Many congratulations to Year 8s Chloe Cox, Thomas Goodenough, Shaumya Kularajan and Joseph Shouksmith who won the DT Challenge at Ratton School this week.

Using paper, cellotrape, straws, paper clips, lollipop sticks and glue, pupils worked in teams of four to build a structure that would raise a rock weighing 1kg as high as possible. The construction had to support the rock safely and be moveable.

The St Andrew’s team managed to raise the rock 61cm – a full 16cm higher than its nearest competitor.

Well done to the team.

St Andrew’s Prep has won through to the finals of the Sussex Under 12 Rugby competition following a very tough semi-final match away against old adversaries and 2014 joint champions Warden Park. 

In a match that saw St Andrew’s Prep put in a tremendous defensive performance, a large crowd witnessed some outstanding tactical play and four stunning break-away tries for the team to seal victory 29-12.

All of our players were outstanding but particular praise goes to Spike Gleave, Josh Veitch and William Reed who held the backs together under great pressure and who scored the tries and converted the kicks.

This is the fourth Sussex Final in five years for the St Andrew’s rugby teams.

The squad are pictured here with Callum Wilson, England rugby 7s player.

Many of those children who will be transferring from St Andrew’s Prep to Eastbourne College and Bede’s in September received the results of their scholarship assessments on the final Friday before breaking up for half term. All of the children who were entered for scholarships in Art, Drama, Music and Sport deserve praise for having put themselves up for the challenge and for working hard to meet the assessment criteria. Those that were successful in gaining scholarships were: 

Eastbourne College
Thomas Goodenough (Art and Music)
Felix Harffey-Burkhill (Drama)
Shaumya Kulurajan (Music)
Sasha Marlow (Art)
Sophie Nicholles (Drama and Music)
Billy Nicholles (Music)
Ashraf Owasil (Music)
Thomas Watkins (Drama)
Max Woolmer (Drama)

Bede’s
Max Mason (Drama)
Thomas Naish (Cricket)
Ashraf Owasil (Music)

A major new development for St Andrew’s Prep will open in 2016 with the construction of a state-of-the-art sports hall to support the growth in pupil numbers at the school in recent years. Construction is planned to commence in the summer term with completion approximately a year later.

The development will include a sports hall, dance studio, offices and changing rooms as well as the re-surfacing and re-fencing of the existing tennis and netball courts to elevate St Andrew’s provision for sport to new heights .The development has been designed to Sport England standard and will be sympathetic to its setting. It will be built to the highest possible specification to ensure that it stands the test of time and will be for the use of all our children from Nursery to Year 8 for indoor sports lessons and many of the school’s wide-ranging extra-curricular activities.

The sports hall will enhance the current provision of sports facilities on-site which include twelve acres of playing fields, tennis/netball courts, a purpose built gym for the Pre-Prep and Nursery (alongside the current multi-functional gymnasium opened in 1977), a recently refurbished four lane 20m swimming pool and a rifle range. Off-site, the school has additional tennis/netball courts and astroturf hockey pitches which it shares with Eastbourne College.

Simon Severino, Headmaster, said, ““We are genuinely excited about embarking on this fantastic new project to enhance our sporting provision. At St Andrew’s Prep, we are dedicated to providing the best possible environment for our pupils and this will help us to maintain our position as a top provider of independent education in Eastbourne and the surrounding area.”

The inaugural Inter-House Music competition has been taking place over the course of the week with the Finals scheduled for the last week of the half term.

One hundred and twenty four performances will take place in the vocal solo and individual instrumental heats with each child winning a point for their House, Arcos, VCs, Sea Kings or Rovers. The top three performances from each category will be put forward to the Final, winning another point for their House while the overall winner of each category will gain the maximum three points.  
Adjudicating has been tough as it has become apparent that all those taking part have been putting in some extra hours of hard practice.

The House ensemble and choir competitions follow on next week which will see boys and girls from Years 3 to 8 working to achieve a harmonious sound.

St Andrew’s will be fortunate to have Nick Parrans-Smith, Director of Music at Eastbourne College as its guest judge to adjudicate the final.

Director of Music at St Andrew’s Prep, Ali Wicks, and Assistant Director of Music, Michelle Eldridge are to be congratulated for organising, rehearsing, adjudicating and encouraging the children to participate and the Heads of House are to be thanked for their commitment and enthusiasm for the competition.

The dying embers of a long month were stirred into creative fire by a group of St Andrew’s pupils and their parents when they attended a workshop at The Towner Art Gallery on Saturday afternoon – an enjoyable cultural trip for parents and children organised by Honor Ellis.

There was a little consternation amongst several of the parents initially, since they had last expressed their artistic prowess in water colours many years previously, but they resisted the temptation to depart for the coffee shop and set to work.

The leader in this workshop was local artist Andy Willard who quickly put all participants at ease as they applied their washes to his satisfaction. The art work emanating from this fascinating afternoon is currently being mounted and will be displayed in the school foyer after half term.

Kirsty Stalker, a St Andrew’s Prep parent, and mother of Jessie Holgate, received a cheque for £506 on behalf of the Kawasaki Support Group today. The monies were raised at the Friends’ Advent Shopping event in December which provided the school’s younger children with the opportunity to purchase gifts to wrap and give to friends and family at Christmas.
Kawasaki disease is an acute childhood illness that strikes suddenly. It affects children of all ages, though those aged five and under are most likely to contract the syndrome. Boys are twice as likely as girls to contract the immune disease where the medium-sized blood vessels throughout the body become inflamed. Its rarest but most serious effect is on the heart, where it can cause fatal coronary artery aneurysms in untreated children.
Ms Stalker commented, “This money will have such a positive impact on the growing number of parents facing agonizing waits and prognoses for their children. The Kawasaki Support Group provides a telephone help line to offer parents information and support and we are helping the medical profession to gather information to research the illness.. Thank you so much for this generous donation.”
For further information about the Kawasaki Support Group, please visit www.kssg.org.uk or email KSSGISUE@hotmail.com.

Newly appointed Headmaster-elect, Gareth Jones, visited the school this week to meet with Governors, the current Headmaster, Simon Severino, and many of the school’s staff and parents; but it was the children that he was especially keen to meet.

Mr Jones said, “As soon as I arrived this morning, I was greeted by four smiling faces, excited about the snow that was falling. Not even the prospect of cross-country running could dampen their spirits. This attitude reflects all of the children I have met on each of my visits to St Andrews; every one of them has looked happy, content and at ease with one another and with the staff around them. In conversation, they have been inquisitive, intellectual, philosophical and determined. I will need to be on my mettle!

“This is a gem of a school, in a glorious location which has a very special relationship with the community in which it sits. My intention is to continue Simon Severino’s sterling work to ensure that we help and encourage each and every child to fulfil their potential – academically, on the music or drama stage, in the art room or on the sports fields. We need to prepare the children for all that the 21st century throws at them.”

Mr Jones, currently a boarding housemaster at the Dragon School in Oxford, has over 15 years’ experience of working in prep schools and was selected from a very strong field of applicants, including a number of serving prep school heads.

Mr Jones will be visiting the school frequently between now and when he takes up the reins in September. He will return to the Sunshine Coast for the school’s forthcoming Open Mornings on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 February and Friday 8 and Saturday 9 May.

Earlier in the week, nine children were selected to attend an intensive workshop for advanced string players. The workshop was led by Mimi Davies, teacher of violin at Eastbourne College. Though each of the children are well-versed in orchestral play, the workshop provided them with the opportunity to play as a string ensemble and develop their ability to react to the smaller group playing around them. They all made great progress.