolnshire. He has coaching qualifications in cricket, athletics and swimming.

Mr Steve Hall We welcomed Steve Hall, "Mr Steve" to the school in September to join the minibus team. Driving the Market Rasen run originally he has also got to know the Sleaford run. Instantly popular with the children, he has proved an asset to our transport provision and has fitted in excellently with the rest of the team. We look forward to many happy miles with him.

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From the Archives Delving into St Hugh’s history and celebrating the past pupils of the school and their achievements. Class of 1983 It was a pleasure to welcome the 1983 Leavers on Friday 28th April for a reunion. A group of former pupils met in the Pavilion for tea and a tour of the school, before heading to the Abbey Lodge via a stop or two on the Broadway. Organised by Will Nelstrop, 15 members of the class came for a trip down memory lane and within minutes of meeting up, the last 40 years melted away and the memories flowed. It was a pleasure to meet them and to talk about their experiences at St Hugh’s in a very different era. When they were pupils, co-education was a very new concept, Mike Kelham was the Headmaster and every one of them was a boarder. Recounting their days in Fairmead or as Dorm Captains in the main school building, they spent time in the Pavilion looking through some of our archive material, talking about old friends and also marvelling at the orange chairs in the Forbes Hall which are still in use 50 years after being purchased!

The pet room 14

Computers are all-absorbing!

“I loved my time at St Hugh’s School. My teachers ignited my passion for sport and I have been fortunate to remain involved in sport since leaving St Hugh’s.” John Mallett

Thanks must also go to pupils Elliot, Dan, Peyia, Poppy and Huxley for showing them around school. They themselves will have learnt a lot about the St Hugh’s of the past! We were also really touched by their generosity as well as delighted to receive a framed rugby shirt from one of their number, John Mallett, who played over 200 games for Bath, as well as representing England and the Barbarians. Jeremy Wyld, Headmaster

For any former pupils or their families reading this, please do get in touch. We love to hear your news and, even more, we welcome you to visit whenever you happen to be passing. St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Nursery Discovering Autumn Everyone enjoyed spotting signs of autumn on a trip to Kirkby Moor.

Bookworms All children were eager to visit the Travelling Book Fair — a wonderful week-long event, with mobile bookcases packed with a huge variety of books for children to choose from.

Planting Trees As part of National Tree Week, children learnt all about the importance of trees and planted saplings around school.

Diwali Day Nursery joined Pre Prep to celebrate Diwali Day. They learnt about Hindu worship, dressed up in traditional Indian clothing and were taught Bollywood style dancing.

Xander

Phoebe

Crazee Bongos Christmas Trip Nursery joined Pre Prep on the annual festive trip to Crazee Bongos.

Cauliflower Christmas Cards Nursery children produced some outstanding designs for the Cauliflower Christmas Card Competition.

After a morning of soft play, they made Christmas crafts before enjoying lunch. They were very excited to meet Father Christmas.

Mr Wyld and Miss Henderson had the very difficult task of trying to select the winners from a wonderful array of designs: Nursery – Xander Pre-school – Phoebe

Lunar New Year Across school, children celebrated Lunar New Year 2023 — the Year of the Rabbit — learning about how it is celebrated around the world.

Chinese Dragon Workshop Nursery and Pre-school joined Pre Prep to take part in a dragon dance workshop.

They had a fantastic time learning dance moves and met ‘Mr Dave’, the floating dragon. The workshop enhanced what they had learnt during Lunar New Year.

Children made dragon masks and explored noodles in the tuff spot. Everyone enjoyed learning about the lunar calendar and discovered their animal sign by reading The Great Race. The whole school joined together to enjoy Chinese New Year lunch. St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

World Book Day For World Book Day, everyone chose their favourite book and came to school dressed as one of the characters. It was lovely to read and discuss our chosen books together. Pictured with Reception Class

Visit to Ostler’s A fun morning was had at Ostler’s Plantation exploring and den building.

A Visit to Tattershall Farm Park Nursery and Pre-school children had a wonderful day at Tattershall Farm Park as part of their farm topic. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed an outing on the school bus, seeing all the animals, watching a falconry display, and having a picnic outside before some bouncing on the jumping pillows!

Beach Trip As always, there was much excitement for the annual beach trip to Huttoft. Our Nursery, Pre-school and Reception children were eager to board the minibuses, with buckets and spades in hand, ready for a day of sandy toes, splashing in the sea and enjoying a picnic together. It was a beautiful sunny day so a visit to Farmer Brown’s for ice-cream was a very welcome treat. After a day enjoying the sea air it was a quiet drive home with lots of the children fast asleep!

Being Together It certainly has been a busy year — exploring the outdoors in Forest School, enjoying music lessons with Mr Ferguson, seeing ‘Camembear’ in French each week, learning to swim in the pool — and simply having fun with friends.

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Pre Prep Woodhall Spa at War Year 2 learnt all about ‘Woodhall at War’. As part of their topic they travelled to the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln to find out why Lincolnshire earned the title ‘Bomber County’. The whole class thoroughly enjoyed their visit, touring the impressive Spire, Memorial Walls and Peace Gardens. Thanks to the wonderful tour guides the experience was brought to life with real-life stories and workshops. The interactive displays proved very popular with everyone taking their roles on board the Lancaster very seriously. The room went very quiet as they carefully listened

to instructions over the headsets as they tried to navigate their way home while avoiding enemy fire! Thank you to Hugo H-S for his summary of the day: “We went to Bomber Command. It was cool. First we went to the Lancaster table. I was the gunner which was ace. Next the lady showed us a Mickey Mouse (gas) mask. I wouldn’t want to wear that. I also wouldn’t like to go in the Anderson Shelter. I bet it would be horrible. Finally we went outside to see the Spire. I liked the stories about Antic and Robert. It was amazing.”

Discovering Autumn Our Reception and Pre-school children went on a trip to Kirkby Moor to look for fungi and spot signs of autumn. “Wow look at that mushroom Mrs Wallis, it’s huge!” Hugo commented as he spotted the fly agaric toadstools and all the children were amazed by the bright red colour and the size, but they didn’t see any fairies underneath! They used the hide to spot birds on the lake, and found lots of big acorns too. What a lovely trip! St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Diwali Day

Cauliflower Christmas Cards

Pre Prep pupils had a fabulous time with our Nursery children celebrating Diwali Day.

Pre Prep were incredibly creative for the Cauliflower Christmas Card Competition!

following winners:

It was a jam-packed day where the children enjoyed hearing about the Hindu Festival of Light, learning about Hindu worship and some of the many gods of the Hindu religion. After lunch, the children dressed up in traditional Indian clothing and participated in Indian Folk and Bollywood style dancing. This proved to be the highlight of the day for many of the children (and teachers!). The rest of the afternoon was spent taking part in a range of art and craft activities. A super day was had by all!

After much deliberation, Mr Wyld and Miss Henderson announced the

Year 2 – William

Reception – Verity (Most original idea Pre Prep) Year 1 – Alexandra

Crazee Bongos Trip No Christmas would be complete without the annual trip to Crazee Bongos.

Christmas Party Everyone had a fabulous time at the Christmas Party following a delicious lunch cooked by Mr Wilson and his team.

After a busy day of sliding, scooting, crafting and jumping, there was even time to meet Father Christmas.

Meeting The Prince of Wales

‘Magic Grandma & Grandad’

Two of our pupils were lucky enough to meet The Prince of Wales when he visited RAF Coningsby! Ella-Rose in Year 1 and Charlotte in Reception both spoke to Prince William as he spent time meeting the personnel who work there and their families. Ella-Rose had drawn three pictures and personally managed to hand them over, while Charlotte told him that she had seen his daughter on TV and that her middle name was also Elizabeth! Everyone in school was very excited to hear about the visit.

Year 1 was delighted to welcome ‘Magic Grandma and Grandad’ for an afternoon to learn woodworking skills.

Space Explorers Year 2 ventured to Leicester to visit the National Space Centre as part of their topic work on space. Upon arrival, the 42-metre-high rocket tower housing the Centre’s rocket collection and the display of worldfamous spacesuits didn’t fail to impress. With so many objects to see and lots of interactive displays, children (and teachers!) were kept very busy learning

all about the story of past, present and future space exploration. When it came to entering the planetarium, the UK’s largest, the gasps of amazement were quickly followed by silence as the children settled into their seats and gazed up at the stars. Everyone came home with lots of new and fascinating facts, including what animals have travelled into space and how astronauts go to the toilet! It was a fantastic way to blast off the term’s learning.

The class always enjoys having visitors to the classroom so they were very excited to welcome Mrs Noden’s parents (now fondly known as ‘Magic Grandma and Grandad’) who came to share their expertise. For many of the children it was their first time using some of the tools that were required to build their own vehicle from wood. There was a great deal of concentration as they focused on cutting, sanding and screwing the components together. The children were extremely proud of the model cars they made. Thank you to ‘Magic Grandma and Grandad’ for coming to visit us. The lesson tied in perfectly to the term’s topic work on journeys.

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Ahoy! In the Spring Term, Reception class children were busy being pirates! In the classroom, their learning was all pirate-themed. They practised their handwriting to write their own message in a bottle, drew treasure maps, created wanted posters and designed hats. In Forest School, Miss Reynolds ensured the theme continued. She set them the task of walking the plank as they headed to the woods, and everyone displayed excellent teamwork as they worked together to find hidden booty! As all good pirates must literally learn the ropes, they were then set the challenge of untangling a series of knots. They proved to be Persevering Parrots and kept asking for more and more difficult knots to undo as they were not hard enough apparently! Everyone was very creative when it came to making their own pine cone pirate. To complete their topic work the class celebrated with a fancy dress day.

Space Day Year 2 had a blast on their Space Day. They watched rockets take off fuelled by baking powder and vinegar; tried to send men back to space with vitamin C canisters; and took part in their own space race zooming rockets across the classroom. They loved trying real space food and were shocked that the ‘hard dry’ ice-cream melted in their mouth the same way real icecream would! The whole school was super impressed by everyone’s choice of fancy dress outfit!

Chinese Dragon Workshop Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 joined Nursery children to take part in a wonderful dragon dance workshop. They learnt simple dances and showed off these dance moves using traditional items which included parasols and fans. All the children worked together in teams to make ‘Mr Dave’ the dragon

float and dance around the hall! The workshop fitted perfectly into the Year 2 China project and enhanced what all classes had learnt during Lunar New Year.

Up, Up and Away! Year 1 had a fantastic (but rather chilly and snowy) visit to Newark Air Museum. The children (and adults!) were so excited to see such a huge variety of aeroplanes and enjoyed sharing their own learning about the history of flight. The children examined the size of the planes, the shape of their wings and how the materials they were made from have changed so much over the last 120 years. They were inspired to ask many thoughtful questions. A highlight of the trip was seeing a replica of an early plane that was built a few years after the Wright Brothers Flyer. Being able to make first hand comparisons between early and modern planes really took their learning to the next level. Everyone enjoyed making their own paper aeroplane — there was even a special machine they could use to launch them!

Westerley Care Home Reception class started weekly visits to Westerley Care Home in the village.

The children really looked forward to their visits — sharing stories, playing skittles, making crafts and talking to the residents.

Year 1 Visits Heckington Windmill Year 1 had a lovely day at Heckington Windmill as part of their Traditional Fairy Tales topic. Mrs Revell and Mrs Harvey were so impressed by the whole class and incredibly proud of their bravery and resilience climbing the ladders to each floor. As they journeyed to the top floor, the class learnt how wheat is turned into flour before venturing outside to enjoy the view from the balcony. The flour workshop was the favourite part of the day for many and everyone enjoyed singing "shake, shake, shake the flour out" to help dust themselves down. We hope Mr Fisher didn’t find too much flour on the bus! The class ended their topic work with a fabulous fancy dress day. They baked and decorated gingerbread men, cracked the code on a fairy tale hunt, and chased away a giant (who thankfully dropped off a box of ice-cream sundae treats as he tried to escape)!

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Coronation Celebrations

Minibeast Hunting

During the week, children were busy learning all about The King’s Coronation before enjoying a celebratory picnic together.

As part of their topic on minibeasts, Reception went to Stourton Estates for a minibeast hunt in the arboretum.

Reception visited Westerley Care Home for an afternoon of Coronation-themed crafts and Year 2 created royal portraits in their art lessons. Sadly, the Great British weather put a slight dampener on the planned outdoor picnic with family and friends but, nevertheless, a wonderful time was had by children and staff who enjoyed food and a sing-song together. God Save the King!

They had a fabulous journey on the deer safari first. The tractor tour was brilliant and Poppy the dog was a definite highlight! They met Winston the stag, and saw the deer who was due to give birth. Thank you to Antony and Helen Strawson at Stourton Estates for a wonderful visit.

A Wild Day Out! A fabulous recount of Year 2’s visit to Lincolnshire Wildlife Park by Joseph, who was awarded a WOW award for his work: A pride of Year 2s visited the Wildlife Park for our animals topic. To start, we saw 100 parrots called the African Grey. Jess the zookeeper said if you bobbed up and down they would copy you. They made me laugh! Next we marched to see Nigel, the three-legged puma because he had arthritis. He can still run very fast — 15 miles per hour. A puma is a cat that can meow. I thought he was about to eat me. After we had seen Nigel, on the information board there was a photo that looked like human meat. That gets fed to

the tiger. The tiger’s face looked so creepy like a snake. To end the day we saw the hospital and there were some eggs in an incubator. There were some parrots, one of them was multi-coloured. Some of his feathers were plucked off! We saw a parrot and when we said “hello” he said “hello”. He made me laugh and he laughed back. The trip was amazing. My favourite part was the tiger. If you go, I recommend you see Scar. Joseph F-S, Year 2 Year 2 completed their topic work with a dress up day, full of activities — before welcoming their parents to join them for the afternoon.

World Bee Day To celebrate World Bee Day on 20th May, we learnt all about the importance of bees and how we can help protect them. Mr Goodhand brought in his beekeeping equipment and spoke to Pre Prep about how to care for the bees. While in Forest School, Miss Reynolds and Mrs Harvey set everyone a challenge. Working in teams, children had to collect nectar using a pipette but, just like bees, they couldn’t talk to the other worker bees to tell them where the nectar was. Instead, they had to use ‘bee communication’ and do a waggle dance! They all took it in turns to be the queen bee and worker bees. It certainly was exhausting watching them running around collecting their nectar and filling their hives (ice cube trays). At the end of the lesson everyone enjoyed sitting down to watch Bee TV and count the bumble bees leaving and returning to their nest. Being a bee certainly is hard work!

Ugly Bug Ball Reception Class came in dressed as minibeasts ready for their Ugly Bug Ball. They spent the morning learning about the names of their minibeasts in French and sewing their minibeast designs. There clearly are some very talented needlework crafters in the class! To complete the day, the class welcomed their parents and our Nursery children to join them for an Ugly Bug Ball. They danced and sang and had a feast!

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

A Day at the Beach Reception children had a fabulous day at the beach with Nursery and Pre-school.

Artists at Work Year 1 learnt all about different artists and put their artistic talent to the test. They had a lot of fun mixing their own shades to create a drip painting in the style of Jackson Pollock to produce some masterpieces. Mrs Revell and Mrs Harvey are still finding the paint splatters!

World Book Day Pre Prep had a wonderful day celebrating World Book Day 2023. They thoroughly enjoyed a visit from some of our Year 8 pupils to read their choice of book — some proved particularly amusing!

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Prep Art Trip A recount of the trip by Imogen L, Year 8 On Tuesday 20th September, Year 8 went on a trip to Burghley House, Stamford for an art trip with Mrs Foote and Miss Reynolds. It was an amazing trip. There were a lot of designs based on animals, shapes, faces and all made out of different materials such as wood and metal. We walked around the garden and then chose a sculpture that we could sketch. We all made some dragonflies

Science Adventure A recount of the day by Edward J, Year 4 "On Tuesday 20th September, Years 3 and 4 went on a trip to the Magna Science Adventure Centre. When we arrived, it looked very big and when we stepped inside it seemed HUGE. We began with a safety talk before we went to the workshops where we made volcanoes and they erupted! After lunch, we went to the Water Pavilion where we got soaked whilst playing some very exciting games! Next, we went to the Big Melt where we saw one of the biggest metal making machines. Then we visited the Fire Pavilion and we all got warmed up. We were going to go to the Air Pavilion but another school had just gone in! Lastly, we had to go back to the Water Pavilion for ten minutes before we could go into the Air Pavilion. When we could go in it was very exciting and airy. Before we got on the bus for the two hour journey home we had a group photo taken in front of the entrance." Thank you, Edward! 30

out of wire. While we were eating our packed lunch, a lady came over to compliment us on our blazers and her dog ate Huxley’s sandwich! The last thing we did was explore the Garden of Surprises, which had a mirror maze and lots of water! We all enjoyed it very much. I want to say thank you very much to Mrs Foote and Miss Reynolds for taking us. Thank you, Imogen, for making us smile! We are glad you all enjoyed the day.

En Vacances! Year 7 and 8 pupils enjoyed a wonderful week in France. We looked forward to receiving their daily updates! “Bonjour! It’s been a busy, busy day today! We started at the Parfumerie Fragonard and are now experts on perfumes and scents. We decided to have lunch with a view near the glass pyramid of the Louvre before walking the length of the Champs Elysées where we shopped till we dropped…but finished off

with climbing all the way up the Arc de Triomphe! What a view!” “Bonjour! We have arrived safely in our lovely accommodation in Paris. It was a long journey but we were very excited to use the Eurotunnel and it felt a little strange being on a coach on the wrong side of the road!” “Bonjour! Today has been yet another busy day! Unfortunately, due to a national strike in France, the Eiffel Tower was closed! But we still had fun taking pictures.

We enjoyed a lovely cruise on the Seine and saw lots and lots of monuments and bridges. We tried some pancakes and then explored the Musée d’Orsay, trying to find as many paintings and sculptures on Mme Clayton’s big quiz!” “Bonjour! We are on our way back! We stopped to enjoy a private tour of ‘behind the scenes’ of the Stade de France and stayed in the jail for just a few seconds!” It certainly was an action-packed few days.

On the River with Year 5 Luckily, for an early October day, we were blessed with warm sunshine for a rivers fieldwork trip to Snipe Dales and Gibraltar Point. Firstly we found the source of the river and we followed its course downhill, looking at features such as meanders and valleys, and considering the different landscapes, vegetation and shapes of the river along the way. At the confluence of two rivers we took samples of the water and examined the organisms living there. We also measured the temperature, depth and width of the river. Using dog biscuits, a tape measure and stopwatches we then measured the speed of the river. After an al fresco lunch, we travelled down to Gibraltar Point and tracked the final stages of the same river as it entered the sea. We could compare the different shape of the river here and the different vegetation and shape of the terrain — which was quite a contrast from its beginnings at Snipe Dales. St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

A1 Maths Challenge Day Thank you to Megan B for the recount of the day Today some of us mathematicians travelled to Witham Hall for a Maths Day. The team was Megan, Michelle, William L, Fergus, Elias, Euan, William C and Charles. We got in to school and headed off to Witham Hall. When we arrived we split off into two groups of four. Team 1 was William C, Fergus, William L, and Eli. Team 2 was Megan B, Michelle, Euan and Charles. After some juice and biscuits we cracked on with the maths. The first thing we did to warm up was a team challenge. Both teams struggled a bit with this but we understood that after being on the bus for over an hour we were always going to struggle. The next round was a crossword round. Both teams did a lot better with this round, achieving very high scores. For the next round, we had to split off into pairs in our team for the shuttle round where one pair would answer a question and then it would help with the answer to the next one. Again, both teams were good at this. There was then another crossword which both teams found very fun. Finally, the last

History Trip to Burghley House Years 3 and 4 had a great day learning about the Tudors. Following the visit, Year 3 wrote Thank You letters. Hetty C produced a fabulous letter describing her visit.

The final score was: 1st – Witham Hall 2 2nd – Witham Hall 1 3rd – St Hugh’s 1 4th – St Hugh’s 2 5th – Burton Hathow Thank you to Witham Hall for hosting an amazing day and thank you to Mr Nicholl and Mr Goodhand for taking us.

Dear Rachel, Lynne and Mike, I loved going to Burghley House yest erday. The costume I wore was a green dres s with a string bow even though I was poor, I loved wea ring it! It was really fun looking at all the food that Tudor people ate! I am not sure if I wou ld like to be a rich Tudor or a poor Tudor because the poor were healthy and rich people had money and clea n water. When we went in the kitchen I liked watching the spit go round. I don’t think I would like eating food on the plates we saw because it look ed like they were made of clay. Making Tudor purses was very fun. I did pictures of Tudor roses and a few other thin gs on mine, it is really pretty. Dr Mort was funny because of all the different cures. My favourite cure was the one for the headache because they put a rope for being hanged on your head! My chosen game was the one whe re you passed the bead round the circle with your thumbs. The guided tour was my best-love d part of Burghley House. I loved seeing Que en Victoria’s bedroom. Best wishes Hetty

activity before lunch was a logic round and both of our teams were very much into this — it didn’t take us long to figure out the answer! Then we went and had a very well deserved lunch before playing outside in the walled gardens. Thank you to Witham Hall for a very good penalty shoot-out! It was then time to go back inside. We started with a quickfire round which both teams were very much enjoying but we also found it a little bit more challenging. The final round we all really liked. It was a relay race — we had 40 minutes to answer 30 questions. In our fours we split into two pairs and one pair was on one side of the room and the other on the other side. We took it in turns to answer the questions. Both teams did very well with this too.

We Will Remember Them On Friday 11th November we welcomed families to join us as we congregated on the Headmaster’s Lawn for our annual Remembrance Service. After a week of Remembrance activities, it was lovely to join together to pay our respects and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Mr Wyld’s Remembrance Address was

followed by the reading of a poem by Head Boy, Elliot A, before pupils joined together to lay wreaths. During the week, children had been busy making poppy wreaths and each contained a fact about World War 1. It was heartwarming to see our older pupils pair up with our younger children to read aloud each fact before laying the wreath and pausing for a moment to reflect. Everyone observed the minute’s silence before the Reveille by Dan G. A

poem was read by Head Girl, Poppy W, before the dismissal, ‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them.’ The service proved the perfect finale to the lessons and activities that had gone on during the week, with pupils of all ages recognising the importance of Remembrance Day.

Fingers On the Buzzer Eight Year 6 pupils travelled to Uppingham for the On the Buzzer general knowledge quiz. Annabelle J (A Team member) provided a recount of the event. Well done to everyone! On Tuesday the 15th of November, Year 6 travelled to Uppingham for the ‘On the Buzzer’ general knowledge quiz. We were split evenly into an A and B team. The A team included Eli, Annabelle, William C and Euan and the B team included Megan, Charles, Toby and Millie. When we arrived we had some refreshments and then split into different rooms to compete. The scoring was ten points for a question. There were starter questions and extra questions if you buzzed first on the starter. The A team went into the lecture theatre to compete against Witham As and Beeston Hall. First we played against Witham. They were a tough team but we managed to beat them 70 — 80. Eli was amazing on the buzzer simply buzzing it before the question was even read out fully! We then got a break and got to watch Witham As play Beeston Hall. Next it was our turn. We played Beeston Hall and won 150–80. Some of the questions were quite tough but we had to remember we were not allowed to debate answers on the starter questions.

Then we returned to meet the other teams whilst waiting for the results on who would go through to the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, St Hugh’s B team did not get through but they went on to compete for the plate cup. St Hugh’s A team did and competed against Spratton Hall — we beat them 170–30 so got through to the semi-final! In the semi-final, we lost 190–170, so by only two questions! So, unfortunately, we didn’t get through but we stayed to watch the finals. In the end, Brooke Priory won overall. Well done to everybody who came to ‘On the Buzzer’ and thank you to Mrs Bonner-MacKenzie for taking us and the parents who came to support our teams. By Annabelle J (A Team) St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Cauliflower Christmas Cards Prep School proved just as creative as our Nursery and Pre Prep children.

The winners were chosen by Mr Wyld and Miss Henderson: Year 3 – Hetty (4) Year 4 – Rosie (Most original idea Prep) (2) Year 4 – Penelope (3) Year 5 – Joshua (1)

Year 6 – Jemima (5) Year 7 – Charlotte (Best use of colour Prep) (7) Year 8 – Dan (6) Penelope’s design was chosen to feature on our school Christmas card.

Christmas Lunch As is tradition, we all joined together to enjoy Christmas lunch thanks to Mr Wilson and his team. It was a perfect opportunity to present Mr Hainsworth, our Site Manager, with his leaving gifts and wish him well for his retirement. The lunch was followed by festive music, games and activities.

Chemis-trees Year 6 made their own Chemistrees and invited their peers and parents to vote for their favourite. The winner of the Chemis-tree Competition was Team D: Michelle, Annabelle and Megan. The runner-up was Team E: Olivia, Alicia and Kitty. Well done to everyone as there were some fabulous designs. Thank you to everyone who voted — it was a very close competition!

Firefighters! Mme Clayton’s Year 6 form group took a trip to Woodhall Spa Fire Station as part of their PSHEE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) topic on dreams and goals.

A Letter from David Attenborough Wilf, Year 7, was over the moon to receive a letter from Sir David Attenborough! As part of his IPQ project, Wilf chose to research ‘How we can preserve turtles and keep their environment safe’. Wilf decided he needed some advice from an expert and wrote to Sir David Attenborough. He was absolutely thrilled when the postman delivered David’s reply.

They spent the morning chatting to Mr Clayton and his colleagues to find out what it is like to be a firefighter. The class certainly got a feel for what the role of a firefighter entails — and were even allowed to have a go with the water hose! It was a fantastic and informative morning which brought to life the vital work performed by people in our community.

The handwritten letter read: Dear Wilfred The only practical way I can suggest for protecting turtles, is to ensure their laying beaches are left undisturbed. Best wishes David

Every pupil in Year 7 chooses a topic to explore for their ISEB Project Qualification (IPQ). The IPQ provides a framework for teaching and assessing the development of independent, pupilled research-learning, taking the form of a 15–20 hour project. St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Handwriting Week Years 3, 4 and 5 were keen to smarten up the presentation of their work as they got competitive for Handwriting Week. Over the course of the week, pupils practised their handwriting and honed their technique in a battle to win the awards of Best Handwriting Overall and Most Improvement for each class group. Well done to everyone and congratulations to the winners: Year 3 Hetty – Best Handwriting Overall Edward R – Most Improvement Year 4 Annabelle – Best Handwriting Overall Emily – Most Improvement Year 5 Joshua – Best Handwriting Overall Ellis – Most Improvement

Crime and Punishment Year 3 travelled to Lincoln Castle as part of their topic on crime and punishment. Everyone returned to school excited by all they had learnt whilst touring the castle and prison, and Mrs Corner was very impressed by the fantastic recounts the class produced. George P wrote: “On Tuesday the 31st January we visited Lincoln Castle as part of our topic on crime and punishment. We were mainly looking at the Victorian Prison. On the walls it was very windy but we just had to walk. We could see for miles. Then we went into the dungeons where there was graffiti from the prisoners. It felt really weird knowing that hundreds of prisoners were standing where I was standing. Then right at the end of the walls there was a graveyard for 33 men and three women. Joseph Ralph escaped twice from Lincoln Castle. The second escape was the best escape. He used his brain for most of the escape. He chewed some bread he used to mould a key, stole coal, blankets, and took some sharp stones from the exercise yard. Then he stopped at his friend’s house to get some clothes and then walked to Nottingham. Then a police officer thought he was shifty so Joseph punched him on the nose!" Although, Edward R’s comment definitely sums up everyone’s thoughts on what life in the prison was like… “I’m just glad I’m in the 21st Century!” The whole class, including Mrs Corner, enjoyed dressing up and getting into character!

Year 7 Visit to the National Civil War Museum As part of their history studies on the English Civil Wars (1642–1651), Year 7 visited the National Civil War Centre in Newark.

World Book Day 2023 Proof that, whatever age, everyone loves an excuse to wear fancy dress. There were some interesting outfits once again this year.

We started by looking at various injuries sustained by soldiers on the front line and we had to decide who sustained the injuries and whether they were fatal or not. We then examined some of the armour and arms used. The armour was very heavy and cumbersome; the weapons were similarly weighty and unwieldy — we tried to ‘load’ and ‘fire’ the musket within 30 seconds, which was a tall task! Later, we re-enacted the trial and execution of Charles I and at various points in the trial we needed to decide whether we agreed with the death sentence or not. After a look around the museum galleries, which included many genuine civil war artefacts, we finished with a look at the plight of the survivors of the Civil Wars and decided whether their claims for benefits after the war were genuine or not. It was a very enjoyable day — the pupils asked lots of interesting and varied questions. We are lucky to have such a wealth of information and a link to the past so near to where we live.

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Year 7 Trip to Stratford-upon-Avon Year 7, along with Mrs Bonner-MacKenzie, Mr Jeffery and Mrs Yule, visited Stratford-upon-Avon in March. We started off by walking from the bus to the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) theatre and had lunch by the River Avon, where we met an old friend of Mrs Bonner-MacKenzie, whose name was Jen and who works at the RSC. After eating and having a fun time with the river birds, we started to walk over to the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare was buried. We went inside to get up close and found that some of his relatives were not buried with him but somewhere else. After exiting the church, we went to the exact place where he was born, in a house on Henley Street. There were very small beds in the house and there was the fireplace that Shakespeare was born in front of. We then went to the house where Shakespeare’s son-in-law lived. We learnt more about Shakespeare from a talk and then had a quiz where we won badges with different Shakespeare insults on. We had a fun time (even though the ride back was very long!) and learnt lots about Shakespeare’s life. by Peyton N

Year 5 in France Year 5 had a fantastic few days exploring France. They made their journey by ferry and, after seeing the sunny photos from on board, everyone back at school thought Mme Clayton had perhaps booked a Caribbean cruise without telling us! After a day of travelling, everyone enjoyed a good sleep in preparation for a busy few days ahead. On their first day they visited a bakery and learnt how to make croissants and bread before heading to a snail farm where everyone proved to be particularly brave! The following day, they took a trip to Étaples Commonwealth Military Cemetery. The children were fascinated to see how many soldiers were laid there and just how young they were. The mood was lifted with a visit to Le Touquet’s market where each group was set a challenge! They were given some money and had to go and buy food for their sandwich. The winning team was Joshua’s team. They all loved this activity and there was some amazing food on display. Miam miam! The next stop was the chocolate factory. On their final morning they had a wonderful time at the local ceramics museum and took part in a workshop before heading to the long customs queue at the ferry port to start the journey home. A superb and action-packed few days was had by all!

May Fayre Fun It was a lovely sunny afternoon for the May Fayre and the perfect way to finish for the half term holiday. Children in Prep School had done a fabulous job of coming up with ideas for stalls along with their teachers. There was everything from welly wanging and splat the rat to tug of war and face painting for children and visitors to enjoy. Thank you to the Parents’ Association for helping to organise the event. The total amount raised was £995.

A Trip to Twickenham! In May, children from Years 3 and 4 travelled to Twickenham Stadium for the Gallagher Premiership Final. They had the unique opportunity to play on the hallowed turf in a curtain raiser for the Final between Saracens and Sale Sharks. We arrived at the Live Lounge where the boys received their tickets and VIP wristband for the day. We were then escorted around the stadium where we were lucky enough to meet a few of the Saracens players. Jamie George, Saracens and England Hooker and Mako Vunipola, Saracens and England Prop. Both were happy to spend time and have photos with the boys. Following this, the boys received their t-shirts and tag belts for playing on the pitch. We were taken down to the pitchside and the boys stared in amazement at the size of the stadium as it opened up going through the tunnel. There was a short bit of time

for a photo shoot and then it was on to playing. St Hugh’s boys were split into two teams and played against another school from Bristol following some warm up games. The games were closely matched but the St Hugh’s boys displayed some great teamwork and fancy footwork to score some really impressive tries on the pitch. We then exited the stadium to some great announcements from the man on the loud hailer. The boys were eager to visit the England Rugby store where they all managed to get some great gifts. Then to our seats for the game! The stadium bowl was now pretty full and the atmosphere was building. The game was end to end and very exciting with Saracens finishing on top. The boys seemed to have a great day and were a credit to themselves and the school. A HUGE thank you to Mr Short and Mr Jeffery for organising the trip and providing such a fantastic opportunity! St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Castle Rising Visit In June, Year 6 travelled to Norfolk to have a look round Castle Rising Castle — a 12th Century Norman castle most famous for being the residence of Queen Isabella, ‘the SheWolf of France’ (Edward II’s widow and alleged accomplice in his murder). We walked along the top of the steep earthworks that surround the castle, then the pupils answered various questions about different defensive and attacking features. We could see many of the aspects of castles that we have been studying, both inside and out, including murder holes, arrow loops and the gatehouse amongst others.

Soaring High Year 4 became adventurers and thrill-seekers for the day when they visited Wild Pines. They soared high and conquered their fears as they took to the high ropes to enjoy the views from the forest canopy. Mr Goodhand was very impressed by how everyone worked as part of a team — encouraging and challengin g their teammates to go beyond their comfort zone.

We were lucky to be bathed in glorious sunshine, and equally fortunate to be able to rest in the shade of a large and leafy tree whilst the children drew some fantastic sketches of the stone carvings on the forebuilding.

On the Farm Year 5 pupils visited Mr Scott’s farm as part of their topic on farming. We had an informative tour of the farm, accompanied by the assistant farm manager (Wellington the spaniel!), stopping at various points for a ‘crop identification quiz’ and a close-up look at the plants themselves. There was a great variety on offer — peas, beans, potatoes, asparagus, wheat, sugar beet amongst others — and we sampled the tasty peas and asparagus. Pupils learnt about the nutrients needed for plant growth, which parts of plants we can eat, and talked about the life cycle of plants, which they had recently looked at in Science. There was an opportunity to get into the cabs of tractors and combine harvesters to see how they operate, watch the potatoes being sprayed, and take a look inside the (cold) storage barn housing the tons and tons (& tons!) of potatoes. Pupils had races along the tramlines in the wheatfields and we all enjoyed a delicious lunch, kindly provided by Mrs Scott, and then ran some energy off exploring the surrounding woods. There was also a ‘construct-a-box’ challenge too, which the girls won with ease. A massive thank you to Mr and Mrs Scott for taking the time to show us round the farm and for feeding us some lovely farm fresh food at lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

An Immersive Experience Year 8 students, alongside Year 6 and 7 Art Scholars, visited Leicester to see the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. The exhibition consisted of a sounds and light show which combined Van Gogh’s life and inspiration with a wide selection of his art works. The pupils particularly enjoyed the virtual reality headset experience which catapulted them into the world of Van Gogh’s paintings. A great time was had by all and the pupils came away feeling inspired.

Accelerated Reader Treats Those who met their Accelerated Reader targets were rewarded with milkshakes, hot chocolates and ice-creams!

Forensic Scientists Year 8 pupils turned into detectives and investigated a crime scene as part of a Forensic Science day at the University of Lincoln.

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Boarding “Coming in new this year with my own family, it has been a pleasure to be joined by the St Hugh’s boarding family, and what a year it has been!

We are lucky to have such excellent facilities on-site and nearby Woodhall Spa, allowing our boarders to participate in a wide range of activities each evening. This year’s highlights included the 1940s murder mystery; didn’t everyone look fabulous? A guest detective arrived in style to guide us through the investigation. This was one to remember. Other activities included Jubilee Park swimming pool, Jump Warriors in Lincoln, a firepit with marshmallows, silent disco, bubble football, mocktail evenings, and our movie and games room nights.

This leads me to the Boarding House’s most talked-about event: the 24-hour swim-a-thon fundraiser! I’m still amazed by what the pupils accomplished. They swam all night, sleeping, eating and swimming to raise as much money as possible to help build their dream gaming room. It was a resounding success! We formed our Boarding House Council in September, and it has been lovely to chair meetings where pupils have been able to present their ideas for what they want to see in boarding. We have made additional adjustments to the boarding house at the request of the pupils, helping to establish that homefrom-home atmosphere. We’ve bought takeaways, made our own pizzas and blended our own smoothies. Pupil voice is incredibly important to us and something we value; we work together with the pupils to ensure that boarding house time and activities are centred on their needs and desires. It has been heartwarming to see pupils of all ages gain confidence and independence after a year of boarding. As a result of seeing them in a different environment, friendships and rapports have developed with both pupils and staff. I’m excited to see how the St Hugh’s Boarding House evolves over the coming years.

”

Mrs Warwick-Smith Boarding House Parent

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Wellbeing We were delighted to be shortlisted for Independent School of the Year for Student Wellbeing for the second year running.

Let’s Connect The theme for Children’s Mental Health week was ‘Let’s Connect’, so Mrs Waite (Head of Additional Learning) introduced a paper chain activity to show just that.

Wellbeing Champs St Hugh’s is lucky to have children who care deeply about the emotional and mental health of their peers. Some of our pupils signed up to be Wellbeing Champions. Over the course of the Summer Term in 2022, the champions worked hard on developing their listening skills and created a pop up listening zone in the library for their peers. The Champions (with Mrs Waite) were on hand to actively listen to any worries or concerns the other students had, offer support and signpost them if they needed further help. It was such a success that we will be repeating this on a regular basis. Well done Wellbeing Champs!

Everyone in school was invited to represent themselves on a piece of paper which was then linked to someone else. Children were encouraged to try to make links with those they wouldn’t normally, for example, at playtime or around school. During Children’s Mental Health week there were lots of activities at lunchtime to encourage and promote connection between children, including across year groups. We also talked about the many ways we ‘connect’ with people in our community and beyond, including non-verbally! “Now the display is up, I hope as people move through the corridor they take time to notice who is represented and how they are a key part of, and connected to, our school community.” Mrs Waite

Wellbeing Seminar We were delighted to welcome Alicia Drummond, founder of the The Wellbeing Hub and a psychotherapist highly regarded amongst the independent school community, to talk to parents, staff and local schools.

Odd Sock Day Everyone enjoyed wearing odd socks for the day to mark AntiBullying Week… even Mr Wyld! The week got off to a great start thanks to the School Council who delivered a fantastic assembly on anti-bullying. There were some super choices of socks on show as everyone joined together to celebrate how unique we all are.

Alicia spoke to parents about supporting our children through giving them the safe space to develop resilience now and later, to support their development of the four key skills for future employment (social skills, initiative, creativity and critical thinking). Alicia delivered a raft of useful tips and tricks to make our lives better, from asking our children what they could do to help with daily routines around the house to giving them space for genuine down time and also talking points to use around the table at mealtimes. Through evaluating the ‘helicopter’ style of parenting, Alicia reminded us all that competency breeds confidence and that we need to encourage our youngsters to be dependent with us rather than dependent upon us. Following her presentation, Alicia fielded many questions from the parents in attendance, thereby offering further support. Later on that day Alicia gave a presentation to staff from St Hugh’s and other invited local schools on our roles in developing self esteem, self efficacy, self awareness and self management, in order to support the children in their developmental growth. St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Sets Our Sets (Red, White and Blue) bring together pupils from across the school to work together on a range of events and activities. Everyone is always keen to earn points for their individual set.

Spelling Bee

Set Christmas Decorating

November saw a St Hugh’s first: an inter-set Spelling Bee! All pupils in Years 3–8 had taken part in set heats the previous week so that, in the final competition, each set had one pupil from each year group to represent their set. It was a daunting experience — pupils stood up in front of the mics and had to spell a selection of words aloud, for a total of five rounds, until the winners were announced. A huge well done to all of the finalists, who really did their sets proud with their spelling and particularly with their incredible confidence in front of a very excited audience! The results of the Spelling Bee Final were: Year 3 1st – George P 2nd – George C 3rd – Harriet T

Year 6 1st – Annabelle J 2nd – Fergus V 3rd – Euan P

Year 4 1st – Edward J 2nd equal – Joshua F / Edmund S

Year 7 1st – Angelina B 2nd – Charlotte T 3rd – Florence L

Year 5 1st – Noah G 2nd – Joshua N 3rd – Holden L

Year 8 1st – Dan G 2nd – Brandon B 3rd – Huxley S

The corridors and classrooms looked suitably festive with each set making decorations in hobby time.

Christmas Jumper Day Organised by White Set, Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Save the Children, was a huge success!

Overall results were: White Set in 3rd place, Blue Set in 2nd place and the Spelling Bee was won by Red Set.

Set Talent Show The Set Talent Show saw all of Prep take to the stage — either choosing to perform as a group or showcasing their individual talents. 46

Set Pancake Race 2023 There is always much excitement for our annual Set Pancake Race. The whole school joins together with children representing their set to see whether Red, White or Blue is crowned the champions. This year was no exception with everyone eager for break time to arrive so they could race for their set, tossing pancakes along the way. Children in Pre Prep were first to compete with Red Set coming in first place, but for Prep it was White Set who were victorious!

Set Cross Country The Set Cross Country is always a competitive event with individuals competing for a place on the podium while also trying to earn as many set points as possible.

Congratulations to our individual winners in their respective age groups:

Reception class may have had a cheeky little warm up over the starting line on their way to Forest School. They even took a break from their lesson to cheer on the runners as they went past.

U13 Boys – Elliot A

U9 Girls – Harriet T U9 Boys – Sebastian F U11 Girls – Charlotte J U11 Boys – Rupert B-W U13 Girls – Florence L Everyone did fantastically well for their set and White Set were crowned the winners! 1st – White Set; 2nd – Red Set; 3rd – Blue Set

Run with a Chum ‘Run with a Chum’ proved the perfect end to the Spring Term with plenty of cheering and laughter before we headed off for the Easter break. After completing the 1km or 3km course, with hidden surprises and obstacles along the way, everyone was ready to

choose from one of the hundreds of cakes at the bake sale. Together we raised a brilliant £868.32 for MND Association — a charity focused on improving access to care, research and campaigning for people affected by motor neurone disease. There were simply too many wonderful photos to choose from. Thank you again for all your support! St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Art & Design 1

Art During Art lessons, pupils have explored a variety of different topic areas, materials and techniques.

Year 2 created art linking to their class topics of China, Space and Endangered Animals, with artwork including cherry blossom paintings, space collages and animal masks. Year 3 and 4 pupils studied the Tudors and the Mayans in humanities this year, which was reflected in their artwork — each pupil made a clay Tudor rose and later in the year a 3D Mayan mask. Pupils also explored 3D materials — Year 6 proved themselves to be talented sculptors with their beautiful clay work inspired by coral reefs, showing excellent attention to detail. Year 7 pupils were tasked with each producing an acrylic painting to go on display in the dining room, with everyone creating an eye-catching food painting. Year 8 also produced some impressive work on canvas for their final exhibition which had an environmental theme.

1. Edward R, Y3 2. Scarlett G, Y7 3. Bonnie W, Y2 4. Jemima S, Y6 5. Thomas S, Y4 6. Annabelle L, Y4 7. Wilf H-S, Y7 8. Poppy H, Y7 9. Michelle F-B, Y6 10. William L, Y6 11. Faith S, Y3 12. Emelia S, Y2 13. Leo G, Y8 14. Poppy W, Y8 15. Jemima S, Y6 16. Elijah G, Y3 17. Peyia F, Y8 18. Sebastian F, Y4

Congratulations to our featured artists and to all pupils, who have applied themselves so creatively this year!

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Design & Technology As part of their DT lessons, pupils in Year 5 and above developed their practical skills in Cookery, Woodwork, Electronics and Textiles.

They were introduced to the DT workshop and used a selection of different tools and machines to create wooden lanterns. Oakham School very kindly gave us use of one of their laser cutting machines for a term; pupils loved using 2D design software to design products which they then made using the laser cutting machine. Pupils in Years 7 and 8 created children’s toys including wooden marble runs and moving cam toys. Across the year groups, pupils were busy in the cookery room making a variety of dishes and treats, including, muffins, pizza, garlic bread, salads, flapjacks, and mince pies. Textiles was also covered, with Year 5s learning different types of stitches and older pupils creating felt Christmas decorations and even fabric cacti!

19. Year 6 cookery

20. Grace L, Y7 21. Spike H, Y8 22. Sam R, Y8 23. Noah G, Y5 24. William S, Y7 25. Lucia H, Y7 26. Brandon B, Y8 27. Imogen L, Y8 28. Dan G, Y8 29. Peyton N, Y7 30. Lulu H, Y5 31. Aydin T, Y7 32. Josh N, Y5 33. Ted J, Y7 34. Megan B, Y6 35. Poppy H, Y7 36. Jenson G, Y7

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St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

S P A C E

T O

B O N D

Set in 200 acres of beautiful countryside and just four miles from the breathtaking North Norfolk coast, a Gresham’s education gives your child all the time and space they need to develop into a conﬁdent, well-rounded individual.

An independent boarding and day school for children aged 13-18. G R E S H A M S . C O M

Music & Drama An American Adventure Sixteen of our musicians went on an ‘American Adventure’ as they took part in Oakham’s Prep Schools’ Music Day. With our Director of Music, Mr Ferguson, busy on paternity leave, our pupils were in the capable hands of Mr Goodhand as they spent the day meeting fellow musicians and rehearsing for a performance to be enjoyed by parents. Thank you to Lucia H for her summary of the day: “On Tuesday 4th October a group of musicians and singers went to Oakham for their Music Day. We spent the day rehearsing up to five pieces. Oakham were wonderful hosts. The day was finished off by a concert for the parents. Thank you to Mr Goodhand for taking us and well done to everyone who went.”

Harvest Festival In October, we all made the short walk to St Peter’s Church in the village for our Harvest Festival. It is always a special time when we come together and welcome family and friends to join us, and the service proved no exception. Our thanks go to Rev. Matt Phillips, Chaplain of Stamford Endowed Schools, for travelling to Woodhall Spa to be a part of the event. His address captivated the entire audience with everyone smiling as

they took part in his fabulous hi/hello game — and the sound of laughter as unsuspecting parents were given props to hold! Our pupils should be incredibly proud of themselves, with a fantastic reading by Leo G, and some superb singing by everyone.

Music at The Inn In December, musicians and singers were invited to perform at The Inn, Woodhall Spa to launch their festive menu and performance schedule.

Ferguson caffeinated! The children certainly enjoyed their biscuits and drinks, as well as the chocolates upon their return. Thank you also to the performers for doing so well and demonstrating a great calibre of musicianship and camaraderie. A fun morning was had by all!

We were delighted to go along and kick off the festivities! St Hugh’s School Choir and Orchestra performed, along with various soloists and small chamber groups. It was a lovely way to begin the Christmas celebrations, with a vast array of festive tunes and songs. A huge thank you to The Inn for hosting us so well and keeping Mr St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Christmas Carol Service The St Hugh’s annual Christmas Carol Service took place in St Peter's Church. It is always a beautiful event, bringing the whole school community together with pupils, parents and friends of the school attending. The service began with our deputy head chorister, Peyia F, singing the opening solo verse of “Once In Royal David’s City” as the choir processed through St Peter’s Church, Woodhall Spa. She demonstrated tremendous courage and poise as she sang, filling the venue with glorious sound. Well done to Peyia! Other hymns included “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and “While Shepherds Watched”, amongst other firm Christmas favourites. Various readings punctuated the hymns, retelling the Christmas story. A reader from each year group delivered a

reading from the pulpit, again showing confidence, and comfort with public speaking, to a full venue. Pre Prep sang a song from their Nativity performances. “What A Beautiful Child” was a fitting choice as it was a calm and sentimental piece which filled the church with our wonderful young voices. The St Hugh’s Choir performed “When You Believe” from the West End’s Prince of Egypt. Whilst not a traditional Christmas tune, this song’s message of hope and perseverance is an important one, particularly at this time of year. A huge thank you to St Peter’s Church for hosting us once again, as well as Fr. Joseph Snelling for his address and Mr John Lyon (of St Botolph’s Church, Boston) for his fantastic organ playing.

Pre Prep Nativity Our youngest pupils got a taste of life on stage with this year’s Nativity production. Honky Tonky Donkey, by Niki Davies, tells the story of the world’s only one-man-band donkey who is struggling with writer’s block.

Looking for inspiration, he is delighted when Mary and Joseph ask for his help on their journey to Bethlehem. With the arrival of a new-born baby, not to mention angels, shepherds and kings, Honky Tonky soon finds he has plenty to write about. All of the children from Nursery to Year 2 took part in the performance, learning their lines well and singing beautifully. The lively songs certainly brought a smile to the audience’s faces, and the tender, delicate piece “What A Beautiful Child” gave an opportunity for reflection. It also featured a solo from Honky Tonky Donkey, played by Emilia S, who sang with power and poise beyond her years. The Pre Prep pupils should be incredibly proud of their efforts. We know that their teachers and parents are! A huge thank you to all of the Pre Prep staff and others involved in supporting our children through rehearsals and performances.

Christmas Concert We held the St Hugh’s School Christmas Concert at St Peter’s Church, Woodhall Spa. The Christmas Concert is the first formal concert of the year and is a celebration of music making across the entire school. The programme was a rich and diverse one, featuring traditional American songs, hits from the musicals, blues pieces as well as Christmas hymns and songs. All of our school ensembles performed brilliantly in their first outing of the year, with the School Orchestra rounding off proceedings with a rendition of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, with all of the audience singing along. Particular thanks must go to the fantastic team of visiting music teachers who help prepare the children for their performances. Their high standards and encouraging tutelage always push our young musicians to raise the bar and achieve a high level of performance. A huge thank you must also go to the parents attending the concert for their continued support. The retiring collection was split between St Peter’s Church and Save the Children.

Lights, Camera, Action! Every year, our school orchestra joins forces with other schools across the country to form a massed orchestra numbering over 250 musicians!

Lincoln Music and Drama Festival Every year, some of the St Hugh’s musicians travel to Lincoln to compete in the Music Festival held at the Central Methodist Church. This year the St Hugh’s String Ensemble attended, featuring six of our young instrumentalists under the direction of Mrs Karen Jones. They played three contrasting pieces, including a “Trio of Irish Jigs”, “Jazzy Beat” and “The Drunken Sailor”. The ensemble performed brilliantly and walked away with first prize in their class, receiving a certificate and trophy for their efforts. There was lots of positive feedback from the judges, who all mentioned how fun and enjoyable the performance was. The children should be incredibly proud of themselves for their hard work and dedication, and a huge thank you to Mrs Jones for putting the programme together. Further thanks must go to Mr and Mrs Shaw who offered their site for parking and even provided the children with some delicious cakes and biscuits for the journey home.

This year, the theme for the Uppingham Prep Schools’ Orchestra Day was film music and featured some recognisable and inspiring pieces for the children to learn and play. This is an extraordinary event and pushes the children’s musicality to new bounds, having to sight read much of the material. The majority of the day was spent in rehearsals, preparing for the concert in the afternoon. The whole orchestra played four pieces together, including “The Muppet Show Theme”, “Mah-na Mahna”, “My Heart Will Go On” (from Titanic) and “The Great Escape”. Smaller ensembles were also formed by the string section and wind sections, playing tunes including “Pirates of The Caribbean”, “Happy”, “Avengers Theme”, “Mission Impossible” and “James Bond”. Needless to say, the sound was nothing short of terrific. The orchestra provided listeners with power, strength, beauty and delicacy in a rich and varied programme. A huge thank you and well done to all of our musicians who took part.

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Popstars! The Musical This year, the St Hugh’s Senior Play was Popstars! The Musical.

Junior Concert In March, we held our annual Junior Concert. This features soloists and class ensembles from Years 2-6, playing pieces commissioned especially for the afternoon’s entertainment. Year 2 began the show, with every child in the year group playing a massed funky recorder piece, “Mary Had A Little Lamb”, complete with moody poses and high energy dance moves! Year 3 performed “Hot Cross Buns” on the pBuzz, an instrument that introduces brass techniques using a sliding tube to create different pitches. These are great fun to play, and the children certainly looked like they were having a great time! Year 4 formed a large samba band and played “Samba Reggae”, including different breaks, speeds and whistle calls. They did an amazing job and showed great discipline and concentration to produce a truly epic performance, blowing the audience’s socks off! Year 5 played “In the Jungle” on ukuleles and featured good strumming techniques and chord changes, as well as beautiful singing. Year 6 pupils created their own ensembles using traditional instruments as well as boomwhackers and ukuleles. The two groups played “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay and “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars. The children worked hard to rehearse their different parts in each piece, with lots of parts doing different lines of music, creating harmony and texture. This is no small feat and shows fantastic perseverance and teamwork. Well done! The St Hugh’s Pop Choir sang Katy Perry’s “Roar”, complete with choreography and contagious energy. Thanks to Mrs Haynes for her work with our young singers.

It was packed with pop smash hits from the 1990s (which is ‘ancient’ according to some pupils!) including the Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Bon Jovi, and many, many more. Popstars! is set in a school in the 1990s where Mark (Dan G) is head over heels in love with his girlfriend, Queen Bee, Shannon Van de Witt (Peyia F). When Shannon learns that pop-band impresario Simon Austin (Elliot A) is the surprise judge at the State Talent Show she dumps Mark for her chance at showbiz stardom. Mark rapidly goes from High School hero to High School zero. His garage band buddies rally around him and soon a plan for revenge is hatched to change their grunge band to a boy-band and snatch the Talent Show title from Shannon’s Candy Girls. There’s just one small problem… The boys can’t dance! Mark enlists the help of the ultra talented, new girl, Ella (Sophie T) to help with their boy band makeover and sparks soon fly. This was a very engaging and enjoyable production for our Year 7 and 8 pupils to be a part of, and the 90s theme delighted the audience, many singing and dancing along in their seats. The children did an amazing job with learning their lines and songs, and really performed well on stage. It was fantastic to see their smiles and collective team spirit throughout the rehearsals. Thanks to Mrs Bonner-MacKenzie, Mr Ferguson, Miss Hainsworth and Miss Henderson for all of their help and guidance throughout the process of rehearsing and performing the show. Thanks also to the backstage staff, Mr Goodhand on sound and lights and Mrs Foote for the spectacular scenery.

Oakham Carnival Dance Day In May, Year 5 spent a day at Oakham School, participating in a Carnival Dance day. The children were introduced to different dance moves throughout the morning and got to know some of Oakham’s dance teachers. In the afternoon they learnt and practised two different dance routines and performed them to an audience of various Oakham staff and students. All the children got stuck in to every aspect of the day and were able to show off their creative and movement style throughout each performance. They smiled and laughed and joined in and were a credit to the school. A huge thank you to all the Oakham staff involved in the day.

Pre Prep Speech and Drama Festival

Prep Speech and Drama Competition We introduced a new format for the Prep School Speech and Drama Competition this year, with pupils performing heats in English lessons, followed by a final in front of the rest of their year group, culminating in a celebration concert at the end of the week. While there remained a competitive element, the concert gave even more of our pupils the opportunity to showcase their talents. New categories were introduced to enable pupils to play to their own particular strengths and we had an impressive variety of performances of prose, poetry and drama. From a paired performance of Stranger Things, to a prose reading of Diary of A Wimpy Kid, to the classic poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, it was fantastic to see pupils of all age groups relish the chance to choose something that represented their own interests and talents. Thank you, too, to the Year 8 pupils who started a new tradition, with a choral speaking performance to round off the Friday concert.

A huge well done to Years 1 and 2 who had a fantastic morning performing their poetry or prose to not only their classmates but also their families — and a guest judge! Everyone performed their piece brilliantly, showing wonderful determination and continuing despite their nerves. All of the children spoke clearly, showed off what they had learnt and, best of all, made everyone smile. Thank you to Mrs Scott, Head of English at Banovallum School, for being our guest judge. It was lovely to welcome her to school and hear her praise the children — clearly impressed by their performances. Well done to everyone and congratulations to the winners: Overall winner: Bonnie W – The Tyger by William Blake Year 1 1st place: Edward – Looking Forward by Robert Louis Stevenson 2nd place: Otto – The Porcupine by Ogden Nash 3rd place: Sienna – Smile by Spike Milligan Year 2 1st place: Hugo – Dirt on my Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy 2nd place: Libby – Raven by Edgar Allan Poe 3rd place: Willow – The Loser by Shel Silverstein

Winners – photographed: Back row l-r: Rory P (Y4), Ela H (Y6), Megan B (Y6), Annabelle J (Y6), Grace L (Y7) Front row l-r: Joshua F (Y4), Penelope L (Y4), Olivia A (Y4), Genevieve C (Y4) St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Exam Success Throughout the year, musicians and singers are put forward for music examinations with various examining bodies.

The Rocky Monster Show The St Hugh’s Junior Play is performed at the end of the Spring Term and features all pupils from Years 3 to 6. This year, they performed the Rocky Monster Show, written by Malcolm Sircom. It tells the story of Professor Rocky Fenton, played by Sam H, a masked professor of genetics (and former rock star) who creates life in his laboratory, much to the dismay of the townsfolk. Rocky hires two young assistants, portrayed by Rory S and Tabitha H-S, to aid his work in the old, somewhat derelict, castle. The castle is also home to Igor, Mrs Danvers, Gloria, Mungo and Elsa, played by Holden L, Charlotte J, Lulu H, James F and India B-W respectively. Elvis Presley also made an appearance, played by Alastair O, who won a prize for his excellent singing performance. The whole cast worked tremendously hard with learning their lines, choreography, singing and performance as a whole. It was an incredible show, full of witty one-liners and fantastic songs. The children should be extremely proud of themselves and their collective efforts.

The Lincolnshire Show Our musicians were a huge hit when they performed at the Lincolnshire Show.

Thanks to Mrs Appleton for directing the show and running the rehearsals, Miss Hainsworth for her choreography, Mr Ferguson for the music, Mr Goodhand for lighting and sound, Mrs Ellicker-Campling for costume design and Mr Jeffery and Mr Pickering for their help with the staging.

Our dedicated team of peripatetic staff help to prepare the children with appropriate repertoire, as well as fundamental musicianship skills such as sight reading and aural tests. Our musicians work tremendously hard to rehearse their pieces, develop their technique and create incredible performances. All of our musicians deserve praise for their efforts, especially those that undertake examinations. Particular congratulations go to Dan G for achieving his Grade 5 examination in Trumpet; Millie B, Lucia H, Grace L and Megan B for achieving their Grade 4 Singing; and Florence L for achieving Grade 4 Violin.

Summer Gala Concert The Summer Gala Concert is the final musical event of the school year. It is always a bittersweet event, as we showcase the talents and abilities of our wonderful musicians but also say a farewell to those leaving us at the end of term. The concert features pupils at both ends of their musical experiences at St Hugh’s, as some of the performers have only been learning their craft for a few short weeks, whilst for some, it is the culmination of many years of hard work and rehearsals. The St Hugh’s School Orchestra kicked proceedings off with a rousing rendition of “The Muppet Show Theme” and “Mah-Na Mah-Na”, before various soloists and ensembles continued the musical extravaganza. Particular soloist highlights included Elijah G performing “Shine” on piano, Millie B performing “Summer” on clarinet (after studying the Grade 5 tune for only two weeks!), and Thomas S performing “Seven Nation Army” on drum kit. Thomas’ performance was incredibly special… he raised the roof with the audience’s reaction, and loved every minute of his applause. All of the school ensembles performed, featuring brass, woodwind and string instrumentalists in a dedicated musical line-up. The String Ensemble got the audience channelling their inner pirate with “Drunken Sailor”, featuring various nautical terms being

shouted. The return of the St Hugh’s School Jazz Band was also great fun. Seeing the children involved actively improvising and creating music on the fly was brilliant to see. The choir performed two contrasting songs, including a gospel version of “Ode To Joy”, from Sister Act, and “This Is Me”, from The Greatest Showman. To round off the concert, we featured two of our leaving Year 8 cohort. Dan G performed “Caber Dance” on trumpet, having recently taken his Grade 5 examination, and Peyia F sang “Rolling In The Deep” by Adele. Both performances received rapturous applause which is testament to their hard work and commitment to creating music during their time at St Hugh’s. The whole of the Year 8 leavers finished the concert with a performance of Take That’s “Never Forget”…a performance which will stick in the memory of those attending for some time. Well done to all involved in performing, as well as the team of peripatetic instrumental and vocal teachers, without whom none of this would have been possible.

Singsation Singers had a fabulous time attending ‘Singsation’ at the Theatre Royal in Lincoln. The event was presented by Hayley Sanderson, who is one of the lead vocalists from Strictly Come Dancing and hosted by Lincolnshire Music Service.

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

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12/10/2023 14:28

Forest School

Autumn Term At the start of the school year we reminded ourselves about fire safety and took advantage of all the autumn berries as well as apples and pumpkins, to make some fireside feasts. The children each planted their own acorn to nurture into a sapling as well as making some wonderful clay creations, including woodland animal inspired pots, green men, conker snails, owls and festive tree decorations. The tools came out too in Pre Prep for Hapa-Zome Christmas stockings and whittling Tudor feather quills in Prep School with a sheath knife.

Spring Term The Spring Term saw the children working on their team building, planning and communication skills by playing strategy games in the woods. There were some excellent hiding places as well as some incredibly sneaky tactics! We celebrated Burns Night with neeps and tatties cooked on the fire, as well as pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and yummy hot cross buns at Easter. The older pupils were lucky enough to prepare and eat partridge too! Reception brought their pirate theme into the woods, creating pine cone pirates, hunting for treasure as well as walking the plank. Year 1 made their own paper, infused with flower seeds for Mother’s Day. The older children turned their hand to a bit of forest maintenance by assisting with coppicing and keeping our woods tidy.

Summer Term The children started the Summer Term by planting trees as part of our commitment to National Tree Week. We then honoured the King and his Coronation by making crowns and having our own mini celebration in the woods. We also celebrated World Bee Day, learning about bees and playing a game where the children collected nectar hidden in the woods. The older children worked on their woodworking skills by making bird boxes, while the younger pupils explored the forest for minibeasts and bugs, and the pond for water wildlife. It was a busy year in the woods, we are looking forward to another one!

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Sport We were delighted to win the School category for the Lindum Lincolnshire & LTA Tennis Awards 2022–23 and were finalists in the Lincolnshire Sport & Physical Activity Awards 2022.

Rugby

Autumn Term Sporting Achievements Rugby Captain

Elliot A

Hockey Captain

Peyia F

Rugby Colours Hockey Colours – Boys Hockey Colours – Girls

U8 Rugby For their first taste of school rugby, the Year 3 boys take part in Tag Rugby. Despite the lack of physical contact at this stage, the U8 team proved to be a most competitive bunch. After a battling performance away at Ranby House for our first ever match, it was clear that there was a good nucleus of a team here. Despite a narrow initial loss, over the course of the season the players made super progress in terms of their teamwork, passing and support play. Individual excellence was in evidence too — Beau, Edward R and Elijah could all score tries after impressive pacy and mazy runs. George P was also fleet of foot and proved to be outstanding at spectacular tagging of opponents, often incorporating a full-length dive! George C linked up play in a more understated way but his efforts were well appreciated by teammates. Edward P really developed his handling skills over the season and pitched in with useful interceptions at important moments. The team also benefited from playing several mixed age group Tag matches with the U9s where they could integrate with their older schoolmates and learn from their experience. Mr Jeffery 64

U9 Rugby There was a mixture of forms of rugby for the U9s this season. Some schools opt not to play the contact game so we reverted to Tag for those fixtures (much to the disappointment of this group of players). This was a team that played very easy-on-the-eye rugby; their passing was slick and there was frequently a teammate available running on to the ball at pace which enabled us to break through opposition lines effectively. The standout match for this display of fine passing was against Grantham Prep, whose teacher remarked on our impressive handling skills. We found obdurate opponents in Ranby House and Wisbech GS who both put up a stern fight in a couple of bruising contact matches. The boys stepped up to the mark and scrapped doggedly — unsurprisingly, Rory P thrived on the encounters and tackled with assurance and considerable force. Josh F showed similar pluck despite the size difference in many of his tackles. Elsewhere, we looked strong running with the ball in hand. Seb ran with excellent balance and poise, allied to a devastating change

Full: Elliot A & Huxley S Half: Rico L, Spike H, Jenson G & Aydin T Full: Elliot A & Huxley S Half: Rico L, Spike H, Aydin T & Jenson G Full: Peyia F Half: Angelina B, Sophie T & Amelia F

of direction which he used well to evade opponents. Alastair also ran smoothly with the ball and showed a remarkable awareness of space on the pitch for his age. Edward J was a towering presence and forced his way through defensive lines regularly over the season. Callan provided excellent support and link-up play to help gel the team together and Edmund went quietly about his business, reading the game brilliantly and often thwarting attacks before they had time to develop into something dangerous. In addition to these games, the Under 9s showed great leadership skills when playing in several of the mixed age group Tag tournaments with their counterparts from the year below. I look forward to hearing of this talented group’s progression as they move up the years and encounter the more complex forms of the contact game. Mr Jeffery

U11 Rugby This group were consistently motivated and competitive performers and, especially considering they were playing more advanced rules in terms of contact, they continued to be so throughout the season.

U10 Rugby I was delighted by the amazing progress that the U10 rugby team made this season. Due to the Covid restrictions last year, the boys were not allowed to do contact rugby when they were in Year 4, so they jumped from U8 rules straight to U10 rules in September. I was never worried about our ability when we had possession of the ball as we have some fast, agile runners with good hand-eye coordination. My worry was the tackling, and in the first couple of games we were understandably cautious, although Sam demonstrated what was possible from the very first game. We had some very close matches, with draws against Ranby, Lincoln Minster, Wisbech and Copthill during the season and also some impressive victories and narrow defeats. The tackling improved, particularly Rory, Ben, Edward and James and there were some great individual tries from Joshua, Sam and George. Mr Short gave some fun lessons on effective rucking and the boys enjoyed using this new skill in the matches, often taking the opposition by surprise. I was also impressed by their efforts during every games session; the boys even invented a new game called rugby-tennis which helped their long throwing and catching skills. A great season — well done to the whole team.

Each of them worked hard to improve their game sense and, as a result, their handling improved enormously as did their ability to find and exploit space on the pitch. Particularly strong performances against Ranby, Oakham and Tranby were highlights. That said, seeing them compete as a team every week was a particular treat as each of them made a valuable contribution. Looking ahead to the future, either as a team at St Hugh’s or as an individual player elsewhere, they all have tremendous potential and we are all looking forward to seeing their development continue. It was a pleasure to coach them and also to accompany them to their away matches across the county — at times it felt like an U11 East Midlands Autumn Tour but it was far from onerous and always good fun. This was made especially so by the unwavering support of all of the parents. Each player produced their own standout performances — across the pitch, we had strong go-forward play from Charles, Rupert, Toby and Fergus, supported by Euan who grew in stature as the term went on. Out wide, Charlie and Eli did excellently, linking well with AJ and Will C. Driving the team onwards and making opportunities, often out of nothing, were Will L and Maxwell. No one player proved bigger than the team and the team proved itself to be the sum of all of the players. My Wyld

Mr Pickering

U13 Rugby 7s The season began with a long journey to Sherborne School, Dorset for the IAPS 7s festival. We travelled down on Saturday morning, spending the weekend away and the boys had a great trip. The team had a mixed competition, but played some outstanding rugby with a willingness and freedom to try new things, which led to some fantastic tries. The 7s season then culminated with the rescheduled County Rugby 7s hosted at De Aston School, Market Rasen. Again, the boys had a mixed tournament with the morning pool stage seeing us come up against some tough opposition. The afternoon was a different scenario with the boys winning the certificate competition due to beating every team comfortably. Scoring some really good tries, the boys had found their confidence and displayed their ability to play some exciting rugby. Mr Short St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

U13 Rugby What an adventure we have been on with the U13 Boys’ Rugby Team this Autumn Term. It has been a steep learning curve for most and a development journey for all. The U13 boys have really grown and bonded as a team and this is something they should all be very proud of; to come this far in a short period of time is fantastic. This was evident no less through their performances on the field getting better each week and playing some really good rugby against some strong sides. Most notable was Witham Hall, where we just lost out by one try in the last minutes of the game. Elliot had a great season and led the team well, always leading by example and encouraging and supporting his team. A huge highlight of the season has to be the Oakham game, not only was this a great result for the boys against a large squad, but the whole team contributed well in the game, getting the result they deserved. The evidence of how far they had come as a team was demonstrated by the captain pulling them in for a huddle to review the game and everyone wanting to congratulate

their teammates. The singing on the bus journey will also be a memory that sticks with me, hopefully the boys too. We only had 15 boys across the Year 7 and 8 cohort and I am pleased to say that every single boy in these year groups played a part in the success of this rugby season. Some standout performances were Sam and Brandon both rightly receiving awards for most improved players. Rico with his amazing burst of pace crossed the line for St Hugh’s on a number of occasions this season. Huxley with his work rate around the park; if we had

GPS tracking he would have definitely covered the most ground this season. Dan and Leo for their performances in the scrum and around the breakdown. Spike for his great footwork with the ball in hand. Not forgetting of course the Year 7s who have really developed as players and I look forward to seeing them again next season. So as they say…all good things must come to an end but I really hope to see some of the boys progress onto club rugby this season, they would be an asset to any team. Well done and thank you! Mr Short

Girls’ Hockey U9 Girls’ Hockey The U9 A and B Girls’ Hockey Team had an action packed season, with at least one match a week. The girls enjoyed their hockey experience and it was wonderful to see so many playing outside of school in local clubs. Every girl played in each match and all made significant progress. The highlights of the term include the St Hugh’s Festival and the Barlborough Hall tournament. Throughout the season, the girls had the luxury of playing all their home games on the astro. Well done girls on how far you have come as individuals and as a team, playing against mixed teams was at times a hard fought battle and they showed resilience and determination. The girls are very much looking forward to the addition of goalkeepers next year. Mrs Corner

U11 Girls’ Hockey It was an incredibly positive hockey season for the U11 cohort this year with regular fixtures. With a squad of 13, we managed to squeeze out two teams and with no substitutes their fitness certainly improved which was reflected in their work rate on the pitch. For some of our pupils, this was their first introduction to goalkeeping and it was encouraging to have a good number of players keen to pad up and have a go! Regular keepers included Megan B (U11A), Olivia N and Lulu H (U11B). These girls developed the basics of goalkeeping and put in some super saves. The A team gelled very well and became familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses. There was some super defensive work by Alicia and Annabelle and it was great to see how adept they became at using the width of the pitch. Jemima, Kitty and Millie made a fantastic trio in the middle, demonstrating some great attacking phases of play. Tabitha learnt a lot as our only Year 5 player and it was great to see her contributing to the scoresheet! The girls perfected their short corner routine, learning how to inject the ball with accuracy and pace. I was delighted to see six of the seven players choosing to play club hockey as the season progressed! The B team had a fantastic season, and it was rewarding to see them strengthen as a team week by week. Not only did their hockey improve, but they developed support of one another and each member of the team took pride in their place on the pitch. India did sterling work in defence, often aided by Michelle. Ela and Charlotte became our ‘little but fierce’ team on the wings, with Ela duly awarded most improved sports girl for her development and leadership on the pitch. Olivia put in some speedy runs up front, and Lulu completed the team in goal. The girls should be very proud of what they achieved this season. Mrs Felton and Mrs Bonner-MacKenzie

U13 Girls’ Hockey With a large Year 7 we were able to field two teams this year. The A team was very well led by Peyia F both on and off the pitch. One of the performances of the term was away at Stamford when we played with intensity and structure. Charlotte T was our goalie, defence was Sophie T and Amelia F, midfield was Peyia F and Angelina B, and wingers were Imogen L and Florence L. Against our local schools we played six, won three, lost three, scoring 25 and conceding seven. A highlight of the term was the IAPS tournament away at Repton. With a Zucci’s meal and team boarding before the long away trip, combined with enthusiastic singing en route, the girls had an enjoyable day. Three games in the morning saw one draw and two losses by just one goal each time. This placed St Hugh’s in the plate competition against Rossall School in Lancashire. Following a great assist by Amelia, Peyia slotted the ball past the goalkeeper showing great composure. Rossall equalised in the second half which meant there was a period of five minutes ‘golden goal’ extra time. It was end to end but Rossall applied the pressure and a defensive error in the third minute saw Rossall finding the corner and the final whistle blew. A 2–1 defeat. It was a good experience for our team and great to see them very much holding their own against some larger schools. Mr Goodhand

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Football U11 Football

U9 Football The season allowed the U9s the opportunity to play as separate Year 3 and 4 groups as well as combining to make two Year 3/4 mixed teams. The season got off to a strong start with a trip away to Burton Hathow. The boys played in their Year 3 and Year 4 teams and both achieved their first win for the school season which was rounded off with a nice flypast by the Red Arrows. We then had the great pleasure of hosting the U9s football festival. We had two mixed teams (Red and Blue). There was a great attendance from schools on the day and the boys faced some strong opposition, even having the opportunity to play each other, which was very exciting to watch. The boys’ team spirit and endeavour really shone through as we moved away from individual performances and more to a team performance. The next fixture was home to Wellow House who had fewer players. The willingness of the St Hugh’s boys to step in and play for the other team was fantastic to see. The boys continued to develop as a team and scored some great goals ensuring a win for both the Reds and Blues. Before half term the boys finished with a fixture against Lincoln Minster. The boys remained in their mixed Blue and Red teams and came up against a strong Lincoln Minster team. The boys managed to retain possession through some good passing, allowing both teams to beat Lincoln Minster in a closely contested game. Following the break we had Grantham Prep at home. For this fixture we had a Year 3 and Year 4 team. The Year 3s had a really strong team performance. The Year 4s had an exciting, closely contested game, just losing out in the final minutes. Mr Short and Mr Wyld 68

With several cancellations this year, due to some rather inclement weather on Wednesdays in the first half of term, the Under 11A football team had few fixtures. We started promisingly with a convincing win over Burton Hathow, with the new additions to the team from Year 5 contributing to some eye-catching football. A lull in fixtures then ensued until a return fixture separated the Year 5s and Year 6s against Burton Hathow. Our rhythm was slightly disrupted by the changes in personnel for these games and we ended up drawing both matches. Two more games were played before the

season concluded; both were very close matches against Witham and then Lincoln Minster. Pitches were smaller than we were accustomed to, and so our free-flowing style of the first game was difficult to replicate. Being blessed with many talented players, there was real strength in depth this year; it was difficult to select distinct A and B teams throughout the season and many players who did not have opportunities in the A team this year would certainly have been regulars in previous years. As such, we had a very strong B team and they cruised to one-sided victories in all of their fixtures. The teams played a lovely brand of football with some excellent passing and teamwork on show. It was a real pleasure to teach a cohort of such enthusiastic footballers. Mr Jeffery and Mr Pickering

Spring Term Sporting Achievements Hockey Captain

Dan G

Netball Captain

Peyia F

Rugby 7s Captain

Elliot A Full: Dan G, Elliot A, Rico L, Spike H,

Hockey Colours

Netball Colours

Huxley S Half: Brandon B, Leo G, Aydin T, Wilf H-S Full: Peyia F Half: Sophie T, Amelia F, Florence L

Boys’ Hockey U9 Boys’ Hockey The U9 hockey season provided an introduction to the game for the boys, as not many of them had played much hockey before. We had a couple of development games with Burton Hathow near the end of the Spring Term. These consisted of some coaching sessions and small-sided games. The boys’ progress through these sessions was clear to see and all of them had some fantastic achievements with their skill development and game understanding. Mr Short and Mr Pickering

U11 Boys’ Hockey This was a very successful hockey season. We started with two new goalkeepers in Josh N and James F who both proved excellent choices due to their speed and skilful footwork. This meant we could focus on our attacking skills. With the exception of the S. Anselm’s tournament, the A team won all of their fixtures. They started with a 4–2 win against Ranby House and also had wins against Stamford and Bedford School, Burton Hathow and Lincoln Minster. There was some exciting stick work from Will L, Rupert and Charlie T as well as some excellent reading of the game from Max and Euan P. Rory

U13 Boys’ Hockey The U13s enjoyed a very successful season with some fantastic players gracing the astro this year. I was delighted when I was chosen to lead the U13 boys in Hockey this year. Our A team consisted of Brandon B in goal, Dan G and Leo G in defence, midfield was Elliot A. Rico L and Spike H were our wingers and Huxley S played upfront. Our first game was against Wellow House. Due to this being our first match we played two equal teams so we could provide feedback to our A and B teams respectively. Both teams played exceptionally well, achieving two good

results and identifying some areas to improve on. Our second match was against Worksop College. Unfortunately we had a few of our players missing due to injuries so we called up some players from the B team which created a great experience for those players. I scored two and Spike nestled a goal calmly in the bottom corner. Winning with an understrength side was fantastic, especially against Worksop. This informed us that the harder we worked in training, the better we were going to play. Our third game of the season was against Witham. In hindsight this was going to be our hardest match this year. We started well, pressing their defence; however a mistake on the wing left them scoring in the top right corner leaving Brandon no chance. This was the first time we went behind so we played cautiously and held on until half-time. We ended up losing that game 2–0. Throughout the rest of the season

and Sam showed great promise as Year 5s in the U11 team. We were a little unlucky in the S. Anselm’s tournament, losing two games very narrowly, meaning we finished in fifth place. The B team also had a great deal of success. For most players it was their first time playing competitive hockey but they made excellent progress during the term. The B team started off with a 2–2 draw against Ranby School. They then drew again against Bedford School before earning an impressive 2–1 win against Stamford School. They finished the season off with an emphatic victory against Lincoln Minster. Well done to all the boys! Mr Pickering

we won every match with two standout games winning 10–0 against Lincoln Minster whilst getting everyone on the scoresheet and 5–0 against Oakham. My hockey player of the season undeniably deserves to go to Brandon, who made a massive leap from last year’s B team to have conceded only five goals all season which is an incredible feat in hockey. Brandon was also awarded most improved hockey player of the season for his valiant efforts. Dan G, Boys’ Hockey Captain St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Netball U9 Netball The U9 girls had a very busy netball season. They played in teams Thunder, Storm and Lightning, named after the Netball Super League. The season started with the St Hugh’s netball festival — this was a fun afternoon where each girl got to play in every position. Next the girls travelled to Barlborough for a 7-a-side tournament. This was a successful afternoon with lots of accurate shooting. Throughout the season, the girls adapted well to playing in different teams and rotating positions. As the term progressed the shooting improved and it was wonderful to see so many girls getting netball rings and practising at home or lunchtime. The girls found the pace and physicality challenging when playing against mixed teams but showed great resilience. Over the term, every girl made significant progress in their netball skills and understanding of the game. They should feel very proud. A huge thank you to all the parents and extended family for your support at home and away fixtures. Mrs Corner & Mrs Ellicker-Campling

U11 Netball This year we had a small cohort of 13 girls forming two 5-a-side netball teams. This meant that the girls had ample court time together giving them the opportunity to really gel as a unit and this certainly showed over the course of the season. With England Netball Stinger rules in play, each and every player developed the key skills specific to all positions on court and it was fabulous to see every player scoring for their team — something that would never have happened in the past without rotations. They worked particularly hard on their court movement, getting ball side and making confident drives. Both the A and B teams played in a good number

U13 Netball Both U13 teams had a great season for different reasons. The progression and growth of both individuals and teams was fantastic to watch. The group as a whole worked hard at training sessions to develop their fundamentals, transferring those skills into many competitive and closely contested matches. The A team won nearly all their fixtures, building structure and connections on court to progress not only this year but to transfer into next season. 70

of fixtures (mainly away!) including festivals at Stamford, Witham and S. Anselm’s. For the first time, we entered the U11A team into the IAPS competition hosted by Uppingham which was a valuable experience despite being a tough day. Two of our team members, Annabelle and Jemima, also played up for the U12 team at their IAPS competition, which saw them travelling to Ipswich School. Another notable performance from the U11A side was against a strong Lincoln Minster side which was a great display of determination and resilience in an end-to-end game! It was a very positive season and I look forward to seeing these girls progress to the 7-a-side game as they move into Year 7. Mrs Felton and Mrs Bonner-MacKenzie

The team attended the U12 IAPS competition in Ipswich. It was a tough tournament against opposition we had not played before. The team fought hard and improved their game throughout the day and should be very proud of their achievements! The B team had a much harder journey, yet, as individual players, developed the most throughout the term and should be very proud of individual goals they have all achieved. It was a very promising term of netball for all involved. Well done everyone, keep up the hard work! Miss Blee-Storey

Summer Term Sporting Achievements Cricket Captain

Huxley S Full: Elliot A (re-award), Huxley S

Cricket Colours

(re-award) Half: Spike H, Leo G, Dan G, Rico L, Aydin T, Jenson G, Peyia F, Sophie T, Amelia F

Athletics Captain

Florence L

Athletics Badge (for competing at national Florence L (re-award), Elliot A (re-award), level competition) Rico L, Amelia F, Kitty W School Records Broken Senior Girls’ 800m Senior Girls’ Long Jump

Florence L

Intermediate Girls’ Javelin

India B-W

Tennis Awards We were absolutely thrilled to win the School category for the Lindum Lincolnshire & LTA Awards. Our thanks go to Tattershall Tennis Club for nominating us. Jade, Guy and Sean are incredible coaches and our pupils are extremely fortunate to benefit from their talent, support and endless enthusiasm.

Cricket U9 Cricket It was a very successful season for the U9 cohort who made fabulous progress over the course of the term. With a large group, we fielded four teams with every pupil having the opportunity to represent the school in a good number of fixtures. They worked hard in training to develop their batting and fielding skills and it was super to see them applying these more consistently as the season progressed. In match play, we performed well and became more adept at backing up and supporting one another.

The U9A team were selected on merit which included some more experienced club players. This certainly strengthened the team and it helped those newer to the game too. Rory P played up for the U12 county matches and it was great to see him being challenged amongst older players. In match play, the team took an impressive number of wickets and fantastic catches were seen in both the outfield and infield! The accuracy and pace of our bowling also improved with several players hitting the stumps. Over the season, the team gelled and worked together better. We look forward to a number of these players transitioning to the hard ball game next year. Mrs Felton St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

U11 Softball Cricket In a scintillating season, we even had a Red Arrows flypast to entertain us as well as the cricket that was played!

U11A Cricket The U11A hard ball team had a large squad this year and there were plenty of players ready to improve their skills using the hard ball format that is played in the First XI in Years 7 and 8. Pupils made steady progress, particularly with their bowling which became more accurate as the season went on. William L, James F and Rory S provided genuine pace, and Euan P developed his off-spin which flummoxed opposing batters on a regular basis. Fielding, too, showed improvement, with a few good run outs (particularly Charlie T’s impressive direct hit v. Stamford), players getting better at backing up and with general increased alertness in the field. However, at some key moments in the season crucial catches were not taken. Batting remains an area that needs looking at; the main runscorers were Euan P, William L and Rory S who batted with style on both sides of the wicket. Often, though, our batting line-up succumbed to straight, accurate deliveries and the number of ‘bowled’ entries in the scorebook was unusually high. The target as this team moves on, will be to develop partnerships and innings by not giving away wickets cheaply.

Playing softball gave everyone a golden opportunity to practise key skills without the disappointment of only being briefly involved until being out. Some fabulous batting and fielding were complemented by excellent bowling and every player improved enormously during the course of the season. It has been an absolute pleasure coaching the boys and girls throughout the season and I’ve been delighted by the progress that has been shown. Some showed particular talent with the bat, some with the ball, and they all learnt the strategic side of playing the game — sometimes the hard way when the ball went to the areas with no fielders! Due to the significance of “extras” there was a particular focus on tight bowling and effective fielding, especially on quick surfaces like the astro, and I was very impressed by how, collectively, they worked hard to limit opposition scoring. Especially pleasing was the move between softball and hardball teams by a number of the team and they are to be congratulated on this transition with many of them also playing hardball cricket in matches. They have all absorbed and enjoyed learning the game and I’ve really enjoyed working with them all throughout the term. Mr Wyld

Mr Jeffery

U13 Cricket The cricket season started in somewhat damp conditions with the square and outfield not really drying out for the first three weeks. This did not stop the U13 Girls’ Indoor Team once again playing in the county finals at Nocton Sports Centre. We had a very young team with only Peyia being in Year 8, so the rest of the team can play again next year. For the second successive year we finished as county runners-up. 72

The outdoor fixtures got underway with a comfortable win over Lincoln Minster, although it was completed in the rain. We then dominated our next game against Worksop College, scoring 139–2 and getting Worksop out for 31, Spike top scoring and Aydin impressing with a triple wicket maiden. Our first defeat of the season then followed as we lost quite a close game to Stamford B team. Elliot top scored with an excellent 42 not out. We then won a tight game against Wellow House before playing the County Cup quarter-final against Carre’s and putting up our best performance of the season. We were 66–9 before Jenson and Leo put on a valuable 18 for the

U13 Softball Cricket The U13 softball pairs A and B teams had a mixed term winning two games and losing four. In the batting department we suffered by trying to hit every ball too hard, baseball style, which cost us wickets. Our players who batted well across the season were Poppy H, Brandon B, Sam R and Amelia F. last wicket getting us to 84. We then bowled and fielded superbly. Huxley started off by getting two quick wickets and Will L took three wickets for one run, to bowl Carre’s out for 37. We had a challenging match against a very good Witham Hall team and were heavily defeated, however we put up a much better performance against them on the return game at home when we bowled them out inside the 20 overs and although we didn’t quite overhaul their total we only lost six wickets in reply.

After receiving a walkover in the County Cup semi-final, we travelled to Stamford for the final. Unfortunately we lost the toss and batted first. Against some tight, accurate bowling we did not perform well and we were all out cheaply. We did bowl and field well to make life tricky for the Stamford batters but ultimately lost by eight wickets. However, county runners-up is pretty good! Special mention to Huxley for his bowling and captaincy, Elliot for his batting, Spike for his catching and Jenson for his wicket keeping.

In the bowling department generally, as a team, we bowled too many wides gifting the opposition easy runs. Our stronger bowlers were Sophie T, Amelia F and Sam R. Two positives this season were our fielding as a team and our running between the wickets which had both improved from last year. The memorable game of the season was against Worksop, where despite losing nine wickets, we scored big runs and won 127–9 against 115–4. Mr Goodhand

Mr Pickering

Cross Country & Athletics Cross Country Running Club saw a keen group of Years 3–8 pupils training hard during weekly off-site runs, covering anything from 2–5km around the village. This included road running and running in local woodland. A firm favourite was the Kirkby Lane bike ramps/jumps which proved great fun and gave the runners experience running on an incline! Both Mr Short and I were impressed by the commitment and hard work during these runs and it was great to see these runners competing for the school during the cross country season which spans both the Autumn and Spring Term. We attended several Invitational Cross Country events and it was another extremely successful season for St Hugh’s with some outstanding individual performances across the age groups but also some brilliant team results too, which can be seen overleaf. Mrs Felton

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Brooke Priory Cross Country U8 Girls’ Runners-Up

Harriet T 1st Place

U8 Boys’ Runners-Up

Beau B-W 2nd Place

U10 Girls

Charlotte J 3rd Place

U11 Boys

Rupert B-W 3rd Place

Highfields Cross Country U9 Girls 1st Place U11 Boys’ Runners-Up U9 Boys & U11 Girls 3rd Place

Harriet T 1st Place, Penelope L 2nd Place Rupert B-W 2nd Place Charlotte J 2nd Place

Witham Hall Cross Country U11 Boys Winners

Rupert B-W 3rd Place

U9 Girls Runners-Up

Harriet T 2nd Place

U9 Boys 3rd Place Copthill Cross Country U9 Girls 2nd Place U9 Boys 3rd Place U11 Girls 2nd Place Ayscoughfee Hall Cross Country Harriet T 1st Place, U9 Girls Winners

Faith S 2nd Place, Penelope L 3rd Place

U9 Boys Winners U11 Girls Winners U11 Boys

Sebastian F 1st Place, Beau B-W 3rd Place Charlotte J 1st Place, Kitty W 2nd Place Rupert B-W 3rd Place

Worksop College Cross Country

U9 Girls 3rd Place

Harriet T 3rd Place

U11 Boys

Rupert B-W 3rd Place

U13 Girls

Florence L 1st Place

U13 Boys

Elliot A 3rd Place

Athletics The athletics season saw all St Hugh’s pupils developing the fundamentals of track and field through PE lessons and athletics hobby. Pupils worked hard to achieve school standards set by English Schools’ Athletics Association whilst our more able aspired to achieve national standards. All pupils had a chance to compete at Sports Day in their chosen events and a good number were selected to represent the school at the East Area Athletics (Years 4 and 5) and the National Prep Schools’ Athletics Qualifier in Doncaster (Years 6–8). At the East Area Championships, notable performances came from Harriet T who impressed on the track, achieving a place in the final for both 55m hurdles and 75m. Harriet went on to win both finals despite being a year young! What was more impressive was that she qualified with the fourth fastest time in the 55m hurdles and second fastest time in 75m but raised her game in the final to finish first place in both. A fabulous performance and one to watch! Penelope also impressed on the track, qualifying for the 55m hurdles with the fastest time, achieving a place in the final and finishing third overall. In her 100m, she also qualified with the fastest time and managed to secure first place running quicker than her heat time. In the 800m, it was great to see Charlotte J finish fourth in a strong field of 22 athletes, just three seconds behind third place. As a team, the U9 Girls came out on top as our best performing 4x100m relay which consisted of Harriet, Penelope, Coco and Tallulah. The team finished joint 2nd place from a field of 12 schools! Our U9 Boys’ Team, consisting of Rory, Seb, Josh and Edward, ran a marginal 0.97secs slower than the girls but competition was tough and they finished seventh from 11 teams. In Doncaster, our Year 6–8 pupils travelled with a strong, well prepared team, captained by Florence L, with hopes of performing well. The results from the whole team were impressive and speak for themselves: Charles – shot put (6.58m – 2nd) Charlie – 100m (15:00secs – 3rd) & long jump (3.83m – 2nd) Annabelle – long jump (3.05m – 4th) and shot put (5.80m – 2nd) Rupert – 1500m (5mins, 44secs – 2nd) Kitty – 100m (15.09secs – 1st) and 200m (32.61secs – 3rd) Aydin – discus (15.45m – 4th) and javelin (20.42m – 5th) Amelia – shot put (7.20m – 2nd) Florence – long jump (4.22m – 1st) and 1500m (5mins, 15secs – 1st) Rico – 100m (13.84secs – 4th) and long jump (4.47m – 1st) Elliot – discus (20.06m) and javelin (29.87m – 1st) Mrs Felton

National Prep Schools’ Athletics Success This year an impressive five athletes travelled to the National Prep Schools’ Athletics Finals held in Nuneaton. This was following their performance at our regional qualifier where athletes had to either win their event or achieve the national standard in second place.

Congratulations to Elliot A (Y8), Rico L (Y8), Florence L (Y7), Amelia F (Y7) and Kitty W (Y6) for reaching the final and a special mention for Florence who achieved a silver medal in her long jump! A fabulous achievement at a national event. All five athletes were awarded their Athletics Badge in recognition of this. Mrs Felton

Sports Day Sports Day is always a much enjoyed event by pupils, parents and staff and this year was no exception! With all events taking place on the bottom field, it was a great spectacle with pupils aged 2–13 competing in their respective events. It was lovely to see so many families picnicking together and supporting the children. Competition was as close as ever, whether it was jumping in a sack, throwing the javelin or hurdling. With a plethora of events on show, the crowd could not be disappointed! Pupils enjoyed the ice-lolly stall, organised by our Netherlands Touring Squad, whilst the adults got their morning caffeine fix from the coffee van. Over the course of the day, pupils were congratulated on our podium with participation medals for Pre Prep and Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for those achieving 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in the Prep School events. Outstanding performances came from our Athletics Captain, Florence L, who broke two long-standing school records (Senior Girls’ 800m and Long Jump) and India B-W who broke the Intermediate Girls’ Javelin record. Also impressive was the number of Prep School pupils who achieved a personal best performance in their chosen events. They worked hard over the term in their attempt to reach specific distances/times in order to achieve a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award for the English Schools’ Athletics Award Scheme. Mrs Felton

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Swimming It was another very successful swimming season — and a long one given our success in qualifying for the ESSA National Finals once again. Both the Junior and Senior Squad trained regularly and competed in a number of friendly galas, performing extremely well for the St Hugh’s side. It was great to see us dominating at the Grantham Prep Gala and the pupils were delighted to return to school with the trophy! We also competed at regional and national level and you can read about our achievements below.

Spring Term Achievements School Records Broken Previous records held since 2012 U11 4x1 Individual Medley, U11 2 lengths Front Crawl, U11 2 lengths Breaststroke

Annabelle J

Summer Term Achievements Swimming Captain

Annabelle J Charlotte T (re-award),

Swimming Badge (for competing at national level competition)

Annabelle J (re-award), Charlotte J, Charlie T, Alicia T (re-award), William C

Intra-School Gala Our Intra-School Gala was as competitive as ever with every pupil from Year 3–6 competing for their set. Congratulations to the winners of the Individual Medley which is usually the most prestigious of events. It was also wonderful to have some long-standing records challenged, with three being broken! Individual Medley Winners U9 Girls – Penelope L (White Set) U9 Boys – Joshua F (White Set) U11 Girls – Annabelle J (Red Set) U11 Boys – William C (Blue Set)

IAPS National Swimming Championships A number of swimmers competed at our regional qualifier hosted by Repton this year. Though we did not have the depth to enter the small schools competition this year (which stipulates you need four Year 5s and four Year 6s of the same gender), the pupils were keen enough to have a go in the U11 4x25m Freestyle and Medley events. This event sees teams from some of the largest and most prestigious schools battling for a place in the finals. We decided we would enter a boys’ and girls’ team and see which team could be ranked the highest nationally! This was a great incentive for them to train hard! As it happened, 76

it was very close indeed with the boys winning the Freestyle and girls winning the Medley event. We were placed within the top third nationally. Congratulations must go to Charlotte T who qualified for the National Finals. Charlotte travelled to the London Aquatics Centre for the second year running to compete in the U12 50m Breastroke having been ranked in the top ten nationally. A fabulous achievement! Annabelle J narrowly missed out by one place but she is hopeful for next year. Mrs Felton

Set Results 1st – White Set 2nd – Red Set 3rd – Blue Set

ESSA National Primary Relays Repton hosted our regional qualifier this year so we returned with a smaller team for the ESSA relays. The team consisted of Annabelle J (Captain), Charlie T, William C, Alicia T and Charlotte J. We competed in both the 4x25m Freestyle and Medley relays. St Hugh’s competes as a small school though, in the qualifier, we raced against both small and medium schools.

We were delighted to qualify for the National Finals in both events having achieved first and second place in our heats. Following weeks of training, which included early morning swims and trips to the longer pool at Jubilee Park, the team travelled to Ponds Forge, Sheffield to compete in the finals. All swimmers performed exceptionally well and we were delighted to finish eighth nationally. Mrs Felton

Golf We have continued to benefit from our link with Woodhall Spa Golf Club this year and it has been great to see so many budding golfers attend our weekly session with golf pro, Alison, down at the club. Our annual St Hugh’s Golf Cup Challenge took place in the Summer Term having introduced this competition to the school calendar last year. This sees twelve golfers compete across nine holes focusing on their short game. It was well contested and great to see a good range of age groups taking part! Congratulations to our winners: 1st Place – Megan (Gross 44) 2nd Place – Ellis (Gross 50) 3rd Place – Rory S and Sebastian (Gross 52) Mrs Felton

Lincolnshire Schools Golf Championship It was fantastic to see Megan B and Ellis R competing in the Lincolnshire Schools’ Golf Championship which was played at South Kyme Golf Club. Megan and Ellis represented St Hugh’s and were two of the youngest players competing with the vast majority being secondary aged pupils. Megan performed really well, scoring 36 Stableford points with her handicap and finished a very impressive equal second — and was placed third on countback! Ellis also performed very well. He was playing off the men’s yellow tees, which meant a number of holes were more than 400 yards. Despite this, he hit his drives well and was particularly accurate with his chipping and putting. Ellis scored 24 points, this included a par on the difficult par three played over a large lake. Mrs Felton

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

STAMFORD For every step of their journey

NURSERY - JUNIOR - SENIOR - SIXTH

Co-educational day and boarding school in the heart of historic Stamford, Lincolnshire Visit our website and book a personal tour. stamfordschools.org.uk

Swimming Pool Transformation

Our Nursery and Pre-school children were very excited to be the first to try out our new swimming pool area and changing rooms. Summer of 2022 saw the complete refurbishment of the changing rooms and the main pool area was transformed into a lighter and brighter space, enhancing the user experience. In addition to our own pupils, the pool continues to be widely used by members of the community, including local schools and swim schools, and the works brought the facility into the 21st century so that it can be enjoyed for generations to come. Over the years countless children have enjoyed swimming lessons in the pool, although some may recall when it was a less enticing outdoor pool (built by a number of boys who dug out and added to the size of a lily pond in the school garden for conversion to a swimming pool), which first opened in the 1930s! Director of Sport at St Hugh’s, Katie Felton, was proud to welcome back swimmers: “We are delighted that our pool now reflects the fantastic level of teaching delivered here and are proud of the strong links we have with local clubs and schools who use our facilities. As a school, all of our pupils benefit from weekly swimming lessons and our provision sees a clear progressive pathway from our youngest Nursery children aged just two to our oldest pupils in Year 8. A few months prior to the refurbishment, the St Hugh’s Swim Squad competed at national level, travelling to London to swim in the Olympic pool where they came away with bronze medals. To have a facility that now matches our performance and achievements is a huge development for us. We are sure that everyone who uses the pool will be amazed at the transformation and we can’t wait to welcome them back.” Teacher Sgt. William Raw starting swimming races in the original pool

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Ski Trip I hoped to entice around 30 pupils and parents on the school ski trip to Italy, but within two days of the initial letter going out we had 75 on the trip plus quite a long waiting list! After a few anxious weeks of looking at the snow forecast and temperatures in the southern Alps we finally set off early the day after term ended. A long day’s travelling meant a very late arrival in Passo Tonale, some pasta on arrival and straight to bed for some tired pupils, parents and teachers. On the first day, we had an early rise (not helped by the clocks going forward!), ate breakfast and went down to get the skis fitted. Lessons started at 9am sharp. We had six ski instructors; five for the pupils and one for the parents who were first time skiers or had not skied in a number of years. We quickly got to know the layout of the slopes on the ski resort. There were a number of beginner slopes which our first time skiers soon mastered. There were some well groomed red runs and a number of blacks, including a daunting looking run down from the glacier on the north facing slope. We had lessons in the morning, back to the hotel for lunch and then two more hours of lessons in the afternoon. At 3pm lessons finished but most then stayed for some more skiing, which often included trying out some jumps. Each evening included a hat presentation, for king/queen of the slopes (a crown), best fall of the day (a banana hat) and a pizza hat for anyone deserving (for the most amusing incident of the day — there were a lot of contenders!). The week was not without falls and injuries, but it was the parents and teachers that came out worse; the pupils seemed to bounce back up when they fell over! The evenings were fun too, with a pizza night, quiz and the highlight for some being a karaoke night. It was amazing how much the pupils improved with their skiing during the trip. The beginner groups were beginners no longer by the end of the week, and the more experienced skiers were tackling the black runs with confidence. It was great having pupils from Year 2 through to Year 8 all mixing and getting on so well together. The parents also had a great time both on the slopes and in the evenings and there was a lot of discussion about where and when the next ski trip will be! Mr Pickering

On Saturday 25 March, St Hugh’s school went to Passo Tonale for the first skiing trip since 2019. At 6:30am on Saturday morning everybody got a coach from school to go to Heathrow Airport but had a bit of a delay as the door of the coach got stuck on the pavement so everyone tried to push the bus off the pavement but that didn’t work so one of the dads had to push the door closed. On the way to the airport, we stopped off at a service station for a break and got a snack. We arrived at Heathrow at 11am and got on the plane at 2pm arriving in Milan at 5pm. We then got on a coach and arrived at the hotel at 10:30pm. On the first day we got up at 6:30am to have a quick breakfast and then went to get our skis and ski boots fitted before our first skiing lesson at 9am. After our first lesson we had lunch at the hotel and then went back to do more skiing at 1pm and finished at 3pm. We did this every day and some parents took their kids for free skiing in the afternoon after our last ski lesson of the day. Every evening at dinner we would have a competition to win a hat. They were for ‘king or queen of the mountain’ that hat was a crown, ‘the worst/best fall of the day’ that hat was a banana and the last hat was for ‘something that we could laugh at’ — that hat was a pizza. Apart from the first night, every night we had an activity. We had quizzes, karaoke, pizza and crêpes nights. A big thank you to Mr Jeffery, Mrs Corner and a massive thank you to Mr Pickering for putting this all together. Peyia F, Year 8

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

Year 8 Leavers

Leavers 2023 The Year 8 pupils had a fully packed Leavers' Programme again this year. The end of the Common Entrance exams was marked by a lovely meal at Zucci, followed by ice-cream at Jubilee Park and a Year 8 sleepover in the Boarding House. The following week, it was off to the Lake District for the annual Outward Bound residential to Ullswater, always a highlight for many and an experience that Year 8 pupils remember long after they leave St Hugh's.

“I started St Hugh’s in the middle of Year 5. I was a bit nervous at the beginning but I eventually became used to my surroundings because I lived in Dubai for six years and it was very different compared to England. My favourite memory is when most of my year group watched The Woman in Black in Year 8 and the best thing about it was when Elliot started laughing every time there was a jump scare! When I leave St Hugh’s, I will be moving onto Stamford (which is not too far away) but I will miss St Hugh’s, especially its food!” Leo G 82

“I joined St Hugh’s in the summer term of Year 5. It was a struggle at the start as we were in lockdown, but I soon fitted in and made lots of memories. Some of my favourite memories were in Year 7 when we used to go to hockey competitions and we would always sing with Mr Goodhand until our voices went. I am going to miss the pupils and how it is a nice small community and everyone looks out for each other. I am also going to miss boarding where I could enjoy lots of activities with all my friends. I am excited to go to my next school and meet lots of new people and board full-time.” Poppy W

“I was six and it was the Summer Term of Year 2 when I joined and now I am in Year 8 with so many memories and amazing school trips behind me. My favourite school trip and memory was when I went to Ullswater and learnt a lot of new skills. When I move on to my next school, it will be a fresh start but I will miss the small community of St Hugh’s.” Henrietta P

“I only started St Hugh’s in Year 7 but since then I have created the best of friendships and will miss them very much when I go to my next school, but I will also miss the school in general. My favourite memory is whenever we went on a school trip and/or match I would bring my bluetooth speaker and we would all sing and have a great time. I am excited to meet new people at Oundle and have new friendships with them.” Imogen L

“When I joined in Year 7, I was welcomed by all the students in my year and I was delighted to have such an opportunity at St Hugh’s. My favourite memory was when we went to Fantasy Island all day with my peers. The saddest part about leaving the school is that I will miss all the other people and my friends in other years. Thank you St Hugh’s for all that you have done for me over the past few years to prepare me for my new school. Also, a thank you to all the staff that helped me along the way.” Rico L

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

The following week brought stand-up paddleboarding at the Ocean Walker Academy — though some were more successful standing up than others! Several Year 8 pupils were also able to join the Art Scholars' trip to the Immersive Van Gogh exhibition in Leicester, including a unique VR experience (which left one or two feeling slightly queasy). A new event in the Leavers' Programme this year — and undoubtedly a highlight — was a Forensic Science Day at the University of Lincoln. Organised by one of our governors, Dr Rachael Sharpe, the day consisted of learning all about the job of crime scene investigators. Kitted out in their CSI overalls, pupils collected fingerprints and evidence from a mock-up crime scene and used real crime scene kits to process the evidence. It was a hugely enjoyable day, and gave pupils a wonderfully immersive experience of an exciting career option.

“I started St Hugh’s at the start of Year 7. My favourite memory is when I took a picture with a famous ex professional footballer (otherwise known as Mr Jeffery!). I will miss all my friends and some of the teachers the most. I’m looking forward to making new friends at my senior school.”

“I started at St Hugh’s at age two. My favourite memory at St Hugh’s was key worker lessons. We had egg drops, made box forts and having a small group of us was so good. The thing I will miss about St Hugh’s is the friendships I have made throughout the years. The thing I am looking forward to the most at Rugby is meeting new people and getting to the next level of my education.”

Brandon B

Peyia F

“I started at St Hugh’s the week before the Autumn Half Term in Year 7. Throughout my time at St Hugh’s, my favourite memory was when we got to the top of the mountain on our two day expedition on the Year 8 Ullswater trip. There are many good qualities about St Hugh’s but what I will miss the most is the teachers.” Sam R

“I started at St Hugh’s at the very start of Year 4. My favourite memory was all of the Year 8 trips that we did, like when we went to Ullswater and Fantasy Island. I will definitely miss my friends and playing sport with them and having fun. I am looking forward to all of the sports facilities and meeting new people at my new school.” Huxley S

Continuing the theme of careers, Year 8 also took part in a morning of Young Enterprise workshops, which for a few was a rather harsh reality-check about the cost of living! St Hugh's staff, as ever, lent their own particular interests to the leavers' experiences: the Classics Day with Mme Clayton and geocaching with Mr Goodhand were thoroughly enjoyed by all. In addition, Mrs Warwick-Smith took the pupils to the National Holocaust Centre as part of their Theology, Philosophy and Religion curriculum. An entirely different tone from much of the leavers' activities, but always a highly important and relevant opportunity for reflection.

“I started St Hugh’s in Reception. My most memorable moment was when I found a grass snake in the adventure playground! My favourite part of St Hugh’s is the sport and I will miss the sport and the teachers the most.” Elliot A

St Hugh’s Magazine 2022/23

“I started St Hugh’s at the start of Year 5. My favourite memory is when me and my friend Brandon were exploring the hostel at Ullswater. I will miss my friends and the sport at St Hugh’s. I am looking forward to going to Rugby and I am sure I will make lots of new friends.” Spike H

Destination School

The cherry on the cake was the long-awaited day out to Skegness. After some cricket on the beach — and some rather ill-advised paddling! — the Year 8 pupils rounded off their leavers' programme in style at Fantasy Island. As ever, the final few weeks are an action-packed and well-deserved reward for all of the hard work and commitment that the Year 8 pupils show throughout the year. It has been a pleasure to see them rise to the challenge this year and each and every one of them should be congratulated on getting to their preferred destination school. Thank you for being a wonderful form group and for each leaving your mark on St Hugh's. We all wish you the best of luck for the future. Mrs Bonner-MacKenzie Head of Upper School 86

Elliot Ashton

Gresham’s

Brandon Brown

Barnes Wallis Academy

Peyia Fairburn

Rugby

Dan Goodhand

Oundle

Leo Graham

Stamford

Spike Haigh

Rugby

Imogen Lawrence

Oundle

Rico Lawrence

Oundle

Henrietta Price

Ampleforth

Sam Ross

St James’ School Grimsby

Huxley Scott

Oundle

Poppy Wrisdale

Repton

“I started St Hugh’s at the beginning of Year 3. My favourite recollection is the recent trips that Year 8 have been on, including one to Fantasy Island. I will miss my incredible friends the most. I am eagerly anticipating a new beginning at Oundle.” Dan G

Cromwell Avenue, Woodhall Spa Lincolnshire LN10 6TQ t 01526 352169 e office@st-hughs.lincs.sch.uk www.st-hughs.lincs.sch.uk