The FOGS Christmas Fayre raised over £2,000 for the charity Foodbank

Friends of Gresham’s School (FOGS) hosted their annual Christmas Fayre in aid of the North Norfolk Foodbank on Saturday 9th December in the School Chapel (which is also home to the Christmas Tree Festival) and for the first time the Auden Theatre. There were over thirty-five stallholders offering wonderful Christmas gifts and treats for visitors to choose from, this included jewellery, skincare, artwork, clothing and homewares as well as edible treats for four-legged friends. Festive refreshments were available to help the browsing for those who braved the inclement weather after House matches and for those feeling more peckish PokeNom was available. Schola and the brass ensemble performed for shoppers in the Chapel in the early afternoon and Father Christmas even made an appearance! The raffle also proved to be very popular, thank you to so many Holt businesses who kindly donated generous prizes. 

 A huge thank you to all stall holders, FOGS volunteers, staff and pupils for making the 2023 Fayre such a lovely event and helping to raise over £2,000 for the Foodbank. 

Families enjoyed the Christmas Spectacualar ‘Bunfire Night’

Families from all three schools enjoyed our Christmas Spectacular ‘Bunfire Night’ celebration on the Senior School fields this weekend to help raise funds for the Holt Youth Project.

After the bonfire was lit, Rev Jack retold the Nativity to the gathered crowd using chocolate bars which finished with a tremendous display of fireworks.

Many families attended which made for a really good atmosphere.

Jingle all the Way was a festive celebration of our wonderful musicians

Jingle all the Way is the sell out concert to set everyone up for the festive season. From ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ through ‘Silent Night’, ‘A Christmas festival’ famous folk songs and a ‘Frozen’ finale, this showcase from our 50-piece orchestra, concert band, string ensemble, brass group, Schola Cantorum, chapel choir, Junior choir, soloists, trios, big band and rock bands celebrated the hard work and commitment from our wonderful musicians. All narrated by our favourite snowman and accompanied by moving images and films, this was a sensory experience for our audience members and performers, with the finale ‘Show Yourself’ performed by the entire company receiving a standing ovation. Well done, and thank you to all of our incredible musicians, where can we book our tickets for next year?

Careers Fair 2023

What a cracking, energised, careers fair event we had last week. It was great to welcome a diverse range of education & employment exhibitors.

All year groups attended in staggered intervals in their Houses to have the opportunity to speak and find out more about future opportunities, work experience and summer jobs.

Exhibitors fed back that they very much enjoyed meeting such polite, curious and engaged pupils.

Schola Cantorum led the Cley congregation in celebrating Advent

Schola Cantorum led the Cley congregation in celebrating Advent on Sunday 3rd December in St Margaret Church. With readings from pupils and community members, music such as ‘Remember, O Thou Man’ by Chilcott, ‘Magnificat’ by Carr and ‘Nova Nova’ from Farrington and the hymns accompanied beautifully by the school Brass ensemble, this was a fitting way to start the Christmas celebrations in the community.

The Senior Colloquium has enjoyed a set of wonderfully successful presentations this term

The presentations included several sessions led by pupils and academic staff. Tillie C in Year 13 led things off with a fascinating analysis of the use of the female form in art. Mr Justin Myers next entertained pupils in the Strathmore Studio with his reflections on life as a professional musician. Mr Kemp fascinated the group with the wide and sometimes frankly disturbing variety of cuisine he has had the opportunity to consume during his world travels – everyone got to sample some Indian street foot, which went down a treat. On Armistice Day, Mr Majid shared a very sobering account of his time as a soldier fighting and being wounded in Afghanistan, along with his thoughtful reflections on the impossible situation the people of that country found themselves in during the war. A completely different experience was had more recently in Fishmongers’ Recital Hall, where the wonderful Mr Girling demonstrated with extraordinary power what a classically trained opera singer sounds like (it blows your hair back), and shared his journey from Gresham’s schoolboy to leading operatic roles at Glyndebourne and in Frankfurt, Germany. From his very impressive cutting-edge ICT suite in the Dyson Building, Mr Bill Robinson demonstrated how, rather frighteningly, AI is used to manipulate our online choices. The term ended with an activity in Dave’s, led by the creative and inspiring Mr Humphrey. Quite a term of rare and wonderful presentations, unique to Gresham’s! More adventures await next term…

Christmas Tree Festival 2023

We are currently holding our fourth annual Christmas Tree Festival. The school Chapel has been filled to the brim with beautiful Christmas Trees, all lovingly festooned by members of the school community. This year, the Christmas Tree Festival is raising money for the school’s charity partner, Holt Youth Project. You can donate money to this brilliant cause here – https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/greshams-christmas-tree-festival-2023. You can also visit the Christmas Tree Festival at the FOGS Christmas Fayre on Saturday 9^th December, 2.30-5.30pm.

Eduvie gave a powerful talk to the Barclays Wealth Management Team

Year 13 pupil Eduvie was invited by Barclays Director of Wealth Management and OG Deborah Wilson (E/B 1994 – 99) to give a virtual talk to her team on Diversity, Equality & Inclusion.

Deborah had seen via social media that Eduvie had given two talks at school to pupils, one on Nigerian history which was inspired by his Grandfather.

Eduvie gave an outstanding presentation on different perspectives to Black History and Black Culture.

The feedback from the Barclays Wealth Management Team was extremely positive on Eduvie’s powerful, knowledgeable talk.

Schools Challenge intermediate quiz team

Gresham’s has been participating in the new national online Schools’ Challenge Quiz. Previously we have been pitted against only teams in East Anglia, but this new format saw us immediately in action against other schools nationwide. 

In the Intermediate competition (Years 9 and 10) our team of James C, Darcy G, Sophie J and Hennie D won their match against Lady Eleanor Holles School Hampton 230 points to 130 points and they progress to Round Two. James was particularly instrumental to the victory with his speed on the buzzer. 

Our Senior team (Years 11-13) – Guy P, Cerys D, Pablo B-G, Heidi W and reserve Evie F – came up against a strong team from Kingham Hill in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. Despite leading through the early stages of the match, Kingham Hill pulled ahead in the final third to win 250-150. Guy was particularly strong on the buzzer throughout. 

The Gresham’s History Society has been re-established

Year 12 students Emily G, Tilly R and Eva O’D have re-established Gresham’s History Society as a pupil-run academic group open to all pupils studying History in Years 11-13. 

The first event was a Sixth Form History Social and Quiz organised by Emily and Tilly. From January 2024, historians will have an opportunity to present historical papers and to discuss topical events on Tuesday evenings four times a term.