issue 37 . october 2011 . www.buckswood.co.uk

Buckswood SchoolNews

Food Glorious Food

Every Tuesday is Chinese Tuesday, however this term the chefs have been doing cooking, flames and all, in front of us. So we have had really, really fresh food!

The senior chef looks forward to hearing feedback on the food that his team cook. Please see below a summary sheet of the questionnaires filled in by the pupils. Over the half term the chefs will be travelling to our school in Georgia to learn a few new recipes – we wish them well!

The main attraction and highest personal achievement of this Buckswood Team Building day was ‘The Leap of Faith’. The objective was to climb a (really high) telegraph pole, somehow will yourself onto the (very small) platform at the top and . . . jump off! Sounds easy but be assured it takes a lot of mental will power and team support, especially when fighting genuine vertigo. The students all at least attempted the task and from helping each other, most completed ‘The Leap of Faith’ and came down smiling.

The outdoors setting was great to get the hard working 6th year students out of the classroom and doing something different together. The woods provided an obstacle course of low ropes where you work as a team to get everyone through the course, taking one obstacle at a time and which cannot be completed without working together.

Teams built towers out of crates in competition to build the highest tower without the person on top of the tower falling off or the tower toppling over – definite design and forward thinking required here! Some attempted ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ which proved a test of physical strength as well as team building as the logs between the vertical steps increases the higher you climb, while swinging in the air . . . but don’t worry; full safety measures were taken, supervised by qualified instructors and the students were attached with safety ropes, helmets and harnesses while climbing at all times. They all deserved their picnic lunch in the sunshine!

Juniors Catering Questionnaire

Tasty meal 30/37

Was the meal hot enough 31/37

Was there fruit offered 35/37

Was there salad offered 22/37

Was there enough food on the table 32/37

If no when you asked the

chef/assistant – did they bring more? 23/37

Were the plates/cutlery etc clean 26/37

Did the Catering Staff ask you whether

you needed anything or were OK? 17/37

Were the Catering Staff well presented 37/37

How to improve the meals ?

Meals too spicy; More pasta; Chopsticks not a

winner; B-B-Q a winner – weather

Seniors Catering QuestionnaireTasty meal 10/14

Was the meal hot enough 10/14

Was there fruit offered 13/14

Was there salad offered 11/14

Was there enough food on the table 11/14If no when you asked the chef/assistant – did they bring more? 10/14Were the plates/cutlery etc clean 12/14Did the Catering Staff ask you whether you needed anything or were OK? 10/14Were the Catering Staff well presented 12/14How to improve the meals ?Orange juice for breakfast; Meals too spicy; More fast food

Adventure Bounds

Picture of the weekWisdom sings along to the bag pipes – who is making the worse noise!

IB Cas www.bmycharity.com/heroesday

The IB Cas groups first ‘Service project’ was that of national heroes day and to raise money for the Help for Heroes Charity! The first annual National Heroes was on the 21st October 2011!

To raise funds the students came dressed up to school in there heroes outfits such as policemen and army troops! Our local heroes from the rye police station joined us on the day. On the day the IB Cas team managed to raise £215 to donate to Help for Heroes.

Chelsea Football Ground Tour- Junior Boarders 2011An exciting opportunity had arisen for the Junior boarders on the back of their fantastic assessments scored; this was to visit the home stadium of Chelsea Football Club, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

We took a minibus from school up to the London Borough of Hammersmith on the Thursday morning, ready for a tour around the stadium at 14:30.

Once we reached the ground in good time, we checked in ready for our tour; 30 minutes early to visit the superstore and have a look around.

We soon had our stadium passes around our neck and we were shown to the Press Room, the Home and Away dressing rooms and also the dugouts which have seated the likes of Fernando Torres, Thierry Henry and David Beckham.

It was a surreal experience as we often see the stadium on the television only and it was also astonishing to hear how quiet a stadium can be when closed. Next stop – Wembley Stadium!

When the pockets of the juniors are bulging with the seed of the horse chestnut tree and children shuffle around the campus like geisha girls because the laces of their shoes are missing, we know at Buckswood that it’s the conker season again.

The annual conker fight is a popular event among children in the junior school and, for the benefit of our international students, it involves drilling a hole through the hard shiny seed of the horse chestnut tree, threading it with string (or a shoe lace,) tying a knot to secure the lace in place and then hitting it against an opponent’s conker in turn until one of the conkers breaks and falls to the ground. The one whose conker is intact is the winner and moves on to seek a new opponent.

For generations in the United Kingdom, this childish pastime has entertained generations of schoolboys, although it is fair to say that an increasing number of girls like to participate in this activity too.

At noon on Thursday 13th October, scores of juniors lined up to face their opponents on the sports fields of Buckswood and the largest school conker fight in the South East began. Within minutes, the air was filled with cries of “Strings!” and “Ouch!” Despite all sorts of tricks employed by some to create the everlasting conker, it was the ‘honest conker’ that prevailed and won the match, proving that soaking conkers in vinegar and baking them in ovens is no match for a freshly picked conker in expert hands.

If, as the Duke of Wellington said, “the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton”, then the Battle of Hastings might well, with a stretch of the imagination, have been won on the playing fields of Buckswood. In any event, William the Conqueror would not have found victory quite so easy!

Junior School ActivitiesOn Saturday, 1st October, the junior boarders spent the night out under the stars on their first camping experience of the school year. The weather was perfect and many constellations were able to be seen from around the campfire. For some of the juniors, this was their first ever camping experience and they took to it like old hands.

Wood was gathered before sundown in order to be able to have a fire and everyone put up their own tent – some more successfully than others!

We dined al fresco, cooking sausages on the fire before boiling the kettle and having a cup of tea to wash down fire-roasted marshmallows prior to settling down for some spooky stories and tales of prior camping experiences.

Besides a late night visit from the prefects, (just to make sure everyone was ok of course!),the night passed uneventfully and the juniors awoke to the smell of bacon cooking over the fire. After filling up on an early morning breakfast, the tents were taken down and camp cleaned up before a hasty retreat was made back to school house for an extra couple of hours of sleep! Overall, this was a fun and successful experience, which will hopefully be the first of more trips to follow this year.

Let Battle Commence

The Christmas Term 2011School Fashion Show

buckswood school . guestling . east sussex . tn35 4lt

FootballTotal Matches Played This Half of Term 28Won 20 . Drawn 0 . Lost 8Buckswood 4 v 2 Hastings

AcademyThe Young Lions came from two goals down to stun a hard working Hastings Academy team at Wisdom Field today.

A radical reshuffle saw the centre forward take over in goal; the right back go to centre midfield; and the centre midfielders both went up front. Add to that three boys making their debuts and you get an idea of the difference in the team.

Two goals from Miguel one from Yegor and another from Man-of-the-Match George Robertson saw the Young Lions home after a shaky start. Second in the league and still climbing – well done boys!

Are You ShawStaff 5 v 5 PupilsA cracking game at the Lions Den tonight saw both sides end up all square and the Staff team, captained by Mr Shaw, kept the Wisdom Trophy for the time being anyway!

The game had everything goals, penalties, dodgy decisions and some fantastic football. But ultimately the game was undoubtedly influenced by two penalties awarded to the Staff by referee Mr Avis. The re-match will be after Christmas, promises to be a cracker!

Man-of-the-Match was Dave Winch who bossed the midfield for the Staff team.

Hockey1st Team Girls Hockey v Kent College – Sat 15th Oct 2011Although the girls had an early start for this match we were greeted with great weather. Buckswood’s 1st Team Girls Hockey was asked to come in on a Saturday to play a Kent College team, which included many county players.

The Buckswood girls soon found out what it was like to play a team that performs week in week out in league and cup competitions; Kent College had good ability on the ball and some good team cohesion. Although this was the case, the Buckswood team was not afraid of the challenge ahead of them with some great communication and defending tactics, we were simply unbeatable in defence for the first 15 minutes. It was a shame when Kent College popped in two well worked goals just before the half time whistle. The girls of Buckswood came in at half time a little deflated and tired but they all looked extremely determined to succeed.

Captain Jana soon instructed the girls to keep working and to follow tactics set by Mr Newton; throughout the second half the 1st team girls looked very strong at the back, not conceding any goals. We were very close on a few occasions to score but unfortunately none of our chances went in. I do have to give huge congratulations to these girls because of the effort and team work they put in, I cannot fault one player with the lack of team practise behind them.

With a few more matches to come after half term (Bethany, Christ-Hospital and Moira House), I know we will see this team develop and go on to win games easily.

The New Astro Turf Lights

Twelve massive new lights have been put up over the astro turf – so it is football 24/7!

FootballLions Win Battle of Hastings– Part Two!

Buckswood 4 v 2 South Coast Hastings

The Lions faced South Coast Hastings for the second time in a week.

But when the opposition turned up they were all different? Hastings had sent another team and they were stronger than the week before.

The Lions played all the football but got caught on the break to go 1-0 down against the run of play.

We battled back and a nice finish from Shaun got us a deserved equaliser only to concede again almost straight away to a Hastings wonder strike.

We kept our passing, pressing game going and stayed patient until Shaun brought us back into the game with a good strike and another quickly followed from Julio Toro Magana 3-2 Buckswood, we controlled the game towards the end and a great free kick from Maxim Bolotov saw us home 4-2.

A great result against a confusingly different side from a week ago (maybe they had ten new players come into the college in a week!)

The Lions are through to the next round and look forward to Beacon or Bexhill in round three. I want this cup and I really think we can win it – come on you Lions!