Year 9 Poems for Remembrance

THERE I WAS

THERE I WAS, DRUNK WITH FATIGUE,
BLISTERS EVERYWHERE WITH NO GUN ROOM TO SPARE.
A BULLIT AT SPEED, HAS NO INTEGRITY TO SUCCEED.
 THERE I WAS STANDING WITHOUT A BIRD IN SIGHT,
BUT ALL ARTILLERY SHELLS HAVING A FLIGHT.
 THERE I WAS, PUT TO THE GROUND,
BUT ALL I COULD HEAR WAS NO SOUND.
 

By Jamie Gibbs

I AM A SOLDIER

I AM A SOLDIER, FIGHTING FOR MY COUNTRY

I’M TERRIFIED, TO PUT IT BLUNTLY.

I SOON LEARNED AND ACCEPTED MY FATE;

I WAS GOING TO DIE AND BE LEFT IN A CRATE

SO PLEASE DO ONE THING FOR ME,

TO MAKE THIS EASIER FOR MY FAMILY.

PUT MY MEDALS ON MY CHEST

AND TELL THEM ALL I DID MY BEST

TELL THEM ALL NOT TO CRY, FOR I AM A SOLDIER

AND BORN TO DIE.

By William Brunning

WAS IT WORTH IT?

I LOOK UPON THE FIELD OF THE SOMME,

AND THE SCARS OF MANY A WRATHFUL BOMB.

I STOP AND TAKE A BRREATH,

STRUCK BY THE SCALE OF DEATH.

WAS IT WORTH IT?

YOUNG MEN, EAGER TO ENLIST,

OBLIVIOUS TO HOW MUCH THEY WOULD BE MISSED.

THEY WERE CUT DOWN, NO MATTER HOW BRAVE,

ALL THEY ARE NOW IS A NAME ON A GRAVE.

WAS IT WORTH IT?

By Duncan Eglinton

MUD

HOBBLING THROUGH SLUDGE, THE MEN THEY CAME

SOME PARALISED AND MANY WERE LAME.

NOT WANTING TO REMEMBER THE TERRIBLE DAYS WHERE THEY LEFT ALL THEIR FRIENDS IN THE MUD AND DECAY.

AT THE START, THE MEN SIGNED UP READY FOR A THRILL,

NOT KNOWING THAT THEY HAD BEEN SENT OUT TO THE KILL.

COLD BLOODED MURDER BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES,

FIGHTING LIKE JUST SUICIDE.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

WHOEVER KNEW THERE WOULD BE SUCH A MESS

PRO PATRIA MORI  

WHAT A TERRIBLE STORY.

SO TRY TO IMAGINE GOING OVER THE TOP

WOULD YOU ENCOURAGE WAR OR IMPLORE IT TO STOP?

By Jack Parrott

Remembrance

Skipwith House was extremely well represented in Junior Assembly this morning and will be again in Senior Assembly tomorrow. Jack Parrott, Duncan Eglinton, Jamie Gibbs and William Brunning  read out their poems, which were remarkably moving. Considering they were scribbled down on the coach during the year 9 Battlefields trip over half-term, they really were terrific.

                       The boys waiting nervously for Assembly to begin:

The Theme for the fortnight is Remembrance and there is obviously special significance this year, with the marking of 100 years since the beginning of World War 1. Mr Nick Brown dedicated the assembly to WW1 due to the trip and nature of the words in the poems, but made it very clear that remembrance is about remembering all those who died in any war and from any nation. An important message!

The poppies at the Tower of London represent the 888,246 British Soldiers who lost their lives in WW1 and I, like most of the country visited the Tower during half-term with my family. This time of year really is one of reflection and respect.

We have a Remembrance service at Shiplake in the Great Hall on Sunday at 10.45am. Please do come if you live locally and are not attending somewhere else. We would love to see you!

Open Morning

It was great to show off Skipwith to prospective new parents on Saturday. Mr Muhley took a couple of shots of our house guides Chris Drobik, Josh Cuffe, Anton Renouf and Adam Hunt waiting to educate the future. Carl Harris was on a tour but was just as nosey a few minutes earlier.

A busy week!

We had a bumper busy Skipwith House last week!

Junior House Sport kicked off and our first fixture was Skipwth Eggar v Skipwith Wells-Furby. It finished 2-2. The rest of the football tournament was great fun and the second half is next Monday. Senior Football starts tomorrow.

The rugby tournament on Saturday was also great and the representation was fantastic.

Head of House Matt Horsfall addressed us at check before any House Sport had taken place to remind the group about losing or winning with dignity and playing in the correct manner. It was a nice touch!

On Thursday there was a lovely mini concert in the Eve Lecture Theatre, where among others Matt Aldridge (pictured), Dhanyal Butt, Tom McCooke and Jordan Gibson performed. Jordan song 'Stormy Weather' has been stuck in our heads ever since.

We also had Nav's birthday last week. He celebrated by completed our most outrageous catwalk of the year so far to September's birthday song - Mr Big Stuff...

A great week!

Black Tie Dinner

Thank you parents, catering, staff and musicians. It was a great night. I hope everyone enjoyed it. We look forward to next year.

House Sport

This year's house sports competitions kick off this week and there is a great buzz in Skipwith about this. The first competitions are Junior (years 9 & 10) Football and Rugby. Junior Football rounds 1-3 are on Thursday 25th September and the Junior Rugby full competition is taking place this Saturday 27th September, replacing full school fixtures. Senior Football (year 11, 12 & 13) kicks off next Monday.

This is the first opportunity for our new House system to work. We now have divided into two Skipwith teams, Skipwith Eggar and Skipwith Wells-Furby. 

Reasons for the names:

John Eggar was the Headmaster from 1963 to 1979. 

During his time here:

Numbers rose from 152 to about 315

Facilities improved greatly, with new classrooms and the agreement put in place to use ‘new field’ for sport

The first cricket pavilion was opened

The Sports hall was built, which opened in 1980, following a successful appeal for £130,000

The Headmaster’s house was built

Hans Well-Furby joined Shiplake in May 1960.

He was the Deputy Head and used the Office now occupied by the Skipwith Housemaster. He had a reputation for being fairly fierce...

Hans wrote the book 'Wish and fulfilment, The story of Shiplake College'

Due to the size of Skipwith, with a total of 112 students, we have split into these two equal halves for sport in an act of fairness towards other houses with less students to choose from. The reaction to this has been mixed from our boys, who see it as a significant disadvantage but the reasoning behind it is to enable more inclusion and potentially fairer games. We will have to see how it works out and the boys must play with pride and belief. It is important to point out that these halves are not random, nor are they meant to be 'A' and 'B' teams. They have been specifically chosen to be as equal in sporting ability as possible.

The positive is that our highest placed team will score points overall towards the Baldry Cup.

I hope the boys play well. Parents are invited to attend the Junior Rugby on Saturday 27th September, which begins at 13.30.

Shiplake College Sports Fixtures

If you need information about where and when a fixture is taking place please use the excellent Shiplake Sports website. It is easy to follow and should lead to a considerable decrease in needless questions to staff!

http://www.shiplakesports.org.uk/

Charity Walk - Final Sponsorship push

Please can there be a final push to get sponsored for the walk on Monday. We are aiming at a minimum of £50 sponsorship per student.

All details can be found here: http://www.shiplake.org.uk/sponsoredwalk2014

Parents are more than welcome to walk, and there is information on this in the newsletter being sent out today.

Many Thanks

Mr Duncan

A fun and busy week

Wow....

What a fantastic start to the term in Skipwith House!

A big thank you to all the team for their hard work over the last few days and to parents for your support. Friday was the culmination of a busy few days and the whole house bonded at the House Event. Pictures below.

Highlights and key points:

Year 12 and 13 courses agreed and started
New Year 12 boarders settled in (Jonathan, Vincent, Oliver, Chris, Jack and Anton)
Year 11 returned for their crucial GCSE year
Year 10 starting GCSE courses (Special welcome to Ieuan Thomas)
Year 9 starting their journey in Skipwith House
Year 9 Island Adventure
Full House Assembly
Full House Party
Duties and Prep underway
New Prep Diaries issued to years 9, 10 and 11
Rugby and Rowing started

Areas for development:

Organisation of sports kit.
Making toast without it burning.

Year 9 Island Adventure

During the first week for the new year 9 group, the boys took part in Shiplake College's annual 'Island Adventure'. The weather was fantastic and spirits were high as the boys departed for the “Lynch”. Accompanied by Skipwith Tutors, Mr Brown, Mr Muhley and Mr Walter, plus our crack team of year 13 Prefects, Chapel Wardens and Head of House the boys were certainly in safe hands.

Upon arrival to the Island, the boys were given instructions to find a suitable location for them to sleep the night. Off the boys went in their pairs to find beds for evening. Once the boys had found a location it was up to them to construct a shelter using only string and large tarpaulin sheet. This was not an easy task and the boys certainly excelled themselves with their erecting skills. However the best and most imaginative shelter was Harrison Richards and Charlie Dodd’s tetrahedral shaped shelter which proved popular with the staff members (see photograph).

Once the boys had constructed their shelter for the evening it was time for Mr MacPherson’s MAN DINNER. On the menu was burgers for starter, hot dogs for main and chicken for desert.

The food did not last long once it was in the boy's hands. With Mr MacPherson’s dog Otto keeping the boys entertained, bedtime soon came around.

In the morning, the boys were treated to a breakfast Mars bar before heading back to school for a day of lessons.

A special thank you must go to Mr MacPherson for organising and running the evening and also thank you  to Harry Berkley, Phil Green, Sam Hallatt and also head of house Matt Horsfall.  Written by Mr Muhley

Start of Autumn Term 2014

Arrangements for the start of term have been sent via email. Please get in touch if you do not receive any correspondence. Skipwith House is looking forward to welcoming all students at staggered start dates next week!

Skipwith Black Tie Dinner - A Reminder

Dear Parents,

The invitation for this event has been sent out again due to a few new guests and some email issues first time around. Please let me know if you do not receive an email from me to a suitable address. If you have received and haven't booked then please do! It should be a lovely evening...

GCSE exam results arrangements

Please find the arrangements for GCSE exam results on Thursday 21st August 2014 here: http://www.shiplake.org.uk/news/2014/08/19/gcse_results_day_arrangements

While Skipwith House undergoes some minor repairs and touch ups we started thinking about someone close to us all going through some major changes and wanted to remind you to catch up on the progress of brave Samuel Crisford, whose 4th Birthday Party was held here at Shiplake College last weekend. We are all thinking about Rachel, Tom and Samuel. Catch up on his progress here: http://samuelcrisford.com/

2013-14 Highlights

With the new academic year just three weeks away, it seems appropriate to review last year's sporting, music and drama achievements and set some targets for 2014-15.

The Baldry Cup is the prize for the house scoring most points through the year for various house sport. The final standings for 2013/14 were

Orchard - 155

Skipwith - 125

Everett - 109

Burr - 73

Welsh - 61 

This shows a correlation between student numbers and success. There are plans afoot to make sure all houses can be competitive and therefore a more even contest is expected next year. 

The main successes for Skipwith were in winning Senior Tennis and Senior Cross-Country, whilst the Juniors won the Football and Hockey. The junior teams were generally more consistent across all sports, which is a good sign for the future! 

In the house drama and music, Skipwith gave admirable performances but finished in mid table. The amount of musical talent in house is inspirational however, and we aim for a strong showing next year. 

The target has to be to improve participation, achieve personal bests and enjoy all the activities. If we do that we can all be proud!

Below are some picture highlights from last year's events:

Reminder - Whole School Charity Walk

All the details can be found on the school website or through the link in a previous post on this Blog. The walk is very soon after we return to school so get the sponsorship underway ASAP.
http://www.shiplake.org.uk/news/2014/07/29/sponsorship_required_20_mile_challenge
Happy Fundraising !

Skipwith Black Tie Dinner

The annual Skipwith Black Tie Dinner for parents of students in Skipwith House is taking place on September 27th 2014 in the Great Hall. Invitations have been sent via email. We look forward to seeing you there!

House Photo

Copies of the house photo are now available from www.gillmanandsoame.co.uk. 
Login number 295313, password 770552.

They all look very good!

Whole School Charity Walk

Details of the biennial charity walk are coming out this week. There is lots of information on the school website and the sponsorship form for the event can be downloaded here. The walk is scheduled to take place on Monday 15th September. The link to the Walk page on the website is http://www.shiplake.org.uk/sponsoredwalk2014.

Happy fundraising!!

Well Versed

Year 11 Skipwith student, James Hargreaves, recently entered a competition called "Well Versed" sponsored by Google and the charity Parentzone to contribute 15 seconds of video to a longer film compiled by the Youtube blogger PJ Ligouri. The film is targeted at teenagers, advising them how to be safe on the internet.  James was one of the winners, and  his video has been used in the longer film - it is designed to be shown in schools and to PJ's You tube followers.

James went to the premier of the film at the Google head offices in London last week.  The event was attended by about 20 of the winning contributors to the film, plus representatives from Google, Parentzone and various other charities (Childnet, The Diana Award Anti-Bullying programme, etc).  The 20 teenagers were also given a guided tour of the Google offices - James compared it to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

The finished film is really pretty good - link here to the project web site and film - http://www.wellversed.co.uk/.

Junior Athletics Standards

The juniors were out in force today and represented the house terrifically. More photos in the house gallery thanks to Matron the official photographer. We eagerly await the results!

Senior Athletics Standards

Today was the senior athletics standards and it was great to see years 11 and 12 out in force. Whilst we await the scores, there are some photos in the house gallery. Regardless of where we came I was very proud to see everyone doing their best for the house. Well done!

Drugs Awareness for Year 9 Parents

From the head of PSHE:

I am writing to invite you to the Year 9 Pastoral Parents Meeting on Saturday 17 May. The boys will be listening to a talk by Mr Bob Tait, a specialist in drug education, which he will be repeating for parents at 11am.  The itinerary for the morning is as follows:

9.30am          Lecture to boys in the Old Vikings Room (the room off the Great Hall)

11am             Bob Tait Lecture to parents in the Old Vikings Room

12.15pm        Meetings over lunch in Houses, to discuss adolescent issues such as parties, alcohol, smoking, computer games etc.  (House staff will collect you from the OVR.)

I do hope that you will be able to come to this important pastoral occasion and would ask that you email Mrs Sue Arpino, the school secretary, so that we can organise catering and seating; her email is sarpino@shiplake.org.uk.

5pm Leave

A number of boys have asked about what they can do at 5pm. For clarification, if boys are able to leave or be collected at 5pm then this is absolutely fine as long as they sign out and they have their parent's permission to do so. Otherwise, the boys are expected to check in to the house at 5pm and say whether they are studying in house or leaving to attend a support session.

Last term...

Dear Parents,

I am writing to inform you that as of the end of this term I shall be moving on from the role of Skipwith Housemaster. It is not a decision I have taken lightly but for personal reasons I feel it is now the right time for me to move on from the post and I have been offered the opportunity to assist with some whole school developments. I will remain at Shiplake next year so I will continue to keep some contact with your sons.

The boys have been informed this morning and the process of finding my replacement will begin this week. Whilst I am sure I will have time to say a proper farewell to the house at the end of term, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the last two years and I hope that this term will be just as productive and happy in house.

Kind Regards

Keith Settle

Open Morning

As the school invited many families to tour around on Saturday morning, the Skipwith boys were eager and waiting to be your guides as well as helpers on the day.

CCF Promotions

Congratulations to Corporal Harry Berkley who is promoted to the rank of Serjeant, whilst Lance Corporal Sam Mummery is promoted to Corporal in the Army section of the CCF.

Mr Settle's Birthday

How lucky am I? I walked in on Thursday morning to be greeted by Happy Birthday being sung on the landing and some of the boys had baked me cakes as well! The whole house got fed at break time with scenes reminiscent of a classic bible story but with chocolate cake replacing the fish.

Year 9 Camping

The year 9 boys were learning how to get to grips with a tent in Tuesday. I only saw the early stages but I'm assured they did get them up in the end.