October 12th 2018
November marks the centenary of the armistice of “the war to end all wars”. Today sees the culmination of Arts Week, the theme of which has been World War I and Remembrance. The boys have been integral in both the preparation of the week and in the running of Arts Week itself. As a result, they will enter November with a greater understanding and awareness of the impact at all levels of war, and specifically of life between 1914-1918.
I do hope that many of you were able to view the wonderful art exhibition in the sports hall. What was so special about this display was that boys contributed individually, and their work was then organised and mounted into a collective display of powerful paintings and images of The Great War. The poppies below the display gave a wonderful contrast to the destruction portrayed immediately above them.
On Monday and Tuesday evenings, Year 5 put on an excellent production of ‘Archie Dobson’s War’. The subject matter of the play required an extremely sensitive and mature approach by the boys, who gave two outstanding performances. My thanks to Ash Edwards and Camilla Moore who got the very best out of the boys both in the lead up and on the nights themselves.
For the latter two nights of Arts Week, we were treated to two fabulous concerts under the direction of Trevor Bissell and his team. The evenings were a blend of solo, ensemble and choir performances, with one of the highlights being community singing of World War I songs by both the whole company and audience. At the end of Thursday’s concert, Trevor rated that night’s audience as the stronger singing group. Controversially he has now revised his judgement to give both Wednesday’s and Thursday’s audience joint first place!
Finally, the pop vocals concert this afternoon saw a number of outstanding group and individual performances – Moulsford has pop stars in the making! Many thanks to Josie Smith for the enthusiasm, energy and fun she brings to the Music Department.
Thank you to parents for all the support that you have shown during the week, and to all the staff who have made Arts Week possible.
The football season draws to a close today for Years 5-8, with rugby on the agenda after half-term. One of the new initiatives from September has been larger squads and greater rotation of boys between teams. Coupled with very purposeful practices, boys have shown a real desire to push themselves to reach their potential.
This season we have had boys start in the E teams and make selection for the C teams, as well as boys starting in the C teams and getting opportunities in the A teams. 15 boys have played for the U10As, 15 boys have played for the U11As, and 18 have played for the 1st XI. The Lion Heart has been awarded on a weekly basis to a boy in each of the senior (Y7 & 8), Under 11 (Y6) and Under 10 (Y5) teams. The criteria for this award are Endeavour, Enjoyment, Resilience, Teamwork and Humility. This term, the very significant bulk of nominations and awards have gone to boys in the lower teams. My thanks go to James Springer, our new Director of Sport, and his team for an excellent start to the sporting year.
Have a lovely half-term break.
#MPSHeadsBlog
