Senior Girls' Boarding Blog: 17 September

Whilst all the girls have navigated through their first full week of lessons, for those new to the school there have been many new experiences. This week there has been the first boarding house fire drill, the first Wednesday afternoon activity session, the first whole school assembly and, not quite so pleasantly, and to be honest not something we really needed to experience, the first boarding house sick bug!

The week started relatively quietly. With normal timetabled lessons now in full swing, the girls have been kept busy with prep (homework) in the evenings. The signs are all very positive so far; good study habits seem to be forming and the girls are working hard in, and indeed beyond, the allotted evening sessions.

On Tuesday there was an exciting buzz around the school due to the grand opening of the Leith’s Cookery School and of course Prue Leith, who the girls have been watching on The Great British Bake Off 2018 for the last few Wednesdays, was in school to do the honours. Whilst I did not get a glimpse of Prue, I cannot wait to see how the boarders can benefit from the on-site, state of the art, cookery facilities!

On Wednesday morning the girls awoke to the sound of the fire alarm – a drill I think they knew was coming ‘sometime soon’. That said, the usual pleasantries I have become accustomed to receiving when I see the girls first thing in the morning were not quite as forthcoming as we stood in the drizzle outside the uniform shop at 6.30am. It could have been worse I suppose and the girls do all appear to have forgiven me for now!

On Wednesday afternoon, many of the girls took full advantage of the seemingly never-ending list of extracurricular opportunities that are on offer at Truro School. Tennis, community volunteering, fitness, art (textiles), netball, fencing and music all featured on the Malvern girls’ Wednesday afternoon agendas and with others hoping to pick up surfing and cookery next week it looks like we are all keeping busy! I am particularly excited to hear all about Lisha’s first cookery session in the aforementioned cookery suite; I do hope she brings her creations back to the boarding house to share!

Thursday saw Sophie and Charlotte play host to their Slovenian exchange partners who had spent the earlier part of the week completing their expeditions on Dartmoor. Both Sophie and Charlotte proved brilliant hosts and it was a pleasure to welcome the girls to the house.

On Friday morning, we celebrated yet another sweet sixteenth birthday. This time it was Leanne’s turn to receive the usual and tuneful(?) rendition of Happy Birthday; cake always puts them in a good mood and they headed up the hill looking forward to a slice of the cupcake cake upon their return.

At lunchtime, Anna, Sophie and Leanne boarded the minibuses outside the Old Sports Hall and travelled to Cape Cornwall for the first subject-specific trip of the year, the A Level Art and English combined trip to Cape Cornwall. For the rest of the girls, the weekend started in its usual fashion with the weekly boarders departing for home. Anna and Kristina attended the school tennis club, Hannah visited the gym and Cherry stayed up at school to work on her Art.

After a gammon steak or vegetable frittata supper and an hour of prep the girls settled in for the weekend. Chocolatey snacks that had been purchased from Tesco were duly devoured whilst the girls cosied up on the sofas with the curtains drawn and watched a film.

Saturday quickly came about and for most of the girls, this meant lie-ins. Having signed up for the Saturday afternoon surfing lessons, Anna and Hannah headed off to Perranporth at 1pm. For the rest of the girls the day was to be a free day and they spent time studying or visited town and Tesco. The gym was enjoyed and before we knew it, it was suppertime once again.

Saturday evening saw Cherry take charge and the junior and senior girls joined forces for a pizza and punch party. Having decorated their own pizzas, made their own nachos, and peeled/chopped their own veggies the senior girls played host to the girls from Pentreve. With nibbles a plenty, and a playlist being added to all the time, the girls danced, sang and chatted the night away.

At lunchtime, Anna, Sophie and Leanne boarded the minibuses outside the Old Sports Hall and travelled to Cape Cornwall for the first subject-specific trip of the year, the A Level Art and English combined trip to Cape Cornwall. For the rest of the girls, the weekend started in its usual fashion with the weekly boarders departing for home. Anna and Kristina attended the school tennis club, Hannah visited the gym and Cherry stayed up at school to work on her Art.

After a gammon steak or vegetable frittata supper and an hour of prep the girls settled in for the weekend. Chocolatey snacks that had been purchased from Tesco were duly devoured whilst the girls cosied up on the sofas with the curtains drawn and watched a film.

Saturday quickly came about and for most of the girls, this meant lie-ins. Having signed up for the Saturday afternoon surfing lessons, Anna and Hannah headed off to Perranporth at 1pm. For the rest of the girls the day was to be a free day and they spent time studying or visited town and Tesco. The gym was enjoyed and before we knew it, it was suppertime once again.

Saturday evening saw Cherry take charge and the junior and senior girls joined forces for a pizza and punch party. Having decorated their own pizzas, made their own nachos, and peeled/chopped their own veggies the senior girls played host to the girls from Pentreve. With nibbles a plenty, and a playlist being added to all the time, the girls danced, sang and chatted the night away.

On Sunday morning, lie-ins were not possible. Instead, it was an early breakfast before we headed, with swimming costumes at the ready, off in a minibus and a coach to BF Adventure in Penryn. Having divided into mixed groups the boarders enjoyed three adventure and activity based sessions: raft building, climbing/abseiling and the quarry adventure trail. A lot of fun was had and it was great to see the girls stepping out of their comfort zones and mixing with the other boarders so well. As you will see from the photos, it was a great, action packed day!

Having refuelled with a tomato pasta, macaroni or fish supper the girls are now busying themselves with homework, bag packing, bed stripping and laundry. Exhausted from the day’s action I think they will all sleep well tonight.

Before I sign off for another week, I just want to say a special thank you to our Head of House Jemma. Jemma has been a tremendous help over the last two weeks. She has helped the new boarders to settle, been a listening ear and a friend to all of the Malvern boarders and she has single headedly orchestrated birthday card signing and chocolate buying.