Month: December 2023

One of the most important days in the Sedberghian calendar; on Wednesday 13th December our entire school community spent the day giving back to local communities, charities and projects.

This term we launched our Christmas appeal in support of @BritishRedCross and their mission to provide aid and support to victims on both sides in Gaza.

Massive Thank you to Lupton House Girls for all your contributions and help yesterday from St Marys Church in Liverpool 

You were all wonderful absolute joy to have you visit and start the Christmas celebrations

Lupton House

Lupton House travelled to Liverpool and then split into 3 groups:

• One group headed to Sefton Park Palm House to perform a musical accompaniment to an art exhibition, then litter picked to Ranelagh House Care Home where they entertained the residents with carols and chatter.
• Our Second group headed to Liverpool College and coached 180 year 3 and year 6 pupils in athletics, netball and hockey for the afternoon.
• The third group spent the day at St. Mary’s church, Garston where they packed up 110 backpacks for the homeless, prepared and hosted an afternoon tea and performed music at it. The girls (and staff!) returned exhausted but having had a great day. 

Lupton also raised £1300 for Save the Children last week.  

Powell House

Powell House had a cracking day – in beautiful weather – working for the ‘Friends of the Lake District’ on their Borrowdale site. They scoured the fells picking up plastic tree guards, everyone walked miles up and down the fell side. The boys collected over 800 tree guards which will be recycled. The charity could not believe how much the Powell Boys had achieved and were so grateful. 

Sedgwick House

Sedgwick House had a lovely day a Benrigg Trust.  They were divided into groups of four and completed four projects. Bendrigg were delighted with the help and support we have given and we will donate £400.  The carol singing in Kendal went down well- of course the weather was kind and helped enormously but the boys were in good voice and raised over £550.

School House

School House put in some hard work, helping to make the Calvert Trust site more wheelchair accessible. The morning was spent clearing pathways, cleaning the wheelchair course and making the ground level for the planned archery area. In the afternoon, we focused the majority of our time and troops on laying the quarry waste and slate mix on the cleared archery area.

Robertson House

Robertson House had three projects which were to spread Christmas cheer throughout Sedbergh by making and giving out mince pies, biscuits, chocolates and Christmas wreaths. They spent time chatting to local residents which was much appreciated. Thank yous have been flooding in and the girls have also received chocolates and tablet for their efforts as well as cards and messages.

In Horton the girls transformed three rooms in a women’s holiday centre that were in great need of redecoration. The family room was freshened up and the playroom was also really successful and given a jungle theme. The staff were so grateful and made cookies and lunch for the girls and staff as a thank you. Sophia Bell, Sophia Tarleton and Maddie Burnside were particularly helpful.

Year 10 along with Tilly and Flo from year 12 went to Loughrigg to ‘fix the fells’ and they repaired paths and helped fix drainage issues in a location near Ambleside.

Winder House 

Winder House enjoyed a day outdoors at the Brathay Trust Ambleside, a charity offering life changing community programmes to children and families in need. The boys spent the entire day resurfacing the roads within the complex. Wheelbarrows, rakes and ground thumpers were constantly on the move everywhere as over 10 tonnes of gravel was shifted, logs were moved and stacked and areas cleared. Every boy played his part and all enjoyed doing something so rewarding and absolutely worthwhile.

Carus House

Carus House enjoyed the generosity of the people of Liverpool – the encouragement and donations flowed throughout the non-stop rotations of carol singing. Shoppers young and old stopped in the sunshine in Liverpool One, to be entertained, but also spent time hearing of the work of KIND – a local Liverpool children’s charity. A combination of toys purchased and donated, as well as a cash donation is already out for distribution to disadvantaged children as part of the charities annual ‘toy bank’ appeal. 

Evans House

Evans House were highly industrious at Ripon Walled Garden, a centre for adults with learning needs. Together the boys:

• Chipped over 100 Christmas trees
• Created new pathways
• Cleared the woodland/tidying
• Removed ivy from the wall- vitally important to protect the walled garden where Lewis Caroll played as a child
• Helped remove furniture
• Chopped down trees
• Mixed cement 
• Built a fire pit/burn area
• Repaired pathways

Hart House

Year 12 had a good day helping maintenance jobs at the Field studies centre in Grange. The staff there were pleased with the boy’s effort. Years 10 & 11 planted 1300 hedge row plants at Cautley, before enjoying a sunny walk back to school over the fell. The volunteers thought the boys showed excellent determination and look forward to doing it again. Finally, years 9 & 13 were removing tree guards with The Eden Rivers Trust. The boys were split into groups and the staff were impressed with their teamwork skills and work ethic. The work that the boys did would have taken 3 weeks for the small volunteer group to complete.  

The Winder Parish (Hit Squad)

Ten boys split into a team of six and four gave back to the local community by doing maintenance jobs around the town. Over 70 hours of work were undertaken saving the Parish Council and the wider Sedbergh Community £1050 in wages.

Tasks included heavily reducing the hedge in Loftus Hill Car Park and clearing three trailers full of wet leaves from parking bays. Curb stones were reset, pot holes filled with tarmac, flower beds cleared and planted.

Around the town litter was cleared from streets and verges and the areas around the recycling facilities at spar and Joss lane cleaned. Two picnic sites were tidied, bus shelters cleared from leaves and cobwebs, public notice boards tidied and the list goes on….. A dozen sacks of litter no longer reside in the verges on the approaches to the town as well as a full car wheel, several discarded signs, and parts of a trailer.

Heroic effort by some great lads that delivered real tangible benefits on our own doorstep.

After Sedbergh, Pru – Captain of the Hockey Team and England pathways player – will be going to Princeton University in the United States to study and play hockey. Pru came from France to join the School in Year 10 and it was in France that her love of hockey began. Pru talks about how she is following the sport she loves to take up the ‘unmissable’ opportunity to study in the US. 

Pru is studying for A levels in Psychology, Business and French plus Geography as an AS level subject.

Sedbergh has helped me to be successful by just encouraging me to dive into all opportunities. Knowing that I was going to an Ivy, they were really supportive with time management and they were like, you need to keep your grades up. And I understood that and I understood that I need to keep the level on the pitch as well and they just helped me balance that. My House Mistress was like, if it’s too much you need to let me know. If you need to miss this and you need to study then do it because we really want you to excel and that was the main thing. They just wanted to help in areas that they could.

From the start my House Mistress Ms Macdonald was like, you’re going to love it! She just knew that it sounds like me and she’s very excited for me and so am I.

What made you think of going to the U.S. for university?

I wanted to look for something that gave me the sport yet with the good standard of university. I knew of people in America and so I looked over there. They just give so much support to student athletes, whether that’s money-wise, time-wise, just helping them. I was looking for a while and I decided that’s probably going to be the best option if I want to keep playing a high level of hockey and keep that same high level with my education.

I was looking between a few universities and they’re all very similar. They all offer the same and they’re all great universities. It came down to the coaches and how welcoming they were. Obviously, I’m over here and I’ve yet to go out there to see them so I’ve had to base it off who I spoke to and how I felt when I spoke to them. It was a lot of video calls and speaking with my mum, comparing who we generally liked better and that’s what the final decision was I think.

What are you planning to study at university?

I’m not fully sure of my future plans yet, which is one of the benefits of studying in America. You don’t need to decide up-front. So I’m going to wait until I’m out there to decide. It could be along the lines of public national affairs, something like that. And then law conversion when I come back, that’s what I’m planning on but it’s not set in stone.

How did you become aware of the US pathway?

Whilst I was in the England pathway [for hockey], the idea of playing and studying for a university in the U.S. was talked about amongst the players because it has so many benefits. Everyone was saying, it’s just something you can’t turn down, especially when they love to look for those international players and pick you out and they’re so willing to take you on. It’s almost like you just have to let them sweep you up and you just go along with the process. So, when I knew the benefits it came with and that all I had to do was put my name in there, I thought why not? My mum said to me to just have those calls, it could lead you anywhere. So, I was having many calls with many universities; quite a broad range from Ivy to non-Ivy League. Once your name was in there they were willing to just sweep you up and they were very excited about an international player coming over.

How did you educate yourself about the pathway?

I spoke to people who I know out there. I actually know quite a few, but apart from that I got myself an agent and she taught me a lot especially about the process and she also helped me understand what sort of level I should look for and how high I could aim. You always have that doubt – thinking that’s quite a good school. But she was really willing and supportive and that’s where I got most of my understanding of the curriculum and the pathway.

What has been the most useful preparation for this pathway?

I definitely think what’s helped me most will be the boarding side, being around your friends, having to understand feelings and emotions of girls and take that onboard and as I’m about to go do the same in America, you co-board with someone else as well and they’re going to be on your hockey team. I think it’s going to be very similar. I remember speaking to my now new coach and she was like, you’re going to be so much better prepared compared to other people. Just having that experience, it’s going to be very similar just over here. So that was quite comforting. Knowing I’m going to understand what a day-to-day would be over there. It could be quite similar to here.

What is the biggest challenge that you’ve had to overcome?

My main challenge, believe it or not, may be confidence – on and off the pitch. Having lived in France, there was a massive language barrier and I had to overcome that fear of not knowing and just having to read other people and understand that you’re not going to understand everything but people still get along. And so coming here the comfort of my own language, I just felt like I opened up and my confidence has come back and yeah, I just much more confident.

What is a key thing thing that Sedbergh has taught you?

In general, from my time at Sedbergh it would have to be time management. The amount of things that I’m doing day to day, you have to manage it. So, I think that’s definitely what I’ve learned coming here – how to balance the sport yet achieve good grades and seek that extra help but also to be on the pitch at extra times. Sometimes you just feel like there’s not enough time in the day for everything I want to do. So for me, it’s definitely been time management.

What is your favorite thing about boarding at Sedbergh?

My favorite thing about boarding at Sedbergh School is being around my friends all the time. Whether you are down or up, they’re always there and you can literally just pop in to the room next door and have your chat and go back. It’s an experience that you’ll only understand if you come to a boarding school. I think it’s just such a great opportunity to have your friends so close, whether it’s in the same house or just across the field in another girl’s house. I just think it’s the best opportunity.

Which of Sedbergh’s values do you most identify with and why?

I identify most with ambition as one of Sedbergh’s values; always pushing myself for that further step. I think going somewhere which is thousands of miles across from where I am now is daunting, yet I’m going to take it as exciting in a new chapter. And you have to, it’s an opportunity you can’t turn down. If I don’t like it, I don’t like it, but I really, I need to try it. And I think, honestly, I think when I’m out there it’s going to be hard to get me back!

For the final session of the year, Chemical Curiosities, our newest academic society, extended a warm invitation to pupils to join us in applying their chemistry expertise to craft decorations that would embellish our Chemis-Trees.

Guiding this creative endeavour was Ms. van Diepen, alongside the society’s founders—Jack, Mason, and Benedict—each leading a different decoration-making hub.

• Silver mirror baubles – Based on the method that was historically used to make mirrors we reacted ammoniacal silver nitrate with an aldehyde (redox reaction) to coat the inside of our ‘baubles’ with silver!
• Silver crystal trees – Using tin snips we cut Christmas tree shapes out of copper sheeting. We then immersed our copper trees in silver nitrate solution. The silver replaces the more reactive copper (a displacement reaction) leaving our trees coated in pure silver!
• Indicator baubles – Using acids and bases we changed the pH of our Indicator Solutions to create ‘baubles’ ranging in colour from pink through to green, blue and purple!

The formulations we used in our lab can’t be repeated at home, so Ms van Diepen has shared instructions for making your own Salt Crystal Snowflake; a decoration that everyone can make safely at home!

Make Your own Salt Crystal Snowflake Decorations

• Make a snowflake shape out of pipe-cleaners and attach it to a piece of string to hang the snowflake decoration from later. Your snowflake design should fit into a clean glass jar.
• Boil 1 cup of water in a pan.
• Add salt to the water and stir until it has dissolved. Keep adding and stirring until no more salt will dissolve (this will be probably around a cup of salt).
• At this point you can add a food colouring of your choice.
• Pour the hot solution into the glass jar then suspend your snowflake in the solution with the string hanging out of the jar.
• Leave the experiment for up to a week and salt crystals should form along your snowflake design.

We are delighted to announce that Casterton, Sedbergh Prep School has been included in the Top 50 Prep/Junior Schools in the year’s The Cricketer Schools’ Guide.

The 2024 successful roll call of Prep Schools (alongside lists of the top 100 Senior and 20 all-girls schools) was recently announced following a comprehensive selection process that saw a huge number of schools submit entries for inclusion in the guide. 

All entries were then judged against an extensive set of criteria, which included a compelling commitment to cricket in the curriculum, facilities, fixture programmes and coaching. 

Mr Bunday has said “Now that we have cricket as the main sport in the Summer Term, for both the boys and the girls, it is only going to get better and better!”

Learn more about the extensive cricket provision at Sedbergh Prep School by watching the video below:

The development of young cricketers at Sedbergh Prep is crucial to the success of cricket at Sedbergh School, with coaches regularly attending sessions across both schools, not only giving pupils the best opportunity to develop, but the coaches too.

Following the end of the latest school production, Ms Want, Head of Performance Drama, shares a few reflections on the show itself, the process of bringing it to fruition and the life skills that pupils benefit from when involved in a ‘professional’ production.

I am once again so immensely proud of the whole company, for a variety of reasons. In part, it’s their responses to the teaching and direction that they receive, and it is also for the amazing bonding exercise that an activity like this has had on a group of people assembled across ages, gender and abilities. 

It is hard to communicate all the elements of the production experience, that is sampled by all the participants, over the whole term period. It is not simply about the week of performance or the fun of dressing up, dancing and singing. It also requires the co-operation of the whole school, for which I am always extremely grateful.

“Grease”, being a well-known and loved show was selected in order to proactively deliver a special buzz amongst students. This it did, and it was sustained all the way through to the last night. 

There can be no doubt that the show was a hit with participants and audience members alike. The success of any such live production can be put down to the input, commitment and desire to make it work, of those on the stage, and those behind the scenes bringing the performers and the stage to life. 

Discipline

Performing and entertaining is a serious business which any professional actor, singer or entertainer of any kind will confirm. The best possess iron discipline and a relentless pursuit of excellence. 

Our students learn to perform, they learn for the performance, and they learn as they perform. They understand and accept too that as well being fun and engaging, the creative process can drag, with a lot of waiting around and repetition, that is absolutely necessary to the outcome,. The best performers also respect and are gracious to others, regardless of status. Egos of course exist, but the best appreciate that all players are intrinsic to the production’s overall success. 

Inevitably, the auditioning process can throw up disappointments, but responses to setbacks offer one of many life skills that theatre and drama performance give.

Teamwork and Life skills

Teamwork, respect, personal discipline are just the start. Add in vocal expression, physical strength, cultural awareness, confidence building, presentation skills – a performance experience of this type gives all the cast members a huge sample of the all round development skills that Drama GCSE and A Level students already know and experience.

The Brewery

With particular reference to the annual Michaelmas show, the contribution that the use of The Brewery gives is almost immeasurable. Being in and working on the show is a major lift and achievement for all cast members. To be able to do it in a real, professional theatre brings an additional motivational dimension to the experience.

The part that Brewery staff themselves play goes a long way to making it a success, and the students get a genuine sense of the professionalism required in performing. 

In summary

Once again, I am indebted to all staff, and not just those who directly contributed to the production and logistics processes. I also appreciate so much, the role that the wider school has to play and flexibility of all teaching, Works, catering and house staff throughout the term, during rehearsals and other disruptions to lessons and other activities. It’s all part of the teamwork required. 

Any feedback you can glean from colleagues or pupils would be greatly received, but most importantly, I hope you benefit from the positivity that this show and others have brought. The great thing about theatre and performance generally, is that they are all winners!

Images from the show can be found on Facebook.

2023 has been another action-packed year of cricket at Sedbergh, and we round the year off with the news that we have been named in the Top 100 Schools in The Cricketer Schools’ Guide.

On the field, we witnessed Sedberghian history being made, as Year 13 pupil Mahika became the first woman to represent the 1st XI. That was the first of many milestones for Mahika in 2023, which can certainly be defined as her breakout year. Making her England debut in the summer in both one day and T20 formats, the left-arm pace bowler picked up wickets and plenty of plaudits along the way, resulting in Mahika being named PCA Women’s Young Player of the Year.

https://youtu.be/n6WIrKZkSfQ?si=2RRwvHyxk9ORfD9W

Former School captains Harriet Robson and Tom Aspinwall have both enjoyed time out on the field this year. Harriet, who has been a wonderful addition to our Sedbergh Courses cricket coaching staff, has recently been named on the Northern Diamonds Academy for the 2024 season. Aspinwall featured heavily in a homecoming fixture for him, as we welcomed Lancashire and Essex back in August for their one day cup game. After a destructive innings with the bat (scoring 22 off just 10 balls, including 3 sixes), Aspinwall then made an impressive contribution in the field, taking a brilliant catch out on the boundary.

We start 2024 with a bang, as we welcome new Director of Cricket, James Anyon to Sedbergh. James joins us from Hurstpierpoint College, where he brings a wealth of experience from both on and off the field. The former Warwickshire and Sussex bowler had a playing career that spanned 12 years, before James moved into coaching and evolve his passion for player development.”I am very much looking forward to joining a school with such an outstanding reputation for its cricket.” Said James. In his role as Director of Cricket, James will also oversee the cricket programme at Casterton, Sedbergh Preparatory School, ensuring a comprehensive and unified approach to cricket development. We’re delighted to see Sedbergh Prep School also recognised in The Cricketer Schools’ Guide, named in the Top 50 Prep & Junior Schools. The development of young cricketers at Sedbergh Prep is crucial to the success of cricket at Sedbergh School, with coaches regularly attending sessions across both schools, not only giving pupils the best opportunity to develop, but the coaches too.

We look ahead to the warmer summer months when cricket fixtures return, and we also welcome the return of Lancashire and Durham, who face each other in their opening fixture of the one day cup at Sedbergh at the end of July. The week before, we host Thunder Cricket Vs Southern Vipers in their Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy clash.

Having journeyed through Sedbergh Prep School from nursery to year 8, Daisy is now in year 9 at Senior School. In a recent interview, we invited Daisy – a committed scholar recognised at our recent Commendation Lunch – to reflect on her transition to Senior School and share her insights.

The best thing so far about being in senior school is that I think there’s a lot more opportunities. And you’ve got a lot of time with your friends and stuff like that. I boarded a little bit at Casterton, but at Senior School I now full board and love it.

I found it quite easy to transition from the Prep School to Senior School because being in Prep School kind of prepares you with boarding and everything. I feel like the lessons are similar, but there’s a lot more walking between them! Everything is smaller and closer together at Prep School but I think the surroundings at Senior School really make it special.

I think the most challenging thing about starting Senior School was probably getting a good routine and getting everything organised. My organisation has definitely improved since being at Senior School! The subjects I find most exciting this year are probably chemistry and biology, just because they’re really interesting and there’s a lot of depth to them.

My academic goals for the rest of the year are probably to work hard on everything and try and achieve as high as I possibly can in my lessons. That’s what I did in Prep School too.

Right now, I think that for a career I would probably like to own a business. I’m not sure yet what sort of business it would be, but I think I’d probably do industry work.

I’ve definitely made a lot of new friends since starting at Sedbergh Senior School. Friends from different countries and different schools. What I like about my new group of friends is just how close we all are and because of how things are set up you can do a lot of things together. You get lots of activities here. I know you get lots at Casterton too, but you get lots of activities here and I’ve tried a lot of things; I’ve joined the choir, which has been really good, and the plays as well, which are quite new.

If I had to give myself advice to make next year an even better year I think I would say to keep working hard and always put studies as a priority and just be consistent.