Old Orwellian Newsletter
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Spring 2020 Old Orwellian Newsletter ORWELL PARK SCHOOL, NACTON, IPSWICH, IP10 0ER 01473 659225 www.orwellpark.co.uk HEADMASTER It has also been a busy term in the boarding house. With almost all of the dorms now having been fully refurbished, pupils are enjoying personalising their own spaces, getting absolutely vital sleep and making new friends. An increasing number of pupils, young and old, are also developing in their own pastoral roles, being a listening ear for each other, and helping staff identify issues and worries. All of this very successful living is underpinned by an excellent diet and a very full academic and sporting day. There has been a full programme of activities at the weekend, including tobogganing, bowling, Laser Tag, our own screen in the Empire, and activities within our magical grounds. The standard of music throughout the autumn has been exceptional. In the Orangery, our pupils continued to do what they do so well, producing termly Recitals and demonstrating the value of proper practice every time. Following half-term, our pupils prepared for Associated Board exams and rehearsed for, and delivered, an excellent Autumn Concert, with some very fine individual and collective performances. Pupils continue to practise as we look forward to the Spring Concert Spirit has been our value over the last term and it was at Snape Maltings in March, and we hope to see many much in evidence in our support for our three charities of you there. this year: Iceni, Dementia UK and Rainforest Trust UK. The recent Christmas Fayre, organised by our Finally, I would like to thank the staff for all their hard Charities Coordinator Caroline Brunt and the work and commitment over this last term. Nicole and I Housemasters/mistresses, and run superbly on the day hope parents, children and Old Orwellians enjoyed a by the children, raised just short of £2,000. Well done Happy Christmas and wish you a Prosperous New to the whole community! Year. Autumn’s Orangery Lectures, attracting audiences of Yours sincerely up to 100, have once again provided excellent variety, including a talk by our own Mr Bass on Words and other topics such as the Protection of the Oceans, Maps, the Changing Political Landscape, Black Holes, Adrian Brown, Headmaster The Mary Rose, Medieval Britain, the Desert Rats, the inspiring story of left-handed pianist Nicholas McCarthy, and Tree-mendous Trees, with 100 trees distributed for planting to those present. I am delighted Mentoring by the work of the Eco Committee in moving forward Would you consider mentoring an the environmental agenda at the School, and it was Old Orwellian who is also a recent wonderful to see members of staff captured on film in university graduate? Are you a assembly making pledges to help the environment. Old graduate who would like access to Orwellians are always welcome to attend our careers advice from those in the Orangery Lectures; please get in touch with know? Get in touch to register your Development Manager Amy Carbonero for details of interest and learn more! the upcoming term’s programme. 2 NEWS FROM OLD ORWELLIANS John Fisher Burns (Orwell Park 1953-57) joined us to judge the 2019 Poetry Recitation Competition for Years 5-8 this December. A former London bureau chief for The New York Times, John is winner of two Pulitzer prizes as well as the George Polk Award for foreign reporting. As a former war correspondent, John encouraged and motivated the young pupils, many of whom have been studying war poetry this term. Entries this year included O Captain! My Captain!, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Dulce et Decorum est and Will You Look Back When It’s Peace? which was written and recited by the Year 7 and 8 category’s overall winner, Sophia Kavyani. Enitan D’Almeida (Orwell Park 2017-19) has produced her latest CD, Summer Dream. Enitan is now studying at The Leys in Cambridge where she is working on her next album, Chapters Vol. 2. Enitan’s music supports charities close to her heart, and she has generously donated all proceeds from Summer Dream to The Orwell Park School Foundation. Please get in touch at [email protected] if you would like to buy a copy for £10 to support the School and Enitan’s incredible talent. Old Orwellians and friends of Orwell Park gathered with staff for drinks prior to our Autumn Concert on Friday 29 November. Right: former OPS Headmaster Ian Angus, Old Orwellian Stephen Hiner, former OPS staff Dervogilla and David Howard. Old Orwellians are always welcome to join us for pre- concert drinks prior to School concerts. Our next concert is at Snape Maltings on Tuesday 24 March 2020, and tickets are £10. Get in touch with Amy Carbonero for more information: [email protected] or 01473 653228. FOLLOW THE OLD ORWELLIANS ON SOCIAL MEDIA! Find us online and join the conversation with other Old Orwellians at: @OldOrwellians Old Orwellians Network Orwell Park School 3 WITHER LATIN? by Bob Bass Classics in schools has been under threat ever since I advanced studies challenging. Those dropping the entered the profession in the mid-70s, as well as subject post-GCSE would indeed have benefited from prior to that, of course. What was seen as the final its high surrender value, but where was the next nail in the classical coffin had been the removal in generation of specialist scholars going to come from? 1960 by Oxford and Cambridge Universities of the compulsory entrance requirement of a pass in O The greater accessibility to multimedia in our digital age Level Latin. But this galvanised the classical (and exhibitions like the current Troy: Myth and Reality community into reappraising what a classical at the British Museum), has meant that exposure to the education ought to deliver, and how to deliver it. It classical world among the general public has never been was no bad thing to have the crutches removed and a greater. Many adults now regret not having studied it radical re-think imposed. The 'what' which eventually for longer; others not having had the opportunity of emerged was twofold: the ability to read original embarking on it at all. Certainly at Orwell Park, Latin literature, and an appreciation of the civilisation parental support is tremendous. Our philosophy is in which this literature was produced. The emphasis 'Latin for all', not just for those in the higher sets, would be on providing the majority, who would give because children of all abilities will benefit in some way up the subject post-16, with a worthwhile, more from even a little exposure to Classics. rounded educational experience, thereby enhancing The general public's growing awareness of these the subject's 'surrender value'. So much for the benefits has become more apparent through the 'what'; the 'how' was more problematic, and still success of the Primary Latin Project. In 1999 came the remains a topic for debate. publication of Minimus (a pun on mus, the Latin word The Cambridge for mouse, the course's iconic central character), a Latin Course, colourful course that introduces simple Latin in a fun constructed and cross-curricular way. It can be delivered by non- around these specialists, who have access to a national support aims, appeared in network. Some schools incorporate it into their 1970. This literacy time; others run it as an extracurricular club; immediately others offer it as part of their Gifted and Talented divided the provision. Its uptake at state primary level was classical dramatic, and a follow-up volume, Minimus Secundus, community: appeared in 2004. In some respects, then, the future feelings ran high, survival of Latin in some shape or form is more assured mainly on account now than it has been for some time. of the course's There is, however, an insidious malaise latent in this strange approach legacy which becomes more apparent with each passing to traditional year. A complaint from universities is that students grammar. It is no who arrive there these days do so with remarkably exaggeration to poor subject-specific knowledge; they have merely say that the CLC been drilled to perform in exams. Classics is not was probably the immune, as is indicated by the necessity for the saviour of Latin from the mid-70s onwards. But there introduction of first-year courses in grammar in some were concerns that students were finding the university departments, including those at Oxford and linguistic jump from a CLC-based GCSE to more Cambridge. The result of all this has been the This celebratory book is available at a cost of £40 (plus £5.50 p&p) with funds going towards The Orwell Park School Foundation. You can now order the book and make payment online at www.orwellpark.co.uk/ old-orwellians/bookorder Please note an additional £1 is added to the cost of the book when paying online in order to cover card processing fees. Alternatively please email the Foundation on [email protected] or call 01473 653228. Thank you for your support. 4 NEWS emergence of cohorts of teachers who simply do not reducing the prescribed content but ensuring it is 'know their stuff'. The ineluctable fact is that, in covered in greater depth. If this feeds through to Classics, textual competence underpins everything. senior level our pupils will then be that much better Of course non-specialists play a vital role in the equipped to tackle original literature in their final promoting of Classics at foundation levels, but we need two years at school, more likely to 'know their to be nurturing potential subject-specialists also to stuff' without the need for grammatical remedial assure the long-term future.