Lady Lumley's School: Undergrads return to share uni experience

Throughout the day, we were involved in group workshops to encourage us to reflect on our experiences and to explore our own skills and attributes.

It helped us realise our strengths and weaknesses. In the afternoon, we began crafting our own personal statements which are an integral part of the UCAS application process.

While some of us found it difficult initially to speak about ourselves, we soon realised that it is vital for a successful personal statement.

It was an incredibly useful day in helping us start our personal statements early.

We were very fortunate to have two alumni from Lady Lumley’s 6th Form for the whole day: Tom Brickman is currently studying law at Durham and Harriet Allen is studying law at Newcastle University.

Their experiences were invaluable and gave us a realistic representation of what universities are looking for and how we can achieve this.

Those who do not wish to go on to university found the day useful too.

One student said: “Even though I want to go straight into work after school, or apply for an apprenticeship, it was still good to learn what’s required in a personal statement, as I’ll need one when applying for jobs.”

Another student said: “It really helped me to realise what was important to put on it and what wasn’t. It also actually helped me to decide the kind of course I would be best suited for.”

The day followed on from a question and answer session on Monday with three other Sixth Form alumni: Sam Stephenson, who has just graduated from Newcastle University, Alex Varey who is currently at Lancaster and Matthew Clark who is studying at Leeds Met.

They talked about their experiences at university, and answered questions from the Year 12 students about a variety of topics.

It was fantastic to hear about real university experiences from students who left Lady Lumley’s not that long ago.

Report by Sophie Wilson, Leo Rowell and Sam Marks

Spiffing fun in the croquet set

ON a sunny, summer afternoon during Sixth Form Wednesday Enrichment, a group of 16 ‘Jolly Chaps’ ushered the peacocks off the lower lawn of Lady Lumley’s playing field for a game of croquet.

We knocked balls about the pitch sustained by lashings of ginger beer and viennese whirls.

Many class croquet as a sedate sport, but the Lady Lumley’s Croquet Society is paving the way towards a more modern and extreme version of the sport.

The founding members are now looking towards expanding the society and encouraging wider participation, welcoming not just the upper-echelons of the Tiddly-Winks Society.

Report by Sam Marks, Leo Rowell, Will Dunn and Tom Wrench

Artists’ end of year show

YEAR 12 students at Lady Lumley’s have held an exhibition of their AS-level art and photography work.

Pupils produced work in response to the themes of Material World, Viewpoints and Covert and Obscured.

Head of art Peter McGrath said: “Our display this year and the quality of art in sketchbook is of a very high quality.

“The students should be commended for all their hard work and motivation on their art courses.”

Gymnasts bring home the medals

TWO young Ryedale gymnasts have won medals at the annual British National Team Gym Championships.

Caitlin Frith and Sophie Hunt, who are both pupils at Lady Lumley’s School, competed as part of a team of gymnasts from Scarborough Gymnastics Academy.

Head coach Evy Walker said this was the eighth year the academy had entered and qualified for the championships.

“The national competition is the ultimate focus of all the gymnasts in their training and preparation throughout the year,” she added.

“Although the coaching team and I had every confidence in the gymnasts’ ability and performance, we knew we were up against tough competition from all the southern teams as well as the other teams from the north.”

Evy said this was the club’s biggest achievement to date, securing their first junior girls and primary mixed British National Team Gym Championships titles.

“The results from this competition are fantastic and it’s something for everyone to be really proud of,” she added.

“Caitlin and Sophie have both shown great commitment to training and have worked really hard in the run up to the competition, which really paid off on the day.

“Everybody at Scarborough Gymnastics Academy is really proud of Caitlin and Sophie’s outstanding achievements at the British Championships. Well done.”

Jazz group glory

LADY Lumley’s School Jazz Group was given one of only two awards at the National Festival of Music for Youth in Birmingham.

Students performed their set to the public in the festival tent, receiving great acclaim for their performance, before playing at their adjudicated session in the Adrian Boult Concert Hall.

Music teacher Clive Wass said: “The performance saw our students in top form and they represented the school and the community admirably. The performance led to the group receiving one of only two awards given for performance, a certificate of ‘achievement for innovation’.”

In his comments, the adjudicator said: “You guys have an obvious and collective desire to explore all kinds of music, with a genuine sense of adventure, playfulness and humour.

Keep imagining, you rock.”

The group comprised Bron Bury, Mark Fortnum, Jack Hodgson, Josh Kenyon, Sam Marks, Ethan Sherwin and Tom Wrench.