Our teams of Year 5 and Year 6 Scientists did very well competing in the National Science Championship online. Congratulations to Santi, Bea, Rex and Jago who have made it through to the semi-finals.
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.
Year 5 pupils are in the process of earning bonus points for our Gresham’s Challenge scheme (similar to DofE). They can earn bonus points by showing effort in a range of activities or pastimes.
Congratulations to Otto in Year 3 who has just represented Team England at the Dance World Cup. He came 4th in the world for lyrical solo and 5th in the world for jazz solo. He also just secured a much coveted place on the Royal Ballet Junior Associates programme.
Our Year 6 team had a very successful day at the Greenpower races at Scottow Park. This is now the second year that we have competed at the event. The team won the fastest Drag Race, Fastest Slalom and were the overall winners of the event at which many other schools fiercely competed. Well done to all involved!
On Thursday 22nd June, the Prep School hall came to life with the annual Year 6 Science Fair.
Over the previous weeks, the children worked in teams and conducted science investigations of their own choosing. They then created displays of their findings.
As always, there was a fantastic array of interesting questions, such as:
- What is the most effective ingredients in sun cream?
- How does the pH of different types of milk vary?
- Does the brand of food affect our perception of taste?
- What is the best drink to have after eating chilli?
- Does listening to music affect our reaction times?
- Do different paints alter the burning time of wood?
To name but a few!
Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to the overall winners.
1st Place Overall: Boombastic (Nathaniel, Norah and Oli) Which fizzy drinks react with mentos the most?
2nd Place Overall: Beat Biologists (Erik, Millie and Charlotte) How does music affect your heart rate?
3rd Place Overall: Sweet Energy (Hetty, Paddy and Lulu) How does sugar affect your ability to exercise?
The Prep School were delighted to host 12 boys from Mayo College in India. The boys enjoyed a taste of life at Gresham’s Prep School alongside several trips to enjoy all that Norfolk offers to visitors. The boys presented a fabulous assembly to Prep School pupils who learnt much about their school and culture. Particular highlights included demonstrations of Indian dances and a puppet show. We hope that this will be the beginning of a long and happy association with Mayo College.
The Prep School held an Art Show to showcase the pupils’ hard work.
It was brilliant to welcome lots of visitors to the bright and colourful show, which celebrated the creativity and artistic achievements of every child in the school.Â
Year 3 had a fantastic, but very hot trip to West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village on Tuesday. They spent time looking round the museum and were lucky enough to be able to handle artefacts – some of which were over a thousand years old! They then explored the reconstructed houses and learnt about how the Anglo-Saxons lived.Â
A group of Year 6 pupils attended the annual Winton Cup humanities challenge. The theme was making the world happier and how that could be achieved through sessions on politics, history, geography, history of art and religion and philosophy.