On this wet and windy January day, the Classics Department are probably wishing that they were back in Athens. They had a wonderful ‘long weekend’ seeing the sights of Olympia and Athens.They took in the sights of ancient Olympia located on the west coast of the Peloponnese. A race on the first Olympic stadium was obligatory!  They spent a day exploring the Acropolis in Athens and the new museum which houses many of statues and architectural sculptures found over the centuries. Later, they walked to take a look at the Temple of Olympian Zeus which was started in the 6th century BC and completed by the Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD. They even got some Drama in, reenacting some of the Greek myths, whilst visiting the Acropolis. Fortunately they all came back in one piece unlike the characters they were portraying! It was a fantastic trip on which everyone learnt a great deal and saw some incredible sights.

This week the More House debating club hosted St Paul’s Girls School, Queens College and Hammersmith Academy in another round of the London Junior Debating competition.

The prepared debate proposed that ‘PE should be compulsory’ and the More House juniors had to oppose this motion. Sophie, Ellie, Phoenix and Victoria delivered convincing speeches as to why they should not be required to participate in mandatory sports classes.  Mostly, their opposition speeches revolved around an infringement of their human rights, as well as proposing that this was a practical subject, which could be done in their own time, which would allow more time for academic studies. They were direct and insistent in their argument and the judges were impressed by their tenacity, even if the breadth of the argument was somewhat narrow!

However, it was the unprepared debate in which they really excelled. This motion is supposed to reflect current issues and we chose to focus on ‘Cheating in professional sports’, proposing that if caught, the player should be given a lifetime ban. All the teams seemed to be enthused by the motion and presented cogent reasons for and against. The More House team were excellent with their rebuttals and were quick to pounce upon points of information, which usually destabilises the speaker. Ellie and Phoenix seemed particularly skilled in this tactic!

It should also be said that there was excellent support from the Year 9 girls, Manaal and Lily Z, who offered their service as time keepers and judges. They were very supportive of the other juniors throughout the competition, which is much appreciated.

It’s been another busy week for Miss Minto and the P.E department. U12A defeated Burlington Danes 10 – 0, with lots of goals from Yazzi, Gaia and Millie. U12B drew with Kensington Aldridge Academy 4 – 4 and then narrowly lost 2-1 to Sion Manning.

Miss Brown and her Modern Foreign Languages team set up the MFL House Challenge in the library this lunchtime, to test the girls’ knowledge on all things French, German and Spanish! You will have to wait until next week to hear the results, as we are having the final rounds of the competition on Monday lunchtime.

Mrs Jones is running a Book Fair over the next few weeks. There are lots of books for sale for all ages, so bring in some money.

If you are interested in singing a selection of British music in celebration of HRH Queen Elizabeth’s 90^th Birthday in the Easter Choral concert then get in touch with Mr Anstice to join More House Singers (danstice@morehouse.org.uk). All are welcome- rehearsals start next week on a Wednesday night 6.00 – 7.30pm.

I was lucky enough to hear a lecture by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg on ‘How to build a happy and resilient young person’. He is an adolescent psychologist from Australia who has written a number of books on coping the teenage years. When I saw the Year 9’s and their parents on Tuesday evening for the Options Evening, I spoke about some of the key things we can do as parents to help ride this wave of the teenage years; limit the use of screens, have a spark in your life ie a hobby, sport, music, drama, try positive self talk, sometimes do nothing and the most important tip- GET MORE SLEEP! I could see all the girls shaking their heads and all the parents nodding- it is not rocket science!

Don’t forget to put two dates into your diary:

Have a restful weekend,

Amanda Leach

Prayer of the Week:

Lord God,

you have made yourself known to all the nations.

We declare your handiwork through acts of peace

and social justice that assist all in need.

Guide us in your ways of peace.

Give us the courage to seek solutions that benefit all

and that serve people to build dignity and respect

for one another.

Through Christ our Lord,

Amen