Senior School

Charities Dinner took place on Friday 25 April and was a great success with most of the L6 year group in attendance along with some of their teachers, tutors, and parents! The money raised from the Charities Dinner along with last term’s Home Clothes Day, will all go towards the chosen charity of the Lent Term: Cancer Research UK Let’s hear from Boo Harrad, our Charities Committee Chair for this year: “Very heart-warming speech, Lovely event to raise money, Excellent food and company, Grateful for the opportunity as a year group” Here are some words from the Charity representatives who joined us for the evening: What can I say? I am still beaming from Friday evening, we had the best time and you made us feel so welcome and the students were so lovely, a few came over to me and shared their own experiences of cancer with me which was so humbling. Just from the merchandise we brought with us, we raised an incredible £285.50 on the evening, which is amazing considering that was in the space of about 40 minutes. We are so grateful that CRUK was chosen as the charity of the term. Here’s a little reminder about what we heard in an assembly last term about where our money gets put to use: 1 in 2 of us will get cancer in our lifetime. Thanks to research, the UK’s cancer survival has doubled over the last 40 years and around half of patients now survive the disease for more than 10 years. To give an idea of what the money raised pays for: £4 – A kilo of dry ice to keep delicate DNA at a safe temperature. £30 – Full personal protective equipment (PPE) for the scientists to carry out their life-saving experiments safely. £50 – Restriction enzymes, which are chemicals that act like molecular scissors to cut up long strands of DNA. These allow the scientists to find out more about the causes of cancer.

On Sunday 4 May, the Senior rowers raced at Wallingford Regatta, held at Dorney Lake on the 2000m Olympic course. The conditions were challenging with a strong cross wind but all crews handled them well. The Boys 1st VIII raced as Open and Schools, finshing in the top half of the Junior 8s, despite some last minute crew changes. The Girls 1st VIII, with seven of them being J16, raced in the J18 8s and 4s. The 1st Four missed the repechage by 0.25 second, finishing 7th overall and the 2nd Four raced well holding Bedford Girls to only a 3 second deficit. The Boys Quad had a tough heat, but learnt a lot about multi lane racing. Well done to all crews. Meanwhile, Nicholas Conway, had been selected to race for Great Britain Under 19s at Munich International Junior Regatta. With a very close race in the Coxless Four final on Saturday, the crew won a Silver Medal. They then raced the Czech Republic in an 8 in the last race of the day. A strong second 1000m saw the 8 come from a length down to win Gold. The Sunday saw the 8 racing again. With a much bigger field, Nick and his crew won their heat, setting up a final with 3 German crews, Croatia and the Czech Republic. A strong race saw the 8 win Gold by half a length to the selected German crew.  With 2 Golds and 1 Silver medal, this was a fantastic start to Nicholas’ U19 International racing