Lessons, Prep, Sports and still some Fun!

Last week was the first full week of lessons, prep and sports and most boys seemed to cope well with this. On Monday the Year 9 boys found out which of the three Rugby teams they would be part of. Burr was well represented across all three teams and training began in earnest ready for home games for the A and B teams against Windsor Boys' on Wednesday. The Year 10 Rugby A and B teams were also in action against Windsor Boys’ at Windsor. All of the teams either came away with a win or a draw and there were some aching bodies in Burr the next morning.

On Tuesday Cam Hance, Alex Game and Louis Robinson from Y10 attended a Year 10 forum to discuss any Pastoral issues within the school with this week’s focus being settling in. We received good reports about the mature way the boys discussed the issues and hopefully their feedback will be used to improve pastoral care in the school.

Also Tuesday was the first meeting of CCF in this school year. Y10 boys were provided with their Army uniform ready to take part in drills and exercises over the coming weeks.

On Friday evening Alessandro, Charlie and George Graham from Y12 went Ballroom Dancing at a local girl’s school with other Y12 boys from Shiplake. Again we had good reports about how the boys conducted themselves and hopefully we will get a demonstration of their skills later in the year. I will endeavour to get some photos of them in full flow.

Saturday meant more Rugby for all three Year 9 teams in the morning and the older years in the afternoon. The results can be found by going to http://www.schoolssports.com/school/default.asp?Id=239

As the Year 9 boys had played Rugby in the morning I took Joe and Kerim from Year 9 and George Robinson from Year 10 on a walk down the river to Henley. On our way we saw some of the Shiplake boys and girls rowing, some swans and geese which Kerim seemed interested in catching and a big house with a toy train track complete with station in the garden. When we arrived in Henley we had an ice cream and a sit down while Kerim contemplated if he could convince Mr Dix to loan him £20,000 from the house bank to buy a boat. After a quick trip to Sainsbury's we got the bus back to Shiplake.

The walk was good practice for the Sponsored Walk which is happening next Monday. Sponsorship forms have been sent out by email and with the latest newsletter. Also the boys have been given a paper copy so they can ring around friends and family in search of sponsorship over the coming week. The sponsored walk is 20 miles long and runs from Moulsford back to Shiplake.

On Saturday night I had an exciting night creating a Wall of Excellence. This wall will keep track of the individuals who collect the most Excellence Slips as well as how many each year has collected. At the end of each term there will be prizes for the years and individuals with the most slips. Burr is currently leading the way over the other two boarding houses. Let's hope this week is very successful with the numbers on the board getting higher and higher.