b'THE ELLESMERIAN35As well as sporting competitions the Michaelmas term also sees aThe girls Hockey which also took place on the same afternoon, couple of academic competitions that run in parallel. The first of thesecomprised of two teams, one made up of Junior members of was a Holocaust survivors competition that required pupils to look atthe House from Years 9 and 10, and a senior team of years 11 videos and written first-hand accounts of people that had been directlyto 13. Considering the senior girls teams faced an impressive affected by the Holocaust. As usual the Woodard pupils rose to theteam from Wakeman-Lambart that was comprised of many challenge and Aditi Chezhian wrote the winning entry for the juniors.first team members. The junior girls team also faced some Her letter to the editor of a newspaper explaining the movingformidable sides also, namely in their case, Talbot which had a number testimony of Beba Leventhal was an excellent read as well as thoughtof girls that play for Shropshire. This didnt faze the girls and there was provoking. Vincent Cheung also gained a highly commended in thesome excellent tackling by both teams. In the end the girls lost out to senior section for his vivid account of Berthold Katz who was takentwo very good teams. However, like the boys the girls are raring to from his native Poland to Shanghai. come back next year and show what they are made of.The second competition was the photography competition which thisThe Lent term was one of the busiest I have ever known for Woodard year had the theme Geography. Two members of year 10 Iona Taylorit saw the House involved in several events including the debating, the and Jennifer Hooper both gained a commended for their entries.House quiz, cross country, basketball, indoor cricket and House Singing. As well as delivering two House chapels and the formal dinner. In the last weekend before the Christmas holidays we had a lovely carol service followed by mince pies and my gratitude goes to thoseThe first sporting event of the Lent term was the senior boys members of the House who read passages during the service: Mrbasketball. It was an exciting afternoon, with some sharp shooting from Nicholson, Yaroslav Yakymets, Harriet Otter and Emily Coupe. I mustMaxi Lai and Vincent Cheung. We had winning matches against Talbot also take this opportunity to heap praise upon the choir, which containsand Meynell, bit lost out just to Wakeman-Lambart.many Woodard members, including our vice-captain Rhian Jones, who did a stunning solo. The whole choirs singing was simply sensational, oneOne of the highlights of the school calendar is the House cross country. member of the congregation commented that they had seen the choirFor once the day was dry, but the wind was biting. We left the old at Kings chapel, Cambridge at Christmas and they felt that thesports hall with excitement and high spirits about what was about to Ellesmere chapel choir surpassed them. If you were in attendance, youunfold. The starters gun went and off went a sea of colour, including the will know exactly what I mean. Looking around the chapel one couldhoard of purple Woodard tops. Within 15 to 20 minutes, the front see the congregation transfixed upon them and totally mesmerised byrunners started to cross the line and it was great that to see that many the beautiful sounds they made and the ethereal atmosphere with thecrossing the line early were wearing purple. Its fair to say we had some candlelit chapel. The fact that Mr Coupe (the Director of Music) is aabsolute fabulous performances from the members of the House. Luke Woodard man goes some way to explaining why the choir haveEvans and Brooke Illingworth couldnt wait to tell me of their positions reached such high standards.in the junior race. They must have been so ecstatic at the time they had missed me cheering them over the line. The actual results always take a The Michaelmas term concluded with the festival of Hockey and Rugby.few days to filter through and Mr Williams had kept his cards close to As usual the events drew the usual crowds of spectators despite thehis chest to the overall winners of the event. It was a complete surprise, Arctic conditions. Having been the victors of the House rugby last year,but a great one, that Woodard took the trophy as the overall winners pressure was on the boys of all age groups to bring home the trophy.of the cross country. It just showed that when Woodard work together There was also a little trepidation as our lucky mascot Mr Murphywe are a force to be reckoned with.wasnt able to attend the matches this year. We had three teams, a junior, inter and senior team. All the Woodard boys played their heartsOther sporting events this term included girls indoor hockey, indoor out all afternoon in all their matches. Although we didnt win this year,cricket and both boys and girls basketball. The junior girls basketball was we did in the end place second in the junior and inter competitions andone of the most exciting matches I have ever seen. It kept the third in the seniors. However, it has given the boys a thirst for victoryspectators on the edge of their seats through all three of Woodards next year and they will be back with a fighting spirit.matches. In every match, just when you thought all was lost, the girls managed to gain hoops with seconds to spare. All the girls played brilliantly, but there were some noticeable performances from Iona Taylor, Jennifer Hooper and Tabitha Leonard. It was well deserved that they won the cup.Woodard also had to write and deliver two chapels during this term. The House captains decided on the theme of Internationalism. As so many pupils in Woodard are not British, they felt that it was an area that needed representation. The first chapel was written by Paula Lotze (the girls House captain) and Molly Tumelty and the second was written by Alanah OBrien in Year 12. This is no mean feat, even with Reverend Grations guidance. Both chapels went smoothly and a number of staff emailed to say what an excellent job the pupils had done. The pupils in House also had to attend prayers with Reverend Gration. Each week saw a different year group attend prayers in the Lady Chapel. It is always with a great deal of trust in the pupils that they to turn up when they are expected. I was proud to hear that they had all religiously been there.'