Michaelmas 2007

9th December

As we enter the last week of term house spirits are high. On Sunday night we have the house Christmas Party kindly arranged by the PA. I am sure a good time will be had by all. The Christmas Concert is on Monday night and Andy Lai is performing. I am sure a lot of boys in the house will want to go to support him. The Christmas disco is on Tuesday night and many of the boys will be strutting their stuff, or hugging the walls in terror! On Thursday afternoon the House Senior A team start the inter-house rugby semi-finals as favourites. This competition will be one of the highlights of the year and the whole house is behind the team. On the last Friday we have the school carol services. This then marks the end of a term that has flown by.

Activities round up.
Hockey
Constantin Illies, Nik Bellinger, Robin Volk, Ryan Cleary and Felix Tebbenjohanns were all part of the school first team that beat Bablake and Solihull in recent matches. Most of the above boys will be playing in the National Indoor Final this Sunday and the whole house wish them well.

Combined Cadet Force
Dave Ferguson led the best flight in the recent major parade. Anthony Ng was awarded the best RAF cadet award. Well done to both boys.

Rugby.
In the recent KES match Rory Thomas, Ryan Cleary and Tom Smith played for the first team. Congratulations to Tom, who scored in this First team victory. Sam Harding and Dave Ferguson played in the 2nd XV match. In the last week of term Sam, Rory, Tom, Dave and Ryan have all been selected for the 1st team squad for the Super 16 tournament. Our best wishes go to all of them.

Basketball
 The following boys all played for the successful school first team that won a local tournament recently: Kenneth Chan, Vincent Wong, Vincent Liang, Jacky Leung,  and Jeff Li. Ron Chen has been captaining the B team, where Howard Kwan has been playing. James Bell has been scoring highly in the Under 16 team.

Cricket.
Congratulations to Ryan Cleary who has been training with the Under 19 Warwickshire cricket squad.

 Cross country
George Smallman took part in the recent cross country county trial.

Maths Challenge
Congratulations to Kenneth Chan who got his Silver Award.

Many of the Upper 6th are receiving their university offers and the senior year groups are preparing for modular exams and mocks in January. We wish them luck. I would like to thank all the boys for their contributions this term and would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas.

Mr. Perry.

November 23rd

Term is flying by and the house is in good spirits. 36 boys and three staff went paintballing recently at the national centre. A great time was had by all and Ben Coombs won an award for the best participant, and Ryan Cleary won an award for ending up in the starting line up for the opposition team without realising it! Effort grades have recently been released and there has been a massive increase in the number of boys who have been commended. Details are below:

Commendations

Headmasters Commendations: 
Junior – Anthony Ng
Senior – James Moseley

Basketball is becoming a house speciality with James Bell and Vincent Liang accumulating a mass of points. Hockey performances have been impressive lately with Ryan Cleary, Robin Volk, Nick Bellinger, Constantine Illies, Ben Coombs, and Felix Tebbenjohanns all playing in a very successful school first team.

In the junior inter-house rugby competition every member of the Lower 4th and Upper 4th played. This is an excellent achievement. Hugh Mcbride led the A team, but despite a valiant effort they lost all their matches. The surprise of the day was our B team reaching the finals of their competition. Stefan Naumov, Victor Brandt, Alexey Larin, Nick Garvie, Howard Kwan, Sam Kwok, George Smallman, Jack Moseley, Sanjar Kangeldiev and George Day are all commended for their efforts. Please see the results table below:

JUNIOR HOUSE RUGBY COMPETITION 07

 ‘A’ COMPETITION
WINNERS                   WALTERS
RUNNERS-UP           LUPTON        
THIRD                         LYTTELTON
‘A’ COMPETITION RESULTS

‘B’ COMPETITION              
WINNERS                   WG
RUNNERS-UP          ELMSHURST
THIRD                         LUPTON
‘B’ COMPETITION RESULTS

Jack Moseley and Tom Williams performed valiantly in the junior debating competition and were unfortunate not to progress further. We have an A and B team performing in the junior house rugby tournament this weekend. Expectations are high, but they will face stiff opposition. Jack Taft has recently had a county trial for football and we wish him well with the result of this. Congratulations also go to Ben Coombs for being promoted to warrant officer in the RAF part of the Combined Cadet Force.

The boys would like to thank the PA for the new pool table and they are all looking forward to the House Christmas Party that is being held on the last Sunday of term. It would be nice to see any parents who can make it.

Elmshurst update.  12/10/07.

The last couple of weeks have been very busy in the house. The boys all helped the boarding community receive an excellent boarding inspection report. Many of the Upper 4th and Lower 6th have helped out with guiding prospective parents around the school. Effort grades have shown that most of the house are working hard, with Hugh Mcbride and Ben Coombs receiving headmaster’s commendations. However, some boys have been put on effort cards to help motivate them. On the extra-curricular front the news is as follows:

Rugby
Rory Thomas, George Melhuish and Josh Drumm-Roberts were part of the school 1st team that beat a visiting Australian team, playing them under the flood lights at Worcester. Tom Smith, Dave Ferguson and James Bell also helped beat the Australian second team. Rory has also been picked for the North Midlands squad and Josh for the county squad. Alexey Larin also scored the first try of his life in an Upper 4th game recently. Congratulations to all these players.

Basketball
The school team have won their last three matches and the following players from Elmshurst have been instrumental in these victories: Jeff Li, Jacky Leung, Kenneth Chan, Jacky Leung and Vincent Wong.

Hockey
The first team recently won against Stourport School, with strong performances from the following Elmshurst boys: Constantin Illies, Nick Bellinger, Robin Volk, Ben Coombs and Felix Tebbenjohanns.

Other sports
Phil Kravtsov continues to train with the county squash team and George White was part of the successful swimming team that won their last fixture.

Combined Cadet Force
Ben Coombs has been put forward for one of the top awards a cadet can receive in the CCF. Tom Williams and Felix Tebbenjohanns are taking part in the marching band that is going to Wales to commemorate the school being evacuated to Mid Wales in the Second World War.

Other extra curricular events
James Bell represented the school in a local inter-school discussion group. The Lower 4th coped admirably with the Malvern Walk. Godfrey Leung performed well on the piano in the recent Words and Music event and the house song is looking promising for the inter-house competition this week.

Elmshurst update 22/09/07

This term has started extremely well, with the new monitor team led by Sam Harding, Tom Smith and Rory Thomas, helping to create an excellent house spirit. There are currently 69 boys in the house and the start of term saw 6 new Lower 4th join us; one new Upper 4th; one new 5th former; and 4 new Lower 6th. The new boys have been made very welcome by the old campaigners and have settled in well. I would like to thank Mrs Wilde, Mrs Pugh and my wife for helping host the start of term tea party for new boys and parents. It was well attended and it was good for everyone to meet the house team. The house has also benefited from welcoming three new members of staff. Mr Abrahams has joined us as the new resident Assistant House parent. Dr Ogston and Mr Merrick have joined us as new tutors and all three have already got to know many of the boys through house duties and extra-curricular activities.

Sam Harding has been made a school monitor and the monitor team all attended monitor training in recent weeks. Josh Drumm Roberts and Rory Thomas have made it into the county rugby squads and nearly half the house are in school rugby teams. Basketball is also well supported from boys in all year groups in Elmshurst. Clarence Fong, and Nast Wilde received music certificates in Routh Hall and Freddie Green read confidently in front of the whole school when it was our chapel week. His younger brother Charlie, and Nick Garvie read in Holy Communion and also performed admirably.

The house song this year is Bryan Adam’s ‘Summer of ’69.’ James Brown is supporting the house on the electric guitar and the boys are rehearsing hard. We are currently strong on enthusiasm and volume. Melody will hopefully come later. Many boys will be going on CCF and D of E expeditions this week and we wish them well.

Upper 6th form students are currently busy on their UCAS applications and Oxbridge and medical school applicants are nearing completion. The house will be hosting one of the German exchange students this week and old boy Johannes Frank will also be popping in to see friends this weekend.

The start of term bodes well for the rest of the year and I look forward to the successes the coming months will undoubtedly bring.