Down on the farm

The boarders made the most of the gorgeous weather on Sunday with a visit to Longdown Activity Farm.  The now aspiring farmers thoroughly enjoyed feeding the goats, both big and small, and were especially reluctant to hand back the guinea pigs in the petting zoo. Everyone had an absolute blast on the go-karts, returning several times during the course of the afternoon to race and push each other around the course. Lunch (and a sweet or two!) was enjoyed in the glorious sunshine before they once again returned to the beloved go-karts.

The trampolines were an unexpected highlight, the girls enjoyed expert mentoring from Miss North in how to do all the best flips and tricks and the boys spent hours in the hay bales racing around. Boarders soaked up the last of the sun upon their return to FSM, brushing up on their rounders skills in a late afternoon game. This active, outdoorsy weekend prepared them well for an early Sunday night routine, ready for the final week of term!

Miss Bismire

Year 8’s Wicked Wednesday

It was fun to hand over the reins to Year 8 on Wednesday night as they planned and led the evening’s activities for the boarding house.  This also included saying grace at supper, taking the register, running the tuck shop as well as saying goodnight to the boarders at the end of the evening and checking they were settled.  The Year 8s rose to the challenge very well indeed and really enjoyed the additional responsibilities they had.

They chose many of the boarders’ favourite activities for the evening: dodgeball, Karaoke and Just Dance, manhunt around the boarding house and ‘hide and seek’ in the Barn.  Being such an active night meant it was a little harder to photograph but I hope that these pictures give you a flavour of Year 8’s night.

Wellbeing Wednesday

 

This week’s Wicked Wednesday focused on the body and mind, hence being renamed Wellbeing Wednesday.

Four different activities were organised: a HIIT workout, meditation, yoga and mindful colouring.  The boarders chose their preferred activities and many took the opportunity to try something new.  It was lovely to see the boarders relax and we will be developing our wellbeing activities for the children further over the coming terms.

 

 

‘The best weekend ever’….

This comment was made by one of Year 7 boarders at the end of last weekend and as you can see from the photographs, the children certainly had a wonderful time.

On Saturday evening, Miss Gorry and the Gappies dressed the table for dinner with flowers and fairy lights to make it extra special.  A movie night in Miss Gorry’s flat was the perfect end to a busy week in school and Miss Brownie’s legendary knickerbocker glories went down a storm!

On Sunday morning the boarders walked down into Fordingbridge where they enjoyed hot chocolate and cake at ‘Bridges’ before a windy adventure at the park.  Simple pleasures but children being children, there can be no greater thing.  In the afternoon it was all aboard the minibuses to Bournemouth for lots of fun at Laser Quest as the weekend drew to a close.

 

A relaxing Sunday

This morning was a very wet and windy affair here in Fordingbridge.  Thankfully, a variety of indoor activities had been planned which allowed the boarders to spend the day here on site.  The children love going out and about but having asked if they could do a few more home-based activities at weekends, we were pleased to make this happen today.

A carousel of activities were organised which the boarders rotated around: card making in the Art Room, sports in the DHH and box making in the DT room.  We can’t reveal too many details because lots of today’s creations are being kept for Mother’s Day later in the month!

A mid-afternoon screening of ‘Johnny English Strikes Again’ gave the boarders the opportunity to relax in the Common Room.  It was certainly a very popular choice of film if the laughter was anything to go by!  Our relaxing Sunday concluded with a tasty meal of Roast Gammon followed by berries and yoghurt before getting ready for the week ahead with an early night.

 

Valentine Supper

Love might not have been in the air on Thursday night but that certainly didn’t stop FSM’s senior pupils from getting into the spirit of our fun annual Valentine Supper!  Dressed smartly for the occasion, the children gathered to be partnered up for the evening and there was much excitement as the names were drawn out.  A combination of laughter, oohs and the occasional groan could be heard as the pairs went off to have their photograph taken before supper.  Whilst enjoying a delicious meal courtesy of Matt and his team, the children chatted away finding out as much as they could about each other before our ‘Mr and Mrs’ quiz which in itself was a revelation! 

Congratulations to this year’s winners Phoebe and Thomas and thank you to everyone for making Valentine Supper such a fun evening.   

FSM’s Got Talent

The DHH came alive on Wednesday evening as the FSM community of boarders, day children and parents gathered to see who would be crowned winners of FSM’s Got Talent 2019.

This is always a popular event amongst the children and particularly over the last few weeks, there has much talk of who might be performing and lots of rehearsals have taken place both in the music block and up in the boarding house.  Auditions were held last week and the final 11 acts were announced on Friday.

Unfortunately due to illness two acts couldn’t take part and some acts also featured children stepping into the breach at the last minute which should be commended.  FSM’s Got Talent is the children’s evening and I am so proud of everyone who had the courage to get up on stage, whether singing, dancing, playing or taking part in a sketch.

The appreciative audience enjoyed nine acts on the night before being entertained by both Junior and Senior Rock (thank you Mr Harvey) whilst votes were being cast and counted.  At the end of the evening, two acts were announced as joint winners for this year.  Congratulations to ‘The Big Dream’ and ‘Ling Long’!

Thank you to everyone who came along and supported the event and all the staff involved, without whom the evening simply wouldn’t happen.

‘Home from home’

If you ask the boarders what their favourite ‘Wicked Wednesdays’ is, our ‘At Home’ nights will certainly be very high up on the list.  Last Wednesday, the boarders snuggled into their PJs, collected their tuck and set off for a relaxing evening in front of a film with their friends.  Mamma Mia 2 was certainly a popular film choice for many groups and it was lovely to welcome our Shenyang visitors into our homes for the evening too.

Happy New Year!

2019 has certainly got off to a flying start in the boarding house and night one of term was our first ‘Wicked Wednesday’ of the new year.  What better way to start than a BBQ I thought.  I know what you’re thinking, ‘in January?’  I mean the Big Boarding Quiz!

With the boarders split into teams, the nine different rounds covered Science, Music, Literature and Geography amongst other topics, including the eagerly-anticipated FSM Staff round.  This year the boarders discovered that Mr Brooks once worked for British Airways, Mr Wells won a baking competition with his fairy cakes and Mrs Rowntree had a paper round when she was at school but asked her Grandmother to drive her round to do it.  What a fascinating bunch the FSM staff are!  Congratulations to the winning team who clinched the title by just two points!

Our first weekend saw a combination of trips to Hollywood Bowl and Oxygen Trampoline Park.  It was great to see the children laughing and playing together, reconnecting after the Christmas holidays.  Apologies that it was hard to get many photographs at Oxygen, the boarders just wouldn’t stay still!

Last Wednesday was a variety night in the house with Karaoke, Dance, card games, board games and dodgeball all on offer.  The boarders had a great time choosing their favourite activities with such a wide selection from which to pick.  

We are enjoying looking after our visitors from Shenyang School who joined us in the boarding house last Wednesday evening and this weekend we had not one but two Sunday outings.

Year 7 and 8 boarders joined our Chinese students for a visit to Oxford.  It was a rather chilly affair as we set off on a walking tour around the city, showing its famous sights to our visitors including the Bridge of Sighs and the Ashmolean Museum.  However, despite the cold, many commented that it was lovely to visit somewhere new for a weekend outing.  A little retail therapy certainly brought a smile to their faces before boarding the minibuses back to the New Forest.

Our younger boarders in Years 3 – 6 had a wonderful adventure at Marwell Zoo, visiting all the different animals and getting up to some monkey business of their own as you will see from the pictures!  

To finish this Blog post, I couldn’t resist including these two photographs.  They say photography captures a moment in time and this is certainly the case for this pair of ‘headless’ penguins!

 

We wish you a Merry Christmas

The final few days of term were full of the excitement and anticipation of Christmas (and the Christmas holidays).  On the eve of FOSM Night, boarders gathered under the beautiful Front Hall Christmas tree in their pyjamas to sing carols.  This is such a special occasion in the boarding calendar and one which past pupils always look back on with such fond memories.

Boarding stars play a very important part in our positive boarding community, rewarding kindness, helpfulness, good manners and acts of friendship.  Our boarding star winners this term were treated to an evening of ice skating in Salisbury in the final week of term, and what fun they had!

After the excitement of FOSM Night, there is always one last event to look forward to before the end of term and that is the Christmas Feast.  The boarding community were joined by staff and day pupils from Years 6, 7 and 8 and together we enjoyed the most delicious Christmas meal, courtesy of Matt and his wonderful catering team.  My thanks must go to Miss Brown and the Matrons for helping me to decorate both dining rooms ready for this special occasion.  The children looked wonderful in their smart clothes as laughter, awful cracker jokes and joyous singing could be heard throughout the Manor.  Finishing with the traditional conga around the boarding house, I think our day parents arriving to collect their children wondered if we had slipped a little something into the children’s lemonade?!  I would like to assure them this was certainly not the case, the children were simply full of the magic and joy of Christmas.

As 2018 draws to a close, may I take this opportunity, on behalf of all the staff in the boarding house, to wish all our families a magical Christmas and a very Happy New Year.  See you in 2019!

Clare Rowntree, Head of Boarding