Charities Dinner took place on Friday 25 April and was a great success with most of the L6 year group in attendance along with some of their teachers, tutors, and parents! The money raised from the Charities Dinner along with last term’s Home Clothes Day, will all go towards the chosen charity of the Lent Term: Cancer Research UK Let’s hear from Boo Harrad, our Charities Committee Chair for this year: “Very heart-warming speech, Lovely event to raise money, Excellent food and company, Grateful for the opportunity as a year group” Here are some words from the Charity representatives who joined us for the evening: What can I say? I am still beaming from Friday evening, we had the best time and you made us feel so welcome and the students were so lovely, a few came over to me and shared their own experiences of cancer with me which was so humbling. Just from the merchandise we brought with us, we raised an incredible £285.50 on the evening, which is amazing considering that was in the space of about 40 minutes. We are so grateful that CRUK was chosen as the charity of the term. Here’s a little reminder about what we heard in an assembly last term about where our money gets put to use: 1 in 2 of us will get cancer in our lifetime. Thanks to research, the UK’s cancer survival has doubled over the last 40 years and around half of patients now survive the disease for more than 10 years. To give an idea of what the money raised pays for: £4 – A kilo of dry ice to keep delicate DNA at a safe temperature. £30 – Full personal protective equipment (PPE) for the scientists to carry out their life-saving experiments safely. £50 – Restriction enzymes, which are chemicals that act like molecular scissors to cut up long strands of DNA. These allow the scientists to find out more about the causes of cancer.

On Sunday 4 May, the Senior rowers raced at Wallingford Regatta, held at Dorney Lake on the 2000m Olympic course. The conditions were challenging with a strong cross wind but all crews handled them well. The Boys 1st VIII raced as Open and Schools, finshing in the top half of the Junior 8s, despite some last minute crew changes. The Girls 1st VIII, with seven of them being J16, raced in the J18 8s and 4s. The 1st Four missed the repechage by 0.25 second, finishing 7th overall and the 2nd Four raced well holding Bedford Girls to only a 3 second deficit. The Boys Quad had a tough heat, but learnt a lot about multi lane racing. Well done to all crews. Meanwhile, Nicholas Conway, had been selected to race for Great Britain Under 19s at Munich International Junior Regatta. With a very close race in the Coxless Four final on Saturday, the crew won a Silver Medal. They then raced the Czech Republic in an 8 in the last race of the day. A strong second 1000m saw the 8 come from a length down to win Gold. The Sunday saw the 8 racing again. With a much bigger field, Nick and his crew won their heat, setting up a final with 3 German crews, Croatia and the Czech Republic. A strong race saw the 8 win Gold by half a length to the selected German crew.  With 2 Golds and 1 Silver medal, this was a fantastic start to Nicholas’ U19 International racing

There was a flurry of activity on the Place Lawn on Friday 2 May during the lunch break, when a selection of stalls was set up to appeal to the school community. These included Splat the Rat, Temporary Tattoos, a Coconut Shy and the ever-popular Sponge the Teacher! Six courageous teachers (I Hayward, J Song, E Wolsey, B Pearce, Jon Gent and M Stevens) faced the onslaught of cold water during a half hour of fund raising for the Werapitiya Village Fund in Sri Lanka. The school’s Amnesty Group aim is to pay for materials that will be used to provide flooring and walls for the community arts centre which has recently opened in a village outside Kandy. The teachers were doubly generous in their participation because they had originally expected sponges of tepid water to be thrown at them, as per the wording of the original “invitation”. However, due to the lack of accuracy of pupils using the aforementioned projectile, the decision was made to offer buckets of water instead – albeit at a far higher rate of pay/donation! Mr Bedford-Payne and all members of the Amnesty Group are very grateful for the good nature, determination and sheer resilience of these members of staff. Over £100 was raised in a very short space of time.

The 1st XI faced Gresham’s in a 45-over match. After losing the toss, they batted first and built a strong foundation with a 94-run opening stand between Anish Kantam (44) and Ollie Longdon (36). Tom Robson controlled the innings with a composed 72, supported by Lewis Reeder’s brisk 40, taking the total to 278/6.  Gresham’s started confidently in reply, putting us under pressure early on. However, two run outs and a key wicket from debutant Tom Bush turned the momentum. Jack Rowley finished with 3/54 as the team secured a convincing 62-run victory.

VE Day was the theme for this year's sixth form History Dinner on Friday 2 May. Both pupils and staff came dressed in a brilliant variety of outfits reflecting the fashions of the time, from soldiers and sailors to politicians and writers. The kitchen produced a range of dishes based on the realities of rationing — particular favourites were the 'wartime pumpkin soup', spam hash and rock buns — and everyone was amazed at how delicious the food was in spite of the restrictions on ingredients. A musical playlist of 1940s favourites kept everyone in the mood, and the History Department is now busy wondering how to top the event with another exciting theme next year.

From September 2 - 15, Pathways is displayed in the Crypt Gallery. Drawn together for Pathways, five visual artists and a poet show works arising from immersion in the landscape. Below are some information from the artists (and poet) with some additional information if you would like to find out more! Fliss Cary I make drawings, prints and artists books in response to the landscape and to particular elements of nature. I'm fascinated by the chaotic abundance of nature, by tangled stems and stalks, its transience and its constant renewal. I'm exploring these aspects through a variety of media alongside drawings with a wider view made while walking through the landscape. Find out more here - https://flisscary.com Jude Chaney My work is landscape based. I walk and see images I find appealing then photograph and work on a large scale image soon after as to capture the feeling. I love mixing colour and my work is bold and colourful with pattern. I've worked Plein air on smaller pieces but have felt the need recently to be in the landscape to create my larger ones too, so I'm starting to take the large canvas Plein air too. As I get older the landscape has become even more important to me, I walk daily. Find out more here - https://www.instagram.com/judechaneyartist Cherry Vernon My current work is inspired by the landscape of East Anglia – the broad view and the intimate details of real and sometimes imagined landscapes. In looking and contemplation, the imagery used in the work is varied and highly personal, reflecting the landscape, and hoping to engage viewers with a sense of time and place. My work, which is hung on walls, is predominantly on linen. I put a mixture of earth pigments and soy milk on to cloth in a variety of ways. I quilt by hand and machine. Find out more here - http://vernon-harcourt.com Kate Vogler My pots seek to capture the timelessness sensed when at one with nature: by water, amongst trees or on a mountain path. They are made from coils of clay with impressions of handmade lace, grasses or seaweed in the smooth burnished surface. The colours come from slips and oxides, smoke and pit firings. When touched, each vessel could be part of the landscape: weathered, eroded and raw; somehow inviting quiet introspection. Find out more here - https://www.katevogler.co.uk Beth Walsh My work is based on direct experience and sensory response, using lace as a conduit rather than an end in itself. Some pieces are inspired by text, music or local environment, others by artists of the past, but all are a personal interpretation of a source. Lace has always juxtaposed structure and line with space, exploiting its semi-transparency. My work examines and challenges traditional lacemaking through use of pattern, colour and scale, often combined with other media. I have recently begun spinning and dyeing various fibres to produce particular effects in the yarns I use for lacemaking. Find out more here - https://artlace.co.uk Jonathan Ward My poems are often written in response to place, walks, swims and encounters with the natural world such as bird sightings. I visit and revisit places and landscapes – local and further afield – at different times of day and in all weathers and seasons, taking time to pay attention to what is found there and to reflect. Finished poems, often capturing illuminating moments, arise from notes written outside, from memory or a combination of the two. "... Patience to stand at the entrance to a field watch the clouds move, the shifting light, ..." from Patience: Jonathan Ward

In the February half term, Anoushka Craggs (U6) starred in the Young Film Academy's 'Project Paradiso' which is due to be shown this summer. To celebrate this and to find out a little bit more about the experience, we asked her a few questions... So can you tell me a little bit about how were chosen for the Project Paradiso? So to be chosen for the Project Paradiso cast/crew you had to show exceptional kindness to those around you, it was mostly based on a behavioural thing from the summer camp. They chose the people who they thought would work best with each other, I think that as an actor the film that I did from the film camp was a comedy which helped a lot as the film for Project Paradiso, Running Hot, is also a comedy. So I think it was a mixture of skill and just your attitude and how you work with others. How did you go about fundraising for Project Paradiso? Mainly it was through word of mouth, I just told lots of people about it, I did a funded marathon walk, it was a really busy time so it was amazing to have the support of so many really generous people but also other people fundraised with bake sales, screenings of other films that project Paradiso has produced. So did you get much support from YFA in terms of fundraising? From YFA they gave us plenty of ideas on how to fundraise but they were very clear that we had to do the fundraising ourselves otherwise the project wouldn’t happen. How much did you have to raise? The original goal was £78,000 which they rose to £82,000 in the end which we managed to raise! And where does that money go? It mostly goes to the equipment and the specialists that work with that equipment, they brought in 3 industry professionals that work on short form and long form pieces as well as commercials, so they handled all the various equipment. The camera was an Arri Alexa which is what Netflix uses for a lot of their films and shows. It is a really high quality camera and I learnt a lot about it. Going to Italy was of course a huge expense as well. And you had a week of intense filming? What was the day-to-day of that like? So we would wake up around, 6 then in hair and makeup most mornings in which I would definitely take the longest, being in there for around an hour and a half whereas other people would be much quicker, some as short as 10 minutes! At 10:30 we would be ready but then tech would take some time, we’d be on set from 11. On set we’d have a run through with the director, a rehearsal with the lighting and sound as well as the camera, checking you’re in focus. We would often shoot until 1 for lunch but the aim was always to shoot an entire section/scene before lunch but we quite often ran over. After lunch we’d run from 2-6 but the latest night we did was until 8! What was it like filming Iin another country as well? It was really cool! I’m not going to lie the weather was quite bad, it was raining most of the week. The scenery is right by Etna so when it was clear and sunny you could completely see her and she was actually erupting when were there which meant lots of volcanic ash which became a bit of a problem for the kit. It felt so surreal being on a film set and in another country at the same time, the lemon groves were also very picturesque. Did you decide on the location yourselves? No, Project Paradiso is built on YFA’s relationship with this particular farm and so the last 2 films also were filmed there. And did your team write the script? Yes there were also a group of writers that fundraised but they didn’t come to Italy with us. There were various zoom calls with them about the script and what it means which is really helpful. And how does this differ with other film experiences that you have had? So I have only really had a little film experience but this was so professional in comparison to what I had done before and the level of focus was just unlike anything else. It was very structured and organised although it was at times chaotic it still felt very structured. And how long is the film? Roughly it will be around 40 minutes. So that’s quite long for only a week of filming? Yeah it was 19 pages to do in a week and I think that scene was the least amount of shots we had to do was 3. Each scene varied between 3 and 12 different shots. And how many people were on the team in total? 23 I believe. And how many were actors? Just 4 actually. Had you met anyone before? I knew a couple of people that worked on the film in the summer but other than that I didn’t know anyone else so I had to meet loads of new pupil even though we were all at the same camp. And what can you tell us about the film? I can say that it’s a romcom and that it has something to do with Etna! I can tell you that I had to have my hair crispy fried straight for the entire week so I won’t look like my regular curly self! Oh and there’s 2 couples, one being more obvious and the other kind of just creeping up. When is it going to be released? July/August time because it is a the longest film that they have ever done on this project and there’s only one person doing all the post-production work. And is it going to be sent off to film festivals? Is there a premiere? The premiere is around the same time as the Leavers Ball so I’m a little stressed about that! It will be held at BFI Southbank and there’s going to be people flying in from all over. They will also send it to tons of film festivals, the previous project has won 50 or so awards around the world which are quite big shoes to fill. What is the aim of Project Paradiso? It is kind of a Catch22 in the film industry that you need to have film experience to get on a film set but to have film experience you need to get on a film set. So the idea of Project Paradiso is to give people experience of being on a professional film set, to have that in your portfolio at such a young age. It is really invaluable, as an actor your reputation is built by your performances and if you don’t have anything to show for it, you just won’t get booked. What’s the end goal for you in terms of acting? End goal is acting in film and tv, I like theatre as well but I find Film and TV more interesting and it requires a different skillset which I really enjoy and also being able to do retakes when I mess up! That’s the end goal, to be an actor. How do other people get involved?  So definitely going to the YFA summer camp, it’s an amazing experience for anyone that wants to get into anything related to film, its really helpful and the tutors really know their stuff and will be able to help you. There’s 2 courses, acting and screen-making, with screen-making being behind the camera and acting of course being in front. There are also various day courses form YFA as well as other film schools that can teach you skills such as how to use a camera. And if you take art, are an actor or just someone who is interested in film look up the opportunities or even just look at School because they will also provide opportunities and workshops.

What a wonderful evening of music making as the Upper 3 pupils performed their last Informal Concert in the Lower School. A concert full of joy, confidence, and some seriously impressive talent on a warm May evening! The concert had something for everyone—from a beautiful and expressive solo Bach cello prelude that filled the room with calm and grace, to lively songs from Musicals Annie and Beauty and the Beast that had us all smiling and humming along. The performers truly enjoyed themselves, which added to the magic of the evening. There was a cool and catchy railroad blues piece on the piano, a rocking Lenny Kravitz 'Are You Gonna Go My Way' showcasing some impressive drum skills that brought serious energy to the hall, and a refined Clementi piano performance that showed off real musical skill, virtuosic flair and poise. The audience loved every moment, and it was clear that all the performers had worked hard—and had loads of fun along the way. They played and sang with heart, professionalism, and big smiles. Head of Music Mr Vine said 'I've been lucky to have watched your confidence levels grow and grow over the last 3 years and develop your music skills. Fabulous performances this evening! Thank you all for your hard work and thank you to our visiting music tutors for their hard work too - well done everyone!' The next Informal Concert features pupils from Lower 3 and will take place on Thursday 8 May at 4.45pm in the Lower School Hall.

On Thursday 1st May Middle 5 Academic Scholars enjoyed a walking tour of Norwich with a ‘strange’ twist. Professor Christopher Joby (ON) guided the group around city streets within a stone’s throw of The Close to learn about the history of the ‘Strangers’ in our fine city. Norwich has become known as a City of Sanctuary in recent years, welcoming refugees and families from around the world. However, as we learnt on this short trip, Norwich has had a reputation for welcoming ‘Strangers’ from other countries, and particularly persecuted communities, for at least five centuries. Pupils were astonished that streets so close to our school contain so much history- we stopped at 6 churches within the space of a few hundred meters. Even Norwich School’s very own Reynolds library featured since it was previously a chapel for the French strangers. This visit sparked much reflection on the part of the pupils and staff, considering the societal impact of these communities as well as their linguistic and cultural legacy. This led to many follow-up questions from pupils, such as... How do churches end up being named after people? Did the strangers get taxed officially or was it more lowkey? Why wouldn't the Strangers come over to Norwich with their families? Where did the funding for all the churches come from? Did anyone ever come looking for the persecuted Strangers? How might the Strangers’ language have influenced the Norfolk dialect of today? Plenty to ponder, speculate on and research! I was fascinated by the history of the strangers, particularly how our very own Reynolds library, was previously a chapel for the French strangers. It has also enhanced my knowledge of catholic and Protestant tensions during the Tudor period. This trip greatly increased my appreciation of both Norwich School, and the city as a whole.