Gresham’s Enterprise has raised £1,000 for the Opalagilagi school

Year 12 pupil Ben has written about the recent success of the Gresham’s Enterprise:

“We are happy to announce that Gresham’s Enterprise has successfully raised £1,000 for the Opalagilagi school in Kenya. This was made possible by the sale of various Gresham’s Enterprise products, such as dog collars, calendars, signet rings, pins, and sports bags.

Although the Gresham’s dog collars and Gresham’s calendars brought in the most revenue, we are proud to say that we also sold a lot of our other items, which enabled us to meet our goal. We are incredibly grateful  to everyone who purchased our products and enabled us to contribute to this meaningful cause.

We are also thrilled to share that Miss Gathercole will be visiting the school on the upcoming Kenya trip.  She will get to witness first hand how Gresham’s Enterprise’s funds are put to use to improve the lives of the people in Opalagilagi.

Finally, we would like to express our sincere thanks to all those who contributed to this fundraising effort. Special thanks go to Liam, Boaz, Willem, Jason, Bruno, Max, Nikita, Alfie, and Ben for their commitment to this project and hard work.

We appreciate everyone’s efforts, and we look forward to continuing our support for this wonderful cause in the future.”

CCF Lent term activities

The CCF has enjoyed another highly varied and exciting programme this term. Cadets have been involved in expedition training, preparation for DofE Bronze events, weapons training, first aid, fieldcraft, pool kayaking, archery and command & teamwork tasks.

Looking ahead there is a packed programme of summer camps and courses with an afloat camp, adventure training camp and all the courses offered by the MOD. There will also be a full contingent parade and formal review when we return in April, as well as a special parade to mark the King’s coronation. In addition, Year 9 have now been briefed on their options and will join as recruits for their tri-service programme in the summer term.

Pupils have been discovering their future options with various Careers events

GAP YEAR INFORMATION SESSION

The Careers department held a Gap Year information session for Year 12 pupils and parents, giving insight into a variety of programme options. The session was joined by Think Pacific; The Orchards School of Cookery; Ski instructor & snow boarding company, All Tracks. There were also presentations on Gappie opportunities at The Geelong College near Melbourne and OG Hector Robb gave an informed presentation on organising his Gappie placement in Sydney.

VISIT TO LOTUS TO MARK INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Lotus Cars invited Gresham’s to bring female pupils inspired by Science, Technology, Product Design and Engineering to their headquarters at Hethel in celebration of International Women’s Day.

Seven pupils attended the morning event where they interacted in quizzes with other schools and Lotus employees; listened to a variety of employer talks about their roles, education and career journey and had success in a quiz win, with year 10 pupil Mathilde being a 6 answer winner.

A very interesting and inspiring visit for the next generation of designers, engineers, technicians.

sixth form business breakfast

Sixth Form pupils attended the Business Breakfast to meet and network with a diverse variety of local business. It was a super well attended event by both business and sixth formers with a real busy and purposeful vibe. The pupils were briefed and coached the day before during enrichment so were well prepared and confident to meet and make the most of the opportunity to network.

The Economics Society held a lecture on Inequality and Universal Basic Income

The Economics Society held an evening lecture on the topic of “Inequality and Universal Basic Income” lead by the Year 13 pupils. Oli R, Boaz VdM, George B and Cameron H all presented well and it was great to welcome back Mr Tim Chaloner, our past Economics Master, as a guest speaker. The presentations were given to a packed CLT and were followed by a Question Time style panel discussion on all things “Global Inequality”.

Year 13 historians took part in an online War of the Roses Conference

On Wednesday March 15th, Wars of the Roses Year 13 A level historians were treated to an online conference on the Wars of the Roses hosted by the Richard III Society. Throughout the day, they listened in to live presentations from leading academics in the field such as Hannes Kleineke, Lauren Johnson, Matthew Lewis, Anne Curry, Sean Cunningham, James Ross and Jo Laynesmith. Topics included Henry VI’s troubled relationship with Richard Duke of York, the reputation of Queen Margaret of Anjou, the relationship of Edward IV with his nobility and the short and failed reign of Richard III. Throughout, the group were given practical experience of using contemporary sources to make sense of the complex events of the late fifteenth century.  

The Auden Society hosted a fantastic evening covering topics related to women in literature

Phoebe W, president of the Auden Society, reports on their latest meeting:

‘The Auden Society were in full force last Wednesday, with Beowulf, Miranda, Kitty, Libby, Summer and Phoebe (Auden President) presenting on a wide range of topics all linking back to women in literature to celebrate International Women’s Day! The evening also saw some Year 11 pupils in attendance too, those looking to get a taste of what further study might involve.  

Beowulf opened the evening with a talk on Anglo-Saxon History and why he’s applying for the ASNC course at Cambridge. Summer and Phoebe spoke about their coursework text – The Little Stranger – and how their chosen texts – Rebecca and Wuthering Heights – explore the female gothic genre. Miranda then presented on Caryl’s Churchill’s Top Girls and its message of individualism vs social responsibility. We also had a great display of performance poetry, with Libby sharing some of her own work. Kitty finished the evening with a talk on The Buddha of Suburbia and the themes of post-colonial literature.  

Thank you so much to Mrs. Sharrock and all our speakers for such a wonderful evening!’

Well done to Tillie and Miranda who took part in the Oxford Union Schools’ Debating Finals Day

Tillie and Miranda journeyed across to Oxford for the Oxford Union Schools’ Debating Finals Day, which saw them compete with 120 of the best debating teams from the UK and across the world.  

This is difficult and intense debating, with just fifteen minutes to prepare for each motion (without access to any research materials or ability to consult teacher-coaches) and to get to venue before each debate begins. This was the first time that Tillie and Miranda had broken for Finals Day, matching the achievement by Dally and Nikita in reaching the online Finals Day of 2021. 

Tillie and Miranda competed in four debates in the British Parliamentary Style in an event which lasted nine hours. 

In the first debate, This House opposes the narrative that women can have it all, they came second as Opening Opposition. The second debate saw Gresham’s taking on the role of Opening Government defending the motion In areas of socioeconomic deprivation, this House would prioritize training students in vocational skills as opposed to traditional academic subjects and being placed third. The third debate, This House believes that the development of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) should be restricted exclusively to government-controlled or funded institutions, saw Tillie and Miranda in the role of Closing Opposition and here they took a risk which did not pay off which saw them ranked fourth. Their final debate was This House opposes career politicians and they finished strongly, placed third as Closing Government. 

Overall, this gave the team a very creditable four points and, whilst not sufficient to reach the top eight in the competition who qualified for the semi-finals, they acquitted themselves extremely well throughout.  

Our Chapel now holds a Silver Eco Church Award

The Eco Church Award Scheme is designed to celebrate the way in which churches and their communities care for our planet as part of the Christian faith. Well done to everyone involved in reaching this milestone!

Pupils did clay target shooting as an afternoon activity this half term

Pupils have once again been given the opportunity to do clay target shooting as an afternoon activity in the second half of this term. More than 20 pupils of from Years 9 – 13 visited a local field for introductory sessions, using a range of shotguns, equipment and resources kindly provided by the CCF and under the watchful eye of Mr Clarke. Some enjoyed their first experience of shotgun shooting while others honed their skills with a selection of different challenges. The aim is both to introduce clay shooting to novices and to prepare the school teams for competitions to ensure they retain their many trophies won last year.