The autumn play was a traditional pantomime this year with all the twists and turns you might expect.  Simple Simon and Little Bo Peep, played beautifully by Archie Steele and Ellie Whiteside, took the audience on a magical journey as Prince Charming, the dashing Sam Williams, sought to find a wife. The entire cast surpassed themselves, all featuring in cameo roles from various fairy tales. Yolanda Gumpo gave us a feisty Cinderella, belting out ‘Mercy’ and introducing her rapping Mice, Moesha Gumpo, Emily Ind, Esther Banks, Emily Baring, Jemima Spurr and Alex Boer.  A back-packing, fun-loving Buttons as portrayed by George Barbieri and two hideous Ugly Sisters, Odorita and Listerine, captured perfectly by Crispin Foot and Aan Mouth, oops I mean Crispin Tavares and Aan Amir.  Snow White, Kate Aston, introduced her delightfully zany dwarves, Kit Tod, Maud Bonham-Carter, Juliette Carmichael, Rory Law, Rhiannon Templeman, Alexia Garrido-Bult and Imogen Burgoyne who stole the show with their dramatic exit race, ‘Saddle Up’! King and Queen Cole, played with regal authority by George Hilton and Milan George, brought their rascal of a son, Prince Fury, back to order. Max Anderson relished the opportunity to play the baddie, as did Julia Yarmolyuk (Fairy Unlikely) and Heloise Wright (Queen Narcissa).  The cast had an absolute ball, with a stunning finale featuring a gospel   version, by Anthony Hutchings, of ‘I’m a Believer’. The Ones and Twos should be very proud that they captured the essence of Pantomime   and as they head towards the end of another exhausting term they should have no worries as we shout, ‘It’s behind you!’

After an early rise and a long  journey we arrived at the Chateau de la Boudonnière. We had a small tour of the Chateau grounds before we had our supper.

During the day, we were divided into several groups.  There where lots of very enjoyable activities for everyone.

The climbing wall was fun and  challenging.  The assault course was enjoyed by everyone. A very well done to Olli Tipple for being the only one who crossed the stream on a rope at the end of the course.

We also had French lessons and fabrication du pain which were then baked in the afternoon and we had them for supper.

The food was the most amazing food that any of us had ever tasted. We had a 3 course meal for Lunch and Dinner, and we had to explain everything in French before we could start the meal!

The delicious fresh French bread was certainly popular at every meal time with us often going up and asking for ‘Je voudrais encore du pain, s’il vous plait’

The Chateau looked fantastic with all the trees with different coloured leaves and we just loved trampling them under foot. The best thing about the grounds was the mini ferme with rabbits, peacocks, ducks and hens which were all free to roam around the chateau grounds.

Our day out was great. We went to the market and completed a questionnaire and then we were each given some pocket money to spend in the market. We bought all sorts of things including hats, giant baguettes, grub of course, and souvenirs to take back home. Afterwards we made our way towards the Mont St. Michel, but we stopped off for our picnic lunch first, which went down really well.

At the Mont St. Michel we counted the steps up to the top, and we stopped off at the lucky well in our tour of the ramparts. We visited the Abbey at the top, and the views were awesome, especially as it was such a sunny day! Afterwards we did a bit of souvenir shopping before heading back to the Chateau.

The end of the week came too soon, and the final evening was our talent show. Even the teachers did a skit! Our return crossing on the Brittany Ferries boat called ‘Le Mont St. Michel’ was really good and we were able to watch a couple of movies. We arrived back to school in the afternoon exhausted but really happy after a brilliant week. Thanks especially to Monsieur and Madame Westcombe but also to all the other staff.

Alice Day & Charlie Line

As I begin the extremely important task of writing reports on every child at Windlesham I am bound to be in a reflective mood.

I was delighted for Richard Cairns, Headmaster of Brighton College, and one of our Governors that his school should be recognised by The Sunday Times as being the best Co-Educational Independent Senior School in the Country for 2011.  Richard Cairns and his team deserve this recognition.

In many respects Senior Independent School s are fortunate that they can be measured by results at A level and GCSE.  League Tables play a big part in their audit of how successful they are year in and year out.

At Prep School level there is no way of measuring academic results other than by the satisfaction of getting children places into their first choice senior school.  I take enormous pride in doing this and can claim to have a 100% record not only here at Windlesham but throughout my 27 years as a Headmaster.

How I would love to see the media recognise the value added all round education that a school like Windlesham provides for each and every child.  It is their growth in confidence, the discovery of what they can do well or in many cases brilliantly that becomes their passport to success in life.

I challenge anyone to find a Co-Ed  Preparatory Boarding School that does this better and in our own way we will celebrate this with the children and the staff over the final ten days of this term.

I am about to see each child in my study and will be able to  share my deep satisfaction by telling each child  just how far they have progressed  this term and more importantly just how far they can go in the next six months if they make the most of what  is on offer here at Windlesham .