November 10th
Dear Parents and Guardians,

The Housman family grows ever larger and this week we have welcomed three new faces to the house. Frederick Tyen joined our Lower Sixth last Sunday, Sam White joined as an Upper Sixth from Walters house (although Sam continues to be a Walters boy during the school day), and tomorrow we welcome Josh Bloomer in to the Lower Sixth from School House. Josh boarded with us temporarily just before half term and we are delighted that he has chosen to make it a permanent move. All three are very welcome!

A big thank you to George Melhuish who has lent his Nintendo Wii to the house. Much overused music channels have now been replaced by the soft 'thwack' of golf balls and clatter of bowling pins. I think there was more than a little surprise Friday evening when Mrs Kenward beat everybody at 10 pin bowling... little did they know she has been practising at home! George has also organised a Wii tournament with the proceeds going to the 'Help for Heroes' charity. (I may put a little side bet on Mrs K for the title!)

I am pleased to note that some Housman Hallians have already begun receiving offers for university courses and invitations for interviews. It always comes as something of a relief when you get your first offer to know that you at least have somewhere to go next year (grades permitting of course). I encourage those who have not yet submitted their applications to do so as soon as possible.

There were some questions raised this week about exeat procedures so I felt it might be quite useful to include details in this week's newsletter. We set a deadline of Thursday evening at 9 to receive all consent relating to weekend leave. This is recommended by the Boarding Standards Agency to give us enough time to make sure that all of the arrangements are in order and in keeping with your wishes. By this time we need a written invitation from whoever they are staying with and something from you to say that you are happy with the arrangements. If you send this by e-mail then it needs to come from the address that you gave us on the 'Confirmation of E-mail Address' form at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately there are cases of pupils setting up false e-mail addresses to generate e-mails that their parents know nothing about. I have also attached a copy of the information that we then send out to host parents indicating the procedures for collection and return. I am sure that you will appreciate how important it is to make sure that we know where everybody is and whose care they are in over the weekend. If you have any questions about weekend leave, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Click this link to see a pdf of our policy.

Over the past week a select band of actors from the house, lead by Tom Jones, have been rehearsing our entry for the House Drama competition which takes place in the next week or so. I will keep you posted of developments!

This weekend saw many of the house go out Saturday night to Josh Bloomer's birthday party (Happy Birthday Josh). As for me, I attended the Boarder's Disco in the Main School Dining Hall. It was an enjoyable event for the boarders, but there's nothing for making you feel old than catching yourself thinking "Do they really need it that loud?"

Last night's DVD was 'The Wanted'. One Housman Hallian (who wishes to remain nameless) said "Oh my God, it's amazing, it's really good, you've got to watch it!" I must point out that, should you rent this film, this opinion is not necessarily mine (I haven't seen it - even though, apparently, I've got to), or that of Bromsgrove School or its associates.

As ever, we hope this e-mail finds you well!

Jon and Nicola

6 October
Dear Parents and Guardians,

Hopefully by now you have managed to have a look at last week's effort grades; generally the house is working well and the grades reflect that. There will always be one or two areas that individuals can work on and tutors have and will be talking to their tutees about the best way of doing so. If you are at all concerned about yor son/ daughter's effort grades, please do get in touch with their tutor to discuss. The following have been commended for their grades: Josh Drumm-Roberts, Cynthia Kam, Matthew Leung, Kymbat Suilemenova, Elvis Tsang, Jasper Yang, Steve Harris, and Alex Petrova. In addition, Headmaster's Commendations for the best effort grades in the house were awarded to Brian Wai and Michael Lau. Congratulations to all!

House song rehearsals were excellent last week and they are really starting to produce a good sound. Mr Kingston, the Director of Music, joined us for our rehearsal on Friday to give a few musical pointers that were very valuable; we are very grateful to him. With the competition just over a week away, the finishing touches are being added and they should already be proud of what they have achieved.

Congratulations to Lucy Doi, Calico Hong, Cynthia Kam, Brendon Law, and Jasper Yang who took part in a practice Duke of Edinburgh expedition over the weekend. Those of you not in the country will probably not know that last weekend was the wettest for some time (and in the UK that's really saying something), but they were all successful and in good spirits on their return yesterday.

Chris Bailey and Jonathan Dearden made a bit of history this evening by being the first students ever to talk at a teaching staff meeting. They have both been working closely with the other two senior schools in Bromsgrove to look at ways of raising academic performance. Out of this work came a proposal for an academic peer mentoring scheme where, amongst other things, Sixth Form students will act as academic mentors to those lower down the school. Their presentation was excellent; they spoke confidently and intelligently and their idea was very well received by the teaching staff. We look forward to seeing their ideas in action in the near future.

Saturday night's DVD this week was "The Children of Men" starring Clive Owen. It was my mother's birthday so unfortunately I wasn't around to watch it or gauge reaction on the night. On Sunday, the most enthusiastic response was "it was alright but the end was a bit disappointing". As overwhelming as that review is, I wouldn't run out and rent it straight away. Perhaps on a Sunday afternoon if there's nothing else on. For what it's worth, when I asked Mr Bell, who was on duty on Saturday night, he commented that it was "a bit long".

It is hard to believe that we are only one more weekend away from the two week half-term break. A reminder that the half-term finishes at 4pm on Friday the 17th. We understand that those who need to take international flights may need to leave during the day on Friday, but please do try and avoid booking flights before the Friday. Lessons continue until the very end of the week and valuable work can be missed. If it is unavoidable, please do let us know as soon as possible.

As ever, we hope that this e-mail finds you well.

Jon and Nicola

29th September

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Effort grades should be available for you to see on e-Portal by the end of this week. In order to access your son/ daughters e-Portal account you will need to go to www.bromsgrove-school.co.uk/eportal . Once there you will need to sign in with their username and password - you will obviously need to speak to them if you haven't already got this. It is likley that they will be able to see their grades on Tuesday and tutoring over the coming week will be focussed around what their grades were and how to either capitalise on success or to improve on areas of weakness. In Tuesday morning's assembly I will be talking about how these grades are a means by which their teachers communicate how they think their students are doing and grades are never given on the grounds of whether they 'like you or not'. If they accept them in this spirit then it should be a positive experience. If there are any questions that you may have after grades have been published, please do not hesitate to contact your son/ daughter's Personal Tutor or us.

House Song rehearsals have been excellent this week, with the first half of the song coming together nicely. We're certainly not ready to perform in a public forum just yet but there is now every chance that we will be in a couple of weeks time! Our gratitude to Michael Peace who has learned the tune on his guitar now so we will now be accompanied by both piano and guitar; surely worth an extra couple of points come judging!

Of course the House Song competition is not the only house competition this term and we are already eagerly anticipating the House Rugby Competition. As defending champions it is obviously crucial that they look the part and so the boys have been organising a new house rugby kit. Speaking of house kit, we have already sent off an order for the Housman Hall Polo Shirt (in classic black), and the Housman Hall Hoodie (boys in classic black, girls in less classic, but I'm sure equally stylish, pink) will be ordered some time this week.

On Saturday night Aiden Wiffen and Hannah Birks were amongst an audience in Routh Hall that listened to William Hague speak. See attached photograph courtesy of Mr Bowen. Those of you not UK based might be forgiven for not knowing who that is, so for the record he is "Shadow Foreign Secretary and former leader of the Conservative Party". Irrespective of ones political affiliation, it is a great opportunity for Sixth Formers to listen to somebody of his experience in Politics speak. As a follow-up to this, Aiden and Hannah are also going to the BBC tomorrow to take part in a Radio 5 Live interview of William Hague on the Victoria Derbyshire show... tune in if you can.

19 Housman Hallians enjoyed the boarder's trip to London today; I understand a great time was had by all... but unfortunately no embarrassing pictures this week!

I feel I'm on familiar ground with this week's DVD review. I couldn't quite believe it when they asked to rent classic '80s horror flick "Nightmare on Elm Street"! Interesting piece of film trivia - it was Johnny Depp's first major film role (well - interesting in relative I suppose). With more cheese than a four cheese pizza, there are more laughs than scares in this film, but it is guaranteed to entertain a room full of teenagers!

As ever, we hope this e-mail finds you well!

Jon and Nicola

21 September

Dear Parents and Guardians,

With less than 4 weeks to go until showtime we find that we can't get the words of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" out of our heads. Rehearsals continued this week and the girls are definitely getting more tuneful and the boys are certainly getting louder! We are extremely grateful to Jason Lau who has taught himself the musical score in less than two weeks and will accompany the house for the remaining rehearsals and indeed the performance on the day on the piano. Our hope is that his obvious musical ability will rub off on the rest of the house!

Upper Sixth tutoring over the past week has again looked at UCAS applications and keeping that particular ball rolling. Oxbridge applications should be completed within the next few days and those applying to the most competitive courses should also have the next couple of weeks as a target for completing the process. Last year I think those that started the process early enough were getting offers in the second half of this term which can put a lot of minds at ease. Tutors should also have been talking about how pupils are using their study periods and encouraging them to read. For some this may be academic extension reading, but for others it may just be for leisure; either way all pupils should have at least one book on the go.

For the Lower Sixth, the focus has also been on the use of study periods, but also how they are adapting to the standards and work habits expected of them in the Sixth Form. The first set of effort and attainment grades are publsihed within the next couple of weeks so it is obviously very important that good study habits have been adopted. I thought it might be quite interesting for you to have a copy of the grade descriptors that are available for the pupils to see on e-Portal. Tutors have also been asked to talk through these descriptors with their tutees. Please find them in the attached Word file. It is worth noting that an average of less than 2.0 earns a School Commendation.

On Tuesday evening the Chaplain, Reverend Hedworth joined us for supper and enjoyed chatting with the house about how they were settling in and, knowing the Chaplain, a lot about football as well. Alex Petrova then gave him a tour of the house.

Over the weekend, several enjoyed a trip out to the cinema on Saturday night to see "Stranger", but I got the impression it wasn't quite what they had expected. James Gray, Reggie Li, Ken Li, Zimo Qi, Jasper Yang, Gergana Nikolova, Lucy Doi, Sophia Nguyen, and Calico Hong all seemed to enjoy the Sixth Form Dining-In Night on Saturday night; a special and slightly more formal meal just for Sixth Form students.

This morning Chris Bailey and Aiden Wiffen headed off to help with a Bronze Duke Of Edinburgh Award expedition as part of their Basic Expedition Leader Award (BELA). We wish them all the best and hope that the good weather holds. The same wishes went with Timur Safin, Michael Peace and Beccy Storey who left this afternoon for a CCF overnight exercise.

Last night's DVD presentation was "Hancock" starring Will Smith. Reviews ranged from "Yeah, it was really good," to "Good, yeah, really good" so we're guessing it was good.

Finally, our congratulations to Josh Drumm-Roberts who progressed to the next stage of County Rugby Trials last week. We wish him all the best this week!

As ever, we hope this e-mail finds you well!

Jon and Nicola

14th September

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Every week or so it is our intention just to drop you are few lines to let you know about life in Housman Hall. It is hard to believe that two weeks have passed already, and yet the New Pupil Welcome seems like an age ago. That weekend we welcomed 43 new Lower Sixth into the house from 11 different countries. It is great credit to them, and the Upper Sixth for how well they have gelled as a house and the atmosphere is already one of support and friendship. It is natural that, for some, being a boarder at a school like Bromsgrove is something of a culture shock; expectations are quite rightly high and many have not been at a school like this before, but we are delighted at how they are all adapting.

The first Inter-house competition of the year is traditionally the Unison Song Competition. For the uninitiated, in the week before half-term (a mere 5 weeks away), each house must stand in front of the rest of the school and perform a song... in unison. The theme this year is "Songs from Films", and Housman Hall have chosen "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" from "Sister Act". Now, I don't know if you've seen the film, but one of its highlights is a scene where a choir of nuns, lead by Whoopy Goldberg (I'm not making this up) performs this song. Rehearsals are already underway and I seek comfort in the fact that it is early days and I'm sure Whoopy was not "note perfect" the first few times. Enthusiasm and enjoyment are both high though, which at this stage is the most important thing.

Last week was Housman Hall's 'Chapel Week', which is the week when we take responsibility for the Chapel and Routh Hall Assembly readings. Brendan Law and Elvis Tsang both read superbly at Thursday's Communion Service and Seb Tadjer was also excellent reading in front of the whole school at Friday's Routh Hall Assembly. All three receive House Commendations for their efforts. We were delighted that so many in the house offered to read last week and it was a shame that there were not more to go around.

Tutoring over the first couple of weeks has naturally focussed on ensuring that the house are all on appropriate courses and have a balanced extra-curricular programme. Many discovered early on that perhaps they had not chosen their best subjects and the vast majority of these issues have now been resolved. From an extra-curricular perspective we try to ensure that pupils have chosen activities that reflect their strengths and interests, but also that broaden their experience. If you would like to talk to anyone about you son/ daughter/ wards programme please do not hesitate to contact either their personal tutor or us. Upper Sixth tutors are also discussing UCAS applications with their tutees as the vast majority will need to get their applications in before half-term.

Every Saturday after final roll call, the house traditionally gathers for 'DVD Night'. Those of you with children in the Upper Sixth will know from last year that choices have been variable to say the least. This year has not started too badly... last night they watched "The Heartbreak Kid" starring Ben Stiller. OK, so it's not the most sophisticated of scripts or deepest of stories, but apparently it was funny and there were no chainsaws... so one thumb up from us! Also over the weekend, several enjoyed trips out to Birmingham and the Cinema at Rubery on Saturday night. Today some went on the Boarders' trip to Alton Towers and Anna Zhuravleva returned with a giant Pooh Bear dressed in a babygrow. I have an embarrassing picture, but I'm saving it for next week!

attached are scenes from the first couple of weeks... ice breaker games organised by the Upper Sixth, and Catherine Able-Thomas' birthday last Tuesday.

Jon and Nicola

News from Summer Term 2008