Last week Gresham’s marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings together in Chapel. Members of the CCF laid a wreath on behalf of the school and Mr Kinder delivered a powerful talk about the life of Lieutenant Guy Napier Westley O.G. who died on Gold Beach that day.
Art students studying at GCSE, A Level or Higher Education were invited to submit work to the competition, which was assessed by a small panel of professional local artists. A short list of 10 artists was generated, and after viewing original artwork, one winner & runner up will be chosen.
The competition aims to help promote youth art talent in Norfolk, help young artists get a foothold in the professional art market and boost the influence of new artists at the show.
Year 12 pupil Sophia did incredibly well to be shortlisted, and she has therefore been invited to exhibit two original pieces of artwork at this year’s Norfolk Show, which takes place at the Norfolk Showground on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th June. We wish her all the best for when the winner of the competition is announced!
Two teams of Gresham’s cadets travelled to Cambridge Gun Club on both Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June for the National Cadet Clay Target Shooting Championships.
The Senior Team of Edgar A, Will N, Jack K and Joe G achieved Silver medals in both the ‘Down the Line’ and ‘Sporting’ competitions, missing the Gold by just one point. Will N was awarded an individual Silver medal for his ‘Down the Line’ score and Edgar A was the top shot of CCF competitors in the ‘Sporting’ and therefore represented the CCF in the prestigious inter-services national final where he achieved another Silver medal.
The Junior Team of Sam W, Toby W, Alec A & Max C took Gold in the Flurry Competition with an astonishing score of 79 points, a full 10 points ahead of their nearest rivals and a feat that was given special mention in the prizegiving ceremony. They also achieved Bronze in the ‘Sporting’ competition. Max C was awarded an individual Bronze medal, being ranked as the 3rd best CCF shot out of all the competitors present.
This was another outstanding performance at national sporting level for the clay target shooters.
This year’s Mental Health First Aid Champions spoke in Chapel this week about the Mental Health First Aid course that is offered to Year 12 pupils as part of the Services provision on a Friday afternoon. They talked to the School about the importance of raising awareness about mental health as well as promoting the course for others to take advantage of. The course teaches the pupils to:
Just before half term the Year 12 Geography pupils attended a 3 day fieldwork trip to support their learning for the A level course. On the Tuesday the group headed early in the morning to London for a day of urban fieldwork. Starting at the London Olympic site, the group explored the site for the 2012 Olympics, East Village and Westfield whilst discussing the reasons, impacts and legacy of hosting the event on the local community and country.
They then headed to Kings Cross for lunch to investigate the new rebranding of the station and subsequent urban development in recent years. Using all forms of transport and trying to dodge the showers, they took an Uber Clipper boat to the Docklands from Tower Pier. There the pupils studied the impacts of de-industrialisation in the 1960s and 1970s and the legacy of the redevelopment strategies.
That afternoon they made the long journey to Dorset for the second part of the week. Staying on the Isle of Portland was beautiful when the weather was fair; they had stunning views from the bunkhouse at Portland Bill. The morning was spent undertaking a sand dune transect at Studland bay to view the changes from highwater mark to the climax vegetation of pine woodland. They sheltered in the minibus waiting for the weather to clear and walked up to the iconic Old Harry’s Rocks before heading down off the headland to Swanage in search of an elusive ice cream. Nandos and bowling in Yeovil finished off a wet, long but fulfilling geographical day.
They were blessed with beautiful weather on the Thursday as the journey along the Jurassic coastline continued. Chesil Beach was soon followed by a visit to Lulworth Cove where some of the most incredible geology can be seen. They walked up over the ridge to Durdle Door and finished the trip viewing one of the great landforms in Geography textbooks! A long trip back to Holt concluded around 10pm with a tired yet happy group of pupils. A big thanks to Miss King, Mr Liberman and Mr Atkinson for the driving, geography teaching and everything else to make this possible. It was the first time in a while that the Geography Department had been on a residential trip and they are very much looking forward to next year!
The Year 9 Inter-House Debating competition has come to a conclusion and the standard of debate this year has been exceptionally high. The semi-final matches were hotly contested, with Woodlands seeing off the challenge of Queens’ and Farfield holding out against a very strong Oakeley.
The final took place for the first time in the Dyson Building as Woodlands – Isaac B, Xander B and Johnnie O – proposed and the Wild Card, Farfield – George J, Tristan B and Alex B – opposed the motion This House believes that the UK should follow the lead of Ireland, Norway and Spain and recognise Palestine as a state.
Both sides displayed a mastery of the complex history and issues related to Palestine and Israel and responded very well to Points of Information and some very tough questions from the floor.
The final result was very close but proposition Woodlands emerged victorious and lift the Carolyn Thomas Cup for 2024.
The Charity Challenge event this year looked to build on the success of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks from last year and take it to the national level. Taking on the National 3 Peaks is not easy; Ben Nevis 1345m, Scafell Pike 978m and Snowdon 1085m, each is a day’s walk in their own right. The total walking distance this is 23 miles (37km) and the total ascent 3064m (10,052ft) – twice that of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, over a similar total walking distance. The team went for the recognised 24-hour challenge with the option of dropping onto the ‘sensible’ challenge – competing all 3 peaks up and down in under 15 hours – useful should the half term traffic not be on their side.
On the Thursday of the summer half term, they departed after weeks of preparation and kit checks. To break up the mammoth 9-hour journey (even longer in a restricted minibus) to the start in Fort William, they stopped and tried their hand at panning for gold in the Leadhills and stayed the night in Moffit. Mr Majid led the prospecting team which may have had limited success but they were happy to be out of the bus all the same. After a couple of hours, they conceded there was not enough gold for a retirement fund, so headed back to Moffit. They found an Italian restaurant for the team to get their final carbohydrate intake, then returned to the hostel for one final kit check.
When they finally arrived in Fort William there was still a wait to be had as the departure time of 1700 had to be stuck to, to ensure maximum light and the least amount of traffic, or so they thought. Mr Daniels led the team and Mrs Brighton-Watt set a great pace as they attacked the steep slopes of the first peak. Ben Nevis took them 5:38:04 which was only slightly slower than expected. Leaving the base of Fort William in the dark, driven by O Liberman and N Liberman, they made great time to the Lake District. After a quick breakfast they were up and down Scafell in an amazing time of 3:51:44. Sadly their luck turned, and they hit some terrible half term traffic on the M6 which would meant they would not finish in the 24 hour window. With the planning, effort and distance travelled, they knew we had press on all the same. It was poetic to be walking off Snowdon, the final peak with the sun setting down the valley. With 4:30:14 on the clock, they got into the minibus for one last time. The team’s total walking time was 14:00:02 which was an hour quicker than the average time taken on the mountains and achieving the Sensible Challenge! Lydia F D, Callum B, Will S, Sammy H, Limony A, Inez C, Finn S and Alf S made up the rest of the summit team and raised a great amount of money for charity and pushed themselves to the limit, not just physically and mentally on the mountain but what also the amount of time one can spend on a minibus.
You can support the trip by donating to: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/greshams-national-three-peaks
The CCF held a tri-service afloat camp at Hickling Broad during the half term break. On Saturday and Monday the cadets took RYA training focused on courses in powerboating and dinghy sailing with cadets earning stage 2 & stage 3 qualifications in sailing and level 2 powerboating. Sunday was an upriver trip to Potter Higham in sail and powerboats. All cadets also enjoyed evenings of paddleboarding & canoeing, all delivered by our own qualified instructors. It was a great weekend of water-based activities, despite the relentlessly challenging wet weather! We look forward to more afloat activity on CCF field days and further adventure training events in the future.
Charlotte Ambrose MPhys ASEP MInstP MINCOSE MWES visited our Year 12 Physics pupils to talk to them about her career path to becoming a Systems Engineer and her 5-year university education, leading to a Masters degree in Astrophysics. Charlotte shared some of the exciting projects she has been part of, including sensing software for stealth aircraft, designing and building satellites, and conceptual aircraft designs.
Our girls tennis teams have played fixtures against Framingham, Kings Ely, RHS, Cromer, Beeston, Norwich High School and North Elmham. The senior team have competed in the national Aberdare Cup tournament narrowly losing to Framingham. The junior team are still in the competition having had a first round win against Norwich High, which they won in a fiercely contested battle 4-2. There has been some fantastic tennis played with good results for both senior and junior teams, the Junior A team still remain unbeaten.
