On Saturday, May 21^st, Mr. Armstrong and Mrs. Godwin took nine lucky Windlesham students to Cowdray Park Polo Club for the St. Regis International Cup. The match was between England and South America, and proved to be very entertaining. The England team started with ½ a point due to a slight difference in the total handicaps of both sides. Up until half time the scoring was very even, with neither team being ahead by more than two goals at a time.

At half time the 3,000 spectators took to the field to ‘stomp the divots’ (replace the tufts of grass thrown up by horses’ hooves). The final three chukkas- a chukka is a 7 ½ minute period of play- were dominated by the South Americans, who shot goal after goal. The match ended at 9-6 ½ with the South American side winning. The game was fast-paced and very close through-out; the England team definitely fought hard against an impressive side from across the Atlantic. The Most Valuable Player was Eduardo Novillo Astrada, a nine-goaler. (Players are ranked based on skill from -2 to 10.) Best Playing Pony was England player Mark Tomlinson’s, Hestenel. After the presentation we were lucky enough to meet two players; one was Mark Tomlinson who was actually at Marlborough with Mr. Armstrong, and the other was Nacho Figueras of Argentina, St. Regis connoisseur and star player. He said of the game: ‘I was thrilled to be invited to kick off England’s International Series with The St. Regis International Cup- it was a great game – fast and long with very few whistles.’

The day was a great experience, which ended in supper at Pizza Express, which was the icing on the cake! Thank you to Mr. Armstrong and Mrs. Godwin for taking us, and well done to William Kelley who created a secret recipe non-alcoholic cocktail for the St. Regis tent.

This annual event has become a much anticipated adventure for the Twos and the event didn’t fail to live up to its billing.  The entire year group met in the school theatre on Saturday 21st Mayin the  morning where they met with Jim the leader and the rest of his team from Wilderness Expertise.  The children were split in groups before watching the perfect example in teamwork, taken from where else but Toy Story.  The groups discuss the merits of working together before putting theory into practice around the school, as they completed tasks from blindfolded orienteering to crossing the shark infested waters.  After a big lunch the groups then gathered their equipment and packs before planning their routes to the three campsites on the Wiston Estate, near Chanctonbury Ring.  The weather was set fair and the groups headed off in good spirits.

After a couple of hours of navigation and trekking the groups arrived at their campsites.  Within minutes the sore feet and shoulders were put to the back of the children’s minds as they learnt how to put up their tents, little did they know how important this lesson would be as the sun shone and a gentle breeze rustled the trees!  After some more games and a bit of down time, the groups came together to make supper and a very hungry group of children devoured bowl after bowl of pasta, before the cake and custard, a staple on these trips.

Bed time soon came and as everyone snuggled down, thoughts turned to the challenges of the day to come: how far would the walk be, what would breakfast be etc. It was not long before the challenge of sleeping became the most urgent one.  The wind had whipped up to a very gusty 25kmph which really tested the tents and those inside them, as the tents flexed and pegs were pulled from the ground.

As the morning broke, much earlier than expected, the weather had improved and the children all got a hearty breakfast before packing up and heading off back to school.  After a hot shower and a Sunday roast the groups got on with the final challenges which included the firm favourite of buggy building as well as sheep and pen.

It was a great treat to see so many happy faces after a challenging and tiring 36 hours with every child feeling that they had achieved a personal goal at whatever level.

Our boarders enjoyed a fabulous Sunday at Twickenham on 22nd May 2011, to watch the world renowned London Sevens International Rugby competition. 

A colourful day with teams from around the world competing for one of the biggest prices in 7s rugby.  The children were thrilled to watch some incredible rugby and spectacular pitch side entertainment too.

Face painting was just one of the many attractions on offer and our children certainly got stuck into the spirit and carnival atmosphere of the occasion with dances and Mexican waves aplenty between matches.

England did not disappoint with a win in the Plate competition although Mr Clack was disappointed with a poor New Zealand performance which saw them eliminated in the semi-finals.

Fiji and South Africa battled out the final but South Africa were ultimately victorious and we all enjoyed a celebratory feast at McDonalds afterwards.

A select band of Threes and Fours travelled to Brighton College for their annual Prep Schools Quiz Night on Friday 20^th May.  The Threes were represented by Alice Lefever, Alexandra Boer, Rory Law and Felix Bailey.  The Fours were represented by Trumble Outhwaite, Christopher Albertyn, Abigail Aitken and Maria Mikhaylenko.

The first round was called ‘Just a Second’.  It was quite tricky because all the questions were asking who was the second person to do a famous action.  For example, who was the second man on the moon?  The second round was called ‘Where am I’.  We played our joker on that round, which meant we could double our points, but to make it harder, we had to play the joker before we saw the questions.  Of course though, we would have chosen that one anyway, for we knew so much thanks to the excellent teaching from Windlesham’ s Geography department on this subject.  The third round was called ‘Life, the Universe and everything!”  This round was a mixture of scientific and technological questions.  Which had us scratching our heads a bit, but we kept going, trusting our instinct.

Then, the highlight of the evening; The Food!!!  There were mountains of delicious things to eat, and the premium strength orange juice, sent Rory’s brain into hyper drive!

The fourth round was called ‘Life through a lens’, where we had to identify famous people, which we found very difficult, because they were more famous to grown-ups.  The fifth round was called ‘Bird Brain’, where each answer was the name of a different famous bird.  We found this round quite easy, and gained us a small lead.  The final round was called ‘Catchphrases’, or ‘Dingbats’.  This was quite easy when you got the hang of it.

We were nervously awaiting the result when the quizmaster announced that Windlesham had won by four points!  We went up and received our prize of a certificate, book token and goody bag, before Mr. Attwood whisked us back home to school and into bed!

by Alice Lefever. the Threes

Windlesham was delighted to hold a Golf Day for parents at Goodwood on Friday 20th May, 2011.

It was a fun and relaxed day enjoyed by all those who took part.

Scores

Team Winners :     John Kiely /  Louisa Milne / Mark Bowden              79pts

Team R’Up        :       Miles Denyer / Victoria Beattie / Richard Tune     76pts

Individual Winner : Mark Bowden    36 pts

Individual  R’up     : Richard Foster     34pts

It was such a successful day that we plan to organise another competition  in  late September, details to follow shortly.

Eight children took part in this year’s Kent College Snapshoot Video Challenge.

The Windlesham children, Katy, Grace, Avalon, Minna, Alice, Heloise, Jenny and Felix had to create a short film, loosely based on the topic of Friday 13th.

The Windlesham team worked brilliantly together, and had plenty of good ideas and came up with a finished product called “Dream?”.

The Windlesham Film was judged the best on the day and we came away with the Trophy, and a very proud team!

Sarah Mitchell

Windlesham were represented at the 2011 IAPS swimming finals by 4 swimmers, a great achievement considering they all qualified as one of the fastest 16 swimmers in their age group.

Hamish Milne-Skillman was 3^rd fastest after the semi-finals, but sadly was disqualified for a false start.

Haydn Lewis was just out of the finals, but recorded a personal best.

Becx Radford did her best on the day, but didn’t make the finals.

Flo Margaroli qualified for the finals, after rushing from a rounders match, and finished 3^rd, also recording a personal best.

The children were a credit to Windlesham, giving of their best and supporting each other  on the day.

IM

Alex Armstrong will be taking a group of  Windlesham children to Cowdry Park Polo Club on Saturday 21st may for the St Regis International Cup.

Alison Kelley (Windlesham Parent) has organised a prime picnic spot for WHS pitch side – families can park in the general car park and all congregate in the WHS pitch side spot.  Alison has also organised  for the teams to come over and say hello to Windlesham during the event.

The international match starts at 3.30pm and will end around 5.30pm – with a half time divot stomp and presentations at the end.

St. Regis International Cup –

England takes on South America at Cowdray Park, Midhurst, in The St. Regis International Cup, 26 goal polo (highest played in England).

The Jaeger-Le Coultre South American side includes celebrated player Nacho Figueras, a St. Regis Connoisseur, and the world’s leading player, Adolfo Cambiaso giving the Audi England (Luke and Mark Tomlinson, Malcolm Borwick, James Beim) a real challenge in their first of three international matches of the season.

The British Ladies Open Tournament Final will be played at noon, with the international match at 3.30 pm – finishing around 5.30pm after the prize giving.

Traditionally a great day for the family, and includes a shopping village and children’s mini funfair.

Gates open at 10.30AM –  Entry £10 per adult, children under 12 free.

Further information:

http://www.cowdraypolo.co.uk/international.cfm

Windlesham House School hosted its annual Windlesham Challenge on Thursday 12^th May, 2011. Over 100 children from 13 schools, from Sussex and London, competed against each other in four Challenges – ICT, Technology, Science plus three outdoor tasks.

It was a fabulous day and enjoyed by all the children and staff, culminating in, “Professor Butlin’s Explosive Finale” in the Malden Family Theatre, which was greeted with delighted and enthusiasm from the audience, young and old.

It was an extremely close event with only seven points difference between all the schools. Orchard House School from London, who were competing for the first time, did amazingly well and are celebrating their success at winning this year’s Windlesham Challenge.

The schools welcomed to Windlesham this year for the Challenge were, St Mary’s C of E First School in Washington, St John the Baptist Primary School in Findon, Ashington C E School in Ashington, St Mary’s C of E Primary School in Pulborough and from London, Knightsbridge School, Hornsby House, Gatehouse School, White House Prep, The Merlin School, Orchard House, Prospect House and The Falcon Prep School.

Headmaster,  Richard Foster,  said: “We thoroughly enjoy hosting this event every year as the children have so much fun. This year was no exception and we are all delighted Orchard House did so well and congratulate them on their victory.”

We are all delighted Lolly Cross has received an Academic Exhibition to Bryanston, very well done!