Work has started on the school’s new Pavilion at the off-site sports grounds on Station Road in Blaxton, Doncaster.

Hill House was granted planning permission by Doncaster Council in May for development of a new Pavilion building, which will feature: 4 changing rooms, a function room with refreshments preparation area, an outdoor patio, and visitor parking area.

After a slight delay, local construction company PS Construction commenced work this week, aiming for the building to be complete in the Michaelmas term.

The Pavilion will sit adjacent to the school’s playing field which was developed in 2011 on the 53 acres of land in Blaxton owned by Hill House School. With part of the land still undeveloped at this time, there is scope for further development in future years.

David Holland, Headmaster of Hill House School said, “I’m thrilled that work has started on the Pavilion. It’s very important to the school that we offer the best facilities possible for our children. We are all very excited to see the build taking shape and looking forward to welcome children, families and visiting spectators to the new Pavilion.”

The school already uses Blaxton sports grounds for rugby and cricket on a regular basis and will continue to use the facilities safely whilst the build is underway.

 

Sport is an important part of Hill House Life. Teamwork and resilience are important skills for children to learn through sports, and we know that healthy minds are boosted by healthy bodies!

That is why we are proud to provide encouragement and support to pupils, across all disciplines.  

In particular, the past few months have seen some fantastic achievements in Swimming for Hill House pupils who have competed in several competitions…

Jess Eggitt, Year 8

Jess qualified for the Yorkshire Championships in:

• 400 individual medleys (100m of each stroke; breast, back, butterfly and freestyle)
• 100m Breaststroke
• 200m Breaststroke
• 200m Backstroke 

Jess also qualified for the Northeast Regional Championships in:

• 400 Individual Medley
• 200m back stroke

Alex Eggitt, Year 6

Alex qualified for the Yorkshire Championships in:

• 100m Butterfly
• 100m Backstroke 
• 200 Individual Medley (50m of each stroke)
• 50m Backstroke
• 50m Butterfly

Connie Crowther, Year 8

Connie has recently joined Doncaster Dartes, Doncaster’s Elite Swimming Training Scheme and traditionally one of the top four squads in Yorkshire Swimming.

 

 

 

In the last 12 months Connie has competed in:

• Two Yorkshire championships finishing top ten for breaststroke races
• Two North East Regional Championships, reaching the finals in 2 races and achieving 7th place for 200m breaststroke and 9th place for 100m breaststroke
• Two National qualifying meets

Connie is currently ranked 51st nationally for 200m breaststroke (age 13) and 68th (age 14) long course (50m pool). 

Greta Highfield, Year 9

At the Yorkshire Championships, Greta won Gold becoming the County Champion in the 50m breaststroke. She qualified for 16 of the 17 Yorkshire Championship events and achieved the following in the races that she competed in:

• 50m fly = 11^th
• 100m fly = 11^th
• 100m breast = 4^th
• 200m breast = 14^th
• 50m free = 21^st
• 100m free = 14^th
• 800m free – 6^th
• 1500m free = 6^th
• 200m free IM = 9^th

Greta has qualified for the summer Nationals later in the year with her times for 800m and 1500m freestyle and has been chosen to progress to Phase 2 of the Swim England Swimming National Development Program, because of her national rankings and recent county and regional times.

Scarlett Fearn, Year 6

Scarlett competed in the Northeast Region Swimming Event in Leeds recently, qualifying for the 50m freestyle event and the 50m backstroke event in the age group 11-12.

In the 50-metre freestyle she finished 12th in the NE region (3rd in South Yorkshire) and in the 50-metre backstroke she finished 16th in the NE region (1st in South Yorkshire).

 

 

 

Congratulations to Jess, Alex, Connie, Greta and Scarlett on their hard work and fantastic achievements!

The Hill House U13 Girls rugby team took to the pitch at Castle Park in the Doncaster Knights' Girls Touch Festival on Wednesday 11 May 2022.

The girls started well, moving the ball to space and putting pressure on the opposition. They finished 1st in their group after beating Hayfield and Laurel Academy scoring 15 tries in the process.

Mount St Mary's were next up in the Cup Quarter Final. Strong performances from Megan Usher, Annie Green and Sophie Ebden allowed the girls to progress to the semi-final after a convincing victory.

Hill House then faced Crossley Heath where they worked well as a team to score some excellent tries.

With standout performances from Connie Crowther, Connie Fairclough and Jess Eggitt, the girls progressed to the Cup Final after scoring 8 fantastic tries.

Hill House then faced Hall Cross in the final which saw them produce some of their best rugby of the day, scoring 12 brilliant tries including one from Eloise Mellors and a brace from Holly Pinchin.

Congratulations to the girls who represented their school fantastically well and showed great team spirit throughout the day. 

Hill House pupils, Molly Womack (Y10) and Mia Spencer-Wacinska (Y9), had great success at the recent British Horse Society (BHS) Riding School National championships.

The competition, held at Onley Grounds Equestrian Complex in Warwickshire was for non-owning horse riders only. Both Mia and Molly attend the school’s Equestrian Club at Grove House where they have been able to learn from the exceptional coaching staff there and successfully qualified for the event following previous rounds at Grove House.

Riding Lily in the U17s class (dressage and show jumping) Molly was placed 9^th despite horse and rider only working as a team for 6 weeks prior to the competition, demonstrating that they are clearly a partnership with immense potential.

Mia was placed 10^th  in the U17s class for dressage, riding Bransby Mr Todd; both of whom were competing in their first ever external competition. 

Being a rescue horse from equine welfare charity, Bransby horses, and on his first trip away from Grove House in over 6 years, Mr Todd was clearly nervous but was so impeccably behaved that he was awarded a special prize for his first external competition entry.

Both Mia and Molly performed exceptionally at the competition and showed themselves to be a credit to the school.

A vintage season for rugby at Hill House was completed when the school’s Under 16 Rugby Team travelled to Ampleforth College in search of a Yorkshire Cup Final victory to sit alongside the Under 15s England Rugby Bowl triumph at Saracens earlier in the month.

After victories over Birkdale school and Mount St.Mary’s College in previous rounds, the Doncaster boys faced Ampleforth in the final on their Dallaglio pitch in front of a lively home crowd.

The Hill House boys started brightly, moving into a 10-0 lead part way through the first half, which included the home captain being sin binned for his team’s repeated infringements. Ampleforth then mounted a sustained period of spirited attacks, which the Hill House boys resisted manfully, led by inspirational captain Nate Close. Turning down the opportunity to take points from penalties, the Ampleforth boys pushed for tries before half time, but were not able to cross the line. Leading 10-0 at half time, Hill House scored 2 quick tries after the restart, including a stunning backs’ try converted by the flying Jonah Tucsemskyi, which effectively settled the final. Excellent kicking by Luca Curtis and 2 further tries took the score to 32-0 to Hill House. The final quarter was spent with the Ampleforth boys working tirelessly in their desire to score some points in front of their home crowd, and the Hill House boys straining every sinew to stop them.

As the referee blew for full time, with the score still 32-0 to the Doncaster boys, Hill House collected their second major rugby trophy of the month, with captain Nate Close receiving the Yorkshire Cup on behalf of his team.

Hill House Headmaster David Holland was delighted with the boys’ efforts, saying "The last 15 minutes of the game were amazing. The perseverance the Ampleforth boys showed in their desperation to score some points in a cup final on their own ground, and the resilience the Hill House boys displayed in defending their line, both of which came long after the result was clear, was as good an advert as possible for the character-building nature of rugby. Well done to all players on a super game!"

A Doncaster community festival which provides opportunities for young people to perform, sing and act has returned to centre-stage for its tenth year.

The Robin Hood Music and Drama festival, hosted by Hill House Independent School in Auckley, is one of the biggest and most prestigious festivals in the region.

The annual event was cancelled at short notice in 2020 due to the start of the pandemic so there was much excitement to welcome the festival back this year after a prolonged 2-year interval.

The festival saw children from 5 to 19 years performing in a range of 55 categories.

Starting on Thursday and Friday (24/25 March) with Instrumental Ensembles and Choirs, schools including Hill House, Rossington St Michael’s and Trinity Academy wowed audiences with their talents.

Saturday was the day for instruments as children performed and competed on woodwind, string instruments, piano, guitar and brass, welcoming exceptional talent including Scarlett Almond from the Minster School, Southwell who placed first in Strings up to Grade 5 and 7 and twins, Tallulah and Florence Yeardley from The Macauley Catholic High School who competed in brass up to Grade 1.

The festival closed on Sunday, not before welcoming an array of talent to the stage in the Musical Theatre, Duologue and Monologue categories and ending on a comical note with the Humorous verse performances. The day featured a range of ages including Francesca Fearn who took 1^st place in the age 9 Musical Theatre category and Emma Pickering in Monologues Post 1900 aged 16-19, who both moved the audience with their stunning performances. Theatre groups such as Elite Theatre Arts and StarTrail were well represented throughout the day and students took home many prestigious awards

Founder of the Robin Hood Festival, and Head of Practical Music at Hill House School, Mrs Bodman, said: “It’s been wonderful to be back and provide a platform for these children and young people to showcase their talents.

“Our wonderful adjudicators were thrilled to see so many children from Yorkshire and surrounding areas once again take the stage to wow audiences in both music and drama.

It just goes to show that the events of the past few years have not affected the quality of their exceptional performances and enthusiasm for their arts.”

There will be an encore to the festival on the 24 April with its Outstanding Performers’ Concert; an opportunity to celebrate the magnificent array of talent that competitors displayed throughout weekend classes and to decide the overall winners. Booking details for this event are available on the Hill House School website.