An eight strong squad from St Andrew’s Prep set off for the IAPS U13 6-a-side national qualifiers at Rokeby School in London last Friday. The boys played superbly well throughout the whole tournament gaining two draws and two wins in their league. A 2-0 win against Northcote Lodge at the end has secured their place in the National 6-a-side Finals. They will play the top 16 prep schools in the country for the national title at Shrewsbury School, Shropshire, in November.

St Andrew’s have now won through to the finals for the third time in five years, winning the coveted trophy in 2011. Well done to goal scorers, Alvaro Casado, Joshua Hardy and Edward Rosson-Jones and to the rest of the squad, William Dawkins, Joe McIntyre, Joe Parish, Daniel Toole and Henry Turnbull.

Once again the Friends of St Andrew’s invited parents to come together for the Macmillan World’s Biggest Coffee Morning.  The Pavilion looked a treat with bunting and homemade cakes and as well as being a good opportunity to catch up with friends, the morning raised £200 for Macmillan.  Many thanks for joining us.

While the rest of the pack pegged out their abodes for the Autumn cub camp, some brave individuals took part in a bushtucker trial run by our Catering Manager, Sarah Murfin.  Two teams were given questions on healthy eating and then put forward volunteers to try a ‘nice’ or a ‘nasty’ treat.  These included edible insects and worms but please don’t worry – all the insects had been subject to strict cooking controls and were produced by specialist suppliers in controlled food production environments.   

If the volunteers lost their nerve, they shouted out ‘I’m a celebrity – get me out of here!’. Even Mr Tomsett had a go under the watchful and horrified gaze of Mr Whymant-Morris. 

All of the volunteers were very good and, as Sarah pointed out, if they could eat bugs then they could definitely try something new on the salad bar.

There was a sea of lycra as St Andrew’s Prep parents and friends gathered for the first St Andrew’s charity run last Saturday. Setting off from the school field, the 5k course took the runners past The Kiosk at the foot of the Downs and round Whitbread Hollow before returning to school for flapjacks and bananas delivered by the school’s Brownie pack. The fun event and race encouraged some non-runners to experience something a bit different, whilst the more experience runners gritted their teeth and revealed their competitive natures. The run was raising money for the new Memory Garden in the school grounds. This lovely area has been set aside primarily for quiet contemplation for children who have suffered a recent loss but is also there for any child in the school to enjoy the calm and tranquil atmosphere.

St Andrew’s Prep has found a triathlon star in the making in Year 4. Sarah-Michelle Clear only started competing in triathlons in May this year but she has really caught the bug. Finishing last in her first triathlon did not dampen her spirits but gave her the determination to train and improve. In the 12 events in which she has competed she has notched up an impressive set of results coming first an amazing three times.
Sarah-Michelle trains every day, swimming at David Lloyds, running with BodyworksXTC and cycling with Pedal Power. She has also received some track and sprint training from Mark Gregory, men’s coach at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.
On 15 September, Sarah-Michelle will be competing in Bangkok, Thailand, at the BankPoo Golf and Sports Club where she will swim 42m, cycle 2000m and run 1000m around the Golf course grounds and we eagerly await the results of this competition.
Sarah-Michelle is raising money for Demelza, a children’s hospice that gives support to families in Kent, East Sussex and South East London. She chose Demelza as she wanted to help children whose poor health may have stopped them benefitting from the opportunities that she has enjoyed.
You can read more about Sarah-Michelle and help her to support Delmelza at www.sarah-michelle-clear.me.uk

The annual St Andrew’s Prep sponsored walk took place last Saturday morning with children, parents and dogs taking a variety of routes across the Downs to suit all age groups including an 11 miler for the really hardy!

The lovely summer weather threatened to break a couple of times but held off for everyone to enjoy a BBQ back at school afterwards. Our thanks to the Mayor, Cllr Mike Thompson who started the event with a few words, and to the volunteers from the Rotary Club of Sovereign Harbour who kindly provided the marshalling along the routes. Thank you also to our peripatetic saxophone and clarinet teacher, Evelyn Harrison and her friend for the wonderful tunes played in the gym over lunchtime including a super rendition of ‘Norwegian Wood’. 

This year, the sponsorship money raised will be divided between the children’s hospice, Chestnut Tree House, and one of the Rotary’s chosen charities, Send a Cow, which provides livestock, seeds, training and on-going support to African farmers.

St Andrew’s Prep welcomes Gordon Ferguson who takes up the mantle of Deputy Head from Martyn Ward, newly appointed to head up Marlborough House Prep School. Gordon joins the school from Bede’s Prep where he already has seven years of experience in the Deputy Head role as well as three years as Head of Science.

Born and educated in Scotland, Gordon graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University and taught in Scotland and Kent. He brings with him a wide experience of teaching different age groups in various locations having also headed Key Stage 4 in a secondary school in Milan for four years and winning a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in Lacrosse, Wisconsin.

Along with his duties as Deputy Head, Gordon will be teaching science, maths, PSHE as well as dabbling in drama and demonstrating his organ-playing in chapel.

We look forward to finding out more about Gordon in the coming weeks.

St Andrew’s Prep was delighted to welcome television and radio presenter, Peter Snow, to the school last weekend for speech day. Peter is an Old Androvian who left the school in 1951 to go on to Wellington College and Balliol, Oxford before becoming a household name presenting the ITN News, Tomorrow’s World and Newsnight, and entertaining television viewers with his ‘swingometer’ during many general elections. 
 
Peter presented prizes to the children and regaled the audience with some very amusing anecdotes from his time at St Andrew’s just after the war. He talked of early morning dips in the plunge pool (the shower in those days), midnight feasts under the chapel and becoming second Head of School in his last term. Peter was joined by a contemporary OA, Ian Fairclough, who was Head of School at the same time; they had not seen each other since they left the school. St Andrew’s is very grateful to Peter for giving up his time to visit the school and hope that it brought back some happy memories.

St Andrew’s Prep sent 32 boys and girls from Years 6 to 8 to compete in the Prep Schools Area Athletics at the K2 in Crawley last month. There were superb performances from all of the children and from this competition, eight children qualifed for the National Prep Schools Championships which were held at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on Tuesday 2 July. 
 
A nervous but excited minibus set out for Birmingham the evening before with the eight strong team: Calysta Morris and Henry Turnbull from Year 6; Louis Heywood, Edward Rosson-Jones and Daniel Toole from Year 7; and Euan McGreevy, Georgia Stork and Louis Wood from Year 8. 
 
All the children competed extremely well with some putting in their personal bests. Director of Sport at the school, Chris Pinch and athletics coach, Cheryl Pinch said they were very proud of the way they all performed under pressure against athletes from all over the country in front of a very large crowd. 
 
Notable results came from Henry Turnbull who took the bronze medal in the U12 200m and narrowly missed the bronze medal in the U12 800m by five 100th of a second! Calysta Morris was fifth in the U12 200m and sixth in the U12 100m. Euan McGreevy gained fifth place in the U14 triple jump while Daniel Toole came sixth in the U13 1500m. Louis Wood took seventh in the U14 800m and Edward Rosson-Jones was eighth in the U13 800m. Well done to all the children.