Last week of half term and by no means a quieter one. Well done to all the girls keeping up the energy, enthusiasm, academic focus and cheer to the end of half term. I hope that the girls have enjoyed the Cathedral service this afternoon which marked the closing of the first half term and enjoy a well-earned rest over the holidays. Those pupils that have joined myself on the Drama trip to London, I'm sure I will be sharing some of our experiences after the half term. 

This week has been full of House Hockey competitions in all age groups and the girls fought hard in all the competitions. The girls were prepared that the competition was going to be tough and as a smaller house we will face challenges like this throughout the year. However, the girls stuck together, pushed through, and supported each other in each event. There were a number of girls that took part who have ether not played hockey for a number of years, never played hockey, or never played in certain positions – this was brilliant to see and I think along with teaching the girls resilience and determination, it also showed how much house spirit and pride we have built in Lodge House in this short amount of time. Their bravery and house spirit was truly commendable – well done. 

On Monday lunchtime some of the Year 7 girls took part with the Durham Police conducting a speed watch on Quarryheads Lane. The girls were dressed in high-visibility jackets and stood on the corner with their speed guns hoping to catch speeding cars! They took great pride in what they were doing and took it with great seriousness – Mrs N. Thompson was very impressed. They were particularly excited about cautioning some of the drivers who were going over the limit – I know I wouldn't want to be told off by a few of our Year 7's! 

As Halloween approaches, the girls have taken to decorating the house and it has certainly got spooky very quickly. The number of cobwebs, spiders, ghosts and pumpkins the Year 7 girls have put in the Quiet Room is astounding and I think we will be finding small spiders for months to come! The Year 11's have also been decorating and the main creepy addition to their study is the bewitched doorbell they have added to their door – enter if you dare! Mrs Fordyce organised a Halloween themed morning in house time this morning where the girls went round the building finding small Halloween figurines and sweets – a real treat! 

 All that's left to say is have a lovely half term, make sure to get some rest and recuperation from an extremely busy 7 weeks! Thank you to all the girls and parents/guardians as well as all the Lodge House staff that have made Lodge House a warm, bright and welcoming place where we have already made lots of memories and instilled pride for the house and unity across all age groups. 

As we can't include everything we've done this half term in this short space we have put together a presentation for you to watch. Please click the link to view. If you are watching on a mobile phone then please turn to landscape. https://app.trilbytv.co.uk/public/player/b3bc194f-20cd-4105-b7f9-a1376cb1adc9 #bebrave 

Lady of Lodge 

This weeks Lady of Lodge goes to Abi E (Year 10) and Jess B (Year 9) who valiantly took part in House Hockey with little or no experience in their positions. Abi stepped up to be in goal, a position she had never played before and Jess was spectacular on the pitch having not played for years. Well done girls, brilliant team spirit. Upcoming dates for your diary     Thursday 14th November: Official Lodge House opening! 5 – 6:30pm   Monday 18th November: House Music in the Cathedral      Monday 25th November: Year 8 and 9 Social (Christmas crafts)          

Other things to note:     

Please can we ask that parents do not drive round the back of Caffinites when dropping off/picking up their daughter(s) - this causes massive amounts of congestion. Thank you.     Lodge House Instagram is lodgehouse24 – please do follow us to see what's been going on! 

Mrs Spence and Mrs Fordyce