Year 5 Take A Musical Journey Through Time

Year 5 put on their drama ‘Time Lord’ for family members at Panton Hall yesterday evening. The time travel adventure was a true crowd pleaser, and delighted the audience with plenty of catchy musical tunes and lots of famous characters from history. 

In the story, modern day children Harriet and Sam meet a Time Lord who takes them on an incredible journey into the past. However, danger lies ahead as the group encounters some fierce dinosaurs who had been accidentally released  from prehistoric times through the time portal, and are now trying to win back the planet.

During their adventures, the group meet up with a group of WWII evacuees, a saintly Florence Nightingale, a very hard of hearing Beethoven, and a fierce Queen Boudicca with her group of Iceni warriors.

The lively musical performances featured rapping dinosaurs, a smashing riff on Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, and lots of clever rhymes (including, impressively, several to match with ‘Boudicca’.)

After many weeks of preparations, the class delivered an exceptional performance. A gallery of Mr Hulett’s photos is available here.

A Long Awaited Celebration of Music

After a very dry period for musical performances during the pandemic, the annual Heritage Spring Concert, held yesterday evening at its traditional setting of Saint Andrew’s Street Baptist Church, was memorable in many ways. 

‘It’s remarkable to think that it’s been three years since we have gathered like this as a school,’ said Mr Fletcher as he opened the concert, saying ‘what a joy it is’ to be able to once again celebrate the music of the school together as a community.  

He continued, ‘On Monday of this week, we sang in our assembly for the first time in over two years, and it was a very simple but wonderful reminder of the texture; the colour; the richness that we’ve missed over the last two years. So, in that context, gathering together like this is certainly a delightful celebration in my mind.’

The audience heard a choir number from each Junior and Senior class, along with impressive pieces by many of our talented pianists, clarinetists, flautists, violinists and singers. The Junior Woodwind ensemble also featured Miss Cage and Mrs Watkins in a surprise bird whistle duet. 

The wonderful performances reflected countless hours of preparation by our young musicians, as well as the hard work of Mrs Lowe, Miss Moorhouse, Mrs Good and Dr Howell. 

An additional thank you to Mr Hulett for the beautiful photos available here.

Year 9 and 10 Visit Walsingham Pilgrimage Sites

Earlier this week, Year 9 and 10 RS pupils travelled to Walsingham in Norfolk. This area, known as ‘England’s Nazareth’, is believed to be the site of a vision by Saxon noblewoman Richeldis de Faverches in 1061, in which she was asked by the Virgin Mary to build an exact copy of the site where Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel. Today, this replica of the holy site in Nazareth is found in the Shrine Church in Walsingham, where it remains an important destination for Christian pilgrims today. 

In an essay written after the trip, Year 10 Pupil Timothy described one notable feature of the Shrine: ‘Along the wall, next to the entrance, there is a group of plaques with inscriptions on them written by various people who wanted to thank the Shrine because they themselves, family members, or friends have been healed from the waters of the 11th century well which was discovered when the Shrine was re-built in 1931.’

The pupils also visited Walsingham Abbey and the ruins of the Priory Church, measuring 244 feet long with both central and western towers. Timothy wrote, ‘I was surprised at how long and impressive the Priory Church must have been.’ 

Finally, the pupils visited the Orthodox Chapel of St Seraphim, with its impressive screen that features several examples of religious iconography.

The pupils had a very full day, and the experience of seeing these historical and religious sites firsthand will be certain to stay in their memories for a long time to come.

Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
Priory Ruins, Walsingham Abbey
Icon Screen, Chapel of St Seraphim

A Gathering of Alumni

On Saturday, 23rd April, staff and former pupils gathered to celebrate the first ever in-person reunion of  Heritage alumni. 27 alumni from 2016 through 2021 joined together in the Senior School Hall to hear about what has been happening at the school, and to catch up with their former classmates and teachers.

Mr Fletcher opened the event with some school updates—including a look back at recent changes and a look forward to upcoming camps and trips—and Mrs Fletcher shared some encouraging reflections about the resilience built by the pandemic and the importance of gratitude. 

This was followed by a presentation by 2016 Leaver Chloe Chapman, who is currently doing a degree in Fine Art at Norwich University of the Arts, and spoke about her designs of curated natural objects and art from the natural world, mentioning how she was inspired by her experiences of nature walks, nature tables and picture studies at Heritage. 

The group also watched a clip from 2016 Leaver Isabelle Taylor, describing her impressive final project of creating fashion from fish skins, as she completes a BA in Fashion and Design from the University of Edinburgh.  

After plenty of socialising, a lingering group of alumni revived the playground tradition of  Foursquare until closing time. It was a lovely time of reconnecting with our alumni, and we are looking forward to the next one already.

Year 7 Pupil Emily Commended in Book Competition

This year, the Classical Association held a nationwide Creative Writing competition for writers and classicists of all ages to celebrate the appointment of actor, broadcaster, narrator and writer Stephen Fry as their Honorary President for 2021-22. They received more than 450 entries inspired by Mr Fry’s books ‘Mythos’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Troy’.

Despite this steep competition, our own Year 7 pupil Emily was recognised with a highly commended award for her story ‘Echo Echo Echo’. 

Emily writes, ‘I’ve always loved Greek myths and I’d just finished reading ‘Mythos’ when I learnt about the competition, so I decided to enter. I chose to write a re-creation of the myth of Echo and Narcissus from the point of view of her sister. I’d only ever heard it in the third person, so I thought it would be interesting to write it in the first person but as a lesser-known character rather than as Echo’. 

Congratulations to Emily for this impressive achievement. You can read her story for yourself here.