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LEGO Village Development at St David's

St David’s Junior School enjoyed a LEGO workshop and created a very impressive "village" complete with tower blocks, helicopter pads, footbridges, buses, stables and a wide range of cottages with glorious gardens. Crate after crate of LEGO was unloaded by Mr Garside, from LEGO,who demonstrated how to build a house strong enough for an elephant to sit on without it breaking.

The girls and boys worked on their own models which were all then put together to create the village which Mr Garside said was one of the best he had seen complete with its own town square.

Gymnasts win Gold at National Finals

St David’s School gymnasts won all three pairs competitions at the National Acrobatic Gymnastics Competition in Stoke on Trent on 26th & 27th April. The team also won the bronze medal in the under 11 group event.

Jo-Jo Perryman (11) and Anne-Marie Seabourne (10) were the youngest gold medallists in the under 11 pairs. Katie Bell (13) and Kim Hunter (12) matched this performance clinching gold at under 13 level representing St David’s for the first time in this National competition.

Katie Axten (15) and Abigail Ralph (13) are no strangers to the gold medal position and won yet again in the under 19 event. Katie has now won 7 gold medals and 7 national titles for St David’s and Abigail has set a new record by winning 4 consecutive gold medals and National titles.

The under 11 squad, Mia Stoop, Sandra Clement, Julia Richards, Ellen Dixon, Charlotte Hattersley-Hoskinson and Chantelle Murphy won bronze medals in the group event.

I'd do anything for Oliver

St David’s school organised a theatre workshop which was run by the Lanternfish Theatre Group.  The workshop saw pupils from three schools help act out the Oliver Twist story.

Lanternfish say “We aim to produce top quality theatre which is imaginative, stylish and original. All our work has a strong element of participation for the audience”. This participation saw pupils from St David’s Prep School join with invited guests from Echelford Primary School and Hampton Junior School to sing and act alongside the visiting actors.  Many of them had dressed as Victorian characters to add to their performances.

Gold Award for £4,000

St David’s School raised £4,000 for the Breast Cancer Campaign last year through a variety of fund raising activities including sponsored events – the girls’ favourite being the Jelly Wellie race as well as mufti days, St David’s Day games and a tuck shop run by the pupils throughout the year.

The Breast Cancer Campaign recognised the school’s efforts with a Gold Level Award in their Schools’ Challenge.

Rebecca Nichols, St David’s Head Girl said “Everyone in the school helped to raise this fantastic amount of money. We all feel strongly about the Breast Cancer Campaign charity so we all enjoyed raising the £4,000 – we hope to raise even more next year! All the charity events were fun and enjoyed by everyone in the school from the Nursery to the Sixth Form”

Farm visits St David's

Pigs, lambs, goats, rabbits and hens were just some of the Cuddle-Me Do Farm animals that visited at St David's. The boys and girls were joined by First Steps Nursery and as well as hearing about the animals they were able to groom and stroke them and even witnessed a hen laying an egg.

The Earl of Wessex Visits St David’s

St David’s School celebrated its 150 years in Ashford with a visit from The Earl of Wessex. The school moved to Ashford in 1857 and the new building was officially opened by Prince Albert, The Earl of Wessex’s great great great grandfather.

His Royal Highness was welcomed by the school’s Head, Penny Bristow and Chairman of Governors, Steve Humphreys, and enjoyed a tour of the school that included a gymnastics display from the school’s medal winning squad, a drama performance and the school choir’s rendition of the Welsh national anthem in the school chapel.

As a Trustee of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, The Earl of Wessex was particularly interested in a display of recent expeditions and other Duke of Edinburgh Award work that St David’s girls had undertaken.

The tour ended with His Royal Highness planting a tree and unveiling a plaque to commemorate the visit. Penny Bristow said:
“St David’s school was delighted to welcome The Earl of Wessex in this year of celebration. Our girls were thrilled to meet and speak with His Royal Highness and were equally keen to demonstrate their skills be they singing, in the gym, on stage and in the classroom”

Bishop blesses St David’s School 150th Anniversary Rose Window

The Right Reverend Michael Colclough Bishop of Kensington led a service to bless St David’s School’s new stained glass rose window that marks the school’s 150 years in Ashford.

The service was in the school’s own Welsh Chapel where the new window is situated above the altar. The window incorporates the school’s logo, a Red Welsh Dragon, as its centrepiece and is a striking colourful addition to the chapel.

Five girls from Years 5 to 9 read their own prayers as part of the service, which was attended by the whole school.

The Bishop suggested that the girl’s should be reminded by the dragon to be enthusiastic about life and learning, as St David was, but not to forget that St David’s symbol was the dove so to combine that enthusiasm with compassion and love.
 
Steve Humphreys, Chairman of Governors at St David’s, said, “The window is an impressive and a very appropriate way of celebrating our 150 years in Ashford. It is also very pleasing that so many parents, past parents and Old Girls contributed to the Rose Window appeal and I would like to thank them all for their generosity’.