An upgrade to sound quality is music to our ears!

The long-term future of the sensitive and much-loved Norfolk Broads was the issue under discussion in the latest Blake Studio lecture at Norwich School on 15 January 2026. The school was hosting the illustrious Royal Geographical Society for a public talk entitled: Tides of Tomorrow: the future of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, confronting flood risk and climate change, given by Peter Doktor, from the Environment Agency. Peter is a Senior Project Manager overseeing the technical work of the Broadland Futures Initiative. He has been with the Environment Agency for 25 years and, before that, he with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. His informative talk considered the worrisome potential for far-reaching impacts to the fragile Broads ecosystem induced by climate change. It also offered reflections on the policies and initiatives (both in place and under review) to manage it. A huge audience of RGS and Broads Society members, school staff, pupils, parents, and alumni, plus friends of the school, all enjoyed a lively Q&A after the talk, focusing on the urgency of the issues, the bewildering size of the challenge and the scale of the potential impacts. It is clear there are no easy solutions, but maintaining the status quo will simply not be enough to safeguard its precious ecology if climate change impacts continue to intensify. Our thanks go to the RGS for organising such a thought-provoking evening. We look forward to welcoming them back on site on Monday 16 March 2026 for a talk entitled: Rethinking the Future of our Seas given by Stephen Akester, Global Fisheries Specialist and Fisheries Adviser to the World Bank. Stephen will describe the state of the world’s fisheries, illustrating a highly varied picture, highlighting success stories and areas of most concern. Booking link: Rethinking the future of our seas and what you can do to help Finally, we have recently launched our full programme of exciting and cultural events organised by Norwich School taking place in and around Cathedral Close this term. There really is something for everyone to brighten up these dark winter months. Do have a flick through At Close Quarters Lent Term 2026 . Booking for many of the school events can be found on our homepage under “Upcoming Events”: www.norwich-school.org.uk

Lower 6 Art and Design pupils enjoyed a trip to London this week. We hear from Elise Foong, pupil and member of the Close Creatives Collective about the trip. "On Tuesday 13 January, a group of L6 2D students, and a few fine art pupils, including myself, went on a trip to London to visit some galleries. Our day consisted of spectacular gallery showings, many underground rides, bustling streets and unfortunately a continuous amount of rain. The first gallery we visited was the Design Museum, ‘Blitz: the club that shaped the 80s’, was one of the exhibitions we looked at, it was on how the Blitz nightclub completely transformed and reshaped many art and creative forms physically and socially, as well as also creating a post-war welfare state. Another exhibition, or I should say an archive, we saw at the Design Museum was ‘Wes Anderson: The Archives’, this was most definitely the highlight of my trip as I would consider myself quite the fan, it felt so surreal seeing all the real props, figures, and outfits from the films themselves! I found it quite awesome how, Wes Anderson having a highly distinctive and meticulously crafted cinematic style also shines through in how he began collecting and archiving props and costumes from all his films after Bottle Rocket 1996. After all the standing and walking we did, we took the underground to Borough Market and had lunch. There were many unique food stalls that sold many things like fresh produce, cheese, pastries including cannolis, international street foods like paella, curries and burgers. After lunch we then walked around and over the Millennium bridge, where I learnt of the hundreds of tiny and vibrant artworks on discarded chewing gum, and took the underground from St Paul’s to the Photographers’ Gallery where we saw Boris Mikhailov’s ‘Ukrainian Diary’. Which presented 50 years of his work that showed a unique visual history through experimentally and emotionally charged photography, the poignant, difficult images of Ukrainian life falls deeply relevant and powerful against the backdrop of the ongoing war which I found very raw and confrontational. After everyone had finally regrouped we headed to take the central line once again back to the train station to conclude our trip. Big thanks to Mr Passam, Mr Seaman, and Miss Goian who made this trip possible!" Photography - Elise Foong