19th January 2024
This week started with an exciting trip on Monday to the O2 for the children in Years 4 to 6 as they took part in the Young Voices concert.
They spent the afternoon practising before performing to a huge crowd from 7pm. Throughout the evening, the children were joined by special guests on the main stage including an incredible 13 year old drummer who was an inspiration to us all. Thank you to all the parents who came along to watch. It was a very special event and the children will have enjoyed making memories to cherish forever.
On Thursday, I was fortunate to join Year 5 on their joint Art and RE trip to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The children learnt about Islamic art and enjoyed working together to create their own designs using geometric shapes and tessellation. After lunch, they looked around the world-famous collections, ranging from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and time. They were excited to spot the lantern Guy Fawkes used when he planned to ignite barrels of gunpowder concealed under firewood in the cellar during the state opening of Parliament, a painting by Paulo di Dono (having studied his St George and the Dragon painting in school) and the Kabuki Legends stencil prints by Takahashi Hiromitsu, which are favourites of Othello's! The children sketched details from a number of different works and had a fascinating time exploring the eclectic range exhibited in the museum.
Congratulations to Zara in Year 5, who won the school’s competition to design a Centenary badge. Her creative, colourful design was chosen from lots of lovely entries and many thanks to all the children who put forward their designs. The badges (keyrings for the Pre-Prep) will be given to the children to mark the school’s 100th birthday, intended for the Prep children to wear on their blazers and the Pre-Prep children to have on their book bags. Zara also wrote a lovely article about the centenary for the Henley Standard which will be published in the paper in the next couple of weeks.
Unfortunately, the cross-county event at The Oratory Prep School tomorrow has been postponed due to frozen ground. We shall let you know the rescheduled date when it has been announced.
With best wishes,
Nick Armitage