Round Square Boarding Taster Weekend
In March, we held a Boarding Taster Weekend for prospective students, to give them an idea of boarding life and exciting extra activities which are part of the education experience at Cobham Hall.
The weekend was themed around the ideals of Round Square - Internationalism, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership and Service.
Our friends from the local army barracks came along to run two sessions on Leadership and Adventure. The girls had great fun learning how to tackle tasks as a team, such as lifting a football off a cone using only ropes.
The Adventure section was a physical challenge over acourse in a wooded area in the school grounds. In camoflage jackets and face paint, the girls perfected their commando crawl through the undergrowth.
Internationalism was a far quieter affair. Four of our international students had organised a workshop, teaching the girls to speak some phrases and write their names in Arabic, Russian, Thai and Chinese.
Saturday afternoon started with a debating session, organised by our Debate Prefect and the school debating team. Two motions had been tabled:
- 'This House would abolish homework in primary schools.'
- 'This House prefers dangerous sports.'
Lively debate ensued!
After such a busy day, there was time for the visitors to relax in the boarding areas.
Cobham Hall is an international school, and currently has students from nearly 30 different nationalities. We recently held our annual Cultural Festival and the girls who had organised the entertainment came along to demonstrate traditional African and Bulgarian dancing and a Chinese folk play.
After supper they gave a performance of these items, and several of the visitors joined in.
The final session was on Sunday morning when the whole school walked to our local country park, which has won awards for its environmental design. The visitor centre is run on environmentally friendly lines, with solar panels, wood chip boilers and wind turbine.
Our visitors and their hosts finished the weekend tired but happy!
