Boarding
We bid farewell to Marty Devine after 2 years as Houseparent of Fenwick-Smith House and wish him and the Devine family best wishes for their next adventure. It is goodbye as well to Ben Byas who leaves his role as Dolman Resident Deputy to take up a hockey coaching position at Scarborough College. Nicola Bradshaw is
Academic
While our Fifth Year and Upper Sixth pupils have been focused on taking their final examinations this term, pupils in other year groups have undertaken a huge array of trips and competitions to conclude a year filled with academic endeavour and enrichment. While academic scholars participated in an Escape Room challenge to conclude their year, artists visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, classicists travelled to Hadrian’ s Wall, historians went to see Pickering Castle, geographers went to Malham Cove, and biologists spent time at Filey Brigg. In school, pupils competed in the RSC Analysts competition, the National Science
moving across from Dolman to head up Fenwick-Smith while Claire Hall is taking charge of our exciting new boarding hub, The Hive @ Dolman. We say goodbye and good luck to our Upper Sixth students as they head off to university and pastures new.
Thinking Challenge, and the Physics Olympics. First Year pupils participated in their annual Enterprise Day, and also enjoyed a visit from author, Tom Palmer, who delivered creative writing workshops, while Second Year pupils enjoyed a STEM day, and completed their sustainability projects spanning work in computing and geography. A final special mention must go to our Lower Sixth German students who were national winners in the Oxford German Olympiad and recently attended the prizegiving ceremony at the Bodleian Library.
Laura Powell, Senior Deputy Head( Academic)
Another busy year outside of the classroom has seen numerous outstanding community boarding events, with a spectacular Boarders Concert, the BSA National Boarding week fun, and the end of term BBQ in the Fenwick-Smith garden the highlights of this term.
Steve Greaves, Head of Boarding
National success for Lower Sixth German students
Four Lower Sixth German students, Hugh, Lydia, Zahra, and Joel, have achieved first place in this year’ s Oxford German Olympiad, a national competition run by the Oxford German Network at the University of Oxford. Open to students from Year 7 to Year 13 across the UK, the Olympiad recognises both linguistic skill and creative expression.
The group’ s winning entry was a humorous, multilingual video in which they explained the rules of netball to an alien, played by Joel. A level Photography student Max supported the team with camera work. The students scripted, directed, and filmed the video independently, using German as the primary language and incorporating Italian and Turkish to showcase their language learning and collaborative skills.
In June, the group attended the prize-giving ceremony at the Bodleian Library and stayed overnight at Jesus College, giving them a valuable insight into university life and the Oxford experience.
Subject Leader Catherine Davies commented:
" The students thoroughly enjoyed planning and filming their entry, and their success has brought the German set closer together. It’ s been a rewarding and confidence-building experience for everyone involved."
This national recognition highlights the students’ creativity, teamwork, and commitment to language learning.
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