School_Matters_Issue_34

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BACK TO SCHOOL The many weeks of waiting through lockdown finally came to an end on 8 March 2021 as we were able to welcome pupils and staff back to the School campus; the first time they had been on site since before the Christmas holidays. It was wonderful to have everyone back. For pupils, it was a chance to reconnect with friends in person, remember that locker number, rediscover the delights of tuck and the culinary treats at lunchtime, and let off steam on the hard court and about the Orchard and grounds. There were also, of course, lessons to reacquaint themselves with their teachers in three dimensional space!

COVID-19 TESTING

Thanks to our magnificent parent volunteers, we met the logistical challenges of running a total of three Lateral Flow Tests for every pupil in the Senior School just prior to and immediately following pupils’ return to the campus for the onsite re-start. Logistically, this was an enormously demanding operation requiring meticulous planning and use of specially prepared testing booths set up in the Sports Hall. We were greatly indebted to the Bursar, Mr John Hutchison, and Colonel Stephen Barnwell for overseeing the smooth running of the School’s coronavirus testing so expertly. Soon afterwards, Covid self-test kits were distributed by Tutors to be taken home. Pupils heard from the Headmaster about the importance of continuing their self- testing and were able to watch an NHS instructional video showing them exactly what they needed to do. They were required to begin testing twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, reporting their results to the NHS and to IPS. The name of the game was helping us all to keep us safe and allow our on-site teaching and learning, along with the many co-curricular opportunities we were able to get going again, to be maintained.

QUIZ NIGHT At the start of an excellent evening of quizzing, the Headmaster reflected that 2020’s PVI, Sixth Form and Staff House Quiz was one of the last major School events held before the first period of coronavirus lockdown. This time, although we were unable to meet together in person, Zoom enabled this ever-popular and highly competitive House competition to go ahead, with more than 100 participants doing battle to be crowned champs. Mr Wolsey also revealed that the last four years had seen wins by each of the four Houses in turn: Brearley (2017); Paget (2018); Montefiore (2019) and Findlay (2020). Would the sequence play out for a second time? As well as the overall House winner, there were gift vouchers (from a ubiquitous online retailer) to be awarded to the members of this year’s top team.

Proceedings got underway with rounds covering: Science; On This Day; History; Languages; Literature; Politics; Geography; Popular Culture, Sports and Music. Questions had been set by members of the Sixth Form Tutor Team. Mr Collins took the scorer’s role as usual, but this time adding the administration of Zoom break out rooms to his impressive multitasking capabilities as groups retired to deliberate on their responses prior to returning to hear the correct answers. It was a close run thing to the very end. In the end, Brearley triumphed, Findlay placed second and Paget came third. The top scoring team was ‘Brearley 2’. Well done Zeke Aylin, Polly Dunn, Saskia Jenkins, Matthew Mason, Arthur Mellor, Finn Moore, Claudia Murray-Cors, Isabelle Thomas, Ms Combe and Mrs Hassan. The great success of the evening depended in no small measure on Mr Malcolm, Deputy Head of Sixth Form. We thank him for his assiduous advance preparation and organisation on the night.

Covid-19 home testing kits ready to be distributed by Tutor Group