Shelburne

Summer Term – Half Term 2

29 June 2024 - Shelburne

House Dinner

The final Half Term of the Academic Year began with our Annual House Dinner. In a break from tradition, Shelburne embraced the warmer, sunny weather for an outdoor event, where more than 120 pupils, parents, siblings and staff came together to mark the end of another successful year for the House. After the drinks reception and barbecue, the girls gave their families the full Shelburne experience by inviting them to play rounders- a staple activity in our weekly evening activities calendar. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that came for helping to make the event such a success. Special shout-outs must go to Miss Tay and her Mum for putting together the beautiful flower displays, to Miss Elmer in the School Office for her work behind the scenes, and also to our fantastic catering team who provided us with delicious refreshments.

House Competitions

The Inter-House events this Half Term included the inaugural Maths competition, Lower V Plays, House Tennis Funals, Tug of War and Sports Day. The girls have had a blast representing the House and, as always, there has been much to celebrate. Particular congratulations to Claire, Eloise, Leila and Audrey, who won the Inter-House Maths competition, and to Emily M, Emily W, Angela, Nell, Audrey and Belle who won the Tug of War. There were some very impressive individual performances at Sports Day and the roaring encouragement the girls gave each other demonstrated just how strong our House spirit is.

In total, the girls achieved 452 commendations this term, which placed us 3rd for the Commendation Shield too!

Dove Day and Glastonabbey

We had a several girls demonstrate their artistic talents at Dove Day and Glastonabbey. Well done to Belle, Lydia, Francesca, Nell and Frida, who took to the stage to perform in front of their families and peers.

Other notable individual successes this term:

Nelly won the Fitzwilliam College (Cambridge) Essay Competition.
Zoe was selected for the regional athletics meet, competing in long jump and the 1500m. She has also achieved a place in the Lacrosse National Academy.
Emily W represented England in Lacrosse.
Leila was awarded a distinction for her performance in the UKMT intermediate level Cayley Olympiad Maths Challenge.
Maya has been given the following leadership positions for next year: Deputy Secretary General of the Model United Nations Society and Clarence Chair.
Francesca achieved a distinction in her Singing Diploma exam, dropping only two marks. In Mark Reading, she was also awarded the School’s ‘Director of Music Trophy’ and Head of Choir position for next year.
Eloise won the School’s ‘Livesey Cup for Kindness’, given to a pupil who consistently goes out of their way to help others.
Veryan was awarded the School’s Harvard Book Prize for academic excellence.
Our Upper Vs completed their GCSEs!

Goodbyes

The end of year celebrations always bring an inevitable sadness as we prepare to say goodbye to members of our community. This year we have pupils and staff moving on to pastures new. The Lower VI will be graduating from Shelburne into Clarence for their final year, and Lily, Myra and Emily are leaving for new schools too. These pupils have all made immeasurable contributions to the House during their time with us, and we wish them all the best of luck for the bright futures they have ahead of them.

The departing Lower VI have shared a few final words and memories that I would like to share:

Favourite memory of Shelburne:

Winning sports day!
Seeing how excited the younger girls were after we put up decorations for Fairies.
Preparing fairies as a L6 year group. I will never forget decorating the house for Christmas and surprising the younger girls.
Winning House Netball on a golden goal!
Singing Bohemian Rhapsody on top landing.

Funniest moment of Shelburne:

Being the Spice Girls for House Shout.
Accidentally setting the fire alarm off when cooking a steak!
Mrs Penfold falling over (very slowly) in House Order.
Miss Tay face-planting at House Dinner!

Words of wisdom for the next generation of Shelburne:

If in doubt, sit in the Shelburne surgery for a chat.
Enjoy your time in Shelburne to the fullest. It will pass by so quickly, so take utmost advantage of the lovely people, staff and facilities during your time here.
Take advantage of the Daws Hill DVD collection!
You can always trust and rely on the House staff.
Sing in Chapel!

Miss Roberts

Our Resident Tutor, Miss Kate Roberts, is leaving us at the end of the year. She has been a fantastic support to pupil and staff in House and we will miss her greatly. She has exciting plans to explore New Zealand next year, so we wish her well for her travels and thank her for all her contributions to Shelburne. Miss Roberts’ departing words are:

My time spent in Shelburne has been an absolute highlight of my year here at Wycombe Abbey. Day to day, I’ve loved our chats in dispense, playing Dobble or Uno at Friday chips and dips, and of course getting involved with Daws Hill rounders. Making my first catch at rounders after House Dinner has to be one of my proudest achievements! Another highlight has to be watching Shelburne smash it in the House Cricket Funals, watching everyone come together to support one another reminds me just how special the Shelburne community is. Thank you for making me feel so welcome in Shelburne, I will miss everyone so much next year!

Mr Porter

We also say farewell to Mr Adrian Porter as he prepares for retirement. During his 23-year tenure, Mr Porter has been Head of Computer Science, Duke of Edinburgh Co-ordinator and a dedicated Shelburne Tutor. His calm demeanour, generosity and utmost professionalism has benefited so many, and he will be missed greatly by pupils and staff alike. Mr Porter has shared his reflections of his time in Shelburne below:

I have been attached to Shelburne ever since I joined the school in 1998. Mrs Jenkins was the Housemistress and there for a long time. I got to know generations of girls going through the House. The House has always had a lovely spirit through the hard work of all the Shelburne team of Housemistress, Matrons and Tutors along with the positive enthusiasm of the girls. I have enjoyed many a house trip and social, including a boat trip down the Thames, and lots of theatre trips and evening dinners out. For a short period I actually lived in one the Daws Hill flats. I have seen the House undergo various updates including the new dining room where I go to enjoy termly tutor breakfasts. I always like to walk up for the breakfast meeting and spot birds, orchids and deer on the walk. Just near the dining room is an unusual ‘handkerchief tree’ and the leaves look like large, floppy handkerchiefs.

In the early 2000’s I saw the introduction of the optical fibre link from the main school to Daws Hill which meant it joined the school network and the first computers could then connect to the internet/WWW which was still in its infancy when I joined. There was a computer room with printers that everyone had to share.

One family, who had three generations of daughters going through the House who all did Gold DofE, invited us to use their moorland for our gold DofE. It was on the Yorkshire Moors and they treated us to a lovely lunch on our recce visit. Then the gamekeeper took us up on the moor to see where the girls could camp. We organised an amazing one-off Gold expedition where the girls walked from Osmotherley, across the moors to the east coast at Robins Hood Bay over four days. On that trip, we saw several adders crossing our path. The only time we had seen snakes on Gold DofE!

I will remember my time attached to Shelburne with much happiness and wish everyone well for the future.

House Outing

We marked the end of their time in Shelburne with a fantastic House Outing to Oxford. We went for a meal at Zizzi’s before watching a performance of Six! The Musical. Thank you very much to Miss Tay for organising this!