Henry F was selected in the final 23 man squad for London and South East U18 rugby team who faced The North U18 team on the weekend. It was a highly competitive fixture which saw London and South East come out victorious with a 12-5 win. Henry will play for them again this weekend against London and South West. Well done Henry and best of luck.
In the week leading up to half term, the pupils on the Talented Athlete Development (TAD) programme welcomed Andy Duckham, who delivered a session with a focus on breathing technique. Andy predominantly works with boxers and MMA athletes to enhance their recovery in between rounds. Andy was able to guide the pupils through different breathing patterns and techniques which have been evidenced to improve recovery, reduce stress and anxiety and improve sleep hygiene.
The first week back from February half term, the TAD programme had Jason Fligg deliver a performance nutrition workshop. Jason is a registered Performance Nutritionist who works with a range of athletes to meet their nutritional requirements. The pupils made three recipes which consisted of a portion of overnight oats, a hypertonic sports drink and a muesli fruit and yogurt bowl. The feedback from the sessions has already been very positive.
The Prep School IT Monitors, Aydan M, Alex T, Alex H, Matthew C, James M and Morgana M, launched this year’s Safer Internet week with an assembly last Monday to the Prep School, introducing everyone to the theme of ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’. This was followed on the Tuesday, by an excellent talk to the Year 6 – 8 pupils, from the Senior School Digital Leaders, Sophie L, Reva S, John H and Amelia P. In ICT lessons last week pupils also had the opportunity to talk about what they do online, look at the potential worries they face and most importantly, discuss who they can ask for help, if required.
The Year 3 and 4 pupils hosted a Nature to Nurture showcase afternoon at the Auden Theatre to friends and families.
They performed poems, plays, dances and sang songs with Climate Change as the theme. This was their first opportunity at performing at the Auden Theatre and everyone did such an amazing job.
Last week, a group of amazing pupils, (AKA the wonderful Drama department design team), spent an evening in the Auden Theatre painting the set ready for Phantom of the Opera.
Last week, the staff took on the prefects in the annual fancy dress charity hockey match. There were some fantastic outfits on display as can be seen in the photos! The game was played in great spirits and the scores were tied at 2-2 at the final whistle. A penalty flick shoot out ensued and still the scores were tied at 3-3 in the shoot out after some heroics in goal by Mrs Alexander for the staff. The shoot out went into sudden death with the large crowd of pupils behind the goal cheering on the prefects to good effect, but it was the staff that scored the winning penalty and with it were crowned champions for 2023. A great evening was had by all with funds raised being donated to Holt Youth Project and Breast Cancer Awareness.
To celebrate Auden’s birthday the English department were pleased to host two events celebrating the life and works of OG W.H Auden. On the 7th February ‘Tell Me The Truth About Love” came to Fishmongers’ Hall. Charting the relationship between W.H Auden and Benjamin Britten, the performance wove together biographical details with extracts from letters and diaries. Beautifully scripted and read by John Smart, Paul Hands and Steve Benson, the story of their relationship was complimented by beautiful performances of Britten sung by soprano Jayne Jones, accompanied by Angela Dugdale and Wyatt Earp. The group perfectly conveyed the story of a relationship that seemed at first to bring out the best of each man’s genius, but finally ended in misunderstanding and regret. On the 8th February the Auden Society aptly gathered in the Auden Theatre, the focus this term was on Auden himself. Our Year 12 pupils led the charge and took a chronological approach to their presentations, creating variety and interest for those listening. Larkin gave an excellent introduction to the group on Auden’s younger years, focusing on his time at Gresham’s and using extracts from his Juvenilia collection. Phoebe, our Auden President, followed with a look at Auden’s time in Berlin and how he exemplified the rebellious streak of Germanophilia that took hold in England in the 1920’s. Miranda concisely developed on Phoebe and Larkin’s presentations by linking in much of the knowledge she had learnt from the performance in Fishmongers’ Hall on the previous night. The five poetic philosophies of belief, doubt, certainty, enchantment and truth that Auden mused over were carefully explained by Beowulf, with Tamsin ending the evening by giving a beautiful reading of ‘Funeral Blues’ and ‘Autumn Song’.
In early February, the Year 13 pioneers of the History Book Club met to discuss the third book they have read so far, ‘Making Sense of the Troubles’ by David McKittrick and David McVea. Phoebe, Georgie and George met to discuss the book’s even-handed treatment of the Northern Ireland Conflict. They discussed the static nature of society in Northern Ireland after 1921, the influence of personalities like Terence O’Neill, Brian Faulkner and Ian Paisley, and the reasons for the descent into violence and the failure of the Stormont Assembly. They also shared some of the very moving personal testimonies of the Troubles and discussed what had led to the peace process and what the Northern Ireland Protocol might mean for the future of peace post-Brexit. The History Book Club is now expanding as Year 12 members join and our next book review is ‘Coffee with Hitler’ by Charles Spicer who will visit Gresham’s to talk about his book on Monday 27th February.
The new term resulted in a new squad for the football team, as some pupils joined the group from other sports, whilst some left to play hockey this term. There was an air of excitement as the term started though, with a move to the new field for both first and second teams and over 40 boys choosing to play football as their games options. Even more exciting was the establishment this term of our girls team, with 22 girls choosing football as an option, training under the expert eye of Ms Nche and a team of coaches from Norwich City CSF.
Bad weather left little time to prepare for the first fixture of the year, which was a friendly match between a Gresham’s OG XI and the first team. The OG side was made up of former students who had left in the last two years and it was an excellent occasion with the firsts winning out 6-2.
This set us up nicely for the first competitive match of the season against The Leys. Again, the weather played a part making conditions tricky for both sides and The Leys were awarded a penalty 10 minutes into the first half, which was excellently saved by Jakub N. Mid way through the half, Lucas T finished off an excellent move to put Gresham’s in front, but The Leys pulled back just before half time. Shortly after, the lead was restored by Albert W and we led 2-1 at the break. A close second half followed, with both sides having chances but Gresham’s ended up winning 4-1, with further goals from Ru M and Felix D-M.
Following a weather postponement against Culford, a home game for the firsts against a very strong St Felix school side followed. This was a competitive game with St Felix taking the lead in the first half and doubling it shortly after the half time break. A tweak in tactics followed and Gresham’s came into the match more, with Jude P scoring to reduce the deficit and Albert W equalising midway into the second period. Each side had chances, but an excellent move was finished by Jude P for his second of the game to give Gresham’s the lead. A dogged defensive display followed, with Gresham’s holding on at the end but the final whistle blew and the side had shown great resilience to win 3-2, especially having been 2-0 down.
The following weekend saw both Gresham’s first and second team in action, as Wymondham College visited with two very competitive teams.
The first team played a determined game, packing the midfield and stifling any creativity from the opposition. Both sides had chances but the half time score was 0-0. In the second half, Gresham’s shocked Wymondham to take the lead, with an excellent delivery from George B headed in at close range by Ru M. This really motivated the side and we pressed for another goal, which arrived mid-way through the second half. Jude P was fouled several yards outside the penalty area, and whilst the defence and goalkeeper expected a cross into the box from the free kick, George B scored a quite magnificent goal directly from a shot that would not have looked out of place on match of the day! Leading 2-0, Gresham’s had to withstand a lot of late pressure and Wymondham pulled one back to make it a nervous last 15 minutes, but we held on for an excellent 2-1 win.
The second team had a hard match against a Wymondham College seconds on the same Saturday afternoon. Wymondham dominated the first half eventually breaking the deadlock with a harsh penalty award. Two minutes later another penalty and Gresham’s went down 2-0. Gresham’s were under pressure and continued to leak goals. However, a fight back in the second half saw a very well taken goal by Ben R and a rocket header by Emerson G to finish with a scoreline of 7-2 to Wymondham. A good performance for the team bearing in mind the first time they have played together and player of the Match was Milan H for a string of superb saves.
The final round of fixtures of the half term saw three Gresham’s football teams playing at the same time (for the first time in recent history) with a block fixture at home against Langley.
The first team found themselves 1-0 down after just 2 minutes, when Langley scored from a corner after confusion in the penalty area. Gresham’s were sluggish for 10 minutes against a confident and composed Langley side, but quickly played their way back into the match and after 30 minutes were rewarded for their efforts, as Jude P latched onto a through ball to shrug off the defender and score. Just before half time, Lucas T found space on the right hand side to score with a delightful chipped shot. Gresham’s led 2-1 at half time and controlled the midfield, being first to every loose ball and attacking in numbers when winning back possession and mid-way into the half scored again, with Jude P getting his second goal of the game. Langley scored with 10 minutes to go to reduce the deficit to 3-2 but Gresham’s held on for a superb win.
The second team had a more difficult afternoon with their second fixture of the term against a strong Langley team. The boys did well to match their opponents until half time and were very much in the game until early in the second half. Ben R scored again as did Boaz v d M. The team tired in the second half and with some errors creeping in lost 6-2 in a competitive game.
This fixture also saw the debut of the Gresham’s girls football team and there was much excitement as the day arrived. Wearing their new first team kits, the girls (playing competitively for the first time) did an excellent job against a more experienced Langley side and took the lead, when Maya P had a shot which was unfortunately deflected into the Langley net by one of their own defenders. Langley’s experience showed and they soon were winning 3-1, however Gresham’s pulled one back before half time with a composed finish by Daisy W. The second half resumed with Langley in the ascendancy and they raced into a 5-2 lead, however the Gresham’s girls kept battling, creating several chances and playing some good football, which was rewarded with a goal just before the full time whistle. A penalty was given, which Jaz C put away for the final score of 6-3 to Langley. This was a fantastic debut and a positive display, with strong performances all round but Michelle W was named player of the match for her amazing energy and commitment throughout the entire game. The girls can now look forward to fixtures against Oundle and Uppingham (away) and Norwich School (home and away) in what will be a busy Lent 2 half term.
This was a positive start to the half term. The first team are unbeaten since early November and have now won 8 matches in a row (a total of 11 wins out of 15 since September) scoring 53 goals in the process! The second team have had some competitive games and the girls side has made their competitive debut. The final half term looks to be an exciting one for all three teams and football at Gresham’s is looking in a strong position for the future ahead.
Who will win? Entries are in for this year’s Playwrighting Competition. One again, several playwrights are brave enough to take the Director’s Chair to move their ideas from the page to the stage. These performances will take place on Friday 28th April in the Auden where the winning plays and productions will be announced. Judging from the range of styles and imaginative writing, it will be a truly dramatic event!