Issue No 59 16th January 2015

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster

Dear Parents, League on Sunday. This race, held at , If anything, this week has reinforced the sense of community in capped off a successful season for our athletes, particularly for our . On Saturday our sponsored rugby day at U11 boys, who narrowly missed out on third place in the overall RFC underlined how important rugby is to many people in North rankings. On behalf of the children who took part, I would like to , and it is amazing how many of the unfamiliar faces there take this opportunity to thank all the parents who have given up their turned out to have links with the College. The First XV put on Sunday mornings to take them to these races and to endure some a tremendous performance as the curtain raiser to Bideford’s rather challenging weather conditions at times. On Monday morning league match against Bridgwater and Albion. It was nice to see in assembly, all the runners received their medals for taking part in former pupil Seb Sanders turning out for Bideford Colts and we the competition, thanks to Mr Brown (Harry’s dad), who stayed on will forgive him his try which ultimately proved the difference after Sunday’s race to collect them for us. between the two teams. In the main event, former Head Boy Olly Wickett was Bideford’s star performer as they overturned the form For the rest of the week we have tried hard not to let the wintery book to beat their opponents from Somerset. Our thanks go to conditions stop us from starting this term’s programme of sporting Bideford and we hope to return next year to gain our revenge. activities. However, after surviving two sessions of ‘mud football’ and On Tuesday the Winter Concert took place in the Memorial Hall near frost-bite following a hockey session on the all-weather pitch, and underlined the outstanding talent we have in the school. Our we finally had to admit defeat and our U9 football and netball fixtures musical community were treated to several special performances against St. ’s School were sadly cancelled. including a cracking String Quintet version of ‘White Christmas’. It was no surprise that Edward Tai and Jimmy So stole the plaudits However, as always, both Mrs Jones and Mrs Biddlecombe have as they revealed the skills and touch that has won them places at seen this inclement weather as a learning opportunity. In the the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Kindergarten, pupils have been busily investigating all things hot and cold and have made some wonderful paper snowflakes. In the Year A third sub-community, the OSA, meet in London on Saturday 1 and 2 class, the children have been looking at life in both the North night at the RAF Club. This promises to be a splendid evening, if and South Poles and have been carrying out a fascinating science a little tense for Katie Trask and George Daniel, who are expected investigation, all about icebergs (more about that later). to make their Head Girl and Head Boy speeches. No doubt their predecessors will be on hand to soothe their nerves. It has been rather hotter climates that have been the focus for our Simon Weale Year 5 pupils as they have continued to study the wonders of the Ancient Egyptians. If you get the chance, I recommend you take a News from the Junior School look in their classroom where a wonderful display certainly shows off Dear Parents, all that they have been learning about so far this term. I can honestly say, with all that’s been going on in the Junior School Finally, I would like to say a big well done to both Timothy Parker and this week, that it seems as if we have never been away. Tony Chen. Both of these Year 6 musicians joined with students from the Senior School to perform in the Winter Concert in the Memorial Our week started earlier than usual with sixteen of our pupils Hall. Although sadly I wasn’t able to attend the concert myself, I have attending the final race of the Gliddon and Squire Cross Country Issue No 59 16th January 2015

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

it on good authority that both boys represented the Junior School wonderfully well and we are very proud of them. Mike Furber

Winter Concert As the snow fell and the wind blew on Tuesday evening, the musicians welcomed their audience for this year’s Winter Concert. The concert opened with a poignant rendition of ‘The Fallen’ sung by the 6th Form and Staff Choir which was followed by a rousing performance of ‘Hosanna’ from all members of the choirs. As the pupil’s voices mature it is always a challenge to find repertoire that is both stimulating and enjoyable to sing, this year the quality of singing was marvellous with the standard ever improving.

World AIMS Visit Laura Fraser, our new World AIMS Officer, visited us this week from Head Office. She ran some climate change workshops with the Junior School and Forms 1 and 2. The students really enjoyed these workshops which involved highly informative and interactive discussions on the childrens’ own experiences of climate change. It was an enjoyable presentation including videos and group activities.

The pupils were shocked to discover that the issue of climate change is actually closer to home than they had realised. Laura also spent some time with our Fairtrade Fashion Show committee, helping them plan and prepare for the big event. Laura has a breadth of knowledge about Fairtrade and the students found her input to be The instrumentalists presented a varied programme of music from invaluable. Fran Lovett the groovy jazz of the Single Reeds, the exotic South American rhythms of the String Ensemble, the Brass Ensemble played with A Word from the Library gravitas and the String Quintet gave as a wonderfully apposite “Children who read for pleasure make more progress in maths, rendition of Berlin’s ‘White Christmas’. vocabulary and spelling between the ages of 10 and 16 than those who rarely read”. Institute of Education, 2013

The evening was punctuated by outstanding performances from our Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize many soloists, culminating in Edward Tai’s bravura performance of With the aim of inspiring young people to read about science, each ‘Praeludium and Allegro’ by Kreisler, which demonstrated flair and year the Royal Society awards a prize to a book that achieves that dramatic technique and Jimmy So, who played the Saint-Saëns aspiration. Thanks to Mr Colville, Shebbear College was one of ‘Sonata’ on his clarinet with poise and sophistication, creating the schools invited to select a judging panel and receive copies of exquisite sounds across the full range of the instrument. the shortlisted books. Pictured above are just a few of the pupils Lisa Parker involved, with their ‘thank you’ certificates and the books, now in the college library, which they enjoyed scrutinizing with Mrs Welby. The Issue No 59 16th January 2015

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

2014 winner of the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize, and Griffin and Dan Chamberlain resolute at the back, supplying our that chosen by our judges, is ‘Eyebenders; the Science of Seeing midfield Shebbear scored a third; this time Cameron George Young and Believing’ by Clive Gifford. sweeping the ball passed the keeper after his initial save. Jane Welby The last 5 minutes were equally frantic as Shebbear pushed on but the result of them chasing the game led to a counter attack with devastating consequences and a 6-3 defeat; a reasonable start in preparation for our home match against Kingsley School on Thursday 15th January. Thanks to all the supporting parents who braved the wind on the sidelines! Arron Steel Netball The Second Form played a very strong St. Joseph’s team this week in very cold, windy conditions, at home. Shebbear made a tentative start in the first quarter after an injury was sustained in the first minute of the game. Jessica Biggs was tended to on the side line and then continued on, playing a very strong defence until half time.

The second quarter saw St. Joseph’s go ahead by 10 goals. The second half saw Sophie and Connie Gillies come on court and they both immediately immersed themselves in the game, working really Amazed by Icebergs hard. Cara Phillips played extremely well, working really hard right until the end of the game and was named by the opposition as player Years 1 and 2 have been investigating icebergs this week as part of the match. of their Geographical study of the Arctic and Antarctic. They were amazed to discover just how much of an iceberg is underneath the In the final quarter Shebbear held them to a one all draw. They surface of the water and how many different shades of ‘white’ there continued to play strongly right until the end of the game. The whole are within the ice itself. team showed great promise and should be commended for such an Di Jones excellent match. Football Vicky Innes The 1st XI started their season with a win over local rivals Kingsley The U12s also played St. Joseph’s, their first game together as a School on Wednesday. Despite missing several key players, team at Shebbear. The game was very end to end with both teams Shebbear took the lead with a Harry Dymond penalty early in the struggling a little with the pace and controlling their feet! Some first half, but failed to add to their lead until skipper, Conner Roberts, strong shooting from Ellerker Singleton and Bridget Mathews saw slotted home following a corner midway through the second half. Shebbear sneak ahead to 5-1 ahead at half time. We continued to dominate the game and some excellent defending from Poppy Kingsley scored a disputed goal in the last minute to make the final Daniels meant St. Joseph’s were unable to score again and we went score 2-1, so it was an encouraging start to the campaign, but with onto win the game 10-1. Well done girls, an excellent start to your and Wellington to come next week there is room for first netball season. improvement. Serena Ham Andy Bryan The U13/12 B team lost to a skilfull St. Joseph’s team on Thursday. U12/13 Boys Hockey There were excellent performances from Jess Alexander, Chloe The Junior hockey season began with a pulsating match against Caudwell and player of the match Laura Priest. Chloe Westaway West Buckland as both sides battled hard in the first 15 minutes. was busy throughout the game and at the end of the third quarter There was plenty of determination and after conceding the first scores were very tight at 5-4 to the visitors. St. Joseph’s ran away goal Shebbear levelled after a swift counter attack led by Will with it in the final quarter, but well done all for an excellent match in Cunningham. He played the ball to Patrick Faulkner who calmly challenging conditions. slotted the ball passed the goalkeeper at the back post. As the Jamie Sanders game ebbed and flowed at 1-1 both keepers came to the fore with Cameron Matthew Young between the sticks for Shebbear using his The U14s had their first netball game of the season on Tuesday feet with intelligence to clear any danger. against . Struggling to find their feet in the first quarter the score was 4 all. However, after 10 minutes the girls Disappointingly the defence then switched off and West Buckland calmed down, concentrated on accurate passes, their positioning up capitalised, taking a two goal lead at half time. Things then went from the court and went on to win the game 12-7. Well done to Antonia bad to worse for Shebbear as not long after the re-start it became Aliberti who has stepped into the role as goal shooter and Caitlin 4-1 and then 5-1, but with a goal from Jack Joslin after an intelligent McCartney as goalkeeper, whose energetic approach stopped the run behind the defence to bring the score to 5-2, the team found their opposition scoring on a number of occasions. confidence. The passing became much crisper and with Casper Issue No 59 16th January 2015

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

The 4th Form also played Okehampton but didn’t fare as well. They Shebbear 1st XV v Bideford Colts all worked extremely hard and looked like a team, however the opposition were clearly a more experienced side. The final score Bideford Colts 24 - Shebbear College 19 did not reflect the tenacity and work rate displayed by the 4th Form. Shebbear looked like a well drilled side in this match, scoring a try Annie Westlake worked particularly hard gaining possession for the early on through Sean Clark, who sprinted 50 metres to score, with team on countless occasions. Mrs Innes looks forward to building on Bideford replying with a try through James Ford after a quick tap their strength and skill over the coming weeks. penalty by Reece Pearn.

Our 2nd VII played Kingsley’s First VII on Wednesday. Struggling Shebbear scored another converted try with George Daniel touching with the pace of the game in the first quarter, Shebbear went 4-6 down before Bideford started to take control, scoring tries through down. Realising they needed to pull their socks up and put in a little Billy Cockwill, after some good passing, and Alex Rodgers after a more effort, the girls turned it around and at half time were 10-8 great supporting run by Seb Sanders, with Pearn converting one. up. We continued to dominate the second half going on to win the The score at half time was 17-12 to Bideford. match 23-11. Well done to Abbey Selwyn, Summer Dunscombe and Pheobe Willis-Butcher on their return to netball after a 2 year break. Bideford started well in the second half, using the wind to their Serena Ham advantage and gaining territory, the pressure telling with Seb Sanders crashing over for a try, Pearn converting. Bideford then lost Rugby their way with poor discipline and decision-making, with Shebbear A slightly reduced U13 rugby team travelled to St. Peter’s School showing determination and skill to pull back a converted penalty try, for a sevens tournament on Wednesday. Unfortunately they were the final score being 24-19 to Bideford. missing two players (one due to illness and one to snow), however Shebbear Captain Salah Gobara worked hard throughout, especially the boys did very well after using the first game against the hosts as at the breakdown, with good performances from Centre Sam a warm up. They went on to win their second game against Stover Westlake and Lock Mark Withecombe, for their strong running and 24-7 with a try from Cameron Young (Devonian Cameron) and three defence throughout. from Sean Nadin. Despite many not playing rugby since December, the boys responded well to some tough opposition and with lots of For Bideford, Fraser Priest was ‘everywhere’, with strong rugby sevens to play this term, they have the makings of a good side. performances from Ashley Deakin, Seb Sanders and Mattew Grout. Jamie Sanders Jamie Sanders Issue No 59 16th January 2015

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

If any pupils are interested there are currently vacancies to undertake LAMDA Drama and Speech classes. Please contact Susannah Billeter by email on [email protected]

Best Wishes Brian It has come to our attention that a past member of staff, Brian Pocock, suffered a heart attack last week and has undergone surgery. Brian Request for Volunteers was Head of Chemistry for many years during the 1980s and 90s and also stepped in as acting Headmaster for a short time. We send Once again we are hosting the music section of the very Brian our best wishes for a fast recovery. successful North Devon Performing Arts Festival. In order for this to run smoothly we need volunteers to help steward the Festival over the two days of Tuesday 10th February and Fairtrade Fashion Show Wednesday 11th February. Urgent Request for Second Hand Clothes If you can help please contact Mrs Goode: Email: [email protected] or tel: 01409 282009 If you have any used ladies, mens or childrens clothes in good We would be very grateful for all offers, even if you can only condition that you could donate for use in our Fairtrade Fashion spare a couple of hours. Thank you. Show we would be very grateful. Any excess clothes will be sent to Uganda to be put to good use. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered so far (we still need Please bring anything you can spare to Fran Lovett as soon as a few more). possible. Thank you in advance for your support! Fiona Goode Issue No 59 16th January 2015

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

Picture this ... Winter Concert Issue No 59 16th January 2015

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

Picture this ... Shebbear College 1st XV v Bideford Colts Photography: Naomi Giddy

Shebbear College, Shebbear, Beaworthy, Devon EX21 5HJ Telephone: 01409 282001 Email: [email protected] www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

Start the week with a WIGGLE!!! Every Monday 10.00 – 11.00am

Tuesday class cancelled.

Nearly there! Time to GIGGLE!!! Every Thursday 6.00 – 7.00pm

Shebbear Village Hall

£5 a class (after 10 classes you get one free!) Zumba is AMAZING FUN and suitable for ALL! If you have any questions please e-mail me at [email protected] or call 07741 462353