Once again the Autumn Term has whizzed by and early homesickness has given way to the ex-

citement of the end of term celebrations. The final weekend has been a busy one with every-

one enjoying the trip to Exeter for final Christmas shopping, not forgetting that Secret Santa

present! On Sunday night St Nicholas and his helper tiptoed along the corridors of Glyn House

leaving sweets in the shoes that had been left outside the dormitory door. (St Nicholas was a

Bishop in the third century who helped the poor and needy by giving gifts of food and money.

He later became the model for the modern Santa Claus).

The Glyn House elves have been busy again, decorating dormitory doors for the annual compe-

tition. This year the entries have been hotly contested from a simple heart shaped wreath

made from greenery from the grounds and sign posts for the North Pole to elaborate decora-

tions where window scenes have been painted. It was very hard to judge!

The winners are:

Year 11 North Wing Lodge

Year 10 Room 1, Dutch House

Year 9 Room 6, Yellow Corridor

Of course, at the end of this term we always have to say goodbye to our Gappie. Miss McGui-

gan will be greatly missed by us all and we wish her good luck as she returns home to Australia.

Have a safe journey home and a happy holiday with your families.

Miss Gina Phipps – Housemistress of Glyn House

Monday 4th January

Boarders return from 12 noon

Tuesday 5th January

School opens/Start of term

Exeat 1

22/23/24 January 2016

Friday 12th February 2016

Half-term begins 15.30

Boarders return from 18.00

Sunday 21st February

Wednesday 23rd March

End of term 15.30

V O L U M E 6 I s s u e 1 A u t u m n T e r m 2 0 1 5

Dates for the Diary

Inside this Issue

Heavy Horse Centre

Wimbourne

Pyjama Prayers with Rose

House

Pizza Night with Mrs Reynolds

Hello’s and Goodbye’s

All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey But it doesn't stop the boarders from coming out to play...

Heavy Horse Centre Wimborne We visited Dorset Heavy Horse Centre this weekend. The place was in the peaceful coun-

tryside.

We saw a presentation of the heavies in a courtyard that was surrounded by many stables.

The animals were beautiful; very muscular and well-built.

Then we visited the farm and saw donkeys, horses, turkeys, goats, sheep, guinea pigs and

rabbits. After that, we had an eventful ride in a cart pulled by a huge tractor. Finally we got

to explore the playground. Some girls jumped on the trampoline and others preferred the

toboggans.

This trip was a very good idea and very successful!

Pauline Chavand de Bignicourt-Year 10

Rose House boarders participate in Pyjama Prayers in which the

girls light candles, sing hymns and each dorm has the chance to read

out their boarders’ prayers for the group. Following tradition, the

prayers are held in Leweston’s beautiful Trinity Chapel.The girls will

have the opportunity to be involved in Pyjama Prayers every Thurs-

day night with Assistant Housemistress of Rose House,

Miss Sundermeier, throughout the year.

Ingredients for a Leweston Christmas Cake:

3 spoonful’s of Housemistress (use a mix of Rose, Glyn, and

Hamilton House personnel)

Zest of one cup of tea (Miss Phipps favourite!)

Zest and juice of one pink grapefruit (Miss Fielding’s breakfast

favourite)

250g of grated boarding assistants

200g fun socials

175g trips at the weekend

100g safely kept passports

½ tsp lost kit

2 tsp Health Centre nurses

1 tsp precious pocket money

¼ tsp stored luggage

100g washed and ironed clothes

2 ½ dogs (Milly, Spud and Tetley!)

1 tsp Christmas Spirit

I hope you all have a Peaceful and Happy Christmas and look

forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Miss Lyndsay Fielding - Director of Boarding

Housemistress of Hamilton House

Pyjamas Prayers with Rose House

#LewestonSchoolofChristmas In what has become a ‘new tradition’;

the boarding team took on the task of

creating a Christmas advert. This year’s

challenge was the ‘Lidl School of Christ-

mas’. Suffice to say filming our hairy

companions proved to be our biggest

accomplishment yet!

Look out for us on youtube!

Harry Potter at Christmas!

Towards the end of term boarders had the oppor-

tunity to visit the Warner Bros Studios in Leaves-

den. The space has been transformed into a winter

wonderland with Christmas dinner served in the

magical Great Hall. The girl’s created their own

spells on the coach journey and the best spell won

a cauldron of sweets!

‘Dancerium’ - to have a dance party at

any occasion!

Ringo’s Warmwell On a delightfully sunny Sunday afternoon in September the boarders took to the giant

ski slope at Warmwell. The girls picked their giant rubber ring which would become

their companion for the afternoon and made the climb to the top of the slope ready

to descend it’s snowy surface. After some initial apprehension, the girls were trying

new tricks; going down backwards or spinning around, their nerves now replaced

with bravery.

A good day was had by all!

Pizza night with Mrs Reynolds What Rose House Taught Me About Pizza Making…

It was a simple formula; come for an evening of pizza making and games at

White Roses to make the most of the light evenings before winter drew in.

This would be the perfect chance for my family to get to know our younger

boarders and for me to see the girls, out of school, for some fun and relaxa-

tion.

So, what did we learn? How varied the art of pizza making can be.

From efficiently produced 9” professional margheritas that could rival any

Dominoes’ delivery to artisan strangely shaped masterpieces that would have

looked as good on a wall as on a plate. But what we learnt away from the

kitchen and the dining room table was even more fun: that playing ‘It’ in a

garden with no boundary fence is exhausting and never-ending, especially

with girls as fit as the ones in Rose House; that adult organised guessing

games are nowhere near as much fun as “Zip Zap Bong”, 9 year old Alfie and

his mutual support friend Eddy’s devised game of imaginary shooting; and,

most importantly of all, that however unique they looked at the creation stage, all pizzas look identical when they emerge from the oven. ‘Now,

whose is this one?’

Many thanks to Rose House for providing some memorable fun evenings of

pizza and games.

Kate Reynolds – Headmistress, Leweston

Blossoming Roses

We have all just about got used to our new name ‘Rose House’. It slips off the tongue quite nicely now. Rose House boarder’s (or Rosebuds as

they are affectionately known) have also all settled well into their new lives. It has been a busy, busy term; the girls’ have worked hard at their

studies and also played hard. Sports matches and training sessions take up a lot of their time and then the evenings are made up of competitive

games of Monopoly, Pictionary or cards. Ever keen to explore beyond Leweston, the girls have signed up for trips to local towns; Sherborne,

Dorchester and Yeovil and have explored the Abbotsbury Swannery and Wimborne’s Heavy Horse Centre. They all embraced our boarding

taster weekend where we welcomed 32 girls to Rose House - which had a decidedly fishy theme ‘Commotion in the Ocean’, with a day trip to

the ever popular Sea Life Centre in Weymouth. Thankfully, ‘Sleepy Sunday’s’ give a day of relaxation and an all-important chance to have a rest.

With the Festive season fast approaching the girls are excitedly crossing the days off before they join their families and friends for the holidays.

Visiting the Harry Potter studios, decked ready for Christmas, has certainly set the scene for a welcome winters break and has kick-started the

exciting atmosphere of the approaching celebrations to come. At the end of term we say a fond farewell and a very big ‘Thank You’ to Nicole

Blakeway – our GAP student who returns to South Africa, after being with us for a year. Miss B will be greatly missed, not least by our youngest

boarders who she has supported so much this year. We also say goodbye to Allende who returns to Spain after an action packed term here, we

know we will see her again as she has put roots down here and made many new friends and had such a wonderful experience.

I wish them a safe journey back to their families and to everyone else a happy and Joyful Christmas holiday and New Year!

Lorraine Roberts - Housemistress of Rose House

Autumn Term at Leweston

Welcome to this year’s Graduate Assistants Hello! Hopefully I have managed to meet you all over the past term, but for those who don’t know

me, my name is Miss Harris and I am the Assistant Housemistress in Glynn House. I have just grad-

uated from the University of Exeter where I studied English with History. I am teaching English for

the next year at Leweston. I cannot believe that it’s nearly Christmas; I’ve had an amazing time and

loved getting to know everyone. Although this term has been super busy and full-on, I’ve enjoyed it

all and am looking forward to next term!

Hello everyone!

My name is Ellen Sundermeier, and I am the Assistant Housemistress in Rose House. I am originally

from Nebraska in the United States but have lived in the UK for a little over a year. I recently grad-

uated from the University of York with an MA in Renaissance Literature after completing my BA in

English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. During my time at Leweston, I have been keeping

busy teaching English and Religious Studies alongside my boarding duties, so there is certainly never

a dull moment! I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone in the school community and am

looking forward to many more adventures in the rest of the school year!

Goodbye Gappies

It’s really sad to be leaving you; I feel as though I’ve only just got to know you all.

Although I will miss not being here, I’m really excited to go home and start my new

chapter there. I have had a lot of fun here and I have laughed a lot! It has been in-

teresting to be on the other side of boarding, as a member of staff. I have a new

appreciation for the people who took care of me at school. I will really miss my

amazing Rose House girls. Cheers, Miss B.

I have had such an amazing year at Leweston and I can’t believe that I am now heading

home! Everyone here has been so welcoming and I will miss being a part of Glyn House. I

wish everyone the best of luck and I hope I can catch up with you all again in the future!

Miss Kimberley McGuigan

Gaudere et bene facere Gaudere et bene facere