June 11th 2022
The boys in 8M & 8R (plus Bertie and Raphael) have had a busy week taking their Common Entrance (CE) exams to their senior schools. This is the culmination of many years’ hard work in the classroom for all of Year 8, and following their final paper, there was a wonderful atmosphere as they let off steam with the traditional CE run around the school buildings followed by an ice cream. The boys now embark on their very exciting leavers’ programme, which is designed to educate, inspire and be fun for their final few weeks at Moulsford.
Richard Martin, the Head of Year 8, has masterminded this holistic programme, which covers a huge variety of activities. There are a number of seminars, discussions and talks on nutrition and social media, a Gamelan music workshop, an Old Moles talk and a morning’s art workshop. The boys will also have a morning’s drama workshop under the tuition of Rabble Theatre https://rabbletheatre.com/.
To keep the boys active, we have a very exciting outward bound element to the programme, which includes a charity fancy dress walk on the Ridgeway, an overnight campout at Forest School and an action packed residential week in Devon, which includes coasteering and surfing. There is also time for some unadulterated fun with a trip to the Red Kangaroo Trampoline park in Reading, time spent on the river and parkour with Liam Sargent.
The programme also includes seminars given by Peter Hall, entitled ‘Wasted Youth’ on the perils of drug and alcohol addiction https://www.wasted-youth.net/ and Patrick Foster from Epic Risk Management on gambling, online gaming and addiction https://www.epicriskmanagement.com/about-us/. Developing the skills and confidence to present in public are so important and we are very grateful to Jessica Haworth (a current Moulsford parent) who will be working with the boys in this area https://www.breakthe4thwall.com/.
My thanks to Richard Martin and his team. The wonderful programme that they have devised and will deliver fits in perfectly with the Moulsford ethos of a broad, holistic education to ensure boys are equipped for life in the twenty first century.
