News & Events
Latest News From the Senior and Lower Schools
Lower School News
On Thursday 11 November the Lower School Chamber Choir sang at the Priscilla Bacon Hospice Charity Lights to Remember Service. This annual event is an opportunity for the people of Norfolk to remember and give thanks for the lives of those who have received hospice care, as well as acknowledge with gratitude the exceptional work of everyone involved with Priscilla Bacon Lodge – staff and volunteers from Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust, and the staff, volunteers, donors, fundraisers and supporters of the Charity. Norwich Lower School Chamber Choir have been invited to sing at the event for a number of years, and this year was no exception. Led by Head of Lower School Music, Mr Vine, the choir dazzled with a beautiful performance of ‘Sweet Silent Night’ by Andy Beck. Hugo Stevenson, Head of Fundraising and Communications at the Priscilla Bacon Hospice Charity said: “It is always an absolute joy to welcome Norwich School Chamber Choir to this flagship event for the charity. Once again they delivered a wonderful performance and added something really special to the service. Our sincere thanks to Mr Vine, Mrs Barclay and the children.”
Lower School pupils excitedly celebrated the last day of the Michaelmas term on Friday 12 December, enjoying their Christmas lunch in a fine array of festive knitwear! There was a party atmosphere in the Refectory with decorations, paper crowns and Christmas songs, all in view of the beautifully illuminated tree. Turkey, roast potatoes and cranberry sauce were all on the special menu, followed by yule log for pudding. Everyone at the Lower School would like to wish our whole community a restful and relaxing Christmas and we will see you all again in 2026!
The Lower School Christmas Fair on Saturday was a wonderful event, full of festive fun and brilliant community spirit. The children did an amazing job running their stalls and favourites such as the bottle tombola and raffle proved as popular as ever. Thanks to the hard work and support of our pupils, parents and staff, £3,251 was raised for The Hamlet Centre in Norwich. A huge thank you to everyone involved - a fantastic amount and a fantastic morning!
Senior School News
The Lower 4 Christmas Jumper Competition is always an event of great anticipation, and this year was no exception. Adorned with baubles, tinsel and whatever else Fourth Form could find (including Mariah Carey), the tutors made their way to the Blake for a catwalk never to be forgotten. However, this year had a twist with the additional competition of the Fourth Form Tutor Challenge. For the tutor challenge we had a range of performances from a mini play with a murder mystery, a Christmas ‘Guess Who’ quiz, a musical number and even a conducting dinosaur! Congratulations to all pupils who took part and especially to the tutors for taking to the runway and to the performances with such enthusiasm. Congratulations to L42 who won this year’s jumper competition, following behind in 2 nd place was L43. For the tutor challenge we had L41 in 1 st place and L44 in 2 nd! We look forward to seeing what the pupils come up with next year….
It has been an excellent term for Norwich School rugby, with all squads showing clear development, strong teamwork, and impressive determination. The junior teams enjoyed a highly successful season, including standout wins and an unbeaten U13A campaign. Across both age groups, players demonstrated growing confidence, cohesion, and attacking flair. Our inter squads showed real character, with the U14s and U15s producing notable victories and displaying resilience throughout a challenging fixture list. The U15A County Cup triumph was a particular highlight. Among the seniors, both the 1st and 2nd XV worked tirelessly despite disruptions. The 1st XV delivered several outstanding performances, including a memorable last-minute victory over Gresham's. We also thank our departing Upper Sixth players for their leadership and commitment. Overall, it has been a term marked by progress, pride, and exceptional team spirit across the whole rugby programme.
The Boat Club started the half term with the Seniors racing at the GB U19 Benchmark Head Race. With the rowers who had achieved the 2k ergo cut off, this was the first opportunity to show boat moving capabilities. Ellie Thwaites and James Howard pleaced 4th in their respective J17 Trialist category and Nicholas Conway won the J18 and overall event. For those not trialling, racing at a GB event gave them valuable experience. The Seniors then raced the inaugral Junior Fours Head of the River on the Tideway. With 2 boys crews and 2 girls crews facing some rather wet conditions, the Girls Coxed Four placed an excellent 6th place in J18 and the Boys Coxless Quad won the J18 event. The J15s and Seniors raced at Hampton Head (another damp day!) with the J15s placing well in their categories with other 40 crews in some events. Singles, Doubles and Quads were raced. The Seniors also raced a range of events, with a number of 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. There were wins for James and Nick in the Coxless Pair and for Ellie, Charlotte, Amelie, Jess and Darcy in the Coxed Four. The Boys and Girls 1st VIII s then raced at Wallingford Head, the first VIIIs race of the year- well done to all for a busy but successfull weekend of racing. Last weekend saw all the Boat Club race at our Invitational Yare Eights Head of the River. The J14s in an Octo and Quad demonstrated the great progress they have made since taking up the sport at the start of term. The 1st VIIIs (Boys and Girls) beat their respective UEA Eights. Ellie Thwaites, Nicholas Conway and James Howard have all acheived the 5k Ergo Score to progress through to the February GB U19 Trials.
Blog
In his End of the Michaelmas Term address, the Head focused on two key things – kindness and participation. Everyone in the Cathedral was moved as he brought to life random acts of kindness observed on the London Underground. Pupils and staff alike then had a super time putting into practice the participation element of his address, as the Red Gowns got the whole congregation enjoying an interactive version of the 12 Days of Christmas! “So, the tail end of term is finally upon us. Each term obviously has its own shape and this one is characterised by the darkening evenings, the overlap with Advent, and by its brute length. There is always something of the endurance race about this, our longest term, so well done to everyone on getting through it! And now attention can turn towards the upcoming Christmas holiday. As you get ready for it, I pick out two features: kindness and participation. The first, kindness. We associate such a quality with this time of year: “Oh come on, it’s Christmas!” Yet, just like any other time of year, kindness is to be measured in actions every bit as in attitude. It may be apocryphal, but I heard that London Underground’s policy for people stranded on the platform with a bag, pram or such like when the lifts are not working is to stand by the stairs and wait for someone to help. I really want this to be true and, after all, you do not see someone at the bottom of the stairs with a large bag for long; normally, someone will come past and offer to carry it upstairs. This got me investigating random acts of kindness on the Underground further. It turns out that the artist Michael Landy conducted a project celebrating such acts in 2011-12. The artist explained, ‘Sometimes we tend to assume that you have to be superhuman to be kind, rather than just an ordinary person.’ So, to unsettle that idea, Acts of Kindness catches those little exchanges that are almost too fleeting and mundane to be noticed or remembered. Landy is fascinated by the way we tend to disappear into our own bubble on the Tube, disconnected from the people around us. One day, he recalls, while sitting in a Tube train absorbed in his own world, he suddenly became aware of two strangers, one trying to help the other. For Landy it was a life-enhancing event. Landy defines kindness as going beyond yourself to acknowledge someone else’s needs and feelings. ‘It’s a gesture of trust between two people’, he said. ‘There’s a risk in that. It requires courage and acceptance on both sides. ‘That’s what “kindness” means – we’re kin, we’re of one kind.’ Here are four examples from Landy’s project: Running down the stairs to catch the train that had just pulled in, I hadn’t noticed my iPod falling out of my pocket until I was inside the carriage, watching a stranger pick it up off the wet platform floor. He looked up at me through the closing doors (while I had already assumed that I probably wouldn’t be seeing it again) and mouthed the words ‘I’ll wait here!’ through the glass. And he did. In December 1993 my 5 year old daughter rushed onto a Tube train ahead of me and before I could follow her with my other child the doors closed and the train pulled out of the station as I ran alongside, banging on the doors in a panic. I caught the next train and got off at the next stop to find my little girl being consoled by a group of young teenagers en-route to a concert who had got off the train to stay with her until I found her. They had to dash off to get to the show and I think I was crying too much to thank them properly, so I welcome this opportunity to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU! While on my second maternity leave, after 2 changes and 3 tubes I got to Finsbury Park only to find me, the toddler and the baby in the pram at the bottom of 3 flights of stairs. My heart sank. I wasn’t too happy to see 2 hooded young men loping down the stairs but as they got to bottom, they asked if they could help by taking the pram leaving me to carry the toddler. They carried it up the 3 flights safely and even missed their train to do so! I always think of them when people use the term ‘hoodie’ as a generic term for violent youth because their kindness made my day and challenged my lazy assumptions. I woke up to a phone call from my dad telling me my much-loved grandpa had died. On the Tube over to my parents I couldn’t stop crying. The woman sitting next to me asked if I was ok, and I told her my grandpa had died that morning. She took my hand and held it for the rest of the journey. I have never forgotten how comforted I felt by this small, intimate act. Such acts of generosity and kindness are certainly what I expect in our community while we are together: to go beyond the minimum in order to be helpful, thoughtful and sensitive to each other. I therefore encourage you to reflect on these stories and think about how you can be kind in your actions at Christmas and into 2026. The next three weeks are a great opportunity to practise this behaviour at home as there are always lots of chances to lean in and help. The second feature of Christmas I want to highlight is participation and joining in, perhaps with a little dose of silliness thrown in. It is an opportunity for friends and family to enjoy some harmless fun, spend time together and, hopefully, remind ourselves not always to take things seriously. I hope that got you into the Christmas spirit. Do have an excellent break and remember to practice your random, practical acts of kindness.”
Amber Scott, our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Head of Pupil Personal Development, reflects on the importance of co-education in addressing issues faced by girls and young women, and boys and young men in today's society: "Over the past week, two important events have taken place that some may see as being slightly dissonant , International Men’s Day and the UN Day for the Abolition of Violence Against Women. The events fall only six days apart, and this year, Norwich School pupils came together to mark both with a shared, united message. Prefects working on initiatives for boys and young men, and those focusing on girls and young women, collaborated throughout the week, recognising that the issues are not separate or competing, but intertwined with one another. Each year, Norwich School hosts a Reclaim the Night vigil in honour of the UN Day. During the event, pupils share speeches and poetry that call for an end to misogyny and gender-based violence. This year’s vigil saw boys and girls standing side by side, listening and sharing powerful messages around gender equity and challenging misogyny. In the run up to this event, our International Men’s Day assembly highlighted the idea that celebrating masculinity in all its forms also has to involve taking responsibility for the actions of men and building a society where misogyny is always challenged, and a direct call was made for boys and young men to attend the upcoming Reclaim The Night Vigil. This link between events made something very clear, in order to instil lasting cultural change, we need buy in from everyone. When we have boys and girls working together, we acknowledge that Women’s rights cannot advance in a silo, and boys and young men must have space to listen, reflect, and speak up too. The issues facing young women are intrinsically linked with t he pressures facing young men. One cannot be addressed meaningfully without the other. Coalition is key. Co-education makes this coalition tangible. Co-educative spaces are powerful tools for change and growth, empowering girls to speak to their true experiences, and enabling boys to listen and share, without judgement or shame. Shared understanding, shared advocacy, and the recognition that equality is a collective effort is the only way to move forward. When boys and girls learn together, speak together and stand together, the message is stronger and the call for change is louder."
Two weeks. Yes, that’s right. In just two weeks we will be on the cusp of the Christmas holidays. I wonder what you will do in those days, particularly the ones immediately after Christmas. That glorious time when nobody really knows what day of the week it is, whether the shops are open, or if the bins are being collected. If your Christmas holidays are anything like mine, they involve a fair amount of travelling. For some, that travelling begins as soon as term ends, racing out of school to disappear somewhere exciting. For others – like me – the travelling happens after Christmas, a yearly road trip, to grandparents, to greatgrandparents, to aunts, uncles, in laws: a type of Christmas pilgrimage. Christmas is full of travelling. Today’s reading sees Mary and Joseph make their journey to Bethlehem; soon after, the shepherds hurry to see the good news, the magi follow a star to distant lands, and then Mary and Joseph flee to Egypt in a far more anxious journey. Even our hymn today concerns people travelling. “Lo from the North they come; from east and west and south.” All this talk of journeys has made me think about travelling and its place in our lives and our faith. This week I have watched Strictly Come Dancing and Race Across the World. One has no phones, no flights, and a temporary pause to the race because of civil unrest in Guatemala; the other is full of glitter and spray tan and a weekend in Blackpool; both programmes explore how their contestants are “on a journey”. And this is nothing new. From the Wizard of Oz, to Forest Gump, from Moana to the Mandalorian, our culture is full of quests and pilgrimages. Some claim the greatest of these is the hobbits’ trek from the safety of the Shire, across Middle Earth towards the dangers of Mordor. However, over 1,000 pages of reading, or more than 10 hours of film isn’t for everyone: Lord of the Rings? More like Bored of the Rings? These films drag on and on – why can’t those hobbits just get where they’re going? That review says something true about many of us: we are impatient travellers. We want to arrive. We want to get there. Parents of young children know this well: five minutes into any car journey will come the inevitable: “How much longer?” “Are we nearly there yet?” As parents of such children, and with them in the car with us, it is likely that we will have exactly the same attitude: let’s get this over with as soon as possible. Cancelled flights, lost luggage, or overcrowded trains: most journeys and forms of transport involve frustration, impatience, discomfort and maybe even a little bit of rage. I like travel to be planned and predictable. I never did the student inter railing thing yet I do appreciate the freedom of unhurried journeys. When you are not rushing to arrive, or feeling cross about your arrangements, you can notice the scenery, enjoy the journey, even think. My favourite journeys are long car journeys, but with my husband, and without the small children. On such journeys, we talk, we reflect, we plan. On those occasions, I really don’t mind the traffic. Not all journeys involve transport. At this point of the year, as we cling on until the next end of term, we are on our slow, yearly trek through the academic calendar. We live by assignments, deadlines, submission dates, exams. But when people leave school, they often say the same thing — “It went so fast. I wish I’d appreciated it more at the time. ” Yes, being so destination-focused can mean missing what’s happening on the road itself. Yet there is a far greater risk: that the hassles and stresses of travel make us avoid journeys altogether. Why bother when it’s so hard? However, the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. These words, attributed to St Augustine, have been borrowed by travel companies to sell holidays: to encourage people to visit unknown places and embrace the world beyond their doorstep. Yet I cannot believe that Augustine is really talking about all-inclusive package holidays or gap years. This great thinker and church Father is encouraging intellectual and spiritual exploration, rather than inter-railing and back-packing. Perhaps, in line with Augustine’s encouragement, we should be delighting in all travel and exploration, especially in our thinking, and never seek instant, quick, or easy answers. We don’t have to and we certainly shouldn’t stay fixed in one place or perspective. After all, that is what Advent, beginning this weekend, invites us to do: it is not simply about counting down the days until Christmas, but about taking the journey slowly, learning to wait, to notice and to prepare for what lies ahead. Wherever you are going in the next few weeks, godspeed to you and please do travel safely. When you’re sat in a departure lounge and the flight is delayed, or you’re on your way to Granny’s house and the traffic is bad, or, because it’s one of those days after Christmas and nothing works properly, you find that you are on some god-forsaken rail replacement bus, by all means look forward to arriving at your destination but have it mind to enjoy the journey time and the travelling as much as the arrival. Journeys have to be taken, and should be taken, but they should be enjoyed, not just endured. The Christian story, especially at Advent and Christmas, reminds us that all journeys, including and especially the unexpected and the transformational, should be celebrated. In the words of today’s hymn: Shout as you journey home; Songs be in every mouth. You don’t always need to know where you’re going, or indeed how you are going to get there. Treating all journeys, the actual, the intellectual and the spiritual, with this mindset, might leave us less frustrated by delays, changes, or bumps in the road and more open simply to seeing where the road takes us. Like Mary and Joseph, we might travel with uncertainty, and face difficulties, but we should travel with faith. Mary and Joseph survived without googlemaps: their journey certainly didn’t turn out as anticipated. In fact, their arrival in Bethlehem was only the start of a much greater journey, for them and for us.
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