On 27th November, Emma Cole returned to Gresham’s for the twelfth year running to deliver her wonderful ‘Positive Voice’ talk to Year 12. She described her life living with HIV following her diagnosis as a young heterosexual woman in the early 1990s. She spoke about the stigma, the rejection, and her journey to the present day, now that she has become a ‘long term survivor’ (32 years). Her talk is informative and poignant, but with a large pinch of humour, making it highly entertaining and memorable; the pupils loved it. There was then the opportunity to ask questions and Emma answered with honesty and openness.
On 30th November, Year 12 attended a talk and workshops with Will Adolphy from M-Path.
M-Path is an organisation that aims to reframe traditional views of masculinity, helping men and boys engage with their emotional wellbeing and develop their powers of empathy and allyship.
Will gave a fantastic and thought-provoking talk, before then running workshops with smaller groups where pupils had the opportunity to work through and pick apart aspects and expectations surrounding masculinity. There was a great deal of interesting and valuable discussion, with many superb contributions from our pupils.
Parents and staff may already be aware that this year Gresham’s is participating in the Bold Voices Ambassadors’ Programme. This is an online programme for a group of our Year 12 pupils which helps them build the knowledge and skills to run two school-based projects which challenge gender inequality within our school community. It provides a unique opportunity for these pupils to develop a range of key skills beyond the core curriculum and create impact within their school.
Our ‘ambassadors’ decided that their first project would look at gender stereotyping, creating a questionnaire and delivering a Chapel talk in order to begin generating conversations around gender stereotyping and inequality. They did a fantastic job, producing an excellent presentation and involving whole school pupil participation. It was interesting, fun and memorable. We look forward to their next project!
During the month of November, the School once again supported the men’s health charity Movember. Sixth Form boys and male members of staff were encouraged to donate £5 to grow a Mo and there were some interesting results! The aim was to raise awareness of men’s health issues including prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. We were delighted to welcome Chris Wall, a Movember ambassador to talk in Chapel about Movember and all the amazing work it does globally to raise awareness of men’s health issues. He said men die on average 4.5 years earlier than women and for largely preventable reasons and that suicide is the leading cause of death in men aged between 20 and 34 in the UK. He encouraged all members of the School community regardless of gender to ‘Remember ALEC’ – Ask the question, Listen without judgement, Encourage action and Check in.
Following Chris’s presentation, tutors led discussion sessions in tutor time using some excellent Movember resources and encouraged pupils to touch base regularly with their friends and family. There was plenty of other fund raising going on for Movember as well; Woodlands ran in excess of 100km in 30 minutes on a cold and windy night, Oakeley ran 60km around the House and at the end of Movember there was a charity auction to shave off Mr Sharrock’s moustache and Mr Liberman’s beard! However, the most poignant moment of Movember was when 7 members of male staff (Mr Beales, Mr Myres, Mr Majid, Mr Hyatt, Mr Pienaar, Mr Womack and Mr Sharrock) spoke about personal experiences to the Lower and Upper Sixth in Chapel during their Monday afternoon Enrichment slot. These ranged from fatherhood and crying to juggling family life and masculinity. We thank them for their honesty and their talks had a profound impact on the Sixth Form.
Next year, we want to go bigger and better and hope to set up a Movember Ambassador programme. It is not too late to donate, please do support our cause by clicking this link: Gresham’s does Movember or scanning the QR code.
The Senior School ended the term with a series of traditional Christmas Carol services in Chapel. The beautiful Christmas songs and Carols performed by our amazing Chapel Choir provided the perfect end to the term, and a super start to our festive celebrations.
The final Music and Munch of term on Friday 8th December took on a suitably festive theme and to a full Tig’s tucking into delicious mince pies, the Year 9 Girls’ Choir started the lunchtime concert with Winter Song. Flute ensemble followed with Let it Snow (which luckily it didn’t start to do!) Other vocal and instrumental pieces included Crickets, accompanied by a String Quartet singing the first movement of the Pergolesi Magnificat, Amelia M-L performing Have yourself a merry little Christmas, a lively rendition of Camel stomp by Edie C on alto saxophone, and Olivia E’s ‘Almost there’ from the Princess and the Frog. Dana S impressed the audience with her beautiful violin playing of Concerto No. 1 by Komarowski and Brass Ensemble concluded with White Christmas and All I want for Christmas to send everyone home with a festive ear worm!
The school production of Find Me was a huge success! Pupils from Years 9, 10 and 11 worked incredibly hard on this challenging play about the difficulties the Taylor family experienced in the 1970s due to the inadequate mental health services provided at the time. The aim of the production was to broaden our pupils’ range of theatrical styles by tackling something with a hard hitting and educational theme as well as highlighting the changes that have been made in mental health services in the UK since the 70s. Stunning performances were given by all involved and the production was well supported by a fantastic backstage team. The production raised £410 for the mental heath charity Young Minds. A huge thank you to everyone involved in making this production possible and for the audience’s generous support and donations.
On the final weekend of school this year our Prep and Senior pupils enjoyed a festive Nativity Service in Chapel. They had enormous fun singing Carols and watching a hilarious adaptation of the Nativity story written and performed by Senior School drama pupils. The star of the show was the wonderful ‘Pantomime Donkey’ who made a dramatic entrance into Chapel to help Mary and Joseph in their hour of need.
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 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.
