The Senior School marked All Saints Day in Chapel with a mini-revolution! The Headmaster was (temporarily) overthrown by water pistol wielding Sixth-formers. Rev Jack and Mr Gates also joined in the fun, illustrating the point that peaceful revolutions of thought in which all people are treated as ‘saints’, are ultimately more effective in changing the world than violence.
The first half of the Michaelmas Term means one thing-House Music! Tensions were running high as Houses chose their Big Song and nominated soloists to represent them on the day. With the theme of ‘Dance’ there was plenty of musical choice. A slight change to the format this year encouraged top musicians from all houses to take part in a massed instrumental ensemble. They started the event enthusiastically, playing an upbeat medley including Stayin’ Alive, Sailor’s Hornpipe and Dance the Night Away. Opportunities for solos and improvisation were readily taken and the energy within the performance was palpable. Our Judge, esteemed drummer Ash Soan, took to the stage and interactively showed off his rhythm skills to the delight of the audience.
It was then time for the three houses to hit the stage. A positive start from last year’s winner, Reith, included a superb rendition of ‘I Will Survive’ sung by Gen and Albert. YMCA was a great choice for Big Song and the whole presentation was held together with a fun script and dramatic performances.
With the bar set high, Woodforde took to the stage with Alien costumes, space ships and a plethora of corny time travel jokes-all well received by the excited audience. Esme took to the stage, giving a heartfelt rendition of ‘Time after Time’ and the choice of ‘Time Warp’ as Big Song was genius.
Not to be outdone, Borrow soloists, Immie and Clara, confidently performed ‘You’re the One That I want’ before more exciting drama lead the whole house into ‘Dancing in the Street’. The standard was very high this year and Ash had a difficult task ahead of him. His final decision meant Woodforde triumphantly accepted the coveted trophy to adorn their shelf for this year.
A group of 24 Year 11 & 12 cadets spent the first day of the October half term break on the CCF Junior Leadership Course. In an intense day of activity they were all introduced to leadership in practical tasks, taking command of teams in scenarios that varied from saving casualties, crossing simulated minefields, building watercourses and re-constructing sabotaged information. They all performed at a very high standard and the future looks very bright for CCF leaders in the future.
Last week, 8 Gresham’s CCF (RAF) Cadets from Years 10 – 13 managed to get airborne at 7 AEF, RAF Cranwell.
Each Cadet got a 25-35 minute flight in a Grob Tutor with an experienced RAF pilot around the area local to RAF Cranwell. They were learning the principles of flight, how to control an aircraft and some even opted to experience the thrill of aerobatics such as loop the loops! All of the Cadets took control of the aircraft and flew the aircraft for themselves under the watchful eye of their pilots.
Flying is a core activity to the RAF Section and experiencing the thrill of flight helps foster an interest in aviation as well as develop Cadets’ confidence and knowledge of the basic physics behind flight.
For most of the Cadets, it was their first RAF Air Experience Flight, which means that they have earnt their blue wings to wear on their uniform. What a brilliant way to end the term!
This term we were visited by performance poet Harry Baker, which was a great opportunity to experience poetry outside of the classroom and in spoken word form. As a UK Slam Poetry Champion, published author and regular at festivals across the country, we knew we were in for a treat! Harry was with us all day, performing to the Year 9, 10 and 11 pupils and performing and workshopping with the Sixth Form. Harry’s skill and catalogue of material was incredible – after four hours he had only repeated one poem twice and he had also managed to seriously impress the Year 9s with his ability to create a poem up on the spot using random words they gave him. This poetry day was also a great launchpad for the Gresham’s Poetry Recital Competition and all the pupils were able to pick up some valuable hints and tips from Harry on how to elevate their own poetry performances. If you’d like to know more about Harry’s work please do follow him @harrybakerpoet on Instagram.
Three pupils from Year 10 have been selected to take part in the renewed Exchange Programme with schools in Australia and South Africa. Daniel will be travelling to Johannesburg to study at St John’s college for the Lent term. He will follow a path well-trodden by Gresham’s boys over the years and will no doubt have a tremendous experience at that prestigious school. His is the return leg of the exchange; Ethan R is the St John’s boy currently boarding in Farfield this term. Edie and Lottie are the first 2 girls to be selected for a new exchange with an independent day and boarding school called Abbotsleigh (…Glorious things of Thee are spoken…) which is situated in the beautiful North Shore district of Sydney, Australia. The girls’ exchange is for 6 weeks, at the latter end of the Lent term; we will host the Australian girls in May and June next year.
We wish them all the very best and a wonderful and memorable experience.
Pre-Prep joined 4 other local Primary Schools at the Auden Theatre for an event organised by Norfolk Music Services for Key Stage 1 Children. Based on Pip Jones’s best-selling children’s book, Izzy Gizmo, and collaborating with members of the Bitten Sinfonia Orchestra, this interactive concert is the enchanting story of an intrepid young inventor who puts her talents to work to rescue a crow that can’t fly. Having learnt the songs in class, our pupils were extremely excited and the wonderful Polly Ives who narrated the show, fully engaged the children, introducing them to the Quintet and the instruments, doing lots of vocal warmups and leading them through the story which was animated on a screen. Our children experienced first-hand live music, storytelling and the chance to join in and be noisy!
There was a wide range of activities for our CCF Army Section cadets over the recent field days. Junior cadets went to the Muckleburgh training area and followed a circuit of activities to develop basic fieldcraft skills, including camouflage, navigation, patrolling & first aid. They also spent half a day on-site on a specially constructed outdoor air rifle range and doing a paintball activity to practise fire and movement.
Senior cadets conducted an overnight field patrol exercise designed to enhance their skills of shelter construction, night navigation and tactical manoeuvres as a platoon. Some also conducted advanced fieldcraft training, firing at a more complex target on the air rifle range and carrying out building assault tactics using the paintball weapons in a purpose-built compound in the school woods.
On Thursday the RAF section took to a day of activities on school grounds. During the morning, Year 10 completed their basic radio training with Flt Lt Matt Williams and learnt some basic field living skills such as how to cook in the field, while Year 12 were completing leadership activities, led by Sgt Nik P, Sgt Erik T and Sgt Karl T. After a ration pack lunch, the Sixth Form took part in a ‘downed pilot’ rescue mission involving cadets finding clues to rescue the pilot, a role excellently played by Sgt Harry P, while avoiding the other cadets.
Year 10 ended the day with basha building in the woods to see who could create the driest shelter and in the evening, cadets in Year 12 and Year 13 were invited to an RAF Section BBQ outside the HQ, a great opportunity to develop a strong team bond.
On Friday, Years 12 and 13 took part in the ‘ultimate warrior challenge’ where cadets were tested on a variety of military exercises individually. These included basha building, searching tasks and ambush procedures. During this time Year 11 were completing leadership activities in the woods under the watchful eye of Corporal Ella J and Corporal Joe H. The day concluded with all cadets designing and building solid fuel rockets which they later launched out on the school fields, reaching an altitude of around 1000 feet. Whilst many rockets lost parts during the ascent due to some dodgy gluing efforts, they all came parachuting back down to earth with some landing on the playing fields and some in the woods.
Pupils were also involved in many difference Services activities:
The first Page to Stage evening took place on Friday 29th September, the event so early in the term demanded a high level of commitment and focus from all pupils who had to ensure they had a clear understanding of what their character had to say and how they as performers could communicate this to the audience through their choice of: costume, props and set, in the delivery of lines and staging of their moment with movement, lights and sound. The range of performances was exciting as we moved from an original short film to a dramatic adaptation of a song, from Noel Coward to William Shakespeare interspersed with comic direct address and hard hitting, direct and sparse modern tragedy. We travelled through Barbie land to the violent and murky streets of Victorian London, visited an Alchemist’s laboratory ending in the woods outside of Athens. The audience was impressively navigated through the evening by Year 9 Drama scholars Isaac B and Hennie D. A dramatic start to the year.
The first concert of the academic year introduces our new music scholars in an evening of solo instrumental and vocal performances along with offerings from existing scholars, Chapel Choir and Schola Cantorum, the School’s chamber choir consisting of our best singers. For the new scholars this can be a daunting prospect to perform after only 4 weeks at the school, but the standard of music on Wednesday 27th September in Chapel, left the audience in no doubt why these pupils have scholarship status. Congratulations to Hennie D, Jemima A and Lucy D in Year 9 and Olga B in Year 12 for their exceptional debut performances and to our more seasoned scholars Ruby S, Tamsin S, Jimmy T, Rose T, Rory R, Fergus R, Naomi H-S, Zinny B and Edie C for entertaining an appreciative audience of parents, staff and the local community with a mix of vocal and instrumental pieces. Repertoire from Schola included Nova, Nova by Iain Farrington. Commissioned by the Choir of St John’s Cambridge for Advent in November 2022, it is a new firm favourite with the choir, complete with hand claps and foot stamping. Chapel Choir sang the Nunc Dimittis from the Holt Service, composed by Tom Carr of the Music Department. The World Premiere of the complete work took place at Evensong at Hindringham Church on Sunday 1st October.
A full Tig’s was treated to a wonderful lunchtime concert on Friday 29th September as the Music and Munch series got going for the new Academic Year. Particularly impressive were our new Year 9 musicians who played beautifully and looked very comfortable performing so soon after the beginning of term. A mixed programme included soulful singing from Michelle W, further voice performances from Olivia E, Alma de R and Amelia M-L and Ethan K on guitar, Sophie L on saxophone, the finale of a Haydn’s Piano Sonata in D Major from Jimmy T and Layla K playing a Hungarian Dance on her violin.
On Monday 2nd October, 7 Gresham’s musicians auditioned for Norfolk County Youth Orchestra. Each was asked to perform a solo piece and sight-read an excerpt from an orchestral part. The playing was of a high standard and 6 have been offered places in the orchestra – Isadora A (violin), George B (trumpet), Ilana B (violin), Zinnia-Claire B (cello), Meg O (clarinet) and Naomi H-S (oboe). The orchestra’s first concert will be at St Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich on Thursday 26th October, following their residential course at Gresham’s (23rd-26th October).
This term’s Gospel Service took its lead from Black History Month and looked at the life of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko who died in police custody in 1977. This had a profound impact on many people, but most notably, Peter Gabriel, who told Biko’s story through his hauntingly powerful song of the same name. The service included a showing of a video from Playing for Change an organisation which Gresham’s Music Department supports, which aspires to uniting the world through music. Michelle W sang a solo and was joined by her brother Albert for a duet, accompanied by music staff Mr Myers and Mr Cooper.
On Wednesday 4th October 32 pupils studying Academic music headed to the Barbican hall in London to see a performance by the London Symphony Orchestra. Sir Antonio Pappano was making his debut with the orchestra following his 20-year tenure with the Royal Opera House. Works by Kendall, Liszt and Strauss wowed the audience of nearly 2000. This was an opportunity for the pupils to hear world class instrumental playing from one of the finest orchestras in the country and to reinforce the works they study at GCSE and A level. It also showed them the potential career pathways that lie ahead within the classical music industry.
