With twinkly lights and evergreen trees decorating the school to the nines (a special thanks to our grounds and maintenance teams for all their hard work in making this happen!), the children showed no signs of slowing down in the last week of term, following their incredible performances of Oliver! (Year 8) and Pre-Prep’s two nativity plays.
For their final weekend of the term, our full boarders thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas events put on especially for them: silly hats, games, presents and Mr Whithear’s Christmas blazer (he has one for almost every occasion!).
On Wednesday, after a spirited rendition of our favourite Christmas carols and songs around the Christmas Tree (more on this here), we all joined together in the Theatre for a game of ‘Guess the Teacher,’ featuring some adorable photos of some of our staff members as children. Our pupils had the chance to compete online in the days prior to earn points for their House, before it was the teachers’ turn to try their luck. Congratulations to Mrs Ross for your keen eye, and to Eagles as this term’s overall House Competition winners.
On the penultimate day of term, the whole school – Prep, Pre-Prep, teachers and support staff – donned their festive garb for our Charity Christmas Mufti-Day, where donations will go to one of our school charities, Mary’s Meals, and specifically for Malopa Catholic Primary School in Balaka, Malawi. From cosy Christmas jumpers, tinsel scarves, Santa hats, reindeer ears, novelty glasses and, in the case of our Gap Assistants, Mr Davie and Mr Melvey, elf costumes – a perfect sendoff before they returned down under! The school made for a very jolly picture indeed.
Thanks to our incredible catering team, we were treated to a very special end-of-term Christmas lunch, full of crackers and crowns, jokes and charades, pigs in blankets, stuffing, turkey and roasties! The Year 8s once again lent a helping hand in serving the younger children, before tucking into their own lunches a short while later. It is always wonderful to see the dining room so packed with colour and good cheer.
The Christmas fun continued in the afternoon, with parties and activities throughout the Prep and Pre-Prep. And back once again this year was Fr Christmas and his (now Year 6) elves, with Rudolph in tow, as they arrived in Pre-Prep - to the children’s delight - in a reindeer-drawn tractor-sleigh. Father Christmas sat down with each and every child to hear about their Christmas wishes and he handed out gifts, of course, too.
In the evening, our boarders and Year 8 day pupils gathered for a yummy supper at their Christmas party and disco. There are a lot of perks to being a boarder at Farleigh!
The Carol Service, with its traditional lessons, prayers, hymns and carols, was a glorious way to bring the autumn term to a close, bringing together the entire Farleigh Family. The Chapel Choir sang beautifully, and the contribution of the Junior (Years 3 & 4) and Pre-Prep Choirs was also appreciated by the large congregation.
Extremely poignant, this year, was the emotive a cappella performance of the Ukrainian Christmas carol, Boh predvichnyi narodyvsia, which focused on the incarnation in the story of the Nativity. Thank you, Roman, for such a deeply moving addition to the service, which will live long in the memory.
16th December 2024