Thane Campbell from the Lower Sixth was given the honour of  carrying his national flag (of the Bahamas) at the Commonwealth Day annual service in Westminster Abbey recently.   The service was attended not only by the Commonwealth High Commissioners but also by the Queen and the Prime Minister.

Inside Westminster Abbey

Thane with the Bahamian High Commissioner

 

 

The Spring Concert took place during the final week of term.  There was a wide variety of performances from soloists and ensembles, as well as three numbers from "The Lizards", our in-house R&B band, featuring a special guest (the Headmaster) on the trumpet.

 

 

 

The Lower Sixth Geographers had a fieldwork day at Bodiam and the surrounding area.

 

 

Year 8 visited the Natural History Museum.  Following the visit they were asked to create a poster on something that had inspired them at the museum.  The joint winners were Jemima Ellis, for her eye-catching poster on ostriches and Jack Smith for his excellent poster on Food Webs.

 

On 17th March, Alastair Jessel, owner of the Taywell Farm shop in Goudhurst came in to spend some time with the Year 12 students who were working on a project developing ideas for potential sale at a farm shop outlet. Their dishes included:  minature crab burgers in a crossant bun with spicy tomato salsa; lamb and apricol love sausage, strawberry custard cupcakes and spicy pancakes with a roux cheese sauce.

Mr Jessel tasted all their dishes and advised the students whether their prototypes would work or not for farm shop sales.  We are very grateful to him for giving up his time.

 

The Year 7's spent a day in London with the Music and Geography departments.  In the morning they enjoyed a concert at the Barbican given by the London Symphony Orchestra.  The theme was America and the highlight was a performance of "Rhapsody in Blue".   Before the event the Year 7's had prepared both performance and composition work.  In the afternoon they all enjoyed a "Geography" walk along the South Bank, looking at dramatic changes to the skyline.  The day ended with a surprise encounter with the Mayor of London.  Boris Johnson was busy posing for a press conference when he was assailed by a host of Bethany students asking him to sign their fieldwork notes!  Click here to watch a short video.

The boarders enjoyed a visit to Indoor Karting at Eastbourne

 

In early March the actor, Simon Floyd, made a return visit to perform his excellent one man show of Macbeth to Year 10.  He used a variety of dramatic techniques to bring the story alive and successfully informed and entertained for well over an hour.

Simon also provided Year 8 with a workshop on survival.  He told three excellent dilemna stories and entered into a lively discussion about possible solutions.  We are very grateful to him for his visit.