South House Newsletter Michaelmas Term
2014
Edited by Laura Clark & Christi Radkiewicz
Mrs Frett’s Corner: There is a moment towards the end of this term every year when my heart literally skips a beat on receiving an email entitled “South Newsletter” and is followed by the immortal lines, “Dear Mrs Frett, please can we have your article for the newsletter asap!” For an awful moment my weary brain goes blank and (impossible as it seems for all of you who know me so well) I am lost for words. I know I have to come up with something fairly promptly to appease my long-suffering editors, but how do I encapsulate or articulate a wealth of wonderful memories in one small paragraph? After all, the many achievements of this incredible bunch of individuals are already emblazoned across the South newsletter pages. So this term, I have decided to focus on the essence of South - those thousand little moments which leave me in no doubt that being a Housemistress in South has to be the best job in the world. So how to describe South… Quite simply we are a family - admittedly a little larger than the average one with a lot of teenage emotions flying around, but what makes South so special is the realisation that no matter what kind of day you have had, when you walk through those blue doors you are home and know that you are accepted, valued and will be heard. In South, everyone plays a part; there are no spectators - all of us are participants, whether it is as soloists, goal scorers or goal keepers, thespians, painters or cooks. The Southies really do make this place buzz. I cannot tell you how many prospective parents I show round South who comment on the vibrant atmosphere - and that is during study periods when (rare for South) all is quiet and calm! You should see us when we let our hair down! Chocolate fountains, Orange Wednesdays, the after-play cast party, Santa Fir (where one of my lovely Upper 6th decided it would be a great idea if we bought a real reindeer for the South garden!), mixed netball matches with the boys (to be seen to be believed!), a jazz evening with a live band and our very own fabulous singers, MNM (Monday night matrons!) where I often enter to screams of laughter from Charades and quizzes. We South girls know how to work hard and play hard and we do both with equal measure! We treasure this house with its quirky layout, extreme temperatures (and I am not talking about the girls!) and fabulous MCR/LCR (middle and lower Common Rooms!). In House Prayers last night I asked the girls to focus on what it means to be part of this family - that trust is a vital ingredient and how happiness is not just about possessions and acquiring the latest gadget but it is about looking beyond ourselves, to the welfare of others and it is about being comfortable in one’s own skin. That is going to continue to be my message to this incredible band of unique individuals. Finally, my heartfelt thanks to my 112 wonderful Southies who make this place buzz; to my fabulous tutors who are the ultimate in professionalism and diligence; to my long-suffering, creative and positive matrons; our patient cleaners, Val, Molly, Mel and Jan; and of course the irrepressible and effervescent Miss Sturdee and dynamic and feisty Miss Merry who have made this term memorable, manageable and marvellous!! A very peaceful and happy Christmas to you all. God bless. Mrs Frett x
Matron’s Corner: As Christmas decorations start appearing in the dorms we can hardly believe the term has passed! At the beginning of September the warmth of the sun was still upon us as we greeted our new 4th formers. Now the evenings have drawn in and the wintry weather has well and truly arrived. In September we welcomed Abi into L5th and 3 new girls into L6th, Alice, Matylda and Phoebe. Each one quickly became part of the South family and brought their own dynamic to the House. Jan joined our cleaning team with Mel, Molly and Val, without whom our house would not be a home – they each work tirelessly to keep South so neat and tidy. Clare Marsh has quickly made her mark as our Matron’s Prefect. She never seems to lose her smile no matter what is going on, be it chasing up the 4th form to fulfil their weekly duties, or to encourage us all to finish the Christmas boxes. Her weekly jokes that went up on Matron’s board before half-term kept us all amused – even if some of them were a bit corny!! Our South girls give us so many reasons to be proud but the highlight for us is sharing ‘Monday Night Matrons’ with the various year groups after Prep – from cupcake icing, to chips and dips. We thoroughly enjoy their fun and laughter in ‘Matron’s’ as they play Charades or Heads Up and chat with us. After half-term we re-introduced ‘Orange Wednesdays’ when the girls watch a movie in the main common room after lessons, all snuggled up together on the sofas. Kim said she’ll never forget the evening of ‘Frozen’ when both young and old alike were nestled up together watching the Disney film and singing their hearts out! We wish you all a wonderful Christmas and the New Year. Kim and Claire
Frodo and Bertie’s Corner: Woof Woof and merry Christmas from the two best dogs in Cranleigh School! Even though we aren't allowed out into the house, we can still hear your laughter, singing and biscuit munching echoing around the corridors. We've met a lot of new bright faces from the 4th form and L6th and we'd like to welcome you with open paws and lots of kicks. By the way we'd also like to thank you for all our lovely walks even in the pouring rain and long may it continue next term. With many doggie wishes, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Woof woof!
Welcome to Miss Merry! After regretfully saying goodbye to Miss Greenwood, South warmly welcomed Miss Merry with open arms to take on the role of Day Warden. Miss Merry is a bubbly character to have around South, and you wouldn’t even notice she’d only been here a term! Her endless enthusiasm for sport has been remarkable. Morning by morning she announces the daily sports arrangements so we are never left in a state of confusion! Her motivation was definitely necessary when organising the practice runs for the 4th Form Cross Country; her inspirational speech before the run helped the South runners reach their full potential. Her nail painting skills have been greatly appreciated by the Sixth Form, while always being a friendly face to chat to. Everyone in South hopes she has settled in well and are excited for what the new year will bring!
Head of House — Caileigh Faure: I have thoroughly enjoyed my first term as House Captain; South is without a doubt the busiest house and I am taken aback how much each and every one of us achieves on a regular basis. I have loved how much closer we have become as a family. Our Fourth Form have been amazing and have settled in with ease. The highlight must be the house performance evening; SouthEast took victory with their fantastic dance with South-Cubitt narrowly coming second. Lower Fifth have joined together to become stronger than ever this term and seem to be enjoying life in their corridor. The Upper Fifth are leading the junior school by great example; they have maturely adjusted to their roles and have played a key part in the positivity, which drives the house. The Lower Sixth have undoubtedly enjoyed the change of becoming Sixth Form; especially the suits, while the addition of the three new girls has made it an even more exciting term. Upper Sixth have taken over running the house exceptionally and are well and truly making the most of their last year here. South is stronger than ever and we are looking forward to the rest of the year. I hope you have a lovely Christmas, and come back in the New Year rested and ready for the chaos of next term!
MUSIC & DRAMA Music: South had had a very busy term in the music department. We welcomed a new Lower Sixth scholar - Alice Simmonds - as well as Millie Mazzone in the Fourth Form. We had a music trip consisting of an enjoyable evening at Cadagon Hall in London. Cranleigh Voices has sung the Fauré Requiem and the Seb Weiss jazz pieces, and are glad that the rehearsals are dying down! We have also had two of the senior competitions, the strings and the piano, which saw Olivia Chesser and Soyoung gaining places in the final, with a worthy performance by Emily Hill as well. In the piano competition Alice Simmonds and Fayruz Megdiche gained final places, with excellent performances by Olivia and Soyoung. All of the south girls in the choir are currently preparing for the Christmas period, what with advent services and Christmas carol evenings, and we are all looking forward to a rest over the holidays.
South Play: This year South performed ‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare.’ The South play was such a laugh, and everyone who was in it had the best time. All the rehearsals were worth it, as it was so good and successful at the end. We all got so close and it was an unforgettable performance. Mrs Frett’s brilliant script writing was full of humour and jokes, and it created the best atmosphere. Overall, it was a total triumph for South!
Noises Off: Noises Off took to the Speech Hall stage for four nights in November, from the 11th to the 14th. It starred two South girls, Jemima Stephenson as Poppy and Maddie Lock as Dotty with another South girl, Livi Walliker as the stage manager. It was a comedy featuring many doors and sardines and proved to be a roaring success with Cranleigh pupils, staff and parents. A lot of effort went into the play and the cast thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Many thanks must go to their director, Nikki Plowman.
4th Form Teambuilding: SOCIALS 4th Form Halloween Party: This year South Fourth Form were invited for a spooky Halloween party at West! After applying various forms of fake blood we went over. On arrival we were greeted by creepy music and exited friends - West common room was unrecognisable with the scary decorations and eerie atmosphere. Best costumes included Callie and Flora being Siamese twins and Autumn and Toni as genies, providing hilarious entertainment. Then the fun started! Everyone was split into different groups for loads of fun party games. These included: apple bobbing, donut eating, mummifying and dunking our hands in slimy tomato spaghetti!! The spaghetti was disgusting and everyone got very competitive when it came to the donut eating competition and apple bobbing, including the Sixth Formers! Overall it was an awesome night and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves! Thank You West!
Our first weekend was full of teambuilding activities. An unappreciated early waking the next morning got us up for all our teambuilding activities. We went to TASC and divided into our groups. There were so many fun activities, including problem solving with Miss Sturdee, a swimming activity and crossing South Field without touching the ground. A big thank you to all the prefects and staff that made it so fun.
6th Form Cheese & Wine Evening: Last Thursday, South and Cubitt Sixth Form had a wine and cheese evening in the pavilion. There was a very friendly atmosphere and it was a lovely evening. Victoria Parker started off the singing, and then Kimi Zoet, Harriet Trundle and Claudia Berry sang too, from South. The entertainment was delightful, with a range of voices that rounded off such a lovely evening. We managed to raise money for Beyond Ourselves. All in all it was a successful evening.
HOUSE COMPETITIONS South-East Partsong: The South-East part-song group worked really hard this year, performing 'Dancing In the Moonlight'. It was great to have South so well represented with singers ranging from the U5th to the U6th, including some great soloists. The vocals, too, were excellent (we couldn't let Mrs Frett down after all). Though it was disheartening not to win, we were redeemed by the victory of our amazing South-Cubitt sisters - well done to all.
South-East 4th Form Dance: This year, South-East once again took the crown in winning the Fourth Form dance two years in a row. Both Livi Hartley and Bella Marr worked hard in choreographing, producing and directing this exciting house event whilst working with Harry Adorian and Luke Rooke from East. With the hard work of the Fourth Form and team work between both years, South-East were victorious once more. Fingers crossed for a third year of South-East winning the fourth form dance!
South-Cubitt Partsong: We had great fun with South-Cubitt partsong this year. We decided to sing ‘Under the Boardwalk’ by The Drifters. We decided to mix the song with extracts of ‘Stand by Me’ in the middle to jazz it up a little, with impressive solos from Abi Lord and Theo Golden. Luckily all the hard work and long hours we put in after prep paid off because we won, which allowed to South-Cubitt to win overall! Well done to everyone involved.
South-Cubitt 4th Form Dance: South-Cubitt were placed 2nd in the 4th Form dance. Phoebe Street, Ellen Farrington and Allegra Clark worked together to create the choreography and they had great fun helping out. It was a really memorable evening and all the girls were really enthusiastic and had a great time. It was really nice for the girls to socialise with their associated boys as well as getting stuck into all the South house spirit and the support the rest of South gave!! Well done!!
HOUSE HOCKEY Stonesett Tournament: Last year South unfortunately just missed out on winning the Stonesett trophy; however this year we came back with a bang! The sun was shining and despite the chilly weather everyone was in high spirits ready to succeed! Our overall fantastic performance meant that we earned a comfortable win against West. Mrs Frett was certainly very pleased on the return of the Stonesett trophy in the South cabinet!
House Hockey: There was much success for the Juniors in South, who managed to secure a victory against West! The U15As won 3-0 whilst the U14As won 1-0 and the U15Bs won 3-2! Everyone played their finest hockey and it was a well-deserved victory! The seniors narrowly lost to West; the 1sts drew 1-1, 2nds drew 1-1 and unfortunately the U16s lost against a very strong side. Although the seniors were not victorious, everyone played to the best of their ability and South are very proud. We hope we can come back next year for a senior house hockey victory. As Mrs Frett says we can ‘let them win’ this time around!
House Challenge: This year, representing South in the House Challenge was the team of Rosie Mundy, Livi Hartley, Emma Grainger and Claire Abrahamsen. In the first round against North we did well and did what no other South team had done before and won, which allowed us to face Loveday in the second round, where we unfortunately lost despite a good effort from all, as Loveday were just too quick on the buzzer.
4th Form X-Country: South was pumped and ready to go before all the other houses. Even though it was not quite a victory overall, everyone put in 100%. West came 1st and 2nd but Ella Bounous came 3rd, Katherine Carr came 5th, and Zoe Allchurch in 6th and many more did extremely well, everyone putting in their best effort for their new house. With everyone cheering and really having the support of our house, it made us all feel really positive... We almost forgot about the fact it was cold and raining! Really really raining!!! We thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a great first house event and well done South!! And thank you to Miss Merry and Jess Robinson for getting us ready.
CHARITY Samaritan boxes: This term a group of South girls went to the Samaritan’s Purse warehouse in Guildford to deliver Christmas shoeboxes. South donated a total of 216 boxes and smashed last year’s record! After unpacking the boxes, the girls had a tour around the warehouse and a quick tutorial session on how to pack a fair box before they began checking their boxes. It was a great experience as they were able to witness all the amazing work Samaritan’s Purse carry out: they sent around 1 million boxes worldwide last year alone! In addition to this, Mr Bob Wilson is co-ordinating the collection of goodies to make up Christmas parcels for members of the Cranleigh Village community who need a little extra support and cheer at this time of year. These will be delivered by the pupils helping on the Community Service programme. Live Below the Line Day: Ahead of the end of term festivities and feasting, Cranleigh dedicated Friday 28th November to ‘Live Below the Line Day’. Normal meals were replaced with ‘Zambian equivalents’ and somewhat reduced portion sizes to normal: breakfast was a bowl of steaming porridge, lunch was a tasty combination of polenta, beans and cabbage, and supper was a bowl of soup. Both the different cuisine and the smaller portions made for a more challenging day for students and staff alike! Overall, South contributed over £200 to our sister school in Zambia, Kawama Community School, paying for new school shoes to the pupils who desperately need them. Cake Sale: This year South hosted a cake sale in Gatleys to raise money for Tildy’s Trust. Each member of South managed to bake some cakes; the Middle Common Room was fit to burst with all the yummy cakes and treats. With the help of the various members of Upper Sixth manning the stalls and helping set up, the sale was a huge success and we managed to raise £330 for the charity.
SPORT SUCCESS 1sts: In the Surreys we won with ease beating teams with style. Goals came from Phoebe Street, Katie Robinson and many more. This put us into the Surrey finals in which we played Reigate. Knowing that even if we lost we were through to the Regionals, we were then set to play our rivals St Georges in the final. It was a horrible match to say the least, and we were not on our best form. Somehow we managed to pass the ball to the goalie about 20 times in the match and with a sneaky deflection from a George’s forward in the second half, we were 1-0 down and feeling the pressure. However, when the final whistle went we ended up coming second in the Surrey finals. Game day came once again as Regional heats were held at Cranleigh, and on the home turf morale was high. Surely we met our goals and won our matches 5-1, 9-0 and a beautiful 4-0 against Eastbourne. We qualified for the national finals which will be held in the Olympic park next year, which we are all looking forward to.
U14: It has been a very successful season for the U14 girls hockey. Due to our great play we successfully got through regionals and qualified for the national finals, which will be held next year. The Southies in the team are Zoe Allchurch, Fifi Robinson, Emily Isted, Ella Bounous, Izzy Boddington, Olivia Lord, Katherine Carr, and Flora Phillips.
U15: This season in hockey unfortunately didn’t turn out how we would have hoped. Our U16 national squad only made it to the Regional heats before being knocked out. Even though this was very disappointing, it was an amazing experience for the U15s who were part of the team. We have learnt a lot from the experience and it was an honour to be chosen in the first place. Hopefully next year we can learn from our mistakes and fight for a place at Nationals, which we rightfully deserved this year.
Riding Nationals: This year the three intense days of competition saw the top 32 school teams from England, Wales and Scotland fight it out for the NSEA championships at Addington over the October half term. We had several riders from South competing for us this year including Caileigh Faure, Charlotte Livingstone, Millie Adorian, Charlie Johnson, Phoebe Osborn, Freya Hough and Flora Phillips. The whole of the Cranleigh team did themselves very proud. The dressage teams took home silver and bronze medals, the mini eventing team also finished in bronze medal position, with the novice and intermediate teams making the final line up of the top eight teams. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and we look forward to next year.
Hall of Fame:
Emily Hill – got to the finals of the politics video competition.
Izzy Petter – qualified for U16 England hockey.
Phoebe Osborn — was placed in the national dressage championships.
Fayruz Megdiche – earned a place in the national youth wind ensemble.
Thank-yous!! A thank-you to all the cleaners... We would like to say a big thank you to all the cleaners for all their help with keeping South in ship-shape and completely spotless! On the lower floor we want to thank Val for all her help. On the middle floor Mollie does a fab job at keeping the middle common room spotless. And on the top floor a thank-you to Mel and Jan who manage to keep the top floor looking pristine! Finally, Lynne who gives up her Saturday to help make South look its best for all the tours, South couldn’t function without you. We appreciate all your help and hope you have a restful Christmas holidays.
A thank-you to the matrons… Kim and Claire are the surrogate mothers of south. They are always busy but always available for a hug if you need it! We don't know what South would do without you and fully appreciate all your help from our matron’s socials to helping with any injuries that we may develop! We hope you have a very merry Christmas, and get a well deserved rest!
A thank-you to Mrs Frett & Miss Sturdee… Mrs Frett and Miss Sturdee are the core that keeps South powering through thick and thin! We admire your constant enthusiasm and determination to carry on, no matter what. Your passion for South is indestructible and South always knows that you are there for any support needed. Miss Sturdee’s witty callover jokes do not fail to amuse us during the early morning callovers, while Mrs Frett’s Scottish accent is certainly a favourite with South! We thank you so much for all your help and support with running this house throughout this long Michaelmas term and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!