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03 July 2016

Black Tie Leaver's Dinner

The school does a really beautiful send off for it's Year 8 girls, they call leavers.  The weeks preceding the finish of the school year are filled with activities, the Common Entrance Exam celebrations I mentioned in another post, but also there were events like Staff vs. Leavers Rounders match, Parents vs. Leavers Rounders match (sadly had to be cancelled due to weather, a Hog Roast, and the Leavers Black Tie Dinner. 
Georgia was excited to have her Dad wear his dress uniform. 
The school took a photo of each leaver wither parents as we arrived.
Chris mugging for the camera with one of the ladies' handbags!
Happy Mums!
Chris with the school's headmistress.
Happy girls with the headmistress.
We finished the night with friends at our local pub!

02 July 2016

End of Common Entrance Celebrations

At the end of Year 8 (equivalent to 7th grade in the States), students either go off to boarding school, or go to a day school in London (called Senior School). To enter either boarding school, or day school, entrance exams have to be taken. These exams are like SATs, at the age of 13!  So, needless to say, they are prepared for extensively.  For boarding schools, the exams are called Common Entrance Exams.  The day school exams are mostly completed in January, but the Common Entrance Exams take place in June. So, to celebrate the end of Common Entrance Exams, there is quite a celebration planned by the parents and school.  The girls finished lessons early, and all congregated in the school's front garden, where they were presented with their leavers' hoodies. They were all able to choose a color they liked, and the designs were all the same, which included their names, and the names of all of the leavers inside the numbers on the back.
They were super excited to receive their hoodies and all had fun modeling them for the many parents who were there to take pictures and see them off to the day's adventures!
The day's adventures included the girls traveling into town from school in Humvee limousines!  There were multiple limos and the girls all piled inside, with music blaring!
The girls all headed into town for lunch, followed by pedalos (what they call paddle boating) on the Serpentine in Hyde Park! 
We picked up the girls from Hyde Park and discovered some hot and tired girls, as it was a truly gorgeous day in London!  They were exhausted, but certainly exhilarated by their day!

01 July 2016

The Dragon Ball

Occasionally there are charity balls held for teenagers in London, and The Dragon Ball is one that Georgia has attended for the last two years.  

This year, we made an appointment for her to have her hair done at a local salon. She chose this snazzy sophisticated ponytail.
The girls all met up at our house to get ready, eat pizza, and hang out before going to the ball together.
They all seem to have a lot of fun when they are together!
While the girls were at the ball, several of the other Mums and I went to a local pub for dinner.  This sign made me laugh, so I snapped a quick picture of it!
Here are the girls after the ball - they all had a great time!