Spring is in the air!
21 March 2022 - Clarence
Miss Jeans (Deputy Head Sixth Form) is a resident in Clarence and, whilst she is Head of Year for the LVI, she has got to know the Clarence girls and always brings a sense of fun to the House when on duty. Here is her reflection of a recent week in House:
With spring knocking at the door, it’s been refreshing to see the daffodils starting to bloom outside the CCR these last few weeks. And with the dust of the TAGs now settling, it’s also been good to see Clarence emerging from their rooms and enjoying some trips, activities and 18th birthdays. Miss Suto and I were even treated to an impromptu acapella version of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance from House 3.
On 3 March we celebrated International Women’s Day by looking inwards and outwards, reflecting on those women who are suffering around the world at this time and writing messages of hope for our Peace Tree, which Dr Goward has arranged so that others can see it on their way past Clarence.
In the same spirit, Helen led our charity campaign to support the Ukrainian people through donations to the Red Cross Appeal, assisted by a number of Clarence pupils. The messages of solidarity that people wrote and the money donated was inspirational – over £1200!
Clarence, you never cease to amaze us with your culinary skills. And amaze they did one weekend with their ‘Bake Off’ competition entries. ‘Easter’ was the theme and whilst we’ll admit we had images of sugar crafted flowers and fluffy chicks in mind, the ‘Bunny Burrowing into Ground’ from House 7 and Dali-inspired Christ on the cross from House 10 unusually proved to be the Saturday night creativity we all needed.
We shall leave you to determine who won ‘Most Creative’ and who won ‘Tastiest cake’, but we know that the cake artists of House 10 will be disappointed if we don’t highlight the symbolism involved in their biblical creation. Those on the Leiths course served up a roast chicken and trimmings supper, topped off with a profiterole dessert and chocolate sauce this week. By the time we came round for evening registration, those profiteroles were the stuff of myth and legend but clearly made a greatHhouse supper. House 1 could be heard cursing their Lent choices that meant that the profiteroles had to be donated to House 10 instead, with the Lenten list including sweets, chocolate, biscuits, crisps, puddings, fizzy drinks, Nutella and squirty cream. They don’t do things by halves…
This week, some of House 9 brought the sporting spirit of Wycombe Abbey to our local football ground when they went to support Wycombe Wanderers at home. The security guards were so full of praise for their enthusiastic cheering that they took them to the player’s tunnel to high-five the players on their way out! We’re in no doubt it was this that secured their 1-0 win over Fleetwood.
As the end of this action-packed term swerves into sight, it’s natural that we’re looking forward to a well-earned rest. So much has been achieved in such a variety of different ways. As we move into the more sustained period of reflection and revision next term, primary school-esque Wordsworthian spring images of daffodils dancing in the breeze don’t quite fit the bill. Instead, William Carlos Williams’ words in his poem Spring and all appear more apt: “the profound change has come upon them: rooted, they grip down and begin to awaken”. Whilst the Easter holidays and beyond will inevitably require a sense of gripping down, we hope that you all find rest and respite during this holiday period and look forward to welcoming everyone back next term.