Busy times at Wychwood

I sit down to write after a very busy and enjoyable Remove 2018 Entrance Test day with 19 children here today and a further 3 sitting tests later this week. Mike Holland has found us a larger cohort than last year in the six months since he has been here and we are looking forward to the results and sending them out to anxiously anticipating parents.

Now the clocks have gone back and the days shortened we have remained as busy as ever. Since half term we have enjoyed Tom Schuller’s thought provoking WD lecture on The Paula Principle which gave all of us food for thought on the current position of women in society and why women do not always reach their potential in the workplace. As the son of Johanne Schuller, headmistress of Wychwood, it was a real pleasure to welcome him back to the fold as our 120^th Birthday lecturer and he in turn gave us a real insight to our past as we discussed all things Wychwood at supper that evening. I had the pleasure of taking a strong team to Tudor Hall for MUNTH and I would like to thank Miss Bartlett who has trained them well. We all enjoyed the conference and the girls came back ready to start work for the MCS and HABS MUN conferences next term. The Wychwood Company’s Taming of the Shrew, was a true treat, both at Headington theatre and here. The girls delivered excellent performances and I was so impressed by their maintenance of the Southern accent all the way through as the play was set in the Deep South. The score was very clever and Miss Jones’ brilliant directing helped each girl to demonstrate her talent but also to work together to build a performance where the whole was greater than the sum of its parts – that is the mark of a really successful drama piece. Many of the girls also enjoyed the sleepover and although my eyelids were propped up on matchsticks for much of the subsequent week, the atmosphere of fun and the gales of giggles we had made it well worthwhile.

In curriculum extension, the senior mathematicians have undertaken the mathematics challenge and we are looking forward to the results coming into school. Study I art historians have attended a study day at the print room of the Ashmolean. The UTs and Shell went to the North London mosque and St Paul’s cathedral for RS extension and to deepen their understanding of places and the nature of worship. The Remove, Inters, and LTs have been taking part in WordMania, a seemingly addictive word spelling competition and are doing really well.

The power of repetition is really being demonstrated here as the more games we play, the better their results have been.

We have progressed through the local competition to the regional and then the national and we are now playing at international level. Mrs Evans, who has been the guiding light behind them has just reported in that ‘I am, keeping a close eye on the international leaderboards and you are awesome!’

Remove – 10th place

Inters – 9th place

LTs – 28th place

The competition ends at midnight tonight (Friday) and the results will keep changing until the last minute of the competition. Final winners and runners-up will be announced on November 27, 2017 but the girls have done brilliantly. For the first time we have sent a team to the UK Space Design Competition regional heats at Oxford University. They formed part of the team “Vulture Aviation” alongside students from Sutton Grammar School. The competition lasted a gruelling eight hours and involved the design of a space colony beneath the surface of the moon. Great teamwork and co-operation was needed along with an excellent scientific and technical knowledge and understanding. Well done to all who participated and to Mrs Stacey who masterminded it all.

As we enter the last two weeks of term, please may remind I you of the time for the Carol Service which is 11.30 am on Friday 15^th December? We look forward to seeing as many of you as can come at that and please do come back to school afterwards for some festive mulled wine and mince pies before we all take some much anticipated and enjoyable time with our families wherever that might happen.

I wish you all a very enjoyable weekend with your daughters.

Mrs Andrea Johnson – Headmistress