More NewsMore House School Newsletter / May 2018 edition

A NOTE FROM THE HEADMASTERDear Parents,

Welcome to this latest edition of the Headmaster’s Newsletter. As this is published, we will be celebrating with our annual sports day, and I am looking forward to welcoming many parents, relatives and friends to share in the occasion.

Followers of my Twitter account (@HMMHSFrensham) or the school’s (@MHSFrensham) will have received already the news that former More House School Headmaster, Barry Huggett OBE, has been elected as Vice President of the Independent Schools Association. I know that so many of you will share with me in offering our congratulations to Barry, who still spends much time representing More House School through the More House Foundation, delivering training to other schools and teachers across the country. His appointment is, of course, a matter of great pride for More House School.

It has, again, been a very busy half-term since the boys’ return from their Easter holidays. For many of our seniors, it has meant a dive into the summer’s series of public examinations. We have worked to support our pupils through this pressured time in managing their anxiety and performing to the best of their ability in the examination hall. Those examinations, especially for our Year Elevens and for the Sixth Form, continue after this half-term break.

For our younger pupils, many are beginning to be excited about the prospect of Activities Week, and about the Founder’s Day celebrations that herald the close of the academic year, on Saturday 7th July. However, before that there is a great deal of work to be achieved, and myriad learning and extra-curricular opportunities to look forward to. In the meantime, I wish you and your families a very pleasant half-term break.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan HetheringtonHeadmaster - BA (Hons) MSc (Ed) QTS

More HouseSchool

DIARY DATESMAY 2018Friday 25th May, Sports Day. Break for Half Term.

JUNE 2018Monday 4th June, Return to school after Half Term. Public Exams resume – last exam Monday 25th June. Year 9 Options return deadline.

Thursday 14th June, Jazzy Jim’s Jazz Jamboree.Saturday 16th June, Frensham Fayre. Friday 22nd June, Exeat weekend. Monday 25th June, Activities week.

Friday 29th June, Sixth Form Leavers’ Hog Roast.

JULY 2018Wednesday 4th July, Music on a Summer’s Evening.Saturday 7th July, Founder’s Day – school year ends – ½ day.

AUGUST 2018Thursday 16th August, GCE Exam Results Day.Thursday 23rd August, GCSE Exam Results Day.

SEND CONFERENCEMore House is proud to be sharing its expertise and delivering training at this unique event – the inaugural National SEND conference for Catholic schools.

WHO’S THIS?All is revealed on page six!

Did you think that pen friends have to live in another country? Not anymore!

The Literacy Tutors in the Learning Development Centre (LDC) are in the process of launching an inter-generational pen pal project in which the boys have been busy writing letters to elderly residents in the Hindhead care home, Moorlands Lodge. The residents were very keen to be involved in the project after Literacy Tutors, Mrs Smith and Mrs Wane, made a visit to explain the idea one evening in April. They have just taken delivery of the fi rst batch of letters in which the boys wrote about their interests and ambitions and asked many questions to fi nd out about their new pen friend and about life in ‘the olden days’.

The boys are now eagerly awaiting their replies. Two participants in the project (Tom Armitage and Alex Fisher) had the following to say…

“It was fun writing to a person in need and it was cool writing about my life and when they write back I will be interested. I liked writing that letter and learning how to write a letter. I hope when she or he writes back I can write back.

The next thing I will write will be about my friends and family and the laughs I have with them...”

“You write random things and it means nothing but doing something like this means something. If you’re actually doing it for something you put more effort in, you think about it more, I guess.”

So, the boys have been improving their writing skills while giving something back to the community – each letter will mean a lot to an older person who may have little contact with the ‘outside world’ beyond their care home.

MORE HOUSE TO MOORLANDSINTER-GENERATIONAL PENPAL PROJECT

Our sincerest thanks to everyone who donated chocolate eggs for the Easter

Egg tombola at the end of last term which raised over £1000. The summer

term is a busy time for the Friends, which begins with Sports Day this Friday.

As usual tea, coffee and delicious treats will be on sale from the Music Centre

as well as our newly launched and hugely popular baseball caps. The second

hand uniform shed will also be open for business.

There are still tickets available for the Friends of MHS Dinner Dance on

Saturday 30 June at the Frensham Pond Hotel. It is a fabulous opportunity

to dress up and boogie, get to know other parents and raise some money

for the boys. Some amazing auction prizes will be available this year,

including tickets to some of this year’s sold out music gigs. The evening will

begin at 7.00pm with drinks on the terrace followed by a three course meal

and dancing into the night. The cost is £55.00 per head, which includes a

welcome drink, dinner, glass of wine and tea or coffee. If you want to make

a weekend of it the hotel is offering rooms for guests at a reduced rate of

£140 per night. Book as a couple or individual; or rustle up a table of friends. Please contact Simone Haldenby if you have any

questions and to book your place - simone.haldenby@zen.co.uk.

Prizes for the Founder’s Day raffle have been revealed and offer some entertaining options for the summer holidays. 1st prize

is the NEW 2018 Go Pro Hero Action Camera, 2nd prize is a Garmin Vivofit 4 Activity Tracker and 3rd prize is a UE Wonderboom

Bluetooth Waterproof Speaker. Tickets will be on sale on Sports Day and in the run up to Founder’s Day including on the day

itself, when the winners will be announced.

Please watch out for an email from your Year Group Representatives about the new General Data Protection Regulations

(GDPR). Essentially, it’s a reminder that our distribution list is on an opt-in basis and should you wish to opt-in or to opt-out

please do so by emailing contactlist@morehouseschool.co.uk.

As ever, we welcome any feedback or suggestions for future fundraising and are always looking for volunteers to help at our

events. Please email Steph on steph@wellesleyhq.com or Kate on kate.a.s@me.com.

Have a fantastic half term!

Friends of More House School

Following its postponement in March due to the snow, the Year 13 production of Hangmen by Martin McDonagh was fi nally staged in late April in front of an attentive and intrigued audience. Darkly comic in tone, it tells a fi ctional story set in 1960s Oldham shortly after the abolition of hanging in the UK. Harry Wade, former infamous hangman, is now a pub landlord and somewhat of a local celebrity. But when his daughter, Shirley, mysteriously disappears following the visit of a menacing young man, Harry decides to take the law into his hands, not to mention the noose.

With an outstanding lead performance by Wilson Dutton as ‘Harry’, alongside an unrecognizable Max Fraser as his wife ‘Shirley’, Robbie Moore as the menacing ‘Mooney’, and Aiden Russell-Holland, William Howard and Travis Garrod all playing multiple roles - complete with a variety of accents - this was a fi ne ensemble piece brought expertly to life by the oldest actors in the school.

HANGMEN

JAZZ JAMBOREEJAZZY JIM’S

June 14th 2018

Black Tie or Smart7.30pm on Thursday 14th June 2018The Simkins Centre, More House School,Moons Hill, Frensham GU10 3AP

Doors open at 7.00pmTickets £5.00

Family Ticket (3 or more) £10.00Email for ticket reservations

edwardforster@morehouseschool.co.uk

Featuring:

Farnham Big BandMore House Jazz BandJazzy Jim’s Jazz Group

Bring your own picnic items / refreshments.

With an “A class” Attitude!

When I went to Tudor house on the 20th April 2018, I saw the house in person - it was massive. The path next to it was made of stone, but the toilet for the house was a bucket so, when the person using the toilet was done, it would be poured into the path… Think how that smelt!

The area where the house is built is on a hill leading down to the west gate wall.

A REPORT ON

Above: This is Tudor House in Southampton. It is a grade 1 building and was built in the Tudor era. It was one of the only buildings to survive from the Tudors to now.

Above: The building next to the west gate wall (the Tudor style one) was the guard house and now it is a hall. When it was the guard house it had beds and in the bottom of it was a cellar of more beds or storage. The big gate was called the West Gate; it was the gate where all the supplies from other countries came in.

FUN FACT! The road the Tudor house is on was bombed very heavily in WW1 and WW2. This was one of the only surviving buildings what lives today as a museum.

Maverick Rayner, Year 7

THE TUDOR HOUSE

On Wednesday 18th April, Charles Stewart, teacher of Design Engineer Construct! (DEC!) attended and presented at a ‘Class of Your Own’ summit.

Industry professionals from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, Royal Institute of Civil Engineering Surveyors, and from Gardiner and Theobald (the world-renowned construction and property consultancy) were amongst attendees interested in the DEC! course. Mr Stewart focused on the positive impact it has on the boys at MHS and it was amazing to understand the support the construction industry is providing in backing the course both in and out on the classroom environment.

DEC! SUMMIT

IN SOUTHAMPTON

10,000 GCSEPODS!!!

The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted our new school website. A project that started well over a year ago to bring to life!

We are thrilled that we now have a website which offers the whole school community better navigation and usability, is mobile responsive and is updated daily to give real time information.

We encourage you to get interactive with the website and let us know what you think (the good, bad and ugly) by emailing Headmaster’s PA, Mrs Secker-Barker at: headmasterspa@morehouseschool.co.uk.

It is a continuous work in progress and will only get better the more people engage and feedback.

THE ALL-NEW MORE HOUSE WEBSITE

One of the exciting features of the website we would like to bring to your attention is the School News App – download via your app store and receive notifi cations from sports fi xtures to news stories – and is a one-step access point for the school calendar.

Google Profile

Part of our new website is the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) function – a vital part of any website, allowing businesses to grow their brand-awareness and online presence.

We know we are an amazing school with a transformative education model, but we want everyone else to know this too – and this is where you all come in.

We would very much welcome your review on our Google profi le, it should take no longer than a couple of minutes, but has a really positive effect our website Google listings.

May 14th marked the start of 2018’s Mental Health Awareness Week, with a focus on stress, and I wanted to use a fun character to help spread stress-busting messages, and all of a sudden Wellby was created!

You may have seen him on posters around the school as well as Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully you will be seeing a lot more of him. Wellby is a supporter of wellbeing and good mental health for all! He will appear with advice or sometimes his image will just denote a wellbeing focus.

At More House we recognise that awareness of mental health needs to be ongoing – all year round. With this in mind we plan to target wellbeing and help the pupils develop optimistic minds and personal strengths. This will help to improve individual performance and lead to greater experiences of positive emotions and the achievement of individual goals.

During Mental Health Awareness Week, years four and fi ve came up with ideas for reducing and managing stress. Here are some of them:

WELLBYPlaying on the grass

Riding my bike with my dad.

Tying knots in the long grass.

Getting outside.

Cuddling my dog.

Talking to a friend.

Playing my video game.

Listening to loud music.

Listening to quiet music.

Playing a game with a friend.

Finding a quiet space.

Whatever you do – make sure that you have ways to reduce and manage stress.

Good advice – thank you boys!

Look out for Wellby – he’s looking out for you!

Ruth-Maria Hammond,

Head of Wellbeing

WELL, WELL,

We are delighted that once again the MHS Steelpan Band has been invited to lead the procession for the fayre, which starts at 12.45pm. Later in the afternoon, between 1.45pm and 2.45pm, you can swing and sway to the wonderful MHS Jazz Band!

FRENSHAMFAYRE2018DESIGN

ENGINEER CONSTRUCT!FLEXI-DAYOn Friday 18th May during DEC! we were lucky enough to have a company called Laing O’Rourke pay us a visit. Their talk focussed on the use of technology in construction.

We were split up into two group. In Base One, we had a presentation about a building in north London they were going to construct. The new design was three times the size of the original building, and they had to divert a river and a motorway to get to the space to build it!

They are currently working on the Cross Rail project, which is located under the London underground railway, about 45m below London. They showed us a 3D scan of the Cross Rail project where they used a drone to inspect the railway tunnel. The only problem was that being underground they needed Wifi to run the drone and also they were using Skype to communicate with others above ground. They solved this by creating an internet network 45m below London – they were the fi rst ever to do this. They set up a 360 degree camera to get a video view of the discovery centre then used virtual reality headsets to look at the footage. What I liked about this is that you can see an entire different room with just a headset and a camera.

In Base Two, we went outside with a laser scanner that we set up on the fi eld and took a whole 3D measurement of the exterior and some of the interior of the School of Engineering block, which took about 20 minutes. Then we came in and uploaded it onto the computer. I was amazed at how the camera could take an exact replica of the building.

It was a brilliant day and an opportunity to see how what we learn in DEC! is actually put into use in construction.

by Samuel Flood and Oliver Wordingham, Year 9

More House School, Frensham, Farnham, Surrey GU10 3AP

01252 792303 schooloffice@morehouseschool.co.uk

www.morehouseschool.co.uk