What an incredibly eventful term it has been for enrichment activities at Sancton Wood! From Nursery right up to Year 11 the school has been characteristically busy, with students taking part in extracurricular activities and extended learning across all subjects and year groups. All these activities culminated in a spectacular senior production of the Mystery of Mr E. last week, a show certain to stay fixed in the Sancton Wood halls of fame as one of our greatest ever school productions. Students from Year 7 to 11 came together to sing and perform an entirely original work and their wonderful dedication and hard work was only exceeded by the creative efforts of Dr Armitage, Mrs Cowen and of course Sophie Jones herself. Well done!
However, not to be outdone by the Seniors, children in the Pre-Prep poured their heart and soul (and some great dance moves!) into a wonderful nativity show last Friday that came complete with aliens and space ships no less; believe me, there was not a dry eye in the audience. Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 students have also been revelling in the delights of their new Forest School, the ultimate ‘learning outside the classroom’ experience while Year 1 & 2 also thoroughly enjoyed an eye-opening visit to Wysing Art Centre earlier in the term.
In the meantime, across the school the PE department have outdone themselves with sports fixtures, swimming galas and cross country competitions that have seen some superb sportsmanship, excellent team work and individual achievements, of which the school is justly proud. Our new sports facilities have gone down a treat and students are now enjoying an even bigger range of sports including rugby, health related fitness, swimming, basketball, gymnastics and badminton (and that’s just this term).
In the Art department students have been very busy and our new in-school photography and Christmas card competitions have unveiled impressive creative talent in our midst. Thanks to this, a stunning array of world class photographs now grace the walls at Glisson Road.
This term has also seen exciting developments in our extra-curricular club provision with the extremely popular bread-making club with Mrs Ainscough producing delectable delights and very useful home cooking skills and chess club thriving so much that Sancton Wood is delighted to be once again competing in the Cambridge Schools competition. A brand new creative writing and film club have also begun this term so this is definitely a space to watch…
Elsewhere, the European Day of Languages ran from Nursery to Upper School in September and was a huge success, bringing to life the beautifully diverse cultural backgrounds of our staff and pupils alike. In History, Year 8 students were treated to a fascinating visit to Oliver Cromwell House in Ely and Year 9 students dusted off their wellington boots for a muddy (is there any other type?!) geography field trip to analyse the middle course of the River Cam. Year 10 RS GCSE students also had the privilege of travelling to the Buddhist Centre in Cambridge to experience the practise of meditation. In the Lower Prep, Year 3 went on a successful visit to the Botanical Gardens and both Years 4 & 5 visited the Fitzwilliam Museum as part of their art and history studies. As if that was not enough, Year 4s arrived in school last Friday resplendent in their Egyptian finery to take part in an Egyptian-themed day as part of their Topic studies.
In the Upper School, Year 11s completed an invaluable week of work experience at the beginning of the term and are now in the midst of their Sixth Form applications, assisted both by a Sixth Form open evening hosted by Sancton Wood and a Past-Present Evening when our Year 11s were able to meet up with former Sancton Wood students and hear about life post-GCSEs. A number of cinema trips to see historical films including Dunkirk and Hidden Figures have brought to life both history and science and taken advantage of our wonderful proximity to the centre of Cambridge and all its amenities. In English, a trip to Milton Road Cemetery on Halloween was carefully timed to bring to life the horrors of Gothic literature for our Year 8 students and a fantastic theatre trip to Jekyll and Hyde was enjoyed by Year 11s and Year 8s alike.
So all in all an incredibly busy term! I have barely been able to keep up with all the enrichment activities at Sancton Wood since I became Enrichment and Educational Visits Co-Ordinator in October. And this is not just because every week there is something new but because every week we are also planning something new!
Upcoming activities to look out for between now and the Summer include residential trips for every year group from Year 3 to Year 11 ranging from a 3-day visit to Tudor Barn for our Year 3s to a 5-day Spanish exchange in Málaga for our Year 9s. In February Mr Guerin is also running, for the first time, a special 4-day trip to Geneva to visit the world famous CERN… so there will be no post-Christmas blues for our Years 10s and 11s.
On that note I wish you all a wonderful & peaceful Christmas break; please get your
breath back as there’s even more to come!
