Congratulations to Year 9 pupil Pullo W of Tallis, who managed to win a bronze medal in the East of England Championship and British Championship/British Schools Championship qualifier. This is even more impressive as he had moved up an age group so was in a category with 16 year olds! We wish him the best of luck going forward in the competition.
On Saturday 8th October, Gresham’s first football team took on Culford school at home in the Eastern Region Independent School League.
The game started end to end, but within 10 minutes Gresham’s were the dominant side and some excellent work by George B led to the first goal. He battled to win the ball on the half way line before evading several challenges to take the ball into the Culford half and passing to Jude P, who was able to thread it through to Albert W to score his first goal of the season. Having gone ahead Gresham’s continued to push forward and had chances to score through Jude P, Albert W and Ru M but an excellent goal line block from George B kept the game at 1-0 at half time.
In the second half, Culford came out strongly and pushed for the equaliser, but mid-way through the half Gresham’s scored a second following an excellent free kick from Henry B, which caused confusion in the defence, allowing Albert W to score his second goal of the match. The third followed shortly after, when Jude P turned in the penalty area to fire in to the bottom right corner of the goal.
Cheered on by a good crowd, the side showed excellent mentality and controlled the rest of the match to win the game 3-0. This was an outstanding team performance where every player worked hard and played their part in an excellent result.
On Tuesday 11th October, the first team travelled to Woodbridge school and quickly dominated the opening exchanges of the game, going 1-0 from a confident Ru M finish when one on one with the keeper and this soon became 2-0 with a super finish on the volley from Charlie H. Max W scored the third before Ru M was brought down for a penalty, which was duly converted by Charlie H to take the score to 4-0 at half time.
Woodbridge played better in the second half, scoring two goals themselves before Ru M scored his second of the game and Max W ran down the right and fired in a powerful strike to silence the crowd and take the game to 6-2, which was how it ended. These were two excellent results for the football team and set us up well for next round of fixtures.
We were lucky enough to have Sam Ward, 2016 Olympian and bronze medallist in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, hold workshops for our Boys and Girls hockey teams on Monday. Sam focused his workshops on scoring and drag flicking. We hope that our pupils enjoyed these training sessions and can take what they’ve learnt into future fixtures!
The CCF enjoyed an excellent first half of term. Following a very successful summer camp which saw cadets enjoy both adventurous training and a field exercise, there has been a packed training schedule in the first half of term.
The team of newly appointed Senior Cadets (LH Maddie S for the Royal Navy Section, CSM George R, CSgts Hal S, Nico A, Molly P and Freddie S for the Army Section and Flight Sergeants Julius R and Georgie C for the RAF Section) have overseen full contingent parades each week.
We look forward to the junior leadership course and RAF gliding at half term, followed by the full remembrance service and parade in November.
Jimmy T, Yr 12, (F) is following in his father’s footsteps by recently gaining a place in the prestigious Rodolfus Choir, a leading UK Youth Choir, directed by Ralph Allwood for young people aged 16-23. Jimmy attended a choral course last summer and was subsequently invited to audition in September for a coveted place in the choir. His success will give him access to further courses, workshops and concert opportunities in some of the UK’s leading choral venues and Festivals. Music Scholar Jimmy is no stranger to choral singing as he came to Gresham’s having been a chorister at Westminster Abbey. He also plays the violin and organ and is one of the cast of Phantom of the Opera, next term’s musical.
Earlier in the year the Gresham’s Foundation received a remarkable donation from a most generous Old Greshamian (OG). £1 million was donated to endow a scholarship programme that will give US pupils the chance to come and study at Gresham’s.
The donation will ensure the scholarship programme will be in place in perpetuity. It will restart the influential English-Speaking Union programme (ESU) at Gresham’s – a programme that a great number of OGs were a part of when they came to the School from the US between 1960 and 1998. The donor wishes to remain anonymous.
Douglas Robb, the Headmaster, said: “We are thrilled to be in receipt of such a generous donation, and most grateful to the OG for having revived and endowed a scholarship programme that was in place at Gresham’s for many years and which had a lasting impact on the School community. Their support will ensure there will always be a US scholar at the School, giving them the chance to expand their horizons and benefit from a Gresham’s education before they embark on the next stages of their educational and professional journey. The scholars will enrich our community, and the programme will also enable us to strengthen our ties with leading US institutions. We look forward to welcoming our first scholar next year.”
The programme will see one student per year from one of the ESU’s US partner schools come to Gresham’s upon completion of their studies at high school. Each scholar will stay at Gresham’s for one academic year, with the first scholar joining the School in September 2023.
Separate to the endowed scholarship, there will also be an opportunity every year for current Gresham’s pupils to apply to study at a US high school for a year. Although the ESU offers a smaller number of fully funded scholarships for UK students to go to the US, the School’s hope is that a number of pupils over the coming years will be successful in applying for a scholarship and thereby get to experience the final year of high school in a prestigious US institution.
CCF RAF
The CCF RAF section spent the first Field Day … in the field! The Year 10 and 12 cadets were ‘lifted’ in minibuses to the grounds of the Muckleburgh Military Collection where they deployed their orienteering, team work and research skills. These activities produced some highlight moments. One was watching the Year 10 cadets metaphorically ‘super glue’ their hands to a rope and work as a team to tie a knot between each cadet holding the rope. Another was watching George M take command and rescue his fellow Year 12 cadets on a ‘desert island’ (aka. a circle of rope) with the tide encroaching. The cadets also had the opportunity to visit the museum and see first-hand some of the incredible items in the military collection. To encourage their engagement with the museum exhibits, the cadets were divided into teams and tasked with researching a quiz for an opposing team, who were then sent back into the museum to find the answers – under timed conditions. The conclusion of the first day was that Year 12s can tie knots, the Year 10s can research quizzes!
The second Field Day was spent back on Gresham’s home soil. In the morning, Flying Officer Williams led drill and deportment exercises; he nobly tackled messy feet, sloppy arms, and lazy knees in preparation for the upcoming Remembrance Parade in November. In the afternoon, whilst the Year 13 cadets led a team in preparation for the national Air Squadron Trophy, the Year 11 cadets were in the swimming pool, simulating life raft rescues.
Well done to all those cadets who earned badges over the course of the two days; now get them sewn on to your brassards!
CCF Navy enjoyed some time afloat at Hickling, and had a great couple of days on the water!
Services and Silver DofE
180 students and a large number of staff were off-site so as to volunteer in the local community during the school Field days. The school has established close links with Holt Youth Project, Thornage Hall, the Treehouse Community Café, St Andrew’s church in Holt, Glaven Care, Lloyd Court, Age Concern in Sheringham and local conservation sites such as Holt Lowes. Gresham’s students had the opportunity to experience first-hand some of these amazing social enterprises and charities which bring people together across the community. A proportion of the volunteering work was outdoors: clearing and mowing, pollarding willows, picking apples for winter storage, creating raised beds for vegetable and salad growing and habitat management by cutting back invasive species such as gorse. These initiatives were spread across at least six different sites and included a certain level of expertise. Field day also allowed for a number of pupils to complete their Silver DofE expedition in the Peak District.
At Holt Youth project the principal aim was to help clear storage areas and the allotment. The project is now operating a clothes bank and there was a huge pile of donations to sort through and get ready for display in their new shop. There were also visits to Glaven Care and Age Concern in Sheringham. Students chatted and played board games and Bingo with the elderly. It makes a positive difference to people’s lives to come into contact with young people and to share experiences and stories. A group based in school worked together to create Art kits for young people at the Holt Youth project. Each kit was tailormade and carefully designed so as offer a high quality resource for those who might not have much opportunity to make art.
It was a brilliant two days of volunteering and we were lucky with the good weather and sunshine.
Our first Drama Evening of the year took place on Friday 30th September. This Page to Stage covered a range of styles from musical theatre to Greek Tragedy, In Yer Face to the poetry and prose of Shakespeare, classic adaptation to stylised realism – truly a night of contrasts. Compered by year 9 scholars Bella, Ilana and Scarlett the company of Drama Scholars and some of our most gifted and talented performers presented material selected and directed by themselves to a highly appreciative audience. From Fleabag to Comedy of A Bank Robbery, the audience shared moments of dark and light and everything in between ending with comedy to take us laughing into the night.
Our Year 9 pupils visited Belgium on their History Department World War One Battlefields Tour. After a long drive, they just had time to familiarise themselves with the trench system around Ypres before heading for supper at the hotel to complete the first day.
Day two of the trip was a fantastic and busy day in glorious weather. The highlights were remembering Farfield OG John Wright at Bard Cottage Cemetery at Boezinge, Show and Tell activities at Passchendaele, and visiting the Menin Gate to commemorate Woodlands OG Cuthbert Shaw. It was a great day, capped by some enthusiastic chocolate.
The trip concluded with visits to the Ferme-Olivier Cemetery to see the graves of Marc Noble and OG David Carnegie, Talbot House Poperinge and Tyne Cot Cemetery, where pupils held a short service of remembrance for the 113 former pupils and 3 staff known to have been killed in the conflict.
In late September, Year 9 and Year 10 pupils who study Mandarin travelled to London for a day trip to ChinaTown. We first stopped off at Golden Phoenix restaurant in ChinaTown, where we tried the best Chinese food for lunch, and the pupils put their excellent chopsticks skills into use. We then visited the British Museum, where pupils looked at their new exhibition exploring the cultures of China from 5000 BC to the present, through different historical objects. pupils learnt about the background, meaning and culture of the Chinese language. On the way back, pupils enjoyed their bubble tea drinks. The trip was informative and fun. A special thank you to Mr Braithwaite for joining us for the trip and driving us safely.
