#beautifulwalks#autumntrees

LSF.WEEK16 Oct 2020

Admiral Sir Trevor SoarChairman

Update on Review of Inclusion Loughborough Schools Foundation

In June the Governors invited Dr Fiona Hammans and Dr Jeffery Quaye to undertake an external review of Race and Inclusion within the Foundation’s Schools to support governors in better understanding and addressing those areas where improvement is required, as well as identifying areas of good practice upon which the Schools can build. The review is focussed on three areas: Culture, Curriculum and People and will provide evidence-based recommendations to Governors.

As well as reviewing policies and curriculum documentation, Dr Hammans and Dr Quaye also spoke with a number of pupils, parents, members of staff and alumni. They also read through all the helpful contributions many of you made to the specific diversity and inclusion email address.

On behalf of all governors, I would like to thank all of you who took part in all these various discussions and in doing so have informed and shaped the review. Governors will meet to consider the recommendations arising from the review later this term and agree an action plan to ensure that our schools and wider Foundation become genuinely inclusive communities where discrimination of any nature will not be tolerated in any shape or form.

Governors are unanimous in their commitment to making the Foundation’s Schools beacons of inclusivity and I will update you when we have received and considered the report.

The over-arching theme of Fairfield’s Harvest Festival this year was ‘saying thank you’ and I hope that the children and their parents enjoyed our virtual service which was compiled by Ms Marsh and led by the Foundation’s Chaplain, Reverend Elizabeth York.

Andrew EarnshawHeadmaster

Indeed, in these continually challenging times, it is imperative that we recognise the fact that gratitude is the simplest, most powerful way to acknowledge another person’s value and legacy.

FairwellsI would therefore like to inform the Foundation community of two members of Fairfield staff who will be retiring at the end of the autumn term, as they have played a significant role in nurturing and inspiring children in their respective fields over a combined 42 years of service.

Mrs Parsons joined Fairfield in 1994 and since then has left no corner of Fairfield bare, with children’s wonderful work proudly displayed around the school site.

She was instrumental in creating perhaps Fairfield’s most impressive permanent art installation in the form of our 3D Butterflies, which dominates the New Build’s atrium and has also established the concept of ‘Year 6 legacy art’.

Under Mrs Parsons’ careful guidance, countless departing Year 6 pupils have been able to leave their mark in the form of our beautiful willow sculptures in the Forest School, a fully recycled Whitehouse outside the gymnasium and a homage to the London Olympics outside the Dining Hall.

Furthermore, Mrs Parsons was so instrumental in both designing and equipping the Pre-Prep art and food technology rooms in the New Build and in March 2020, we decided to name the refurbished Upper Prep art room as ‘The Parsons Studio’ to recognise and thank Mrs Parsons for everything that she has done, and continues to do, to promote art and design technology across the whole school.

Mrs Sutcliffe became part of the Fairfield family in 2004 and has ensured that the School’s reputation for hockey has gone from strength to strength under her guidance, leadership and enthusiasm.

Her involvement has seen Fairfield win regional hockey finals with impressive regularity and has ensured that her squads have performed to the best of their abilities in National Finals by organising both pre and after school training sessions.

It is perhaps testament to her outstanding ability to truly inspire that there are so many children who are playing hockey at senior school level, club and county, or in the case of Esme Burge, national level.

She has also played a significant role in organising the annual Loughborough Town Sports festival at the University and has put countless hours into supporting the Fairfield sporting programme, both on and off the pitch. This was recognised in the Leicester Mercury School Awards for encouraging and enabling participation in physical activity in the local community.

It goes without saying that we will miss both Mrs Parsons and Mrs Sutcliffe immensely and we wish them the very best for their well-deserved retirement.

Julian MurphyHeadmaster

The week commencing 5 October certainly was a colourful one for Amherst. We raised awareness of Dyslexia by wearing red at the start of the week.

James (Year 10) won the prize for best outfit with his Red Arrows jumpsuit, and all year groups had the chance in Monday’s online assembly to hear from our two Dyslexia Tutors: Mrs Mace and Mrs Ellison.

They pointed out that the colour red can be a dreaded colour in education as it is often used to highlight our mistakes. However during Dyslexia Awareness Week the aim was to reclaim the colour red, and show it as a colour of resilience, strength, passion and creativity and to emphasise that these human qualities are within us all, regardless of any special educational needs.

#Hello Yellow and #Go Red for Dyslexia Awareness WeekIn the same week, we also decided to support the Young Minds charity by spending tutor times and all day Friday raising awareness of Teenage Mental Health.

The theme this year was #HELLO YELLOW, so we really went big on yellow. Everyone wore something yellow but many went full on fancy dress with giant banana costumes, a chicken and a few other furry animals.

We learned that being positive and laughing were great ways to boost mental health so we created a giant ‘shout out wall’ where everyone in our community wrote a message to someone else to give them a boost. It was wonderful to see so many lovely messages of support and encouragement.

Friday lunch time we really went to town on having fun. We had running races with giant bananas, learn to juggle demonstrations, and lots of dancing. We managed to capture lots of the fun on camera and students came to our silly photo booth to have pictures taken with their friends. A great time was had by all.

The Year 5s have already produced lots of fantastic projects connected to this theme. Below is a picture of Lola’s wonderful depiction of when birdsong briefly returned to the trenches during the 1914 Christmas ceasefire.

This term the special topic in Year 5 is The First Word War.

The pupils are learning about this world changing event from both a political and an all too human angle.

Remembering the First World War

Spanish with Speedy GonzalezThis week the pupils in the Year 7 Spanish groups have been racing against speedy Gonzalez, the fastest mouse in Mexico to translate arrange of sentences both from and into Spanish.

This was our first end of topic Spanish assessment for Year 7, but it felt more like fun than an exam!

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award ExpeditionsThe D of E Award Scheme has long been popular with Grammar School boys, and it was a great disappointment that expeditions planned for the Brecon Beacons and Peak District (among other destinations) were cancelled during Summer Term.

In order to help the boys complete their award, Mr Moffett has co-ordinated four successive weekends of expeditions in the beautiful Charnwood countryside.

With public campsites closed, we have used the Quorn playing fields for overnight stays, with boys enjoying the luxury of a tent to themselves to allow social distancing. 40 km of walking over a weekend carrying a full rucksack has been the perfect antidote to months of lockdown inertia!

Duncan ByrneHeadmaster

History Winner Many congratulations to Matthew (Y13), who was awarded first prize in Leicester University’s history essay competition with the title “How do you think the current Covid-19 crisis will be taught in History at A-Level in the future?”

The judges drew particular attention to the quality of his structure, contextualisation, and range of sources. Professor George Lewis, Head of School of History, Politics, & International Relations at the University also commended Matthew’s analysis of the effects of the pandemic on black, Asian and minority ethnic students.

New Scholars and the Hamilton Cup All boys will be part of our alumni association, the Loughburians, when they leave us.

Its predecessor, the Old Loughburians Association (OLA) set up a fund years ago to create Sixth Form scholars on the basis of boys’ GCSE results. Year 12 was pleased to welcome Mr Weitzel, former Deputy Head and Loughburians Vice-Chair to award ties and cheques to 11 new scholars.

In addition, in keeping with his determination to educate boys about the 525-year history of LGS, Mr Weitzel brought in 3 of our most ancient cups, the most valuable of which has just been repaired by a master silversmith after damage inflicted many years ago from over-celebration. This is the Hamilton Cup for tennis named after one of our most illustrious alumni, Willoughby Hamilton (1881) who was Wimbledon Singles Champion in 1890.

School Captains: 100 years of HistoryThe eagle-eyed among the boys may have noticed that our School Captains (Head Boy) board in the Hodson Hall foyer was filled a year ago when Alex Eveson took up the role.

This features every Head Boy from 1922 onwards, but this week, a new board with space for the next hundred years will appear on the wall opposite. Jared Borrill (Y13) was extremely pleased to know that his name will be recorded for posterity.

School Uniform Day‘Own Clothes’ Day has traditionally been a great opportunity for charitable fundraising at the Grammar School.

However, this term boys have been wearing their own clothes every single day. For this reason, senior boys decided that we needed a ‘School Uniform’ day instead as an excuse to get their suits out of the wardrobe and check that they still fitted in advance of our return to full-time uniform in November.

Boys were encouraged to wear ‘almost’ school uniform. This resulted in a proliferation of Hawaiian shirts of dubious taste from the Sixth Form, many allegedly borrowed from fathers, whilst one of our younger boys sported a kilt to complement his jacket: surely a fashion first!

Year 8 Non Non- Uniform DayOne of our Year 8 forms has held a “Non non-uniform day” this half-term, raising over £70 for charity. Their form tutors, Mr Palmer and Miss Hayhurst, joined in the fun and looked very smart in their school jumpers and blazer!

Fiona MilesHead

Jeans for Genes DayFriday 18 September was national Jeans for Genes Day, which has become something that is an annual event here at Loughborough High School.

This year we had some obvious challenges to deal with to ensure that students maintained social distance and money was handled safely but the biggest problem was that students could wear jeans anyway because of the suspension of the school uniform.

With that in mind we thought let’s just ask if students and parents wanted to help this amazing charity and the reaction was incredible. In just one break time, donations were over £400 to help children with genetic disorders. Huge thank you to students and parents for their generosity and well done to the team of students who helped organise this.

LHS Futures We are delighted to welcome Mrs Grainger to the High School as Head of Futures.

This new role reflects our commitment to providing first-class careers information, advice and guidance that is tailored to each student and will enable her to fulfil her ambitions, whatever they may be.

A qualified Higher Education Careers Consultant, Mrs Grainger brings to the role almost 20 years of experience of undergraduate admissions, careers counselling and workplace liaison, and has a keen interest in the wellbeing and mental health of the young people that she supports. Of her new role, she says:

The Futures Department will be hosting various information and networking events where students and their parents will have the opportunity to obtain information on a variety of careers and I encourage students to get in touch if they have any questions.Students wishing to consider other options either as an alternative or precursor to university will also be supported with resources and events. From gap year volunteering, work and study, home and abroad, to the various apprenticeships, internships and early years programmes, students are encouraged to investigate all pathways that interest them and how these relate to the world of work.

A Level OptionsIt was fantastic to see our Year 11 students taking part in the A Level Options Event yesterday afternoon.

There was a real buzz about the campus as students went from subject to subject asking questions of staff that will help shape their personalised A Level Curriculum.

There is still plenty of dialogue to be had and thinking to be done before our students make their final choices; our approachable teachers and the A Level Options booklet can help with that https://lsf.org/high/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/10/20201001_LHS-Sixth-Form-Option-Choices.pdf

Essay CompetitionHuge congratulations to Honor in Year 13 who entered a Cambridge university essay competition over the summer and was rewarded with a Highly Commended by the judging panel.

This was a superb achievement, particularly given the number of high calibre entries: over 300 entries were made, with 10 being singled out for particular praise. The title she chose, ‘There is no such thing as the untranslatable’, was both challenging and thought-provoking, and required Honor to think deeply and research widely. We are extremely proud of her and are pleased that her academic prowess has been recognised by such a revered institution.

For more information on the story, please see here: https://www.robinson.cam.ac.uk/news/robinson-college-essay-prize-winners

Mellow Yellow Young Minds Charity Day On Friday 9 October our Charity Prefects were busy again, this time raising money for Young Minds a charity that focuses attention on mental health issues amongst young people.

Students dressed in yellow and we had various fun and games on the quad to raise awareness and of course money for this great charity.

https://lsf.org/high/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/10/20201001_LHS-Sixth-Form-Option-Choices.pdfhttps://lsf.org/high/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/10/20201001_LHS-Sixth-Form-Option-Choices.pdfhttps://lsf.org/high/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/10/20201001_LHS-Sixth-Form-Option-Choices.pdfhttps://www.robinson.cam.ac.uk/news/robinson-college-essay-prize-winners https://www.robinson.cam.ac.uk/news/robinson-college-essay-prize-winners https://www.robinson.cam.ac.uk/news/robinson-college-essay-prize-winners

We are looking forward to welcoming more children to the 42 places that our new rooms will create within the Priest House at Amherst.

If you are interested in a place for your child, please contact Carla, via nursery.enquiries@lsf.org or telephone 01509 276820.

Bats, and SpidersIn Investigators the children have been exploring the different animals that they might see outside; from scary spiders to flying bats! The children had fun making their very own spiders with play dough, pipe cleaners and googly eyes and were able to make the bodies using their manipulative skills.

For their bats, the children used their hands to control the sponge, cover them with paint and look at the marks they had made.

Observing the moonIt is so nice to be back to some form of normality in Pioneers.

Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 we are unable to ask the children to bring things in from home for their circle times and topics. So instead they have been given some home tasks to complete, such as observing the moon, seeing what toys sink or float and asking parents to take photos of weekend activities.

These can then be talked about at circle time and photographs are included in the children’s Learning Journey Folders. The children appear to be enjoying this.

AutumnThroughout October, the Pathfinders have been learning about autumn.

The children have been painting leaves in different colours and paper plates to make pumpkins.

Pathfinders have enjoyed exploring the garden and talking about what they discovered including acorns and pine cones. They have also been talking about self-care and we had fun with an activity which involved cleaning and washing babies.

It is a really exciting time for the Nursery with our wonderful new expansion planned from November.

Carla BrindleyNursery Manager

New display boardsOur Developers have been very busy this past month creating wonderful new room displays. For their autumn display board, the children have had great fun sticking paper plate foxes, apple printing pumpkins, pasta hedgehogs and felt squirrels along with lots of other autumn animals.

Developers have also made a wonderful new nursery rhyme display using ‘the wheels on the bus’. If you look closely you can see the children and staff on the big red bus! For the sky the children made fluffy clouds using cotton wool and loved making hot air balloons with various colours of cellophane.

mailto:nursery.enquiries%40lsf.org?subject=

IN THE NEWS...

Remote Learning

FAIRFIELDIn these unusual and unprecedented times, teaching and learning has been anything but normal.

With children needing to self-isolate, sometimes individually and sometimes as a whole class, the challenge for Fairfield has been to offer a version of home-learning that can parallel the very high-quality provision that children experience daily in the classroom.

All staff have worked tirelessly to provide high-quality lessons and easily accessible learning resources for self-isolating children. In many cases, staff have needed to learn to work on one or more new platforms to deliver pupils’ learning. Fairfield children can now access their home-learning across Firefly, Tapestry, Seesaw and Teams.

The provision has been created so that children necessarily working from home do not lose ground or find gaps in their learning compared with their peers still in school. In the Upper Prep, children can experience ‘live’ aspects of up to three lessons a day whilst in the EYFS and in the Pre Prep, children can access videos of lessons and a measure of social interaction with classmates and their teacher on a weekly basis.

The results so far have received glowing comments of praise from many pupils and their parents too.AMHERST

This term, throughout all of the year groups in school, we have continued to utilise ‘Firefly’ our online learning platform along with ‘Zoom’ to create effective virtual classroom environments for the benefit of those of our pupils who find themselves having to isolate at home.

This provision has ensured that pupils have not missed out on the opportunity to participate in their lessons and to ensure that they are keeping up to date during these often challenging times. Staff who are isolating are also using the technology to continue teaching their lessons from home and are being projected within the classrooms here at Amherst.

As well as academic lessons, we are also putting this now familiar technology to good use within School to help overcome the physical constraints of class ‘bubbles’. This has allowed us to continue with a range of activities that have larger or mixed year groups of pupils such as House and whole school assemblies.

IN THE NEWS...

Remote Learning

HIGHAt LHS, we have robust procedures and provision for both blended learning (where either a girl or member of staff is unable to attend the school site) and remote learning, for either a full year group or school return to remote learning.

All our work here is underpinned by each student and member of staff possessing their own iPad and our embedded use of Microsoft Teams and our Virtual Learning Environment, Firefly, to allow an uninterrupted educational provision in all ways.

As staff, we too are adapting to this new world. 33 LSF colleagues attended a remote twilight inset session on the science of learning on Thursday 17 September, led by Dr Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel of Glasgow University. Carolina is one of the four Learning Scientists, a group of four world-leading psychologists interested in applying the science of learning to primary secondary schools. It was a superb session and both useful and enjoyable for all.

After November, Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore from Cambridge University is delivering inset to us on teenage neuroscience.

As such, the core functions of the School are actually enhanced at this moment, with our embrace of remote teaching and learning as required.

At the Grammar School we have been fortunate that, despite the ravages of CV19 across the country, we have been relatively unscathed thus far - with only a handful of boys and staff missing from lessons, and mostly in a preventative fashion.

We have built on the experience of remote learning last term to invest time in learning about teaching online.

The staff have gone back to school - if that’s not too trite an expression - to upskill so we can continue to educate our boys in this new environment in which we find ourselves.

GRAMMARBlurred backgrounds and muted microphones, Microsoft Teams and blended learning, “I’ll put it in the chat” and “who’s got his hand up?”: who knew, just six months ago, these would become everyday phrases?

It’s common to walk into lessons at the Grammar School to find boys watching and interacting with their teacher who is self-isolating, but with them still in the lesson, albeit virtually: the all-seeing eye of Mr Parton is still a reality. Likewise, we are full of admiration of boys who, despite being kept at home, are learning and flourishing in this new paradigm.

Looking forward, in more than one way, to a time when we will return to something like normality, we know that there are valuable lessons for us teachers to learn, and we are determined to take the best bits from the current situation and put them into practice in the coming years.

IN THE NEWS...

Eco-Committee

ECO-COMMITTEE The eco-committee have been partaking in a scheme run by the company terracycle, in which they have been collecting all the crisp packets used on packed lunch days to be recycled separately. The crisp packets are then dropped off at RNIB college who benefit from being used as a drop off point with additional points and therefore financial aid. The eco representatives for each year group have been responsible for their respective year groups, so a big thank you goes to them. This is a great initiative which allows pupils to recycle items which are not often recycled. More details about the scheme can be found here: https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/crisppacket

RECYCLE

YOUR

CRISP

PACKETS

This bin is for crisp packets only, not other waste

LGS ECO COMMITTEE

Dispose of your empty crisppackets in this bin

If you wish to learn more about this scheme thenplease ask your year group eco rep

https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/crisppacket

IN THE NEWS...

Sports

As part of the report I would encourage you to read the 2nd and 3rd page.

The 3rd page includes all of the information that the students will need in order to start their journey though the corrective exercises.

The first set of corrective exercises are included in the report and we hope that the students will use the half term to learn these. The sports staff will then support them with these during their sports lessons after half term.

I wanted to also update you that at this stage the FMS programme is about the well-being of the student and learning to improve the movement patterns and flows.

One of the early corrective exercises for all will be focussed on breathing technique and learning to diaphragmatically breath using their nose not their mouth which in our current global pandemic could prove very useful.

Diaphragmic breathing also has been proven to lead to much more efficient movement which would be beneficial to everyone.

As we start this movement journey with all the students, we hope that focussing on movement and physical conditioning becomes part of everyday routine in the same way as cleaning teeth.

SPORTS UPDATEWe have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming the Senior School students to extra-curricular sports clubs over the last two weeks, and it has been wonderful to hear the sound of the whistle on the backboards.

We very much look forward to continuing with this after half term and progressing with the familiar Autumn Term sports through our school sports curriculums.

We are looking forward to seeing all students returning to their sports lessons in their respective school sports kit and hope that students are looking forward to sporting the new Player Layer kit.

FIXTURESWe are delighted to say that our return to training has led us to investigate the introduction of some fixtures after half term for our Senior Schools.

Whilst the fixtures are perhaps not what we would normally expect, we feel that it is important, if safe to do so, for the students that want to, to have an opportunity to play some representative sport.

The sports departments are busy making the fixture arrangements and these will all be updated on SOCS. The volume will be dependent on the local situation as well as schools being in the right position to play fixtures.

We are looking in particular at a fixture in hockey and the current ‘Ready for Rugby’ 10 A-Side touch game. We hope that this will give the students something more to look forward to and to focus their training sessions moving forward.

FMS UPDATEWe hope that you have all now received your reports from FMS. This is very much the starting point on the movement journey for the students.

IN THE NEWS...

Sports

Josh Toms – Josh joined us briefly last year. He is a resident tutor in the boarding house as well as a superb forwards coach for rugby. Josh has lots of coaching experience and he also coaches at the University for the BUCS team. Lucy Millington – Lucy plays National League hockey for Loughborough University Ladies team. She has completed her degree and a masters in Nutritional Science. Lucy has played hockey through England and Great Britain Pathway from 2013 to present, where she has to date received 56 caps. What you won’t know though is that Lucy has a grade 3 in drums, as well as other musical grades.

Katie Trevarthen – Katie is passionate to share the development at rugby from grass-roots through to elite rugby. She is currently playing to Loughborough Lightening Women’s Rugby 1st XV. Katie is the Loughborough University BUCS women’s head coach as well as their community coach. Katie is a level 3 rugby coach and has been a community rugby coach for Leicester Tigers.

Abbie Brown – Abbie has been a professional Women’s 7s player representing England for the past 6 years. For the last 4 she has also been the England Women’s captain a role she took on at the age of 19, and has grown in experience through this role. Abbie is an Olympian playing in the 2016 Olympics where with her team she was the recipient of a bronze medal. She is training hard and currently playing for Loughborough Lightening Women’s Rugby 1st XV, and hoping to be travelling to Tokoyo if the Olympics take place next year.

I am delighted to be able to announce that we have a new netball coach joining the Foundation coaching team from Loughborough University, starting with us next half term. Nat Panagarry.

For those of you who don’t know Nat is Loughborough Lightening Captain for 2019/2020 season and played in the England Netball team winning the bronze medal at the World Cup in 2019.

She is currently a member of the England Roses Full time performance squad and is training hard to make the squad for the tri-series with Jamaica later this year. In her youth Nat played hockey for the North of England and was a school prefect and head girl when at school. However, netball is certainly her sporting love now and she was delighted to be nominated as the Team of the Year, Player of the Year, for playing Wing Defence last year. We can’t wait to welcome Nat to Loughborough Schools Foundation after half term.

Jo HackettDirector of Sport

STAFFINGWe are thrilled that our link with Loughborough University is proving to be so successful. Despite the fact the we are limited with the opportunity to visit the University, our link has led to the opportunity for some quite superb sports coaches to join the Foundation sports coaching team this half term. We have added to our coaching team with the following staff;

IN THE NEWS...

CCF

We are also delighted to be joined by Major Ben Ward, who brings a wealth of experience from his many years as Contingent Commander at Trent College, and Chris Nicholls, Assistant Head Co-Curricular at LHS.

Following on from their weekly remote activities last term, our Non-Commissioned Officers have set an

excellent example to the new recruits. Drawn predominantly from the Sixth Form, NCOs have adapted the lessons they plan and teach to be COVID-safe, and have brought a real sense of purpose and enthusiasm to Thursday afternoons.

This has been reflected in the speed with which the new cadets have learnt basic drill, and are already developing

their team-working through practical command tasks and basic military skills.

Meanwhile, in the Spinney, rumours suggest that our more senior Army and RAF cadets have been developing their camouflage skills, but reconnaissance has so far been unable to confirm these reports...

COMBINED CADET FORCEThe Combined Cadet Force has welcomed over 120 new recruits from Year 12 at LAS and LHS, and from all Years 10 to 13 at LGS, bringing the Contingent strength to 250.

Looking forward, we are very much hoping to resume air rifle shooting in November, and to restore Patrol Platoon to their spiritual home in the jungle at Quorn. The military HQs are working hard to recommence airborne and afloat activities further down the line. We are also keeping our fingers crossed that our two-day Exercise “October Optimist” during the half term break can continue unaffected by further lockdowns!

This has been an especially busy time for my staff, most of whom are also teachers. Their willingness to go the extra mile behind the scenes to run meetings, plan activities, advise NCOs, move boats and equipment, and run training during the holidays is hugely appreciated. They epitomise our motto - ‘the more you put in, the more you get out’! On behalf of the cadets, thank you.

Major Daniel MurphyContingent Commander Loughborough Grammar School Combined Cadet Force

In the absence of physical school assemblies, our senior cadets were presented with their new ranks during a socially-distanced ceremony on Thursday 17 September.

Congratulations to the following;

• Cdt RSM Thomas Ashford (Senior Prefect (CCF))• Army Cdt CSM Jonathan Fergus (Subject Prefect)• RN Cdt WO Jared Borrill (Subject Prefect)• RAF Cdt WO Sam Oram (Subject Prefect)

MESSAGE FROM MAJOR DANIEL MURPHY

IN THE NEWS...

Music

This term has seen instrumental and vocal music lessons resume, and most teaching is now taking place face to face.

RESUMING MUSIC LESSONS

Class music is taking place both in the Music Department and around the Schools, and we have been delighted to hear live music filling the buildings once more: it has been a very welcome sound.

It reminds us of the importance that listening to music plays in our lives;

I certainly missed both hearing and playing music over the long summer months, and it has been quite emotional to have been able to experience the thrill and excitement of live music making after such a prolonged absence..

Richard WestDirector of Music

ENSEMBLE MUSICNext half term will see the re-introduction of ensemble music activity - all adapted to retain the integrity of our social bubbles, of course - and we look forward to sharing some recordings of these before Christmas - watch this space!

MAKING MUSICThanks to the help of the Grammar School DT Department and some clever shopping by Mrs Burns and Ms Marsh, Prep music are providing individual resources for every LSF child from Early Years to Year 6. We have bags of goodies for Pre-Prep and rhythm sticks or cups for Upper Prep.

All the children are so delighted to have their own percussion and props. We are also delighted as they help curriculum music lessons to remain not only safe, but also practical, musical and fun!

25 NEW YOUTUBE VIDEOSConcert performances in front of a real live audience are still not yet possible, but we have seen a few virtual concerts and competitions, which have kept some of our musicians busy.

On Thursday 15 October, we saw the release of 25 videos of scholars performing under Covid restrictions. Like and Subscribe to our YouTube

Channel, and you won’t miss any.

GREAT SONGSYear 8 across the Foundation have been exploring what makes a ‘Great’ song.

These LGS boys have been learning all about Groove and the importance of Backbeat (beats 2 and 4 in the bar). Drumming on the desks was a must!

With the opportunity to listen to and analyse ‘Great’ songs from the 1950s through to the present day, these Year 8 lessons are becoming a hit not only with pupils but also with teaching staff in neighbouring classrooms!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb7x4StW96miQ2ScK1Zs5QAhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb7x4StW96miQ2ScK1Zs5QA

IN THE NEWS...

House Music

GRAMMAR SCHOOLWe were delighted to welcome eight Senior boys to the Music Department Recital Hall to compete in the LGS House Music Competition.

It was a thrilling competition, and the standard of performance was incredibly high.

Thomas (Abney) started the Senior Vocal Solo category with his heartfelt performance of Widmung by Schumann. Joshua (Davys) transported us to the barricaded streets of Paris singing Stars from Les Miserables and William (Yates) sung Lost in the Waves with focussed intensity. Phil (Pulteney) won the category with his soulful and stylish Upside Down, his own composition which captivated everyone in the room.

Lewis (Pulteney) played a movement from Mozart’s Flute Quartet in D with energy and balance. Benjamin (Davys) demonstrated excellent dynamic control in his Saxophone Sonata by Lawson Lunde. Simeon (Yates) performed Rachmaninov’s Elegie opus 3 with maturity beyond his years. It was Edward’s Te Deum opus 11 by Demessieux on organ that was the category winner.

The overall winners were Abney House. Congratulations to all members of each House for their contribution to a wonderful competition.

HIGH SCHOOLTuesday 13 October saw a Covid-secure version of Loughborough High School’s annual House Music competition.

It was wonderful to be able to hold this as a live event and to hear music ringing around the department. The event was also live streamed to tutor groups, with students and staff embracing the competition and capturing the spirit of House Music.

House Music began with Junior Vocalists from Years 7 to 10, featuring excellent performances from Emma, Sophie and Tiyani.

First place in this category, however, was awarded to Josephine of Fearon House, who delivered a convincing performance of Gimme Gimme from the musical ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’.

The competition continued with the Junior Instrumentalist category, Avani and Tolu playing piano solos, and Eva and Isobel performing on the flute.

The winner of this category was Eva, who delivered an engaging performance of the first movement of Sonatine by Claude Arrieu.

The Senior Vocalist category followed, which featured four very strong performances from Hannah-Maria, Lucy, Imogen and Libby. Libby’s performance of I’ll Be Here from the musical ‘Ordinary Days’ was compelling and emotionally charged, but first place in this category was awarded to Imogen, whose rendition of Adele’s All I Ask was sensitive and technically assured.

The final category of the competition involved Senior Instrumentalists. Netra performed two movements from Roussel’s Joueurs de flûte, while Hana performed Chopin’s technically demanding ‘Revolutionary Étude’ on the piano.

Emily captured the mood of Debussy’s flute piece Syrinx, playing with musical maturity; however, first place was awarded to Emma, for her passionate performance of the first movement of Grieg’s Sonata in E minor, op. 7. The overall results were: Hastings in fourth place, Burton in third, Storer in second, and Fearon in first place.

Congratulations to all competitors on their excellent performances, and to all staff and students for making House Music 2020 such a great success.

House Music Supporters

IN THE NEWS...

News in pictures

AUTUMN POETRYYear 5 pupils at Fairfield really enjoyed their visit to Forest School. They found lots of inspiration for their poetry on a crisp Autumn day….followed by a warm drink of hot chocolate.

PUMPKIN PATCHAmherst Reception pupils had great fun (in their bubbles) at Cattows Farm this week. They looked at the pumpkins growing in the field in readiness for Halloween and they also saw some eagles and owls.

We are delighted that our Virtual Tour is now live and provides parents and visitors with the opportunity to explore

LSF 360 VIRTUAL TOUR all four Schools, the grounds and facilities. Please click this link and take a tour https://lsf.org/virtual-tour/

HAPPY RETIREMENT Dawn Briers retired from Loughborough Grammar School after 36 years of loyal service in the Admissions office.

She will be sorely missed by the hundreds of Boarders who have all known Dawn as she managed their entrance into the School and the Boarding Houses. We wish Dawn good luck in her retirement and as she gets to grips with gardening and mountain walking!

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

https://lsf.org/virtual-tour/