House Council Minutes

Instead of a Muster today we held a House Council. The boys split into year groups and their comments and my responses are below:

3 Form

·        Can we have headboards on our beds? (SDCH: A very reasonable request, I will ask for this to be done)

·        The light in the big dorm is broken (SDCH: I’ve emailed for this to be fixed)

·        Can we put food from the tuck shop on the school bill? (SDCH: See what your parents say…)

·        Can we play football as a school sport? (SDCH: This is a decision for the Headmaster and Director of Sport – a good item for School Council.)

4 Form

·        Why don’t we have fruit anymore? (SDCH: We don’t have enough money in the Hesperus budget! Fruit will be back in September. You can still get fruit from the Mess Hall at breakfast, lunch and supper.)

·        We have a waffle machine but no batter (SDCH: Batter is provided on Friday nights but feel free to bring in your own batter if you’d like to use the waffle maker at lunchtime and evenings)

·        Can we have colour ink for the printer? (SDCH: Too expensive – see comment on fruit)

·        Why is Seth hair so bad? (SDCH: Very good question. Seth’s hair is an abomination)

·        Is the school planning to renovate the Study Block? (SDCH: Not sure – something to take to the school council. Like Hesperus the study block is a practical, not beautiful, building)

 5 Form

·        The galley tidying rota is annoying (SDCH: Wash up after yourselves then)

·        More toasties (SDCH: I suspect it would be too expensive – good item for the food committee though)

·        Can we replace the carpet downstairs? (SDCH: I will certainly request this for the summer)

·        Hesperus Flag (SDCH: Probably not)

·        Hesperus shorts (SDCH: We are getting new shirts so shorts will have to wait)

Lower 6

·        The showers on the middle floor are too hot (SDCH: I’ve emailed Lewis – they were too cold last time so hopefully we’ll find some middle ground)

·        We need a new carpet downstairs (SDCH: see above)

·        Can we end the house nights on a Friday – we’d rather go out (SDCH: I’ll speak to the other Housemasters about this_)

Upper 6

·        Hesperus needs a gravity chamber, slushy machine, soft ball pool and should be sound proofed (SDCH: Great ideas – when are you leaving?)

Ideas for Sunday trips

·        Thorpe Park

·        Reading (but catch train in rather than minibus)

·        Punting in Oxford

·        Paintballing

·        Airsoft

·        Go ape

SDCH

Merits

Well done to the following boys who received a Merit last week.

Hesperus	Merit
Winter, Louis	3
Doyle, Harrison	1
Xu, Kenny	1
Pugh, Bertie	2
Owen, Hamish	1
Grieve, Seth	2
Orton, Josh	1
Digby, Ed	1
Chapman, Ed	2
Lawrance, Jake	1
Riley, Nick	2
Grieve, Jon	1
Dwerryhouse, Hugo	1
Lacey, George	1

Taking Responsibility - the high ropes

Taking Responsibility: Day 1

Boat Club: 60th Anniversary Celebrations

The Boat Club celebrated its 60^th Anniversary with an afternoon’s rowing that included any OPs who wished to take to the water, followed by a dinner in Mess Hall.

Having handed over the new eight “Spirit of ‘63” that they had so generously donated to the Boat Club, the crew, complete with their coach and with substitute Luke Towers, took to the water in it. Although septuagenarians (apart from Luke), they still showed the poise and teamwork that had taken them to victory in the Princess Elizabeth Cup at Henley and paved the way for future generations to achieve three further successes in that event to date, a record bettered only by Eton. They were then joined by another predominantly OP crew of mixed vintage and our girls’ 1^st VIII. To remind us of the biggest change in Pangbourne rowing in recent years – the addition of girls’ crews – the girls showed the other eights their sprinting ability in a series of short bursts.

Before the Dinner, “The Spirit of ‘63”, together with two other boats named after members of the ‘63 crew, was formally named by our Guest Speaker, reigning Olympic, World, World Cup, European and British champion, not to mention Olympic, World and European record holder, Captain Heather Stanning, MBE. Heather, who is successfully combining a career in the Royal Artillery with unprecedented rowing success, mirrored the path blazing of the ’63 crew, along with Helen Glover in a coxless pair their being the first ever British female Olympic Gold Medallists and the first Gold Medallists of the 2012 London Olympics.

The Dinner itself completed a memorable day, with nearly 160 OPs, Pangbournians, parents and coaches present. The Headmaster pulled off an impressive coup in borrowing the actual Princess Elizabeth Cup for the occasion – a magnificent trophy worth many thousands of pounds. There was an excellent atmosphere and four great speeches by Julian Coles, stroke of the ’63 crew, Tegan Foister and Luke Towers, the Captains of Boats, and by Heather Stanning.

Special thanks must go to our own Olympian, who has also been World Champion, ex-Sportsperson in Residence, Beth Rodford, who did much of the organising of this year’s dinner.

MW

Forms 3 & 4 - Top Effort Grades

Here are the top effort grades from the recent Grade Cards. These only applied to Forms 3 and 4.

Well done to the boys below - we are just short of a Hesperoid achieving a perfect 4.0!

Philip Garnier – 3.9

Kenny Xu – 3.6

Sam Holloway – 3.5

Ed Chapman – 3.4

Jack James – 3.4

Louis Winter – 3.3

Nick Riley – 3.2

Ed Digby – 3.1

Jake Lawrance – 3.1

Jamie Perring – 3.1

Harrison Doyle – 3.1

Nick White – 3.1

Seth Grieve – 3.0

Tommy Hessian – 3.0

Cameron Pearson – 3.0 

Muster 2/6/2015

Hesperus Muster

Praise

• Luca van der Wyck has been selected for the Berkshire u15 Rugby squad.
• Luke Towers received two Bronze medals at the National Schools' Regatta.
• Harry Farrant passed his driving test during half-term. He only had five lessons!
• Rory Findlay is progressing towards the GB wakeboarding squad.

Notices

• The swimming pool is open on a Tuesday and Wednesday night from 20.30 - 21.30. Due to restrictions on numbers you will need to let me know at evening muster if you'd like to swim. It will also be open for full boarders on a Sunday.
• Pangbourne would like to hold a charity event on the last Sunday of term - ideas to me please.
• The Falklands Island Memorial Service takes place next Sunday - CCs are expected to attend. Any boarders are also encouraged to help with car parking and serving lunch following the service.
• Please only order Dominos pizza on a Wednesday night. If boarders have my permission pizza can also be ordered on a Saturday.  
• The Headmaster is inspecting Hesperus tomorrow morning. Please make sure the house looks its best.

Merits

The following received Merits during the week prior to half-term:

Harri Doyle
Finn Ellison
Jack James
Nathan Wang
Hamish Farrant
Nick Riley x2

Student of the Week will be announced once I see the Forms 3 and 4 average effort grades from the recent grade cards.

Please maintain high standards: Appearance, Punctuality, Attitude, Effort

I spoke with Forms 3 and 4 about the upcoming exams and the need to be ambitious and achieve their best. The exams are important, particularly in terms of gaining confidence and momentum ahead of next year.

SDCH