Brentwood School - Brentwoodian 2020

69 What a great year for West House it has been! We began on a high and ended on a high! We began by putting in a great performance in House Music and winning on the night. The Unison choir belted out their best ever performance of Shut Up and Dance and even included an air guitar solo by Ed Tomlinson who slid off the stage unto his knees, to end up right in front of Mr Bond! Huge thanks go to Max Harris, Shiv Patel and Ethan Cooper for conducting the pupils so expertly in the individual sections. The Christmas Fair was also a big event for West House and with our charity (Essex Wildlife Trust) firmly in our minds, we put together a calendar of beautiful Essex wildlife pictures to sell on our stall. These photographs were originally entered into West Fest’s Photography competition a couple of weeks earlier. The pictures were incredible and to the right are a few of the Westie entries. On our stall we also had other wares including chocolate snowmen (Mrs Shuff and her team of snowmen makers did an excellent job here) and we also sold some chocolate brownie Christmas trees. All profits went to charity. Talking of our charity, by the end of the year we raised nearly £530 for the Essex Wildlife Trust. This money was raised through a combination of our Christmas Fair profits, a Valentine's Day biscuit sale and me charging the pupils 50p entry to one of my Full House assemblies! So….is it now time to mention COViD?! Fortunately the Coronavirus did not put a damper on any House weeks as we ‘went remote’. West House staff and pupils were particularly successful during East’s week where we won the Knickerbocker Glory competition (well done, Mrs Rodgers!); the Dramatic Reading competition was won by Heather Trevelyan (I’ve never heard an Innocent Smoothie recipe read out with such raw emotion) and also in the Lockdown Outfits Competition, Isabela Edgington produced a beautiful Christian Dior style gown using a tea towel, a blanket and a bag strap! In Weald’s remote House week, I will never forget the lockdown hairstyles competition. And to the right is why: Well done Valentin Ivanov! This truly is dedication to your House! Jola Akinrin also had a fantastic win in the Paper Aeroplane Challenge. I was also in awe of some of the artwork that was entered into various remote House events. To the right is Esha Parmar’s amazing eye drawing and also Mikaela Laderas’s monochrome masterpiece. We certainly have a talented bunch in West House! West