Category Archives: Bedales

Girls’ U18 Netball v Portsmouth Grammar School, 05.02.2020

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By Chloe Nicklin, Head of Netball

A well contested game of netball, playing against a strong Portsmouth Grammar School (PGS) team. With Maddie Jeffreys out due to Rock Show rehearsals, we recruited Alyssa Leach from Block 5 to set up as Goal Attack for the senior side. This meant the team had to adapt quickly to a new member of the team, which did see a few teething problems in the first half.

The score was tied in the first quarter, but as Bedales settled they were able to pull away with a two goal lead by half time. This Bedales side definitely has strength and numbers in defence, enabling the defensive end to be rotated regularly, bringing fresh legs and fresh energy to each quarter.

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Girls’ U14A Netball v Portsmouth High School, 05.02.2020

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By Chloe Nicklin, Head of Netball

A lovely game of netball against a good Portsmouth High School (PHS) side.

The first quarter saw an extremely unsettled Bedales side making simple mistakes in passing and footwork. The score reflected this, with Bedales drawing the first quarter 4-4. As Bedales moved into the second quarter, they started to settle and were moving towards the ball and making correct passing decisions. By half time, Bedales were coming into their stride.

As the temperature started to drop, Bedales settled into play and pulled away from the PHS side. Ottilie played a strong Wing Defence, making numerous interceptions and tips. Rebekah and Lola showed brilliant improvement in their movement in and out of the circle. Sage brought great energy to the game as Centre, making numerous tips.

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Boys’ U18 Hockey in the Hampshire Trophy Tournament, 29.01.2020

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By David Mann, Teacher of PE & Games

The team left early to start their first match of the Hampshire Trophy Tournament – against the Churcher’s B team – at 1.30pm. We quickly went 1-0 down, before having numerous opportunities to equalise, which we could just not convert. Despite Anthony White’s miraculous efforts in goal, we went 2-0 down, before Ed Marshall-Smith and Cartier Clothier combined for a brilliant breakaway goal that took everyone watching by surprise. Churcher’s closed the match out with another skilful effort, but Bedales were the moral victors, and we took confidence into the next match against Ryde.

This proved to be a dogged affair, with the play travelling from end to end without either team being able to break the deadlock. Big praise for Jamie Price and Arthur Lingham, who were resolute in defence ahead of the brilliant Anthony White.

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Food for thought

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Chicken

By Feline Charpentier, Teacher of Outdoor Work

On Monday evening, we were very lucky to have Patrick Holden, Chief Executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, visit Bedales to give a fascinating talk. Patrick spoke of his life as a dairy farmer in West Wales and his early work with the Soil Association, before talking about the aim of the Sustainable Food Trust, the patron of which is the Prince of Wales.

The Sustainable Food Trust works to “accelerate the transition to more sustainable food and farming systems that nourish the health of both people and planet”. They work with government organisations and individuals to audit and fight for more sustainable food and farming systems. Their latest project is a collaboration with Richard Dunne called The Harmony Project, which seeks to apply the principles of nature and interconnectedness with education.

Patrick wanted to highlight the complicated nature of every choice we make – the hidden cost of food. He spoke of the benefits of grass-fed beef and lamb, both for our health and for our environment. He also spoke of sheep farmers in Wales who are now building huge chicken sheds where there would have once been grassland, as consumers mistakenly believe buying chicken is better for the environment than lamb. Those chickens are fed a concentration of soya and grain shipped in from all around the world and live short, miserable lives in giant sheds. We as consumers are completely unaware of the implications of our food choices – the ‘plant based’ food trend as pernicious as the one consumers think they need to avoid, with large multinational companies making huge sums of money from our desire to eat more sustainably.

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Volunteering at Winton House

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By Julia Bevan, Teacher of English

On Wednesday afternoon, a quartet of Bedalians made their way into Petersfield to take part in a new initiative: volunteering at the Pop-in Café at Winton House Centre. Winton House is an independent registered charity – staffed mostly by volunteers – which maintains the Grade II-listed building of the same name, supports other local charities and voluntary organisations, and provides services and facilities to help the local community.

Miranda Robertson, Bella Cutts, Jack Brooksbank and Archie Tier arrived promptly, donning stripy aprons and thoroughly washing their hands, ready to begin. All had passed food hygiene courses before setting foot in Winton House, so were well-versed in the basics, such as removing dangly earrings and watches before getting to work in the kitchen.

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Commemorating 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz

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Holocaust-Memorial

By Clare Jarmy, Head of Able, Gifted & Talented, Oxbridge, Academic Scholars & PRE

Following Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, Abi Wharton and I reflected on the Shoah – a Jewish term meaning ‘the destruction’, which has been given to the atrocities committed against Jews, and others, by the Nazi regime – at Jaw on Wednesday.

Holocaust Memorial Day is especially poignant this year, as it marks 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, the concentration camp in Poland where 1.1 million people were murdered by the Nazis.

At Jaw, we heard about Arnold Arnold (né Schmitz), a political and religious refugee and a German Jew, who came to Bedales during the 1930s on a full bursary after his family’s assets were seized. Interestingly, in his obituary, the claim was made that Bedales was – at that time – the only school that would consider accepting a Jewish student. We are not sure what, if anything, substantiates this – Eton’s Jewish Society has already celebrated a centenary, for example. Whether or not this claim is true, the perception that Bedales was unusual in having its doors open to Jewish students is an interesting one.

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Girls’ U15A Netball v St John’s College, Southsea, 20.01.2020

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By Mariela Walton, Teacher of Girls’ PE & Games

On Tuesday, the U15A team kicked off the netball season with a home match against St John’s College, Southsea. We started off with six players, but managed to hold the first few minutes to an even game; with the arrival of our seventh player, we took a comfortable lead, finishing the first quarter 11-5. In the second quarter, some excellent circle defending from Lula Goldring meant St John’s only got two goals, whilst we sailed ahead, thanks to the expert shooting and movement from Lally Arengo-Jones and Ellen Wilson. We finished the game with a 23-9 win and Millie Harris was awarded player of the match. A great game to start the season with, well done to all.

Remembering Bedales co-founder Oswald Powell

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By Matilda McMorrow, Librarian

“It is never good for the governed or for the government that injustice should be tolerated without protest,” began Oswald Powell in his letter to the Hants & Sussex News in 1913. At the time he was fighting alongside Winifred Powell in solidarity with all women, in a society that took women’s work, money and lives whilst refusing them the right to be seen as people. The Powells would protest this injustice for five more years before any UK women had voting rights. They confronted the tax authorities, took local action in Petersfield and international action at a Budapest conference, and of course, tried to model social change in their work at Bedales. This collaborative, action-driven spirit seems to have been at the heart of the man who co-founded Bedales, and certainly put life into the ideas of John Badley, whose name we might be more familiar with.

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Bringing Keats to life

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By Thomasina Rowntree, 6.2 and English Don

On the Eve of St Agnes – 20 January – 6.2 English Literature students were invited to Head of English David Anson’s house to listen to a reading of John Keats’ poem of the same name, which was inspired by the traditions and superstitions surrounding the date. St Agnes’ Day falls on 21 January.

Traditionally, girls wishing to learn who their partner would be, performed rituals on the Eve of St Agnes, hoping that their future lover would be revealed to them in a dream. Keats took this idea and created his poem, a fantastical tale which merges dreams and reality, ending with two lovers disappearing into the night. It links the ideas of the Gothic with Pagan rituals and witchcraft which surround St Agnes.

On the evening itself, we made our way down Church Road on a suitably frosty, starlit night, in keeping with the “bitter chill” described at the beginning of the poem. Greeted with a warming fire, we gathered round a feast, much like the one which Porphyro lays out in The Eve of St Agnes, to listen to the poem. There were “jellies soother than the creamy curd”, “lucent syrops”, “manna and dates”, served “on golden dishes and in baskets bright / Of wreathed silver”. Eating these delicacies while listening to the reading of the poem, we were transported into Keat’s imagined and magical world.

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New ‘Living with the Land’ course launching September 2020

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By Andrew Martin, Head of Outdoor Work, and Feline Charpentier, Teacher of Outdoor Work

From September 2020, students in 6.1 will be able to choose a new Outdoor Work (ODW) course as one of their sixth form options. ‘Living with the Land’ is a two-year course which will equip students with the practical skills to live lightly off the land, enabling them to look at the wider context for the issues surrounding the environment and our impact upon it. Living with the land around us means having a greater awareness of our environment, living with the seasons, trying to reduce our footprint and applying our new-found knowledge to other aspects of our lives and the community.

It is a natural progression from all aspects covered in the ODW BAC, however it goes into far greater depth and includes significant self-directed work, including a portfolio and a ‘major’ project in the final year. There is currently no clear pathway for a student wishing to take a more practical course at sixth form in environmental subjects. The closest comparable courses are Countryside Management, Food Skills, Sustainability or the planned Natural History GCSE. No courses combine traditional building, cooking and craft skills with aspects of ecology, sustainability and community.

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