It has been lovely to welcome back ex pupil, Joseph B, this week who is spending time in our music department for some work experience. I did not recognise him at first as he is now completing A Levels. I enjoyed chatting with Joseph and hearing about what he has been up to since leaving Sunninghill Prep in 2018 and moving on to Tring Park School for the Performing Arts to further his performance training. Tring Park is a vocational school near London. Joseph told me he spends half the school day training, either singing, dancing and acting. He said Sunninghill’s supportive environment and amazing Music and Drama department really helped him to develop his skills and gave him confidence in his abilities. This was all essential to get through a tough audition! He mentioned that our chamber choir at Sunninghill helped him improve his choral singing allowing him to be part of Tring’s highly selective senior choir. Joseph has managed to maintain a high standard in his academic work and was pleased with his GCSE grades last year. Joseph is passionate about his chosen career path and we are all very proud of him.
I have previously written about a film Form 8 made last term with the support of Mrs Fernley for the Film Festival. It was their original take on Henry V and we have recently received this fabulous appraisal which is well deserved.
As part of our new PSHCE and RSE programme, Mrs King arranged for Form 8 to meet Jude and Abi from ‘Activate’ in to talk about disability and discrimination. Abi has cerebral palsy and is in a wheel chair. She has completed training to become a choreographer, but is waiting for an employer to give her the opportunity. Abi is a presenter on a radio station and volunteers for the Arts Council to raise awareness of disability. The main message was to be kind and thoughtful to everyone. The talk was moving and inspiring and the class were fully engaged, asking thoughtful questions. We are grateful to Jude and Abi for giving up their time to talk to the children.
You can see the presentation by clicking here and you can watch their video below.
Well, it wasn’t quite the end of half-term we planned, with just 1 hours’ notice staff were racing around organising remote learning and holiday work; clearing sports lockers and generally ‘battening down the hatches’! This is only the second time in over 10 years we have closed for a day due to poor weather but safety has to come first.
Our children love nothing more than an opportunity to get outside especially if there is a chance of getting wet and/or muddy! Mr Willemse took a great photo this week of the Form 7 and 8 boys playing football. They look so happy!
Mr Willemse tells me that U12 and U13 boys had a lovely game against Salisbury Cathedral and players from both teams showed great sportsmanship. It was really enjoyable for everyone and class battles! Sunninghill won 3-2 in both games. The A team were 2-1 down with 5 min to go but fought hard to get the 3-2 win in added time.
I hope you all have a lovely half-term break. We look forward to welcoming children back into school on Tuesday 1st March.
