With British Science week happening last week, it is a great time to celebrate some of the many STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine) offers our Upper 6 pupils have received from the most selective UK universities. STEM is very strong at Norwich School with consistently large numbers of both girls and boys choosing Sciences, Maths and Further Maths for A level: 80 of last year’s Upper 6 cohort took Maths A level (the most popular A level subject) with over 40 taking each of the three Sciences and 17 taking Further Maths. There is so much going on in STEM areas within school; the pupil led Med Soc (Medical Society) have recently enjoyed learning surgical suturing and practising this on pigs’ trotters, Upper 6 pupil Adit Raje has just gained a ‘Top Gold’ in the British Physics Olympiad coming in the top 69 of the 9000 entrants and Upper 6 pupil Emmanuel Milne’s gold in the British Biology Olympiad placed him in the top 5% of the 18,800 pupils who took part nationally. Both of these performances qualified the pupils for Round 2 of these Olympiads whilst the lower 4 and lower 5 VEX Robotics team’s recent regional and then national success qualified them for the international finals that will take place in St. Louis, Missouri, USA in April. The school’s Apply+ Programme is run by Mr Pearce. It supports pupils applying to academic courses that require admissions tests and/or interviews. STEM Oxbridge offers: Of the 10 Norwich School pupils with offers to study at Oxford and Cambridge Universities this cycle, 5 are for STEM subjects: Thomas Irvine – Medicine at the University of Cambridge Georgia Lloyd – Psychological and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Cambridge Adit Raje – Physics at the University of Oxford Freya Simmonds – Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge Emile Verschoor – Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge Other Apply+ STEM offers received so far this cycle: Thomas Cahir – Physics with Astrophysics at the University of Manchester Isaac Chan – Physics with Theoretical Physics at Imperial Arthur Dannatt – Mathematics at the University of Warwick Katerina Di Maria – Biochemistry at Imperial Thomas Hsia – Computer Science at University of Warwick Leon Liu – Physics at the University of Manchester Maya Peart – Microbiology at Imperial Adit Raje – Physics at Imperial Emile Verschoor – Physics at Imperial Halvard Yip – Data Science at the University of Warwick Medicine and Veterinary medicine: We are delighted that all of our pupils who have applied for medicine and veterinary medicine this cycle have gained offers to study these highly competitive courses: Omar Alfiky Isio Emore India-Rose Fox Lizzie Henson Thomas Irvine Isabelle Last Emmanuel Milne Ana Paduaru Sruthi Santhosh Freya Simmonds Particular congratulations to Isabelle Last, Sruthi Santhosh, Thomas Irvine and Isio Emore who have each already received offers from all four med/vet schools they applied to, something achieved by fewer than 5% of applicants nationally each admissions cycle. The following pupils have successfully navigated interviews for these allied health professions: Ciara Bethapudy – Pharmacy Emilia Meade – Midwifery Krishni Theiventhira - Pharmacy  As is the norm at this point in the year, a significant proportion of the most competitive courses are still making decisions on which applicants to offer places to. We look forward to sharing more successes with the Norwich School community at the start of next term.

The Choristers visited London on Wednesday 4 March to sing Evensong with the Temple Church Choir. We left from Norwich train station at 9.30am after a quick rehearsal, and arrived in London in time for lunch at Zizzi. We were then shown around St Paul’s Cathedral and enjoyed testing out the acoustics in the Whispering Gallery. After braving the narrow spiral staircases all the way up to the Golden Gallery, we admired the spectacular views over London. At the end of the tour we had a group photo on an amazing cantilever staircase (used in the Harry Potter films as the way to the Divination classroom), and then walked to the Temple Church. Following a rehearsal with their choir, they all sang Evensong together at 6pm. The standard of singing was breathtaking, a testament to the hard work and dedication these young musicians display on a daily basis. We caught the 8pm train and arrived back in Norwich just before 10pm, tired but happy after a rewarding and fulfilling day. Pupil Highlights: “The whole day was 10/10. I especially enjoyed seeing the spiral staircase in St Paul’s used in the Harry Potter films!” “My favourite part was singing at the Temple Church with the other choir. I also liked the view from the top of St Paul’s Cathedral, even if it was very high up - I’m not great with heights!”

From March 16 - March 20, Norwich School celebrated Neurodiversity Celebration week through a series of engaging whole School events.  Pupils from across the school worked alongside staff from the SEND department and the School’s EDI officer to learn about and celebrate neurodiversity throughout the week. On Monday pupils got creative creating a piece of community artwork to celebrate Neurodiversity. The artwork included fingerprints from staff and pupils to represent how no two brains are alike, and that we all deserve a place to feel seen and celebrated. On Wednesday over 50 pupils joined in with activities in the Undercroft Library. The activities explored pupil’s knowledge and attitudes towards neurodiversity and promoted discussion surrounding the representation of neurodiversity in the media as well as neurodiverse celebrities. Pupils reflected positively on these topics, sharing thoughts such as; “Representation is important so that people aren’t treated badly in real life” “Writers can interview and get to know neurodivergent people to get an accurate understanding of what is actually like to have that specific condition” “Representation is important because it shows that not all people who are neurodiverse are the same.” “Representation is important to help people feel seen and to educate people.” The event ended with delicious cupcakes and treats for all who took part. Finally, on Friday tutor groups took part in a Neurodiversity Survey, which looked to understand pupil’s perceptions of neurodiversity across the school. This survey will help us understand pupil opinions and experiences, so that we can continue to champion neurodiversity all year round.