I am writing this final Dunbar Bulletin of the year with a warm glow both from the glorious sunshine outside and from the successful year that the students of Dunbar have had! The end of this active and enriching year culminated with a succession of exciting trips and events over the past two weeks.
The students have competed against each other in a variety of Inter Watch competitions. The last Dunbar challenge of the year saw Aft Watch being led to victory by Watch Captain, Millie Morrison. The challenge involved four team building tasks and included a river crossing for which the students had to use the equipment available to take their Watch members across the river successfully and without being eaten by piranhas! The range of solutions the students used were excellent with only a handful per Watch becoming fish food!
The Second Form dressed to impress on Friday 28th June and experience their first Pangbourne College formal dinner. A good time was had by all and Seth Grieve and Alex Rimmer (Summer Term Dunbar Head Boy and Head Girl) gave excellent speeches that reflected the good time that they had all experienced in Dunbar over the past two years.
In the last week (and possibly the busiest!) of term, Dunbar competed against each other in the Inter Watch swimming gala. Luckily the sun came out and all the students who took part gave their best efforts for their respective Watches. The result of the gala were as follows: joint 3rd position with 37 points – Starboard and Port; 2nd position with 31 points – Aft and in 1st position with 25 points – Forward, under the leadership of Ted Trott. The Dunbar girls competed against each other in the Inter Watch tennis competition with Port Watch gaining victory over the other Watches.
The Inter Watch athletics were also hotly contested. I was very impressed by how the students conducted themselves with all of them getting to their events on time, putting in their best efforts and really getting into the spirit of the competition. All of the Watch Captains were excellent in the organisation of their team lists and, yet again, Forward were the overall winners.
The Dunbar Disco gave the students chance to strut their stuff and have a lot of fun on the final Wednesday of term! The DJ organised some ‘dance offs’ and the overall score from the evening was a dead heat between the boys and the girls! The following evening, the Dunbar boarders sampled the delights of Pizza Hut with the restaurant now serving gluten free pizza bases, I could enjoy a feast too!
On Friday of the final week we all headed off on our trip to Longleat. The whole day was great fun from start to finish, with adventures in the maze to the bus safari and up-close encounters with tigers, lions and giraffes, to name but a few. The weather was fantastic and certainly enhanced the whole day even more. The Dunbar students filled every moment of their time at the Safari Park and even had the energy for a sing song on the way home on the bus! All of the students’ behaviour was impeccable and it was real pleasure taking them on the trip!
I would like to thank all of the students (and their parents and guardians!) for the unfailing support for the Dunbar Charity Fundraising efforts this term. The range of events and sheer effort has certainly been the best I have seen in my time as the Dunbar Housemaster. We raised just under £1600.00 in total!
Kindness and integrity has certainly been a theme in the approach the Dunbar students have had to life over the past year. I hope that I will see more of the same for the returning First Form Students and that our Second Form hold on to these positive attributes as they make the transition into the Third Form and beyond.
During the final assembly of the term, we gave out the following awards and made the following promotions: Boy of the term: Sam Holloway for his resilience and selflessness. Girl of the term: Millie Morrison for her industry and integrity. The Best Dorm award was awarded to Dorm 1 and best boarder was shared by both Ted Trott and Cameron Branney.
I impressed upon the Dunbar students that we very much set the high standard of uniform for the rest of the College to aspire to. The shoe and uniform cup was awarded to Forward Watch who had accrued 99 points and the other Watches were a very close behind with Aft on 94 points, Starboard on 92 points and Port on 90 points. Ted Trott was Captain of Forward Watch and is to be congratulated for leading by example and inspiring his Watch to present themselves in a neat and tidy manner.
The Dunbar Cup for the Watch with the most number of House Points was won by Aft Watch under the leadership of Millie Morrison as Watch Captain. The student who gained the most House Points in the Summer Term 2013 was Oli Rayner.
The following Dunbar students were recognised for their academic efforts during the Founders Day Prize giving ceremony: 1st Form—Performance: Louis Winter and Cameron Branney, Effort: Abbie Lewis. 2nd Form—Performance: Sophie Seager and Victoria Whelan, Effort: Oli Rayner.
I hope that those of you who were here for Founders Day have a good time and I am sorry that I did not see you all at the mass gathering at the Dunbar Tent; unfortunately I was on duty at the same time in the Design Technology Department. May I take this opportunity to thank all of you who contributed to the feast that was the Dunbar ‘picnic’ and I want to give a special big thank you to Mrs Grieve and Mrs Rimmer for organising the whole gathering!
Finally I would like to wish you and your families a superb summer holidays; long may the sun shine!
Will Ogilvie-Jones
Housemaster of Dunbar
