Senior School

On Thursday 5 November, Junior Boys and Senior Girls cross country teams made the trip to Stowe School in Buckingham for the Regional Final of the English Schools' Cross-Country Cup. The course included short sharp hills, as well as long, gradual climbs and even roaming flocks of sheep to contend with, all within the spacious, rolling grounds of the Stowe School. 104 runners competed in the Junior Boys race over 2.4km. First home for Norwich was Beetle D, coming 18 th overall in a time of 11:37. Sebastian T and Jesse M, both racing up a year, finished in 26 th and 36 th positions respectively. Also successively dodging the marauding sheep were Jonty C in 64th, Max K in 73 rd and Tom MC in 96th. The team finish in an impressive 6 th place out of the 19 competing schools. Emi M was our only runner in the Intermediate Girls' race, over a 3km course. She had the best finishing position of the day, coming 7 th out of 86 runners in a time of 13:13. The Senior Girls all battled strongly on the uphills and picked off runners on the downhills over their 3.4km course. First to finish was Minnie A who came 14 th in a time of 14:46. She was closely followed by Amelie I in 21st, Olivia A 28 th and Bea G 35th. With all 4 finishing in the top half of the field, the Girls came 5 th out of the 12 competing schools. Well done to all who ran so strongly.

Over half term, 29 pupils and 4 staff spent 5 unforgettable days in a land of fire and ice. Our adventure began, as soon as we landed, at the Bridge between the Continents on the Reykjanes Peninsula, where we stood astride the Eurasian and North American plates as they slowly drift apart. The next day, at Þingvellir National Park, we saw the same rift on a grander scale, in the very place where Iceland's first parliament met in 930. We watched Strokkur erupt every few minutes at the Geysir geothermal area, admired the thunder, spray and rainbows of Gullfoss, and then went underground into the Raufarhólshellir lava tunnel, formed over 5,000 years ago. Day 3 took us along the south coast, past the waterfalls of Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss, where we saw the falls from different angles, both above and behind! We then travelled to the black sand and basalt columns of Reynisfjara, where the power of the Atlantic was plain to see. In the afternoon, pupils strapped on crampons and helmets and walked on Sólheimajökull glacier. Standing on ice that has been there for centuries, and seeing for ourselves how quickly it is retreating, made climate change feel personal in a way no textbook can. That night, we saw the northern lights! Ribbons of green light danced overhead, as the entire hotel descended into the car park to watch. It is something none of us will ever forget. On our last full day, the Lava Centre explained the forces behind everything we had seen, and we then visited the steaming fumaroles and bubbling mud pools of Hveradalir. After exploring Reykjavík, we watched molten lava flow at the Lava Show and soared over the whole country at FlyOver Iceland, which left us all wanting to come back. On our final morning, we stood beside the still-steaming lava fields of Nátthagi, formed by the recent Fagradalsfjall eruptions, before a well-earned soak in the Blue Lagoon! None of it would have been the same without our amazing guide, Karen. Her knowledge was extraordinary and her passion for Iceland was infectious. She answered every question, however many we asked, and made every landscape feel like a story we were part of.