As we reach the midpoint of the rugby season, it has been a highly encouraging half-term across all age groups. Teams have shown excellent commitment, development, and teamwork, representing the school with pride and enthusiasm throughout every fixture. Juniors Our Junior teams have enjoyed a positive start to the season, showing real energy and passion for the game as they continue to develop their core rugby skills. U12A The U12A side have made great progress during their opening block of fixtures. Despite close defeats to The Perse School and Finborough School, they demonstrated resilience and improvement each week, highlighted by a competitive draw against St Joseph’s College, Ipswich. Their teamwork and enthusiasm have laid strong foundations for the future. U13B The U13B team have been excellent, winning both of their fixtures in impressive style against The Perse School and Finborough School. Their attacking intent and defensive organisation have stood out, reflecting the hard work they’ve put into training. U13A The U13A team have had a fantastic half-term, securing two wins and two draws from their four matches. Dominant victories against St Joseph’s College, Ipswich and The Perse School showcased their growing confidence and teamwork. The players’ ability to adapt and make smart in-game decisions has been a real highlight. Inters The Inter teams have shown great progression, with players displaying improved game understanding, physicality, and team cohesion throughout the term. U14A The U14A side began their season strongly with a convincing win against Framlingham College. Since then, they have faced several challenging fixtures that have tested their resilience and provided valuable learning opportunities. Their attitude and commitment to improving both individually and collectively have been impressive. U15B The U15B team faced Felsted School in their only fixture this half-term, putting in a determined performance despite the result not going their way. The squad is looking forward to more game time after the break, with plenty of positives to build upon in training. U15A The U15A team have enjoyed an outstanding start to the season, with four strong wins against Framlingham College, The Perse School, St Joseph’s College, and Wymondham College. Their only defeat came in Round 2 of the National Cup against a talented Campion School side from Essex. The squad continues to go from strength to strength, with excellent team spirit and significant development in their tactical play. Seniors The Senior squad has set an excellent tone this term, combining hard work, ambition, and togetherness across their fixtures.  1st XV The 1st XV have produced a strong set of performances, recording three wins and two narrow defeats. Impressive victories over Framlingham College, The Perse School, and Wymondham College demonstrated the team’s growing maturity and cohesion. They were unfortunate to lose to Felsted School in the final play of their National Cup first-round match but have received a bye in the Plate competition and will continue their campaign after half-term. The group has shown significant progress in both their attacking structure and defensive resilience, and the second half of the season promises to be an exciting one.

The Football 1 st XI has taken a significant rebuild this term after a large proportion of the previous two 1 st XI squads have now finished upper sixth. The newly assembled team have at times played some excellent football against challenging opposition and just need to add more consistency to their play and capitalise on the momentum they create in the remaining matches of the season. A particular highlight was back to back away fixtures against Wymondham College and Gresham's with outstanding team performances enabling us to claim two fantastic victories. Another highlight has been the re-introduction of the 2 nd XI who have enjoyed a mixed set of results so far but have benefited greatly from regular training and fixtures.

On Friday 10 October, Pastoral Prefects gave an assembly on the importance of looking after your mental health. World Mental Health Day takes place every year on 10 October. It is a day to remind us of the importance of good mental health and the need to prioritise and invest in everyone's mental health both as individuals and as a community. Poor mental health is not inevitable, and World Mental Health Day is an opportunity for us all to consider how, together, we can help everyone have better mental health. This year we're focusing on the mental health impact of repeated exposure to news coverage of crises and conflicts. The theme is: Overwhelm: when global events and relentless bad news become too much. Constantly hearing about negative news from around the world can feel like a lot to take in – and that’s because it is. Feeling overwhelmed by current events, no matter how big or small, can take a toll on our mental health. In the digital age, managing how much information we take on board might feel impossible. But you can take control and limit the impact of global overwhelm on your well-being. Keeping up with the latest news is simpler than ever thanks to smartphones and social media. However, it’s easy to end up doomscrolling – constantly scrolling through negative news for long periods of time. Doomscrolling is a natural and human response to a world that can feel unstable. However, it can also affect our mental and physical health. While online content can help us feel more informed, reassured and in control, doomscrolling can cause us to become more anxious, sad, or overwhelmed. Doomscrolling can also result in physical issues such as headaches, nausea, neck and shoulder pain or even difficulty sleeping. As pastoral prefects, we are keen to promote good mental health within our school community and we have found some top tips to help you cope with global news overwhelm, refrain from doomscrolling and find a way to balance things to improve the way we feel.

"Back to where it all began" was the comment from our guests Ava Gulliver-Jary and Maddy Greenly as they returned to Norwich School to deliver a session on their apprenticeship pathways. Our U6 pupils were treated to an informative and fascinating presentation as part of our weekly FUTURES programme. Ava and Maddy were both sure that university was not the right track for them after A levels. Whilst still at school, they were proactive in seeking options locally, but which offered in-depth training, consistent mentoring, diverse work options and a positive career trajectory. Both were successful in their search for their perfect route: Ava with Smash Marketing and Maddy with AVIVA. Ava's work focus at SMASH Marketing is on client management, social media and marketing, with one day a week spent studying for her foundation degree. Maddy's work/study timetable is similar, but she is part of AVIVA's Global, Corporate & Speciality team, and tasks so far have included insuring arena tours and footballers' limbs! Both were effusive about the benefits of an apprenticeship: learning and on-the-job training, earning a good salary, no student debt, and massive employability credits as they are already in the workplace, doing important work. All work and no play makes Jill a dull girl, but Ava and Maddy were enjoying the social life afforded to them via work and salary, visiting friends at uni at weekends and taking numerous foreign holidays! It was wonderful to welcome Ava and Maddy back to school, looking so well and clearly enjoying and thriving on their apprenticeship programmes. We look forward to watching their career paths develop.

Last week, our Junior and Senior Dance Company pupils enjoyed an action-packed workshop with DanceEast. The afternoon was bursting with contemporary dance, creative challenges, and plenty of energy and enthusiasm! Our dancers pushed their skills, explored new ideas, and worked brilliantly as a team. A huge thank you to DanceEast for such an engaging and inspiring session - our pupils had a fantastic time!

On Tuesday 7 October, Danny Bate ON came to school to talk to our budding young linguists about his lifelong love of languages and his PHD work on Proto-Indo-European. We learnt about the field of historical linguistics and language reconstruction. We had so many questions and pupils were inspired to explore this area of study further. Danny has a brilliant book newly published, "Why Q needs U" which explores the stories behind the letters of the alphabet and the oddities of English spelling. It ties in beautifully with WoLLoW lessons and we look forward to welcoming him back again in the future. Thank you, Danny!

It was a genuine pleasure to welcome back to Norwich School on 07 October 2025 the prestigious Royal Geographical Society (RGS) for the latest in their long series of fascinating lectures on the physical, human and environmental world. It proved to be a profound insight into the work of the highly respected HALO Trust, the world's largest mine-clearing NGO, plugged into 32 challenging countries at geopolitical level and battling to make safe land contaminated by landmines from decades of conflict. Land mines and other unexploded ordnance kill tens of thousands of people around the world every year, mostly civilians, and the mission of the HALO Trust is to end this scourge. In his talk, Clearing a Path Through the New World Disorder, Major General (Retired) Rob Thomson CBE DSO, now the Chief Strategy Officer for the Trust, outlined the vitally important work that his organisation carries out round the globe. A large audience of pupils (including a contingent from as far away as Suffolk), staff, alumni, parents and RGS members heard an impassioned plea for political, negotiated solutions to the world’s conflicts from this soldier of 34 years standing. The audience made clear their strong social conscience in an extremely lively Q&A session which took place afterwards, and our speaker kindly stayed late to engage on a personal basis with attendees. Our next RGS lecture on site is on 06 November 2025 in the Blake Studio (doors open at 19:00) when ON parent Sara White of Explorers Against Extinction will be interviewing the hugely experienced founder of Bradt Travel Guides, Hilary Brandt, in her talk entitled: Traveller into unknown lands . Bookings can be made here: www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/into-unknown-lands . All are welcome.

During the annual Lower School harvest service, Reverend Child invited pupils to place three symbolic items on the chapel altar. The first was a large pumpkin grown on the school allotment, an example of ripeness and a reminder of the many seeds which fruit and vegetables contain for future sowing. The second item was a jar of honey produced by bees in and around Cathedral Close – ingenious insects that we need to make sure we protect. The third item was a pair of wellington boots, a reminder of farmers who work hard, sometimes in difficult and dangerous conditions, to bring us our food. The pupils had lots of ideas about why these objects were important, and each of them brought food to donate to the Norwich Food Bank, which was also placed around the altar, making for an impressive display.

At the Independent Project Presentation Evening, pupils, parents and staff were treated to a fantastic event which champions intellectual and creative curiosity, and supports our aim of developing a 'lifelong love of learning'. This evening is the culmination of over a year's work for some of our current Upper 6 pupils, who should be commended for all their efforts in researching, writing and then presenting their findings to an audience. This year's group again highlighted the broad range of interests within our pupil body, with creative projects such as School of Rock: The Musical and the immensely powerful, Voices from Mariupol. Additionally, there was a broad range of academic projects, such as, why turnout at UK elections is so low, the relationship between the phone and the brain, the economic viability of offshore wind energy, the use of phage therapy in medical settings and many more.  A new feature this year was the introduction of academic posters, with several pupils expertly guiding guests through their project, such as Emmanuel Milne's project on PTSD and the neurobiological impacts. This was a truly special evening, that showcased the passions and interests of many of our pupils, while setting an example for future cohorts to follow.