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.

New Books from World Book Day

Infants and Juniors raised £91 during last term’s non-uniform day to celebrate World Book Day. 

With their portion of the money raised, Infants purchased books that help reflect the broader society in which we live. They are kept on the classroom bookshelves for the children to enjoy and for teachers and children to share together.

Recent Sports Fixtures

Our pupils have been putting their best foot forward and demonstrating great team spirit in these recent fixtures with other schools. 

Year 5 and 6 Girls Netball

Last Friday the Year 5 and 6 girls were delighted to play their first netball match against St Mary’s. We piled into the minibus and headed to the fantastic St Mary’s facilities on Long Road, the girls all incredibly excited and singing some lively tunes. The Year 6 team played one full 7-a-side match while Year 5 and 6 combined to play two 5-a-side games. It was a lovely experience for all of the girls and the Year 6’s even managed to draw their second match. The highlight of the day was definitely the post-match snacks provided by our hosts.

-Mrs Eastwood

Year 7 and 8 Girls Netball

Last week, Year 7 and 8 girls played netball against St Mary’s in a mini triangular fixture. Both Heritage teams played three short matches against the three St Mary’s teams. The Year 7’s lost to the A and B teams but won their third game against the C team. Heritage Year 8’s did exceptionally well and won all three of their games against the St Mary’s teams, even after rotating players into different positions to balance the competition. I was very impressed with each team member’s hard work and the lovely team spirit demonstrated during the fixture.

Seniors Basketball

In a recent basketball fixture against The Stephen Perse Foundation, a mixed team of boys and girls in the Senior School played well, worked hard for each other and displayed great teamwork. William and Tobi, two of our Year 11 Leavers from 2021, also joined us and were outstanding in warming the team up, working out plays and generally encouraging everyone throughout the match. The two teams were close all the way through the four quarters. Heritage went up by one point with less than a minute to go. The team ran the clock down, but the SPF team managed to get the ball back, run the length of the court and score on the buzzer to win the game 27/26. Although our pupils were disappointed, they felt they put everything out on the court and really enjoyed it. We are hoping to play SPF again in the summer.

-Mr Hulett