From fire pits (with marshmallows, of course!) and barbecues to volleyball and socialising in the Boarding House gardens, it seems like the site is really coming to life in the outdoors following the rather wet winter months.

Celebrations have been plentiful starting the term with Lunar New Year where our boarders, led by Cherry X (Lower Sixth and Senior Boarding Monitor Designate) provided Chapel for the whole community presenting on the traditions and origins of the festivities rounded off with traditional red envelopes and coins for everyone. Harry L (Upper Sixth) also prepared a Chinese feast for his fellow boarders in Burton Bank. A similar Chapel was prepared by the Islamic Society as they set to embark on the important season of Ramadan. We also celebrated a community Iftar where all members of the Islamic community (and with some guests!) shared a delicious feast after sunset. Maslenitsa was marked with a week of delicious pancakes, similar to how we celebrate Shrove Tuesday in the UK. Nowruz was not to be missed; traditional fire jumping took place (with robust risk assessment!) also known as Chaharshanbe Suri with yet another delicious feast of Persian food on the evening of Nowruz itself. The Houses also had the Haft-Sin tables displayed for all those who observe the festival. The Sixth Form Boarders’ Spring Formal was a fantastic black-tie evening with great food prepared by the catering team, good company, dancing, music and of course, a photobooth!

Trips and activities have been aplenty including go-karting, crazy golf, bowling, trampolining, and trips to Cambridge, the Natural History Museum and the Greenwich Observatory and Planetarium. There have also been a number of visits to the theatre, including a performance of “Mean Girls” alongside various trips to the cinema and entertainment in the Houses.

The Boarders’ Cup has continued to be a competitive feature of the community with competitions this term including cookie baking (lots of takers for the judging on this one!), frisbee, volleyball, hockey shootout and badminton. Ridgeway took the cup last term but at the time of writing, we wait in hot anticipation to see if they will retain it this term!

Trips and visits continue to be a central feature of life at Mill Hill with over 40 taking place this term designed to enrich and enliven the learning of all our pupils, extending what is taught in the classroom to live settings such as fantastic theatre productions including performances of The Glass Menagerie, Much Ado About Nothing and Blood Brothers, Modern Language festivals, the Shakespeare Festival, Science Live and Mathematics in Action events (always fantastically entertaining!), the Model United Nations Conference, the Lower Sixth Careers day at the Emirates Stadium and a visit to the National Museum of Computing just to name a few.

There was also a hugely successful ski trip to Austria during the half term and a STEM focussed residential to Disneyland Paris. This Easter holiday, the Classics Department will venture to Italy seeing the historic sites of Rome and Naples including Pompei, Scavi di Oplontis, Mount Vesuvius, Herculaneum and The Vatican alongside many other interesting sites and museums. We are sure the group will have a fantastic time.