Senior Girls' Boarding Blog: 28 April 2019

Malvern House Blog (Friday 26^th – Sunday 28^th April)

Welcome to the first Malvern blog of the Summer term; I cannot believe that I am writing that! Where has this year gone?

The Summer term school calendar promises all sorts of fun with sports day, world aims week, speech day/prize giving and of course the much anticipated thanks giving services and 5^th/6^th Form balls that, for many, will symbolise the end of an era here at Truro School. In the boarding houses this will be supplemented with weekend beach trips, ice creams and sea dips followed up with evening BBQ’s and garden games.

There is also the small matter of revision and then the public and internal exams that will consume much of the girl’s attention and focus this term; Malvern will be a hot bed of emotions with the girls experiencing a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows over the coming weeks but I am confident that the girls will keep their cool and best prepare themselves whilst also supporting each other in order to come away with the very best grades that they are capable of. I am looking forward to helping them in this final part of the journey and know that the Malvern staff team will work tirelessly to support them in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday morning with most of the girls having arrived back on Tuesday afternoon, the beautiful weather of the Easter weekend quickly became a distant memory and the winter jumpers (for those that bought them back with them) had to be unpacked. The latest storm, aptly named Hannah, started to build in force and bought rain, hail and wind putting any further tanning aspirations on hold! That said, with important study and revision to be done the girls and I have decided that we do not mind so much…as long as the blue skies and sunny days return in late June and stay through to early September; I think it is a fair compromise!

With normal lessons resuming almost immediately on Wednesday morning, the usual routines were quickly re-established. The first three days have flown by and the house has had a very studious feel about it. Exams started in earnest on Friday with Stephanie, Erin and Cherry all embarking upon their GCSE and A Level Art practical’s.

The shorter week was well received and the girls were pleased to hear the 3.45pm bell on Friday. The eagerly awaited Avengers film showing had finally arrived and for Hannah, Meg, Anna, Leanne and Kristina this meant sprinting to Truro Plaza in order to be there for the 4pm start! Three hours and twenty one minutes later they emerged having sweet talked their way in (once they realised the tickets they had purchased all those weeks ago were in fact for the Thursday evening show) and all were buzzing upon their return to the house.

This weekend we welcomed Mrs Fiol to Malvern House. With Miss Naylor having moved on part way through last term Mrs Fiol, who was recently successful in her application to be a Resident Tutor in Pentreve House from September, kindly offered to come in to Malvern to offer the girls and myself some support. As always the girls have been superb in making Mrs Fiol feel welcome and we really hope she has enjoyed her weekend with us….I am looking forward to working with her more when we align the two girls houses next year!

On Saturday and owing to a slighter earlier than usual trip, Mrs Fiol, the girls and I made our way up to brunch ahead of the boys for once! Half an hour later and we boarded the minibuses bound for Retallack Resort and the FlowRider, Cornwall’s only artificial wave simulator! Having booked two back to back sessions the wetsuit clad girls spent two hours enjoying the waves, perfecting tricks and even trying some stand up surfing. The pictures below will give you a flavour of the fun that was had…it looked so good that I even ventured on!

Once back in the house the girls made the most of the afternoon and settled down to some work. Further study took place after supper and then Mrs Fiol enticed the girls out of their rooms again with pancake making and a game of cards against humanity in the common room.

On Sunday most of the girls enjoyed a lie in before brunch. Helena was up early for services at the cathedral and with the day ahead set to be a free day for all, the gym and school facilities were taken advantage of, revision and homework was completed and town/Tesco was visited for supplies.

After supper, Codi arrived back from her weekends Duke of Edinbough training expedition in Dartmoor and the weekly boarders returned from home. The usual chores of bed changing, laundry sorting and homework completion then unfolded and the girls went to bed ready for a full week ahead and looking forward to a three-day weekend on the horizon. On Saturday Mr Copeland and I will be taking the whole boarding community surfing at Perranporth in Newquay and there is a bonus Bank Holiday outing to Flambards (Cornwall’s ‘best day of the week’) planned for Monday!

As ever, please make sure you check your inbox for next week’s blog early next week! Will the newly learnt body boarding and surfing skills acquired this weekend help in the sea? Watch this space!

I hope you all have a great week!

Sarah Mulready (Housemistress, Girls Boarding)