28th May 2010
A Message from the Headmistress
Many of the younger girls have now finished their examinations for the year, while the girls taking important public examinations keep going for some weeks. The results for these examinations are not known until August (19th for 'A' levels and 26th for GCSEs). Meanwhile there many traditional events to enjoy at school - swimming galas, sports days, tennis tournaments, technology day, the Third Form Activity Week and our end of term service at St Mary's to name a few. Please support your girls at these events whenever possible.
Fund Raising
Our fund raising activities so far this year has raised £2633.45 in total. This term's objectives are slightly different. On Friday 11 June we are holding a mufti day in aid of St Wilfrid's Hospice and girls are asked to donate £2 to be brought into school either before or on the day. St Wilfrid's Hospice provides specialist palliative care to local people, which means looking after the pain, distress and other symptoms of advanced Cancer, Motor Neurone Disease and other terminal illnesses. Each year the charity supports around 500 dying people in the Hospice or at home. St Wilfrid's Hospice is particularly close to our hearts as Isabel Costello (L6) has been working on a voluntary basis for the Hospice shop as her service contribution towards her Gold Duke of Edinburgh award. We would like to raise as much as possible and so there will also be a cake sale at 11am on Friday 11 June; delicious contributions to this would be very much appreciated. Isabel will be in the dining hall before school to receive cakes.
St Wilfrid's Hospice Shops are always in need of quality items in good condition to sell in their shops and in response to this we have agreed to act as a collection point for donated goods during the week of 14-18 June. Items such as clothes, toys, books etc, but not electrical equipment or underwear please. Goods can be brought into school and left in the collection boxes in the front hall. Half term poses an excellent opportunity to turn out cupboards to make room for your summer wardrobe so please be generous in your giving.
IVth Form GCSE Exams
The IVth Form will be taking their first GCSE exams shortly after half term on the following dates:
History Unit 3 - Weds 9th June
Chemistry Unit 1 - Weds 16th June
Maths Calculator Paper & History Unit 2 - Mon 21st June
Maths Non-calculator Paper - Weds 30th June
Official Statements of Entry and Exam Regulations will be given to the girls after half term. Please encourage your daughters to take these exams seriously and start revising during the holiday. It is a good opportunity for them to get part of their GCSE grades achieved in some subjects, before starting their final year.
Congratulations!
Eleni Kolios, IVth Form, has started her writing career as she means to go on. Eleni has just been awarded second prize in the prestigious Jane Austen's House Museum's "Young Writers Competition - Novel Opening" and she will receive her prize at a special ceremony at Chawton House from writer in residence, Rebecca Smith. Congratulations Eleni, we will follow your progress as a writer with interest.
Congratulations also to Nicola Boffee and Megan Restarick who raised £186.00 for End Polio Now by spending two days on crutches. The Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation guaranteed to match the funds donated so the £186.00 will save the lives of 930 small children. Well done Nicola and Megan.
Simply Speech
After the excellent LCM examination results, as well as success in the Chichester Speech Festival, a number of Speech & Drama girls took part in a showcase of the work covered this year. Performances in verse and prose speaking, acting in duologue and solo acting were demonstrated including an example of improvisation. The whole programme was varied and girls from the age of 6 years and upwards to 14 years took part.
Summer Ball
Don't forget to buy your tickets for the Summer Ball on Friday 2nd July. The theme this year is 'Arabian Nights' and the whole evening promises to be absolutely wonderful.
PFA BBQ
The PFA BBQ was a great success again this year. The dancing was excellent and the sun came out after a week of really dismal weather. Many thanks to the tireless PFA Committee for all their hard work.
Speech Day Saturday 3rd July
Speech Day is a compulsory attendance for pupils, and we hope that all parents will be able to come too. It is an important and special occasion in the school year and we are thrilled to welcome Pom Oliver as our guest this year. Pom is one of the few women ever to have trekked to both the North and South Poles.
Holidays in term-time
Quite a number of girls are missing days of school around half-term for holidays. Our terms are short and there are 17 weeks of holiday in the school year. Please try to avoid your daughter missing valuable school time. Their days at school involve education in its widest sense, including academic, social, moral, creative, physical and many other aspects. Although it may seem that only a few lessons are missed, each day lost represents educational experiences that will never be recaptured
Senior Assembly
The Senior School was thrilled to welcome old girl Karen Radband back on Monday to take our assembly. Karen and four of her friends have just rowed across the Atlantic and her experiences and photographs were fascinating. Never underestimate a Lavant girl!
We have also welcomed back PC Sarah Pack, who parents may remember from our Internet Awareness Evening in February. PC Pack spoke to the girls on the safe use of the internet.
Annual Parents' Questionnaire
We should be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete the questionnaire that we send out each year at this time to parents. It is your opportunity to comment and make suggestions and this information is very helpful to us as we plan the further development of the school.
Cycle Chartres 2010
Mrs Marks cycled the 180 miles (or so) from Chichester to Chartres over the May Day Holiday, raising over £300.00 for the Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour's charitable fund. This year the money is earmarked to help local families in need. Mrs Marks would like to thank all the staff, girls and parents who contributed money, times and enthusiasm to help make the ride a success.
Bronze D of E Practice Camp 15th/16th May
Well done IVth Form! 17 members of the 4th Form spent an enjoyable but very tiring weekend walking in the South Downs. After walking around 15km, Saturday night was spent cooking an evening meal on gas stoves and camping in the school grounds. Early Sunday morning, after cooking breakfast, it was time to pack up tents for another day of walking. Hopefully the weather will be as kind for the Assessed Expedition which will be taking place just after half term (19th /20th June).
Archaeological Dig
On Tuesday 5th May the Ist Form enjoyed a 'Roman' handling session at Chichester Museum followed by a visit to a 'live' archaeological dig. At the museum girls were able to handle Roman artefacts and some were brave enough to try on a Roman army uniform including chain-mail and a helmet. We then walked around the Roman Walls of Chichester to the dig site. The dig has uncovered further remains of the Roman wall, in particular a 'bastion' which was clearly visible. The visit was very interesting and informative, the girls asked lots of sensible questions. Particularly exciting was the skull of a 'Roman' pig that had been partially uncovered and this was followed by Rhiannon Phelps finding a tooth of a 'Roman' cow, which she was able to keep. Perhaps we have inspired some future archaeologists!
PFA News
A hardy group with warm sweaters and scarves braved the elements for the PFA Barbecue on 14th May. We were lucky with the weather, it didn't rain, but it was chilly! The girls didn't feel the cold as they were put through their dance paces by Emma Cordall from the Dynamic Dance Company and the rest of us kept warm by huddling round the barbecue which was ably womanned by Nikki, our Australian Gap year student. A good time was had by all and we made £500 for PFA funds - thank you all! Could we put in an appeal for good quality prizes to be left at the office for the PFA tombola at the Ball please.
Boarding House
With the weather improving the boarders are enjoying all their summer activities. Our first beach barbecue was a success despite the rain, strong winds and flying sand. Our outing to Thorpe Park was a great success, even the weather was on our side. The girls enjoyed the exciting rides. Thursday night activities are going very well with Pip Rainbow's Rounders team leading the series 3 - 1. Adrian and Joanna are providing us with delicious food and we are grateful to Amy and Mrs Scott for helping with the swimming. The Juniors are really enjoying playing Rounders with the older girls and are certainly up for the challenge when batting and fielding.
Next half term we will welcome our overseas students who will stay with us until the end of term. There are two French girls (Form I and Form II) who need accommodation over the exeat weekend of 25th/26th June. Please contact Mrs Kyffin if you are able to help. Please note that Mrs Kyffin's email address is boarding@lavanthouse.org.uk. On the weekend of the 18th June we are hoping to take the boarders on a camping weekend.
Senior Sports
Since returning from the Easter holidays the sun has been shining and the girls have managed to get out onto the field and play some very exciting fixtures.
Their first fixture saw the U12 and U13 up against Ditcham Park, playing away. The girls showed some tremendous batting in the first innings and fielded strongly, but Ditcham Park's batting was just too strong. In the second innings we came back to win both of the games comfortably. The Lavant House girls should be very proud of how they played and their strong teamwork. Well done.
Following a tremendously successful tag rugby club, run by Mr Breach, we played in a tag rugby festival at Chichester High School for Girls. There were 11 schools present at the festival and the sun was shining brightly. Each school was allocated a country to represent, in line for the Women's Rugby World Cup this Summer. Lavant House were representing Wales (which made Mrs Kyffin very proud indeed) and the girls all had the welsh flag painted on their faces, including Miss Cawte! The tournament started off well, with the girls playing very strongly, however, with a very slippery pitch and the very hot weather, the Lavant House red team lost their first match to Angmering College. As time went on, the girls started to work together, supporting each other and creating some really fantastic plays. The Lavant House red team won 2 matches, drew 1 and lost 1. The Lavant House blue team however, stormed through their pool and won 3 matches and drew 1. They finished joint first with Westergate Community College but sadly came second in their pool due to having scored less tries overall than Westergate. The girls all came away with prizes including a key ring, wrist band, key holder and a certificate which were given out during assembly.
On Tuesday 25th May, 3 Ist Form pupils and 6 IInd Form pupils joined together to play a Rounders fixture against Prebendal School at home. The girls batted first and scored a fantastic 10.5 rounders on 30 good balls. They then kept their fielding tight and managed to stop Prebendal scoring more than 5 rounders. In the second innings, Lavant kept up their strong batting and managed to finish on 19 rounders overall. Prebendal batted strongly in the second innings but Lavant's fielding was just too strong, allowing them to win 19 - 12 rounders.
The U14 and U15 Rounders teams played Ditcham Park at Lavant House on Wednesday 26th May, with many parents and pupils coming out to support the girls, the spirits were high. The U14 girls batted and fielded superbly in the first innings to give them a 10 - 9 rounder lead. Ditcham Park had some strong players who fielded consistently well to keep them in the game. However, Lavant House came back strongly in the second half and proved to be too much for Ditcham Park, giving Lavant House a tremendous win of 18 rounders to Ditcham's 14. However, on the other pitch, the U15 were having a tricky time fielding with Ditcham's extremely strong batting. Ditcham were scoring a rounder on nearly every ball. However, Lavant kept their heads and spirits high and came back from a 4 rounders scored in the first innings to 9 scored in the second innings. Sadly the opponents batting and fielding skills proved too strong, giving Lavant House a loss of 13 - 21.
Junior Sports
The U11s lost their first match of the term with a narrow half rounder loss to Alton Convent. They then got back to their winning ways to beat Conifers 23 - 10. The U11 team played against Rookesbury Park on Wednesday afternoon. Lavant batted first and scored a good 14.5 rounders. Rookesbury scored some good full rounders but only scored 8.5 in total. Lavant's fielding was excellent and they took each player out in 8 minutes. Lavant batted even better in the second innings scoring 25.5 rounders overall. Rookesbury tried hard but were all out for 16 in total. The match ended with Lavant winning by 25.5 to 16. Taylor took a great catch on 3rd base but Poppy was the player of the match scoring 6 full rounders.
Next half term will be really exciting with our Sports Day and Swimming Gala.
Junior Lavant
Here in the Junior Department we have been making the most of the sunshine and swimming in the pool as often as we can. It is fantastic to see the children growing in confidence and enjoying the water. The warm weather was also most welcome on our trip to Marwell Zoo last Friday. The girls took part in a specialised workshop focusing on how animals have adapted their lifestyles to suit their environment. We were able to touch two of the inhabitants of the zoo, Kylie the Giant Stick Insect and Einstein the Gecko. I am sure that all involved enjoyed the experience!
As part of History topics we have been along to the Bishop's Wall dig in Chichester and had a first hand experience of an archaeological dig. We have also had two speakers sharing with the girls their memories of life in Lavant and their knowledge of the school and village history. Both speakers were very interesting and brought alive the information.
Due to the number of children now playing a musical instrument, we had to hold two musical assemblies this term. It takes courage to be able to perform a piece in front of an audience of adults and peers. As always I am extremely proud of the girls who take up the challenge.
This week the Years 6 girls have been doing their cycling proficiency course. This is always an enjoyable part of the Year 6 curriculum. We will be ending the term with a money raising Cheeky Monkey Day in aid of Children with Leukaemia. The girls have been set a number of fun challenges to complete during the day. I hope that we will raise a good amount for this worthy cause.
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