Bootham Fireworks and BBQ

This evening we celebrated Guy Fawkes Night (one day late!) in style with a hearty BBQ outside Fox House, followed by a scintillating fireworks display courtesy of Mike Shaw and Rob Hudson. Many thanks to all involved, especially Edmund Fisher and Alex Blott for sorting out the lights and sound, Ian Zhong for providing the music and Liam Langedijk and Robert Hall for the amazing video projection.

 The party in full swing

 Res Grads Amy and John showing their skills

 Resident DJs Ian and Edmund

 Rowntree girls enjoying the festivities

 Light show

 The real deal

 Mike getting a little close for comfort!

Res Grad Team 2012-13

Here's a belated introduction to our team of Resident Graduates for this academic year. For those that don't know, we're here to organise regular activities and trips to keep boarding students entertained, look after children in the boarding houses, help students with prep, provide tutoring and support, as well as many other day-to-day duties around school such as admin, reception and lesson cover.

Familiar faces from last year include Daniel Gustafsson, Amy Sheldrake and Luke Highstead. The injection of inspirational of new blood includes John Chambers, who's come down from from Scotland, as well as Jess Melia and Rachel Essex who are both local Yorkshire ladies. Among the resident staff we also welcome Morvin Hamilton from Glasgow (Writer in Residence), and welcome back Emily Harper (Res Artist). I'll post up some individual profiles with more detail at a later date if I can obtain their permission!

From left: Luke, John, Morvin, Jess, Rachel, Amy (front), Emily, Daniel.

It's a girl's life!

In episode four of our foreign-language podcasts, join Jodie, Rachel and friends as they explain what it's like to live in Rowntree House. Rowntree is our girls' boarding house, located right in the heart of the school, and it is a busy, happy home from home for about forty of our female students, aged eleven to eighteen.

...Recorded in Cantonese...

click here to listen

Moon Festival

Every year, the full moon that falls just after the equinox is the traditional time for our Chinese students to enjoy their Moon Festival. Traditional bean cake is eaten, games are played and everyone gets together to have fun and companionship. It is particularly nice to see how the older students really go out of their way to look after the younger ones.

In this podcast, Jimmy and Wing share their thoughts about the event, and what it means for them and their peers at the school.

click here to listen

Chinese Podcast episode 2

Hello to all our families and friends in Hong Kong! This episode, recorded by College 2 (yr 13) boys Kevin Cheung, Benedict Tang, Cyrus Yu and Jeffrey Lam is in Cantonese, and gives an insight into life at Bootham for our older boarders. If you have any feedback about this episode, or would like to suggest topics for future podcasts, please write to Mike Shaw at the school and let us know what you think!!!

click here to listen

Welcome to Bootham!

Yesterday evening we welcomed a new cohort of boarding students to Bootham. Following a warm greeting from the boarding staff, and a hearty buffet dinner, we took advantage of the fine evening weather to stroll around York, take in the sunset and make some new friends along the way.

 Some historical facts from Mike as we pass through the Shambles

 York skyline from Cliffords Tower

 New Fox and Evelyn residents (and a few old ones!)

 Back along the river

 Time to head home

End of year BBQ

Before we kick off the new academic year tomorrow, here are some pictures of our end of year gathering outside Fox House, where College 1 student Samir delivered a masterclass in BBQ cooking.

Chinese Podcast Episode One

We are proud to offer you a new experiment today, as we launch the first in what will hopefully become a series of podcasts recorded by some of our Mandarin-speaking students. Join Jimmy He and Wing Lam as they reveal a little of behind-the-scenes knowledge of Bootham. You can listen to our recording straight from this blogsite, or download it to put onto your mp3 players.

click here to play

Scarborough Sea Life & Marine Sanctuary

Here are some pics from a trip earlier this term as group of lucky boarders, accompanied by Res Grads Nick and Amy, ventured beneath the waves to explore life in the ocean depths at Scarborough Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary. They were able to see some wierd and wonderful sea creatures, including turtles, penguins, sea dragons and sharks, as well as getting up close and personal with some crabs!



Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Towards the end of the Spring Term, Resident Graduates Daniel and Amy accompanied a group of students to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, near Wakefield (http://www.ysp.co.uk/home).  They were also joined by our Resident Artist, Emily, and had the opportunity to explore some diverse open-air displays by renowned international artists, in addition to a number of indoor exhibitions and the beautifully scenic estate. Many thanks to Katie for the pictures!

York from Above

Apologies for the lack of blogging in recent months folks. However, it does mean that you're in for a photographic treat over the next few weeks as we look back at a selection of boarder's trips that have taken place since March. First up is a trip to York Minster and York Wheel, where students had the chance to view the magnificent city of York from a rather different perspective...

York Wheel - a recent addition to the York skyline.

View of the Minster from York Wheel

Preptime for boarders

It isn't all exciting trips out to interesting places of course. Sometimes, (well, every night actually) we gather together in the JB library to do prep. This happens every weekday from 18.40 to 19.45, with study support from selections of the house staff.

 

Here we see members of upper schoolroom taking a quiet moment to reflect on the tasks ahead of them at the start of prep, ably advised by Robert Hudson.

Trip to Aerial Extreme

Accompanied by Resident Graduates Luke and Maren, a group of students braved the harsh weather conditions last Sunday to test their mettle at Aerial Extreme in Bedale, North Yorkshire. The adventure course, set high among the trees, involved tackling various obstacles up to 13m above the ground including the Skywalk and MegaWall - climbing, swinging, jumping and screaming their way to the end! Exhilarating stuff.