Grufts 2023 raised £200 for the Olpalagilagi School in Kenya

Just about 20 dogs and their owners turned out on a baking hot Father’s Day to contest various classes at Grufts 2023. Although we had hoped for rather more contestants the rings were happily busy and most dogs went home with a rosette. A great deal of fun was had by canines and humans alike and just over £200 was raised for Olpalagilagi School. This will go towards an extension for a severely overcrowded, corrugated iron dormitory, improving the conditions for the boy boarders. Thank you very much to all who came along and took part, and also to those who just bought lots of cakes from the tea stall.

The Careers Department have held events and organised work experience covering a variety of sectors this term

Year 12 Conference

This was an event for all of Year 12 and parents to give information and advice on some of the different pathways available post Sixth Form.

Mrs Mousley and Mrs Osborne had organised an excellent variety of topics & speakers for pupils and parents to choose from, including.

• Why go to university & how to choose your course – University of East Anglia (UEA)
• Performing Arts/Drama school applications with Mrs Futter & Ms Corrigan
• Careers in Sport – David Hunter, Chief Executive & Clerk of the Course, Fakenham Racecourse
• How to write a good personal statement – University of Sheffield
• Joining the Army/Officer Entry/Army Medical Corp – Army Outreach
• Applying to Study in USA & Overseas – The University Guys
• Sourcing a Degree Apprenticeship – Exeter University
• Creative courses / Art School / Being a student in London – OG Molly Cook
• Agriculture Study
• Being a Gappie – OG Finn Lowe
• Engineering courses – Sheffield University
• Being a Norland Nanny

Lotus Cars Trip

This trip marked International Day of Women in Engineering.

Gresham’s pupils were invited by Lotus Cars to attend the day at their training academy in Norwich. Mrs Osborne took nine female pupils, from Years 10 and 11, on the trip who showed interest and ability in science, technology, design, engineering and maths.  

In the morning they enjoyed talks from Lotus female engineers and an insightful and encouraging talk from Elizabeth Donnelly, CEO Women’s Engineering Society.

The afternoon was interactive with a production line exercise and time spent in the simulated learning workshop environment.

Zinnia-Claire, one of the pupils on the trip, said, “I loved the trip! I was inspired by both the people and the cars. This was a fantastic experience and it encouraged me to potentially pursue a future in engineering.”

Summer Work Experience

Year 13 pupil Tanya P had a week’s work placement with Holkham Estate where she was given an insight into the diversity of the work at the estate.

Tanya said “It was really insightful and interesting to learn about all the different aspects of the estate.

My time in the land and property area was really helpful to understand different developments and rental properties for my future career. I found everyone at Holkham incredibly friendly, approachable and happy.”

Read more on the Holkham blog. 

Other Work Experience placements

Year 12 pupil George will be doing a week’s work placement in July with stockbrokers Barratt & Cooke.  Mr Coventry, Mr Mack and Mrs Osborne interviewed a high calibre of applicants from current Year 12 for the placement. This is a yearly opportunity offered to one pupil from Gresham’s and one from Norwich School.

Erin L in Year 12 is doing a three-day placement with OG Jeremy Dugdale, Barrister at Law, Octagon House Chambers.

Year 12 pupil Jimmy T will be doing a placement with North Norfolk Railway to further his insight in engineering.

Year 12 pupil Erin L has completed her work experience at Norwich Crown Court. Erin said, “just finished 2 days of work experience, was very interesting! Spent Monday with Jeremy, attending his cases and spent the Tuesday with a judge, where I got to sit in on lots of different family court cases and 1 criminal case!”

Visit from The Academy of Robotics to Gresham’s

We enjoyed a visit from William Sachiti and Jill Lloyd from The Academy of Robotics based at the former RAF base RAF Neatishead. They visited pupils in the Dyson Building.

They said, “it was an absolutely fascinating visit. We were so impressed by the level the students are working at. It’s an incredible space to work in, but it was also abundantly clear that the level of work produced by the students is very much driven by the passion their teachers have for their subjects and for sharing this knowledge with the students”.

Degree ApprenticeshipS

Congratulations to Year 13 pupil Henry B for securing a degree apprenticeship with Richard Utting Associates. 

Henry will be starting as a Trainee Quantity Surveyor in their Norwich office. Henry will benefit from a comprehensive inhouse training programme, as well as part-time day release at Anglia Ruskin University, studying a BSc (Hons) degree in Quantity Surveying.

Congratulations to Year 13 pupil Archie W for his perseverance and dedication in research, work experience and application for the PCDA (Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship) with Norfolk & Suffolk Constabulary.

The whole process has taken 9-12 months from application to rigorous assessments, culminating in an in-depth, testing interview. This was an extremely intensive process alongside doing A levels.

Year 12 pupils travelled to Kenya to work at Olpalagilagi Primary School

A group of 10 lucky Year 12 pupils and two members of staff travelled at the start of half term to spend two weeks on the southern edge of the Maasai Mara. They were hosted in superb style by the Cottar’s 1920’s camp. The key focus of the trip was to work at Olpalagilagi Primary School, where each of the Gresham’s pupils taught up to 80 children at a time with few resources to hand. In addition to this, activities included litter picking, erosion control work, learning from the local community about Maasai culture, and of course the odd safari to look for the Big Five took place.  

Miranda and Serenity attended the Wells Literary Festival to listen Professor John Mullan

Miranda and Serenity attended the Wells Literary Festival ‘Sea Fever’ to listen to Professor John Mullan speak on Charles Dickens. Using extracts from his recent book, ‘The Artful Dickens’, Professor Mullan led his audience through the weird, wonderful and often humorous aspects of Dickens’s style. Listening to this eminent academic speak locally was such a privilege – we look forward to attending the festival again next year!

Congratulations to our U15 girls tennis team who have been crowned county champions

Congratulations to our Year 10 girls, Francis R, Jemima M-E, Romilly H and Zelie B who have been crowned county champions. It is an event made up of four singles and two doubles, and they had an exciting match in the county final to beat Norwich High School 4-2. They now go on to the East of England finals in September, good luck girls!

Well done to Farfield who have won the Year 9 Inter-House Debating Competition

This term has witnessed a quite outstanding Year 9 Inter-House Debating Competition. There was not a weak team across the seven houses which meant strong teams such as Howson’s, Tallis and Woodlands exited at the first-round stage. 

The semi-finals saw Queens’ triumph over Edinburgh opposing the motion ‘This House would abolish SATs for schoolchildren in England’, with Farfield successfully proposing the motion ‘This House would follow the lead of France and ban short-haul flights in the UK wherever viable train alternatives exist’ against Oakeley.   

The final was a rematch of the first-round tie but with the reverse result as Wild Card Farfield (Will, Connor and James) successfully defended the motion ‘This House would introduce a cap on the price of basic food items in Britain’ against the opposition, Queens’ (Ilana, Charlotte and Evie). 

Farfield now hold the Carolyn Thomas Trophy for 2022-23 and join Queens’ (Seniors) and Tallis (Year 10 and 11) as Wild Card teams who lost their first match but went on to win the competition.  

We resume in September with a new house, Arkell, entering the Senior competition for the first time.  

Our Eco Team delivered a brilliant talk to highlight their work this year

Members of our Eco Team delivered a brilliant chapel talk to highlight their work this year. The boys discussed how they are creating a wildlife area as part of their Community Action and Service project and highlighted the importance of minimizing food waste and recycling. They gave a quiz at the end with reusable cups as prizes. We are now submitting our entry for this years Green Flag Award and would like to thank all of our Eco Team for their hard work this year.

The Summer term Field Days saw pupils get involved in a huge range of activities

Services

About 90 pupils in the services program volunteered in the local community. There were many groups scattered across North Norfolk. At Eve’s Hill Veg company, at Kelling, at Thornage Hall and along the River Glaven. Pupils worked in allotments, in gardens and at commercial vegetable growing sites. Jobs included: weeding, clearing beds for new crops, potting on young plants and watering.

One group of pupils made clay bricks that will eventually form a wall in the Natural Surroundings bee garden in Glanford, which will hopefully attract a hairy footed flowerbee. The gang also cut off the seed heads of pendulums sedge. Later in the afternoon OG Henry Crawley and Ex Biology teacher Tony Leach took them on a hunt for the Himalayan Balsam. They learnt to spot this incredible successful invasive species and armed with our sticks, battle with stinging nettles, cross precarious branches and even walk through streams. A day of nature!

At the Treehouse community café in Holt there were numerous wooden pagodas to paint for their new sensory garden. Nearby, a team was based at St Andrew’s church. They were mowing grass, painting fences, strimming and weeding.

Jude P and Darcey L cleared a huge area of the Holt kitchen garden and sowed green compost and wildflower seeds. Later in the afternoon, the St Andrew’s crew came and helped finish the job. Many thanks to them and a especially to Darcey and Jude for their determined spade work.

Four students volunteered at Holt Primary school, assisting in the different year group classrooms, particularly with one-to-one reading. Their efforts were hugely appreciated by everyone at Holt Primary.

Another small group went to Holt Youth Project with an exciting card weaving workshop and they also helped in their allotment.

There was a jaunt to Norwich with a visit to the Castle Museum and the Last Voyage of the Gloucester exhibition whilst another group hiked to the coast and picked litter along the shingle beach.

Meanwhile in school there was plenty to be done with the charity knitting group, or doing maintenance work in Tallis.

Also within school, pupils created a special Labyrinth on the floor in Chapel. Labyrinths are ancient pathways found across the world, most famously in some of Europe’s major Cathedrals. They offer space for reflection and inner stillness in a busy world.

The beautiful pathway was constructed by the Art Department and some Year 9 pupils using natural materials. Staff and pupils have the opportunity to walk around the Labyrinth, taking time to reflect and unwind at the end of a busy school year.

It was a brilliant two days of volunteering and well done to everyone who got involved.

CCF

The 19^th & 20^th June saw some of the busiest Field Days in recent memory. The whole of the Year 9 recruit cohort were involved in assessment of their expedition skills with navigation, campcraft, first aid and trekking activities. Year 10 experienced military training according to section with the Royal Navy section afloat with sailing, kayaking and powerboating at Hickling Broad and the Army section completing field craft skills including blank firing battle simulations as well as live firing at Swanton Morley.

The RAF section learnt skills as varied as archery and rifle drill. On the second day, the RAF cadets did a rotation of paddle boarding, kayaking and raft building at the Mike Thurston Water Activities Centre in North Walsham. The day culminated in the cadets racing their self-built rafts with a mixed degree of success; only one raft made it to the finish line intact! It was a brilliant day of skills building, team building and whacky races! 

Over the two days, the senior NCOs in Year 12 had the opportunity to develop their leadership skills, whether leading a section attack, coordinating a team or delivering a lesson. The skills of resilience, concentration and teamwork were fully on display.

RAF cadets at Mike Thurston Water Activities Centre

Army section in the woods

RAF archery

RAF rifle drills

RAF water fight

Royal Navy sailing

CCF Range day

Theatre in the woods

A selection of pupils headed into Theatre in the Woods to work on getting the stage ready for the upcoming Pop Concert.

We are delighted to announce that we have appointed Darrell Chart-Boyles to be Deputy Head (Academic) at the Senior School

We are delighted to announce that we have appointed Darrell Chart-Boyles to be Deputy Head (Academic) at the Senior School from January 2024. He joins us from Colchester Royal Grammar School, a highly selective school in Essex, where he has been Deputy Head since 2018.

Douglas Robb, Headmaster, said, “We very much look forward to welcoming Darrell to the Gresham’s community, he brings with him a breadth and depth of leadership experience, knowledge and skills and will ensure all our pupils benefit from the highest possible standards of teaching and learning.”

Darrell, writes, “Following five fantastic years, I am of course sad to be leaving Colchester Royal Grammar School. The school community has experienced many changes in this time but my colleagues’ work on Safeguarding as well as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is, rightly, being used as a model for success at both a local and national level. It remains one of the finest schools in the country for good reason and I wish my Senior Leadership Team colleagues, staff and students the very best for the future.”

“As the new Deputy Head (Academic), I am absolutely thrilled to be joining Gresham’s, a school with a phenomenal reputation for its academic, pastoral and co-curricular offering. My husband and I, along with our two sons, are looking forward to joining the Gresham’s family and I cannot wait to get started in what I am sure will be a fantastically rewarding role.”

Tristan Philpott, currently Head of Science, will act as interim Deputy Head (Academic) for the Michaelmas Term.

Congratulations to both Darrell and Tristan on these appointments.

Creators & Digital Media Exhibition

In the first event of its kind, the Creators & Digital Media Exhibition took place in Fishmongers’ Recital Hall on Thursday 15th June to showcase the incredible work created in the Strathmore Studio this year. A drinks reception in Tig’s, complete with theremin and pupils’ portfolios for individual listening, preceded the short film. The film explained the process of arriving at the finished article and presented work from Ned A, Jethro H, Anton L, Jake O, Alex R and Freddie S, ranging from advertisements and film scores to hit Gresham’s Guys and Girls singles. Jake O was recognised for his exemplary dedication to the studio, and the exhibition featured works he had directed, composed and produced. What a wonderful insight into this extraordinarily busy and talented facet of the Music Department.