23 November 2018 Dear Parents, Colleagues, Governors and Students of the school. We have had lots going on this week and at the end of the last which has been newsworthy. First of all, we had a Music Society trip to see The Nutcracker. Friday 16 November: Music Society Trip to see The Nutcracker A little early for Christmas? but, nevertheless this did not deter MusicSoc from attending a performance of The Nutcracker Ballet by Tchaikovsky at Hull New Theatre. Five members of staff and 11 pupils (from years 6-11) watched the amazing performance, which included many famous pieces - such as Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. We were astounded at the strength and stamina of the ballet dancers, who effortlessly went en pointe, and jumped metres in the air, as well as doing the highest press-ups ever seen! This was also a great opportunity for pupils to see the costumes and scenery of a live performance, as well as to experience live music from a pit orchestra. We each took it in turns to look at the orchestra, which included more unusual instruments like a harp and a celeste. A once in a lifetime experience for all! The Nutcracker Crew! Pupils and teachers all really enjoyed the production, in Hull. Tuesday 13 November: UK Maths Senior Team Challenge Regional Final at Fulford School York Tuesday 13 November. Celia Wu, Catherine Whitworth, Roy He and Alex Chapman represented the school in the Regional Finals. The competition was tough and the questions were of a high level.
Here s an easy starter that was used as a warm up. Calculate (sum of the first 9 prime numbers) (sum of first 3 prime numbers) 2 There were three 40 minute rounds of tougher questions where the students had to work individually, in pairs and together as a group. Here s another example of the sort of questions they received: Triangle ABC is isosceles where AB = BC. D is a point on AB such that AC = DC = DB. What is the size of angle ABC? They didn t qualify for the National Finals in London but they worked hard and answered some very difficult questions. Well done! 1 st Team Hockey: Read V Pocklington Read 1 st Team. A great team display with an excellent local derby performance It was a crisp afternoon for our 1st Team hockey girls to play Pocklington School at home. We came out hard and had some great possession, taking an early 2-0 lead. The girls played tremendously, creating shooting opportunities and they were elated with a 3-1 victory in their first half game. In the other half, Pocklington rotated their second squad and we had our work cut out. Pocklington came back to score 3 goals themselves, leaving us trailing with seconds to go. However, despite this, Read dug deep and we were happy to score an equaliser in the closing seconds of play. Final score; 4-4. Well done to everyone who took part. The player of the match, as voted by the opposition was Catherine Whitworth. Well done to everyone who took part. U15 Hockey: Read V Pocklington Well done to the U15 girls who tried their best this afternoon in their first 11 a-side (rather than 7 a-side) hockey match against Pocklington School. Early signs showed us dominating, but we struggled to convert a goal. However, the second half saw us competing against a much stronger formation of players and they worked hard to score two goals against our robust defenders. We were battling some horrendous wet weather conditions and unfortunately Pocklington managed to squeeze another one in during the final ten seconds. Well tried girls. Mrs S Prosser Saturday 16 November: Read V Fulneck Last Saturday the U13s & U15s rugby teams travelled away to Fulneck. The U13's played some quality rugby and were very organised in defense and attack. Read dominated the game to record a convincing 61-5 victory.. On the back foot. A rare moment during this game where Read were on the defensive The U13 s, delighted with their extensive victory.
The U15's faced a very physical Fulneck side with a number of strong runners who exploited the open areas of the pitch leading to Fulneck winning 64-26. A good morning rugby was had by all. Wednesday 7 November 2018 Here s an interesting piece of classroom magic from a couple of weeks ago. Mr Dell informed me of this quite spectacular feat of memory from a young year 7 pupil, Kolyer Abaa-Ogley. I wonder how many of us could attempt this same record? Kolyer Abba-Ogley recited pi to 49 decimal places (50 digits) from memory! 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751 Don t challenge this lad to a game of Blackjack. He can memorise the pack! Junior School Activities This Week The prep school have been super-busy this week, with a wide array of interesting activities going on, both on campus and off. So without further ado, let s see what they ve been up to! Thursday 15 November: A Visit to Police HQ Wakefield What a fantastic day! The pupils from Year 5 and 6 enjoyed an informative morning and afternoon at Wakefield HQ on Thursday as they were given a guided tour around the campus, giving everybody an extremely interesting and eye-opening experience as to what it takes to become a police officer! From handcuffs to horses and role play to riots, there was so much to take in! In the clink! That discomforting feeling of being on the inside, looking out. These aren t for me; are they officer? Tuesday 13 November: World War One Street Party The pupils and staff from reception through to Year 6 enjoyed a lovely street party on Tuesday morning in celebration of 100 years since the end of WW1. The juniors enjoyed some singing, poetry, plenty of music and a huge amount of food! There were also so many great costumes on show that, along with the children's art work such as bunting and flags, it helped make the experience so much more real!
Fantastic outfits, with some of the actual food and music of the early 1900 s to create that WW1 ambience. Did they have Cherry Bakewells in World War One? U11 Football Read welcomed the travelling Lady Barn House footballers last Friday afternoon as the Cheshire based school began their weekend football tour in chilly Drax. The visitors brought 2 x 7-aside squads with them to take on our squad of 9 boys in back to back fixtures, in what proved to be an entertaining 40 minutes of football with plenty of tidy play and physical challenges from both sides. With little known about the visitors before kickoff, it didn t take long to realise that LBH were a decent outfit with many talented young footballers. The opening match was largely dominated by the away team as Read couldn t get to grips with the slick movement of the visitors. Read gave the ball away a little too easily and found themselves on the back foot on many occasions although Declan, playing in goal, looked confident between the sticks. Edward s strike proved to be a consolation as LBH deserved their victory. In the A well-contested match. second fixture, LBH played their fresh set of 7 and they were also a talented set of boys, but Read were certainly not despondent from losing the first game and meant business. Lucas and Oliver, who spent most of the afternoon as the engine room in the middle of the park were not afraid to get stuck in and both played pivotal roles in this second fixture. Edward stabbed home following a lovely flowing move that began in our own half and Lewis nodded home a fine header before Edward rifled a strong finish past the keeper to give the Read boys a little breathing space at 3-1. The boys certainly had to work hard for this victory as LBH were no pushovers, but that s the kind of victory we like! 15 November: Year 3/4 trip to Yorkshire Museum Year 3 and 4 had a fantastic trip out to the Yorkshire Museum on Thursday, kindly organised by Mrs Wake as part of their Ancient Greeks history topic. The children first had an interactive tour of the museum and had the opportunity to become fossil hunters. They also had the chance to mint their own Roman coins and learn about medieval times. The children attended an Ancient Greeks workshop which involved them designing a temple, weaving, dressing up in Greek costumes and learning about sport and the Gods. An action packed day with lots of learning and fun, not to mention a brisk walk through York in the beautiful autumn sunshine
Sunday 18 November: Boarding House Activties On Sunday the 18 th there was a dance off in the House! Charlotte, Emily and Savannah challenged Mr Slack (Matt) to a dance competition on the Wii. Matt gladly took up the challenge. The girls were warned that he took the challenge very seriously but they didn t believe me! On the night Matt took up the challenge and won by some distance! A great night in the House. Emily King tries to outdance Mr Saturday Night Fever himself, Mr Slack, as they have a dance-off in the boarding house at the weekend! Rugby This Saturday, as stated in the calendar, there is rugby training for U13 & U15 starting at 10am and finishing at 11.30. It just remains for me to wish you a very relaxing weekend. Best regards, Mark Voisey.