Eleven Voices, Eight Pianists, Five Violinists and An Oboe, Cello and Guitar – What A Showcase!
On Wednesday afternoon, the Prep Department held their Spring Musical Showcase to a packed audience of parents, grandparents, staff, and fellow students. It is one of my favourite afternoons of the year seeing such a wide array of budding musical talent across the different year groups. It is never easy to perform in front of others; it takes great bravery, resilience and skill to stand (or sit) in front of your peers and supporters performing a piece of music where any element could go wrong. They all displayed great confidence and development of their varied skills to produce a wonderful afternoon of entertainment for all who were present. A huge thanks to Miss Wong, Ms Playle and all the peripatetic teachers who ensure our students develop a deep love for Music.
It has been a week that has really highlighted the creative, artistic, and performing talents of our students with the exceptional Drama Devised Evening last night showcasing the talented students at Saint Felix. Years 10, 11 and 12 all put on memorable and at times challenging pieces in preparation for their upcoming exams; it was wonderful to see their confidence and love of performance on display to such a significant extent.
In a week of diverse and wide-ranging activities, our Lego League Team went to the Regional Competition in Ipswich at the BT Adastra Park. They competed brilliantly and were the first to set up and start preparing for a gruelling and challenging day ahead. During the course of the day, the team were praised for their resilience and fortitude when one of their robots wouldn’t quite behave as expected or wanted! The judges praised the students for their teamwork and commented on the strength of their ideas and overall enthusiasm for the tasks undertaken, all of which resulted in the team winning the very special Judge’s Award for their ideas and collaboration; they were described as “the team to watch” for the future. Mr Chapman is already plotting for next year but most importantly of all, the students involved had great fun whilst learning huge amounts.
I was thrilled to hear that we now have a second emerging pilot in the school as Rafferty E continues to prepare for her Private Pilot Licence; she is well on her way to achieving this now and in addition, has been made a Pilot
Ambassador for Saxon Air at Norwich Airport. What a fantastic achievement and I know that Rafferty has welcomed and benefited from the support and guidance that Holly R-W has been able to give her having gone through the same training process herself. Saint Felix is certainly leading the way on women in aviation!
In other student news and sporting successes, on Sunday Charlotte P-R travelled to Malvern to compete in the Open 133cm Show Hunter Pony Royal International Horse Show Qualifier. Charlotte rode her heart out to win against a very strong class of ponies gaining her the Golden Ticket to ride at the prestigious Royal International Horse Show where once again, she will be galloping up the famous ‘Hickstead Hill’. In addition, our Under 18s Football team beat Gresham’s School 4-0 in an excellent performance where they displayed great skill, tenacity, and clinical precision in front of goal for a notable victory against a school with far greater numbers than Saint Felix. The future of football is bright with our Prep Department winning 9-1 this week as well in a formidable performance.
Whilst exam results and academic performance are fundamental in opening up life opportunities for our students, their emotional and social wellbeing is every bit as important. Many of you will have seen or heard about “Adolescence”, the recent series on Netflix which has engaged so many parents with the themes and issues that are explored. It has resulted in many parents reaching out to schools seeking advice and guidance on how to support their children and to help navigate these conversations, and thus the founder of the Wellbeing Hub, Alicia Drummond, has written an article that explores what parents and educators can learn from the series which you can read here: Netflix’s Adolescence: What can we as parents and educators learn from the series and how do we better support our young people? – Teentips Wellbeing Hub. It offers invaluable insights as well as practical advice. Whilst I have not yet finished watching all of the episodes, I can undoubtedly say that so far, it is one of the most powerful and compelling programmes that I have seen for many a year; it is definitely worth viewing. Please also find attached the letter from Mrs Mann regarding the Wellbeing Hub, an interactive online portal that is specifically designed to help and guide parents in this important area.
Have a lovely weekend.
Yours sincerely,
Matthew Oakman
Head
