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Last year!
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This year, as always, has flown by and we were thrilled to have been appointed as House Captains for Russell-Baker. First of all, we would like to say a huge thank you to all of the departing U6, in particular to Emma Chapman and Hatti Johnston who did such an amazing job as last year’s House Captains.
The year was kicked off with the House Art Competition, in which we were victorious. Jess Vyvyan-Robinson must be thanked for putting together such an eye-catching and professional exhibition. Next on the agenda was the Public Speaking Competition against Ashcombe, Shu Fei Wong was our chairperson supporting Harriet Ellison who gave a particularly convincing speech on the motion that “This house believes that Identity Cards should be made compulsory for all UK citizens”. Claudia Mair questioned the opposition with vigour and we won the competition.
We had our themed House Communion on November 18th in which the Reverend Colin Tickner gave a particularly moving sermon and many girls contributed with the music and prayers for the occasion.
Throughout the term, many girls competed in the house netball competition; we played well throughout the term but unfortunately missed out on winning. But the team is commended for their commitment and determination even during rainy matches. Shortly after our communion was St. Catherine’s day, the day started with a church service in Bramley, where Hatti and Emma laid flowers on Mrs Russell-Baker’s grave. We then hit the lacrosse pitches for a brilliant team effort. However, despite plentiful amounts of mince pies and cups of hot chocolate we were narrowly defeated for the trophies. Nevertheless, we are very proud of the talented and competitive players and enthusiastic supporters. The day was topped off with a fantastic Gala concert in which many girls in the house were involved.
At the end of the Autumn Term, all girls were involved in the House Drama for which the theme this year was Iconic Women. Emily Zaborski gave a superb emotional performance as Gracie Fields, supported by many other fantastic cast members.
To conclude the Autumn Term we said goodbye to our Housemistress of five years Mrs Bryn-Thomas. We would like to thank her for everything she did for Russell Baker; she certainly made it enjoyable and memorable for every member of the house. We had a final farewell party during a lunchtime at the end of term where the whole house sang a song written for her. Then a variety of Russell Baker pale blue gifts were presented, the Lower 6 read a poem and the Upper 5 gave a short speech. The lunchtime was finished by Hatti and Emma saying a few of their fondest memories of Mrs Bryn-Thomas, ensuring they highlighted that she was the founder of the most exciting charity event in the calendar: Spy Ring.
Throughout the Spring Term, all girls were busy at work to prepare the House Singing, themed ‘Songs from Shows’ for which we were given “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” and we chose “The Storm Is Over”. Everyone was also working hard towards the House Gym with all performances accompanied by “The Little Mermaid” soundtrack. Although we narrowly missed out on winning positions in both events, Russell-Baker was highly praised by both judges.
While this was all going on, a selection of girls also had time to play in the House Squash competition, in which we won both Middle and Senior School. Our main charity event, Spy Ring, also took place in the Spring Term and over £700 was made for St. Catherine’s, Nairobi and St Catherine’s Hospice. As always, it proved to be a fun and competitive event for both girls and staff alike, which involved many a chase around the school car park and grounds! Many winners were named, but Hannah Hillcox, L6, was awarded the prize for the most catches and Dr Kievet got the wooden spoon for the first member of staff who had his ‘Cover Blown!’
Our house trip this year was to see ‘Grease’ the musical, it was a thrilling production and lots of girls came back sporting a ‘Rydell High’ or ‘Pink Ladies’ t-shirts, we all enjoyed a trip out as a house. We rounded off the spring term with our informal concert in the chapel; it was a beautiful concert including members of the house from UIII and UVI playing and singing both short and long repertoires to a packed audience.
The summer term is dominated by sporting events, initially the tennis and rounders competition that ran weekly through the term and at the end of term there was the swimming and athletics competitions. The seniors and juniors had lots of exciting tennis and rounders matches, but unfortunately neither teams managed to secure places in any finals. Everyone played brilliantly through the term and it was great to see so many new players alongside older ones enhancing the Russell-Baker team spirit. By the end of term we were all extremely excited for both the swimming and athletics. Spirits were high it was great to see such strong teams for both swimming and athletics. Again we narrowly missed out on winning, but all competitors are commended for such a high level of sport played over the term.
During Speech Day, Russell Baker held our annual hamper in which £200 was raised for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) and we would like to thank to everyone who bought a ticket. We rounded of the year with the house quizzes. Neither senior or junior teams won the selected group quiz, but when the scores were added from the whole house contribution the juniors came out victorious, winning our first trophy that term.
The past year has certainly been jam packed and very exciting, and we hope that the next year is similar. We would like to thank again the departing U6 and of course the wonderful house staff; Dr Lee, Miss Ritchie and our super Housemistress; Mrs Hall. We sadly are saying farewell to Miss Ritchie who has been a dynamic member of Russell-Baker from the word go; she has been great to work with and we will miss her a lot. We wish her all the best for her new job in the church.
Finally, we hope to have as successful year as last and we are looking forward to getting stuck into everything when we get back.
Amy Howell and Shu Fei Wong
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