Head Master's Notes - 18th October

The seventh week of this Michaelmas (Autumn) term saw us take a deep breath as we took on the might of Millfield in our first Saturday fixture, home and away. At home our U14s played with great determination with fine performances from Daniel Diaylou (9 Hobhouse CC) and Ryan Hilborne (9 Knight SW). Although we lost 37-14, we put in the effort needed against a well drilled team. My abiding memory of that game was after Daniel had made a crunching tackle on his opponent, he stopped to help him back up on his feet ? true sportsmanship. A Millfield parent commented on our boys’ spirit and the ‘maturity and work ethic of our captain, Sam Wilson (9 Knight SW), high praise indeed. We have an outstanding group of players here who will develop into a fine team over the years. Watch this space! The U15s played a cracking game and beat Millfield (a school renowned for its strength and depth) 60-5. The boys, led admirably by captain Henry Smart (10 Hobhouse KP) played a high-risk, fast and expansive game with excellent performances from Jack Coville-Wright (10 Glynn-Jones KM) who was named Man of the Match, Joel Oke (10 Hobhouse KP) who scored a hat trick, Charlie Johns’ (10 Glynn-Jones RBG) safe hands at the back and the reliable boot of Tom Parnell (10 Hobhouse CC).  At Millfield, our 1st XV played out of their skins and put in a respectable performance losing only 35-5 - the match went to completion this time unlike last year when it was stopped mid-way, demonstrating just how far we have come. There were also mid-week rugby fixtures for the U12s, U13s, U14s, U15s (again!) and the U16s against Queen’s College, Taunton, Dauntsey’s and a strong King’s Bruton, the latter of which taught our 1st and 2nd XVs a thing or two about rugby; we have a bench mark we can work towards which will help develop our rugby further at the school.

Not to be out done, on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon our Equestrian Team competed in the Inter Schools Show Jumping Competition at Kings Sedgemoor and they too put in strong performances, especially Gwen Patch (10 Golledge DB) on Paddy completing a faultless round in a very competitive time.  Lottie Pottow (10 Knight ACA), Evie Pearce (8 Hobhouse LF) and Tamsin Doar (13 Golledge RH), together with their horses, did the school very proud indeed and should be congratulated for their resilience and fine riding. My thanks to Mr Boyd, Mr Smith and Mr Armitage for their time and commitment on Saturday and to Mrs Croot and Mrs Asbury for guiding and encouraging our team (and the girls’ horses) on Sunday. Parents too are important and without their support and dedication the school will not be able to compete at such levels. So much so, that there is talk that the parents would like to help sponsor a Sexey’s Show Jumping event next year ? I can’t wait! The PSA also put on a fabulous show on Friday night when we had a record turnout for the PSA Quiz (Cranium Cruncher) in the Main Hall which was expertly compered by our very own Mr Partridge and was won by a team called The Management….had they been to the Neuroscience lectures at the University of Bristol with Dr Beeching and a group of our A-level Biologists and Psychologists? Our group of Historians returned from Berlin on Tuesday (full report on the website) and our A-level Business Studies students attended the Entrepreneur Live 2013 event at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol. Plenty of enrichment opportunities for our students to engage with and again my thanks to the staff who make this all possible.

As we hurtle towards the end of this busy term we stop and pause for reflection at our annual Speech Day which took place this afternoon where we welcomed our Guest of Honour, Ms Kate Allenby MBE and celebrated the success of Sexeians past and present. I was thoroughly impressed with the slick organisation, the conduct and maturity of our students, the calm composure of the Wind band, the assured delivery by the Heads of School and the quality of our guest speaker, Kate. A truly memorable occasion which highlights all that is outstanding about this fine school.

A reminder that Y11 have their Trial (Mock) Exams after the half term holiday (w/c Monday 18th) and it would be wise for them to use the holiday productively to prepare for these important examinations. Whilst the students are revising, I will be in China with the Yueyang-Somerset partnership and the British Council to gain an understanding of the Chinese education system and its intriguing culture. I hope to further develop our relationship with our partner school (Yueyang No 2 Middle School) and to learn some Mandarin. Keep up to date with my exploits in the Far East on Twitter @SexeysSchool and I look forward to seeing you on my return.

我希望您有一个宁静和轻松的假期