The Latest Addition to the House

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Forrester on the birth of their daughter. She was born on the 25th November and weighed in at just over 7lbs.

Mr Forrester's daughter meets some of her big brothers!

Proud father and daughter

Year 10 and 11 Ball

 This evening is the year 10 and 11 Ball and as you can see, the boys all looked very dapper as they headed off to the Dining Hall for dinner followed by dancing in the theatre! All money raised tonight goes to Malawi.

Year 10 (ready before the year 11 boys!)

Year 11 - worth the wait

R I P Phil Hughes - Australian Cricketeer

House rugby

Well done to the boys in years 11 - 13 who won the Senior House Rugby today.  After a comfortable win over Upper in the first game, a much closer contest between us and Middle in the final match saw us eventually come out as winners thanks to second half tries from George and Monty.  Well done to all involved.  It was great to win this house competition once again after several years of hurt!!

The boys getting in the zone

Great leap from James to secure good line out ball against Middle

2014 Senior House Rugby Champions

Hall House win Senior House rugby!

Pictures to follow....

Fisrt Night in the New House

I hope you all had a good half term break.  It was great to see the boys arrive back safely to the new boarding house.  There were lots of smiles as they discovered their room allocations and it was generally agreed that we are the luckiest house at Kingswood. 

In our new common room

A special mention must go to Corby's mother who very kindly baked us some special Hall House house warming cakes complete with red "H" and stars!  And a big thank you to Mr Forrester's wife who also contributed a variety of biscuits and cakes for the boys as a way of saying welcome to our new home.

Mrs H's wonderful cakes

The boys will be up bright and early tomorrow morning in order to walk across to the other side of the campus for breakfast rather than simply walking downstairs to the dining hall as was always the case before!

Our New Home

Next week the furniture starts to arrive for the boarders'  bedrooms and then the week after that Mr Forrester and his wife move in prior to Mr Harding and his family moving in during half term.

One week to go...

This Friday, we hope to have the new building handed over to the school so that we can start to furnish the boys' rooms, the common rooms, office and other spaces.  You will see from below that the painters, decorators and carpet layers are putting the finishing touches to our new home.  Let's hope everything goes smoothly this week.

One of the en-suite bathrooms

The view from halfway down the corridor that cuts through the entire building.

Circuit of Bath Walk

Several of the boys participated in the circuit of Bath walk today.  The weather was perfect and spirits were high throughout. Below is how the walk is described on the Cicuit of Bath Walk website:

 
See Bath as you’ve never seen it before…

Circuit of Bath 2014 – Sunday 28^th September

The Circuit of Bath Walk is a spectacular event which takes in some of Bath’s most beautiful near countryside. Participants will not only enjoy a great day out, they’ll also give a welcome boost to the work of Julian House. 2 miles or up to 20 miles, walkers make the choice, thanks to the unique shuttle bus service which will run throughout the day between the checkpoints.

Looking toward Solsbury Hill

Anuj and Aves resting with Robin

Jamie and Eason enjoying the walk

 Thanks to Thomas for the photographs.

They did it!

A great win for the first XV last night against Clifton College.  After a tight first half, the Hall boys  contributed to a 30 - 10 win with Parimal scoring the third and final of the team's three tries and Owen chipping in with 20 points via one try, three conversions, two penalties and a drop goal - a man of the match performance from our head of house.  Well done to everyone who played but particularly our Head and Deputy Heads of House, Owen and Parimal.

Kingswood School 1st XV versus Clifton College

Good luck to our 6th form rugby players

Best of luck to all of the Hall boys who will be representing the first XV at Clifton RFC tonight against Clifton College.  Ten boys from the house are part of the squad of twenty two. Let’s hope the firsts can keep their unbeaten start to the season going against this very tough opposition. Get along and watch if you can, the kick-off is at 7.30 and it is £2.00 on the gate with all proceeds going to charity.

 

We're nearly there...

Not wishing to tempt fate but, the day of relocation to the new boarding house is fast approaching!  Mr H visited the site on Thursday and now very specific dates have been put in place with regards to furniture installation and personal belongings being moved in. All being well, we hope the building will be handed over to the school at the beginning of October.  Keep everything crossed for good news soon!

Music and Sport

Well done to the following boys who were selected as Man of the Match in their respective rugby fixtures last weekend:

Dominic N (year 9 A team))

Ed  (year 10 C team))

Oliver  M-M(year 10 A team)

Ollie M(2^nd XV)

We also heard news of success in the music examination taken by several of the boys last summer:

Thomas H(year 9) Grade 3 piano

Wilf (year 11) Grade 4 drums

Misha (year 10) Grade 2 drums

And finally…it was great to hear George perform on his electric guitar at the Cherry Tree Concert in the Music School last Thursday.  Top gig!

Busy weekend

The weekend kicked off with the eagerly anticipated visit to Bath Theatre Royal to watch, “One Man, Two Guvnors” on Friday.  Many of the boys said it was the funniest thing they had ever seen at the theatre and hadn’t laughed so much in ages.  If you get a chance, try to go and see it in London or on tour.  Needless to say, the boys behaviour in the theatre was a credit to the house and school and they were all great company throughout the evening.

 

 

Ken, Owen, Parimal, Simon, Ed and Anish outside the theatre.

 

On Saturday many of the boys played in matches against King Edwards.  A special mention must go to everyone who played in the first and second and under fifteen teams as all three of these teams put over fifty points on our local rivals – great results.  In the afternoon some of the Kingswood Old Boys met on the Upper and donned the school colours once more to play in a match which was supposed to be against a Prior Park Old Boys team but unfortunately, they were unable to raise a team.  It meant that it was more like a Kingswood versus Kingswood match.  Many familiar faces played and it was nice to chat with some of the old Hall boys and find out what they are up to now.

 

The year 9 boarders arrived home safely from their camping weekend in the Forest of Dean and were asleep very early this evening!  Photos and more to follow on this soon.

 

 

 

 

One Man, Two Guvnors

 

 

 

 

This Friday all of the boarders are going to Bath Theatre Royal to see the internationally acclaimed hit production, “One Man, Two Guvnors”.  For many of the students this will be their first visit to the Theatre Royal.  Watch this space to see what the boys think of the experience!

House Music

The first Sunday back saw the boys take part in the House Music competition and try to keep the crown they won last year.  Singing, “Party in the USA” the boys from Hall, along with the girls from Fonthill, performed a memorable routine but unfortunately lost out to a very slick routine performed by Upper and School who sang and danced along to the 80's classic “Living on a Prayer”.  Well done to everyone who participated in what was a great way to bond at the start of the year.

Welcome back!

It was great to see a full house in Hall this morning with everybody arriving safely back in time for the first day of the new academic year. The boarders arrived back last night with tales of adventures had this summer, exam successes and also smiles on their faces to see many of the friends they had not seen since July. There was an added buzz this morning when we spoke about the new boarding house as it nears completion.  Below are a few images taken last week which give a very clear indication of just how special the new Hall will be.

 

 

 

KATS 2014

A fantastic evening at KATS tonight where the students who study Art, Design Technology, Drama and Music were celebrated for their superb work.  We were very proud to see a number of Hall house boys nominated for awards and particularity proud of Matt who picked up two awards for Music.  Great stuff Matt, well done.

Mr H with some of the boys at KATS

Our Musician's Musician Matt

Latest on the new house development

This video shows what the state of the common room is currently like.  The sunken area will be where the boys can sit to watch TV and you also get an idea of where the kitchen will be.  We will put the pool table on the other side of the kitchen units.  Curtains have now been chosen for the boys rooms and the colours for walls, floors and ceilings!  It is starting to become very, very exciting!
Below are some more pictures of various parts of the building.

The foor being laid in the Quiet Room

Kitchen units will be attached to this wall with the pool table behind it.

The sixth form block and Assistant Housemaster's apartment.

New Hall House - latest pictures

The new boarding house is really starting to take shape.  Our new home is due for completion this Summer in time for the boys to come back in September and move into their brand new rooms.  Below are some photographs kindly forwarded by the architect Anja.

The main corridor

Up on the roof...

The front entrance

The common room with the TV pit taking shape

The future view (minus the digger!)

Rowers try out single sculls

Easton enjoying the opportunity to row in the sunshine

Ed looking at home in the single scull

Boarders BBQ

The boarders were treated to a barbecue on Sunday evening.  The sun shone down and delicious food was enjoyed by all!

Andrew and Nickel enjoying the burgers

Food glorious food

Sunshine, great company and great food

Exams!

The year 11 and year 12 students have now started their study leave.  GOOD LUCK to everyone over the next few weeks and lets hope that the boys get the grades their hard work deserves.

The rowers finally hit the open water

Great to see that our rowers today had the opportunity to get out onto the water to put into practice everything they have been doing over the past few months.

Easton, Jonathan and George about to head off

Warming up