Speech Day 2011

Our guest speaker at Speech Day, Dr Helen Watson, Admissions Tutor at St John’s College, Cambridge (in blue) seen with Mrs Elizabeth Paver, Chair of Governors, and jubilant Year 11 prizewinners.

Giving the keynote speech to a packed Main Hall on Hill House’s annual Speech Day, Dr Watson, Fellow and Director of Studies and College Lecturer in Social Anthropology, told pupils that 'curiosity, courage and confidence' were the three aspects they needed to take them where they wanted to be.

She urged them: “Use every opportunity you can at school, make the most of the support and encouragement on offer.”

Parents and pupils enjoyed a day full of activities throughout the school in the last ceremony before the Sixth Form opens in September.

Please click here to see more photographs of the day.

Pupils Experience Sweet Success!!!

Pupils from Years 3 to 8 have staged yet another successful Junior Production.

A dramatisation of the famous Roald Dahl story – ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ proved to be a lively, entertaining show, enjoyed by the cast and audience alike.

Spoilt, selfish youngsters were taught life lessons by the hilarious Oompaloompas; whilst the worthy Charlie Bucket shone through to win the prize of becoming the owner of Willie Wonka’s wonderful chocolate factory.

Congratulations to the pupils and staff who worked hard over the past months to stage a production that once again delighted our audiences over three nights. Special thanks to Mrs Kell and Mrs Broadbent for their tireless work backstage!

Please click here for photographs of 'Charlie'.

Olympic Dreams resting on Buzz Lightyear, a Treasure Map and a Banana

Brendan Reilly, double Olympian and Junior World Record holder for the High Jump, visited Hill House for three days last week to help out in the Sports Department.

Middle School children were treated to an inspiring talk about how Brendan, Yorkshire born and with Irish parents, set out his plans for the future when he was a schoolboy - he started with dreams of being the best footballer in England before his PE teachers realised his potential in Field events.

When he eventually gave up his football ambitions and concentrated on the High Jump one of his first tasks was to buy a sports bag. In it he had a treasure map, and a banana. The map represented his ‘Goal’ where if he followed his dreams he would undoubtedly end up with his ‘Treasure’ and the banana was there to always give him the right sort of energy needed. Buzz Lightyear (from the animated film, Toy Story) was a later addition to remind him that anyone can fly if they put their mind to it!

The talk ended with a short video highlighting Daley Thompson’s achievements (Brendan’s hero) and some footage of Brendan jumping in the Olympic Games, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

His presence on the sports fields and at the swimming pool helped children to fight for what they consider important to them, whether it be in sport, in the classroom or anywhere else where they could develop and realise their potential.

Year 11 Celebrate with Brunch

GCSEs are well underway and Heads of House decided it was time to give their hard working students a treat – ‘Brunch’.

Please click here for more information.

Summer Term Charity Day raises a massive £6,000.00 for Teenage Cancer Trust

The Teenage Cancer Trust is involved in improving the lives of young people with cancer and at Hill House we wanted to take a positive approach to help the charity make a difference to two local projects in Sheffield, the Royal Hallamshire and Weston Park Hospitals.

Pupils and staff were asked to attend school dressed as their favourite movie character, seen around school were some very smart ‘Boys in Black’, a number of ‘Harry Potters’ and the infamous ‘Pink Ladies’.

To start off the fundraising 22 members of staff purchased the official Teenage Cancer Trust T-shirt raising over £200.00.

Pupils in the Lower and Middle sectors of the school had been set the task to learn up to 50 spellings for a sponsored Spellathon. The teachers were very impressed with how the children confidently spelt some difficult words. Well done to everyone who took part and especially to the 75% of children who were able spell ALL of their words correctly! Neel Dugar was the champion ‘Speller of the Day’; winning the very exciting Spelling Bee competition.

Mrs. Troupe once again provided a very exciting and tasty tuck shop for the older pupils.

The pupils and staff from all three sectors of the school joined together for an ‘Afternoon at the Movies’. Guitar groups, choirs and soloists delighted the audience with excerpts from many popular movies; encapsulating the talent and confidence of all the pupils within the school.

Legoland tickets were kindly donated to the school by Mr and Mrs Lowry from Tickhill. When they heard about the charity that we were raising money for they felt that this was the least they could do. These were raffled off at £5.00 a ticket; Nathan was the lucky winner.

Thank you to all pupils, staff and parents for helping to make this a truly memorable day and enabling us to smash our target of £3,000.00.

Well done to all of the Year Nine Pupils who were the driving force behind this charity day but a special mention must go to Rebecca De Mulder, Olivia Payne, Alice Gutowski, Jack Parkinson, Daggi Pericleous and Adam Wallace.

Please click here to listen to Head Boy, Angus, being interviewed by Hallam FM about the day.

Please click here to see all the photos taken during the day.

Mansion House Quartet

A group of singers from Hill House performed at the Mansion House in Doncaster. There are only three Civic Mansion Houses in Britain today, the others being York and London. The singers took part in the Spring Fayre that was visited by over 700 people.

York Railway Museum

Having spent the term studying the history of trains, Year Two visited the National Railway Museum in York.

Please click here for more information.

Year 3 at the Media Museum

Please click here.

Hill House – Northern ISA Champions!

Hill House Under 14 girls were celebrating a great result this week when they were crowned ISA Northern Rounders Champions for 2011.

Please click here for more information.

 

Hill House Royal Wedding

The day before Prince William and Catherine Middleton walked down the aisle at Westminster Abbey, another bride and groom were experiencing the nerves and excitement, as the Lower School held their very own mock wedding celebration.

To read more and to see photos of the day please click here.

Robin Hood Music and Drama Festival

The weekend of April 16th and 17th 2011 saw the first ever Robin Hood Music and Drama festival hosted on the school premises.

The festival came about through the work of Vicky Bodman and Rachel Poulton who saw the opportunity for a prestigious music and drama festival to be developed and felt that the school site was a perfect venue for such an event.

Over the course of the weekend over 150 performers from around Doncaster took part in a range of classes and the standard of performance was very high indeed.

There was some superb adjudication from Mr Geoffrey Thomas who was warmly received by all. He offered excellent feedback which was both constructive and positive. Similarly the adjudication for the singing classes by Mrs Ruth Williams and guitar from Mr Martin Nockalls was equally well received. The adjudication is such a key part of an event of this nature.

Performers received some fantastic prizes with the older classes receiving both trophies and £20 music vouchers.

The federation of music and drama festivals were represented over the weekend and they felt that this festival had the potential to become a larger and prestigious event for Yorkshire.

The festival will run again next April with dates and further classes to be announced.

_____________________

The festival ended on Wednesday the 20th with a concert sponsored by Atteys Solicitors to find the overall winner. Performances that the adjudicators felt were outstanding were invited to perform.

The concert was held in the main hall of Hill House school and the standard of performance was incredibly high and diverse. From classical guitar to groups, a jazz trumpeter and spoken verse. All were thoroughly enjoyed by audience and visitors.

The Atteys cup eventually went to Rainbow Connection choir for a performance that was outstanding in every aspect.

The evening ended on a real high with a feeling that the Robin Hood festival was now well and truly established with an exciting future ahead for young and talented musicians and actors in the region.

To see photos of the festival please click here.

Senior School Ski Trip to France

Pupils from Years 10 and 11 spent a week on the slopes in France. The staff were delighted with the progress the pupils made over the course of the week. Their attitude and behaviour was fantastic.

Please click here to see photos of the trip.

Year 6 Enjoy a Week in The Lake District

Year 6 spent a week in Coniston, Cumbria developing their respect for nature by taking part in team-building activities and geographical studies.

Please click here to read more about their week and click here to see photos.

Hill House School presents - Last Night of the Proms

This term we are supporting the Help for Heroes charity, helping to raise money to support members of the armed forces who have been wounded in the service of their country. We welcomed Ben Parkinson to the School.

The whole school made a donation to the charity by wearing clothes in the colours of the Union Flag. The total raised was about £1600.

http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/

Middle School and Lower School children entered a ‘British Empire’ themed cup cake competition. This involved the children baking six cakes to bring into school to be judged. They were then put up for sale and the money raised was donated to this charity. Senior School were given the opportunity to buy cakes during the morning. All proceeds going to the charity.

The whole school were then involved in a performance of Last Night of the Proms, celebrating the British tradition whilst encapsulating the spirit of the Proms.

Please click here to see photos of Charity Day.

Year 1 Pilgrim Fathers

Year 1 spent the day in Austerfield, birthplace of William Bradford - Pilgrim Father, to learn about the voyage made by 35 members of the English Separatist Church to America.

Please click here to see photographs of the day.

 

Childs’ Play

Fun new play equipment has been installed in the Lower School playground thanks to the Friends’ hard work on funding and getting this project off the ground.

In the picture are Friends Mrs Davis and Mrs Brocklehurst.

Please click here to see our pupils on the play equipment.

'Women in Business' - Doncaster Chamber Event

At an enjoyable Chamber 'Women in Business' lunch hosted at the School,
speaker Alison Tinsley - seen last summer on TV in Doncaster's 'Come Dine with Me' - gave regional women entrepreneurs an inspiring talk on motivation in business. Tours of the school were provided after the networking event.

Alison is pictured with local caterer Dominique Emmans.

Business event at Hill House School

Businesses from across the district attended a Doncaster Chamber members’ networking event hosted at Hill House, and heard from Simon Hopkinson about the opening of Hill House Sixth in September. Simon is seen with Shelley Houlbrook (right), the Chamber’s Head of Membership.

Please click on the link for the Doncaster Chamber Website

Year 7 visit the Royal Armouries

Year 7 recently visited the Royal Armouries in Leeds as part of their History topic.

To read more please click here.

Year 5 Working Together in Bewerley Park

Year 5 have recently returned from a Residential Visit to the Bewerley Park Outdoor Education Centre in Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire. The focus of the week was 'The Power of Water' but teamwork came into every activity. We are very proud of our pupils as they all took big steps towards working together and surviving independently.

For more photographs of the week please click here.

Joseph's Dreamcoat Dazzles

Pupils from Years 3 - 8 dazzled audiences for three nights at the beginning of term with their memorable performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

The school’s rendition of the theatre classic by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice featured dazzling costumes, exciting choreography and excellent music.

Staging the production was made even more remarkable as it was set to take place at the end of last term but due to the snow it had to be postponed. The children, parents and staff had to work incredibly hard to get everything set up again in the short period of time since the end of the Christmas holidays.

A big thank you to Mrs Leach, Mr Ross and Mrs Lee. Special thanks to Mrs Colbear and Mrs Park for their help with costumes and make-up.

Please click here to view more photographs of the production.

Bethlehem Buzzin'

The atmosphere was definitely buzzing in school yesterday when the Lower School performed their Christmas Nativity to delighted parents and relatives.

Please click here for more information and click here to see photographs.

A Megatetrahedron Science Lesson

Two members of the senior school, David Thomas (Y9) and Jonathan Smith (Y8) instructed Year 5 pupils on Tuesday 30th November.  The pupils constructed a Megatetrahedron in the Cusworth Library. 

As well as finding out about the properties of this 3 dimensional structure, pupils learnt valuable practical skills and most importantly, how to work as part of a team.  Good fun was had by all.

Children in Need 2010

Children and staff arrived at school wearing spots, following the national trend! But that was just the start of the fun, sausage sandwiches were served from eight o'clock and enjoyed by senior pupils and staff.

Hundreds of Teddies came to school for the day and as part of their mathematics lesson Year Two did a tally. There were 1,300 Teddies of all shapes and sizes, a record we think for the most Teddies in a school at any one time.

Break time was slightly different with Lower and Middle school pupils tucking into a delicious Pudsey Bear bun, baked by Mrs Nicholson and Mrs  Porritt.

The afternoon saw another House event, Stand in the 'Soptlight' talent show!

The acts were truly spectacular, ranging from a hula hooping group, cheerleading, pupils playing a range of instruments from saxophones, keyboard to drums and guitar ensembles, also senior school pupils Olivia Payne and Chantelle Rose delighted us with their amazing voices. The whole afternoon was brought to an exciting end with Bryan, Dave and Adam, our very own staff group, singing Summer of 69!

Everyone had a great day raising £1,450.00  for Children in Need!

Well done and thanks to everyone involved!

Please click here to see photos of the day.