St Mary's Shaftesbury

Summer Term 2010 - BBQ

On Tuesday it was the Newby Lower Sixth turn to be treated to a BBQ at Mrs Whitehead’s home.

It was her way of thanking them for all they have done for Newby House over the past year and to wish them well as they move on to Mary Ward house.

The evening was most enjoyable; Doris, Alana and Jasmine had a game of table tennis while Mr W was cooking the BBQ and Emily, Katinka, Cindy and Livvy relaxed on the terrace and enjoyed the view.

The meal was very civilised, all eleven of us managed to sit around one table and eat as a family which was lovely. My thanks go again to the wonderful Newby House Assistants for all their help and puddings!

Recently Mrs Whitehead invited the UV to a BBQ at her house. A great time was had by all who came, lots of sausages, burgers, chicken drumsticks and three yummy puddings (most girls tried all three!). There was plenty of laughter and singing - the neighbours were highly amused to be treated to a rendition of the girl's favourite hymns!

Sadly, we said farewell to Tabs, Flavia, Grace and Clem (also Jasmine and Tilly in their absence); they leave with our love and best wishes for the future. Many thanks go to the Chef, Mr Whitehead and to the pudding makers/washer uppers, Mrs B and Mrs Healey.

There are more photos of the U5 BBQ on the 'Slideshows' link on the left hand menu.

Welcome Back Hannah

The LV’s are very happy to welcome Hannah into Newby House and back to St Mary’s. We had a party to celebrate Hannah’s return which involved lots of chocolate and silly games; great fun was had by all!

March 2010

NEW YEAR'S MESSAGE 2010

I cannot believe that we are now in 2010 and I have yet to tell you all about last term!! And what a fun, filled term it was, my first (of many, I hope) as Newby Housemistress. It was wonderful to welcome all our new girls and those moving up from Hewarth into Newby … it is now hard to believe they were new as they have all settled in so well.

We have enjoyed many ‘Happy Hours’ of family fun on a Friday night including lots of DVD and chocolate evenings, Bingo and pancakes. Pancakes have become a popular treat especially when combined with a lie in on a Saturday morning and Mrs Healey cooking them for breakfast!!! (see the Pancake Slideshow).

I have enjoyed inviting each year group into my flat for games and hot chocolate on a regular basis. The UIV have been lucky enough to dip into a chocolate fondue (see the Fondue Slideshow) and the LVI were treated to a home cooked meal with a strawberry pavlova to finish!

Please click on the Newby 'Slideshows' on the left to see lots more photos of recent events.

I have been so proud of the girls taking part in the many Inter House sporting events, especially the Newby swimmers and those who played netball despite being unwell … Thank you! A special mention for the splendid turn out we had for the Inter House Cross Country event, the girls wore their house colour with pride, and well done to Harriet who came fourth out of the whole senior school! (see Cross Country Slideshow).

Emily, Damsie and our House Team organised a wonderful Christmas Party, the theme was ‘Tragic Trends’. We had Punks, Glamour Girls, Hippies, Futuristic staff and the lycra and leg warmers of the 80s; the girls went to great lengths to dress up and the photos show their dedication to fashion whatever the trend!! (see Christmas Party Slideshow)

After all the fun of the party the girls then went up to their bedrooms and decorated the corridors in readiness for ‘St Nicks’. This is a very special evening when all the girls can visit all the houses and place gifts of the edible variety in the shoes and various other receptacles left outside bedroom doors.

Each year group ended up having an in house ‘corridor party’ with lots of music, singing and dancing before falling into bed. (see St Nicks Slideshow)

The last week of term was a whirl of Christmas feasts, carol singing, a Rock Concert from our very own Sweet Nothings and of course the very special Carol Services.

We may not have had a White Christmas but we certainly had a white start to the new term!! It was lovely when everyone eventually made it back through the ice and snow and we had a ‘full house’. The girls made the most of the snow while it lasted and enjoyed their tobogganing PE lessons.

We are now three weeks into the new term and are all looking forward to a rest at the weekend.

May I wish everyone a Happy Exeat!

Debbie Whitehead

Happy Summer Holidays Everyone!

Where has this term gone?! Since my last update it has been quite amazing what all the girls in Newby have been doing, achieving and enjoying. From sport to drama, Confirmation to D of E and so much in between, not to mention all those exams, both school and public, the girls have been beavering away and accomplishing so much I could write a tome to do it all justice.

Just to give you a flavour: Flora, Bess, Lally and Jemima were part of the Wings of Hope group who won the award which I’m sure you have read all about. Bess amazingly did the Race for Life and her Silver D of E only a year after breaking her leg! Anastasia, Flavia, Catherine, Tabs, Clem, Grace, Ellen, Flo, Ella and Olivia completed their Bronze D of E and many of the girls are proud recipients of a multitude of Lamda and music certificates, sports awards and prizes for academic success, effort and progress, as well as the special Mary Ward prizes awarded on Parents’ Day. Congratulations to them all.

Parents’ Day would not be complete without the amazing Middle School Drama production and this year Emily, Issy, Minna, Georgia, Alice and Imogen were quite outstanding. I can’t imagine where they found the time to learn all those lines!

Auditions for the School Band is always a great event with many hopefuls vying for a place. You can imagine how proud we are to have Cressida, Lally and Jemima as 3 of the 4 singers! Well done!

Night prayers in Newby is always a wonderful occasion and none more so than the one we had in the Chapel this term when girls reflected on what has made Newby so special to them. We also celebrated with Elizabeth, Georgia, Minna, Issy, Alice, Grace, Emily, Imogen and Tilly as they were confirmed and it was a particular privilege to me to have helped several of them prepare for this very important step in their journey of faith.

It is always so sad to have to say goodbye and many tears have been shed as Andrea and Maria leave us to return to Mexico. Some of the UV have left to continue their education elsewhere and LVI now move on to Mary Ward House having been a brilliant team in helping me to lead the House. They all go with our fondest love and we thank them for the very special contribution they have made to life in Newby. Cressida and Lally have been utterly wonderful in their roles as House Captains and I can’t thank them enough for all they have done and it has been such a pleasure to have worked with them. It is also a pleasure to announce Emily as the new House Captain who will take over in September. She has a very hard act to follow, but I know she will relish the challenges of this vital role and be a marvellous support to Mrs Whitehead who will be taking over as Housemistress.

I have been so spoilt by a host of events – all involving food!- to mark the end of my time as Housemistress and I was especially touched by the surprise picnic laid on by the girls as well as their lovely gifts, one of which is this wonderful photograph of them all (at the top of this news item), just capturing the happy feel which Newby is known for. Although it is with enormous sadness that I relinquish my role as Housemistress, I know I am leaving the House in excellent hands and I am delighted to remain a part of Newby. The past 6 years (nearly!) have been some of the happiest in my life and I have been truly blessed to have enjoyed such special times with so many girls and to have been supported over the years by such lovely House Assistants, House Captains and Staff, as well as Parents. I shall treasure these times always and thank you all most sincerely for your overwhelming kind words, good wishes and generous gifts.

Happy Christmas Everyone

What a wonderful run up to Christmas and the end of term we have had here! Our Christmas Party was such fun and superbly organised by Cressida and the LVI – or should I say the smurfs! We were all cartoon characters and the Simpsons, Rug Rats, Power Puff girls with Princess Fiona herself and had a marvellous time. St Nick’s the night before was huge fun too and in our slide show you can see how the LV decorated their corridor as well as how our party looked in full swing! Thanks to Flora and Bess for their hard work in putting this slide show together.

Other end of term fun was the Inter House Netball with the UV and Sixth Form winning the senior competition and LV and UIV doing very well ensuring we were placed in joint second position overall.

Every time I saw Georgia S she was shooting a goal and Tabs, Anastasia, Lally, Cressida and Gertie were very successful too – great team work by everyone!

The two school Christmas dinners were wonderful and Issy proposed the toast at the Junior and Middle School one and spoke just brilliantly. She then was part of the group leading the entertainment and carol singing under the tree, when she sang beautifully as did Alice and Imogen and Minna and Emily did a lovely drama piece. A truly special occasion. So too was the Christmas concert when Issy sang a lovely song by Brahms and several girls were involved in the Orchestra and Wind Band.

Lots of marvellous school reports have been received too and special congratulations must go to Lally who was awarded a Head’s Commendation at the final assembly.

Finally I wish you all a most happy and blessed Christmas season and I thank all of you for your many presents, cards and good wishes.

Mrs Rowland – December 2008

Autumn Term 2008

Is it really Half Term already?! It has been a lovely start to the new school year and Newby has been a hive of activity and fun. We are delighted to have been joined by Giulia, Minna, Issy, Elizabeth, Georgia, Alice and Emily from Hewarth and new to the School into UIV are Andrea, Imogen and Grace. Into LV we have welcomed Maria and another Grace and all the new girls very quickly became fully integrated into life in Newby and we love having them with us.

It is always sad to say goodbye to the UVI who move onto Mary Ward, but it has been lovely how they all have been keeping in touch and the card Mrs Rowland received with ‘little chicks’ all bearing their names and such lovely words from each of them is something to treasure always. We had a lovely supper together as thank you to them all for being such a marvellous team, led so extremely well by Augusta. They really were little angels and what could be more fitting for a leaving present than a carved angel which the House presented to each girl just after first exeat!

The new Sixth Form Team has taken up office and Cressida is proving herself to be a very special, caring and organised House Captain. We are very lucky to have her. She is being well supported by her Deputy, Olivia, and all the girls are playing an important part. We have the luxury of our own ‘artistic director’ with Flora who has already taken the most beautiful photographs of Cressida and Olivia for the Newby Board and also captured on film some of our fun house activities - and I know plans are afoot for revamping the girls’ notice boards in the Common Room.

One of our most special evenings was House Prayers led by Miss Andrea, when we reflected on our use of time and afterwards we had a celebration of our new Sixth Form Team and a chance to be all together as a House. We have also enjoyed an impromptu pancake party as well as a film (and goodies) evening. Mrs Rowland is always highly entertained when year groups come into the flat for a night cap and can report that the UIVs have the most infectious giggles ever! It is always special to spend time together as a year group and each evening we have had has been great. The UVs enjoyed an Indian takeaway and it was particularly lovely that nearly all the day girls stayed on for that. We certainly managed to eat a lot and the after dinner treat of Roses chocolates enabled the artistic Eliza to create a large rainbow with the empty wrappers! There is never a dull moment with LV and we are very lucky to have such a great group of girls - their evening in the flat was certainly lively!

So, as you can see, Newby is a fun place to be! Lots of work goes on too, we can assure you! We are always pleased to hear of successes in and out of the classroom: we have budding actresses, musicians, artists and sports women and so many girls are giving so much to all that they do. One of the most exciting achievements was Catherine being the national winner of Sightsavers first ever Photographic Competition! She enjoyed a day in London where she was presented with a Nikon SLR camera and joined in with a wonderful workshop. Well done to her and to everyone for such a good first half of term.

July 2008

Quite where this year has gone I can’t imagine! Since my last report the House has been a buzz of activity – lots of hard work for exams, both school and public, as well as lots of fun. From D of E to concerts, music exams, plays, tennis matches, swimming galas and so much more, Newby girls have thrown themselves into all they have done with their inimitable enthusiasm and I congratulate them all on their successes, certificates, prizes and sheer joie de vivre in participating in so much… And now things have come to an abrupt halt before the long-awaited summer holidays!

As always we have the emotional rollercoaster of having to say goodbye to some girls, after one or more years with us in Newby and they all go with our fondest love and good wishes for every blessing in the future: Anne-Sophie has returned to Italy and Renata to Mexico and Alice, Anna, Caitlin and Daisy leave us to continue their Sixth Form career elsewhere. We have loved having each of them with us in Newby and will always remember them affectionately – they have all contributed so much to our community. Emma from France and Illaria from Italy have been with us for just a few weeks at the end of term, but they have made their mark and they return home with lots of happy memories and new friendships formed.

We have also had the painful goodbye to say to one of our House Tutors, Mr Doyle, and we thank him so much for all he and his wife have given to our community. They will be hugely missed by staff and girls alike.

It has been incredibly sad to see the LVI boarders pack and move a few things over to Mary Ward House in readiness for next year, but they and their day girl colleagues will continue to lead Newby for the first few weeks of next term and so happily it is not a full goodbye to them just yet! I have been so touched by the messages of love for Newby they have left on their doors and will quote Poppy ‘… you will always be in our hearts’ as that is certainly how we feel about them. They have been the most special group of wonderful young ladies!

Indeed I have been most touched by so many cards, letters and generous gifts and thank each and every girl for making Newby such a wonderful place to live and work. I wish them all a glorious summer holiday break.

April 2008

I am delighted to start this update with the wonderful news that Tilly has been elected Head Girl for the next year, starting from April. Many congratulations also to Augusta, Poppy, Sophia and Lucy P who will be Prefects. We feel very proud of them all.

So much has happened this term and we are very pleased to report many successes and lots of fun. No one will forget the splendid performance of Ali in ‘The Little Shop of Horrors’ and Eliza, Augusta, Laly, Cressida and Emily were brilliant too. Lots of girls took part in the Clothes Show and were all absolutely stunning. Several girls have been very successful with their music this term. Jasmine was part of the award winning piano trio at the Bath Festival and Hetty, Emma, Izzy and Bethany did very well in their Guildhall examinations. Jasmine and Tilly gained a Silver Award in the Mathematics Challenge and Francie a Gold. Emma and Ella represented St. Mary’s at the Latin Reading Competition and many congratulations to Emma who won it.

As always the Balloon Debate was fantastic and Ella, Kate and Tabs were the winners and Flavia and Catherine were very good too. We were also delighted to win the Inter-House Netball and Hockey this term, with some very good players and loyal supporters who braced the cold evening air to fly the Newby flag. We always like to hear of the girls’ out-of-school interests and congratulations must go in particular to Anna who is doing so well with her horse riding and Lara has been having lots of fun with her polo.

Of course there has been lots of work too, not least with UV starting the term with their mock GCSEs and ending with their final French Orals and Art and Photography Practicals. We hope they will have done well and wish them and the LVI all the best for their public exams in the summer.

Several of the UIV girls have been preparing for Confirmation and our prayers are with them as they complete their preparation and are confirmed next term.

As you can see it has been a very busy term with lots of high moments. One of the most popular has got to be the arrival of the Newby pyjamas and the distinct check in Newby Red has been seen not only at bedtime, but on the games field, in the Chapel and at House events!

Autumn Term 2007

So much has been going on since September, with girls working and playing hard. We have been delighted to welcome Renata, Charlotte, Polly, Ellen, Tilly, Ella, Sabrina and Anne-Sophie into Newby, as well as Anastasia, Flavia, Gerti, Catherine, Tabs, Clementine, Emma, Jasmine and Florence from Hewarth. They have been already made a wonderful contribution to life in Newby and from the word go they have been very much a part of our House and have added their own fun and personalities to enrich us all.

It is always sad to say goodbye and we have had to let the UVI move on to their new life over in Mary Ward House, but we always love seeing them and are very pleased they still visit us on occasions. The chocolate fountain was particular fun! Ruth remained House Captain until the end of September when she let go of the reins to be replaced by Tilly and Augusta. We are so grateful to her for the way she led the House and for her continued support. Tilly and Augusta have made a marvellous start to their leadership and I know we are in for a great year with them, assisted by Lucy P as Deputy Captain and Poppy, Sophia C, Lucy M, Bethany, Izzy, Rebecca, Sophia W and Lara forming the rest of the Team. We really are blessed to have such a wonderful group. Congratulations to our retired Deputy, Alice, who has gone on to be Deputy in Ward Ward, as well as to Julia who was voted House Captain there.

The Inter – House Drama Festival was huge fun once again and Newby excelled themselves and were voted the best performance for the second year running. Ruth, Clare and Helena were splendid directors and Tilly, Augusta, Emily, Flavia, Tabs, Clementine, Ellen and Ella were absolutely fabulous! Many, many congratulations to them. I never cease to be amazed with how talented and resourceful the girls are and can’t believe they put on such a polished performance in so short a time.

End of Year update: July 2007

It hardly seems possible that another year has passed! This term has flown by in a haze of activity and hard work. Girls in UV and LVI have been very studious and focused on their public examinations and LV and UIV have coped well with school exams.

I’m not sure how they have found time for all they manage to do! Daisy, Olivia, Jemima, Alice, Izzy and Caitlin were very dedicated to their Bronze Dof E and we congratulate them on their success. They did some lovely presentations to the rest of the year and had us in fits of laughter over their experiences during their expeditions. Francie was fantastic in the Ten Tors Expedition and coped admirably with the dreadful conditions, never giving up until she had to when it was decided to rescue all the young people for safety reasons.

Concerts, plays and many other activities have gone on throughout the term and we particularly congratulate Lucy on gaining her Lifeguard qualification and Eliza, Rosie, Francie, Alice and Anna for their recent successes in Music examinations. Both the Anglican and Catholic Confirmation Days were very special and once again we congratulate Cressida, Eliza, Emily, Georgia, Hetty, Katinka and Lara on having taken this important step in their Christian journey. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate with them all in Salisbury and our own Chapel here at St. Mary’s.

We have enjoyed some great evenings of fun in the Flat with each year group. UV had Mr and Mrs Rowland mesmerised with their card tricks and conjuring acts and LVI came up with games Mrs Rowland had never heard of! Needless to say she spent most of the time ‘out’ and watching them show her how it should be done! After the final D of E expedition the LV enjoyed a well-earned takeaway and kept us all entertained with their escapades. They also had great fun having a sleepover in the Common Room on the last night of term. UIV enjoyed a get together in which we said our very sad farewells to Vero and Maria who are returning to Mexico. We have just loved having them with us and they will be sorely missed. They have promised to return and visit us and we shall keep them to that!

Inevitably the end of term brings its goodbyes and we are also particularly sad to have lost Ana and Georgia. Ana has returned to Spain after 2 years with us and Georgia is leaving to follow a Sixth Form course elsewhere. Sadly Georgia was unwell for our UV evening so we are planning a grand reunion for a proper farewell meal together next term. The LVI will be moving on to Mary Ward House in September, but they will remain part of Newby, helping to run the House until the first exeat. They have been great group and we shall really miss them.

We are really looking forward to having the new UIV girls with us next year and know they are going to be a very special year group. Mrs. Rowland really enjoyed the Middle School Inter – House Tennis tournament when our present LIV and UIV played so well and actually won the shield! A great way to end the year!

Mr and Mrs Rowland were delighted to be able to meet most of the present LIV parents for drinks recently and look forward to the privilege of being part of the upbringing of their daughters over the next few years. They also thank so many parents and girls for their kind words and generous gifts. Georgia hit the nail on the head with her wonderful little embroidered cushion saying ‘Only the best girls go to Newby’. That’s certainly how we feel and each one returns home with our fondest wishes for a very happy summer holiday.

Summer Term 2007

We are all back in the swing of the summer term and the Easter holidays seem a distant dream! We are so proud that Rosie has been appointed Head Girl and although this means she can no longer be our House Captain, Ruth has taken over in great style and the transition has been extremely smooth. We are so grateful to Rosie for being a brilliant Captain and know that we are indeed blessed to have such an excellent Head Girl. We congratulate Ruth too on being appointed to the position of Charities Prefect and know that her kind, gentle disposition added to her great efficiency will be an asset to that role, as well as an enormous support to us all in the House. Alice has very kindly taken on the role of Deputy House Captain and is full of enthusiasm and good ideas.

Lots has been happening already: We are so pleased to welcome Olivia as a full boarder; it's a pleasure to have her around all the time now and she has taken to boarding life so well, you would never think she had not been boarding for ever. She has taken over from Flora as Year Rep. We are also pleased to announce that Georgia and Eliza have taken on this role in their year groups and we thank Lucy and Francie, as well as Flora, for all their help last term.

We have just had our first House lunch together and this proved to be a huge success. We all sat round a very long table and seemed to find so much to talk about we were still there well over an hour later. Ruth and Alice worked hard to organise this and the girls are keen to do it again.

Francie has been working hard to prepare for 'Ten Tors' and Maria and Katinka have had some art work on display in an exhibition in Shaftesbury. Daisy and Caitlin had fun on their Photography day out in London and even went on the London Eye - it's important to see things from many different angles!

We hope you will enjoy the photos of our 2005 leavers. Chloë (Superwoman!) was a star to track everyone down and persuade them to send her a picture. It is always lovely to have news of Old Girls and we send love to them all as they continue their lives all over the world.

Mrs Rowland is off to France with the LIVs and we thank Mr Rowland for holding the fort in her absence. We wish all girls taking public exams in the coming weeks the best of luck and look forward to reporting their successes in due course. Don't miss our next update!

February Update:

How this short term seems to be flying! We have certainly had a very busy and successful start to 2007 and are ready to recharge the batteries over Half Term.

It is always a pleasure to report sporting successes and we congratulate Daisy and Kate for going through to the County Finals in U15 Netball and Ruth for being made Vice Captain of the Dorset Hockey Team. We are very pleased to have beaten Givendale in the recent Inter-House hockey matches and hope to be able to report further success in due course!

Never ones to be lost for words Newby was superbly represented at the Valentine Day's Debate with Tilly winning and Kate coming second with their great speeches and Poppy, Francie, Emily and Sophia did themselves proud too.

It has been fun having all the boarders into the Flat for hot chocolate sessions already this term and we have also enjoyed a Happy Hour together as a House and an impromptu pancake party for anyone who was around!

LV had a lovely evening over at Lyon House, Sherborne and were also very pleased to be invited to the Rock Soc, which we allowed the other Houses to come along to! That was a very popular evening and we are looking forward to the Concert in the Courts at the end of April. In the meantime we are preparing for the first visit of Lyon House to Newby at the beginning of March for an evening with UV.

Don't miss our update at the end of term!


HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Do look at the slide show of our Christmas party and see what fun we had! It has been a lovely end of term with so much going on, from parties and dinners to concerts, the play and the beautiful carol service, with lots of Newby girls giving splendid performances and all having lots of fun.

It was lovely to see so many parents for drinks before the School Play and congratulations to all girls who were in it.

Ruth continues to be a great success on the sporting front, being selected for the Under 17 County hockey team and Lucy too must be commended on her excellent playing.

The Remembrance Day Mass was very moving and Eliza, Francie and Emily laid the wreath at the end in their CCF uniform.

We congratulate Flora J. on winning the first photography prize awarded by the Marketing Committee for her picture capturing the School in November. There is a prize for each month, so we hope lots of girls will be inspired to get snapping!

We hope all of you will have a very Happy Christmas and offer our best wishes to you for the New Year.

Autumn Term 2006

n.b. New photo album added 3rd November 2006

It’s been a lovely first half of term with so much going on. We were welcomed back to a brand new kitchen and the Common Room has been redecorated and much admired by everyone. We all also have mini-whiteboards on our doors now, which are proving to be very popular and useful.

We were so happy to welcome Emily, Francie, Lara, Maria and Veronica into our community and Damsie, Eliza, Flora, Georgia, Hetty, Katinka and Olivia from Hewarth. They are a great group and there’s never a dull moment! Already they have very much made their mark in the house and we value greatly all they have to offer. We are so pleased to have been able to forge a link with Lyon House at Sherborne School and thanks to the U4 for being so charming when we went over there are a couple of weeks ago, the Housemaster is keen to arrange something for all the year groups as soon as possible!

It was sad to say goodbye to Celia and Katie as our House Captain and Deputy a few weeks ago. They have been just brilliant and we thank them enormously for all they have done. We are so pleased they still come and visit us whenever they can. We have been very blessed to have two superb replacements for them in Rosie (House Captain) and Ruth (Deputy) and they are already proving themselves to be exceptional leaders.

I never cease to be amazed by the talents of the girls. We are delighted to have just won the Inter-House Drama Festival and all had great fun at the impromptu party straight afterwards. No-one will ever forget Emily as the drunken ‘nun’ and the performances of Anna, Alice, Augusta, Eliza, Helena and Tilly were fantastic too.

The recent debate was another event when Newby girls excelled. The speeches from Augusta, Tilly, Jemima, Kate and Poppy were amazing and Rebecca won the prize for the best floor speech. We are proud to announce that Poppy and Tilly have been elected the new Chairperson and Deputy of the Debating Society to take up office at Easter. A great achievement.

The sporting front has been exciting too, especially in hockey. Emily is playing for under 14 County hockey, Francie under 15 and Lucy, Sophia, Georgia and Tilly under 16. Lucy and Ruth are representing under 17 individual hockey and Lucy, Ruth, Rosie, Celia and Katie got through to County Hockey. Netball has had its successes too and Georgia, Lucy, Sophia and Tilly were in the team which won the North Dorset Netball Tournament. Over Half Term Anna is competing in a Team Chase and we wish her well with that.

End of Term News - July 2006

Suddenly the end of term is upon us and we can hardly believe how the time has flown! There has been much fun and jollity and also many tears as we have had to say very painful goodbyes to a few: we wish Emily, Hilary, Jenny, Jemima and Sophie Rose all the best as they leave us for their Sixth Form studies – we will miss them so much and hope they will come and see us. Ale has returned to Mexico and she will be sorely missed. We had a lovely farewell party in our Common Room and we look forward to having her sister with us in 2007 – let’s hope that will be an excuse for her to visit us too. The Lower VI will be moving into Mary Ward House next term, although they will remain part of Newby and until the end of September they will be continuing to help run the House. We had a lovely evening in the Flat for their final night, enjoying a chocolate fondue and lots of chatting, before the girls had a sleep-over in the Common Room as they wanted to be together all night!

We are particularly sad to be saying farewell to Mrs. Loveday who has been at St. Mary’s for 25 years and knew the school before Newby House even existed! She has been a great asset to us and we wish her all the best for her retirement. We look forward to hearing tales of her travels. We say goodbye also to Mrs. Welch who is taking up a job at Hanford in September - their gain is our loss. We hope still to be seeing a lot of them both.

Our sporting success has continued - not without a few setbacks we have to admit! –and congratulations go again to Ruth, Georgia and Lara for their performance at County level, which you can read about in the sports update page. We are also proud to have won the Inter House Tennis competition this year. Ale, Cressida and Emily passed their ballet exams with flying colours and Mrs. Rowland had a lovely evening of entertainment as she went to watch them dance so beautifully. Congratulations also to Celia and Katie for gaining their Lifeguard qualification – this is a great achievement and shows their commitment to serving our community. They celebrated in style with a candlelit Chinese takeaway in the Flat!

We were delighted to welcome 3 German girls into Newby as part of the German exchange and know that Sophie, Izzy and Caitlin are looking forward to their trip to Germany later this year. Always ones to welcome the opportunity for a party we had all the Germans in to watch the football – Germany v Italy – and enjoyed lots of fun, although we were sad Germany lost the match right at the end. Earlier we had what we hope will be the first of many ‘puddings’ parties, with all of us tucking in to chocolate, lemon and jelly creations. It was the final chance for us all to be together as a House, before the UV ended their term on Parents’ Day.

MAY NEWS:

n.b.New photo album added 8 June 2006

So, did you see the Guardian article featuring some of Newby girls? It was on May 2nd.

It hardly seems possible that the Half Term holidays are upon us already. The time has flown and so much has happened since our return after Easter, Public exams are well under way and school exams survived! We continue to wish LVI and UV every success in their AS and GCSEs - not long to go now! Sophie-Rose has already had the taste of success in being offered a much coveted place at Arts Ed next year after fierce competition; we are delighted for her and only sad that it means she will leave us at the end of term.

We think the new swimming pool is great and it is fun to have a House swim on a Monday. Mrs. Rowland tried to capture our first swim with her new camera, but it seems she may need a little more practice at action shots! There is one of some UIV which actually managed to get someone in the picture.

UIV have had the chance of an outing and enjoyed a day in the New Forest - it didn't make the newspapers quite like LVs' trip to the Tate, but never mind - it's here in Newby News!

It is always great to hear of sporting successes and we congratulate Ruth, Georgia, Kate and Lara for being North Dorset champions at the recent trials - Ruth came first in the U17 shotput, Georgia in the U17 100m, Kate in the U15 shotput and Lara is through to the County long jump. We wish them every success at the County trials on June 10th.

We couldn't let the Eurovision Song Contest pass unnoticed and we all enjoyed an impromptu party with snacks from around the world which helped us cope with the usual cacophony of European singing talent. We guessed Finland might win! Maybe next year we could add costumes to our party!

Never ones to let the chance of sweeties pass us by we all helped Mr. Rowland celebrate his birthday with chocolates for the House and a whole box for him with lots of balloons!

UV all had an evening out with Mr and Mrs Rowland at Plumber Manor before going off on Study Leave. It was a lovely opportunity to spend time together before the onslaught of exams. The food was fantastic (the sweets trolley to die for) and the setting is delightful - several girls seem to be planning their wedding receptions already.

Next update at the end of June. Have a good month!

APRIL UPDATE:

We have all returned safe and sound from our holiday and Mr and Mrs Rowland have tried not to bore everyone too much with tales of their fabulous holiday in Rio and the Caribbean! Many girls have been revising hard for public exams, but the atmosphere is relatively calm and certainly positive towards the weeks ahead! Lower V and Upper IV are also preparing for the school exams and we are all doing our best to support each other and hope for the success each deserves. Ruth has been keeping up her hockey by playing for a club during the Easter holidays even though the school season is over and she is now preparing for an athletics tournament this term. The tennis courts are already buzzing with activity until dark and congratulations to Catherine for making the first couple and Rosie for making the second.