LSF.WEEK5 March 2021

#worldbookday#readingisfun

Return to School

With the highly anticipated return of the whole school community next Monday, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my staff for the way in which they have supported Fairfield pupils during, what we all sincerely hope will be, the last national lockdown.

Teaching staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that the children have had an engaging and stimulating online offer, whilst every single teaching assistant and non-class teacher has enabled the Critical Worker Programme to run flawlessly over the last seven weeks.

This feat is even more impressive as, unlike other schools, every eligible Critical Worker parent who applied for the programme was granted access to the programme, resulting in approximately a third of our pupil roll being in School on a regular basis since January.

The efforts of our Estates Team have also been invaluable, with the erection of a second marquee for our Year 2 and Year 4 pupils, providing suitable shelter from the elements during pick up and drop off times, as well as setting out markings along the Walks to help keep everyone socially distanced.

Thus, with a collective team effort, we feel poised and ready to welcoming everyone back to school on Monday and really making the most of the remainder of the spring term!

Book WeekThe children have enjoyed a very special visitor to our ‘virtual’ year group assemblies this week.

The Foundation’s Chaplain, Reverend Elizabeth York, took centre screen, inspiring children to continue with their love of reading and to treasure books of sentimental value.

With themed activities in each year group, we even managed to acquire the services of two real life authors, A. M. Dassu and G. Kristian. Both gave sage words of advice to our budding writers in the Upper Prep, whilst our youngest pupils in Kindergarten relished an interactive virtual story-telling session with Lucy Walters.

It goes without saying that all the children thoroughly enjoyed their celebration of books by discussing their favourite stories and characters with their teachers and special visitors!

Andrew EarnshawHeadmaster

World Book DayAlthough, sadly, we were not all back in school quite in time to celebrate World Book Day this week, we are still celebrating the event online.

The House competition this week is for pupils to recreate a book cover using themselves or an appropriate item from home. Two early entries from Year 6 can be seen here.

Leicester Music Festival SuccessCongratulations to Ayeka, who has won the trophy for the Advanced Piano Class at the Leicester Music Festival.

Ayeka was representing both the Loughborough Schools Foundation Music Department and Amherst School. This is a particularly impressive achievement, as there was no upper age limit to this particular competition.

Julian MurphyHeadmaster

School Re-openingWe are very excited about everyone being back in Amherst from next Monday, and have been busy checking and preparing the site in anticipation.

Our parents and pupils have also been busy completing questionnaires about their experiences of lockdown and how they feel about coming back to school, so that we can ensure every tutor can support every pupil individually on their return. We look forward to welcoming them all back!

Unlike in the autumn, we are welcoming pupils back into their specialist classrooms rather than them having to stay in the same room all day every day. This will benefit everyone academically, but we hope that it will also give everyone a boost in terms of mental health and wellbeing. I would like to take this opportunity to say a massive ‘thank you’ to the staff who have provided key worker provision and wellbeing provision since January. It has made a really positive difference to those pupils who have had to attend their online lessons from school.

Easter Photography CompetitionOur photography competition is undergoing the final round of judging.

The theme was on growth, new life and hope… There are lots of the entries already on our pastoral Instagram page (lboroampastoral), but here are two of the fabulous entries.

Linguistics OlympiadLGS has a proud history of outstanding performance in the subject Olympiads that test the most able senior students across the country.

In the past, these have been held only in Mathematics and the sciences. However, the Linguistics Olympiad has been a recent addition. It is the brainchild of Old Loughburian, Dick Hudson (1958) and has received support from both the Classics and Modern Languages Departments.

This year, 15 boys entered the Advanced Level, of whom 6 were awarded a Bronze Award and 2 Silver. Particular congratulations are due to Shailen (Year 11) and Layan (Year 8) who were awarded Gold, and have now qualified for the second round of the competition: a three-hour paper on 17 March! Their achievements are especially noteworthy as the competition is designed for Sixth Form students.

Duncan ByrneHeadmaster

1495 History Magazine The History Department has marshalled a huge team of motivated writers from all year groups to produce an impressive termly magazine.

History has long enjoyed great popularity among LGS boys, with an unusually large proportion of A Level students going on to read the subject at university. We very much hope that you will enjoy the boys’ varied perspectives and the scholarship that has gone into some fascinating articles. Please click here.

Isolation BulletinThe LGS Wellbeing Committee has naturally been very concerned for the mental health of boys and staff as we have undergone collectively these unparalleled experiences over the past year.

Since the end of last term, it has been producing a weekly Isolation Bulletin giving tips on how to get through lockdown, as well as suggesting interesting activities to fill the large amount of free time that we have had. Congratulations to editor Nathanial-Elliot (Y10) and his team of budding journalists.

Ancient and ModernOur academic departments have been looking for every opportunity for boys to engage with intellectual pursuits during each of the lockdown periods in the last year, and our successes in numerous fields have featured in prior editions of LSF Week.

Something we have found interesting, and which reflects very positively on LGS boys, is that many of our younger students have had the confidence to enter competitions aimed at senior pupils.

Two Year 9 boys, Oscar and Noah have made a wonderful video presentation for the Lytham St Annes Classical Association competition. The task set was to identify a day in history that they wished to go back too, and they have united a classical subject with the best of modern technology in presenting a video news report on the death of Tiberius Gracchus. The amount of effort and independent scholarly research is astonishing, particularly considering their age and we invite you to enjoy their presentation by clicking on this link.

Fiona MilesHead

Future-Thinking Programme As part of the Year 12 Future-Thinking programme, High School students were delighted to welcome Darius Matusiak, Regional Managing Director of the recruitment firm Macildowie, last Friday, who spoke to the girls about CV’s and employability.

The girls learned a great deal from the session including how to structure a CV, how to create impact with evidence, and how to use some great practical tips to bolster their CV’s despite Covid restrictions. The feedback from the girls was brilliant and we look forward to welcoming Darius back to share more insights on employability, networking and interview skills soon.

The talk will focus on innovation in science and include discussions about current research and specific topics including sepsis, synthetic spider silk and Bloom syndrome. This is a great opportunity for young Biologists and a great way to celebrate Science Week.

British ScienceBritish Science Week will be from 5 to 12 March and to recognise this High School girls will have the opportunity to attend talks by the Royal Society of Biology.

Star Bakers in GeographyIn Geography, the Year 7s were tasked with a Rivers ‘make or bake’ challenge to complete away from their screens.

Their brief was to create something that was related to a river basin or river landform. These are just some of the fantastic results. Sophie’s waterfall cake also went on to win ‘Chef of the Week’!

Meet the TeamLHS Head, Fiona Miles, and members of her Senior Leadership Team, are holding a virtual Q&A session for any parent interested in sending their daughter to the High School. The event will be held on Teams, at 18:00 on 18 March and please click here to register.

Enrichment ProgrammeSixth Form students who take part in our Thursday Enrichment Art programme have been looking at reflections and ideas about whether a photograph shows reality like a window or reflects like a mirror.

Each week students in Art are given different concepts and ideas to work with and are then set to work to interpret those ideas. These are projects that actually lend themselves well to students being at home because they often focus on everyday objects or ideas that are universal.

LinguisticsCongratulations to our A-Level linguists who took part in the UK Linguistics Olympiad at the beginning of February.

This is a prestigious and challenging national competition, and it is therefore very impressive that several pupils achieved certificates. Well done to Saffron, Marina and Helena who achieved a Bronze certificate, and a special well done to Maaya who achieved a Silver certificate.

In ConversationOn 2 March, in the second of our series of talks by LHS Old Girls, we welcomed Lydia to take us through her career journey in to architecture.

Lydia described to girls what she found most rewarding in both her studies and now in professional practice. She shared examples of her portfolio, discussed key skills including creativity, problem solving and project management, and highlighted the difference between working in large and small practices. She was also keen to highlight that this is no longer a male dominated sector but a place where women can thrive and find success.

Carla BrindleyNursery Manager

DevelopersIn the last few weeks our Developers have been having lots of fun. The children have enjoyed making some chocolate rise crispy cakes and as you can imagine, the mixture had to be taste tested first! Our Developers made fabulous patterns using the potato masher and paint to create nice pictures and the children have been practising filling and emptying the pans.

InvestigatorsIn Investigators the children have been busy making a new display to celebrate the NHS and what they might see at a hospital. The children have made an ambulance and had fun using the glue and paper and making “nee-naw” sounds. They have also made their very own rainbow to say thank you to the NHS for all their hard work.

PathfindersIn Pathfinders the children have been doctor role playing, using plasters and bandages to make their friends feel better. The children have had fun whilst learning all about their numbers and counting and they had a great time searching for numbers in the shaving foam messy play. The book focus for Pathfinders has been ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz. The children have been creating their very own jungle animals to put on display.

In the Priest House, Pathfinders have had lots of fun learning their alphabet and looking at all the different animals and objects beginning with each letter. The children are looking forward to creating cards and gifts and exploring the themed activities to celebrate World Book Day and Mother’s Day over the coming weeks.

PioneersOur Pioneers wanted to celebrate and showcase how the children have developed their sporting skills during their Super Star Sports sessions. Weather permitting, these sessions take place every week on a Tuesday in our outside area. Matt teaches the children (with great enthusiasm and energy) a number of skills for sports such as rugby, tennis, football and basketball. These sessions not only support the children’s social skills but help with their hand eye co-ordination, which are all transferrable skills to enhance their all-round development in the classroom.

InnovatorsTo recognise ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’ Innovators have been discovering where fruits and vegetables come from and the types of weather they need in order to grow. The children have been exploring potato printing and finding out that potatoes grow in the ground. They have also been looking at healthy eating plates and seeing what foods are good for us and how much we should be having at meal times. The children have also been continuing with their jungle topic and have been making a sloth for their display.

Back to School

IN THE NEWS...

Following the Government announcement, we are delighted that all Foundation students will be able to return to school next week and in preparation for this, staff have been working hard to ensure the safety of our 2,000+ pupils when they return to the campuses. This work includes the introduction of Lateral Flow Testing and senior school pupils have all been given the opportunity to take part in the Covid-19 rapid testing programme in advance of the schools re-opening. Volunteers from across teaching and non-teaching staff plus Central Services, assisted our medical team to ensure that the process of testing was managed smoothly, efficiently and safely at all three senior schools.

Compliance

IN THE NEWS...

In his role as Compliance Manager for Loughborough Schools Foundation, Garry Leeson has had a busy year! We caught up with him to have a chat about his work across the Schools.

What is your role at LSF?As the Compliance Manager my role is to address the increasing levels of regulatory compliance required by independent schools. Supporting the Foundation and Schools to meet and observe a wide variety of guidelines and regulations set by both government agencies and the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate. I advise the Heads and Senior Management Teams on various aspects of regulatory compliance and the interpretation of relevant legislation relating to the management of the Schools ensuring that appropriate policies, procedures and records are maintained.

More specifically I provide advice on the development of the health and safety policy, practices and safety management systems across the Foundation and ensure they are regularly reviewed, updated and communicated. I advise on a range of specialist areas, am a member of numerous committees and as Health and Safety Officer prepare and present a termly report to the Governing Body with regards to the Foundation’s compliance with statutory obligations and Foundation policies.

Parents will probably see me supervising the management of the main LSF car park every Thursday morning and afternoon, although I am out and about a lot!

How long have you worked at LSF and what is your background?

I started in September 2007 as the Foundation’s Health and Safety Officer and having developed my role over the years, became the Compliance Manager in 2015. Prior to joining LSF I was the Health and Safety Manager at the University of Nottingham Students Union for four years. Before this I worked for ten years in the leisure industry, health and fitness sector, having completed a Sports Studies degree after attending the Grammar School. My three children (and wife Gillian) have all attended the Foundation schools, with my youngest son Alex (currently in year 12 at LGS) part of the fourth generation of the family to do so.

How does your work support the Schools?

Young people need challenge and adventure in their lives if they are to grow and develop fully as adults. This means that they – and those who lead them - must face the reality of risk. At the same time, staff have the responsibility to minimise the chance of accidents, especially where there is a possibility of young people being badly hurt. Everything we do in our everyday lives involves some element of risk. The challenge is to manage those risks in a way which gives the Foundation the protection we need without constraining what we do beyond a justified level. It is rarely possible to eliminate all the risks. We have to get the balance right and be sure that every effort has been made to eliminate or reduce the risk of causing harm to young people or damage to property: this is how I support the Schools.

I am most certainly not risk-averse but more the Foundation’s safety conscience, here to support my colleagues and hopefully reassure parents, whilst not spoiling the fun for our young people!

How has this Covid-year compared in terms of workload and complexity, to previous years?

The past year has been like no other in so many ways and whilst preparations began early last year, we have never been fully closed since the first lockdown on my birthday! The abundance of legislation and guidance changes, as we have traversed through lockdownafter lockdown, with the schools partly open, fully open or not open, have all posed many challenges in terms of what we have been able to deliver against what we have wanted to and been expected to, whilst minimising the risks to Covid. Last term was unquestionably the busiest I have ever experienced of all the 37 terms I have been here.

We had to acknowledge that we had to control everything within our ability to do so and operationally the changes we had to implement in every facet of how each School and the Foundation operated meant that I was continually tested. Communicating with staff at every level in the Foundation, advising, informing and instructing, as well as

supporting those with anxieties and providing wellbeing advice, whilst acknowledging the personal situations and viewpoints of all concerned. Every positive case of Covid had to be investigated, reported to PHE and led to some lengthy phone calls day and night and an ongoing review of policies and risk assessments.

What was the biggest challenge when the pupils returned to School in September?

Preparing staff, pupils and parents with an undoubted array of mental, physical and personal experiences and viewpoints after, for many, an enforced five month physical absence and the return to a vastly different working and educational environment and trying to reassure everyone that it would be safe to do so.

How many risk assessments have you written over the last 12 months?

Countless! I have no idea of the actual number, but I see risk assessments as not just a tabulated framework of hazards, controls and risk ratings, but many faceted documents and actions that provide an outline of how a particular hazard is being managed. Every department, every activity, every event has had to be risk assessed and I am grateful to all the staff involved in this process as my role is not to produce every assessment but advise, assist and support my colleagues to ensure that each risk assessment is suitable, sufficient and robust. Some of the risk assessments have been the longest that I have ever produced and as we have adapted and extended our offering to the pupils and students, the need to review them so frequently has never been so great.

Arts

IN THE NEWS...

Huge congratulations to Danushka (LGS class of 2020) who has won 1st prize in the Royal Academy of Music’s Piatti Cello Competition.

The competition was open to students from First year to postgraduate. Danushka was placed 1st out of 22 entries.

STRING ENSEMBLE AND RECITAL STRINGSLast week String Ensemble and Recital Strings (comprised of students from Amherst, Grammar and High School) participated in an online workshop with some of the Foundation’s alumni who are currently studying at Conservatoires throughout the country.

They played through Warlock’s Capriol Suite with Avishka (Royal College of Music), Danushka (Royal Academy of Music) and Ailsa (Royal Northern College of Music). They were also joined by cellist Gabriel (sibling of Simeon and Eleanor) who will be studying at the Guildhall from September. The students gave some top tips to our LSF Musicians and we are really looking forward to hearing the virtual recording at the end of term.

SOUNDBITES AND LUNCHTIME LIVEThere are some wonderful performances from our prep and senior Musicians that can be viewed on the Music Department’s YouTube channel.

The new concerts are featured in the “SoundBites” playlist for prep children and the “Lockdown Live” playlist for the senior pupils.

LSF GALLERYThe Clarinet Quartet have remotely recorded a lovely arrangement of Moon River by Henry Mancini.

What makes this recording particularly special is that it is accompanied by a montage of impressive artwork from students at our senior schools. A delight for the eyes and ears and available on the YouTube channel

MUSIC & ART

What is your day job?I am a business consultant these days. Having trained as a chartered accountant, I have been Finance Director of large businesses in the past. I now advise smaller companies, the main one being a corporate finance firm specialising in business acquisitions.

What is your connection to LSF?My sons Robert and Dominic, who are now in their 30s, both attended Fairfield and the Grammar School. Robert is now a lawyer with a major London firm and Dominic is a teacher at King Edward’s School in Birmingham.

What was your favourite subject in school? I really liked History in my early years at school but for some reason didn’t do this at A Level where I enjoyed Politics even more.

When not on Governor duties, how do you like to spend your time? My main hobbies are Cycling, Rugby and Golf. I took up cycling when I was in my 40s and wished I had done so much earlier. I am a Leicester Tigers supporter, which of course has not been quite so joyful an experience in recent years, but like everyone else am really looking forward to going to Welford Road again. I enjoy Golf but my game is embarrassing as I play so infrequently!

If you were on Mastermind, what would be your specialist subject? Other than ‘LSF 2015 to date’, I would go for Sport in general but would probably struggle under the camera lights!

QUICK FIRE ROUND

• Books or Newspapers? Both!

• Rock Music or Classical Music? Rock. At one time the heavier the better but now it’s more soft rock.

• Watch or Play Sports? Playing is always better; you can watch afterwards.

• Boat or Plane? Plane but I am not sure I fancy flying any time soon.

• Comedy or Drama? Drama mostly

• Line of Duty or Killing Eve? Line of Duty. Killing Eve was enjoyable but less credible after series 1.

A CONVERSATION WITHTony JonesTony Jones is the Vice Chair of LSF and also the Chair of the Finance Audit and Risk Committee.

Literature

IN THE NEWS... VISITING AUTHORS

Celebrating and taking part in World Book Day

SCARLETT CLARKThe High School are thrilled that Scarlett Clark, the founder and CEO of the UK’s number one female empowerment organisation will be empowering our Sixth Form students in the coming weeks to overcome fear, manage their mental health more efficiently, be their most authentic selves and pursue their passion.

Scarlett is a female empowerment expert for Harvard University, host of the top-rated podcast ‘The Smart Girl Tribe Podcast’ and has launched her debut book, The Smart Girls Handbook. We are sure that our students will enjoy these sessions with Scarlett.

Giles writes historical novels, particularly about the Vikings, drawing on his Scandinavian heritage, and also about the English Civil War.

He writes scripts for films and video games and hopes to find time in the future to write stories for younger readers. He confessed to the group that as a young child he wasn’t a big reader of books, but as a teenager he developed a love of reading which led him to apply to university to study English Literature.

The children found the talk fascinating and inspiring and are extremely grateful to Giles for taking the time out of his busy schedule to virtually meet with them.

After a short introduction, Giles was questioned by the pupils about where he gets his ideas and how he goes about writing his novels. He told the children about all sorts of interesting places he has visited and things he has done which have provided ideas and have influenced his writing. He also explained the detailed research he has to do to prepare for his novels so that all the elements are authentic.

WORLD BOOK DAYTo celebrate World Book Day, Mr Giles Kristian, a well-known author and former Fairfield pupil, gave a talk to the Year 6 children on Microsoft Teams, about his life and his writing.

IN THE NEWS...

News in pictures

TENNISKylie is an Amherst School Boarder who is on the LTA pathway that is run in partnership with Loughborough University. This week she was playing in the UK Pro League, which is a season-long competition to crown Britain’s men and women champions. Good luck Kylie!

GROUNDSGrounds Staff have been testing out their new piece of kit and have done a superb job of getting the pavements clean and tidy in time for the return to school.

PANCAKE DAYThe Denton House Boarders really enjoyed Pancake Day. Under the expert tutelage of Mrs Parton, the boys learnt to make pancakes which they thoroughly enjoyed eating with a variety of toppings. To make the event even more special, all the eggs had been freshly laid by the Denton Chickens!

FULL HOUSEHigh School students in Storer House really enjoyed playing House Bingo this week. Fabulous to see pupils fully embracing the House colour!

NURSERY BLOGNursery manager, Carla Brindley has put down her thoughts on running an early years’ setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can read her blog here

Loughborough Schools Foundation3 Burton WalksLoughborough LeicestershireLE11 2DU

Loughborough Schools Foundation is a Company Limited by Guarantee, number 4038033, and is registered in England and Wales. It is also a Registered Charity, number 1081765. The Registered Office is 3 Burton Walks, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 2DU

T: 01509 283700 www.lsf.org@LboroSchFdt