House Rowing

A fabulous time was had by all down at the river on Saturday afternoon as the Boat Club hosted the internal House Rowing competition. The categories were:-

J14 Quads

Y11-13 Single Scull

Y11-13 Double Scull

Y10 - 13 Eight

The J14 Skipwith crew were Harry Berkley, Tom Berkley, Phil Green , Matt Horsfall and Joe Bartlett (3rd Place)

Chris Troup, pictured, (1st VIII Cox) was in the Single Scull (5th place)

Charles Simpson and George Davis, pictured, made up the Double Scull (3rd Place)

The Eight, pictured, were Jonnie Brewin (Cox), Harry Vardigans, Marek Lapham, Dub Brady, Joe Carey, Bodie Deane, Rory Moore, ,and Hasnain Majeed

Prefect Appointments for Skipwith

Congratulations to our very own Head of House, Edward Sykes, who was today appointed as a College Prefect during senior assembly (in front of our visiting Inspectors). After starting the year without any Skipwith representation on the Prefect body, we can now lay claim to having two as Ed joins the earlier appointed Claudia Le Blanc who is also our Chapel Warden. Both fully deserve their position after, what I am sure was, initial disappointment but have now been rewarded for their commitment, dedication and leadership skills. They have remained proactive in their roles, have shown initiative and are an example to others - and are indeed perhaps role models, which was the theme of the Headmaster's Assembly!

Galaxy Size Progress!

In-House awards (of Galaxy chocolate bars) were given out on Saturday to those who had the best average effort grades or the most improvement in each year group. Congratulations to the following:-

Y12 - Tim Noyce, Ian Brown, Daniel Williams, Katherine Howells, Alex Campbell, Shana Hicks
Y11 - Jonny Donald, Marek Lapham, Tom Merryweather
Y10 - Tom Arnold, Harry Vardigans, Rory Moore, Richard Gray, Bodie Deane
Y9 - Harry Berkley, Matthew Horsfall, Sam Mummery, Philip Green, Tom Berkley.

All Song and Dance

Two artistic events which took place towards the end of the first half of the Spring term were the BTEC Concert and the Ballroom Ball. Skipwith's Gracie Miller (Y13) performed superbly as the lead singer of her 'Gods' in the Tithe Barn and the photograph shows that she appears to be enjoying the occasion. Many of Skipwith's Y12 (pictured from left to right: Tim Noyce, Dub Brady, Alex Campbell, James Dempster, Charlie Simpson, Jack Corrigan-Stuart, Dan Williams) looked immaculate as they lined up for their photo shoot before the Ballroom Ball. They had been practising their steps on Friday evenings during the last term and a half, which culminated in this dinner and dance with girls from Queen Anne's and boys from The Oratory. All boys danced superbly but special mentioned went to Charlie Simpson for his style in the Waltz. Don't they look so grown up - it only seems like yesterday when they started in Year 9!

House Music Competition

On Friday afternoon, the House Music Competition took place in the sports hall. I was delighted with the way that all pupils in the House entered in the right spirits and gave it their all. The compulsory song for all houses was 'Jonny B. Goode' and if a little hesitant at first the boys and girls soon lost any inhibitions in turning Skipwith in to 'Skip-quiff' for the performance. I must thank them but also particularly Mr. Bradley who had thrown himself in to the task of rehearsing for many hours in the previous two or three weeks - much blood, sweat and tears! Skipwith gained second place for this performance, perhaps feeling a little 'robbed' of the top spot. We will not mention the overall position when combined with individual performances and the second song of choice! The latter may have suffered from 'musicality' in the eyes and ears of the judges, with their colourful version of 'Wake me up before you go girl' but I would like to thank Henry, Chris, Michael and Charlie (Y13) for taking a lead, James, Alex and Charles (Y12) and James, George and Jonny (Y11). I would like the 'musicians' to put themselves forward for next year and in the future, but I am thankful that they had the confidence to 'step up to the plate' and perform for the House. They had obviously been working on their 'guns' before wearing the new sleeveless look for Spring 2011!

House Football

With one round remaining, the Senior House Football team are currently in third position. After a superb 10 - 2 win against Welsh, a tough 1 - 3 loss against Orchard and a hard fought 3 - 3 draw (playing much of the game with only 9 men due to injuries) versus Everett, it is mathematically possible to finish in second place if the team can beat Burr, very convincingly, on the first Monday after half term. The Juniors are finding the going tougher and are yet to score a point after three losses. They have tried to play some attractive football though, which we hope finally pays off as they too play Burr, to try to avoid winning the wooden spoon.

The photographs attached are of the Junior match against Welsh (in purple) and include; support from our substitutes, camera shy Y11 in support, Henry Waller and Matt Horsfall watchful in defence, Harry Vardigans and Tom McCooke in attack, Horsfall attacking, Safian Majeed clearing the ball away in defence and Vardigans celebrating his goal.

Senior photographs, against Everett (in Red), were kindly taken by Dub Brady and include very timely pictures of Joshua Lewis' left footed shot going in to the net and Alex Campbell turning after hammering his goal home.

Paintballing

On the first Friday of term Skipwith joined Welsh House on a trip to Delta Force's Paintballing arena on the Mapledurham Estate. Most pupils love this kind of activity but even those who would admit that it would not be their first choice got involved on the day. The pizzas were certainly enjoyed by all! The Blog photographer would have been banned for trying to take action photos due to health and safety reasons, so those shown were taken between games. Some photos are 'polluted/enhanced' by a Welsh House contingent who were far too competitive on the day! There was a lovely atmosphere on the day which was great as the main aim was for new and existing pupils to bond within their own year groups and Houses.

Year 9 Island Adventure

Year 9 appeared to be having a fantastic time on 'Shiplake Island' in their first week at the College. Mr. Bradley made a visit early in the evening and said that the boys were having a fine time (he appears to be pretty happy too in the photo!) and were working very well in their groups. I made a visit later in the evening and the boys were very enthusiastic about showing me the shelters that they had made for the evening. There were some fine constructions and one even contained what the boys had called their 'sofa'. The next morning there were reports of very little sleep but a substantial Shiplake fry-up for breakfast helped to get them through the next day. The boys were very grateful to Mr. Bridgeman for organising the night, who also had help from our Head of House Edward Sykes.

A Rower for the Future?!

Belated news to some but a massive congratulations to Tom and Rachel Crisford on the birth of their first child. Samuel Andrew Peter Crisford was born at 7.33am on Saturday 7th August, weighing in at 7lb 5oz. All are really well but as expected Samuel is experimenting with his parents' sleep patterns! He is shown here at 2 weeks old.