27th April 2018

Dear Parents

Thank you for your patience in receiving last week’s newsletter. This has now been rectified and all newsletters should be delivered to you every Friday.

This week we are delighted to announce that on Monday 2nd April construction of a dedicated Sixth Form common room commenced, complete with a 60 seat café where Sixth Formers and staff can undertake independent or group work, or simply relax. The official opening of the Refectory will be announced shortly. The café will offer light meals and snacks to students and staff on weekdays, with members of the community being invited to enjoy the facility during weekend and school holidays. The café will be available for private hire.

Activities Week I would like to remind students in Year 7 to Year 10 the deadline for your choices during activities days is Monday 30th April.

English Year Nine made the short journey to South Cove Church on Monday 23rd April for a reading of the Emily Dickinson poem, 'A Certain Slant of Light'. The surroundings were both atmospheric and thought-provoking, encouraging the students to share their ideas and insights upon a complex and emotive poem from the GCSE anthology. Year 9 will use this experience to further analyse the poem in class and inspire them to create a poem of their own based upon their time at the church.

Book club This week a small group of students, teachers and parents got together to discuss Naomi Alderman's provocative dystopian thriller ‘The Power’. Our next meeting will consider a very different text – ‘Scoop’ by Evelyn Waugh. Written in 1938, it is a satire on the media, politics and colonialism, set in a fictional East African state in the midst of a political crisis. We shall be meeting in the junior library at 4.50pm on Wednesday, June 13th.

Drama The Senior Production Group are busy with rehearsals in preparation for their production of Mary Poppins Jr. The arranged weekend sessions for and all cast and production crew will commence this weekend, Sunday 29th May from 10am to 3pm. All other dates are on the calendar on our website so please put these in your diary.

Art On Thursday April 19th Year 8 ventured out to visit the Sainsbury Centre of Visual Arts. Students were divided into teams and are were set the challenge of recording four different artefacts from the permanent collection. Students observed and drew from a number of historical objects in relation to their animal theme, from Walrus masks, to Crocodile skull trophies. They will now use their drawings to inform their animal sculptures this term.

Music Saint Felix Choral Society performed in the school chapel on Saturday evening singing a range of songs, hymns and a Requiem conducted by the composer Michael Walsh. Francis was invited to sing the Bass solo as he will be joining Saint Felix from Town Close Preparatory School in Norwich as a Music and Drama Scholar in September. Francis is a singer (formerly a cathedral chorister) and also plays the oboe and tuba.

Year 11 Careers This morning Year 11 students went to the annual careers fair held at in Lowestoft. Here they had the chance to speak with a number of organisations including local employers, universities and training/apprenticeship providers.

Sport On Sunday 22nd April the Saint Felix Basketball team played a tournament hosted by against the Royal Hospital Schools and Woodbridge team. Saint Felix defeated both Woodbridge and Royal Hospital School.

Cricket On Wednesday 25th April Saint Felix entertained Woodbridge School for an U13 cricket match. Saint Felix put Woodbridge into bat, restricting their overs. We defeated Woodbridge before the impending clouds could stop the match.

The U13 Girls Cricket team recorded a great victory against Royal Hospital School, also on Wednesday 25th April in the Cup. Saint Felix were first to bowl, excellent fielding and tremendous bowling restricted the confident Royal Hospital School. In reply our girls struggled early on as we lost early wickets but then we batted superbly to put on 80 runs and see us home with 4 overs to spare.

Tennis Last night U15 team beat Woodbridge A team. The match was a draw at 3 sets each but Saint Felix won the tie break decider. The U13 team also beat Woodbridge. Both teams are currently top of their leagues.

Sunk Garden The 'weedathon' this week has cleared side of the double border and work has started on the second. If we are to meet our ambitious target of being ready for Parents Day on 30th June we need more help. Next week we need take up the old broken path and dig twenty 3ft holes for the support posts. If anybody has a pneumatic drill or hole borer they would be very useful! So please if you are available email [email protected] the school Twitter page @stfelixsch to view our progress.

Upcoming events The Music Department invite you to their Summer Concert. This will be at 7.00pm on the evening of Thursday 3rd May in our Chapel. There will be instrumental and vocal solos and ensembles, the evening concluding with the School Choir singing some popular songs. Refreshments will be available and there will be a collection towards the Music Department Funds. All are most welcome.

Ø Thursday 3rd May - Suffolk Schools County Athletics Competition, Bury St Edmunds Ø Thursday 3rd May - Music - Department Summer Concert, 7pm, Saint Felix Chapel Ø Saturday 12th May - Open Morning Ø Saturday 16th June - Masquerade Ball

Mr James Harrison Headmaster