News > Pupils held an Afro-Caribbean evening in Farfield
On the 1st December a group of Afro-Caribbean pupils put on an evening of entertainment for invited pupils in the Farfield common room. Pupils made jollof rice, rice and peas, asun, meat stew, dumplings, jerk chicken and mocktails for their guests, who thoroughly enjoyed their meal. It was a huge group effort, and Mojo, Michelle, Albert, Toby, and Eduvie are to thank for leading the cooking; Cerys and Teagan for their help in the kitchen; Daniel from the catering team for his help, and Ms Masters for her efforts.
December’s Music and Munch was a joyful celebration of all things Christmas! Guests from the local area, including residents of Lloyd Court and family members packed into Tig’s to listen to our musicians whilst nibbling on mince pies. The concert featured 29 students, showcasing the variety of music on offer. Gresham’s Concert Band and Brass Ensemble performed the Christmas hits ‘Sleigh Ride’ and ‘Feliz Navidad’, complementing vocal and piano solos which covered the breadth of Christmas repertoire, from ‘Walking in the Air’ and ‘O Holy Night’ to ‘Glasgow Love Theme’ from Love Actually and, of course, ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’. Thank you to all of the performers and guests. The next Music and Munch is on Friday 20th January 2023.
Pupils have experienced a wide range of subjects during Academic Enrichment Talks
News > Pupils have experienced a wide range of subjects during Academic Enrichment Talks
Sixth Form pupils have experienced a diverse range of subjects for the Academic Enrichment Talks to expand subject classroom learning and knowledge, challenge thinking and create discussion.
For the last two talks of term we welcomed two guest speakers.
The first was Dipi McKernan. Dipi works in Financial Services for Fidelity Holdings Ltd. in London. She gave pupils an insight on how to succeed and talked about opportunities in the finance services sector, but her key message was to share how the financial services industry have had to adapt their culture to deal with recent changes in the world, including diversity and inclusion, dynamic working and sustainability. Dipi showcased that financial services are pushing forward with ESG (environmental, social, governance).
the second was Bob Goodson, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, user interface designer, and an early pioneer of social media. Bob shared practical tools and inspiration for career and education decisions in any field with examples from his own journey.
Drama & Careers visit to Thursford Christmas Extravaganza
The Cushing Family kindly gave tickets for drama sixth form pupils and staff to attend the show. This was a superb opportunity for pupils to gain an insight into a large scale production involving performers, choreography, costume, staging, lighting, live music and all the roles and expertise required.
Our main weekend Chapel services here at Gresham’s are always engaging and special. In the past two weeks the Senior School has enjoyed spellbinding performances of beautiful Advent music for our choir; World Cup related footballing fun drawing out the importance of hope; and a student led Q and A session with Jerome Mayhew MP who suggested that faith helps to gives him a sense of perspective in parliament.
We are currently holding our third annual Christmas Tree Festival. The school Chapel has been filled with over forty beautiful Christmas Trees, all lovingly festooned by members of the school community. Every pupil from all three schools has helped to decorate a tree, with the catering and support staff also joining in on the fun. All of this will help to create a special atmosphere and environment for the Christmas celebrations, carol services and events in the coming weeks.
At this time of year, the school’s Chapel have always collected donations for a variety of good causes. This year, the Christmas Tree Festival is raising money for the school’s charity partner, Holt Youth Project. The charity exists to provide a safe environment for young people to meet and socialise with the minimum of supervision, which builds their social communication skills and promotes ownership. The centre is a place where young people have opportunities that empower them to reach their goals and aspirations, through various programmes and activities. If you would like to donate to the Christmas Tree Festival you can do so on the Just Giving page by clicking here.
The festival is open to visitors during the special Festival Open Afternoon, which is taking place on Saturday 10th December, 1 – 4pm.
In The News
BSA
Gresham’s School holds Christmas Tree Festival to raise money for Holt Youth Project
Oddballs hold talk for Sixth Form pupils to raise awarenesss of testicular cancer
News > Oddballs hold talk for Sixth Form pupils to raise awarenesss of testicular cancer
Earlier this month, The Oddballs Foundation visited the school to give a talk to our Sixth Form pupils about testicular cancer. The talk concerned the signs and symptoms of testicular cancer, also with the resounding message to talk and support each other. Pupils were also informed of the work that Oddballs does as a charity and the support it provides to those affected by testicular cancer.
Well done to pupils who have taken LAMDA exams recently
News > Well done to pupils who have taken LAMDA exams recently
Well done to pupils who have recently taken LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) exams. Spike C took his Grade 7 (silver medal) in Solo Acting, Yssy D took her Grade 5 in Solo Acting, Seb W & Luca H both took their Grade 6 (silver medal) in Duologue Acting and Freddie L took his Grade 5 in Solo Acting.
There is now a period of time to wait until the New Year for the exam results but all pupils seemed happy and confident with their performances. These medal grade exams also achieve valuable additional UCAS points for pupils.
The standard was incredibly high this year, with many entries making the final short list. Mr Hazelwood judged this year’s entries and came up with an overall top three ranking. Emilie G came in third place for an excellent model with sound effects and Ilana B took second place for an outstanding cross section complete with full annotations and lovely additional details such as Reginald the Rat. Theo H, Will B and Rafe C came first with their life-size trench system construction alongside a film of the trenches and a filmed reconstruction of a trench attack.
Congratulations to all of the winners, who will receive Amazon vouchers as a prize.
Pupils progress through Norfolk round of ESU Public Speaking competition
News > Pupils progress through Norfolk round of ESU Public Speaking competition
Congratulations to Cerys D (O), Eva O’D (O), and Zinnia-Claire B (O), who have progressed through the Norfolk round of the English-Speaking Union Churchill Public Speaking Competition. Well done to our second team too, Pablo B-G (F), who spoke brilliantly as Speaker, and came in as a late substitute along with James C (F) and Pullo W (T) as Questioner and Chair, and also to Maddi W (E) for supporting the team.
This is the first time we have competed in this competition, certainly in recent years, so well done to both teams.
Careers and the STEAM coordinator worked together to produce STEAM Week. It was a busy week with speakers, workshops, a Chapel talk, virtual Maths Challenge with F1 McLaren and a STEAM Careers Fair with 40 exhibitors including Lotus Cars, The Dyson Institute, the Armed Forces, the Quadram Institute and more. The Sixth form Academic Enrichment talk was with Zoe Griffiths, from Think Maths https://think-maths.co.uk/ who gave a interactive talk on the Hidden Maths of Technology. On Tuesday Zoe did a sequence of four Maths workshops on ‘Shapes and Smoke Rings’ which were attended in separate sessions for year 11, year 10, year 7 and outreached to pupils from Sheringham High School and Cromer Academy. On Wednesday Blakely Clothing gave a Chapel talk to illustrate how the creative industry is part of STEAM, embracing design, manufacture, creativity, technology, logistics and sustainability. Later on Wednesday F1 McLaren Aerodynamicist, OG Kunz Chow (W 2009 – 13) together with the F1 McLaren outreach team did a virtual maths and science challenge to show pupils how curriculum learning and mathematical theory is used with performance analysis. The pupils were given a challenge involving use of algebra, calculus, pie and trigonometry. The STEAM Careers Fair celebrated and showcased a diverse variety of STEAM employment with 40 exhibitors representing Creativity, Design, Art, Engineering, Property, the Armed Forces, Software Engineering, Technology Design, Science, Agriculture, the Environment and Space. All year 9-13 pupils attended with external schools bringing pupils from Alderman Peel High School, Aylsham High School, Sheringham High School and Cromer Academy. Prep School pupils from years 7 & 8 attended and Parents were invited. The learning outcome was for pupils to link STEAM subject learning to employment by finding out from exhibitors what their role is, how they got to where they are now and what skills and opportunities employers offer.
IN THE NEWS
BSA
Gresham’s School welcomes employers to Dyson Building for STEAM Careers Fair
