The Lent Term in The Mitre, 2016
Mitre win the Steeplechase for a decade!
One of the final events of the term was the annual Steeplechase. This was a brilliant way to end the term as the whole house came out to participate or to support the event and there was true sense of House Spirit.
Success in the Steeplechase does not simply rely on the top runners as the rules state that the first 18 pupils from each house are counted towards the final score, and that the House with the lowest score takes victory. This meant that runners coming in the top 20s or 30s contributed to the overall score.
Although there were some nerves- bearing in mind that for most girls cross country running is out of their comfort zone- the girls were keen to give of their best. This led to some excellent individual scores, including Georgia Brown (3M) who was the first B Block girl over the finish line followed closely by Georgina Brownhill (5M), who came overall 2nd for the juniors. There were some other outstanding results with a total of 11 Mitre runners in the top 20. Huge congratulations to - Mae Fitzgerald 3M (8th), Georgia Renshaw 5M (10th), Amelia Johnson 5M (12th), Emilia Kaczmarczyk 4M (13th), Isabelle Sharratt 4M (14th), Ella Buffin 3M (15th), Imogen Hacking 5M (18th), Charly Archer 3M (19th) and Lucy Gould 4M (20th ). Undoubtedly these results helped to secure Mitre 1st place in the junior competition- well done!
The senior girls did not disappoint with some truly superb individual performances with a very tight 3rd place finish for Amelia Tarrant L6M, a brilliant 5th place performance for Isobel Emmett L6M and another wonderful run from Joanna Goodhead, putting her in 11th place overall. Huge congratulations too to Molly Thompson Dykes L6M who came 19th and Celia Newstead L6M who came in 21st place. It was great to see the senior girls leading the way and supporting each other as well as the younger girls throughout the afternoon.
The B Block ahead of their 1st Steeplechase!
The A Block getting ready to run
Our fabulous U6th runners ahead of their final Steep
The O Block ready to run their final Junior Steeplechase
Indigo clearly ahead in the "Race to the Gate"!
The Mitre Junior runners as they head out onto the course
Georgina - the 1st Mitre runner to return - with a smile on her face
Our superb L6th runners at the end of the course
Hannah and Joanna complete their Parker 100 and their final Steeplechase at the same time
Enjoying the post-Steep treats at tea!
Adapted from the House website
'The fashionable woman wears clothes. The clothes don't wear her.' - Mary Quant
The 2016 Repton Fashion Show was a cause for celebration - it was our 25th Anniversary! The organising committee decided to do something different to celebrate and agreed to donate all money raised to an extraordinary charity - New Futures Nepal (NFN).
NFN helps disadvantaged children and adults of Nepal by raising funds to promote health, education and independence. It also supports social integration for children with disabilities to help them live within a safe and loving community. The charity provides shelter, education and loving care for about 40 children from both Nepal and India. The homes also provide full-time employment for about 10 adults, some of whom have disabilities. Furthermore, when young adults leave the homes, NFN gives them the opportunity to receive higher education and/or vocational training which helps them to gain qualifications and skills to promote independent living. We are hugely grateful to everyone who supported both the show and such an amazing charity. This will hopefully make a difference to some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
It was a fantastic opportunity to be able to organise the 2016 Fashion Show, and a sincere privilege to be apart of it. The committee consisted of four AS textiles students, Elizabeth Price (M), Lucy Knight (M), Olivia Brown (M) and Ella Clowes (A). We were responsible for the majority of elements which went into making this event, from designing the brochure, to addressing lighting arrangements and coordinating each step in which the models walked the run way. Despite this we would not have been able to make it all possible without the help from our textiles teacher Mrs Benson, the stage manager Mr Levesley and his crew as well as all the designers, models and performers who all played their part to create a glamorous and captivating performance. Being a part of this production has taught me many things which I feel honoured to be able to take with me into later life, such as the dedication needed in managing events, the level of responsibility in meeting the high expectations which have been set from the previous shows and finally the feeling of satisfaction when all the nights were successfully completed, knowing that we all participated in making this happen and most importantly raising money for the amazing charity of New Futures Nepal.
By Lucy Knight (L6) and Elizabeth Price (L6)
An Unbeaten Season...Fingers crossed for the final!
Both of the girls’ football teams have done extremely well this term and have gone unbeaten all season. The first team retained the Midlands League title in the penultimate week of term beating Uppingham 6-1, with goals from Mitre L6th formers Isobel Emmett, Celia Newstead and Anna Jowle. The team has also reached the ISFA National Cup Final, which will be played at Thame FC’s ground on Monday 25th April, in which five Mitre girls have been named for the squad.
To reach the final we beat current champions Oakham in the quater-final; after having gone down 3-0 in the first half, we fought back and equalised with a free kick in the last minute of real-time and went on to win 5-3 in extra-time. In our semi-final we played Wycombe Abbey and won 3-1 comfortably, with some great play from all five Mitre girls. We face Kings Taunton in the final, who will be a tough opponent, but hopefully we will be able to win the cup for the first time since 2009. It will be sad to say goodbye to Minnie Whitfield U6M at the end of this season, yet with the majority of the current team being lower sixth, next season we hope to continue the success that girls’ football has experienced this year.
By Anna Jowle (L6)
To cap it all off
The end of the football season saw Isobel Emmett and Anna Jowle, both in L6M, presented with their England football caps.
The girls have just completed the season as part of the ISFA U18 girls side and have both played with great distinction. Isobel has played as a forward and Anna at centre mid. It is lovely to see both girls relishing their time as part of the team and being involved at such a high level as two of the representatives in a squad of twenty players.
http://www.isfa.org.uk/girls/50-girls/national-under-18-representative-squad/110-isfa-girls-national-u18-representative-squad
Hockey Nationals
National Hockey Finals, 2015- 2016. Part I.
This year there were eight Mitre girls participating in the U14s National Hockey Finals including Ella Buffin, Georgia Brown, Frances Brown, Mia Swain, Erin Crowley, Mae Fitzgerald, Molly Dytham and Charly Archer. After weeks of hard training with Mr Clague we travelled down to London for the tournament to play at the Olympic Park. It was a one-day tournament at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre yet it would be a day of tough competition. We stayed over night before and went to Pizza Express for a meal yet this was after we had done some training on the stadium pitch. Once we had finished the meal it was an early night for us before the day of the tournament.
In our group were Dean Close, Kent College and St George’s College. All games were challenging; we won 1-0 against Kent, 2-0 against Dean Close and lost 2-0 against St George’s. After losing one match we went into the 3rd/4th playoffs against Cheadle Hulme.
Cheadle scored early on in the game against the run of play and we went into half time 1-0 down. After a tactical team-talk from Mr Clague we went back onto the pitch desperate for a goal. The goal came in the middle of the second half to take the playoff to nerve-wracking penalties. Mitre girls Mia and Georgia took penalties and both scored to win on penalties 4-3. By winning the playoffs we came 3rd at the National Finals, a great achievement for us all after lots of hard work!
By Frances Brown (3M)
National Hockey Finals, 2015- 2016. Part II.
To say that the road to nationals involved a lot of dedication and hard work from the girls is an understatement.
The journey started at regionals when we won all three of our group games, Oundle being the only team that seemed to raise nerves. However, a 1-0 win ensured a place in the semi-finals. Going on to win the semi-final against Rugby 3-1 was especially satisfying as this was the team that knocked us out of regionals when we were U14s and reassured us that we had come back, two years later, stronger and ready to challenge for the title. Obviously we were desperate to win the final. Thankfully it did not seem to be too difficult with a winning score of 2-1 allowing us to set our goals for the nationals.
After months of training we arrived at Lee Valley with the U18s just in time to watch the U14s get their first National title in third place. It was a great result and a promising start for Repton School.
Wednesday morning arrived quickly with nerves running high. After winning our first game against Kings Bruton we settled down ready for our most challenging game against St George’s College with a score of 2-2. To get into the final we had to win our third group game the next day. I think that there was a sign of relief when we won but this left us with a final against Cranleigh. The final was a long and tense match especially after Cranleigh scored in the first 20 minutes. However, a true show of strong sports mentality allowed Hannah Davy to score the equalizer in the last 52 seconds in a short corner, leading to us going to penalty flicks. Sadly it was not our day with Georgina Brownhill scoring our only penalty and Cranleigh scoring all but one.
This was a great experience and being second in the country is a great achievement. The memories not only of the day but the months of training will stay with us for years to come.
By Rebecca Nelson (5M)
National Hockey Finals, 2015- 2016. Take III.
With the regular season for hockey finishing in December for the 1st team, preparation for Nationals started straight after our tour to Barcelona, with fixtures against Universities and Ladies Club teams, which proved beneficial in helping us develop as a team. After a week of training every day (!!) we set off to Lee Valley, inevitably nervous yet looking forward to cheering on our 14s. Our first match the following day fulfilled all expectations of a first match at Nationals, with nerves keeping the scoreline to 1-0, whilst our next game on the main floodlit pitch showed our class over Clifton; clinical finishing in the circle and improvements throughout midfield and defence allowed us to go into the evening meal with 2 wins, and topping our group.
With every game being a must-win game to get to the final, there was potential for a slip-up in our final group game, but a comprehensive 5-1 win meant we booked our place in the final, against the notorious Cranleigh. After following the end of the 16s final on Twitter from inside the changing room, we began the match as we left off four hours earlier. Celia Newstead had been given the role of marking their England U21 player, and it was clear to see that her selfless marking was highly influential, whilst Isobel Emmett was a great threat upfront, both with her pressing and circle-work (even hitting the bar in the last 5 minutes). After scoring a well-worked team short corner goal before half-time, we went into the last 5 minutes of the game defending for the National Title. Once the buzzer went (and Celia had strategically placed herself to ensure she was in the middle of the ‘huddle’), it was great that Arabella Heap, Helena Evans and Kate Whitehouse, who were unable to play yet were an integral part to the team (especially due to their pre-match dances) could come on the pitch to celebrate with us all.
A big thanks to all the Mitre girls and parents who came to watch, and to Mrs Parish for organising the supporters bus; its fair to say that all the support was greatly appreciated by the Repton girls!!
Amelia Tarrant (L6)
"I'm going to give you 3 reasons to participate in debating"
Many Mitre girls have got involved in the debating society this year and have enjoyed the weekly sessions. We go down after tea on a Wednesday night and practice debating with motions such as, ‘Should the next James Bond be a woman?’ or ‘This house believes the government should introduce a fat tax’. The leadership of Mr Crombie and Mr Couldrey drives the society and we are grateful that they give up their time to think of new games that we can play to improve our arguments as well as how to structure them in order to improve our debating style.
This year Lucas Pringle and I entered the Cambridge debating competition- one of the biggest debating competitions for students in the world. In the regional finals we managed to win some of our rounds of debates (even though the motions were scarily complicated!) and got through to finals day. This was very exciting as it was our first competition and we had gone with no expectations of success!
Later on this term we travelled to Cambridge early on a Sunday morning, terrified about the day ahead of us. We arrived and found the Cambridge union hall- a place where Winston Churchill had spoken. The competition then began and the motions were difficult, and we were nervous until adrenaline kicked in and we began to really enjoy the debates. Though we did not win any of the debates on finals day, the competition, seeing Cambridge and a trip to Wagamamas made the day memorable and extremely enjoyable.
This is so much more than a society though. Debating is a useful skill to learn as it helps your public-speaking and your ability to think and articulate your thoughts quickly and effectively on issues that you may not have previously thought about.
So my three reasons for debating are; you get to argue with your friends, it's competitive and you learn new skills.
Annie Gerard-Pearse (L6)
@ReptonDebating
It was fantastic that I was able to experience the value of the debating society first hand as Mr Crombie, Mr Couldrey and I ventured to Durham University for the Schools Debating Competition at the start of the Easter break. This was the fourth time that Mr Crombie had arranged for the debaters to compete, and all four teams were keen to perform at the level they were capable of.
I was extremely impressed with how our pupils composed themselves throughout, and as Annie has adhered to, not only were the debating motions tough but the competition was fierce. This was a national competition, and the overlap with Easter weekend had not deterred schools from travelling the distance to the North-East.
The two day competition meant that each pair had to debate in five rounds, and after a long term, an early start and the journey to Durham, this was not easy. It was made harder for our teams when the final debate of Day One was, 'This house would program self-driving cars to sacrifice passengers when faced with unavoidable collisions with more people than in the car' but this did not phase them. The teams, in fact, excelled with three teams winning their debate (including Annie and Lucas) and the fourth team taking second place. There was everything to play off at the start of day two.
Although there was a sense of momentum at the start of the second day unfortunately none of the teams made the break into the final 16 teams. However, it was, according to Mr Crombie, the most successful year at Durham for the society. I was amazed by the standard of the competition, and for any Mitre girl who is interested, I would encourage them to go along and get involved.
By Miss Gavin
House Harmony
"I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain"
The Mitre Harmony group this year consisted of 13 very talented singers, Rebecca Williams, Izzy Florence-Jukes, Georgia Dymock, Minnie Whitfield, Arabella Heap, Louisa Constantinou, Georgia Brownhill, Indigo Omilana, Maddie Lea, Jess Hibell, Libby Roberts, Connie Martin and Jessie Smith. It was brilliant to have such a variety of ages in the group, with a range of qualities that they could add to the final performance. We spent 3 weeks preparing and rehearsing every evening, hoping that the final performance would be as perfect as possible. Together with Katie Jankinson OR we arranged a mash-up of Singing in the Rain and Umbrella.
On the night of the performance the group was filled with a mixture of nerves and excitement. As we walked onto the stage it was clear that we had a lot of supporters in the audience meaning that it was smiles all round as the performance began. The performance went the best we could have wished. Finishing the performance with confetti falling from our umbrellas meant that in true Mitre fashion we left our mark, leaving the stage covered in gold and silver confetti.
In his feedback – adjudicator Robin Tyson – had nothing but praise for our performance. I am incredibly proud of the groups achievement and from the compliments received it was obvious that the audience enjoyed it almost as much as we did.
By Rebecca Williams (U6)
Pendants, 2016
Mitre B Block Review of Pendants 2016
This year Repton had the pleasure of watching teachers live on stage, better known as Pendants. Sir John Port’s Pedants has been a tradition at Repton since 1935, it comes around every four years and is always a joy to watch for the pupils. Pendants is a performance of various sketches in which the teachers act, dance and sing for the entertainment of the audience. All teachers who took part threw themselves into their performances’ which made for a very entertaining and memorable night.
On an unbiased note The Mitre house staff certainly made the show shine with all of their energy and enthusiasm. Leading the way Mrs Parish and Mrs Nield, Mrs Cosford and Miss Stevenson started off the show with other members of staff with a song all about the teachers and what they are known for, this brought laughter to the crowd and was a great way to start the show.
The next sketch was a book reading from Mr Plowright, once again very amusing. Afterwards there was a scene which merged Game of Thrones and Downtown Abbey, with fantastic performances from Miss Gavin as Edna Braithwaite, a maid who wanted to escape the stereotypical life of a northerner and Dr Campton as the dowager Countess of Grantham, sticking to the old traditional ways but loses her temper.
Miss Spencer starred in the reoccurring Harry Potter sketch as a young training wizard; this sketch like last time was truly loved by the audience. Next was the Dying Swan, where we saw teachers dancing around in tutus and was one of the best sketches of the night, it will never be forgotten.
There were many sketches throughout the night all as memorable as each other. Many involved singing and dancing, like Miss Gavin as Lulu in ‘Relight my Fire’ with Take That, made up of members of staff. Miss Stevenson played the leading role of Cinderella who found her price charming with a convincing performance in Red Hot Cinders along with Mrs Parish who did a golden performance matching her sparkling dress, as well as Mrs Jones playing a courtier of the ball.
Happy was the last dance of the night and included our very own Mrs Parish and Mrs Nield. The teachers wore minion t-shirts and performed a perfectly choreographed routine of the hit song to end the night on a high.
Everyone left the theatre with a smile on their face after a hilarious night of acting, singing and dancing performed by our very own teachers. A great and memorable night!
Bt Frances Brown, Sarah Murphy and Isabelle Hankins (3M)
House Netball
The girls outdo themselves on the netball courts
This term saw 145 fixtures being played, by 16 netball teams, over the course of 11 weeks. It was fantastic that all our B Block participated in netball this season and that many of the Mitre girls opted for it as their main sports option. Mrs Pinto has been excellent at ensuring that, regardless of the level, each team has had the opportunity to represent the school.
It was great that this enthusiasm for netball could be honed for the House Netball Competition. In spite of having some of our key players out injured – we had 37 girls really keen to be involved. This was especially the case in the Senior competition – so we decided to make up an A team of players from L6th and U6th and give the O block the opportunity to play as the Senior B team. This worked really well and it was lovely to see the year groups playing together and enjoying their afternoons so much.
The games were short and sharp, which meant that the girls had to commit from the start. The girls were brilliant at organising themselves in order to utilise the members of the team and at times this meant girls changing positions, and playing in the circle as opposed to the centre of the court. This showed that all girls had the same aim which was make sure that they put forward their strongest team to give them the best chance of winning.
For the third year running the Mitre was delighted to win the Junior A and B team, and Senior B team House competitions managing to clinch an impressive three out of four titles!
Many thanks indeed to Mrs Pinto for her organisation of the event and also to all those netball staff who kindly umpired the matches and gave up their afternoons in order to allow them to happen. Huge thanks too to Matron Alix who bought down lots of water and hot chocolate for the girls to enjoy – just what they needed for a busy afternoon on the Courts.
Adapted from the House website.
No term is complete with a themed lunch or two!
The term, however, did not passed without the odd themed lunch including Burns Night, St. Patrick's Day and Chinese New Year. The Mitre are lucky to have Tricia, our head chef, to cater for us on these occasions. Tricia always finds new and inventive ways to help us to celebrate different events to make them both memorable and delicious.
Mitre win the Barnes Squad Drill!
The final week of term saw the Barnes Squad competition taking place down around the area of the Tanyard and CCF base.
The competition takes place for the A Block cadets and is House based - with the Houses moving around a carousel of different stands throughout the course of the afternoon. A great variety of skills are tested – from mountain bike proficiency, to first aid skills and map and navigation. There is also a command task to tackle a climbing tower which cadets are challenged to climb and descent as many times as possible within a given time frame.
The Mitre girls performed especially well in two elements of the afternoon. The first of these was the shooting in the range which was undertaken by Megan Griffiths, Ellie Andrew and Arabella Marshall 4M. The girls did really well indeed in this and came 2nd overall out of the 10 Houses. Megan had a particularly good aim and managed to score a magnificent 89/100 points- making her the best cadet in the shooting challenge of the afternoon. The Mitre just missed out on the top spot – but this was a truly superb effort by our three best A Block shooters.
The only element of the afternoon for which the cadets can prepare before the afternoon of the competition itself is the Barnes Squad drill and parade. The Mitre girls have been practising this under the superb guidance of U6th Formers Joanna Goodhead and Hannah Boyle. These practices have been in the post-tea slot in the Mitre carpark and the girls have done really well to come so far in their skills. It was lovely to see Joanna as their NCO taking the drill on the tennis courts this afternoon. Her attention to detail was noted by the inspecting officer as he looked closely at the uniform of the girls before they started the routine of the drill.
The relief at the end of the drill was palpable and the Mitre did superbly to be awarded the magnificent shield for the top placed House in this element of the competition - this was a really wonderful achievement indeed. We are so proud of the A Block for managing to work together so well as a team and to make today count. They demonstrated just how much can be achieved when a team pulls together under such a brilliant leader!
Sincere thanks to the all the staff and NCO’s who led each of the stands and made the afternoon possible- it was great to see the girls having the opportunity to use such a variety of different skills.
Adapted from the House website.
Charity Fund Raising by Mitre this term
It has been lovely to see the Mitre girls involved in lots of Charitable fund-raising work this term. These projects have often been small in-House based initiatives and it has been great to see the girls so supportive of these on a number of different occasions over the course of the term.
Joanna Musty and Emily Mitchell U6M have raised money to support the Diamond Duke of Edinburgh initiative by attending School at the same time as taking part in an In-School expedition which saw them camping out in sub-zero temperatures!
https://www.justgiving.com/teams/reptondiamond
Arabella Heap L6M has recorded a CD of music to raise funds for Dreamland School, Ghana as she prepares to go on the annual school trip to Ghana this summer.
Together the Mitre girls have raised enough money to twin our first loo in House and support the wonderful work being done by Tearfund as they work to provide basic sanitation to the 2.4 billion people living worldwide who don't have somewhere safe, clean and hygienic to go to the loo. (http://www.toilettwinning.org/)
The Mitre girls have also supported the work of the Charity "Smalls for all" by sending off a package in support of their invaluable work in Africa. (http://www.smallsforall.org/)
In House Activities
As well as a packed term of activities outside of the House - this term has also been a busy one inside the House as we continue to offer the girls lots of different experiences within The Mitre as part of our on-going in-House activities programme.
As ever, there have been lots of highlights, and it has been very special to see girls from across the year groups coming together on many different occasions over the course of the term. Below is just a small taste of some of the highlights from the term -many more can be found on our twitter page @MightyMitre and on the news stories and galleries on the Mitre House pages of the Repton School website. Do look at these for an on-going update of the term!
Pancake Day - making and flipping!!
Making Mothering Sunday cards with Julia, our wonderful new relief matron
U6th Hosting Come Dine with Me evenings
Hannah and Caitlin's - Murder Mystery Night
Helena and Molly's - Night of Entertainment
Mitch and Joanna's - Games Night (night of competition!)
B Block enjoying time on private side!
Annual Easter Egg Hunt!
The Mitre orchard provides the perfect hiding place!
The bucket and pairing up taking the event to a new extreme!
Wishing all our Mitre girls and their families a very Happy Easter holiday. We have had a wonderfully successful term and have been so proud of the way the girls have worked together to achieve their potential on so many different occasions over the course of the last 11 weeks. We could not be prouder of their efforts in so many different areas of School and House life and continue to hugely enjoy their company.
We look forward to welcoming them all back for the Summer term on Monday 18th April for 8pm. We are very much at the business end of the year and look forward to fostering a spirit of hard work and endeavour as we support the girls through the all-important summer examinations at the same time as encouraging and celebrating all they do within the wider School and House environment.