Whilst the Year 10 pupils have been preparing for their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, the Year 11 and Year 12 pupils have been completing their classification training to develop their understanding of the principles of flight, flying operations and airmanship knowledge. In an effort to give rather complex theory some practical application, Cadet Flight Sergeant Julius R had the Year 12 cadets display air power in the form of paper aeroplanes! 

After the home weekend, the cadets will be moving into the shooting range to start their small arms training – watch this space! 

Recently in Lent term senior games, girls have had the option to choose football and have been very fortunate that the school has made new links with Norwich FC Community Sports Foundation. Our thanks go to Rosie Filby for coaching and inspiring the next generation of female footballers.

Our Year 10 pupils celebrated the new year in French with a slice from a ‘Gallette des Rois’ – a traditional French cake eaten on 6^th January (and throughout January) to mark the feast of the Epiphany. Within the cake is hidden a ‘fève’ which used to be a bean, and is now a porcelain figure. The finder then gets to be King or Queen for the day. Congratulations to Henry for finding the fève!

Mother Tongue Other Tongue is a national poetry project, led by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. In the Eastern region, the competition is being led by Routes into Languages East and this year, five pupils of French at Gresham’s – Phoebe W, and from left to right, Issi L, Ella L, Ruby P and Romilly H – were all shortlisted in the East Region category (Other Tongue) for their original poems. They will all receive certificates and their work will be published in an anthology alongside other shortlisted regional entrants. This is a fantastic achievement and we wish them the very best of luck as their entries move forward for judging in the final, which takes place in March.

On the last Saturday of Michaelmas Term, the Rifle Club travelled to Bisley for the annual British Schools Winter Open. We took two good teams, one of which had a large amount of experience and ability, the other which was made up of several young, newer members of the Rifle Club looking to gain some valuable experience. Our ‘A’ team went to the match extremely confident and certainly had the ability to win. Numbers were slightly down this year, with 148 competitors at the competition, from 13 different schools around the country, and the majority of the ‘big’ shooting schools were represented. Each Individual had to shoot four times, to give a total out of 400. The good number of newer shots that we took to the competition all shot very well but it was Ilana B and Alma DR who both shot way beyond their three months of experience and both finished in the top 100 in the Individual. It was the senior members of the team however, that really showed their talent. Belle W was 18^th out of the 148, Georgie C was 11^th, George B was 2^nd and Georgina B won the British Schools Individual Championships with a superb score of 389 (x400). Georgina B and Belle W also won both the Junior and Senior Pairs for Gresham’s. Georgina B and Belle W, along with Hannah B and Georgie C narrowly (by just two points) missed out on winning the ‘Team of IV’ competition and then had to settle for third place in the ‘Team of VIII’ competition with team mates George B, Avis F, Xenia P and Alex S. Out of a possible 3,200 points the Gresham’s ‘A’ team finished just 10 points behind Wellington College, the competition winners.

Huge congratulations to all members of the Rifle Club but particularly to Georgina B on continuing her phenomenal form right now and possibly being the top small-bore shot in schools shooting at this moment in time.

Over the month of November, the School took part in the Movember campaign. Movember aims to raise awareness regarding men’s mental health, as well as testicular cancer. Across the School, pupils and staff held fundraising events and activities to raise money for Movember. 

On Friday 11^th November Queens’, Edinburgh and Oakeley joined forces to help support Movember to complete an event organised by Sophia C. It was a lovely, clear evening when the girls congregated on the hockey pitches. Each House was set the challenge of completing at least 60km in recognition of the 60 men around the world who we lose to suicide every hour worldwide. This meant that all the girls needed to complete at least 4 laps each of the hockey pitches. It was a great atmosphere with lots of people encouraging each other followed by hot chocolate and flapjacks. The girls donated money as part of the event, which resulted in £203.62 being raised. Well done to all those who took part.

Sixth Form boys in-House grew ‘Mos’, held House competitions and also Moved for Movember. The Oddballs Foundation gave a Chapel talk to raise awareness of men’s health, and House Assemblies and Tutor periods have been used to discuss men’s health concerns #knowthynuts.

In total, the School raised in excess of £1,100. This is a fantastic achievement and is testament to the hard work of the pupils and Mr Sharrock, who organises the Movember campaign every year.
Thank you for all the parental support, it is greatly appreciated and we are looking to make Movember bigger and better next year.