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South House
M I C H A EL M A S N EWSL ET T ER
2015
MRS FRETT’S COLUMN
How on earth do I possibly encapsulate nearly 15 frenetic, jam-packed weeks into a few short paragraphs? Or
more importantly how do I do justice in describing the wonderfully eccentric, infectious South family?
Perhaps if I were Shakespeare I might resort to rhyming couplet, but I am merely a weary housemistress
looking at the clock and thinking in a few hours it will be time to wake those adorably sleepy 4 th form who
can just about raise their heads to mutter an unintelligible greeting! At the risk of sounding corny, I think
Christina Rossetti sums up what South is perfectly:
“For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, to fetch one if
one goes astray, to lift one if one totters down, to strengthen whilst one stands”
That is what South has been about in my life-time as a Housemistress. We are quite simply a family of 115
hormonal, angst-driven, passionate, eclectic teenage girls who care about each other and will be there in the
storms and the sunshine. We squabble, we strop and slam doors, but woe betide anyone who tries to cross a
South girl! It has been a privilege to watch these young ladies mature and blossom this term. I do have to pay
special mention to my fabulous group of Upper 6 th prefects lead by Olivia and Eva who have been so
outstanding in their care for this house, in particular for our lovely new 4 th Form. They have not only gone
the extra mile for our newbies but I would have to say have a run a marathon to ensure they feel well and
truly established and valued members of our community. Of course I could not even begin to do this job
without the superb teamwork of Miss Sturdee, Miss Merry, the tutors, Claire, Kim, Annie and our five longsuffering cleaners, Val, Mollie, Mel, Jan and Lynne - from the bottom of all our hearts, we salute you and
thank you. This is by far the craziest term in the academic year. I watch the Southies tear in and out through
the blue doors as they fulfill yet another commitment. The list of all we are involved with is endless and quite
frankly alarming! We have had two plays (Alice being the most brilliantly bonkers production I have ever
witnessed), national indoor and outdoor hockey tournaments (we are through to the final), music concerts
and competitions, charity days and an unforgettable music evening where even Bertie played a starring role
(totally traumatized, he has now taken to watching African nature programs and has been in dog therapy
ever since!). We have had the house performance, a 35K charity walk, made shoe boxes, had socials, and of
course laughed and cried our way through every challenge and drama. Oh, and we had a minor interruption
called an inspection (one of the Southies kept calling it an interrogation!). On a personal note I do want to
thank you for your unwavering support as I made my decision to step down at the end of this academic year.
It was not easy, but South is strong and I am delighted that Claire Lock is going to take on this unique job. I
am so sad to be leaving Cranleigh, but as you have heard I am becoming Head of St Johns on the Hill,
Chepstow - so if you are ever passing, do pop in. We have famous locations on our doorstep being near
Tintern Abbey and the Wye Valley. In the meantime I wish you all a very joyous and peaceful Christmas and
pray that you will enjoy quality family time with your amazing and precious daughters.
God bless. Mrs Frett x
MATRONS’ CORNER
As the new term began, Kim and Claire welcomed Annie to the South
Matron team. It’s been great having three of us on the team (although it’s
really 2 & 1/2 as Claire disappears half of the week to ‘you know where’!!).
The new 4th form settled in quickly and within weeks we could hardly
remember South without them. We also welcome Emily and Rebecca into
L5th, and Bea, Charlotte, Charlotte, Nadine, Olivia and Rosie to L6th.
In the first half of term we enjoyed watching the girls rehearse for South
Music Evening – cavorting around the large dorms or common rooms! Both
the musical and dance items impressed and entertained us. Mrs Frett
encouraged all House staff to take part, and although we’d hope to sneak in
at the back, Miss Merry’s choreography subtly brought us to the front of the
stage!! ‘Little Mix’ stand back: ‘Team Matron’ has arrived!
As the Christmas decorations adorn South House we can sense South girls’
excitement to soon be home and celebrating with friends and family.
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We’ll look forward to seeing you
all in 2016.
With love from ANNIE, KIM AND CLAIRE
HOUSE PERFORMANCE
As ever, the house performance was the highlight for many South girls as
lots of effort was put in and time taken at the beginning of term. The
whole event was put together in just two weeks, which was an amazing
achievement.
The partsongs were organized by Charlotte Livingstone and Victoria
Parker for Cubitt, and Fayruz Megdiche with help from Alice Simmonds
and Olivia Chesser for East. Cubitt’s partsong was a mash up of ‘Too
Close’ and ‘Take me to Church’, while East sang ‘Bottom of the River’
which took them to win the partsong competition!
The Fourth Form dances were exciting and hilarious as always. There were
choreographed by Libby Richards, Clemmie Ryder-Smith and Lottie
Godber for Cubitt, and Gaby Gerrard, Phoebe Rayner and Christi Radkiewicz, for East. The dances were both amazing considering the short time
they had to rehearse, and South did really well with Cubitt/South coming
first and East/South coming second.
Overall, East/South came first and Cubitt/South second, so an overall win
for South! Well done to all who participated!
JUNIOR PUBLIC SPEAKING
SCHOOLS’ CHALLENGE
For each house there was a main speaker,
the proposer of the vote of thanks and the
chairman who introduces everyone. For
South, Amelie Lambie-Proctor was chosen
for the chairman and Millie Glaister was the
main speaker because she did such a good
job on it last year; Zoe Bickenson was
chosen to be the proposer of the vote of
thanks. They then had to write their
speeches: Millie’s speech was 6 minutes and
Zoe’s and Amelie’s were 2 minutes. When it
got to the event they were quite nervous as
the event was split into two halves: West,
North and Loveday went first, then South,
Cubitt and East. They listened to everyone’s
speeches until it was South’s turn and they
performed really well. After all the speeches,
the judges spent a seemingly long time deciding on who were the individual winners
and overall winners were; but South
smashed it and South won overall!
This year, South managed to get through
to the semi-finals of the School’s
Challenge. The team was made up of Eve
Cassidy, Sophie Dixon, Victoria Parker,
Poppy Watkinson and Olivia Chesser.
We won the first round against West,
but unfortunately we were beaten in the
semi-final by Loveday. At the beginning
there was a starter question, and the
team that answered it correctly had to
answer three follow-up questions. The
follow-up questions were usually based
on a specific topic, for example No.1
albums in the UK or sports teams in
Philadelphia. Although we did not make
the final round, we beat West and it was
quite close in the semi-finals, but
Loveday just beat us to it.
SOUTH MUSIC EVENING
Earlier this term, the whole house got involved for the South House Music
Evening. This was a really amazing evening as it had both the fun year
group dances as well as showcasing the talented duet performances from
different year groups. It was also an opportunity for the dances and part
songs from the House Performance to be repeated for parents. It was also
entertaining to watch the tutors’ group dance which was filled with
enthusiasm! The highlight was the climatic ending of the whole house
song/‘shout’ of Queen’s famous ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, which was a fitting
ending to the memorable evening. Special thank you to Fay for organising
the evening and putting it all together!
Also a massive thank you for the £640 raised for Macmillan from your
donations!
4th FORM EVENTS
4th form team building
On our first weekend at Cranleigh all of the boarders and day pupils stayed in at
school for a team building weekend so everyone could get to know each other better.
They were all split up into small groups to go and do some activities in the morning
and were accompanied by their Fourth Form prefects. Firstly they played lacrosse and
Danish longball, which they really enjoyed. They then went and did team building
exercises in which they had to get across from one side of the lawn to another without
touching the floor using only tyres and
planks. They had to take a barrel and a
Halloween Social
large can across, which was very challengThe 4th were lucky enough to
ing, and they really had to work as a team.
celebrate Halloween with a fun party
Later in the day, the girls had their first
in West this year. They dressed up in
rehearsals for their Fourth Form dances
house, with costumes ranging from
pumpkins to teenage mutant ninja
for the House Performance. They had a
turtles. They spent the evening with
great time doing this and found that it was
West doing lots of activities such as
the perfect chance for the year to get to
pin “the boo” on the ghost, apple bobknow each other.
bing and donut on a string. They had
loads of fun and got to eat lots of
spooky goodies, as well as telling
each other ghost stories.
CHARITY NEWS
As usual South have really got stuck in to raise money for charity this
term, with the first event being the whole school charity 35km walk where
over 580 current and former Senior and Prep School pupils and families
walked 35 kilometres to raise money for Beyond Ourselves. This money will
be used to build a bakery franchise to help make the local community in
Kawama more sustainable. All the South girls got really involved, including
some running the course, and the school raised over £20,000 in total
including gift aid, which is incredible!
South House also made over 160 Christmas boxes to be sent out to
Romania this year, filled with warm hats and scarves, cuddly toys, sweets
and many other goodies which will make lots of children very happy this
Christmas!
South have as always been involved in lots of charity mufti days and cake
sales as well as our South House Music Evening where we raised £640 for
Macmillan Cancer.
THEATRE
Cubitt House Play
Alice
Between the 13th and the 15th of
October, Cubitt and South put on their
rendition of ‘Harlequinade’. Directed by
Cameron Scheijde, Ali Johnston and Seb
Leman, South girls (who may not
usually act) were able to take part in a
very funny and quite challenging play.
Charlotte Livingstone, who played Edna,
executed the part brilliantly and coped
incredibly with the many lines that she
had to learn in such a short space of
time. Accompanying Charlotte, Laura
Clark, Ella Steidle, Victoria Parker and
Ellen Talbot also performed brilliantly,
and Victoria’s Scottish accent again did
not fail to get the audience laughing!
The Speech Hall was transformed into a
world of fantasy and dreams for a immersive
-theatre production of “Alice”. From South,
we had Ellie Williamson, Amy Slade, Ella
Batham-Read, PJ Cunningham, Maddie
Lock, Libby Richards, Jemima Stephenson,
Laura Pollard, Ally Frost, Caroline Zoet,
We all thoroughly enjoyed performing it,
and for those who are not leaving this
year, I am sure that you will see us all on
the stage again.
the cast and everyone that helped backstage!
Flossy Livingstone, Gen Graham-Rack,
Helen Clark and Phoebe Osborn. During the
rehearsal process, we were on the set for 2.5
weeks, bringing Wonderland to life. The cast
then had to be ready to improvise at any
moment as the restricted time for each scene
was 5 minutes long. During performance
week they performed Alice 14 times in total.
Overall, it was an amazing performance by
SPORT
Riding
Charlotte Livingstone and Freya Hough were both involved in the riding nationals this
year where over 175 schools from England, Scotland and Wales were represented at the
NSEA National Championships at Addington over the first weekend of half term. This
meant almost 800 horse and rider combinations taking part in 12 hours of competition
each day, all of whom had qualified
through regional competitions throughHockey
out the year. Cranleigh was represented
at every level in all three disciplines of
This term has been a very busy term for
Arena Eventing, Show Jumping and
hockey. In terms of the nationals
Dressage, with 22 horses and riders taking
competition, Cranleigh girls have done
part – this in itself was a remarkable
really well with the U14s getting through
achievement but to go on and compete
to regional heats, and both the U16s and
with the success they did was a real credit
U18s are regionals champions meaning
to their hard work and that of Director of
that they will play in the outdoor national
Riding, Sophie Spear. The Intermediate
finals in March. In the indoor
Arena Eventing team finished in
competition, the U16 and U18s are also
the Reserve-Champions position in a
regionals champions and will be playing
competition involving 36 teams, and just
in the national finals in January. This is
one point behind the winning team, which
an excellent achievement with lots of
is a great success for our Southie riders!
Southies taking part!
SPORT
4th Form Cross-Country
House Volleyball
The fourth form had house cross
country near the start of term.
West and South ran against each
other for 3k which went around
the school grounds to the finish
line.
Earlier in the term South competed
in House Volleyball against West. It
was a fun event, yet of course South
put in all efforts to win.
First place for the girls was
Phoebe Timberlake from South,
which was incredible!
Unfortunately South did not win
overall, but it was still a
tremendous effort by all.
Overall South won with 7 games to
3, which was an excellent
domination over West!
HOCKEY
HOUSE HOCKEY
After an exciting and eventful
afternoon of house hockey with
huge amounts of house spirit and
cheering on the side lines, South
battled against West for the title
of House Hockey Champions.
With turquoise and purple
dominating the hockey pitches,
South played exceptionally well.
Overall the seniors won and
unfortunately the juniors lost.
STONESETT
In Stonesett, the girls who don't
usually play hockey came together
as one to play against West in a fun
round-robin of hockey games.
Despite being accused of cheating
and mouth guard dilemmas, South
came through as the better team
with the best house spirit and beat
West, 31-22!!!
MUSIC
Dashwood Piano Competition:
Pat Dixon Woodwind Competition:
Lina Mazzone gave refined and
stylish accounts of Classical
masterpieces by Mozart and
Clementi, whilst Alice Simmonds
and Katherine Carr gave moving
accounts of pieces taken from each
end of Brahms’ life. Olivia Chesser
approached Frank Bridge’s exquisite
miniature ‘Rosemary’ differently and
Fayruz Megdiche offered us a
glimpse of the Nordic spring. Millie
came runner-up and Lina Mazzone
got Third Prize, and in the Senior
Class, Alice Simmonds, and Fayruz
Megdiche are both through to the
final next term.
Lots of Southies were involved in the
Pat Dixon Woodwind competition
this term. In the Junior Section, ,
2nd Prize went to Emma Grainger
with her performance of Finzi
‘Fughetta’ from ‘Five Bagatelles.’ In
the senior section Ellen Talbot got
through to the final next term. Ellen
gave a very skilful performance of
the 1st movement of Poulenc’s Clarinet Sonata. Also, Fayruz Megdiche
will also be joining them in the final,
so it was an overall very successful
evening for South House!
BEYOND OURSELVES
Zambia Trip
During half term three of our Southies were lucky enough to travel out to
Zambia to visit Cranleigh’s sister school in Kawama for 10 days. They started
off in Nsobe game camp where they met Zambian wildlife and experienced
camping in Africa. They then embarked on a 70km charity bike ride from
Nsobe to Ndola all to raise money for Beyond Ourselves amongst other
charities, alongside ex-Cranleigh teacher Stuart Block who is currently
travelling around Africa and Asia on
his tandem bike. The three Sixth
Formers Alice Simmonds, Abi Ratoff
and Sasha Faure all had a lifechanging time out in Zambia and
especially loved teaching the
children English, Maths and Science
as well as getting involved with the
feeding programme and odd jobs
around the school. It was an
experience that they will never
forget and they hope that Cranleigh
will continue to be involved with
such a wonderful charity.
Zambia Celebration Day
Following their return from Zambia,
the team planned a Zambian
celebration day at school which
included Zambian music and a taste
of Zambian food along with lots of
photos! The Southies who will be
travelling out to Zambia in March
2016 also got the chance to get
involved with Zambian Celebration
Day and it’s fair to say that they are
all starting to get pretty excited for
their trip out to Kawama!
TRIPS
MADRID ART TRIP
After a very early flight, a group of LVIth and UVIth artists
arrived in Madrid for the annual Art Department gallery tour
during October long leave. On the first day they visited the
Reina Sofia gallery, where they saw Picasso's Guernica. They
also visited other major galleries in Madrid throughout the
four days such as the Museo de Arte Thyssen-Bornemisza and
the Museo de Prado. One evening they visited the Faro de
Moncloa tower where they could see spectacular views of the
whole city at sunset. Another highlight was an outing to a
Toledo on the train where they visited the Museo del Greco.
They all kept sketchbooks throughout the trip to record
sightings and sketch artist's work that they particularly liked.
Overall, it was a successful and inspiring trip for everyone.
LOWER SCHOOL SPAIN TRIP
A group of lower school Spanish students left for Spain at the
ghastly hour of 2am on the 21st October and headed for
Stansted Airport, obviously looking at their finest. The overall
journey there was quick and easy and they arrived in Bilbao
eager for their journey in Spain to begin. After arriving, they
then set off to go exploring. They visited a little village up the
road where most of the girls spent their time in the jewellery
shops. There were a number of South girls on the trip, including different year groups so it was nice for them to bond
through a variety of activities. They had the pleasure of
visiting a variety of markets, including a pretty fishing village,
where they often bought a lot of fresh fruit, also giving them
the opportunity to practise their Spanish. Going to the beach
was definitely a highlight as it gave them the opportunity to
take advantage of weather. I think it’s safe to say the ‘gals’
took the initiative to take a ridiculous amount of photos. As
far as food goes, they definitely tried some weird and not so
wonderful Spanish dishes, but I’m sure all the girls agree that
churros were the best. Overall, they that found the trip was
beneficial to their Spanish, but of course they still found time
to soak up the rays. Once their camera rolls were full, their
tummies were crammed and their voices were gone (due to
some terrible coach singing) I think they all agreed it was time
to head home to the delightful British weather.
SWIMMING TRIP TO TENERIFE
Between the 21st and 28th of October, 18
members of the swim team went to Tenerife
with Mr Philpot, Miss Parkes and Dr Tyrrell.
The girls from South were Emma Grainger,
Tash Gerrard, Annie Norton, Lotty
Cunningham and PJ Cunningham. Over the
week they did an intense amount of
swimming at the sports complex T3, where
international-level swimmers train. Each day
they had an intense swimming programme
(which also involved sport yoga) starting at
5:30 am and ending in the evening. Their
highlights of the trip would be the Olympic
Set (they swam every single event which is
swam at the Olympics-in under two hours!),
the 3k set (120 lengths in our school pool) and
their sprint sessions. It's safe to say that their
swimming has hugely benefited from the week
but they also enjoyed moments outside the
pool. Everyone enjoyed the great portions of
each night's themed food, the sunrises by the
pool and the sunsets from the balcony, which
were gorgeous, and, most importantly, their
team spirit has evolved even more. They all
kept each other going when spirits were low
and tiredness overtook, they did nothing but
encourage each other and keep each other
going. When sets were pushing us they were
always kindly handed small packets of honey
to re-energise! It was most definitely a
memorable week and one that will not be
forgotten by anyone who went.
A MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE CAPTAIN
I’ve absolutely loved my first term as Head of South, although I don’t know
where the time has gone. There’s been so much happening and so many
events, I couldn’t talk about them all. Despite a narrow and unforeseen loss in
Fourth Form Cross Country, we couldn’t have asked for a nicer and more
energetic Fourth Form to help the Upper Sixth begin their time in charge of the
house, and we’ve loved getting to know everyone new including all those in the
Lower Sixth. It’s been so amazing to see everyone grow up from last year and
step into their new roles. The Lower Fifth deserve a mention for their
impressive artistic effort in helping South win the Halloween dress up
competition, and the Upper Fifth (despite being on different floors for the first
time) have maintained the ability to colonise the middle common room during
break! The Lower Sixth have just about mastered the Sixth Form dress code
and have made the most of breakfast in the BCR, and we have loved sharing a
common room with them. Finally a huge thank you to my year, the Upper
Sixth, for being such great leaders of our incredible house, and such close
friends.
I hope you all have an amazing Christmas,
Olivia xxx
Frodo and Bertie’s Column
Frodo and Bertie, as ever, have been plodding
around the house, always there for a quick
cuddle.
This term for Bertie has been a pivotal time in
his performing career. Laura Pollard has
nurtured him and given him the opportunity
to perform live on stage. His acting has meant
he was the perfect Simba for the house music
evening. They are also very grateful for all
their dog walkers, even when it seems that
Frodo does not want to be there….
They both hope you have a good Christmas,
as I am sure they will too.
SOME THANK YOUS
We would like to say a massive thank
you to the house staff for everything
they have done this term! To the
tutors for being there to look after us,
for matrons who are always there
(whether it’s for biscuits or plasters),
and for the prefects for making the
house a great place to be. Lastly, a
massive thank you to the cleaners,
Val, Mollie, Mel, Jan and Lynne, for all
their hard work throughout the term
making our areas spotless day-in-dayout!
A QUICK NOTE FROM US
Its been another great term in South;
crazy and hectic as ever! We hope you
all have a wonderful Christmas and a
happy new year! Love from Abi Ratoff
and Amy Mitchell (Newsletter
Editors) x
SOUTH HOUSE MICHAELMAS 2015