As I walked down to the boarding houses on Wednesday evening I could hear the church bells ringing at St Mary’s, Bruton as the sun was setting – a reassuring yet calming sound. And it’s a sound that you don’t often hear if you live in sprawling city and one that I hope continues to ring in our parishes for years to come. The art of bell ringing (campanology) is an important skill and a language in its own right and I am eager to support our two churches in Bruton and Pitcombe by setting up our own Campanology Society; if there are any students interested, please do give me a ring! And speaking of languages, today saw The European Day of Languages being celebrated at the school and the MFL department put on a variety of activities which engaged and enthused not only the students, but the staff too – from a pop up creperie to quizzes and competitions. Acquiring the grammar and linguistic skills to speak and understand another language is so important as it not only helps communication but also develops a deep cultural understanding which nurtures the values of tolerance, respect and kindness – the very values we as a school promote as part of our ethos – studying languages can only be a good thing. And these values were demonstrated at the Lower School Opening evening this week which saw record numbers of prospective parents from far and wide come through the Sexey’s School gates. Parents commented on the maturity, enthusiasm and exemplary manners of the pupils and I hope we left them with a good impression. Thank you for promoting the event amongst your friends and our next Open Evening, which will be for Sixth Form, is on Tuesday the 7th of October.
Not only am I proud of our students achievements in a variety of sporting and cultural pursuits, but also those of our staff on their personal achievements – congratulations to Mrs Hosford who completed the Bristol Half Marathon last weekend in a time of 2 hours 16 minutes raising over £300 along the way for Time is Precious - a local charity supporting children and their families during hospital stays. And speaking of success, our Girls’ Hockey teams have caused a riot this week with the U16s winning 5-1 over Holyrood Academy (having come back being 0-1 down) and the U15s and U14s claiming the spoils at Huish Episcopi yesterday winning 3-1 apiece. The U15s enjoyed their hard fought victory and celebrated by singing the School Song with great gusto after the match – passion and enjoyment. I watched the U16s game on the Daisy Field and amongst that game, the U14 Girls and Senior Girls had hockey practices, whilst the U12 and U13 boys had rugby practices. This was whilst the 1st XV and U15s were playing rugby against Wells Cathedral – tremendous to see so much sport going on after school. The U12 Boys’ rugby team had their first match on Thursday against Wells Cathedral School (normally they would play after half term) and they put up a tremendous performance winning narrowly 12-10 to a strong Wells side – commitment and dedication. Our philosophy is to inspire a lifelong interest in sport, promoting fitness, well-being, team work and most of all, enjoyment and I hope our Sexeians seize upon and enjoy the numerous opportunities on offer to them.
The Macmillan Coffee Mornings are now a national institution and we hosted one today at Walwin House - Douglas Macmillan, the founder of Macmillan Cancer Support was an Old Sexeian (1894-97) and is the School’s partner charity. We were inundated by people at Walwin this morning raising over £300 and my sincere thanks to all those businesses who supported the event – we even had proper coffee machines and a barista from Bean Shot Coffee with Nick Law serving cappuccinos, espressos and lattes. Plenty of cakes and scones too by the likes of our Catering Department, At the Chapel, Taylors Bakers, Taste Bruton, Somerset Dairies, Godminster Cheese and The Cole Manor Tea Rooms – working with the local community to help and support others.
There are plenty of activities going on this weekend, from a trip to Bristol, a visit to Bath Guildhall to listen to the author Steve Cole speak at the Children’s Bath Literary Festival, the Equestrian team competing at Stonar School to a Mountain Biking expedition. I am off now to Macmillan House, named after our illustrious Old Sexeian, for more coffee and cake as they host another Macmillan Coffee ‘Morning’ at Sexey’s. After all the cake I have had today, I may well have to join Mr Cowley on his mountain biking expedition. Now where are my cycling shorts…
The exeat seems like such a long time ago!
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