Esme O'Sullivan raced in the J14 girls singles. She led from the start of the race, although had to deviate from her course slightly to avoid one of her competitors who was exercising some interesting steering! As the finish line neared Esme was unfortunately unable to hold onto her lead as her opposition from Hollowell Scullers powered through her to take the place in the final.

Head Teacher, Paul Bevis was hugely impressed with the Senior Girls first outing in a competitive regatta, he said: “In the second half of the race they settled into a great rhythm and looked a real hope for the future. I am looking forward to them leading a real upsurge in interest in competitive rowing next year.”

More photos are in the gallery.

The two J16 quads raced above their age category in the tough J18 event. The J16 A quad of Toby Jones, Dan Gordon, Joe Sanders and Alex Richardson had a fantastic heat missing getting straight through to the final by 0.4 seconds and so having to race the repecharge. Unfortunately in the repecharge towards the beginning of the race one of the boys caught a massive crab (a technical term for getting your blade caught in the water) and the blade snapped preventing them from rowing out the race. The J16 B quad also made it through to the repecharge where despite putting in their best efforts they finished in fourth place and didn't progress through to the final.

The J14 octuple had its second race outing of the year, they performed well in the time trial to progress easily to the final. In a very hotly contested final the boys put in an outstanding row to finish in fourth just behind Abingdon School and St Pauls School.

The Maidenhead Rowing Club J18 quad containing Claires Court boys Josh Harris and Rory Kempson also raced in the J18 quads event against the CCSBC J16 quads. They stormed through their heat taking first place and setting themselves up to go straight through to the final. In the final they held off opposition from Northwich and Walton Rowing Clubs but couldn't quite match the speed of Leander Rowing Club resulting in them taking second place.

These results for the J16 and J18 quads are all very promising and are incredibly important in their quests to qualify to race in the Fawley Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.

Up in the Mezzanine of the Sports Hall, a steady stream of visitors took the opportunity to look at the school's forthcoming plans. From new sports fields, sports kit and minibuses with James Wilding, Academic Principal, through to the world of Google with Year 11 Senior Boy, Joe Reeve, to Cashless Catering and a new way of working out what CC stands for using fingerprint technology.

The plans for the first stage of the new sports fields development show 5 new pitches, 2 cricket squares and up to 9 tennis courts, with work due to start on stone clearance and seeding this August. With the help of parents, friends and pupils during the afternoon, we asked for ideas for the scheme – we converted one into an all-weather pitch, though the debate about surface continues, we made the tennis courts suitable for netball too, built a new road of Cannon Lane and relocated the Junior Girls too – though as her Mum made quite clear: “As far away from the boys as possible!” The stand out new feature imagined by a keen cycling parent was the installation of a new covered Velodrome by the Badger den, though as yet no sponsor secured!

We are still waiting for the finally tally on how much we raised – but whatever amount the rain managed to washed away, the PTA fete, was a fabulous occasion, a great example of team work and spirit coming together from all divisions of Claires Court.

More photos are in the gallery.

More photos are in the gallery.

More photos are in the gallery.

The four days saw the geographers developing their fieldwork skills and testing their knowledge of coastal and glacial processes in preparation for next year’s A2 Skills Paper.

On Saturday in the blazing sunshine they got to work with ranging poles, callipers and clinometers to determine the impact of the waves and wind on the profile of the beach at Criccieth, in addition to sampling the delights of the local ice cream parlour! “Examining” dead jelly fish, exploring caves, learning a new geographical dance and paddling in the sea were added extras to the day! Sunday saw the group adventuring through the dunes at Harlech beach armed with point quadrats, ipads, anemometers, thermometers and various other instruments to help them in their quest to identify the factors affecting the sequence of psammosere succession. A further paddle in the sea and an evening bonfire were a just reward for all the hard work involved.

On Monday rather than collect more data the intrepid geographers had the chance to fully appreciate the incredible landscape of Snowdonia with an “awe and wonder” adventure along the famous miners track, finding the striations left by glaciers 1000's of years ago was a definite highlight.

More photos are in the gallery.

This year the work is mostly an assortment of stunning A1 acrylic paintings along such diverse themes as: the horrors of war, birds of prey, expressive portraiture, amazing landscapes, stunning cityscapes, pollution, wildlife, multi coloured outsized flowers and tropical fish and there is plenty of experimentation in 3D and mixed-media.

Outstanding pieces from Tom Torley, Henry Goodall, Danny Cornell, Harry Baxter, Harrison Sala and Luke Bollon to name but a few, can be viewed in the entrance foyer at Claires Court Senior Boys until Monday 17th June.

More photos are in the gallery.

This is the second year Claires Court have entered a team and made the final.

As the team is made up predominantly of Claires Court staff and one ex-pupil, they are setting the high standards for pupils to aspire to!

On Friday year 5's C team had an art day whilst the rest of year 5 were on a cricket tour in the Isle of White. We first drew rough 2 minute life sketches of our teacher Mrs Stay. Next we designed a 3D man which would be made out of cardboard based on the design of Karel Appel's anti robot sculpture. Mrs Stay picked two designs. One was mine, we split into two groups (but we did help each other) we built both designs but one broke so we changed it into a dog. We painted them bright colours so they'd stand out. On Monday we put it up in the sports hall. We had a great day thanks to Mrs Stay!

Throughout the morning excited boys gathered to showcase their skills. It started with Reception and Year 1 put on a splendid display showing their enjoyment and confidence in the water. They all jumped in, splashed, floated and swam.

Meanwhile, Year 2 eagerly lined up to race in front crawl and backstroke with all boys able to take part. On the starting whistle they dived in as staff anxiously held stopwatches at the finish.

One of the highlights of the gala was the inter house train race at the end. Excitement rose as each train with a driver and passengers linked together with woggles raced to the station. Excitement reached a crescendo as Year 3 dived in to race with style and speed to climax the morning.

Susan Payne, Deputy Head said: “It was a wonderful morning, full of excitement and team spirit. We were delighted to have so many parents proudly watching and cheering, it gave them a great opportunity to mingle on The Terrace afterwards. Everyone agreed it is a must for our diary next year.”

More photos are in the gallery.

Performers from Claires Court included:

• Over the Rainbow played by Laura Spencer, Holly Chapman, Sarah Crookes and Lucy Wardman led by Mrs Foster. As Year 13 pupils it was sadly their last performance after so many years entertaining audiences.
• Fool on the Hill was played Senior Boys - Thomas May on the flute, Thomas Buckle on acoustic guitar and James Tapner Evans on vocals.
• Romance composed and performed by Tom Torley, a Year 11 pupil.
• ‘The Cave’ performed and sung by Senior Boys, Sam MacGregor and Connor Lee
• ‘500 note Samba’ played by the Senior Boys Samba Band led by James Davis.
• ‘Mission Impossible’ by Raphael Conti on the Violin and the Junior Boys Ocarina Group

Adrian Roach, Director of Music said:

"I would like to thank everyone including the parents who supported our students at this event. The quality of all the performances was outstanding; we are honoured to be part of such a wonderful local event. Our musicians certainly did Claires Court proud and are very talented group of young aspiring musicians."

More photos are in the gallery.

Kim Davies, spokesperson for Claires Court said:

"As sponsors of Art on the Street, we are delighted to be associated with an event that creates such a community spirit and provides the opportunity for not only the school, but local artists to display such a high quality of work. It was particularly pleasing to see a current pupil and an ex-pupil exhibiting and selling their work."

More photos are in the gallery.

Head of Claires Court Senior Boys, John Rayer said:/p>

"Several of the boys broke school records at the event and, along with a selection of girls, will be going through to the National Finals on June 17th."

For many of the younger students it was their first major competition, so it was an excellent opportunity for the older students to act as mentors and role models for their younger peers.

Head of Claires Court Senior Girls, Paul Bevis commented on the camaraderie:

"We are very proud of all the teams and the individual performances; it was delightful to see the Senior Girls taking such good care of the younger pupils, from leading the warm-ups to cheering them across the finish."

More photos are in the gallery.

Mr Blakely recalls the cricketing prowess of the team…. but was it the expert coaching and management or the carb consumption that made the trip such a success?

Fourteen, Year 8 cricketers and two teachers set off just before half term on the annual Devon Tour. Three fixtures against local clubs and plenty of fun on the sandy beach of Croyde Bay lay in store for the party as did the opportunity to experience rooming with team mates for three nights!

Friday afternoon, after a long coach journey down the M4 and M5, saw us in the nets at Braunton CC who were to be our first opponents the next day. The weather was kind to us and the sun shone brightly. Unfortunately, the wind chill factor played its part and jumpers on was the order of the day. Traditionally, the first night on tour entails a visit to Barnstaple to sample the delightful culinary hotspot that is McDonalds. All sportsmen need their carbohydrates…

Lights out at 10.30pm back at the centre ended the day and we all looked forward to the first match.

Saturday morning arrived on time and, following a large cooked breakfast (protein and more carbs), the tour party duly arrived in the Devon sunshine back at Braunton CC. Winning the toss and electing to bat first in a 20 over game, Claires Court piled on the runs and after the 20 overs we had accumulated the princely total of 170 runs for only 3 wickets. Three batsmen had to retire at 30 and well done to messrs Lindley, Grey and Khera. Other contributions came from Buckle (17) and the Braunton bowlers who gifted us 37 extras. Because Braunton were 1 man short, Lewis Hughes agreed to play for Braunton and in their reply Lewis was the top scorer with 16 runs! 69 all out in 20 overs tells the tale of accurate bowling and tight fielding from the Maidenhead boys and a great win on tour by 101 runs!

The girls then went on to learn about WaterAid and how this charity supports countries around the world by providing them with the expertise and finances to help provide clean water to thousands of families. The pupils are now going to research WaterAid and produce a Google presentation explaining its work.

On the Friday the extremely strong winds caused the cancellation of most of the days racing with only a few of the time trials able to take place. The Claires Court J14 B and C quads were the only two of the clubs crews who got a chance to race. They stormed it through the time trial with the B quad getting the fastest time of the day resulting in them being awarded the gold medal and named the fastest J14B crew in the country!

The crew were:

• Jack Jesseman,
• Sam MacGregor,
• Henry Osborne,
• Ollie Costley,
• and coxed by Tom Moreland
]]> http://www.clairescourt.com/news-and-media/news/maidenhead-private-schools-at-national-schools-regatta Year One girls have been learning about plants and growing things, so on Wednesday 22nd May they arrived in class to find a whole collection of plants, fruit and vegetables.

As their first lesson was French, all the items were labelled in French, displaying everything from un chou-fleur to les radis and des raisins to de la menthe.

Later, the class sorted everything according to whether it is living/not living, edible/ not edible, what can be eaten raw/cooked… before a very popular tasting session where some brave risk takers tried some new vegetables. Celery was pronounced delicious and the fruit was gone before the teacher could even take a picture!

]]> http://www.clairescourt.com/news-and-media/news/french-fruit-and-fun-for-berkshire-independent-schools-year-one- John Rayer Head of Claires Court Senior Boys, presents Year 11 pupil, Frazer Gault, with his ‘Margaret Milner–Williams Medal’ for the Best Senior Boy Actor at the ISA Drama Festival.

The ISA Drama Festival took place in March 2013 and is an established Drama event with a national profile. ISA Schools from across the country compete against each other for a variety of awards.

Also in the picture James Wilding, Claires Court Academic Principal.

]]> http://www.clairescourt.com/news-and-media/news/best-actor-for-maidenhead-private-schools-senior-boy-at-the-oscars-for-schools