The last week of term allowed for all students to engage in wider enrichment, especially in the arts, creative subjects and culture.
Mr Brassington worked hard with various departments to ensure that each year group was able to experience a range of on and off-site opportunities.
Below are just some examples of what our students have been up to:
Monday
Maths
The First Form’s Maths Day saw them take part in several fun challenges, including a Murder Mystery Puzzle, a Tallest Tower Engineering Problem and some Wimbledon Statistics tasks.
Engineering
The Second Form enjoyed an informative day with Bloodhound Education, taking part in fun engineering based challenges after an insightful assembly.
ENGLISH
The English department ran a writer’s workshop all day, which included engaging talks and group sessions on creative writing.
Art
The L6 artists and photographers enjoyed a useful and productive trip to Oxford. The main aim was to gather resources through sketching and photography for the pupils’ Unit 1 coursework projects with a visit to the Ashmolean and tour of the city centre.
Psychology
Dr. Guy Sutton from Medical Biology Interactive joined Lower Sixth Psychology students for an introductory tutorial in neuroscience – Brain Day.
Lower Sixth students examined a wide range of topics throughout the day including basic brain anatomy, the effects of drugs on the brain, the neuroanatomy of memory, and a discussion on ‘Is there a criminal brain?’. The day also involved the dissection of a sheep’s brain, and although performed by Dr. Sutton, it was not a sight for the squeamish!
Live IMprovisation Comedy Night
On Monday evening Bloxham’s boarders were treated to a live improvisation comedy evening from The Noise Next Door.
The charismatic quartet have always astonished with their ability to spin audience suggestions into comedy gold, which certainly was the case on Monday.
The Noise Next Door are twelve-time sell-out veterans of The Edinburgh Fringe and have appeared on BBC One, ITV1, BBC Three and BBC Radio 4. They have also appeared alongside the likes of Michael McIntyre, Katherine Ryan, Romesh Ranganathan and Harry Hill.
Photo: https://mobile.twitter.com/noisenextdoor
Tuesday
Business
On Tuesday the Forth and Sixth Form Business and Economics students were treated to a Business Outside the Bloxham Bubble Seminar.
Welcoming seventeen business leaders into school, each speaker was interrogated on how the external environment has affected their industry in the last year. 80 students studying GCSE, A Level and MMBA came together to research the guests’ industries, work in collaboration to design questions in order to produce a project on PESTLE or the macro-economic environment.
There were a variety of industries represented including: Car manufacturing, health care, media, marketing, retailing , veterinary, agriculture, property, fashion and consultancy. Guests included Old Bloxhamists, past and current parents and friends of the school.
The event was organised by the CTEC Business group as part of their Business Event coursework.
History
Following a visit to the Battle of Edgehill exhibition at St Peter’s church in Radway, our Second Form students were privileged enough to have a tour of Broughton Castle – itself the site of a siege in the aftermath of the Battle of Edgehill.
As ever, a real highlight for students was being able to visit “the room that hath no ears”, where key Parliamentarian figures such as Pym, Hampden and Lord Saye and Sele met when plotting against Charles the First.
On the same day, our First Form Historians visited Kenilworth Castle in order to complement their class work on consolidation of power within the Middle Ages. Students were able to see how the castle developed from a purely defensive purpose to a place that aimed to demonstrate both wealth and status as it became a place of residence under the Tudor period.
Patrick Foster talk
Ex-professional cricketer, Patrick Foster, spoke to our students about gambling addiction in the Great Hall. It was a moving talk and we thank him very much for his time.
To learn more about his story, please click here.
Photo: inews.co.uk
Wednesday
Sustainability Day
On Wednesday 29th June, all year groups actively took part in Bloxham’s Sustainability Day. This included numerous workshops, talks from keynote speakers, and group discussions, rounded off with a Policy Making Session.
The purpose of Bloxham’s Sustainability Day was to:
- Give students the opportunity to share their thoughts, perspectives and ideas around how we can tackle climate change
- Use a transdisciplinary approach to understand sustainability and climate change
- Focus on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how we can work towards achieving them both as individuals and at Bloxham.
- Work in Tutor groups to contribute to a personal sustainability survey and, as a group, design and create a Sustainability Charter, based on your experiences of the day.
Many thanks to our keynote speakers, Dr Sigrun Wagner and Dr Laurence Wainwright.
Our 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
House Music Competition
The whole school united for the House Music Competition, rounding off the year with a brilliant display of Bloxham’s musical talent.
Congratulations to Stonehill, who won the House Unison, and Exham, who not only won the Ensemble section but claimed the overall victory.
For photos from the evening’s entertainment, please Click Here.
Thursday
House Day
Thursday proved a thoroughly enjoyable day for each of the Houses, who enjoyed nice days out across the country.
Here are just some examples of what each House got up to:
Wilson
Wilson started their day with a 10k Charity Challenge, running from Bournemouth Pier to Sandbanks (and back again), raising over £2,222 this year for Oxfordshire MIND. Following this feat, the Wilson boys enjoyed various different beach games. They concluded the day with a farewell BBQ for the Upper Sixth back in Bloxham.
Wilberforce
Wilberforce enjoyed the day at Thorpe Park, braving the rides and winning some fluffy prizes in the process. Once back from the theme park, they had a house prize-giving and BBQ, finishing the day with sleepovers and midnight feasts.
Egerton
Egerton started the day with a casual 874 mile cycle ride from Lands End to John O’Groats! Making the most of their new exercise bikes, the boys in green raised over £1,600 towards the maintenance and care of St Mary’s Church, Bloxham. Following this impressive effort, Egerton sent the rest of the day with Wilberforce at Thorpe Park.
Stonehill
Stonehill had a fantastic day at the Cotswold Park and Beach, making the most of the inflatable obstacle course before returning for a lovely House night-in.
Crake
Following their 24 Hour Charity Row earlier in the week, where they raised over £1,182 for Making Me and Papyrus charities, Crake started their House day in a similar charitable manner, washing cars to raise more money towards their House charities. Following this, Crake enjoyed the rest of the day paintballing.
Raymond
Raymond enjoyed the day at the Wet and Wild Waterpark in Oxford. A lot of fun was had by all those that got involved!
Seymour
Starting their day with a ‘Sporting Spectacular,’ Seymour joined Raymond at the Oxford Wet and Wild Waterpark. Upon returning back to Bloxham, Seymour enjoyed a farewell celebration for the Upper Sixth and their long standing matron, Kay.
Exham
Exham started their morning with the Julian Berry Memorial Walk, before moving up to their boarding house for their Park Close Festival. A lot of apple bobbing and games made for a fantastic time.
One can learn more about the House Days on each House’s Twitter Account.
Friday
Friday brought to a close the Summer term and the 2021-22 academic year.
Following the End of Term assembly in the morning, the rest of the day was focused on the Leavers.
Photos of the Leavers’ Assembly and Service can be found via this link.
