Meynell House Newsletter Summer 2022

Summer ‘22

The Green Machine finished the term quite literally at full throttle… as my 4 years as driver comes to an end, I thank the pupils for taking me along for one heck of a ride!

Dates for your diary

Wednesday 7^th September
Meynell 3^rd Form Social

Tuesday 13^th September
Meynell 1^st Form Social

Tuesday 27^th September
Meynell 6^th Form Social

Thursday 13^th October
House Music Festival

Head of House
It was fantastic having a ‘normal’ summer term this year, although ‘normal’ does not quite seem the right word for a term packed with exciting and fun-filled events:  cricket and tennis fixtures under glorious sunny skies, outdoor concerts, a musical, CCF Nitex, a House dinner, DofE expeditions, a 2^nd form camp-out, an activity week and of course Sports Day…. with a few exams thrown in for some.  Life is never ‘normal’ at Denstone and Meynell pupils can always be found participating in all of it.  I could only look on with pride.  It was brilliant to finish off the term, and my time as Head of Meynell, with a wonderful House Dinner at Yeldersley Hall – the pupils looked fantastic, and they sure know how to party – that dance floor rocked!!

Termly House Awards

The Trewin Cup for Sport:  Jed B

McCann Cup for Culture/service:   Robert F

The Phil Smith Cup for Academic Achievement:  Aryan J

The Smith Cup for Effort:  Hugo W

The All-Round Contribution to the House:  Lucas W

Friends of Denstone Cup for House Spirit: Leo D

Academic Success
This has been a tough term for our 5^th and U6th pupils as they sat their external exams but they tackled these with their usual fortitude - fingers crossed for some great results in August.

Hard work from all Meynell pupils resulted us in achieving 2^nd place in the House Merit Cup this term. Particularly well done to the following:

Gold award for 30 merits+:  Maddie B, Madeleine B

Silver award for 20 merits+:  Toby C, Leo D

In the UKMT Junior Maths Challenge, Ceithin I, Lucas T and Daisy D all achieved Gold awards with Ceithin’s score (best in 1^st form) being high enough to qualify for the next round.

Prizewinners

Congratulations to these pupils who were awarded prizes at Speech Day:

1st form attainment prize—Sammy E

2^nd form attainment prize— Charlotte B

3^rd form attainment prize— Millie J-C, Aryan J

3rd form effort prize— Caoimhe C

5th form attainment prize— Will B

Denstone Parents’ Events prize – Hema T

L6th form subject prizes— Lucas W (Design & Technology and Physical Education), Gabby R (Spanish)

U6th form subject prizes — Joshua R (Computer Science), Isabella B (Spanish)

Gold Duke of Edinburgh awards – Joshua R

Sport
It was brilliant seeing Meynell pupils participating enthusiastically in the many cricket, tennis, golf and athletics fixtures which took place this term.  The sporting action culminated in a wonderfully sunny (and hot!!) Sports Finals in which, once again, a large number of Meynell pupils ran, threw or jumped their very best.  We have some amazingly talented athletes in the House, particularly when it comes to sprinting, as was shown when Meynell won four of the seven 100m sprint finals, four of the seven 4x100m relays and the exciting 24x100m relay!  I am proud to report that Meynell won the Sports Finals, as well as the Relay Cup.

There were some brilliant individual performances:

100m: Annabel W 1st (junior girls), Toby C 1st (junior boys), Harry D 2^nd (3^rd form boys), Millie J-C 1^st (inter girls), Catherine C 2^nd (senior girls), Leo M 1^st (senior boys)

200m: Hannah M 1st (inter girls), Ollie B 2^nd (inter boys), Maddi P 2^nd (senior girls), Will F 2^nd (senior boys)

400m:  Kristina O 1^st (junior girls), Harry C 2^nd (senior boys)

800m:  Annabel O 1^st (junior girls), Lucas T 2^nd (junior boys), Hannah M 1^st (inter girls), Harry M 2^nd (inter boys), Courtney G 2^nd (senior girls), Harry C 2^nd (senior boys)

1500m:  Chloe B 2^nd (junior girls), Sammy E 1^st (junior boys), Scarlett  2^nd (senior girls)

Long jump:  Georgina B 2^nd (inter girls), Ollie B 2^nd (inter boys)

High jump:  Annabel W 1^st (junior girls), Hannah M 1^st (inter girls)

Triple jump:  Sammy E 2^nd (junior boys), Millie J-C 1^st (inter girls), Catherine C 1^st (senior girls), Tom F 1^st (senior boys)

Javelin:  Annabel W 2^nd (junior girls), Anna C 1^st (inter girls),

Discus:  Perdy B 1^st (junior girls), Millie J-C 1^st (inter girls),

Shot:  Harry D 2^nd (3^rd form boys), Georgina B 1^st (inter girls), Xander M 2^nd (senior boys)

Paarlauf:  Kristina O & Sammy E 1^st (1^st form), Chloe B & Toby C 2^nd (2^nd form), Scarlett L & Jed B 1^st (5^th form), Courtney G & Lucas W 2^nd (L6th)

4x100m relay:  Kristina O, Annabel O, Imogen B, Annabel W 1^st (junior girls), Sammy E, Philip M, Robert F, Toby C 1^st (junior boys), Hannah M, Georgina B, Celia D, Millie J-C 1^st (inter girls), Will F, Ben M, David T, Leo M 1^st (senor boys)

U6th Leavers 10x100m relay – 2^nd

24 x 100m relay (1^stform - L6th) – 1^st! 

Sports Colours were awarded this term for tennis to Finlay L and Xander M (full colours) and Courtney G (half colours).

Earlier on in the term, I was pleased to hear of two of our L6th pupils getting awards at the Denstone Rugby dinner:  Lucas W was awarded 2^nd XV Players’ Player of the Year and David T was given the Denstone Ranger Award for being a great teammate.

The House Sports Cup is awarded at the end of the school year to the House which has won the most points across all House sports events this year – rugby, hockey, swimming, football, netball, cross country and sports finals.  Incredibly, Meynell won this again, for the 3^rd year in a row – I couldn’t be prouder since it represents such a fantastic team effort!!

Cultural Cup

Meynell’s pupils’ talents don’t just lie on the sports field. The House Cultural Cup is awarded to the House which gets the most points from an array of activities, include House photography, House chess, House  music, House Castle competition etc. It wouldn’t be right if Meynell won everything but I am delighted to report that Meynell did come second in the Cultural Cup this year!

Drama
Meynell pupils were involved in a lot of drama this term – of the right kind!!  First there was the amazing Lower School production of Oliver! Meynell’s Robert F starred as Oliver Twist, singing beautifully, supported by a talented cast which included Caoimhe C as Mrs Sowerberry, Charlotte B as the milkmaid singing ‘Who will buy..’ and Chloe B, Sophie L-W, Daisy D and Imogen B in the ensemble.  It was incredible!   Then I was also lucky enough to see the 4^th form GCSE drama plays which had been written, produced and performed by the pupils themselves.  These included both moving and highly comical performances by Georgina B, Maddie B, Seb K and Hugo W.

Duke of Edinburgh

Well done Gabriella C, Tom F, Will B, Lucas W, Bella F, Scarlett L and Harvey H for achieving their Silver Duke of Edinburgh awards this year.

Thank you and Goodbyes!

It is time now to say goodbye our U6th and 5th form leavers and to wish them well in the next chapter of their lives. We shall miss them but they will always be part of the great Green Machine. A special thanks from me to Izzy B for her help and support as House Captain. Congratulations to Lucas W on his appointment as the new Captain of Meynell.

Mrs Silvey steps down as a Meynell tutor after 14 years of service – many Meynell pupils have benefitted from her kind and helpful tutoring and I thank her for this. As always, I also thank the amazing Meynell tutor team who have given so much support to the pupils and to me as Head of House.  As I step down now as Head of Meynell, I must thank you, the parents, for working with us in helping your sons and daughters develop into the wonderful young people they are.  It has been a privilege to lead Meynell, to get to know you all and to share the highs (and occasional lows!) of the pupils’ school years.  I wish my successor, James Young, success in the role – as many of you will know, the Green Machine is in safe hands.

Enjoy the summer break.

Catherine Bailey