Talbot's House

Well, it's been a fantastic year in Talbot's. So many wonderful memories of fun in the house, great trips and events and lots of everyday laughs. Here's some of the best memories from 2018-19 in video form:

This has been a fantastic week in the house!  Most importantly, our community has grown to include M in the 4th Form who has proved a popular, friendly addition.

The sunshine has also been amazing and meant that there has been the return of some great garden football sessions in the evening and a fantastic fire on Thursday (photos below).

In music, Ben, James, and Marcus have been preparing for tonight's big bands concert and played superbly in assembly today.

Edwin also got a shout out in assembly for his efforts at the model UN.

Lennart is returning late as he has been pushing hard for German rowing selection; we hope it has gone well.

Kabi has also been continuing training after his county hockey selection.

This week sees the start of summer sports and the following have matches:  Will is in the cricket U15C & Kabi in the U14C.

The following have gained merits this week:
1--Theo, Alex E., Zakhar, Roy, Seb, Divine, Simon, Tizian, CUrtis, and Niklas
2--Orlando, Will, Moritz, Edwin, and Evgenii

Amazingly, Roy also gained a commendation for his sterling efforts representing the school at the regional maths challenge.

Top Bloke
James for his impressive BBQ skills

Man of the Week
Edwin for his amazing contributions to the Harpur Trust Debate & the model UN.

Special Note
George for being selected for the Samurai Sevens next weekend

 Last night was the traditional Talbots House Quiz night. Rounds included questions about the school (What was Philpotts previous name?); questions about the house (How many rooms are named after a previous House Master?) and some less fiercely contested rounds about sports, history, science, music and more.

It was a great night with some rather vocal performances of some of the answers for the music round and some hotly argued scoring (you had to spell each answer correctly to receive the points).

It was a really well put together quiz and we are grateful for the huge amount of work that the lower sixth had put into creating it for us.

We also had an unexpected visitor, as old boy Jonas, turned up to say hello and hand out some of the prizes for the evening.

The winning team was Alex's with Duncan's team in second and Harun's team third place. Obviously the staff team probably smashed them all, but we withdrew from the competition entry, largely because chocolate prizes don't seem to hold the same value once you reach the grand old age of 21+




We also handed out our prizes for the term, with some fantastic efforts for the King of Merits title. In joint third place we had Kostya and Henry with 17 merits.

In second place it was Andrew with 22 merits.

But in joint first, with an incredible 38 merits each it was Jason and Divine.







Speaking of Divine, he also won our Man of the Term prize not just for his continued attitude of getting involved with everything, performing well in all areas, but for doing so with an air of humility and approach-ability that  embodies everything we want to see in boys as they grow through the house. His commitment to bettering himself, without making others feel less is something special that we really wanted to honour.





We also gave out two sets of house colours last night, for boys who have been consistently exhibiting the character qualities we love throughout their time in the house. The first set went to Adrian in the lower sixth. Adrian is someone who draws others in and makes them feel included. He's a man who younger boys consistently tell us feels like a 'safe' person to talk to if they are unsure or need help with anything. His nurturing qualities and ability to make others look to him for guidance is something we wanted to celebrate.



The second set of colours went to Matthew. Matthew has been with us since the fourth form and over that time his contributions to the house have been too many to count in terms of the number of competitions he has represented us in, the number of competitions he has gone to support others in, the number of football matches and games he has organised in the back garden, and his cheeky smile that changes the atmosphere of a room into a place where others can experience relaxed fun. These are definitely character qualities that we want to set as an example to others and we are proud to see him finally wearing his colours tie.

It's taken a while to get around to posting, but here's a video with all of our photos from the MK Bounce trip a few weeks ago:

What a whirlwind of a term!! This year has flown by so far, and it only seems like yesterday we were welcoming 17 new members to the house, and yet here we are saying goodbye for the Christmas holidays.

We've packed so much into the last four months and we hope you'll enjoy this short summary:



That's all from us for this year, we look forward to seeing you all again in 2017 - have a great Christmas and a fantastic New Year.

Love all of us at Talbots

We had a great time karting last week in Milton Keynes. The boys raced in groups of 6-8 and in between had the chance to relax, play some Mario kart, cheer on the other racers and indulge in some hot pizza if they wanted. As ever, they all had a great time and it is after events such as these that the boys feel more part of the house and both deepen and grow new friendships.
It was, of course, a competitive event and the most important thing to know is that Mr Gracie came 4th!
He was unfortunately just pipped by George (3rd), Leo (2nd) and Niklas who won in one of the week's fastest times at the venue! The boys were a credit to the house and it was a trip appreciated all round!

There are a few photos below and a video at the bottom. many thanks to Jo in the 4th form who, we think you'll agree, has quite a skill with the camera!

It was also a great week for George as he broke a couple of school records, but he's taking it all in his stride now. He is also going to be debuting in the starting line up for the 1st XV rugby squad this weekend alongside Kighty, and in the 5th team we have Leo, John, Frank, Anthony and Matthew representing the house.

In the under 15's squads we have Andrew playing for the A team, Reidy in the B's, and Ruslan and Alikhan Y have both been promoted this week to the Cs. Henry T is going to be playing under 14Bs and Divine will be representing in the fourth form C team.

Along with all this rugby, we also have Lennart rowing and Adrian and JLo in the Badminton second team.

Earlier in the week, we had our singing practice in the great hall in preparation for house singing next Thursday. Everyone is starting to enjoy the nervous excitement that comes at this time of year as we build up to the big competition and we are looking forward to welcoming those of you who can make it to the house. If you were unable to come, we are hoping to link to the live stream here, so keep you eye out, or check on twitter. We had a great evening celebrating the upper sixth this week, in particular our three boys who turned 18, sharing cakes, encouraging one another and learning how to open a bottle of champagne.

Name	Number of Merits
Divine	8
Jason	8
Tizian	5
Henry N	4
Arthur	4
Alikhan B	3
Harun	3
Richard	3
David	3
Alex S	2
Charles	2
Arron	2
Ruslan	2
Kighty	2
Kevin	2
Brady	2
Ben W	2
Niklas	1
Igor	1
Dan R	1
Nihat	1
Ben K	1
Hodges	1
Matthew	1
John	1
Sasha P	1
Leo	1
Anthony	1

We've had another great week in the house, with loads to celebrate, but special mention this week goes to Jason, Charles, Curtis, Dan, Arthur and Joseph for their incredible resilience. Each of these boys has faced difficult challenges this week, and each of them has come out of it stronger.

Speaking of challenges, we have several boys debuting in rugby matches for the school this week, so good luck to Niklas and Luca in the under 16C team, Aaron in the under 15 Ds and Joseph in the under 14 Es.

Other boys also playing are Kighty and Seward in the 1st XV, Sporton in the 4th and Szeto, John, Leo and Frank in the 5ths. Dan S is playing in the Under 16 C's. Andrew is playing in the 15A's, Reidy in the 15Bs, Brady in 15Cs and, Ruslan and Alikhan are in the 15D team. Henry will be representing the under 14 B's and I'm sure there will be many boys out supporting them.

In the Merit competition this week, King of Merits was Tizian with an incredible 14 merits(!) closely followed by Jason with 11 and Charles with 8.

Name	Number of Merits
Tizian	14
Jason	11
Charles	8
Niklas	7
Edwin	6
Hodges	5
Henry	4
Sporton	3
Frank	3
Brady	3
Dan	3
Divine	3
Simon	2
Kighty	2
Nihat	1
Duncan	1
John	1

Tonight we had our first whole house outing this year to the florider complex at twinwoods, near Bedford. The boys got to choose their activities from the surf simulator (the florider), climbing, a racing simulator and shooting/archery. This meant everyone got to do activities they were keen on or could chill out in the cafe if they preferred. As ever, the atmosphere in the house feels a lot tighter from having spent a fun evening together and more barriers were broken down and friendships made.

The video below shows some of the photos taken by the boys on the house camera tonight:

 

















A couple of the boys got into some shelter building.