As part of our topic ‘Ahoy There’, the Year 2 children went on a Morston Adventure today and made the most of the glorious sunshine. They started by looking at the different boats on Morston Quay, comparing them and sketching them. Later enjoying a trip out to the seals before coming back to land for our picnic. The children were so excited to see “real” pirate ships in the harbour and to practise their pirate language… “Land Ahoy!”.
We were very saddened to hear of the passing of our longest-serving Headmaster, Logie Bruce-Lockhart, who died recently aged 92.
Logie was an incredibly influential Headmaster from 1955 to 1982, during which time Gresham’s was converted to a co-educational school. Logie served in the British Army and was a talented fly half, earning 5 caps for Scotland.
Our current headmaster Douglas Robb said: “It was my great pleasure to be welcomed by Logie Bruce-Lockhart to Gresham’s six years ago. Logie came to lunch at the aptly named Lockhart House just before my first term started and entertained everyone with great stories and good humour. I became the recipient of a large number of immaculate letters in tiny handwriting which seemed to have better insight into what was happening at school than I could gain from visiting the classrooms and houses.
“The warmth with which he held the school was obvious and I feel lucky to have met him. Logie was Gresham’s longest-serving headmaster of the modern era and he clearly had a huge impact on rebuilding the school after the Second World War. A polymath who clearly excelled personally in everything that he did.
“Logie had that real passion for young people which is the sign of a true ‘schoolmaster’. Soldier, sportsman, botanist, musician, linguist, author, but more than anything a schoolmaster, family man and friend.”
Gresham’s alumnus Sir James Dyson has often spoken of his gratitude to Logie for for giving him the financial support to continue his education at Gresham’s following the untimely death of his father, Alec. Sir James said, “Both my parents taught at Gresham’s, and my father was head of the Classics department. When he was ill, he carried on teaching but died when I was nine. The generosity of the school, particularly Logie, meant I could continue there after his death.
We are delighted to welcome Reverend Jack Branford to Gresham’s as our Chaplain and Teacher of Religious Studies. Jack joins us from Aylsham Parish Church.
He said “I am really pleased to be working with these amazing young people and the excellent pastoral team at Gresham’s”.
We are pleased to share an animated fly-through of the Dyson STEAM Building opening in September 2021.
A new home for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics at Gresham’s, the scheme has been designed to create a feeling of openness, both within the building and when you stand within the surrounding buildings and landscape.
A contemporary hub providing an inspiring cross-disciplinary learning environment, the building will incorporate outside teaching spaces which will provide flexible multi use areas that can be used as outdoor classrooms, and can also function as social spaces. The provision of these outdoor classrooms recognises that learning does not stop outside of classroom doors and aims to create a campus where people can come together to share and exchange ideas in social learning spaces.
Year 2 pupils are celebrating their final week at Pre-Prep with lots of exciting activities. They took part in a treasure hunt, got to try on their finished tie-dye t-shirts, which they dip dyed last week and left to dry over the weekend and enjoyed a team-building afternoon and party! The pupils worked together to solve challenges, like passing the hoop around the circle, and seeing how far a tennis ball could travel down drainpipes before falling to the ground.
On Friday 3rd July we would have been celebrating the Arts at Gresham’s in the annual Theatre in the Woods review; an evening to enjoy performances from Year 13 for the final time and revisit the best bits from Music and Drama over the year. Never shirking from a challenge, the pupils and staff from these departments have risen in quite spectacular style, in the face of adversity, to produce an evening of music in recognition of what is great about the School and to uphold tradition. It might be virtual, but from behind locked doors and isolation our pupils have found a way of bursting out.
All concerts will be live streamed from this link on the Gresham’s Media YouTube Channel. Glass in hand, tune in and celebrate the end of another glorious term. We look forward to sharing live music and drama with you all again very soon.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfAAgvAwHb-1iAld4j5IjdQ
6pm – In My Room
The concerts will bring you music, drama and art from our wonderful pupils across all three Schools. Featuring Prep School Chapel Choir, Edinburgh House Choir, Senior Concert Band, music collectives and solos, compositions, reviews of the year, monologues and artwork, we will take you on the journey from the isolation we have all experienced; in our rooms, changing how we learn and teach, through to finding a way to connect and come together to celebrate the journey we have all been a part of.
Overcoming the challenges of online rehearsals, pupils recorded on whichever devices they could get hold of. Over 120 pupils feature in the production and at least 240 different media files have been edited, spliced and coordinated to create this incredible collaboration.
7pm – Session with our very own DJ, smokey.t.
Teddy C aka smokey.t is a 17 year old up and coming DJ and Music Producer playing the best in Underground electronic music. He is currently studying Music Technology at Gresham’s and immersing himself in the London and Norwich music scenes. He began by creating mixes and demos from his bedroom and now performs year-round at private parties in London and Norfolk. He has since moved on to playing club nights throughout the UK, at locations such as Harry’s Bar in London, and the Karishma Club in Norwich.
Having already released five singles and one EP which are available to purchase on all major platforms, smokey.t has also released on labels such as South West Riddem and WOB records, and his music has reached 41st place in the Hypeddit top 100 drum and bass charts.
8pm – #happyorsad The Concert
Concluding our evening of music we bring you the best from the #happyorsad Studio.
At the start of lockdown, in March, the Pop Concert posse including a few OG’s started making music from home. It was a steep learning curve involving iphone videos, Microsoft Teams, Whatsapp, Garage Band, imovie and YouTube. To date they have released sixteen songs and they will share these with you alongside seven brand new tracks.
Gresham’s Virtual Speech Day 2020 will take place on Saturday 4th July and we invite families from all three schools to join us for the celebrations.
The ceremonies will go live online at 10 am and you can watch the Speech Day films and Leavers’ Service at any point throughout the day. A link will be sent to you the night before.
An important part of any celebration is the food! This year we have invited six renowned Norfolk chefs to design a different Speech Day three-course menu which you can order and collect or have delivered to your home on 4 July. The idea is that you can watch the Speech Day films together at home, then enjoy a fabulous lunch or dinner afterwards to celebrate.
Select your favourite chef’s menu from the brochure below and follow the ordering instructions included, by 26 June.
Speech Day ‘Stay at Home Dining’ Brochure
If you live further afield, we hope you are able to create a celebratory meal or order from local restaurants offering similar arrangements during lockdown.
You can order the Gresham’s fizz that we traditionally serve at Speech Day via several of the guest chefs and may collect it along with your ‘stay at home dining’ order. Please see the menu brochure for details:
Chapel will be open on Speech Day morning between 10 am and 12.30 pm. If you would like to pop in and enjoy a moment of reflection together with your family, please let Amy Pearce know so we can make arrangements for your visit: [email protected].
We look forward to celebrating with you.