SIBFORD BOARDING The Newsletter from the Boarding Community May Half-term 2020
SIBFORD SURROUNDS: Half-term has given us a chance to refresh and take in some of the local natural highlights. This lake is ten minutes' walk from campus and we'd love to share this with our boarders upon their return.
ONLINE BOARDING IS ALWAYS OPEN! News as boarding goes temporarily online The May half-term is often a momentous event in the lives of our Year 11 and 13 students and boarders. We have been moved to watch and participate in the end of year online meetings at the end of term, as these students end their formal lessons for their GCSE and A-level study. We wish them all the best in their results and their next adventures, whether at Sibford or beyond into the world of Further Education. For these students, we have been pleased to see a number of them still attending their 'Virtual Boarding' events, after lessons have finished - and I want to make it clear that we are still here in support of all of our boarders, even if their lessons have come to a close! We have been having a great time online with our students over the past week or so - sharing tales and having lots of fun, alongside supporting each other in these times. It remains the highlight of the houseparenting week!
BOARDERS' PETS: We have had the joy of meeting the pets of boarders online. Here are Annie's young puppies, Natalie's tiny kitten, and Joyce introducing Poppy!
HOLIDAYS! As it is half-term, we asked some of the students to send pictures from where they are in the world. We had some lovely sunny pictures come in, including: India in Irvine, Scotland; Amy at the seaside near her home in China; and Anna in front of a famous monument in Leipzig, Germany.
COMMUNITY SPIRIT Updates from our online world
One to watch out for is the forthcoming release of our 'boarding film.' We have had some really beautiful
It has been a busy end to term and we have been really
contributions from students from their homes and, as a
enjoying being part of our vibrant boarding community
way of showing what boarding is like at Sibford, their
online. Our weekly meetings and the support on our
testimonies are so important! It was wonderful to receive
forums for each other have really helped us feel together
them and helps reiterate what a special experience it is
and supported, even whilst we are temporarily apart.
boarding here at Sibford.
We have had some entertaining meetings in the past couple of weeks. In one, alongside having a 'face-to-face' meeting with Natalie's young kitten, Elio, we had great fun trying to deceive the 'live captions' feature on Teams - with increasingly creative attempts to try and confuse it! We also held a Fielding House birthday party for Anna during half-term - and it was great to see everyone come in for a celebration and some fun! I think we are getting better at singing 'happy birthday' with the slight time lag over video calls too?!
We wish our whole boarding community the very best in these times and reiterate that we are always here for you. To see what we are up to, please visit our Twitter page for regular updates: @SibfordBoarding