It is hard to believe that we have already reached the half term holiday. The boys have achieved so much in recent weeks, not least settling into new routines, making friends, and building up their knowledge and understanding in a whole range of subjects and disciplines both inside and outside the classroom. 

When we reach the end of a half term, it is a useful time to reflect, not just on the positives but also on areas for improvement.  This week in assembly, I asked the boys to think about how they deal with difficulties, and not just those they might face in a lesson, but also in their friendships, around school and at home. Building up resilience to bounce back when things get difficult or when you face disappointment is a key learning strength. Linking to Black History Month, we discussed the civil rights movement and the discrimination which people have and still can face because of their race, religion, age or the other ‘protected characteristics’ that the boys study as part of their PSHE work in school. The boys learnt about Rosa Parks and how her resilience and actions helped inspire change in America in the 1950s and 1960s.  To stand up for what you feel is right takes great resilience, and I challenged the boys to show resilience this week in doing the right thing, not necessarily the easy thing.  

This week it was wonderful to welcome visitors to the school. On Monday, pupils from Evergreen School visited the Science Lab and worked with Mr Lewis on an evaporation experiment. While on Thursday afternoon, some of the Year 5 boys joined with the pupils from Clapham Terrace to complete their investigations in the Lab.  

The term continues apace on our return in the first week of November including a range of rugby fixtures, a Maths and English presentation for parents, our Remembrance Day Chapel Service and the Junior School Open Morning for new parents. 

Thank you for your support of your sons and the school over the last half term and I wish you a safe and enjoyable half term break. 

John Bond 

On Tuesday, 16 of our swimmers, U10 and U11, took part in the Warwick 25s Gala hosted at Warwick school. This event was a great opportunity for our boys to showcase their progression in swimming and compete against other top swimmers from schools across the Midlands and beyond. 

It was a great afternoon of swimming with many of our boys winning races across various strokes, which resulted in Warwick winning both the U10 competition and the U11 competition, and collectively, were the overall school winners on the day. 

Congratulations to all boys who took part, and showed great determination and humility throughout the afternoon. 

Warwick Outdoors Club has had an incredible first year, nurturing a wide range of produce from seed to harvest. Students have successfully grown tomatoes, beans, cucumber, aubergines and even a few surprise pumpkins!

The club has not only brightened the Headmaster’s Garden but also taught valuable lessons about sustainability and teamwork.

As we look ahead to next year, we’re excited to expand our garden beds, try new crops, and involve even more students in growing fresh, healthy food for our community.

Year 5 has been investigating Newton’s Third Law of Motion by designing and launching their own water rockets!

Each group estimated how much water to add to make their rocket travel the greatest distance. After some exciting competitions within each form, the winners went head-to-head — and 5S blasted their way to victory with a staggering 50-metre flight to become this year’s overall champions!

This week we introduced our new Learning Strength focus – Resilience. The ability to adapt and ‘bounce back’ when faced with difficulties or challenges is vitally important academically, socially, personally and when pursuing interests in sport and the arts. In assembly, the boys reflected on examples from nature of wild salmon returning to their spawning grounds by swimming against the current. They also heard about Stephen Bradbury, an Australian speedskater who faced a number of challenges whilst pursuing the sport he loved. Demonstrating resilience when faced with serious injuries, lack of funding and limited success over his twelve-year career, Stephen famously won a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics where he was the oldest competitor in his race. Luck played its part in the final with Stephen in last place until all his competitors crashed out on the final bend. Stephen almost felt embarrassed to claim his gold medal but decided that he deserved the medal which reflected the resilience and determination he had shown over the previous 12 years. 

We also announced further positions of responsibility this week with the Year 6 Reading Buddies who will be supporting some of our younger boys with their reading, and the class School Council representatives who had their first School Council meeting this afternoon. 

Earlier this week, I visited some lessons, and it is always a pleasure to see what is going on in the classroom. On this occasion, I saw boys demonstrating great focus in DT whilst constructing the wooden frame for their gearbox, a huge amount of ‘hair raising’ enthusiasm in Science as the boys used a Van de Graaff generator as part of their work on electricity, and creativity and problem solving in Geography as the boys designed a house to meet the challenges of living in a mountain environment.  

This term seems to have flown by and as we head into the final week before half term, I wish you an enjoyable weekend. 

John Bond