Maryland Singers

On Monday 27 June at 7.30 p.m. our American visitors, the 100 strong Charles Wesley Singers and Academy of Saint Cecilia Youth Orchestra, will give a concert in St Andrew’s Church, Linton Road. Admission is free but there will be a retiring collection. Apart from a varied selection of choral and orchestral items the main work will be the Mass in Time of War by Haydn. All are welcome to attend.

SCULLING NEWS
Blenheim at Last

The Blenheim regatta results have finally been published on the Hinksey Sculling School website and make excellent reading. It was a really good day: 35 Dragon children had at least two races each and at the prize giving the Dragon name echoed around the lake repeatedly. We returned with a large tally of some 50 medals.

Dragon Regatta

The Dragon Regatta timetable is being assembled and will be posted on the sculling page of the website and the noticeboard by the end of this week.

SPORTS NOTICES

Cricket Nets and Tennis Club

Please note, the last after school Cricket nets session of the term was Thursday 24 June and the last after school Tennis Club session will be Friday 1 July.

Additional Girls’ Fixtures

Please note the following additional fixtures for U13 Girls on Friday 1 July v Windlesham School House (H):
11.30 - 12.30 p.m. 13A Rounders
1.30 - 3.00 p.m. U13 Tennis (4pairs)

French Visitors

More than 40 children from the Ecole Lully in Versailles came to visit the Dragon last week. They joined their hosts to perform in a wonderful concert on Thursday evening and then joined C Block French day on Friday morning, enjoying activities including singing, cooking, drama and pétanque. A huge thank you to all who hosted a French child; the family hospitality was greatly appreciated and helped to make this French exchange a very positive and enjoyable experience for the children involved.

Wonderful Welsh Trip

The Plas Menai A Block trip last week was a huge success. Lots of sailing, climbing and biking along with power boating, a ‘leap of faith’, egg catapults and some excellent food left children happy to drop into their beds at the end of the days. Over 400 photos were taken - look out for them later in the term.

R&R at Stuart-Clark’s

On Sunday evening, as the boys returned from their Exeat, Stuart-Clark’s cooked a barbeque. The boys enjoyed a wonderful spread, played silly games and then relaxed in the garden with reading books. It was a nice evening and a great start to the last part of term.

Snake’s Alive

On Thursday last week, our Resident Nursing Sister, Vicks Campion arrived home to discover a real live snake on her doorstep. She was genuinely petrified but the Dragon Maintenance Manager saved the day with his identification of the little visitor as a grass snake which, although not a venomous viper, is a very rare sight.

Sobers Hits Us for Six!

On Tuesday, West Indian cricketing legend Sir Gary Sobers visited the Dragon and spent time inspiring members of the 1st XI with tips and tales from his own extraordinary career. (See main picture). Sir Gary, whom Wisden voted one of the top five cricketers of all time, also used his visit to deliver a brief presentation about his International Cricket Tournament in Barbados. The event, which was also attended by cricket coaches from both the Dragon and visiting senior schools, led to discussions of setting up a similar prep schools tournament for some time in the future.

Website Tip of the Week

Keep up to date with further Dragon news each week by logging into the parents’ section of the website and clicking on the ‘Latest News’ menu item.

Dragon Art Exhibition

This exhibition is now open and will run until Friday 1 July. Please click here for more information.

LAMDA 2011-12

This year over 100 children have successfully taken a London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) exam with an impressive array of merits and distinctions. Lessons are currently run termly by year groups. Next year, LAMDA will run all year round as a club for all year groups, with examinations occurring twice a year for those involved (in December and May).

As an Activity or Afterschool Club, places will be limited. We would be grateful therefore if you sign your child up only if he or she is genuinely keen and committed, not too busy (as it is increasingly difficult to timetable), and is personally well organised and punctual. As this year, there will be a charge of £100 a term, excluding examination fees, approximately £25-30 per exam for this club. Lessons will either be 15 minutes for those sitting a solo exam or 30 minutes for sitting a combined one (in pairs). The children would have the same slot each week with the same teacher.

Please could you let This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   know by Monday 4 July if you wish your child to be put on the list and let him know which day your child is available after school (Monday, Tuesday or Thursday). Unfortunately we cannot guarantee that a place will be found for your child although priority in the first instance will be given to those who have participated this year. We will establish a waiting list which will be regularly updated as children leave the school or withdraw. Lists will not be finalised until the start of next term.

Dragons Give Big

On Wednesday we were delighted to welcome Helen Cable from The Big Give back to the Dragon to hear presentations from nine teams of pupils. The representatives of each team proposed a charity for financial support. Helen was joined by Douglas Reed, representing the Dragon Sale who are this year’s sponsors, and Tom Aubrey-Fletcher from the External Relations department. This panel had an incredibly difficult task selecting just three projects from the very persuasive presentations. Pupils and the panel discovered how making intelligent choices requires rigorous research and judicious thinking. The winning projects were proposed by William Klemperer, Phoebe Stevenson and George Chichester. Congratulations to them and all the other participants who ably demonstrated their passion for the education and well-being of others.

Biggest Splash

Last weekend, the Dragon was crowned National ESSA Boys Champions for Primary Schools making us the only school in Oxfordshire ever to have achieved this. On Saturday, the Under 11 squad returned triumphant from Sheffield where they had taken part in the National Primary Swimming Finals alongside 94 other schools that had qualified for the finals. The competition at this English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) event was intense and Dragon swimmers performed to their utmost. The girls' 4 x 25m free-style relay team swam a solid heat and finished a superb 4th place in a time of 61.03 seconds in the final. Meanwhile, the boys' 4 x 25m medley relay swam the fastest time of the day in their heat breaking the Dragon School record. They finished a creditable third in the final behind Bedford Prep and Dulwich College Prep. In the 4 x 25m freestyle relay the boys went on to win the final by six one hundredths of a second with Warwick Junior School second and Bedford Prep third. Overall in the boys’ events Bedford Prep and the Dragon had come first and third and the trophy is shared between the two schools. It is the first time in Dragon history that the school’s boys’ team have been ESSA champions.