New Painting

Over the Easter holiday I commisioned a former Shiplake pupil, James Gifford, to do a painting to enhance the entrance hall in Skipwith. This giant painting is now hanging and is as impressive as I had originally thought it would be. It must be seen to be believed and this picture does not do it justice. Please feel free to come in and have a look when you collect your sons at the weekend.



New Prefects

Huge congratulations to Tom Arnold and Harry Vardigans who have been made College Prefects for next year. After 2 rounds of rigorous interviews and voting by students and staff Tom and Harry have been appointed along with 11 others from the other houses. Harry Hogan and Jonathan Smith also did very well to reach the second round interviews but narrowly missed out. We are very proud of all of the boys!

Boys and Dogs

Meg is making herself at home in the sixth form corridor and the normally hardened sixth formers are softening a little.

Skipwith Cufflinks

Not to shy away from a bit of bling, the Skipwith cufflinks are now in stock. These are available to purchase if you are a member of the sixth form, although year 11 may buy them now in preparation for next year. Cost is £15 per pair which is a bargain for such a classy item. Cash or cheques payable to Skipwith House are acceptable.

Hot Dog

I think the heat was getting to Meg this afternoon...

Forward Planning

Planning is well under way not only for the end of this term but also for the start of next year. Some parents may wish to know that we will be holding the annual black tie dinner on Saturday 14th September. Invites will be coming out in the next few weeks but we are already looking forward to it and hoping that many of you will be able to join us for what is a very good night.

Sunny afternoon

What better than to spend a sunny afternoon playing by the river. The CCF have been out in canoes and boats whilst Hogan decided to enjoy his ergo watching the river go by. Meg even got in on the action by trying to play with the guns.

Drama Rehearsals

This Thursday the GCSE Drama is being assessed and a number of our year 11 boys are busy rehearsing for their performance under the watchful eyes of Miss Saker and Miss Unwin.

Open Morning - Saturday 27th April

We are very much looking forward to welcoming prospective parents to the house this coming Saturday. The morning begins at 10am and more details can be found via the main school website (link on the right of this page). Boys and staff will be on hand in house as well as around the rest of the school, to answer any questions you may have or to show you around.

We look forward to seeing lots of new faces next weekend!

If you can't wait until next Saturday then feel free to explore the other pages on this blog.

Interviews

This week some year 12 boys have been going through the prefect interviews with members of the Senior Management. Four boys were lucky enough to get through to the second round of interviews and we obviously wish them the best of luck in the process. Difficult decisions will need to be made this term as we try to appoint senior student roles in house. All will be revealed at the end of term.

House Photo

School and House photos were being taken today. Not to painful thankfully and we are looking forward to the results!

We're back!

Skipwith is up and running again after a great 3 weeks off. The year 9 and 10 boys are frantically doing their final preparations for exams this week, whilst the imminent arrival of GCSE and AS level exams are providing some sobering thoughts for the year 11 and 12 boys. The holiday has certainly been very busy. A large project was undertaken to support the main staircase and whilst you can't see the results of the fix, the staircase is a lot more solid than it was previously. Many boys and staff have been involved in trips and rowing camps. The brave Duke of Edinburgh Award groups went to snowy Wales and camped out in freezing conditions at the start of the holiday, whilst the rowers were on camp last week and the seniors went to Gent International Regatta in Belgium at the weekend. Happily, many Skipwith boys came away with good wins, including a win over the Belgian national junior coxless four from Harry Vardigans and Marek Lapham. These 2 boys also attended Spring assessments for GB rowing. Marek secured a place on the GB Junior rowing team attending the Munich international regatta and harry is still very much in the mix for GB selection in the Summer.

This term is very busy (aren't they all!) and it will fly by. I wish all the boys great success in their preparations for summer exams and in their sporting commitments. There are still many house fixtures to look forward to and I am hoping to unveil a very special surprise in the coming weeks!