Friday 1 March 2019 - 1.30pm to 3.30pm
Come and see the school in action, including the opportunity to see our outstanding provision for Music, Drama and Sport. From Nursery through to Sixth Form, the open doors afternoon offers prospective families the chance to tour the school during regular lesson time, meet our pupils and teachers and view our wonderful facilities
Pre-register using the button below or pop along on the day.
Year 11 pupils, George Rowland and Joe Warren, are celebrating after being one of four Doncaster pupils selected to represent South Yorkshire in the English Schools' Athletics Association Cross Country Championships next month.
Both boys represented Doncaster in the South Yorkshire Schools Championships held in Penistone last Saturday. George, who qualified for this national final last year, finished in 6th position in a tough race on frozen ground. Running mate Joe was in 8th position and is thrilled to be representing South Yorkshire for the first time.
The South Yorkshire Schools Championships saw runners from Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster compete to earn one of 8 places in the South Yorkshire squad.
George's sister, Jessica, finished in a very respectable 12th position in the Year 8/9 girls event. Year 7 pupil Martha Thomas, a relative newcomer to cross country running, finished in 7th position in the Year 7 girls event and is definitely a prospect for the future.
Hill House PE teacher, Mr Keyworth, said, "We have supported this schools competition for a long time and it is great to see our pupils reach this prestigious national final. Thanks go to Michelle Allott at Ash Hill Academy for her work as Doncaster team manager. "
The next generation of cross country stars have also been in action recently. Inspired by the success of the senior school, pupils from our Junior School went to Cannon Hall in Barnsley to compete in the South Yorkshire School Games competition. There were several outstanding performances, with Greta Highfield finishing 3rd and Harriet Vernon and Daniel Credland both coming in the top ten for their age groups. Junior pupils are already looking forward to the Doncaster District Schools Championships, which will be held at Hill House School in May.
We were delighted to be a host venue for the AMSP Year 10 Maths Feast 2019. The Maths Feast is a fun educational challenge which tests problem solving and teamwork skills. Six schools from the Doncaster area entered teams of four, all budding mathematicians, each competing in several rounds of problem solving.
Deputy Head of Mathematics at Hill House School, Mr Barnett, said, “It was a huge privilege to host this event, especially as everybody who entered showed a passion for maths! Our teams did fantastically well, the boys won one of the rounds and the girls were commended for their consistently high scoring. I am incredibly proud, everybody showed real promise.”
AMSP is a government-funded initiative which aims to increase participation in A Level, Further and Core Mathematics.
There are fewer festive traditions that bring families together in quite the same way as the good old British pantomime. This Christmastime, the Hill House family was brought together by the inaugural Staff Panto, Cinderella. With Mr Laszkowicz starring as the lovestruck Buttons, and Miss Smith, of the English and Drama departments, as the overworked, overlooked Cinderella, the school was treated to a story of friendship that blossoms into true love. However, ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’ and when Prince Charming’s (Mr Lawrie) parents, Mrs Havard and Mr Fox, decided he needed a wife, an invitation was issued to all eligible ladies in the room; scuppering any chance of Buttons and Cinderella being together.
Of course, Mr Marsh’s Baroness Hardup had plans of her own and made sure her daughters (Mr Anderson and Mr Barnett) also had the opportunity of vying for the hand of the ‘handsome’ prince.
What, however, would a pantomime be without the fairy godmother to grant the wishes and desires of the heroes and heroines in a bid to usurp the villains? Enter Mr Keyworth. Equipped with tutu, wings and trusty golf club wand, the god-mother of fairy god-mothers bestowed Christmas wishes on us all and even gave some timely words of wisdom to a Buttons, who had lost his shine, and a Cinderella who had, until now, no chance of going to meet her ‘handsome’ prince.
Back at the palace, ball guests Mrs Troupes and Mrs Thomas, and palace steward, Mr Cattell, all attempted to win the prince’s affections before the Hardups finally seized their moment, after a sterling vocal cameo of It’s Raining Men, from Mr Hopkinson. The attentions of the prince, however, were firmly fixed on the now begowned Cinderella. Sadly, all that glistens is not gold and Prince Charming lacked much promise. Fleeing the scene, assisted by the cousin of Buttons (Mrs Smith), Cinderella returned home, alone.
A rogue glove, left behind at the ball, gave Prince Charming and his family hope that his perfect partner might be traced, only to discover that it was, in fact, the glove of the Baroness.
And so it was that the Mr Lawrie and Mr Marsh embraced; Mr Anderson and Mr Barnett wept; Mr Laszkowicz and Miss Smith were united and the rest of the cast and crew gathered under the ribbon-clad baton of Mr Keyworth’s golf club to lead the school in a hearty rendition of We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Many thanks to Mrs Lee, Mrs Holland, Mrs Atack, Dr Boynton, Upper Sixth’s Katie Smith and Head of Drama, Mr Ross, for their help and support in directing, providing costumes, props and make-up and in writing the script. An annual tradition is born and one that has already received rave reviews from pupils, students and colleagues alike. As one GCSE pupil said, "There are certain things I will remember from being here, and this is one of them. It was really brilliant!"
Merry Christmas to you all.
Hill House School went all out for a Disney themed charity day, aiming to raise lots of money for Children in Need.
In the morning, Junior School pupils were delighted to be able to take revenge on their teachers, all in the name of a good cause. Head of Juniors, Mr Hall, and Year 6 teacher, Mr Marsh, were put in the stocks while pupils armed themselves with wet sponges. Look North came along to film and throwing practice seemed to have paid off as the pupils repeatedly hit their targets! The rest of the Junior School teachers made sure they did not miss out as they took revenge on their boss, skipping the sponges and going straight to pouring buckets of water over Mr Hall’s head!
The fun did not end there though, Hill House Sixth Form pupils played their parts as Disney characters to have breakfast with the younger pupils. The children loved tucking in to pancakes whilst chatting to Mickey, Minnie and the gang before the whole school came together for a Disney singalong assembly.
A sweet sale, a teddy bear swap and more fun in the stocks meant the day was jam packed with fundraising events.
There was still more to come as a selection of Hill House pupils spent Sunday with some very special visitors. Former Head Girl, Paige Miller, brought along some friends from the West End, Nicholas McLean and Scott Hunter, all Mountview Academy alumni. Another former Hill House pupil, Conor O’Hara, who is also currently studying at Mountview Academy Theatre of Arts, joined them in conducting workshops during the day, working the pupils hard to get them ready for a concert in the evening.
Parents were treated to a wonderful evening of entertainment, with songs from West End shows performed by the professionals, the pupils and accompanied by Hill House School’s very own Jazz Orchestra.
Overall, the total raised over the two days was £4000, an amount Hill House Charity Coordinator, Mrs Lee, is extremely proud of, “Every year we try to put on a special event for Children in Need. In the week building up to it, all of our assemblies were based on the work of this incredible charity and why it is so important for us to support it. This brings our total raised for Children in Need over the past 10 years to a whopping £34,000! I am so thankful to our parents, pupils and staff who have given so generously over the years”.
The sky was blue and the Aegean Sea crystal clear as GCSE and A Level classicists enjoyed the school’s first trip to mainland Greece, during October half term.
After a visit to the stunning new Acropolis Museum in Athens, the tour moved on to the mythical centre of the classical world, Delphi, with its temples, treasuries, theatre and stadium; a beautiful and remote site, high in the mountains of central Greece, and hard to visualise in the late summer sun as a popular ski resort! After a visit to Olympia, and a new House sprint race at the original Olympic Stadium (won by New House!), the tourists then took in Ancient Sparta, home of Leonidas and his immortalised 300 Spartans, Mycenae, seat of King Agamemnon, and the acoustically perfect Giant Theatre of Epidauros. A return to Athens, with a night time viewing of the Acropolis and then a full day exploring the city was a glorious finish, leaving our classicist both enlightened and inspired. Many thanks to Mrs McCrea for such a wonderful trip.
We were once again overwhelmed by the generosity of our parents and pupils at our annual Harvest Festival celebration. Donations of food, clothes and toiletries came pouring in and the volunteers from the Friends of Hill House spent Wednesday morning creating a beautiful display from these donated items.
Parents were invited to join us for our celebration of Harvest and it was wonderful to have so many families join us for this event. Led by 6H, the whole of Junior School played their part with songs, hymns, poems and even a rap!
Nursery and Reception opened the show with their song, ‘Dingle, Dangle Scarecrow’. This was followed by poems from Years 1 and 2, ‘Little Seed’ and ‘The Scarecrow’. Year 3 celebrated all things Autumnal with their song, ‘Conkers!’, and their poem, ‘Fireworks’.
Year 4 switched things up with their vegetable rap while Year 5 wowed us with their song, ‘Beautiful World’. Year 6 performed a thought provoking mime entitled ‘Rainbow People’ and the whole of Junior School came together to end the day with a rousing rendition of ‘The Harvest Hymn’.
Donations were divided this year to help two wonderful, local charities, The Trussell Food Bank in Doncaster and St John’s ‘Given Freely, Freely Given’ initiative. Our Year 6 House Captains hand delivered the donations on Thursday, for which each charity was very grateful.
A huge thank you to everybody who donated and supported this incredible event.
Congratulations to Year 6 pupil, Greta Highfield, who has come away as the winner of the ‘Super Sports Star’ at the Doncaster Free Press Superkids awards.
Greta was one of 22 finalists, but her sporting achievements over the last 2 years, including representing Team GB in Biathle and swimming for Rossington Rascals and Doncaster DARTES, put her at the top of the pile.
Greta was not the only familiar face amongst the finalists though, with pupils from Hill House Junior, Senior and Sixth Form all competing for a prize, including Grace Arnold and Annie, Rosie and Joseph Eves. Well done to all the finalists who were described as, “bright and quite simply brilliant” by the host of the awards.
Greta now looks forward to half term, when she will head to Egypt to represent Team GB in the World Championships. Go, Greta!
Over the summer, the Jazz Orchestra embarked on their first tour abroad, taking in the wonderful sights and sounds of Austria.
Mrs Thomas has not stopped smiling since the start of the term thanks to a very special gesture from former Head of Field House, James Birch.
As James was approaching the end of his time at Hill House School, having been here for 10 years, he knew he wanted to do something to acknowledge the incredible support that he had received over the years from his Housemistress. Inspired by the recent programme, the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy, James decided that the best way to honour Mrs Thomas was to write to Her Majesty.
In his letter, James wrote about Mrs Thomas’ “devotion to the pupils under her care in Field House and her commitment to her Maths students across the school”. James was astonished to receive a reply from Balmoral Castle. He said, “I wrote the letter back in May so when we got to August and I hadn’t heard anything, I started to lose hope”. However, the Queen’s Lady-in-Waiting did respond to James, letting him know that the Queen had “heard with great interest of Mrs Thomas’ caring and committed service to the pupils in Field House”.
Upon hearing of the letter, Mrs Thomas said, “I was overwhelmed, stunned and totally speechless, I keep having to pinch myself. By far this is the nicest thing any student of mine has ever done for me and will forever be cherished. I feel totally unrewarding of it and am humbled by this amazing gesture. It has been an absolute pleasure to teach James and have him by my side as Head of House. Teaching is a vocation, not just a job, and when you can make a difference and help shape even one person's life, that is what makes it all worthwhile”.
James now goes on to study Biotechnology at Nottingham University and we wish him the very best for the future.
This year's World Challenge expedition saw the group of young explorers travel to India for an incredible, once in a lifetime experience. Here, our World Challenge leader, Mrs Frisby, talks us through their trip.
Pupils and staff at Hill House are celebrating this year after an outstanding set of GCSE exam results.
Despite concerns over how hard the new GCSEs would be to pass, our pupils earned a 97% rate at Grade 4 or above, with 42% gaining the top grades of 9-7.
Forty-eight of the prized grade 9s were achieved, with Hafsa Waseem being one of a select group nationally to earn a clean sweep of the highest grade! Ishan Khetan did amazingly well, he scored a full set of top-end grades, including 7 grade 9s. Joseph De Mulder, Lizzie Tonge and Suhaib Mohammed were also successful in achieving the top-end grades (equivalent to As and A*s) across the board.
Some of our other outstanding performers include Maria Torstensson who secured 9 top-end grades, Amelia Bishop, with 8, and Tom Lilley, Jessica Dook, Rosie Eves, Kyle Bingham and Archie Hall getting 7 top grades. Jack Thomas earned a fantastic set of grades, including 3 grade 9s. Twins Louis and Thea Gwilliam scooped 18 good GCSEs between them, with Louis winning 6 grades 9-7.
Staff were especially pleased to see that their busy international sports’ stars were able to reconcile their budding careers with very good grades. England running star Joshua Dickinson achieved good GCSEs, while, Chloe Cotgreave combined her dancing career with gaining 9 top grades. Jasmine Azarang managed to combine an ice-skating career, having represented Great Britain for the past 2 years, with gaining 4 grades 7-9 from her 8 GCSEs. Charlotte Pettit weighed in with an impressive 8 GCSEs while also focusing on her European Cross Fit Championships.
Headmaster, David Holland, said “In what was expected to be a difficult year for GCSEs throughout the country, we are delighted to have seen an improvement in performance. With coursework being dramatically reduced, the pupils had to work especially hard to hit these grades in their exams. We are exceptionally proud of these children and everything they have achieved.”