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.

Our annual Languages Carol Contest this half-term has been another great success. Each Upper 4 class prepared and recorded a Christmas Carol in French, German, Spanish or Mandarin. The 4th form then watched the videos and voted on their favourite song, with voting criteria of pronunciation, entertainment value and "Christmassy-ness", with different groups clearly aiming at different criteria. We are pleased to announce that the winning song was the French version of "Last Christmas" performed by Ms Niesch’s U4 French class. We were all impressed by their beautiful clear singing and catchy dance routine . Well done to all of the U4 Language classes and we look forward to seeing what the L4 can do next year. 

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!

For many in the wider Norwich School community, the December Carol Service in the cathedral is the surest sign that Christmas is on its way. Following the tradition of Nine Lessons and Carols, we heard the narrative thread of the coming of Christ through the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament gospels, read by pupils, parents, teachers and a school governor. The Chapel Choir sang a carefully rehearsed repertoire – different every year – from the lively melody of John Rutter’s Angels’ Carol to the melancholy harmonies of Warlock’s Bethlehem Down.  A generous collection at the end of the service will allow us to make a special Christmas donation to three of the charities Norwich School has been supporting during 2025. Of course the service was also a chance to catch up with old friends and fellows, made all the easier with mince pies and drinks in the refectory afterwards.

The 1 st XI enjoyed an unbeaten second half of term, finishing off with a solid set of statistics over the course of the season. Winning 5, losing 3 and 1 draw whilst scoring 22 goals in the process. The 2 nd XI came away with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats which is commendable following its reintroduction after a five year absence. The First XI experienced a mixed but encouraging season, with 5 wins 1 draw and 3 losses and many new faces being brought into the team. After starting off the season with an explosive 5–5 draw with the ONs, the team struggled through defeats to Perse and Kimbolton before bouncing back with a determined 1–0 win over Wymondham College. Momentum grew with a solid 3-1 victory against Gresham’s, despite a setback against Langley. The side finished the season impressively, beating Culford 3-1, dominating Ipswich High School 6-0, and a composed 2-1 win against Woodbridge to round off the season. Massive thanks to the U6 boys that played their final games this season, Ethan Buskell, James Moore, Joe Crotty, Sam Colman, Tom Chester, Ben Griffiths, Harry Philpott and Billy Faircloth. We look forward to the exciting future of Norwich School football as we try to build further next season. - Billy Faircloth (U6S) 1st XI Captain The 2nd XI had a positive year for football this year taking home an equal record after 2 wins,2 draws and 2 losses. There was a strong start to the season with a 3-2 win at home against The Perse which set morale high for the rest of the season. Then came a tough battle at Wymondham College and 2 consecutive draws – a complete stalemate at Gresham’s and at Langley which was relentlessly fought back and well deserved against a well-rounded team. A dip in form at Culford made everyone determined to finish the season on a high and in the final game of the season a strong 7-4 victory over Woodbridge sealed the season in upbeat spirit. - Alex Purling (L6B) 2nd XI Captain

Since before Covid, Norwich School has been the proud host site of the illustrious Royal Geographical Society (RGS). In that time, we have hosted a range of fabulous speakers: from BAFTA Award winning naturalists to Everest summiters; from naval historians to intrepid explorers; from top brass diplomats to renowned polar scientists. Ours is one of the most active and best supported regions in their network. The regional organisers were therefore extremely excited to have secured the national President of the RGS for a public lecture and social event on site. Not only that, but the speaker was also Director of the British Antarctic Survey. This was a mouthwatering opportunity that fully lived up to expectations. On 10 December 2025, Professor Dame Jane Francis offered profound insights from her personal experience of leading the internationally renowned British Antarctic Survey in her RGS talk entitled ‘On Thin Ice: a Life in the Antarctic”. Professor Francis is the current Director of British Antarctic Survey and in 2017 was appointed a Dame in recognition of services to UK polar science and diplomacy. She became Chancellor of the University of Leeds in 2018 and was elected national President of the Royal Geographical Society in 2024. Accompanied by a visually arresting slide deck and compelling delivery, Dame Francis spoke with passion about what she sees happening with her own eyes to this remote and fragile continent, effects with potentially devastating consequences for all human activity on our planet. A packed audience of Fellows of the RGS, friends of the school, pupils, parents, staff and alumni filled the festively decorated school refectory for the talk and for the post-lecture Q&A, during which Norwich School A Level geographer Lea Zegan (L6) plucked up the courage to ask two questions. Afterwards, guests enjoyed a Christmassy reception of mince pies, sausage rolls and fizz to round off a hugely successful and sociable evening. This event concluded Norwich School’s impressive programme of sixteen external public lectures held on site in 2025 in conjunction with partner organisations. The school offers its heartfelt thanks to all involved this year: our valued partners - the RGS, the Norfolk Contemporary Art Society and the Norfolk Cambridge Society - for according us the honour of hosting their events at Norwich School and for securing such stellar speakers; our Sixth Form Community Service helpers including Hetty Holden (U6), Hannah Hodgson (U6), Lea Zegan (L6), Daisy Smith (L6), Caleb Asamoah (L6) and Xander Gooderson (L6) for their valuable out-of-hours assistance; Will Stephenson in our IT Dept for his technical wizardry throughout the year; Gareth Parry and the fabulous catering team for appetising refreshments; our diligent Estates and Bookings Teams for their consummate professionalism; and finally those thousands comprising our loyal, supportive and intellectually curious audiences whose presence has enriched every lecture.

Norwich School is proud of our close links with the Norfolk Cambridge Society, and the school is a host site for their very successful termly lectures. The Society runs its own highly prestigious and rigorous annual essay competition open to any Upper Sixth pupil in the county of Norfolk considering applying to Cambridge University. Norwich School pupils have achieved unparalleled success this year. The following pupils were placed in the Commended category for their contributions – Rosie Pank, Anna Rechel, Melissa Hawkings and Ed Brightwell. Following shortlisting and an interview with the judging panel, the following pupils were placed in the Highly Commended category - Mei McAuley, Georgia Lloyd and Ana Paduraru Tom Irvine was awarded third place for his thought-provoking essay on the capability of medicine to prevent and possibly ‘reverse’ death. Joint winners of the overall competition for 2025 were Arthur Dannatt for his astonishingly complex maths-based essay entitled: What is the Archimedes cattle problem and how can it be solved? And Becky Brown for her album of nine beautiful songs she composed herself – the first time a musical entry has been awarded top prize in the competition’s history. All are pictured with Rob Edwards, Chair of the Norfolk Cambridge Society. We offer huge congratulations from the school community to all of them. Bright academic futures await them all.

The City Schools Cross Country at Redmayne serves as the qualifying round for the Norfolk Schools Championships that will take place early next term. Runners need to finish in the top 10 of their respective races, against runners from eight city-based schools, to make it through to the next round. On Monday we had thirteen hopefuls from L4 to M5 who were aiming to do just that. This year six of our runners were successful in qualifying. Conditions were perfect for running laps on the flat, slightly muddy course. In the Year 7 boys' race, Jonty Croskell ran consistently to finish 12th while Joshua Bevan came home in 4 th place.  In the Intermediate girls' Lydia Hendry ran strongly but we had two qualifiers with Nona Griffiths finishing 7 th and Emi Muntingh 3rd. In the intermediate boys, Riccardo Di Maria secured his place in the County round by coming 7th. The rest of the team ran well with Harry Kensell 12th, Albie Cater 16th, Jonas Tam 19 th and Rory Normanton 26th. The performance of the day came from Ruby Ivie who won her race looking extremely comfortable. Against some very strong Senior boys, Noah Buchan ran with determination to come 10th. Well done to those runners who qualified for the County round, which will take place at Wymondham College in mid-January.