On Tuesday 4th July the whole school took part in House Challenge Day - a day of sport, music, activities and good-natured competition between our four school houses: Winkworth, Wollaston, Pears and Percival.
In periods 1 and 2, pupils of various ages participated in the Torch Relay, where they had to traverse an obstacle course as fast as possible, all while carrying a blow-up Olympic Torch. It was wonderful to see so many cheering each other on and representing their houses so confidently. While this was going on, others were busy learning a House Song, to be performed later on in the day.
After break came the Water Challenge. This was a brilliantly organised event that involved the transportation of water from one side of the grass area to the other by a variety of ingenious means. Pupils carried water in buckets with holes in, created an aqueduct with two pieces of guttering, suspended water between them on bin bags, poured it through a funnel into a hosepipe, scrambled under a tarpaulin with bottles and finally filled balloons with the remaining liquid and threw them through a hoop and into a box. Needless to say, a lot of water was lost along the way, but a great deal of fun was had. In keeping with the spirit of the day, everyone cheered each other on and collaborated in a fantastic display of teamwork and friendly rivalry.
Later on, junior pupils from different houses decorated huge cardboard cutouts of a house with their house colours. At the same time, senior pupils took part in a quiz where they had to go and tell answers to specific people within the school - which naturally turned into something of a moving treasure hunt.
Finally, the whole school came together in the Main Hall to see the decorated cutouts and hear the House Songs, which were judged by Dr Neill and Mr Richards. Before the results were announced, we saw two films created by members of Year 6 - an interesting diversion that shows we clearly have some talented filmmakers among our pupils!
We look forward to the announcement in Final Assembly of this year's overall winning House. Many thanks to Mr Gunter and all of the staff and students who made this fantastic day such a success.
