Our girls tennis teams have played some excellent matches this term

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.  

Spanish translation success

Maddi W in Year 12 has once again received a commendation in the 2024 Anthea Bell Young Translator’s Competition for her Spanish entry. Maddi worked on a text entitled “Aviso de Correos” and the extract was from the opening of La nostalgia de la Mujer Anfibio by the Galician writer Cristina Sánchez-Andrade. The novel is inspired by events surrounding the sinking of a steamship in 1921 off the Galician Island of Sálvora. Huge congratulations to Maddi for this commendation in a competition with over 16,000 participants.

Rain doesn’t stop play; a successful start to the boys’ tennis term

The announcement in April that England had endured the wettest 18 months on record (since 1836!) was a rather ominous start to the tennis season; and, unfortunately, we have not been blessed by the weather gods in the first half of the “summer” term, meaning we are yet to host a senior boys’ fixture on our chapel grass courts and lots of training sessions on the hard courts with the girls’ teams. Nonetheless, we have still managed to play plenty of tennis and enjoyed a successful start to the season, winning 5/7 matches under the captaincy of Seb B and excellent coaching of Mr Thomas.  

In our first senior game of the season on 20th April, we hosted an experienced Cromer Men’s team on the astros. For the only time this season (due to exams and injuries) we managed to field our strongest team, winning 5-1 and 9-0 respectively. Year 10 pupils Connor M and Ted K deserve a mention for convincingly winning all their matches, as does Liam M who played his final game after representing the 1^st VI over the past two seasons.

In our second fixture of the season, on 27th April, our senior boys’ teams travelled to Framlingham. The 1s narrowly lost 7-5 in a well contested fixture against a strong side. Liam (whose IB exams had just begun) was sorely missed, although Marc R stepped up and played brilliantly in his debut alongside Nikolaus P, as did Charlie R and Morris J in their 1^st team debuts. Meanwhile, our 2s again won comfortably, winning 9-3, with Alessandro D and Severin G winning all their matches.

The following week, on 4th May, the senior team were on the bus on the A140 once again, this time to RHS. Our 1st team bounced back brilliantly from the previous week’s defeat, winning 9-0, a perfect farewell to Nikolaus P and debut for Tomas R-C. Meanwhile our junior team kicked off their season on a positive footing, winning 12-3 on the grass against the RHS juniors. Connor M and Ted M continued their strong run of form, winning all their matches, whilst Arthur L, Emilio H, Fernando M, Myles D and Ulysses O made their junior debuts. However, the juniors met their match against a strong King’s Ely team the following week, losing 6-4.

This week, the U15a’s (Connor M, Ted K, Laurie W & George J) begin their LTA competition journey, against Hethersett, before playing Wymondham and Norwich next half of term.

 Meanwhile, the seniors thoroughly look forward to the return fixture on Cromer’s fantastic grass courts and the rescheduled Adney Paine Invitational, which was cancelled due to driving rain, hopefully this time on the chapel grass courts in the sun.

The Careers Department held a successful Lower Sixth Conference and have exciting work experience placements lined up

Work Experience

Lots of Sixth Form pupils have got some excellent summer work experience placements lined up:

• Charles K & Will N were both successful in their interviews for a week’s placement at Stockbrokers Barratt & Cooke in July.
• OG Jonathan Beckett has given back in helping with placements for Amelia H at the Burgess Yachts Monaco office, Zac J crewing with Burgess Yachts from Italy to Greece and Fred B with a week in the London office getting insight into yacht brokering
• OG & MP Duncan Baker North Norfolk is providing work experience weeks with his constituency office for Eva O’D, Emily G, Austin K
• Purcell UK Architects are providing work experience for Polina Z, Finn S, Dan L
• Surface Generation Ltd are providing engineering work experience for Aidan R
• Caspian G will be doing half term work experience at Adarga in Southwark to learn more about cyber security.

Lower Sixth Conference

All of the year group together with their parents attended talks to give a broad cross-section of options for post Sixth Form.

The event included talks from universities on the application process / personal statements / applying to competitive universities, as well as:

• OG Joe Oxtoby returned to talk about his Gap year experience, to now studying at LSE and what it’s like to study and live as a student in London
• OG Isabelle Reading returned to talk about her journey to doing an apprenticeship with Investment Bank JP Morgan and the positive pathway of where doing an apprenticeship can lead.
• Greg Murphy from Balfour Beatty came in to talk about the variety of roles in Construction and Civil Engineering.
• Mrs Futter and Miss Emily talked about applying for Performing Arts / Drama School and University Applications.
• The Armed Forces gave insight into joining the Army, Officer Entry, the Army Medical Corp.
• The University Guys gave insight into applying to study in the USA
• A Career in Fashion / Buying / Marketing – Natasha Colk, Buyer with Bakers and Larner’s, gave insight into her university learning and fashion buying career
• Norwich University of the Arts talked about their variety of arts and culture courses

Music for a Spring Evening

On Friday May 3rd a group of Gresham’s pupils from Years 9, 10,11 and 12 performed in a concert presenting music for a spring evening at Stiffkey church. This event is always a highlight of the musical calendar as it gives the Year 12 pupils the opportunity to take up the mantle as leading performers in the school. They performed a wide range of musical theatre, classical, instrumental, and vocal works to a packed church. It’s exciting to think what these young performers will be able to achieve next year.

The Tallis boys braved an unusually wet ‘Farmer-Wright Run’

On Friday 3^rd May 2024 at 4pm the boys of Tallis steeled themselves for an unusually wet ‘Farmer-Wright Run.’ Blazing sunshine the day before cruelly lingered in the minds of the 70 boys who trudged over to the start line to undertake our annual 10k run to Sheringham with only the prospect of fish and chips, and a number of soggy parents at start and finish, to encourage them. However despite our collective reticence this was one of our best runs yet – maybe our spirits were hardened and lifted by the collective adversity faced! The mood of the boys throughout the run and particularly on the finish line as we welcomed the runners in was exceptional and one of the best advertisements of the character of Tallis and those that call it home. With the North Sea too turbulent to consider the usual spontaneous charge towards it, the boys looked somewhat relieved to put their towels and trunks back in their bags! Tired legs and heads were then the broad experience of many that evening and an uncharacteristically quiet House. The Tallis Run is an event that Mr Cox continues to hold is beyond compare here at the Senior School revealing as it does in all their glory those virtues which we champion here at Gresham’s and in Tallis; ambition, tenacity, kindness and plenty of character. This year the run demanded these qualities to even greater degree and the boys proved themselves more than worthy of the challenge!

The first of two Music and Munch lunchtime concerts this term featured a varied programme

The String Quartet, consisting of Zinny B, Lucy D, Isadora A and Ilana B played Allegretto by Elgar, Crickets sang Hymne at l’amour and further vocal items included Lucy C For Good from Wicked,  Olivia E Dreamer and Meg O Chanson d’amour by Fauré. James C played Etude No. 6 on guitar and Lucy D returned to the stage to play the Adagio from Arpeggione Sonata as well as sing Cry me a River. The usual audience was joined by several members of the Gresham’s Foundation who were in school attending a lunch. 

The second Music & Munch of the term will be on Friday 7th June and will feature some of our leavers as well as Strings Ensemble.