Happy Year of the Goat!

Welcome back to AIB!

The Wednesday of half term marked one of the most important times of the year for our Chinese and Hong Kong boarders; the beginning of the Spring Festival or, to the rest of us, Chinese New Year. As every year Ashford School and particularly the boarding community embraces the spirit of the New Year with a number of events.

First up, on the Wednesday back was the New Year assembly. This year it was put together by Calvin, Sam and Jerry while Jerry and Kuso presented it to the school. The pupils put in many hours of practice and with the help of the EAL department put on an informative and entertaining show. We entered the hall to traditional music and were welcomed with a number of video clips of pupils from different forms giving Chinese New Year greetings. Many thanks to all those who volunteered, including boarding staff Mandy, Mr K, Mr Appleton and Mr Cowan, you are great sports!

Kuso and Jerry then told us a little more about the myths and traditions behind the New Year festival. Watch out for the dragon Nian! Finally there was time for a video of Michael, Kieron, LA and Daichi singing (I'm being euphemistic here!) singing a Chinese pop song. Picture first round of X-Factor! No, seriously boys, it was a great show. Well done to Sam, Calvin, Jerry and Kuso and thank you to Mr M., Miss  Dores, Mrs Barber and to the Brake Hall tech team for their help. We think this really showed off the day and boarding pupils of Ashford School working together to celebrate a global event.

Anyone coming into the refectory Friday dinner time would have been forgiven for thinking they had been transported to a Chinese kitchen. Mandy and her team of helpers had decked out the room in the traditional red including several messages of good luck and Gaynor and the kitchen staff had put together an oriental feast including vegetable chow mien, spring rolls and special fried rice. There was even hand made sweet dumplings made by Mrs Williams and a group of the Brabourne girls. Judging by the longest queue in refectory history, it all went down very well! Shanahan and Claudia  provided the music and Mr Hinton got stuck in dishing out the spicy chicken wings. A special guest appearance was also made by Miss Fletcher-Hall and her little daughter Daisy. A huge thank you to Mandy, Gaynor, Mrs Williams and Mr Hinton and all the boarding helpers - Jill, Danielle, Capucine, Ashley, Mook, Kuso, Carol, Chloe, Yijin, Delia, Kitty, Judy, Erica, Shanahan and Daichi - for making it such a great occasion.

To put the cap on the festive week, Mr Vaughan then took everyone onto the lawn outside for New Year sparklers and fireworks. Sorry, how many sparklers did you say you had Kevin? Many thanks Mr V and to Shanahan again for his help. (Photos to follow)

We think you'll agree it's been a fantastic week and we wish you every happiness and success in the year to come. See you soon.