#BrilliantYear6s#ReachForTheStars

LSF.WEEK3 July 2020

At the end of an extremely challenging term, I am delighted that both staff and pupils have been able to finish the year on a real high.

Andrew EarnshawHeadmaster

Celebrating School Life One success which they contributed to no doubt is our most recent award which was Firefly’s ‘Celebrating School Life Virtually’ competition via #HeroesOfHomeLearning. The competition focused on how teachers and schools go above and beyond to #KeepLearningGoing in the recent period of distance or online learning.

This was particularly evident in Year 6, as despite all the restrictions with which they have had to contend, the children and staff have quite simply put their hearts and souls into making their final days with us an unforgettable and sparkling experience.

Judging from the exuberant activity outside my office on the hallowed turf of the quad, the children have certainly left their mark in more ways than one!

Fond memoriesI am certain that they will look back on their time here with fond memories as they prepare to move on to pastures new in September. Indeed, they will number only a very few children in the country who will have had the opportunity to complete their final year at primary school by actually physically being here on site.

We wholeheartedly wish all our school leavers the very best for what their future holds and certainly look forward to hearing all about their future successes.

Thank youI would also like to thank all our parents and pupils for the way in which they cooperated with such flexibility to the arrangements that had to be put in place so quickly following the local lockdown announcement late on Monday evening.

Despite having to adapt to more changes to their school day, our pupils have behaved impeccably and shown such resilience and adaptability. We are all very proud of them and know that they will enjoy their summer break having had a positive end to a term quite like no other.

Virtual Sports DayFairfield’s PE Department were the undisputed victors by claiming nearly 50% of the votes with their innovative, “Virtual Sports Day”.

Proof once more that Fairfield staff have continued to give their very best, throwing off the constraints of lockdown to bring another outstanding and memorable online experience to our pupils.

Julian MurphyHeadmaster

Sports DayAmherst pupils love their annual sports day and lockdown did not stop the Houses from competing for the coverted House Sports trophy this year.

The PE staff utilised the Youth Sport Trust National Sports week resources of choose, challenge and capture. Where pupils could have the freedom to be creative and choose their own active wellbeing and sporting challenges. They gained extra points for challenging friends and family and capturing their achievements.

7LI, supported by their amazing tutor Mrs Ingram, took the challenge to the next level and hosted two live zooms and challanged each other to keepie ups and learning a new dance!All Preparatory pupils were able to participate in School and sent in some wonderful images of collaboration and team work.

The smiles say it all.Final scores: Teresa 282; Agnes 271; Rosmini 269; Peter 229. Congratulations to Teresa House!

And finally … thank you all for keeping the spirit of Amherst alive during lockdownA big thank you to all Amherst students, parents and staff who have given their time, creativity and energy to keep the spirit of our community very much alive during the past three months.

I am particularly proud of those students who have spoken to me about how the experience has helped them to develop their independent learning. The art of seeing an opportunity within a problem expresses the very heart of the positive Amherst ethos. I am so proud of you all, and wish you all a fun and relaxing summer holiday.

We also refused to let lockdown stop us celebrating our House Feast daysMrs Chadwick (Head of Houses) writes:

“We have held two virtual House Feast days this week. Peter House on Monday 29 June and Rosmini House on Wednesday 1 July. If we were all still in school we would have celebrated these special days with a beautiful liturgy for all members of the House including their parents. This would be followed by fun and games and a special lunch for the House in the gorgeous cloisters. Obviously, this was not to be this year, but we were still able to celebrate these important days. All Peter and Rosmini House members were invited to dress in their respective House colours, if they were in school or having their lessons by Zoom and a fun PowerPoint went out to all Peter and Rosmini folk with a reminder of the history of their House, a fun House colour related quiz, a word search and a reminder of their House prayer.”

Congratulations to Ellie (Year 8), whose team won the Trailblazers junior preliminary dressage championships Ellie writes: “While we have been in lockdown I have really missed competing as it would have been my last season on my current horse Cloud. We went from competing weekly to not competing at all however this time has given me a chance to perfect the smaller details, making us a better team! My first competition back was a virtual dressage test. We dressed up, got competition ready and began videoing our test to send in and compete against teammates. I was very pleased to win this virtual competition.”

All shipshape Many congratulations to Toby (Year 11) who has been selected to join this summer’s voyage of The Pelican, a Tall Ship that is preparing to recreate Darwin’s famous expedition to the Galapagos Islands in 2021. Toby has been an enthusiastic member of the CCF Navy section and wants to join the Navy in due course as an Engineer.

https://darwin200.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Darwin200-UK-Voyage-1.pdf

Duncan ByrneHeadmaster

Pointless A sadness of lockdown has been the interruption of the events planned to celebrate our 525th anniversary, not least the ‘Fun Day’ envisaged for the younger years during this penultimate week of term. The 525 Student Committee managed to close the academic year in some style with a 525-themed quiz based on the national TV show Pointless which took the place of School Assembly on Thursday. Many congratulations to Charlie (Year 13) and Henry (Year 12) for masterminding the event, and thank you to Mr Weitzel, the School Archivist, for all of the research necessary to identify the answers, ‘pointless’ or otherwise

Code breaking Cryptanalysis has been popular with Grammar School boys for many years, with the annual visit of speakers from Bletchey Park (together with a real Enigma machine) a highlight for our junior Mathematicians.

Code-breaking competitions have been recent additions to our STEM programme, and last week, Adrian (Year 12) was named in the top 10 finishers of the University of Southampton’s National CipherELITE Challenge. We look forward to more participants next year! https://www.cipherchallenge.org/elite/

New Scout challenge badge Ben (Year 9) and Jonathan (Year 11) from the 2nd Loughborough Scouts (LSF) both appeared on BBC Radio Leicester on Wednesday to speak about a new challenge badge created for all organised youth organisations: scouting, guiding, cadets. This was in memory of a local volunteer leader who had taken his own life during lockdown.

Ben was responsible for the design of the badge and Jonathan has created a website (www.froggochallenge.co.uk) with the initiative raising funds for Papyrus prevention of young suicide. You can catch up on their interview on the BBC Leicester website (4.40 pm on Wed 1 July).

Ornithological success Over the weekend William (Year 9) was interviewed over Zoom by various scientists from the Royal Society of Biology in the final of its annual poster competition.

He was rewarded as the 2nd place winner for his poster analysing the “Diversity in Feeding Behaviours of Urban Bird Life”.

National TeenTech success Further to the report a fortnight ago of Grammar School boys reaching the National Finals of the TeenTech competition, we are delighted to announce that two of our three teams in these Finals were victorious in their overall categories to be crowned National Winners.

Many congratulations to Ashish (Year 9) in the Digital Skills Category and to Rory, Zac & Jaden (all Year 9) who won the Transport Category. Their achievements build on successes in previous years, and we are extremely proud to have been recognised as one of only 5 schools as a ‘TeenTech Platinum Centre for Innovation’. The traditional reward for TeenTech success has been a trip to Buckingham Palace to receive prizes, and we hope that boys will have this opportunity once the country has started to open up once more.

Fiona MilesHead

Ghouls and Ghosts!Year 7 had lots of fun playwriting this half term and enjoyed sharing their horror stories with one another on Monday.

The girls got creative using photos of creepy backgrounds to add atmosphere to their readings and there was even a sighting of a ghost!

Biology competition Well done to Robyn in Year 9, who entered the Society of Biology competition which involved a live zoom presentation and questions from several judges, all eminent biologists.

She responded very well and was highly commended for her poster on variation in foxes.

Friends Year 8 have been working on a virtual inter-form competition on the theme of ‘Friendship and Unity’.

The entry by 8EKC is a fantastic reminder of how the girls continue to work together and collaborate during remote schooling.

Lunch menus In their Food lessons last term, Year 8 completed a project on school meals, considering the many different facets that go into producing them, from the nutritional value to the time constraints.

The catering team have decided on the winners - their dishes will be put on the school meal plan next year, and they will receive a prize when we return to School. We can all look forward to tasting their delicious dishes soon. The winners are:

Freya (8RLL): Greek Cous Cous SaladCarys (8JAG): Butternut squash & Feta Filo PieLily (8JAG): Salmon PenneJemima (8SZF): Vietnamese Style MeatballsIzzy (8SZF): Mango & Coconut Prawn in Soft taco shell

Spanish Treasure Hunt Year 9 students have created wonderful videos during their Spanish lessons, using the app Spark Video.

Investigators and Pathfinders have been busy making lots of new displays.

The children were exploring jungle animals for a new window display, using jungle animal stencils.

The children painted the animals and when they were dry, they put on their eyes where they thought they went. To feature on their new farm display, the children used different materials and made parent animals as well as baby ones, to show what they might see on a trip to the farm.

Pioneers have been making the most of their lovely outside shaded area and the children each chose a book to look at with their friends.

Another fun packed week here at the Nursery. Our Developers were having fun getting messy! The children loved exploring the colours and the textures of the shaving foam, sparkly sequins and coloured sand.

Carla BrindleyNursery Manager

IN THE NEWS...

Music

FANTASTIC PERFORMANCESWe have been delighted with the performances that we have seen from students, who have submitted videos of them playing and singing in their own homes, gardens and driveways.

Several families took part in the National Youth Orchestra’s “Musical Planet” and “Ode to Joy” projects.

Many students (and some parents too) signed up for the fantastic Benedetti Foundation programme of tutorials, live Zoom rehearsals and lectures.

Some students even appeared in the final virtual performance of hundreds of musicians around the world.

JOINT VENTURESSeveral of our ensembles, too, have put together some wonderful joint virtual performances: Symphonic Wind Band, Concert Orchestra, String Ensemble, Clarinet Quartet, large Flute Ensemble (featuring several alumni too).

It has been heartwarming to see the joy that sharing music can bring. In our YouTube channel, we have set up playlists called SoundBites @ Home, for prep performances, and Lockdown Live for seniors. Do visit it, and Like and Subscribe to see videos as soon as they go live.

The Year 2 String Scheme continued with a weekly ‘Year 2 Strings@Home’ programme with musicianship games, play along sessions with Mrs Burns, Alumni musicians as well as tutorials and performances from Mr Bound, Mrs Geary, Mr and Mrs Le Page and Mr White.

Year 3-6 had ‘Prep String Play-a-long’ sessions where they listened to mini recitals from fellow students and staff and played along with the ‘Burns Band’.

We look forward to a return to more normality in due course, but it is good to know that the LSF Community is still making plenty of music. Long may that continue!

Richard WestDirector of Music

SINGINGLoughborough Singers has been meeting virtually throughout the term via Zoom, and we have enjoyed seeing some familiar faces from near and far.

Monday evenings have seen the choir learn some new repertoire that will (hopefully) see the light of day once more conventional musical performances become possible again.

Our plan to enjoy a socially distanced rehearsal at the end of term were scuppered by the Leicester Lockdown

THRIVINGOne of the sources of greatest pride for me as Director of Music has been seeing how many of our students have continued to thrive under these most testing circumstances.

Instrumental lessons have been more successful than we dared to hope and for many, they have been a highlight of their week.

Y13 Cellist Danushka made several appearances online: for BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme, for Classic FM,

with NYO and he also won the Royal Academy of Music’s Virtual Senior Cello Competition. ’

APPEARANCES

Since the large-scale return of the prep students, our instrumental teaching team have had to overcome the significant challenges of timetabling students only when they are not on campus. I would like to pay tribute to their efforts here: they have been thoughtful, flexible and as accommodating as they could manage, often working until much later in the day than would be usual, to give pupils a chance to get the musical education that we all love to see them receive.

IN THE NEWS...

Sports/Courses/Buses

HOLIDAY COURSESThe Holiday Courses are being run at Fairfield from 13 July to 14 August.

The courses will be managed using the Pod system of 15 children per Pod. Places are limited and so we encourage any parents wishing to use the Holiday Courses, to book as soon as possible.

All courses can be booked online at https://lsf.org/whats-on/holiday-courses

SCHOOL TRANSPORTPlease do not forget to book your son or daughter’s bus place for September via the online booking system:http://buspass.robertstravelgroup.co.uk

Bus route information is available at https://lsf.org/transport-network

SPORT: FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SYSTEMLoughborough Schools Foundation are excited to announce that we are partnering with FMS UK to pioneer a revolutionary system of movement screening and physical wellbeing.

Our mission is to instil a lifelong love of activity and sport and we want to ensure that each and every child can move efficiently and correctly whilst building their gross motor skills. Society is constantly changing and physical development opportunities decreasing, we need to better support and prepare our pupils for the future.

We believe that physical wellbeing is closely linked to emotional wellbeing.

Functional movement screening has been used for years in elite sport. What FMS UK have developed is an app-based platform that can deliver the program on scale to all pupils across the Foundation.

Every pupil will have a personalised development pathway, to support balance, mobility and stability and the wider benefits of physical health which in turn, will enhance general wellbeing.

The programme will commence in the Autumn Term and further details will follow in September.

IN THE NEWS...

Loughborough Schools Foundation3 Burton WalksLoughborough LeicestershireLE11 2DU

Loughborough Schools Foundation is a Company Limited by Guarantee, number 4038033, and is registered in England and Wales. It is also a Registered Charity, number 1081765. The Registered Office is 3 Burton Walks, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 2DU

T: 01509 283700 www.lsf.org @LboroSchFdt

News in pictures

The staff at Loughborough Schools Foundation would like to wish all our pupils and parents, a happy, restful and safe summer holiday.

KARATE KIDCongratulations to Connie in Year 5 at Fairfield who completed her virtual grading for her purple belt in Karate.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?In English, Year 8s at LHS were set the challenge of writing to a celebrity with the question “do you believe in ghosts?”. The aim of the exercise was to be a cumulative test of the pupils’ communication skills so far and it was made clear that only the most effective and inquisitory letters stood a chance of eliciting a response. Some amazing results have transpired to date. Some pupils opted to write to Kriss Akabusi and have received replies whilst Georgie wrote to Stephen Fry and received his response to the question she posed…….spoiler alert; Stephen Fry does not believe in ghosts!

ART AND ARCHITECTUREYear 9 students at the Grammar School were asked to spend three lessons after their assessment weeks exploring the role of Art and Architecture in religion, linking back to areas of religion studied earlier in the year.

Special congratulations are due for Ashish (9BJA) who researched and put together a very informative piece of work on modern and ancient Hindu temple architecture. Special congratulations are also due for Joseph in 9IOP who put together a piece on Lincoln Cathedral that professional curators would be proud of. He did a great job of pointing to architectural features of the building and linking them to the historical features of the Christian faith. Well done boys!

MUSIC FESTIVAL NEAR YOUThe Great Bowden Music Fest 2020 will be online from 9 to 12 July.

This year consists of thirteen mini online concerts and includes performances by LSF musicians, Melanie Reinhard, Christopher White, Petra Milarova and Kimon Pallikaropoulos, as well as LHS alumna Vanessa White. Further details can be found at www.greatbowdenmusicfest.com

“THOUGH SHE BE BUT LITTLE, SHE IS FIERCE”Year 6 at Amherst had great fun this week creating their own production of A Midsummer Nights Dream.

This was a culmination of their learnings over the Summer Term. The Actors and Actresses will attend their film premiere next week……naturally with a bag of popcorn!