Run for Stanborough 2018

Mr T. Braybrook, Deputy Headteacher, writes:

The sun shone, over a thousand students and staff walked around the lakes dressed in a variety of guises and the afternoon ended with four poor souls being covered in gunge. It could only be ‘Run for Stanborough’ day again!

After the hiatus of last year being disrupted by the rain, all eyes were on the weather forecast. Luckily, the gods were smiling upon us and after a foggy start to the day, the clouds broke and the sun shone!
The event started with House Cross Country (I’ll leave it to the PE Department to give you the results). The runners were soon followed by the walkers. Many students took the opportunity for some fancy dress fun with ‘onesies’ being brought out along with a dinosaur outfit, army camouflage and a giant snake or was it a dragon? from Miss Hawker’s tutor group. Staff also got into the mood with the Maths department taking the lead, closely followed by Science who curiously all dressed up as Mr Christodoulou! The Senior Leadership Team did some reverse fancy dress by donning school uniform. As many students pointed out however (it was good that they noticed) there were a number of technical infringements, luckily Mrs Vlijter had a medical pass to excuse her trainers!

Upon their return, the walkers and runners were greeted with the usual array of stalls and sideshows; well done to all the students who took a lead in organising these activities. The cake selection was fantastic and it was good to see that the Year 11 trial of Pot Noodles was a storming success (raising over £100 alone!).

And so onto the climax of the day – the gunging spectacular. Our very own master of ceremonies, Mr Mason, took to the megaphone as usual to whip the assembled masses into a wild frenzy. The first two victims (sorry, volunteers!) were Miss Hawker and Mr Bishop who both took their drenching with usual grace and dignity. Then came a surprise to all, Mr Mason himself, not content with organising the gunging, became its third victim (sorry volunteer). If this wasn’t enough however the crowd went wild as the fourth member of staff came out. It was our very own new Headteacher, Mrs John! After a rapturous countdown from the crowd she too was covered by a strange coloured concoction of gloop. Thank you to all four staff for their bravery and willingness to join in, it was undoubtedly the highlight of the day.

We must remember what the event is all about. We are raising money for two charities this year, the Ollie Foundation and the Welwyn Garden City Centenary Foundation. I’ll update you in future issues about how much we have raised, but can I please ask that any sponsor money raised is either brought into school and taken to the Bursars office or is paid directly into the Justgiving page which can be found at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stanborough-school2018

Thanks to all the students and staff who took part in the event, and thank you to all those parents who have contributed thus far. All in all, a fantastic start to our year of fundraising!

See our Gallery for more photos of the day.