St Andrew’s was treated to a day of hip-hop under the excellent guidance of street dance maestro, JP Omari.  Street dance, which is growing hugely in popularity, is a term given to dance that has evolved outside the studio.  JP runs a street dance organisation in Brighton called Streetfunk and as part of the Eastbourne Festival, he held a workshop with our Year 5 children.  
 
At the end of the workshop there was a performance for parents and the general public to showcase the moves that the children had learnt during the day.  JP believes that dancing is about funk, ‘flava’ and having fun, and watching him perform with such grace and fluidity certainly inspired children and adults alike.

St Andrew’s was proud to host the St George’s Day Festival of Scouting on their school field last Sunday.  All Beavers, Cubs and Scouts groups in the area paraded from Western Lawns, along the front and on to St Andrew’s School.  At the school, there was a march past, a salute taken by the Mayor of Eastbourne and all sections renewed their promises.
 
The weather held out for an impressive crowd of packs, leaders and parents.  The Mayor was joined by MP Stephen Lloyd; District Commissioner, Christine Skinner; Lt Col Antony Lamb, Head of the Combined Cadet Force at Eastbourne College and Simon Severino, Headmaster of St Andrew’s School.
 
The 6th Eastbourne, run from the school’s pavilion, was recently commended by the District Commissioner for its thriving membership.

The St Andrew’s Friday Lecture programme continued last week with a talk from the Mayor of Eastbourne, Cllr Carolyn Heaps.  
 
The Mayor told the children and parents not only about the official duties that she carries out in her job, but also the many energetic and fun things that she has been able to do such as wing walking and a tandem skydive.  I’m sure there were a few jealous people in the audience.  
 
The Mayor then joined the St Andrew’s table at the Eastbourne Achiever’s Awards Dinner where St Andrew’s sponsored the Mayor’s Award for Bravery which was given to Mr Richard Hay who despite being wheelchair bound since 2004 has set up his own thriving business.

More than 120 students, staff and friends of Eastbourne College joined with pupils from St Andrew’s (seen here rehearsing) to perform Rutters’ magnificent Mass of the Children in St Saviour’s Church.  Accompanied by the 60-strong Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra, this year’s concert continued a tradition of college choral concerts begun in the late 19th century in St Saviour’s.  Graham Jones, conductor and Director of Music at Eastbourne College, started the concert with Benjamin Britten’s version of the National Anthem, followed by two Elgar pieces – Cockaine and Give unto the Lord, Handel’s The King Shall Rejoice and finally Rutter’s Mass of the Children.

6th Eastbourne, the pack run at St Andrew’s were congratulated by the District Commissioner in the March edition of Eastbourne Scounting News. The membership of Eastbourne and District has reached 1015 and he gave a particular mention to 6th Eastbourne for leading the way.

The St Andrew’s School 1st VII Girls’ Hockey team took part in the Sussex Mini Hockey Tournament held at Eastbourne College on Monday 19 March. Their first game was against Claremont which they won 3 – 0, followed by St Bede’s which they again won 5 – 0. This was followed by a very exciting game against Ardingly with a 0 – 0 draw followed by a 7 – 0 win against Skippers Hill. This took them through to the semi final and another tight game against Cumnor House with end to end play but St Andrew’s managed to clinch a 1 – 0 victory. Going through to the final they once again met Ardingly with a 0 – 0 draw taking the teams to penalties. After three penalty attempts apiece and with the score at 1 – 1 it was sudden death. With two nail-biting penalty attempts the result was 2 – 1 to Ardingly leaving the St Andrew’s girls as very worthy runners up but taking them through to the South Regional round of the tournament held on Thursday 22 March.

St Andrew’s School hosted a Football Festival last Saturday. There were 19 teams from clubs in and around the local area comprised of children from the U7, U8 and U9 age groups. The tournament was a ‘friendly’ with no winners or losers but each player received a medal, and a ‘golden boot’ was presented to outstanding performers by the Headmaster, Simon Severino. Despite the mist and rain rolling off the Downs there was a fantastic turnout with over 400 parents and children who all enjoyed tea and cake in the school pavilion. Joint Director of Sport at St Andrew’s, Chris Pinch, who also runs CACL coaching, said, ‘It was a pleasure to see so many children and parents enjoying a festival designed to promote the friendly side of the game.’

St Andrew’s welcomed Stephen Lloyd MP to serve up a platter of politics at our latest Friday Lecture. St Andrew’s hosts a lecture each half term and we invite anyone to give a talk to parents and children on a subject of their choice be it, work, leisure or a general interest. We have heard about Pompeii, training for triathlons and school days in the 60’s to name a few. Mr Lloyd talked of his childhood in Africa, his life at boarding school and his route to the Liberal Democrat party. He also introduced to the children the idea that their school subjects of Geography, History and Religion all have a part to play in politics, at home and overseas. Mr Lloyd then answered questions from the floor including what he thought about the NHS. All very topical.

Year 2 children welcomed the Blunderbus Theatre Company last Friday for a magical voyage of discovery. Under the guidance of two time-travellers they built an imaginery rocket, travelled to the moon and helped a very sad Mr Moon to find his missing moonbeams