news from the prep school -...

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster

Issue No 839th October 2015

Dear Parents,In Chapel last week we heard about Nelson Mandela’s ‘long walk to freedom’ and although the return journey from Twickenham on Saturday night was not as long or as arduous, it gave me plenty of time for reflection, not least that my Welsh father might have been right all along! On Sunday morning several of our school community took part in another tough journey, the twenty four mile Abbots’ Walk and the most notable finishers were probably team Faulkner, brothers Joseph and Patrick, and their grandmother Judith, who completed her sixteenth consecutive walk. This is about the equivalent in miles of my return journey to West London. See a report by Heather Mathews later in the newsletter.

Everyone seemed to have got over the weekend when we held our Second Inter-House Surfing Competition at Widemouth. We have a number of surfing families at the school and it was no surprise that the top placed pupils - Parka and Casper Griffin and Annie Westlake - came from two of them. Once again there was a storming turnout of parents hoping to take part!

I have really enjoyed Open Week as it is a chance to show off the school to prospective parents. Taking groups around the school several times a day, each day, gives a real sense of the school week. Two news stories have unfolded in front of me; would our new python Monty eat its first rat? Yes he did. And, would Mr Furber’s black eye get better? Certainly it has changed colour by the day and now has a yellowy rainbow quality. Mr Furber was accidentally kicked in the face by Reuben Banbury in a rugby training injury, but don’t worry, Reuben did not damage his toe - and they say there is no laughter in de feet!

Today we are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Bible Christian movement. The Senior School enjoyed the chapel address from the President of the Methodist Conference, Steve Wild. Steve is a warm-hearted man and this is evident in how he relates to his congregation. Tonight a number of different groups come together in a service of celebration at Lake Chapel at 1900hrs.

We have another big weekend ahead of us with lots of sport against Plymouth College tomorrow - I will hopefully see you there.

Simon Weale

News from the Prep SchoolDear Parents,The highlight of another busy week in the Prep School was our Harvest Festival Service in Lake Chapel on Tuesday afternoon. It was wonderful to see so many parents and grandparents supporting the event once again, and I was very proud of the way our pupils conducted themselves throughout the afternoon. Not only did they sing beautifully but they listened attentively and were wonderfully polite and well-mannered in the Chapel, and later in the School Room when refreshments were served.

The service began with a rather poignant reminder by our Prep 6 pupils about how lucky we are to have such an abundance of food to

Second Annual Inter-House Surfing Competition

at West Buckland School. Mrs Johnstone’s netball team, led from the front by a dynamic individual performance by Savannah Whitechurch, held a strong West Buckland team to a 5-5 draw. Much in the same vein, Mr Willetts was delighted with his rugby team who also managed a draw (3-3) thanks to some wonderful teamwork and to the try-scoring prowess of Alfie Sealey.

The week ended with our Prep 6 joining with pupils from the Senior School to share in the College’s celebrations of the Bible Christians and then it was a pleasure to welcome back our former Headmaster, Mr Barnes, who came in to take our Prep School assembly on Friday. It is always a joy to see Mr Barnes back at the school, unless of course I am playing football against him on a Friday night!

Mike Furber

Next Week in the Prep School:Tuesday 13th OctoberVisit from Children’s author and Underwater Adventurer, Ian Thomas

Wednesday 14th October - Prep School Parents Evening

Thursday 15th October - Prep School Parents evening

Friday 16th October - Assembly with Rev M. Warren

Sunday 18th OctoberGliddon & Squire Cross Country Race West Buckland School

Harvest Time in Pre-Prep 1After some really super singing during the Harvest Festival, the children in Pre-Prep 1 continued the theme with baking bread this week. After watching how foods are harvested and corn is cut they were more than happy to stretch and knead their dough, mould it intovarious shapes and different animals and watch it double in size before being baked. The following day they enjoyed tasting bread from various countries, deciding that New York bagels were a unanimous favourite!

Next week Sophie will be bringing in apples from her garden so the plan is to make apple crumble to take home for tea, unless it all gets eaten at lunch time!

Jacqueline Biddlecombe

chose from and the need to appreciate that there are many people throughout the world who are not as fortunate. Following this, our lovable Chaplain Mr Tim Aldridge, then proceeded to create his own mini homage to ‘breakfast’ which was thoroughly enjoyed by all, although I am still a little mystified as to the meaning behind it.

All of our pupils then joined in to perform a number of Harvest songs and sketches, with the Pre-Prep 1 in particularly fine voice with their rendition of ‘We love our apple pie’.

Then our Chaplain, supported by a reading from the Book of Acts delivered eloquently by Lola Frisby-Williams, reiterated the valuable lesson of the day of being thankful for all that we have and being willing to take opportunities to share with those who don’t.

In the School Room after the service, parents and pupils then had an ideal opportunity to support this message by buying back the Harvest produce that they had kindly donated, and by doing so helping to raise valuable funds for the charity Christian Aid.

As well as our Harvest celebrations there was a variety of other events and activities going on in the Prep School this week. In Pre-Prep 2, our Years 1 and 2 pupils have been finding out about symmetry and symmetrical shapes as part of their maths lessons this week and have had great fun making symmetrical butterflies.

Continuing the maths theme I was amazed this week by the outcome of a challenge set for our oldest pupils by Mrs Parker in her maths lessons with them. The challenge was to memorise Pi to as many decimal places as they could and a number of our pupils took up the challenge. In the end it was a very closely fought contest between Lola Frisby-Williams and Hamish MacDougall (above), with Lola shading it with an incredible 69 decimal places, just one more than Hamish! On Thursday our Prep 5 pupils had a wonderful time at Rosemoor Gardens as part of their Science work, investigating natural habitats. As always it was great for them to have the opportunity to benefit from the resources available at Rosemoor and the expertise of the wonderful staff from the Education Centre there.

There was also wonderful news on the sporting front this week with our U9 teams performing great feats in their respective fixtures

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk



2nd Inter-House Surf CompetitionShebbear’s surfers competing in the 2nd Inter-House Surf Competition were treated to some decent waves, albeit a little tricky at times with a difficult combination of swell, wind and tide.

The event was excellently organised by ‘Mike Raven Surf School’ in Bude, and their instructors were on hand to lead the judging panel and provide support in the water for all our surfers. The competition was split initially into three ranking heats, and the surfers progressed into either the ‘red’ or ‘yellow’ category for the second half of the competition. In the red category the competition was tight, but an excellent display from the Griffin brothers saw them take first and second place, Parka and Casper respectively. Annie Westlake rode a superb final wave and finished in third place. In the yellow competition the winner was Robert Temple, closely followed by Archie Boycott and Maggie Dorey.

All the surfers were treated to a goodie bag from Alder Surfwear, and the top two in each category won a range of surf accessories. The House Prize was deservedly won by Ruddle, with Way in second place and then Thorne. It was a fantastic evening, well supported by parents and staff. Many thanks to all for making it a success.

Jamie Sanders

Prep 6 Judge Science BooksThe pupils in Prep 6 had a break from practical science this week and have been reviewing and judging six science books. Each year the Royal Society invites school pupils to help choose the winner of the People’s Book Prize.

There are six shortlisted books which we have been looking through and discussing the merits of. This will continue into next week when Prep 6 will decide our winning book and why. The pupils are also invited to go to the Eden Project in November to see the final award ceremony and join in with some workshops.

Stuart Clewley

Boarders’ ExpeditionLast Friday evening at there was a convoy consisting of all the Shebbear minibuses processing along the narrow Devon lanes. All of the boarding community was out on an expedition to Sister Light’s farm.

On arrival all of the boarders were greeted by Mr and Mrs Light. Sister then showed everyone to the lake just above their farmhouse, and here we found Mr Sanders diving in for a quick swim. This encouraged some of the hardier Pollard boys to join in. Those less willing to get wet ventured on to a raft which was promptly set adrift. Sister was acting life guard in a dinghy (sorry, rescue vehicle).



After about an hour by the lake, and just as Mr Sanders was starting to turn blue, we wandered back down to the field where Mr Light set light to the bonfire. This was very welcome, especially for those who had ventured into the icy cold lake. The rest of the evening was a very relaxed affair, with burgers and sausages cooked on the BBQ and jacket potatoes and marshmallows cooked on the fire.

I think it is safe to say that everyone had a fantastic evening, even Derek (once he had braved getting out of the minibus as Sister’s dog had chased him in there earlier in the evening!) The evening was drawn to an end with a sincere thank you from all the boarders and a heartfelt three cheers for Mr and Mrs Light, as it was in fact their wedding anniversary! Thank you from all of us.

Stuart ClewleyAbbots Way Walk After an incredibly early start on a Sunday morning, we (Ryan Stairs, Heather Mathews, Angus Cunningham, Helen Dalton, Spencer Quance and Robert Temple) arrived determined and ready to set off for the Abbots Way Walk. The 24 mile long walk across Dartmoor is an annual event which starts at the Abbey grounds and finishes in Tavistock, and is open to teams with a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 8 walkers. It follows the paths frequently taken by monks who were going between monasteries across southern Dartmoor. Despite a late start (due to circumstances beyond our control) we cracked on, keen to get some miles under our belts. Having climbed numerous hills and fighting our way through the layers of fog that surrounded us, we finally reached the last leg of the trek.

With the finish line looming ahead (as well as pasties and a chance to sit down) we arrived in Tavistock; completing the challenge in 6 hours and 34 minutes. As it was the first time Shebbear College had entered a team for this event we weren’t sure what to expect. However, the commitment and determination of everyone involved made it thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you to all the parents who supported us it was an amazing team achievement.

Heather Mathews

Colour Me Happy!Various staff, pupils and parents took part in last Sunday’s Colour Me Happy charity walk in Holsworthy in aid of the North Devon Hospice. These included Isaac Allsopp and his mum Jackie, Marton Busa and Emma Joslyn, and College admin staff Jodi Gilhespy, Sue Letchford and Andrea Stairs.



What’s on ...Monday 12th OctoberFuturewise Feedback Interviews - all dayForm Five Art Tutorials

Tuesday 13th OctoberFuturewise Feedback Interviews - all dayFriends of Shebbear College AGM - 6.30pm in the Assembly Hall

Thursday 15th OctoberForms Five and Sixth Form ‘Life Beyond Eighteen’8.40am - 12.40pm

Monday 19th OctoberInterviews and CV writing TSB presentation Forms Four and Five - 1.45pm

Tuesday 20th OctoberWhat’s banking all about? TSB presentation Forms One and Two - 1.45pmSpanish Trip Departs - 1.45pm

Wednesday 21st OctoberHalf term commences - 5.00pm

Saturday 24th OctoberSpanish Trip Returns

What’s on ... SportsFor the latest updates on sports fixtures please see the document on the school website which is updated weekly.

HockeyGirls Hockey U12 v Budehaven (A) 1-0 (lost)The entire Year 7 group of girls travelled to Budehaven for this fixture. The game was a little disjointed with having so many substitutes but some of the girls are trying to do the right thing in terms of passing

and going round an opponent - in particular Charlie Dorey, Bridget Astley and Ellie Phillips. Shebbear had several shots at goal in the first half but the keeper saved them all. Budehaven had their first shot midway through the second half and scored! Charlie Dorey then got injured, unfortunately, and we lost our strongest attacker. The girls kept plugging away but could not find a way of getting the ball into the net. It was a good experience for all of them and with some even stronger opponents coming up, this experience will be useful.

Girls Hockey U13 v Budehaven (A) 0-6 (won)Shebbear started this match strongly, scoring their first goal in a matter of minutes. By half time we were 4-0 up. This meant we could try out some different formations within the team. In the second half the Budehaven goalie deflected several of our shots, however the team still managed to score another two goals. Excellent play throughout, with some lovely attacking play.

U14 North Devon Hockey TournamentResult - 2nd place overall

Shebbear v Holsworthy 5-0Shebbear v Park 3-0Shebbear v Kingsley 1-0Shebbear v West Buckland 0-1

A superb result for the U14 girls (above) at the North Devon Tournament this week. It was a team effort throughout resulting in winning 3 out of the 4 matches. The girls worked hard to only concede 1 goal during the tournament. During the first 3 matches the attack worked extremely hard with 9 successful shots at goal. In particular, Amy Taylor had a great game in attack, making the oppositions defence work extremely hard to keep her at bay. Jess Biggs also had a stand-out performance as sweeper. Having never played this particular position before, she showed she is a true all-rounder. The girls will now be going to the U14 County Finals in Exeter in a couple of weeks.Kate Gunning




RugbyThe U12s played their first match at Plymouth College last week and lost 31-17 in a closely-contested game. Plymouth went 17-0 ahead before Jacob Luxton scored the first of his two scintillating tries, both of which saw him jink his way past four Plymouth defenders and sprint fifty metres before diving over the line. Luke Maxa scored the other try but some tired legs meant that the home side were able to secure victory with two late tries.

On Saturday the U13s faced Mount Kelly in a 12-a-side match and, with several key players missing, found it tough going from the start.24-0 down at half time, they started the second half well scoring the best try of the match but a number of basic errors proved costly as the visitors went on to a 41-5 victory.

Andy Bryan

The U15s played their second game in 4 days last Saturday against Mount Kelly. The boys were focused and determined to bounce back from their defeat in the Natwest Cup and started quickly getting the games first try through Alessandro Aliberti. The boys took control of the game from then on and always looked dangerous going forward, further tries were added by Buddy Wahl with an excellent finish in the corner, Eddie Jones adding to his try tally for this season, Will Cowan-Dickie, with the first of four tries on the day, and James Law scoring after some excellent support play. This saw the team 33-0 up at the break. The second half performance was even more impressive, further scores coming from Will Cowan-Dicke (three) and another for Alessandro Aliberti. Tom Robins was outstanding at openside flanker and James Bennett had a strong second half on the opposite flank, a very impressive performance all round.

Nick Law

U13 v West Buckland (H) North Devon Cup, 26-21 (loss)An outstanding team performance which went right down to the final

5 minutess ended in a disappointing loss for the U13s. Dan Shaw was solid with ball in hand and scorded 19 points, Cameron Young scorded the other two with a conversion. Ben Harding and Lewis Whitton played superbly on the back row. Shebbear took an early lead and kept it with West Buckland battling back. It wasn’t until the final 5 minutes when West Buckland crashed over to secure the win. It was a fantastic team performance which they should all be proud of. Man of the match was Ben Harding

FootballU15 Football ESFAThe U15s played for the first time in the ESFA Small Schools’ Cup last week and came up against a strong Holsworthy side in their first round match. A couple of defensive errors saw the home side go 2-0 up before half time but a much better second half performance saw Will Cowan-Dickie reduce the arrears from the penalty spot after Jack Joslin was pulled down at the end of a mazey run into the area.However, a late goal sealed the win for Holsworthy and the boys must now prepare for their second round match in the ISFA trophy next week, at home to Bournemouth Collegiate School.

The U16s (below) travelled to play Chilton Cantelo School near Yeovil and lost a pulsating match with the last kick of the game. After going behind early on they equalised with a goal from skipper Ryan Stairs who scored with a shot from inside his own half.

The second half saw chances at both ends with Will Cowan-Dickie in defence and Stuart Williams in midfield both outstanding. James Bennett made several important saves before a harsh free kick in the last minute saw the home side scramble the ball over the line for the winning goal. It was a great team effort for which the boys deserve tremendous credit.

Andy Bryan

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