the

wo o d l e i g h a n
Issue 3 - Summer 2007
LAURA ROBERTSON-TIERNEY To create her work, Laura mixed colours by spattering them on paper. She felt she
SPLAT (above) demonstrated her personality - colourful and different. This work was created in several
painting, 90 x 60 cm 2007 layers and took many days to complete.

 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term

{CONTENTS}
{NEWS} 4 LIONS’ LAIR
Woodleigh pupils brave the lions
BY TOM SAUNDERS

{ F E AT U R E S } 12 ON TOP OF THE WORLD

Treehouses and dens
B Y T O M B A R C L AY

{ARTS} 16 MARDI GRAS IN SPACE

A review of drama this year
BY C H A R LOT T E F I R T H

{FOLIO} 22 EXOTIC FRUIT BASKET

Year eight present a startling menu
B Y C L AY T O N H I L L

{MUSIC} 24 UNUSUAL INSTRUMENTS

What would you most like to play?
BY GRACE MURKET T

{WOODLEIGH} 24 HOUSE CUP CLIMAX

A nail-biting finale to the House competition
BY PHILIP JOHNSTON

{SPORT} 26-33 GOAL!

Highlights from fixtures this year
B Y S TA F F W R I T E R S

{GALLERY } 34 DAY OUT AT BEAMISH

With years three, four and five
B Y S TA F F P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 

INTO THE LIONS’ LAIR
AT WOODLEIGH
INVESTMENT WOULD BE ICING ON THE CAKE FOR EDSTAT
FOOD GROUP CARDS
By OLLIE DALES & TOM SAUNDERS YEAR SEVEN

IN MARCH this year, the first ever Lions’
Lair event was held here at Woodleigh
School.
The idea was based on the TV show
Dragons’ Den. We originally tried to see if
we could go on the actual show, but they
replied it was only an adult’s show – for
 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
adult entrepreneurs. We then decided to
create our own show, and called it Lions’
Lair.
We invited two other schools- Sher-
burn High School, with their anti-spik-
ing device Propper Stopper and Market
Weighton School as Six-Star products
with their revolutionary handmade gui-
tar stands in the shapes of people, which
can hold a guitar in two ways, leaning
against them or as though they were play-
ing them.
They needed funding for a new welder
and a “smart” welding mask. Woodleigh
were drawn to go second which was part-
ly an advantage, but also a big risk: we got
to see what the Lions were like, but if the
first team put the Lions in a bad mood, we
had much less chance.
Luckily the Lions were in a good
mood and we began our presentation
confidently. Thomas Saunders and Ted
Foster opened the presentation and then
Ollie Dales presented the game, Ted Fos-
ter the market and Thomas Saunders and
Antonia Selvey the finances, with Tho-
mas presenting the main finances and
Antonia the additional source of revenue,
sponsorship.
There was also a prize for the best
presentation, regardless of investment.
“All the presentations were really good”
said Mike Oughtred, Lion. “It was hard to
decide who should get the best presenta-
tion prize.”
“It was brilliant!” said Thomas, “I was
really nervous but I think we did well.”
The result of the presentation was
that the Six Star got their investment, and
we are in ongoing negotiations with two
of the Lions.
But nevertheless it helped promote
Woodleigh’s new card game, EdStat Food
Groups, an educational card game based
on nutrition information.
Year seven started a project with Mr
England. It all started in a CDT lesson,
where we decided to design a pack of
playing cards based on nutrition panels
from the side of food packaging.
Once we had started to get into the
swing of the game we added some colours
that started off with green, to indicate
that this had no limits, amber, to indicate
know where your limits were and lastly
red, to indicate do not go over the limit.
Originally there were just two ver-
sions of the game, but eventually it came
to five. After a while we decided we
would change the colour scheme to dif-
ferent shades of purple and blue but still
representing the same things.
The reason we did this was to make
sure that the green, amber and red col-
ours didn’t get confused with the traffic
light system.
At that time we also added the GDA,
guideline daily amounts and put those on
the right hand side of the cards whereas
the actual scores of the categories were on
the left.
The final colours are gold, silver and
bronze. They still represent the same
things. We have tested these on children
and they have been a great success. So
far we have been to the Lions’ Lair, our
version of the Dragons’ Den, and we also
managed to get an article in the Grocer
magazine. Soon we are hopefully going to
go into production.
Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 
Fire station visit puts spark into PSHE
By TOM SAUNDERS YEAR SEVEN
WHEN years seven and eight visited the
fire station Mr Woolley told us about the
types of fire fighter.
There are two kinds of fire fighter,
whole-timers and retained. Retained fire-
men are people like Mr Woolley who have
another job.
Whole-timers are people who stay on
permanent duty at the fire station. We
then went through and looked at the re-
tained fire engine and saw what they used
when they were called out.
We saw the foot-controlled alarm, so
the driver doesn’t need to fiddle around
with switches.
 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
We learnt that there are three ways
for the firemen to get water in case of fire.
The first is the most obvious – from the
engine itself. There are 600 litres stored
and it is all gone in two minutes. The next
way is from hydrants.
Yellow “H” signs show the presence of
these; the bottom number represents how
many metres the sign is from a hydrant.
And then the third way is to take water
from any available source.
The retained firemen wear pagers,
which sound an alarm if they are called
out. They can change into their fire suit
in 10 seconds.
The high point was definitely watch-
ing a car door get chopped up. We also
looked at the tags that they filled in when
they took breathing apparatus and the
electronic tagging system for fast rescue-
for example, someone leaning out of a
window.
Year three and four also visited the
fire station in September for PSHE. They
learned about fire engines and specialist
equipment.
Mr Woolley dressed up in full fire-
man gear and both years three and four
and years seven and eight hugely enjoyed
themselves.
Endurance challenge raises nearly £2000
By LOUIS KNOWLSON YEAR SEVEN
THE CHEEKY monkey challenge raised
over £1923 for children with leukaemia.
Fifteen people raised fifty pounds and
there names are George Crawford, Zack
Woolley, Edward Medforth, Charlotte
Carr, Charlotte Horsley, John Soanes,
Jay Mitchinson-Singh, Charles Saunders,
Stephen Johnstone, Tom Milnes, Ellenya
Smith, Georgina Barclay, Charlotte Firth,
Tom Saunders, Tom Barclay and Jack
Redfern.
There were three choices of raising
money - running, cycling, and swim-
ming.
The point of the challenge was to raise
MONKEY MOMENTS
money for children with leukaemia and
there was no doubt that we did that.
Abdul Al Arifi did the biking all
l Tom Lee falling into a bush with
Dean Jackson
day, the amount of times he went round
the school is unknown. A lot of people
brought in their own bikes and kept them
l Will Megginson ran over his water
bottle with his bike
on the back lawn for storage.
For the running and swimming, all
the participants ran 26 laps of the school
l Alex Miller spectacularly skidded
off his bike.
and swam 26 lengths of the pool.
The star performers were George
Crawford who raised £78, Edward Med-
l Dean had to borrow Ellenya’s pink
bike
forth who raised £75, Tom Milnes with
£63 and Jay Mitchinson-Singh and El-
lenya Smith who each raised £60.
l George Crawford raised £78
Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 
 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
 TOp MOVES this Flipping out over the new
summer school trampoline
l A Justin Birkett front flip By JAY MITCHINSON-SINGH & CHARLES SAUNDERS YEAR FIVE

l Tom Barclay’s James Bond dive

l The Kyden Woodhead back flip
l Jack’s belly dance
DURING the summer term the school
was given a new trampoline from Mrs Ul-
lyot.
Many people have enjoyed this tram-
poline because it is very cool and excit-
the road from the woods and near the pool
and the small gate to the games pitch.
Most of the boarders go there in the
morning. A lot of the school can burn off
a lot of energy on it.

l A Tom Horsley double 180 forward

roll
ing. It is a very bouncy trampoline with a
green outside and black middle.
We had a good idea to dig a hole to
The Ollie Dales sideways somer- put the trampoline in at ground level. So
l sault now we’ll be walking and then suddenly
bouncing.
l Ada’s leaping cartwheel The children have also got plenty of
time to play on it. It is in the area across
I also asked a couple of people in the
school what they thought of the new
trampoline.
Jessica Cheung said that she really en-
joyed using it after school and at week-
ends. Harry Connell said that he and
Abdul Al Arifi love it. I say it’s a fun
trampoline that I love.

Year seven GPS project swings into action

By ANDREW CHAPMAN YEAR SEVEN

IN SOME of then year seven English and IT lessons we have

been making a small three hole golf course down at the games
pitch.
We started by planning our own golf course each on pho-
toshop. The winning golf course would be built down at the
games pitch. The winning designs were by Tom Horsley and
Philip Johnston. One of Tom’s holes was used and two of
Philip’s.
The next thing we did was spray paint the games pitch with
white red and yellow spray cans to mark out where to put the
holes. The golf course is going to be built for the whole school to
enjoy and play on.
We used grass carrots to mark out where to put the tee po-
sitions when the lawn mower mows over the grass. We knew
where to put the holes because we used GPS units so we did not
put the holes in the wrong place, also they showed where things
like the pavilion and fields and the school are.
These projects will not interfere with any sport that is played
down at the games pitch. This was part of the design remit.
Already year two, three and four have used the course in
games.
Tom Saunders said “It’s great to have our own golf course”.
Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 
Garden variety proves a hit
By LOUIS KNOWLSON YEAR SEVEN
EVERY year at Woodleigh School there is
a garden party organised by the Friends
of Woodleigh. The most popular stall was
the bottle stall which cost one pound to
choose a mystery cardboard covered bot-
tle. Prizes ranged from water and coke to
wine and beer. It was the first stall to sell
out.
The newest stall was a Rugby kicking
stall won by Tom Hoggard with five kicks.
Millie-Jo Castleton, Ada Law, Grace Mur-
kett and Georgina Barclay were offering
very girly make-overs for 50p.
Mrs Knowlson and Mrs Johnston ran
a cake stall selling very delicious cakes.
10 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
Next to the cake stall was the pork
and beef sandwich stall. First one was
free second and third and so on was two
pounds each. My favourite stall involved
throwing wet sponges at the younger chil-
dren and occasionally passing teachers.
George Boyes and Alex Miller ran a
catapult stall firing water balloons at man
sized targets. The prize for the most di-
rect hits was five pounds.
Lewis Ryan and Justin Burkett ran an
arm wrestling competition for both chil-
dren and adults. The adult prize was a a
can of Carlsberg, and the children’s prize
was a rugby ball.
Galloping to lessons
at Woodleigh
By GEORGINA BARCLAY YEAR SEVEN
RIDING at Woodleigh is now a very pop-
ular sport, with different groups. In some
of these groups people canter, or if the
weather is too bad to ride, pupils learn
stable management.
In stable management pupils find out
how to look after horses. This is very
helpful for the future for those who de-
cide to buy a horse.
Riding is a great way to exercise and
it is also fun. It gets people fit and healthy
whilst having fun.
When riding children or adults can
lots of learn different things.
At a certain point in riding lessons,
pupils learn to trot and later pupils learn
to canter gallop.
When people learn to gallop they need
a bigger area such as a field or the gal-
lops.
Chère ecole de Copenhagen
By CHARLES SAUNDERS YEAR FIVE
YEARS five and six have had French
penpals since the start of the spring term.
These penpals have made our French les-
sons much more exciting. It has improved
our knowledge of French and taught us
how to write letters in French. We write
in French to them and they write in Eng-
lish to us.
It is a French school in Copenhagen,
the capital of Denmark. There are some
interesting names like Lucas Ravn-Haren
and Arnaurd Lavigne.
The school has lots of different na-
tionalities including French, English and
Danish. We receive reasonably long let-
If pupils do not have jodhpurs then
they can wear tracksuit bottoms. Simi-
larly if they don’t have boots or a hat then
the riding stables have them for hire.
Sometimes the riding stables have
dressage competitions that anyone who
knows how to ride can enter, using one
of the riding school’s horses.
In the group lessons pupils get to play
a game called cat and mouse.
In cat and mouse everyone in the les-
son halts at different points of the arena.
Then when Susan, the riding school
owner and teacher, says “go,” every-
one starts trotting or cantering and pu-
pils have to catch up with the person in
front.
I think riding is a great all year round
activity for all the boys and girls at
Woodleigh.
ters but I don’t think they have had much
help from their teachers.
So far we have written two letters to
them and have received one. We have pre-
pared our third letter, so as soon as we
receive our second letter we will send it
off.
On our third letters we have used post-
cards of our area; writing about where we
live. We have told them where we live and
what is in our village or town.
This has been a great idea by Mad-
emoiselle Schoukroun, extending our
French and making lessons more exciting.
Altogether it’s been a brilliant activity.
Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 11
Treehouse on top of the world
By TOM BARCLAY YEAR EIGHT
THE SCHOOL tree house has been
climbed and walked on by Woodleigh stu-
dents since it was built a few years ago.
Built a few years ago, the treehouse
is still as good as it used to be. It’s very
sturdy and strong and I don’t see it break-
ing for a long time.
The tree still looks healthy and strong.
In the Autumn the platform collects a sh-
edload of conkers that fall from the top of
the tree.
It also stops those below getting
knocked out by falling conkers when the
tree is shaken. You can face your fears
if you’re scared of heights. Sometimes the
tree house gets used as a look out when
students are playing games.
Another place students can hang out
could be underground or in a building
with no teachers or adults.
There are two wooden dens. One is al-
12 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
most finished but the other one isn’t. The
one that’s almost finished is about two
metres tall. The one that isn’t finished
will be about three metres.
Students with the help of some teach-
ers built them in PSHE. Both the dens are
in the woods next to each other. We used
slabs of wood to put around the den for
the shelter. We use corrugated metal with
foam inside it for the roof. We obtained
the wood from a farm down the road.
Building the wooden dens is an enjoyable
joint effort.
The other dens are underground using
corrugated iron and soil as a roof. These
dens are great as no-one can see you once
you are inside.
You may think they sound unsafe but
we make a big effort to make sure the
sides of the hole are level to stop it caving
in.
A fish called Trevor
By CHARLOTTE HORSLEY & PATRICK LITTEN YEARS FIVE & SIX

TREVOR is a brown goldfish who lives in
nursery and reception. The tadpoles live
in a smallish tank next to Trevor. Trevor
has an unusual name for a fish. He goes
gold but he is actually a brown goldfish.
In Trevor’s tank there are a lot of
plants. The tadpoles are turning into
frogs and one is a frog already. The tad-
poles have a rock in their tank. They are
released after they have turned into frogs.
Trevor will last about four or five years.
He is one year old now.
Each day somebody different feeds
him. Trevor has a biggish rock in his tank
with a hole in it. The tadpoles’ rock is un-
der and over the water level.
Also there are two butterflies that
have hatched. There are five butterflies
altogether.
This term Woodleigh School’s two fe-
male Khaki Campbell ducks gave birth to
fifteen beautiful shiny footed ducklings.
Then one day Miss Lee was playing
with Lucy in the woods, when they found
a Swedish duckling underneath one of
the trees.
It had been dropped by a crow. Miss
Lee rang an expert who said that the
crows would have brought it back to give
it to their young.
The duck has been named ‘Plummet’
and he and his friends are doing very
well. He will need to be looked after for a
few months before the duck goes back to
the wild.
We are all waiting to see what animals
drop into Woodleigh over the course of
the next year.

Blades and bikes take over

By CHARLOTTE HORSLEY & CHARLES SAUNDERS YEARS FIVE & SIX

PEOPLE are allowed to bring bikes, over on your bikes.

blades and skateboards in to play on in
break and in their spare time.
There is a big blue plastic ramp and
you can ask to make a ramp out of wood
yourself. You are allowed to ride any-
where on your bike in school grounds
apart from down to the games pitch.
You can blade in the courtyard and on
the concrete outside, you can skateboard
in exactly the same places as you can
blade.
Everyone has suddenly started to
bring their bikes and blades in. Biking
is the most popular of the three. You are
allowed to borrow other people’s bikes
if you ask. You can borrow blades and
skateboards as well.
It is really good fun going on blades
and bikes and things. There are hills to go
up and down on and bumps to go flying
You can have loads of fun but you
just have to be careful about it. You can
go through the woods on your bike and
down the hill. You can ride up and down
the drive and do tricks.
On your blades you can do tricks off
the ramps and you could ask somebody
to help you learn to blade or skateboard.
Or you could ask them to pull you up and
down the hill in the courtyard. You could
get taught to skateboard and get more
confident and then have a go yourself.
Children enjoy skidding and pulling
wheelies. They would do the jump on the
ramp then skid round the corner. On the
way up to the top they might mess around
doing tricks. All this excitement takes
place in the courtyard. It is a fantastic
area for these activities that are loved so
much by students.
Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 13
 First camp adventure
for years six and seven
By SAM MEGGINSON & EDWARD MEGGINSON YEAR SIX
FIRST camp was situated in and around
Whitby. Luckily it wasn’t raining, but it
was a bit foggy.
We set off and, on the way we stopped
off for lunch at Hole of Horcum. It was
hot and the boys and some of the girls
went down the hill and Sam Megginson
fell down quite far, he looked a bit rough
when he got back up the hill!
We landed at the campsite and set
up our tents. Then we went down to
the beach and Tom Hoggard and George
Mewburn found a ball in the big rocks, so
we had a game of volleyball.
We went into three groups; the cool
dudes, the pirates of the Caribbean and
the football-annoying nuts.
On Monday everyone went fishing far
out to sea. Altogether 15 fish were caught.
Charlotte Firth caught the most fish on
one boat, Georgina Barclay caught the
first camp highlights
l Spiderman Sam Megginson rock climbing upside down
l Making dens in Dalby Forest
l Running into the sea at the beach
l Charlotte Firth caught 15 fish including one which weighed a stone. Honest.
14 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
most on the other boat. Sam Megginson
caught the biggest fish. It was a whopper.
Afterwards everyone went on a 16-
mile bike ride to Ravenscar but not eve-
ryone went the whole way. In the evening
the campers ate the fish on a barbecue.
On Tuesday we went on a long walk
to a rock climbing centre. The campers
each had a harness and helmet for safety.
Then we started rock climbing and
there were three climbs. We were split
into three groups.
We kept on swapping the climbs. Af-
ter rock climbing we went to the beach
for the last time.
On Wednesday we woke up early to
pack up the tents. Then we went to Dalby
Forest.
We went on a big walk and after we
went back to school. We had to stay back
and unpack the buses.

Sestriere hard to beat
By CHARLES SAUNDERS YEAR FIVE
THIS YEAR about 40 people from the
school travelled down to Sestriere in Italy
for our ski trip. It was a great success.
There were some good instructors called
Franco. Both of them.
We stayed in a wonderful hotel called
Villaggio Olimpico, in the Olympic vil-
lage. It had lovely en-suite rooms but the
quality of the staff in the dining room was
poor.
The weather on the slopes was good
except for two days; the first day was foggy
and the second last day was foggy, snow-
ing and freezing to the bone. Otherwise
the weather was spectacular sunshine.
The skiing was good in the newly fall-
en snow; apart from one day when it was
TOP 10
SKI TRIP
MOMENTS FROM
ITALY
l The amazing views overlooking the
hotel
l The
stunning snow which was
perfect for skiing.
l An amazing football match between
AS Roma and Manchester United,
with all of Woodleigh supporting
Manchester United
icy, and hard to control. Most of the days
we stopped at the same restaurant for
l An impressive crash between Becky
and Freddie
lunch. The slopes ranged from not very
steep to quite steep. It was excellent ski-
ing apart from there was a great big haul
l The children’s party with huge
pizzas
back to the boot room at the end of the
day, along flat ground.
The hotel was a fantastic maze and
l Tom Horsley lost a ski which
followed him down the mountain
you could explore it madly, although you
got used to it after staying in it for a week.
The village that the hotel was in was su-
l Mrs Murkett leading an intrepid
party down the black run Women’s
perb as well, with shops ranging from downhill course. Unfortunately a
sweet shops to sport and perfume shops. number of children overtook her ...
Altogether I think it was a fantastic
place and I would recommend it to any-
body. But it would be fun to go somewhere
l The fantastic weather which lasted
the whole holiday
else next year.
Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 15
Year seven conjure magical illusions in their
By TOM HORSLEY YEAR SEVEN
YEAR seven have been making exciting
sculptures that create optical illusions.
The objects stay up by a weight that is
under the model hanging from the wood-
en block. The model uses physics to stay
balanced. Gravity pulls down the weight,
which is attached to the wire, which is
attached to the wooden block. The wire
16 | the woodleighan | No. 3
2 | Summer term
goes underneath the table or surface and
the weight pulls down so the sculpture
stays balanced.
The longer the wire the less weight is
needed to keep it balanced, but the small-
er the wire the more weights are required
to keep it balanced.
The artworks appear to be hanging
in mid-air without any form of support.
This year’s year sevens produced some
models, which create an illusion.
These were made with the help of
Mr England in CDT, who has planned to
make a bigger model to put on the stone
block on the front lawn.
This was to replace the old statue,
 From Mardi Gras to Kids in Space
By CHARLOTTE FIRTH YEAR SEVEN
FOR cabaret in a day we did Mardi Gras, it was great fun and
interesting to do because we had never done anything like it.
Here’s a bit of information about Mardi Gras: Mardi Gras, also
known as Shrove Tuesday, Carnival, and Pancake Day in the
UK, is an annual festival which is celebrated on 20th February
in 2007.
Falling just before Lent, it traditionally marks the last oppor-
tunity for fun and feasting before 40 days of ‘self-denial’. Mardi
Gras means ‘Fat Tuesday’ in French. There were dancers who
were: Charlotte Firth, Laura Robertson-Tierney, Ada Law, Jes-
sica Cheung, Georgina Barclay, Grace Murkett, Charlotte Hors-
ley, Charlotte Carr, Rachel Robson and Guy Welch. They danced
to ten songs these included: Swing low sweet chariot, Mambo
dance, the country dancing song, whole lotta lovin’ and the um-
brella dance.
There were about 130 people involved in the Musical in a
day, maybe even more and about 100 people came to eat and
watch the performance. On musical in a day we performed ‘Kids
in space’. Kids in space was written by Debbie Campbell, I am as-
suming she is a very creative writer. It was a performance about
a group of kids that went to space and found some androids that
were broken. There was an android called Specks, he was the
CDT lessons
which was called Michaelmas this was
taken back by it’s designer Michael
Iwons
The statue will be made from wood
and metal. It feature a string of balls start-
ing with a basketball then a rugby ball all
the way to a shuttle cock.
It is hoped to be finished by Founder’s
day.
There are currently finished sculp-
tures in the front hall and they are well
worth a look.
one that fixed the other robots but they were mean to him in
return.
The song selection included, getting around, first kids in
space, blast off, out of control (sung and danced by the androids),
I am different (sung by specks), the space café, Moon-hopping,
Planet round (danced by planets), Under control (sung by an-
droids), I know a man, good-bye moon, Blast off and Kids in
space.
The Christmas play, was about Mr Partridge’s amazing troop
going to see and sing to Santa and Mrs Claus, but Mr and Mrs
Grimgrump interfered because they wanted Mr.Partridge’s
amazing troop to sing to his family rather than the Claus’, the
Grimgrumps and the Claus’ hated each other! George Crawford
who played Mr Grimgrump said: “I enjoyed being the mean per-
son, it brings out the mean side of me!” He also added, “it was
funny when the crowd booed it made me laugh”.
The choir: 12 lords a-leaping,11 ladies dancing, ten drum-
mers drumming, nine maids a-milking, eight pipers piping,
seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings,
four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and Mr
Partridge in his pear tree!) was the whole school. There was a lot
of work put into it and it showed in the amazing performance!
2 | the woodleighan | 17
Summer term | No. 3
18 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
 NURSERY & RECEPTION
BECK ISLE MUSEUM (photo)
summer term 2007

The children were able to dress up in

Victorian clothes and performed lots of
domestic tasks! They washed clothes
using a dolly tub and stick, polished
brass and made lavender bags. They
played with toys from the past and
wrote on slates. We had a picnic by the
stream and everybody enjoyed a lovely
day out.

Summer
Summerterm No.33 | the woodleighan | 19
term||No.
 YEAR FIVE The wind howls like a werewolf baying.
A WINDY DAY (right) It blows the leaves off trees like an elephant.
autumn term 2006 The wind goes and comes like day and night.
poetry It blows branches down like bulls running into trees.
by Fred Austin The wind thunders like a herd of antelopes stampeding.
It quietens like people sleeping.

20 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term

 SNOW
WOODLEIGH WONDERLAND (photo)
spring term 2007
before lessons

One cold night, in the middle of January,

a snow storm arrived. The wind howled
then the snow swirled around and
gently fell to the ground.

In the morning there lay sprinkled a soft

sheet of white crisp snow.
YEAR SIX
Further away trees dangled icicles from THE SNOW SCENE (below)
their drooping bare branches. Over the spring term 2007
hills and far away the snowstorm blew creative writing
its final breath, waiting for another day. by Naomi Richardson

Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 21

 YEAR SEVEN & EIGHT
MELON BASKET (photo)
summer term 2007
non fiction writing
by Grace Murkett & Philip Johnston

This year at Woodleigh School, the year sevens have cooked a

starter, main course and making a delicious desert. But first the
year sevens did a basic skill, boiling an egg. You may be thinking
“that is not hard” but many people couldn’t get the egg in the pot
without making a splash in the water. Then the next week they
cooked some mussels with French bread to dip into the mussels.
But some people, including vegetarians, did not eat the mussels
they just ate the bread instead. Then they learned how to make a
main course, which was chicken with chilli and onions. After they
make their dishes, they then had the opportunity to try what
they had cooked. After the chicken they made a salad of three
colours, avocado, mozzarella, and tomato. They spread them out
on a table for the year sevens to eat at. At the same time another
group of year sevens were cooking fried liver with lettuce. Then
for dessert they made a tasty lemon drizzle cake. At lunchtime
the year sevens were allowed to try what they had baked.

22 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term

YEAR EIGHT
MELON BASKET (photo)
summer term 2007
recipe writing
by Justin Birkett & Clayton Hill

Ingredients:
Raspberries
Cherries
Blueberries
Blackberries
Orange
Kiwi
Pineapple
Watermelon
Apricot
Strawberries
For the pour over glaze:
Juice of one lemon
Juice of one lime
Orange extract 33ml
Almond essence 5ml
3-4 tablespoons of icing sugar

Draw a line with a knife 2/3 of the way up and around the melon.
Then draw lines to the top of the melon, but leaving room for a 5 cm
wide handle. Cut out the melon flesh in blocks.

Peel and seed the seasonal fruits then mix all the fruits in a bowl.
Take out all of the watermelon in cubes or in balls. Mix the lemon
juice with icing sugar and the liqueur, then put the mix over the fruit.
Cover with foil then leaves to chill in the refrigerator for about one
hour.

Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 23

And the most unusual
instrument is ...
By GRACE MURKETT YEAR SEVEN
WOODLEIGH school has a variety of un-
usual instruments. Mr Ogram plays the
baritone saxophone and the recorder, he
says he could play the piccolo if he had
one.
The Baritone Saxophone is a huge
long saxophone, which is rather hard to
play. When the teachers show their in-
struments the baritone saxophone was
shown but nobody wanted to start learn-
ing it.
Charles Dales plays the cymbals, and
the harmonica. He says his grandpa, who
can play almost every instrument, teaches
him.
When asked what he can play he said:
“I don’t play songs on them I just use
them to annoy my sisters.”
He started playing cymbals about a
24 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
I would love to
be able to play
l Ukulele
l Sousaphone
year ago, he began to play because his l Electric Mandolin
grandpa was singing once and he said to
get something out of his drum kit and join l Didgeridoo
in.
Charles chose to play cymbals. He l Piccolo trumpet
started playing the harmonica about two
years ago, when his grandpa gave him a l Mongolian gong
harmonica as a present.
Mademoiselle Shoukroun can play l Theremin
glasses of water. She can play Do, ré, mi
la perdrix. It is a French song that has a
very catchy tune.
l Glass harmonica
She started playing it at the inter- l Bouzouki
national school in Burma, where it was
cross-linking with a science experiment.
When asked how to get the notes right
l Wurlitzer organ
she said, “you put more or less water in l Bamboo xylophone
depending on the size of glass. It works
better with crystal glasses though.”
By GRACE MURKETT YEAR SEVEN
TOP SONGS Piano is the most popular
ON the PIANO
l Theme from Titanic to play at Woodleigh
l Cool Calypso By GRACE MURKETT YEAR SEVEN
l Rush hour THIS YEAR many children have started
playing instruments, such as flute, trum-
l In the pink pet, and saxophone. All of them have
learned very fast and will probably do a
l Get in step grade soon.
Lots of people already play instru-
l Andante ments and the most popular instruments
are very close together.
l Ode to joy The most popular instrument is the
piano. There are 14 pianists and there are
l Balleto a couple in most year groups.
The people who play piano were asked
l The bee why they liked it so much, and why they
think other people like it.
l Garage sale Antonia Selvey said “I think the rea-
son people like playing the piano is that
l The entertainer you can play all different types of music
on the same instrument and you can play
well with all of the other hand held in-
struments.
You can improvise with any music,
like turning a happy song into a sad, up-
setting song or turning a jolly song even
jollier using swing.”
Georgina Barclay said “It’s a good hob-
by and it’s fun. Plus you also learn about
music.” Ollie Dales said “I think the rea-
son is because it’s nice that when you
know how to play you can go anywhere
and impress people.”
Charlotte Firth said “I like it because
it makes you concentrate on hand-eye co-
ordination, and it’s fun.”
Grace Murkett said “I think it’s be-
cause you can play any style of music,
plus you can listen to a song and pick the
piano, then figure out by ear what to play,
because it is an obvious note.”
Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 25
North win the House Cup
HOUSE CUP By PHILIP JOHNSTON & ADA LAW YEAR EIGHT
Competition winners
THIS TERM, Woodleigh School has had
l Music - East
Cross Country - North
the annual house tournaments, which
were: Music, Cross Country, Biathlon,
Hockey - East Hockey, Swimming, House Quiz, Round-
Swimming - East ers, Cricket and Sports Day.
Quiz - North At Woodleigh School there are four
Biathlon - North houses, each person in every house played
Rounders - West a part in the tournaments.
Cricket - West The house music winners were East
Sports Day - singing, John The Builder. Everybody
Drama - North found the song amusing, funny and ex-
citing. The person in East who thought
of the idea was Laura Robertson-Tierney
.After winning the house plays all of the
East members were very thrilled.
In the Woodleigh Cross Country,
South came first, West came second and
North came third.
In the Biathlon West did very well
26 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
scoring ninety points. East and North
got the same amount of points a hundred
points each. North did very well as well
scoring ninety points.
The House Hockey referees were Mr
Woolley and Mrs Johnston; the winners
of the house hockey were East, scoring
twenty points. In second were West with
fifteen points while North and South
drew with ten points each in third place.
In the Swimming tournament, East
were the winners scoring twenty points.
In House Quiz the winners were
north, scoring twenty points.
In the individual school tournaments,
the contestants had to pass four stages,
the Knock out round, Quarter Final, Semi
Final and The Final. This year’s results
are featured to the right.
p
TOURNAMENT
RESULTS
Senior tournaments

l Tennis - Ted Foster

Chess -Philip Johnston
Badminton - Rhys Smith
Table Tennis - Rob Mewburn
Snooker - Philip Johnston

Junior tournaments

l Tennis - Edward Medforth

Snooker - George Ullyott
Table Tennis - Matthew Procter
Junior Badminton -
Charlotte Horsley

Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 27

GREAT YEAR FO
By MR WOOLLEY PE

AS I write this article the rain is pouring down outside – it should

be sports day! Usually we don’t let the weather dampen our ap-
petite for sport and over the past twelve months children from
Woodleigh have represented the school at rugby, football, hock-
ey, netball, cricket, rounders, cross-country, athletics, swimming
and tennis. We have made tremendous progress in all of these
sports and it never fails to amaze me how competitive we often
are against schools that have a much larger pool of children to
draw from at each different age group. Twelve months ago Rhys
Smith represented the North East Prep Schools at the national
athletics finals in Birmingham – a superb feat.
The autumn term brought football and rugby together for
the last time. So many schools are now doing rugby exclusively
in the autumn term that for the 2007-08 season we have now
joined the band wagon. Both the under 9 and under 11 rugby
teams proved very competitive. The under 11 rugby team never
quite got their act together in the 12 a-side game but proved a
real force as a seven-a side team. I had the pleasure of referee-
ing them in the final of the Hurworth House tournament and
although they lost against Cundall Manor the actual game itself
was a brilliant advert for under 11 rugby. The under 9s played
in some excellent matches and it was good to see the year 3s be-
ing involved in some way in all of the games. The year 4 group
improved throughout the season and will add a strong younger
dimension to the under 11s next year. Mr England and I took
the under 13 seven-a-side team to the Merchiston Castle tourna-
ment in Edinburgh. The team itself had struggled in the smaller
sided game , not because of a lack of talent but often due to a fail-
ure to understand how very different the tactics are compared
to the 15-a-side game. The day itself was great success and the
improvement in the style of play was palpable. Particular im-
provements were shown in defence and in the last match of the
tournament it would have been very easy for the boys to allow
an excellent St Olaves team to run amok. This never happened
and is a reflection of the progress made throughout the day. I am
surprised to see that Mr Horsley was not in the summer honours
list having stoically spent most of the day sitting between two
argumentative members of staff in the front of the mini-bus!
Our own under 9 and under 11 football tournament was a great
28 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
OR SPORT
success and, once again, the standard of football has improved
through the enthusiastic and meticulous tutorship of Mr Tolk-
ien. It will be interesting to see how the move to the spring
term will affect football fixtures and I hope to create an even
more varied sporting calendar by introducing two or three boys
hockey fixtures in the second term next year.
Our cross-country was an excellent event. I was delighted
when my friend from the fire-service volunteered to ‘hare’ each
race, I myself struggled round the games field five (yes five) times!
I thank Dan Gilbank for his support but particularly thank all of
the children who ran in spectacular fashion.
The biggest improvements this year have been in cricket. I
knew that the missing ingredient in previous years was our lack
of practice in the run up to the season. I hired the cricket nets
in York in the hope that it would not only encourage some better
cricketing skills but also generate a cricket culture. It worked! I
thank both boys and parents for their support for these Sunday
afternoon sessions. The 1st XI have shown a much stronger
back bone and games have been much more competitive. We
should have given a strong Bramcote side a much better game,
and we were unlucky against Cundall Manor – a game that
was played in appalling conditions. Rob Mewburn managed 53
against St Martins Ampleforth 2nd XI, Rhys Smith 64 against
Ampleforth College under 14 ‘C’s, Ted Foster bowled a hat trick
in this highly entertaining and high scoring match as well as bat-
ting extremely well in the Worsley Cup the following day. This
tournament allowed some of the stronger year 6s an opportunity
to play. The under 11s have had a very good season and I am
already looking forward to further improvements in cricket next
year. I am delighted to say that we have received a cricket bag for
next season from the Lords Taverners.
So what for the future? More Tennis – we had two very good
matches at Terrington! More swimming – we struggled against
a much stronger Terrington under 9 team, but importantly the
children very much enjoyed the event and I now know the level
we need to reach to be competitive. More sports – I have made
contact with the English Basketball Association, our football
tournament this year will be for local primary schools and form
part of our sustainable schools week in October, boys hockey,
girls cricket, more structured house tournaments and leagues
– see you in September.
Summer term | No. 3 | the woodleighan | 29
Transition
season for
Rugby team
By MR MILLS RUGBY
AT THE risk of sounding boring, injuries
again plagued this season’s performance,
with barely the same side turning out
twice in a row. However, there were some
very close matches, in which the narrow
line of victory or defeat was decided by a
single score.
The season started well enough with a
victory against Red House, sadly followed
by a close 7-0 defeat by Cundall. Things
picked up again with a win against Ter-
rington. The next match against Hur-
worth proved interesting in as much as
we had run out of props and they kindly
lend us their spare prop, although the
injury during the match made me offer
him back. However it was another close
match being decided in their favour by
two points. It does not pay to miss a con-
version in front of the posts!
Aysgarth beat us quite convincingly,
which was then followed by the return
match against Cundall. What a match!
17-0 down at half time, to come back and
win 26-17.
Howsham Hall was the next fixture:
defeat again. Sadly we later learnt that
Howsham Hall was to close, which brings
30 | the woodleighan | No. 3
2 | Summer term
to an end a fixture with one of our clos-
est and dearest neighbours. I once said I
would retire once we beat Howsham, so
now am doomed to a limbo-like existence.
Poor weather and a mix-up over fixtures
brought an end to the first half of the sea-
son.
The second half saw a victory over
Bramcote, defeat by Pocklington. Lochin-
var House, on tour from the south, gave
us,not only a close game, but also an en-
couraging win, as no fewer than 5 junior
players had been brought into the side
and all performed well. Finally, we saw
off the season with a win against Fyling
Hall, which, for those who like statistics,
means the side won more games than it
lost.
As usual there were not only some
good team performances, there was some
stirling work from quite a few individu-
als.
Finally I would like to thank all the
team’s supporters for turning out what-
ever the weather and also for the advice
some of them so freely offer. It is always
taken in, fully analysed and then acted
upon in the appropriate manner.
Tennis gets
serious at
Woodleigh
By ANTONIA SELVEY YEAR SEVEN

YEAR seven and eight have a new competitive sport for summer
- tennis matches against Terrington.
When we arrived for our first meeting we were nervous but
excited. We were put into doubles, which were Ollie Dales and
Tom Horsley, Antonia Selvey and Philip Johnston, and Ted Fos-
ter and Rob Mewburn, who swapped with Charlie Allenby. We
played six games in a set, and one set against each couple. Un-
fortunately all the mixed doubles lost their matches, but Ted and
Rob won one of their matches. We had played our hardest, and
we enjoyed it.
A few weeks later we had another match, again against Ter-
rington. The team had slightly changed, Tom Horsley and Char-
lie were taken out and Rhys smith was put in with Laura Rob-
ertson Tierney and Clayton Hill. The doubles were not as simple
as before, but Ted and Rob stayed together.
For the first matches it was Laura and Rhys, Antonia and
Philip. Then it changed to Ollie and Rhys, Antonia and Clayton,
and finally was Ollie and Clayton, Laura and Philip. We all got
two games, although Ted and Rob got three, and won five of the
nine games. We hope to do better next time!

2 | the woodleighan | 31
Summer term | No. 3
Team captains give
their views on the
sporting year
By ADA LAW & ANTONIA SELVEY YEAR SEVEN
THE CAPTAINS have had their say on this season’s success,
from rugby and hockey in the winter to cricket and rounders in
the summer, and everything in between.
For football the under elevens captain, Tom Hoggard, was
interviewed for an overall view on the season.
“It was a good season for the team, we won most of our
matches, passed well and played properly as a team.
Our best win was in the Bramcote tournament, where we
beat Minster 6-1.”
Overall it looked like a good year for all of the football teams
and they even let a girl in the under thirteens team.
32 | the woodleighan | No. 3
2 | Summer term
In hockey there weren’t many matches on the grass, but, al-
though it was only practised on the new court, the few matches
played were very good.
The captain, Laura Robertson-Tierney, explained what hap-
pened.
“We had a very good season for hockey, with Ollie Dales,
Georgina Barclay and Antonia Selvey for the forwards, Lottie
Simpson as centre half and with our amazing Charlotte Horsley
as our sub ready to come on to the pitch at anytime during the
game.
“Charlotte Firth and I were backs and Elenya Smith and a
sweeper or goalie. One of the highlights of the season was
when we beat Saint Martin’s Ampleforth’s 16-2 when they
had a goalie and four players and we played with our five
players on the pitch, and no goalie or sweeper.”
In rugby the under nines captain, Matthew Procter, was
asked what he thought of this years’ rugby season.
“We won most of our matches. Overall Ted Weeks was
the best tackler and I probably scored the most, it was a pret-
ty good season.”
For netball the under ten and under eleven captains say
what they thought of this year.
“We did quite well,” said Charlotte Horsley and Lottie
Simpson, “The best score was 10-5 against Bramcote. We en-
joyed this match the most.”
In the summer there is cricket, which the under nines cap-
tain, George Ullyot, talks about their season.
“It was a good season, and we won about two thirds of our
matches with amazing catches”
Also in the summer is rounders, which the under thirteens
captain, Charlotte Firth, describes this season.
“This year we were recovering from the loss of some of our
players, but we did extremely well with me as backstop and Lau-
ra at first base, who were our main way of getting people out.
“Everyone in the team was very good they deserve to be
proud. With big hits, risky but lucky running and good catch-
es.”
2 | the woodleighan | 33
Summer term | No. 3
Editors: Ollie Dales & Tom Saunders

Sub editors and writers: Georgina Barclay, Andrew Chapman, Charlotte Firth, Tom Horsley,
Dean Jackson, Philip Johnston, Louis Knowlson, Ada Law, Thomas Lee, Grace Murkett, Antonia Selvey,
Kyden Woodhead,

Design and layout by Mr Tom Tolkien

Photo credits: Mr Tolkien: pages 1, 3, 4, 5, 6-10, 12, 13, 16, 19, 20-34, 36
Mr Barclay, page 11-12
Miss Howitt & Mrs Hayes: page 18. Mrs Murkett: page 15-16 . Mrs Gillingham: page 16

Many thanks to: All the staff and children at Woodleigh School
All text © Woodleigh School 2007. Woodleigh School - Langton - Malton - North Yorkshire. Y017 9QN
01653 658215 (tel), 01653 658423 (fax), www.woodleighschool.freeserve.co.uk
34 | the woodleighan | No. 3 | Summer term
WILL SIMPSON,
MATTHEW PROCTER To create their work Edward, Will & Matthew drew an outline in pencil and completed the
& EDWARD MEDFORTH image in paint by tracing leaves, and etching details using the reverse end of a paintbrush.
TIGER IN THE JUNGLE (above) They were very pleased with the bright colours.
mixed media on paper, 150 x 85 cm 2007