Senior Girls’ Boarding Blog

Hello there! “dy’Sul lowen!” – that is Cornish for Happy Sunday!

The girls are very much settled into our routines now and the daily cycle of lessons, clubs, prep and Covid-safe activities are becoming the norm. One of the highlights this week was Harvest Festival. You will have seen from the Head’s weekly communication that the School collected oodles of tinned and non-perishable items for the Food Bank here in Truro. It was a perfect time for the Rev to remind us of everything we should be grateful for in our lives despite the pandemic going on around us.

Friday night was another cosy night in. Only one boarder went to visit her guardian this weekend, so it was a full house – although we do miss our weekly boarders. There is always cooking and baking going on and this weekend was no exception. Carlotta dedicated some time to perfecting a beautiful sticky rice dish, Amy made sundried tomatoes to snack on, Hattie was busy cooking up a sweet potato dish, there was our weekly cooking kit bag (which this week was sultana pancakes) and our very own top Leith’s chef Charlotte made a delicious Genoese sponge with lemon curd and a crème au beurre mousseline frosting. There wasn’t much left by the time I went to have a taste. Although, I can tell you that chocolate spread on toast is still the number one snack in the boarding house!

Saturday was our chill out day. The girls made trips to town, went to the SBA, watched a movie and some girls even did extra prep! I know that Phoebe enjoyed her virtual open day for one of her university choices.

At our 1.30pm roll call I spent some time talking to the girls about World Mental Health Day, which just so happened to fall on Saturday (10/10/2020). We talked about what mental health meant to us, why it is important to work on both our mental and physical wellbeing and who we can turn to both in the boarding house and at school if we are feeling down, overwhelmed or frightened. My mantra is very much ‘it is OK to not be OK and it is OK to say you are not OK’. The tips I gave the girls included: talking about their feelings, keeping active, eating well, asking for help when they need it, accepting who they are and to keep an eye on their boarding family and let one of us know if they are worried about someone. This chat enabled me to launch our little project, which we have started this weekend, but will probably take a week or so to complete. We are making each girl, Mrs M, myself and our two non-resident tutors “positivity pots”. Each girl will write a little message of encouragement or positivity for each of the other girls/boarding staff. I have attached a photo of a little prototype and will show you photos of the completed project next time.

Saturday evening activities were a huge hit! The Lower Sixth boys and girls hung out with snacks in our dining hall and outside in Malvern courtyard playing Uno, table tennis and generally enjoying some chat time. The Upper Sixth were in our newly-converted Poltisco games room and ate snacks and caught up on the news.

Sunday morning had an excited air about it. The girls arrived at roll call dressed to hit the water. This weekend our activity was kayaking at Stithians lake. We met the lovely Lark who instructed some of our novices whilst my colleague Vicky Fiol took out the other girls. We had some double kayaks, some singles and generally a fabulous time. I was “bag lady” and stayed on the shore with all the bags and my camera… I had to wait until they were all coming in to get some close up photos as they all paddled off super-fast as soon as they got in!

Next week we have our first birthday in the house to celebrate – Issy it’s all about you – and I shall look forward to wishing her many happy returns of the day – hopefully with a house of girls who all feel well.

Mrs Joanna Wood, Resident Tutor, Malvern