9 minute read

Blithe Spirit

from Preppers Annual 2022 - 2023

by Sherborne School

from Preppers Annual 2022 - 2023, page 11

Article from: Preppers Annual 2022 - 2023

ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIPS FOR OF S...

On Friday, 26 May, Year 8 performed Noel Coward’s 1941 comedy, Blithe Spirit.

Although Coward only created seven characters, our performance featured no fewer than twenty- six actors!

The play was opened with confidence and flair by the scene-setter, who introduced the actors for Act one.

The first Ruth and Edith were terrific, Ruth gently chiding Edith for being in such a hurry! Likewise, uplifting was the first Charles, appearing with suitable nonchalance at the start of the evening as he expertly mixed martinis for all his guests! Dr and Mrs Bradman were extremely convincing, Dr Bradman combining kindness and good manners with a degree of scepticism! The well-meaning but socially awkward Mrs Bradman was presented perfectly. The stage was set for Madame Arcati to enter, and she put on a performance we will not forget, silencing the cynics and playing the part of the bonkers mystic to the full, careering around the stage chanting and ranting. As she enters her trance, the first spirit appears in a coup de theatre with Elvira’s famous opening line ‘Leave it where it is!’. She struck a wonderfully other-worldly tone in her conversation with the astonished Charles, whose rudeness to Ruth inspired an indignant response of super acting.

The morning dawns with a tight-lipped Ruth icily reading The Times. Charles, seemingly unaware of the offence he has given, comes breezily down to breakfast. The tension and suspense between the two were brilliantly captured, both characters being entirely convincing, Ruth in her determination that Charles had been drunk, and Charles in his self-defence that he had had a genuine aberration. Ruth pressed her point memorably: ‘Charles, you behaved abominably last night: you wounded and insulted me…You called me a guttersnipe, you told me to shut up, and when I quietly suggested that we should go up to bed, you said, with the most disgusting leer, that it was an immoral suggestion!’. Ruth delivered these lines with true emotion and anger, and the scene was most impressive. Before it ended, we had a further moment of high emotion as Elvira reappeared, convincingly portrayed again, bemoaning the changes in the ‘border by the sundial’. She rather unkindly winds the situation up until poor Ruth begs Charles to reassure her that it is only hypnotism. Elvira unhesitatingly delivered the harsh truth: ‘Hypnotism, my foot!’ she cried, smashing a pot as she does so. Curtain!

The next scene-setter explained beautifully what would follow: Madame Arcati, now played by with gusto by a different actor, arrives to see Ruth, in accomplished guise, desperate to get rid of Elvira. After some early sparring, Ruth tells poor Madame Arcati that she was only invited to dinner so that Charles could gather information for his book. Drawing herself up to her full height, Arcati asks whether she is to understand that she was invited ‘in a spirit of mockery’ and into this cauldron stroll Charles (now played urbanely by Charles the third!) and Elvira, now played with masterful control by Elvira the third!! Ruth despairingly says she will take the problem to the Archbishop of Canterbury, leaving a mischievous Elvira goading Charles to let her stew. The curtain falls with Elvira waltzing expertly to the Irving Berlin song ‘Always’ before Edith enters and screams. Crockery smashing, the curtain falls again.

Dr Bradman (an authoritative figure) and his helpful assistant, advise Charles to rest after he has strained his arm. Ruth has fallen and hit her head. The first Elvira, transformed into a flustering Mrs Bradman, leaves Ruth to deliver some hard truths to Charles. She tells him that Elvira is trying to kill him in a ‘bloody battle’ and her prophecy is proven right when Ruth takes the car and is killed in an accident. In a further coup de theatre, Ruth returns and memorably asks ‘Once and for all, Charles, what does this mean?’ Again, the curtain falls.

After another excellent introduction, Charles the fifth plays the twice-widowed writer in two black armbands. A final splendid Madame Arcati owns up to having ‘thrown up the sponge, instead of throwing down the gauntlet’, and they set out to find a way to return the wives from whence they came. Charles, together with a final, highly convincing, and entertaining Elvira, and Ruth, together hold the final act together superbly, leading us inevitably to the denouement when Edith achieves the wives’ eventual departure. Charles goads them to the end, and they respond by smashing a final shelf full of crockery!

Massive thanks are due to those who gave terrific help on the lights and sound, and to the triumphant provider of beautiful flowers. The make-up artists were also all amazing and the musicians superb. It was a triumph by the children, and wonderful enthusiasm from the parents as audience and providers of costumes were the cherries on the cake. Huge thanks to everyone!

Strings to the bow

Computer Science is a subject that teaches children how to use technology creatively, critically and responsibly. This is going to become more and more important as the children progress through their educational careers.

From Year 3 the children have already started coding, as well as using touch screens to create digital art, exploring different shapes, colours and patterns. They learned how to manipulate images and express their ideas visually. They also had fun sharing their artwork with their classmates and teachers. The children have learned the basics of coding using a visual programming website called Microsoft MakeCode Arcade and created their own animations, games and stories, using loops, variables, and conditional statements.

They also learned how to debug their programs and fix errors. Further up the school the children have been using SketchUp, a 3D modelling software, to draw animal cells and model buildings and shapes. They have learned about the different parts of a cell and their functions, and how to represent these in three dimensions. They also learned how to use different tools and features in SketchUp, such as scaling, rotating, and grouping.

In Year 8, the children have been using, for the first time, their own devices to create their end of year PSB projects. They chose a topic of interest and researched it using a variety of sources. They also learned how to cite their sources and avoid plagiarism - not an easy skill, as many of you will be aware!

The main focus throughout the year has certainly been to allow the children to begin preparations for classrooms that involve Artificial Intelligence (AI). We have discussed the benefits and challenges of AI, such as its impact on society, ethics, and privacy. We have also introduced them to some examples of AI applications, such as chatbots, facial recognition and voice assistants, and how they can use them.

As always, music has played a vital role in the formation of the school year at Sherborne Prep. As you walk through the corridors, you’ll encounter a dozen melodies being whistled away.

This year we have been blessed with our move down past the lawn to the newly named ‘Netherton Performing Arts Centre,’ a space we are fortunate to share with our friends in Drama and Dance. This has

An extravaganza for the ears!

brought individual music lessons, rehearsals and classroom teaching much closer together in such a beautiful space.

Music is a celebration and this was evident in our main concert of the year at Sherborne Girls, where we were fortunate enough to use their beautiful Gransden Hall within the Merritt Centre. We’re incredibly proud that every single member of our school performed in some capacity that evening. Whether they were singing alongside their fellow

House mates or performing with the orchestra, string orchestra, chamber choir ... the list goes on! A precursor to this concert was our House Music Day, a cross-curricular event masterfully planned by Miss Janine Gates. We can still hear the echoes of the Taiko drumming in our ears! The day culminated with our House Music Competition, judged by Mark Cracknell (Director of Music at Sherborne Girls’). It was a vibrant and joyful event, filled with noise and colour. The Normans took the spoils in the House Song, and the Romans triumphed in the newly-inaugurated House Harmony.

Music plays a very important role in worship and we are blessed to have two very special places, Sherborne Abbey and the Sherborne School Chapel, where we can deepen our relationship with worship. It has been wonderful to share services with both the pupils and the parent body alike. One of the highlights of the year was the Carol Service at Sherborne Abbey featuring beautiful music from Pre-Prep all the way up to our senior choir, Cantores.

It has been a truly wonderful year of musicmaking at Sherborne Prep and may it continue for years to come!

One of the highlights of the year was the Carol Service at Sherborne Abbey featuring beautiful music from Pre-Prep all the way up to our senior choir, Cantores.

Fostering a love for physical activity, for life

The crack of leather on willow, the flap of sail in wind, the thwack of stick on ball, the rustle of ball in hoop, hearty cheers from the sidelines - there is so much to enjoy about sport here at the Prep, with a reputation for getting the basics right. Playing various sports up to 10 times a week and with a myriad types to try, there is something for everyone here.

We are a school passionate about all children, regardless of ability, loving their sports and leaving us with a foundation to continue this love far beyond us and into their adult lives coaches - homegrown, brought in or ‘poached’ from the senior school (some of the finest facilities) - but, so much more importantly, the finest attitude; revel in the game, revel in the competition, revel in the camaraderie of your teammates, but treat triumph and disaster just the same.

Some of our greatest founding experiences come from a B Team loss, from a capsize, from a fall from the climbing wall. Using the Activate Programme to set the Preppers up for a life of health and fitness, we link sport to PE to nutrition to attitude to mental health to the core skills of PSB -it is all interwoven and they are all important.

Whether you are on a hat trick ball on the Upper with the 1st XI, whether you are nose down in the bottom of an U11B maul, whether you are splashing furiously in a Prep Swimming Gala or poised with ball in hand as a Goal Attack, the motto of the school rings loud: Non Nobis Solum! Not for ourselves alone.

Co-Curricular

Life is not all about the wonders of algebra or Oxbow lakes; the Prep are so proud to put happy stuff at the forefront of everything we do. So much so, we have an official Minister of Fun! If it is climbing mountains (we have a fantastic indoor one to climb), fighting with swords, creating TV programmes, sailing the oceans (well, our local reservoir), making clothes, building dens or just roistering around the campus, we have most evenings and the whole of Saturday mornings organised for them (with staff enthusiasts)!

Saturdays

It isn’t just mindless mayhem though - there is method in this madness. At the heart of it all are the PSB core skills - while coding they can learn independence, while orienteering they can learn collaboration, while studying zoology (with a former zookeeper) they can review and improve, during the overnight micro-adventures they will develop the resilience and perseverance we all want our children to carry forward. Time spent playing (in an organised way) is time never wasted.

Just a few snaps from our wonderful productions

The care of our children remains at the forefront of all we do. We work with our children to be kind and compassionate, and every day they impress with their innate ability to look after each other and see beyond themselves.