South

Houses

South

From the Housemistress

The girls in South House have demonstrated great perseverance and resilience during a very different and challenging year. They have certainly kept the House spirit alive and achieved many successes in all areas of school life.

Our House Captain Emma Rickerd organised a book of recipes for girls in all year groups to submit a photo of themselves cooking or baking their favourite dish alongside their recipe. Rose Deakin, Deputy House Captain, arranged a decorating competition for images to be used to illustrate the recipe book.

South has had a most impressive sporting year, achieving many victories. The Lower Sixth, Upper Fifth and Fourth Form won their respective house netball competitions convincingly. The Upper Sixth A team had a tough battle against Gloucester during house hockey, but Olivia Hedges managed to lead the team to victory scoring the only goal! Our Fourth Form girls secured a convincing win overall

with goals scored by Phoebe George, Bea Crumby and Madi Fewings. The Lower Sixth also won their age group with Flo Holder, Bella Fewings and Amelia Feltham scoring their goals. The Upper Fifth may not have won their tournament, but the girls put up a good fight with plenty of goals, which were scored by Maya Cripps, Zoe Ryan, Josie Heap and Naomi George. The Lower Fifth also showed their perseverance and determination.

South has had a great year off the sports field too, singing has been a popular activity with the girls and South was awarded second place for their version of 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton in the House Singing Competition. The Fourth Form won our Intra-House Singing Competition, in which Mr White had the difficult job of choosing the winning year group. Molly Warner and Tishy Rao enjoyed leading a team across the year groups for the House Film Competition and produced a most entertaining production showcasing their sophisticated technology skills. Our house quiz team performed well reaching the final.

The House performed well during house debating. Well done to Hannah Bareham for preparing such excellent speeches for the Fourth Form, Katie Denyer for being an impressive speaker, and Rosie Brickwood, who was named as best speaker during round one. The girls reached the semi-final but unfortunately did not manage to proceed further. The Lower Sixth continued the winning streak for South securing their place in the semi-final with both Lucy Dwan and Izzy Vickery delivering convincing arguments. The Lower Fifth did very well too, and it was a close competition for them. The judge was most impressed with the research

done by Cerys Love and Ava Umpelby, whilst Zoe Spanswick chaired the event.

This year, the focus of the House has very much been on reaching out to the community during the pandemic. Mrs Rickard arranged for the girls to write Christmas cards to the nearby Beeches Care Home; the residents were delighted to receive their cards. During the Spring Term lockdown some of the girls participated in a competition called the Good Samaritan Challenge, which required them to complete a list of ten charitable activities for their local community. Phoebe George won this challenge with Naomi in second place, and Saskia and Lucy tied in third place.

Weekly boarding has been very popular, and South House has been filled to maximum capacity. The girls have thoroughly enjoyed having consistency and routine in these strange times; it has been a great opportunity for the younger pupils to integrate with the older girls. A favourite evening activity has been all year groups and House staff exercising together to Just Dance on YouTube with many laughs had by all.

Well done to Emma Rickerd and Louise Orr for being awarded full House Colours. Both girls have involved themselves as much as possible with house events and demonstrated great loyalty to South; they have been admirable role models for the years below.

It has been an honour and a privilege to have had the opportunity be the Acting Housemistress for South; it has been a real joy being able to watch the girls mature and progress. I have greatly appreciated the support from our Matron Karen Young, Assistant Housemaster Steve Hughes, the South tutor team and from parents, for yet another positive year in South.

Andrea Davies, Acting Housemistress

Competitions

WON THIS YEAR: House Hockey House Netball

HOUSE COLOURS

If you are doing your best, you won’t have any time to worry about failure

From the House Captain

South House have had a wonderful year despite difficulties faced with lockdown and life being far from normal. Each girl has shown great perseverance through academics, a competitive side in house events and a strong sense of community, whilst above all remaining hopeful and positive. All the South girls should be incredibly proud of their achievements and for the resilience shown this year to overcome many challenges.

For me what makes South amazing, is the vibrant, welcoming, and happy environment filled with fun, optimism, compassionate girls, and supportive staff who are always there for us. What makes our house great is that everyone involves themselves in a variety of things, including those outside their comfort zone, showing team spirit, courage, and determination. The sense of community throughout the years has been inspiring and in particular this year, which has shown a real group effort throughout the House. South has allowed me to grow and develop myself to my full potential. The memories and friends I have made will last a lifetime and I will always look back on my time in South with fondness and a fierce sense of loyalty! It has been a privilege to be the House Captain.

On the sports field, South girls once again geared up with purple face paint, ribbons in their hair and bucketloads of house spirit, ready to unleash our competitive sides and win yet another house competition. No matter what the outcome, every girl who took part in the various sporting competitions, persevered until the end, showing a great sporting attitude. A highlight was winning Upper Sixth A team house hockey against Gloucester in a tough, yet rewarding, match. This winning streak continued in the Fourth Form and Lower Sixth. House netball also saw exciting and competitive matches with several other wins. Unfortunately, in house croquet we did not manage to progress far enough but nevertheless played a strong game. South girls can always rely on sideline supporters to chant and cheer on the players, providing unrivalled encouragement and house spirit. South girls never fail to show commitment and enthusiasm in everything they do and being a part of that feels unique and special.

South girls also have a plethora of talents and strengths across the arts. The virtual House Singing Competition saw us put forward a rendition of 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton. Whilst our singing and dance moves did not secure us a win, it was clear from our string of recent wins, we were giving the other houses a chance to enjoy first place! Our musical skills continued in an Intra-House Singing Competition between year groups. This was great fun and showed the rest of the House some stars in the making. I loved watching each girl take part, admiring the standard and efforts of all.

The Upper Sixth year comes around so quickly and passes in the blink of an eye, making every moment at school suddenly seem more important and precious. Therefore, it felt even more disappointing to be back to virtual school. Despite the struggles of online learning and missing being on the School site, everyone managed to channel through with huge determination, working hard to achieve their best. With our morning tutor sessions, we were able to catch up on newfound talents, sharing activities done in our own homes. Lockdown provided South House with many obstacles; together we were able to overcome them and think outside the box. Creating a selection of fun opportunities to showcase our skills and provide time away from the screen, South girls participated in events and challenges, including ‘decorating’ competitions, creating a house recipe book, quizzes, house 'Strava', House Film Competition and even a Good Samaritan Competition to help the wider community. These activities kept our house spirit alive and communication strong.

Despite the uncertainty and stress of examinations, the Upper Sixth and Upper Fifth girls showed great determination to achieve their personal best. A sad but hopeful ending came all too quickly, as the Upper Sixth said their goodbyes to the School. The Leavers’ Tea was a lovely way to end the examination process and celebrate all our hard work. A big thank you to Miss Davies, and Mrs Morgan before her maternity leave, for being wonderful Housemistresses and supporting us through a tough, challenging period in our lives. We are so grateful to you for being so encouraging and supportive. To all of the tutors, for keeping us on track and always making us laugh in the mornings and to Karen, the best Matron ever! Thank you for being our surrogate mum for five years and for always having our backs. We will miss you hugely. I know we will look back on our time in South with a great sense of fondness and pride, lucky to have been a part of the best house at St John’s!

Emma Rickerd, House Captain 2020-21