Letter from the Headmistress – 18th November 2010

You will no doubt be relived to know that Justin has given me some sensible advice – put my Coming Up section at the beginning of my letter to avoid losing you as you read the rest of my letter! So I will begin this week with this:

Coming up
Exams: At present the school is hard at work sitting their exams.
Kenton Under 9 Cricket & Rounders: Thursday 18th November
Open Day and Parent Meetings: Friday 19th November
Art Exhibition / The Band: Friday 19th November, Gilgil Club 6:45 pm
Parent Meetings, Track Events & Inter House Athletics: Saturday 20th November, 8 am, 10 am
Exeat: Saturday 20th November following the end of the Athletics

Finally for your information Mr. Jim Dewes will be staying with us at Pembroke House over the weekend. Robin and I know Jim from our University days and he is now a House Master at Wellington College, UK.

To assist you with the journey back to school there will be a bus from the ABC centre in Westlands at 3 pm on Sunday to bring children back to School. Should you wish to make use of this bus please be kind enough to ring the office to book a seat on the bus for your child.

We look forward to welcoming you all to school on Friday and Saturday. We have a busy and exciting couple of days ahead of us. Please be very kind and support the Inter House Athletics until the end. In addition we feel that the parent meetings on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning would be most productive without your child listening. The staff will certainly explain relevant strengths and weaknesses which have arisen from the exam week to each child in their own time. On your part we would recommend that once the meetings are over and you are relaxing together as a family you can distil what you feel to be the important points from your discussions with the staff and relate these to your child.

An Update
I really have two main events to focus upon this week.

Sport
The first must be the Rounders Tournament at Hillcrest Prep School held on Saturday. Both our teams played extremely well reaching the semi final draw. The Under 11 Girls played well and after the final ball had been bowled we were level with The Banda. The rules of the tournament dictated a play off and so each team faced an extra 9 balls. Believe it or not at the end of 18 balls it was level pegging once more. Once again the rules decreed that each side should face a further 9 balls. This time the Banda managed to clinch a victory. They scored one and a half rounders to our half. It was a super match with real tension, fabulous play and much excitement. Well done girls! The tournament ended with Kenton College playing The Banda and Kenton were the eventual winners.

The Seniors too played very well indeed to reach the semi finals winning all their matches easily. The standard of Rounders at this level can be quite breathtaking and we all felt very proud of the focused, yet effortless style with which the children battled out the morning. Unfortunately they also lost to the Banda in the semi finals. The Banda went on to beat Kenton College in the final.

Of particular note was the fact that G Millar was awarded Player of the Tournament. This is unusual since Pembroke did not reach the final and very well done to G for a super day’s play.

However the excitement did not stop there and following prize giving the Up Country Team was announced. Eight players were picked from our Pembroke House Team with two girls from St Andrew’s Turi in the Squad. On the Saturday morning the team consisted of seven Pembroke girls –Jemima Fitzjohn, Georgina Blumer, Kiri Belcher, G Millar, Cheza Millar, Ellie Jones Perrot and Charly Beak. Jemma, their coach worked hard at warming them all up on the Saturday morning and they took the field with their heads up hoping to keep the Nairobi team at bay.

With a tremendous performance the Up Country Team won. Great credit must go to all the girls. Together the Pembroke House girls with the help of their Turi team mates put on a convincing, skillful and determined performance and swept to victory 18 to 15.

Remembrance Sunday
The other event of significance this week was our Remembrance Day Service in our own Christina Chapel. I attach the Reading which Robin helped me find which formed the core of my address to the children, to our parents who joined us and to the Community who kindly made the Day. I believe we all enjoyed a Special Service for a Day we must never forget . Of great importance to me was to make sure we honoured the memories of what this Day means for each one of us. Our adult congregation would have had relatives who were involved in both World Wars. In addition we had to remember the great sacrifice that so many men and women made to secure our freedom and finally I had to make an impression upon our young Pembroke House children. Children absorb a great deal without quite realising it and days such as these must stay with them until such time as they start to think themselves about the history of our civilization and the part that human endeavour and indeed their own actions have to play in the lives we all lead.

Academics
Last week our Year 8 Geography Field Trip arrived at the Turasha River only to find our section in spate! We carried out our filed sketches and plans, looked at the velocity with the help of Mr. Stevens, Miss Knight and Ali Stokes and then came home. The children found themselves back in class somewhat sooner than expected and I hope we will manage to visit the river once more this coming Monday after exeat. Hopefully we can come up with some data to enable us to construct the necessary cross sections.

On Wednesday Mary Henderson the Headmistress from Westonbirt came to see exactly what Pembroke House was really like! We had a lovely morning and she left us with the very real impression that Westonbirt would be a super school for many of our children. Like Badminton I think Mary will help us with some financial assistance so please have a look at this school on the Internet. Mary left us with some memory sticks so please ask me at the weekend if you would like to look at one.

Other Activities
The Walking Club: Of special note this week was The Walking Club’s Trip to Malewa. They had a super time and also managed to make it back for Chapel on Sunday for which I was most grateful. They were away for two nights and together they all managed to get up to the top of the gorge! Monday morning saw Hayley Clarke, Kora Haigh and Lucy Milbank at the helm in Assembly reading their Trip report. M.r Stevens had prepared a slide show for all the children to see and Miss D, Mr. Stevens and Missy were awarded an HMC for all their efforts! The walking Club becomes increasingly like ‘ The Famous Five’ and quite soon I I am sure ginger beer and ham sandwiches will make an appearance!

May I take this opportunity to wish you a very enjoyable if short exeat. School resumes at 5 pm on Sunday ready for our Chapel Service at 6 that evening.

With warmest wishes,

Debs
Deborah Boyd-Moss
Headmistress
Pembroke House