We just love our performing arts students at Sackville. Nothing, not even this awful year, can stop them. On Monday 14 December, our year 13s served up a wonderful musical theatre showcase with beautifully performed numbers from shows including The Book of Mormon, Matilda, A Chorus Line, Hamilton, Wicked, and Mamma Mia.
It was so refreshing to see some live theatre, albeit in front a masked audience reduced in size because of social distancing. As we went home to play those numbers again on Spotify (other players are available) one certainty was some fantastic grades in the summer.
Well done to Amber Davies, Alex Flude, Sophie Charman, Maddie Wrigley, Amy Hawtin, Anika Rahman and Rebecca Hollins. Thanks to the great team of Mrs Hodgkiss, Ms Warran, Ms Bartlett and Mr Hoelters for making it all happen.
Thanks to Sam Barnes, our drumming tutor, we invite you to enjoy this festive little number featuring students from year 7 to year 13. As we approach the end of term, and the students’ Christmas lunch, what better way to get into the yuletide groove?
Y12 and 13 students had an amazing opportunity on Friday 11th December to interview Mims Davies, MP for Mid Sussex. Mims was exceedingly generous with her time and explained to the students her path into politics and her current projects and role.
Our students devised some exceptional questions about the environment, gender issues and the role of the House of Lords. The detail and the depth of her responses impressed the students greatly. Of particular interest was how the increased number of female MPs had led to a range of different topics being dicussed in the house.
Mims also said she would be happy to visit the school again when it was safe to do so.
Some more great news about a former student. Ollie Roberts, class of 2017/2019, has worked steadily since leaving school, even with the additional challenges of 2020, to complete his initial army training.
Ollie is remembered at school not just for his diligence and perseverance, but also for his extensive repertoire of magic tricks. It is no surprise to us that for him completion itself would not be enough: in the process he also gained the ‘Top Shot‘ trophy and his Marksmanship Badge.
Ollie has now graduated to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and proceeds to Lyneham to complete his training. Well done Ollie and good luck for the next phase of your career. We hope you still have time to keep all those conjuring tricks up to scratch.
Our Wednesday concerts might only have been going for a few weeks, but they already have the feeling of being something of a school institution.
The happy inspiration of Mr Heatley and his music team, every Wednesday lunchtime live music springs up somewhere round the school. On Wednesday 9th December it was the turn of year 7 to be entertained. Many had brought in their special Christmas hats for the occasion.
They were not to be disappointed, as a sprinkling of seasonal numbers were included in the usual excellent set.
We would like to thank our fantastic musicians once again, but also Ms Bartlett and Mr Hoelters who are our super-efficient roadies each Wednesday.
Well done to our year 11 students for their hard work and industrious approach to the recent set of mock exams. The results are very strong and promise great things for the summer.
Students received their grades during a mock results afternoon. Mrs Sands delivered a virtual assembly into each tutor room, and the students then received their grade sheets along with a congratulatory pen from Mr Grant.
Thank-you too to all of the staff for their tireless efforts in administering, setting and marking the mock papers.
On Friday 4th December our Year 12 French class attended a live event hosted by the British Film Institute, about the cult film La Haine. This hard-hitting work is the film we study for A level, and as we are unable to visit the Institute this year they came to Sackville instead. It’s that time of year again! All the little elves have been out and about bringing some extremely well-deserved cheer to the end of 2020. Our third annual Big Reveal was the best yet. Deputy Head Neil Feist said
We were delighted to welcome concert pianist Richard Meyrick to Sackville on Monday November 30, by Zoom of course. Richard delivered a piano masterclass to Ben and Thomas Salter, James Fanner and Matthew Botten.
Richard listened to the students play, offering them specific tips on how to improve and flourish. Richard also played to the students with incredible musicality showing his wealth of experience. We would like to thank Sir & Lady Harvey McGrath who graciously sponsored this opportunity and we hope to welcome Richard back soon. Thank you to Richard, and well done to the students involved.
