HEADMASTER’S BLOG November 25th 2014
November’s rain has lashed down with a vengeance and played havoc with the fixture lists of the majority of the schools in the area. Being on good old-fashioned Sussex clay means that water retention is not a problem and even the herd of 12 fallow deer that has been passing alongside the soccer pitch casually grazing and using the football nets as dental floss, has struggled through the mire! What a pleasure it has been to be able to host cancelled away fixtures and not cancel our home ones! The astro has been an absolute boon! It is a cracking fine surface and has seen so much action in such a short time … and our children absolutely love it!
We are staging a Rugby Workshop for Beechwood Sacred Heart this afternoon and although we cannot play full contact, we can run through plenty of practice drills and play some tag too!
Plenty of Sport features at Skippers this week as our U10 girls head off to a big East Grinstead Hockey Tournament whilst our U13 girls are donning Soccer boots to take on the might of the Great Walstead Girls’ Football team – hopefully they will fare better than the English Ladies against Germany!
Alex Gurran’s Fitness and Gym Clubs are well-attended but I have news of another sporting development which will be great fun: Skippers is about to join NSEA which, as you all well know, stands for the National Schools Equestrian Association! Pippa Hall has kindly offered to manage the team, which will be hopefully entered for its first competition in February. We have nine riders so far but anyone else that is interested, please contact me. It is, of course, early days yet but I am very excited at the prospect of developing another string to our Sports programme. Celebrate each child’s talents in whatever field : that is the Skippers way!
Such a busy week ahead with the Christmas Fayre, a highlight of the festive season. Fiona and I are looking forward to welcoming you all on Saturday. Although the Fayre opens at 1000h, we are all gathering outside the Front Door at 1015h to sing some carols – do please join us!
Undoubtedly you will still be ho-ho-ho-holding your sides trying to contain the laughter when you read my appalling jokes in the Christmas Fayre programme on Saturday. However, as I mentioned deer earlier on in my blog, I have to leave you with this parting jape:
What do reindeer hang on Christmas trees?
Horn-aments!