The Chronicle, Summer Term 2017

6 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Weekends atTeddies By Emily Potter

The new Weekends Brochure has prompted considerable interest in weekend activities so we asked Sixth Former and aspiring journalist, Emily Potter, to delve deep into the weekend vibe around School. After a long, strenuous and full-on week at Teddies, consisting of lessons, sport and countless extra-curricular activities, a pair of grey circles begins to appear under pupils’ eyes and everyone is just itching for the weekend to arrive so they can rest, relax and refuel. The Teddies mantra is ‘keep busy and engage’ but the weekends are there to unwind. The calls of Costa Coffee ‘cappos’ with triple choc muffins draw us into

Summertown, the home of the ‘laptop-latte’ culture. Posses of Shells hang out on street corners stocking up on tuck and pot noodles. On Saturdays, most people, if they participate in team sports, have fixtures, either at home or away. For those who don’t, their afternoon still consists of plenty of physical activity. No idle moments here. Later in the evenings, Teddies makes a conscious effort to ensure our Saturday night festivities are social, fun and amusing. They give pupils an opportunity to enjoy each other’s company, and interact and mix with their entire year group, rather than just those in their House or academic classes.

The Saturday night activities differ every week for the Lower School (Shells, Fourth and Fifth Forms) from trampolining and ice-skating to the cinema and Rocksoc. These evenings encourage the lower years to interact with each other, break the awkwardness of strangers and try new things. They are extremely effective as they require pupils to mingle and chat with people of different age groups, which is lovely as they learn from them and begin to feel more confident in themselves and around School. As a result, the feeling of any school ‘hierarchy’ at Teddies is diluted and there is a very amicable sense

Emily Potter