ÖÆ·þÓÕ»ó

Although unable to hold our usual lower-school Celebration Evening this year, due to coronavirus restrictions, undeterred we held small year group gatherings in September, during morning registration.

It was really important for us to be able to award and celebrate the achievements of students for academic year 2019-20, especially when so many had demonstrated heightened resilience and determination during the home-learning period.

Students in last year’s 7-10 were awarded for either progress, attainment, endeavour or Aude Sapere (a special school prize for individual triumphs).

As usual, students were awarded a certificate and gold lapel star badge. More importantly, each student had a personalised tribute message from their Head of House, explaining why they had received the award.

The morning events, in the Centenary Hall, were filmed, and parents invited to enjoy a virtual viewing of their sons receiving their awards; hopefully, the socially distanced celebration this year will be just as memorable to the students involved – congratulations to all prize-winners.

Welcome back assembly by the Blake senior team, Pierre, Will, Will, Bilal and Tom.

Determined not to let 2020 pass without an edition of Torchella, we decided to run the Music Festival virtually this year. We were hugely impressed with the enthusiasm and adaptability shown by the students in contributing to this, so much so that we ended up with over an hour and a half’s worth of music broadcast on the final day of term via the school website. You can enjoy it again below!

The challenges of recording bands live resulted in a larger number of solo performances than usual, giving students the opportunity to really showcase their skills – I shouldn’t mention individuals but check out in particular the dance tracks from James Johnson, the sheer speed of Jude Ellacott’s xylophone beaters, and the multi-talented songwriting talent that is Samuel Newman.

Some bands found imaginative ways to play together, be it socially distanced performances outside the Stable Block, or multi-tracking audio and video (see the very impressive Year 11 Jazz Quartet).

A new take on a Music Festival, but a highly enjoyable way to end the school year.

Following what has been a strange time for everybody, the PE department decided to ensure one of the school’s annual flagship events maintained its place on the school calendar. Even though a little different in makeup, the staff planned a series of events that could be accomplished by students at home, hoping to stir up the traditional competitive and community spirit amongst the houses.

The day was set for 16 July, the penultimate day of term, as an opportunity for students and staff to start the summer wind-down. Yet students and staff gave their all through the day. After each event was launched at a set time, almost all year 7-10 students (and most staff!) took part, uploading their times, distances, and photos, as tutors and Heads of House cheered from the side lines (virtually, over Microsoft Teams), whilst the PE staff collated the scores, live on the website with running totals and virtual medal awarding. The only thing missing was the ice-cream van.

Sports Day began with a video opening ceremony from Mr Prince (his 24^th and last sports day at ÖÆ·þÓÕ»ó), followed by 5 events spread out over the course of the day, including Mr Adderley’s 20-minute run challenge, Mr Passenger’s paper throw, Mr Last’s rapid jump, Mr Porter’s TriFit, and Mr Hunt’s standing long jump.

Mr Lawrence conducted the closing ceremony through an online video, announcing Gilbert as the winning sports-day house for 2020. Well done to the competitors from all houses for giving their best, right up to the end of the term! You can see a few action shots in the highlight reel below.

In response to the last challenge, pupils and staff have chosen a film of their choice and portrayed it in a manner of the choosing: photograph, art, music and drama.

Assembly to the students in Ralegh on the experiences of lockdown.

During these strange and unprecedented times, @ÖÆ·þÓÕ»ó_PhysEd have been finding innovative ways of keeping the boys physically active and challenged during lockdown.

We have combined challenges from both the Healthy Active Lifestyles (HAL) units, and the Sports Skill Development (SSD) units too.

The challenges and activities are uploaded onto Microsoft Teams ready for 9am on Monday mornings, with the idea that students should attempt to complete them by the 4pm on the Friday of that week – these activities can be done during their allocated PE lesson, but if this is not feasible, then they can be done at some stage during the week to fit in around your other commitments.

We have had a range of fun fitness games such as: Connect 4, Fitness Bingo, Phone Number Fitness, Roll the Dice, Spell your name Fitness, and of course many variations of the Joe Wicks’ Daily Workout. We have also had ‘Beat the Teacher’ Video Challenges, such as ‘SPL’s Plank Challenge’, ‘BRP’s Hand-Eye Coordination Challenge’, ‘CPP’s Football Challenge’, ‘AJL’s Basketball Challenge’, ‘SKA’s Wembley Distance Challenge’, ‘BRP’s 2020 Skills Lockdown Challenge’, and ‘MPH’s Operation Red & Blue Challenge’.

On the whole, boys have engaged very well in the program, and we have seen aspects of cricket, football, tennis, rugby, table tennis, badminton, rounders, golf, trampolining, running, cycling, walking, surfing, basketball, water skiing, paddleboarding, frisbee, badminton, rowing and swimming all attempted. Check out the short video montage for a selection of some of the activities that boys have been up to during lockdown!

Anything that you may wish to do to supplement these challenges, that falls into the government guidelines for exercise and maintaining social distancing, will be of great benefit to you in terms of maintaining your physical and mental health and well-being moving forwards.

Stay safe, and keep smiling – if you need any help, we are just a message away! We look forward to seeing you all again soon.

We are aware of a number of campaigns about the ÖÆ·þÓÕ»ó house names, and fully understand the justifiable strength of feeling.

Equality for all is at the heart of our school ethos; this conversation is very timely as, in line with recent events, we have been in active discussions regarding the issue and will be consulting with students, staff, parents and the wider school community on the names of our houses as we move forward.