Music News

Every Friday, some of our boys can be spotted singing along at the 'Rock Choir' organised by our Head of Music, Mr.P. Jones. Ruaridh Sheppard, pictured on the far left, is doing more than his fair share of singing at the moment, as he has also been rehearsing for his lead role as Joseph in the forthcoming school production!

Max Hearnden

Hot off the press, Orchard's Max Hearnden and Skipwith's Harry Vardigans have been selected to attend the GB Potential Camp in Nantes during the Christmas holiday. They have been selected to train with a group of 16 rowers that have also shown the potential to be in a top boat for Great Britain at this year’s races at the Junior World Championships and Coupe de la Jeunesse.

Congratulations boys!

Orchard Christmas Lunch

Orchard House will be coming together to celebrate Christmas in fine style on the 13th Dec; lunch will be served in the Great Hall and it will be accompanied by some very special awards and some live music! When we say live music, we mean that each year group has been tasked with choosing a Christmas song which they must perform in the inaugural 'Orchard Christmas Sing Off'.

Rumour has it that Year 12 are going with everyone's favourite Christmas classic 'Father Christmas is going straight to the Ghetto' by Snoop Dogg...mmmmmm. Thankfully, we've also heard that Year 11 are considering to sing 'Fairytale of New York' by the Pogues!

Paperless books

You may have heard that our new Head of English Mr.J.Davies is setting up an E-library for pupils and staff to use at Shiplake.

Lots of pupils and parents have been asking how it might work on all the different devices. Below are some guidelines:

1) The Amazon Kindle is not compatible

2) It is not necessary to have an 'ereader' - tablet computers may be more useful

3) The library will work with apple, android, blackberry and pc devices

4) Any device with internet browser can access

5) A good choice for an inexpensive ereader is the Nook

6) A normal laptop/netbook will work fine

Here at the blog, we're wondering what the new, modern word for a bookworm might be?

Iceland Trip

During half term, a number of Orchard boys and our Assistant Housemaster, Mr. Mallins, flew to Iceland to embark on a geographical tour of one of the newest land masses on the planet. Geysers,volcanoes, thermal power stations and hot spas were all on the itinerary, as was a very slippery walk on one of Iceland's many glaciers. The trip will hopefully be repeated in 2 years time.

International Stars of the Future?

We're very proud to see that Orchard House is home to some of Shiplake's finest sporting talent.

Tom Howe (Rugby) has not only been called up to the U18 England Rugby Squad but is now on the books of the England Senior Sevens Squad. It is perhaps no surprise that he has been nominated for Reading Chronicle Sports Personality Award. You can help him to win it by clicking on the link below.

  

1.       Click on the link: http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/sports-personality

2.       Type in your name, e-mail, select Tom Howe

3.       Enter the word ‘awards’ into the box.

Max Hearnden (Rowing) competed at the GB Early Identification Trials at Boston last weekend and came 27th out of 136! He is now considered to be one of the Top 10 sweep rowers at J18. Next up is a GB training day at Caversham lake and if successful a weeks training in Nantes!

Harry Emmanuel (Hockey) has been flying the flag for our Year 9's; he has been selected for the Berkshire U14 Hockey Squad.

Well done boys!