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Sam Stewart, Aged 17

Leweston School

Sam joined Leweston School in the Sixth Form as a pentathlon scholar in order to work towards his ambition to be an elite pentathlete and study at Bath University. As a Pentathlon GB Training Hub, the school was well placed to offer Sam all aspects of the Modern Pentathlon programme and he has worked hard on all areas of his training, particularly fencing and riding, where he was less experienced.

In his first year Sam represented Great Britain at the World Biathle and Triathle Championships, winning Biathle and Triathle U17 Team Gold, he also gained fourth places in the Biathle Mixed Relay and Individual competition, as well as coming seventh in the Triathle Mixed Relay and Individual competition. He was part of the bronze medal-winning team at the South West Schools Pistol Shooting Competition and, at his first fencing competition, the Elite Epee Series, he finished an impressive sixteenth in the Under 17 group and took a bronze medal at Wellington. Outside of pentathlon he competed for Dorset at the National Cross-Country Championships.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 restrictions have impacted on Sam’s competitive programme over the past few months but he has still been training and recently passed his U19 Pentathlon Riding Certificate. He has also been able to pursue his passion for open-water swimming.

Leweston’s Head of Pentathlon and GB coach, Mick Flaherty, says of Sam,‘He is a fantastic role model to the many pentathletes we have in training and a great example to all the younger athletes. He is on track to achieve his ambition to be an elite pentathlete and we watch his performance in future competitions with interest.’

Away from the sports field Sam is a significant presence in both the school and Antony House where he is one of the senior boarders. This September he became Deputy Head Prefect.

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KATHARINE DAVIES

PHOTOGRAPHY

Portrait, lifestyle, PR and editorial commissions

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Children’s Book Review

by Ethan, aged 12, The Gryphon School

Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow by Benjamin Dean, illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat, (Simon & Schuster Feb. 2021) £7.99 Sherborne Times Reader Offer of £6.99 from Winstone’s Books

This feels like a very personal story. It is written from the point of view of Archie, a 12-year-old boy stuck in the middle of his parent’s divorce. He confides in the reader and eventually trusts us enough to share a secret.

He has a really strong bond with his dad and they do everything together, but after the divorce they start to notice themselves drifting apart. Archie goes to all sorts of lengths to fix this - putting himself in serious danger and getting into trouble. He just wants things to be the way they were, when life was good. His best friends, Bell and Seb, do all they can to help and to get Archie back to his old, fun self. This means joining Archie on his journey and taking those risks together. This book deals with serious subjects like gender issues in a lighthearted way. I would recommend it to ages 10+.

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SUPPORTING FAMILIES IN OUR COMMUNITIES

Helen Horsley, Manager, Home-Start West Dorset

Home-Start West Dorset have been there for families when they’ve needed support most. As part of a network of 180 Home-Starts across the country Home-Start West Dorset have adapted essential support services to continue to work with families through their team of trained volunteers – staying connected with families, providing emotional and practical support, and linking families into other community services that provide specialist services. We have seen social distancing and isolation placing enormous strain on families and the impact of the last year is going to have a long-term impact.

Our volunteers help families with young children deal with the challenges they face. We support parents as they learn to cope, improve their confidence and build better lives for their children. Families struggling with post-natal depression, isolation, physical health problems, bereavement and many other issues receive the support of a volunteer who will spend around two hours a week in their home, supporting them in the ways they need.

Subject to the level of Government restrictions, Home-Start West Dorset has adapted its services to be able to offer four levels of support: 1 Virtual support through telephone, text and video call 2 Outside, socially-distanced, face-to-face meetings such as going for a walk or to the park 3 COVID-safe environments such as café or play area 4 Home visiting for exceptional circumstances At the time of writing, in the midst of lockdown, our focus is on support via telephone, text and video call. We can also support families by signposting or helping them access other support services locally such as food banks and COVID response teams.

If you have parenting experience and 2-3 hours a week available to support a local family, Home-Start West Dorset is looking for volunteers to offer practical and emotional support to families with children under five.

All volunteers undertake 26 hours of training and are provided regular support and guidance through a dedicated member of staff including personal supervision every six weeks and ongoing training opportunities.

We have good and enthusiastic volunteers; they are very supportive of the families they are linked with but we are expecting more demand for a service in the coming months. Therefore we would like to recruit more volunteers so we don’t have to turn any family away. I am personally very passionate about the support we give families but I know everyone who is involved in Home-Start feels the same. When a family says ‘I will always be grateful to my wonderful volunteer for patiently allowing me to find my confidence again and give me hope for the future,’ you know you are doing something right and making a real difference.

For more information contact Helen Horsley, Manager, Home-Start West Dorset 07805 507161 or office@homestartwestdorset.co.uk

HOME FRONT

Jemma Dempsey

Ithought I’d gone in prepared, but not even bulletproof ear plugs could drown out the monumental foghorn snoring in the bed opposite me. The hospital ward was small – just 5 women at this end, a few men at the other, but sleep was proving elusive. Thus, it was forever so – be it a foghorn or the frequent blood pressure and temperature checks, a stay in hospital is guaranteed to leave you more tired than when you went in. Surgery complete, tonsils and lymph nodes in my neck removed, I left after two nights with an impressive scar held together not by stitches but medical super glue. ‘Don’t get it wet,’ the consulting surgeon told me, to which I must have looked quite horrified because he then added, ‘Well, not for the first few days. You can shower, it’s splash-proof but don’t soak it.’ One of the nurses clearly read my pained expression and provided me with some waterproof dressings along with my discharge papers.

My throat feels like it’s being rubbed with sandpaper – the pain from swallowing my own saliva is unbearable, so how am I expected to eat? I try a smoothie, a healthy homemade affair with kale, yoghurt, banana and it stings like hell. My fabulous friends start appearing with a succession of foodie gifts left on the front doorstep – soups of many flavours and pies for my boys who still need to eat, while the husband valiantly keeps on working. I’ve been told the pain will get worse before it gets better, peaking at around days 5–7 and then it should ease. I survive on a diet of liquid paracetamol, half cups of soup and small quantities of scrambled egg and marvel as the weight literally falls off. While I may be doing metaphorical cartwheels, my cancer nurse isn’t so happy, ‘We don’t want you to lose weight, we need you to eat!’ she clucks. But over the two weeks while my poor throat is recovering from its surgical assault, I lose almost a stone.

The good news – if anything about cancer can be called that – is that they found the primary tumour – it was in my right tonsil and caused by the HPV virus. This means that although I still feel lousy and am struggling to eat, (the nerve to my tongue was damaged in surgery), there is less cancer in me now than there was. The oncologist goes on to list the possible side effects from the chemo and radiotherapy that are coming my way – it is long and it is scary and again the urge to run away takes over. I have to consent to this treatment, this cure which so far feels worse than the disease, which had been silently living inside me quite happily for who knows how long. I shake my head and hot tears roll down my cheeks as I sign the paper.

Next on the ‘to do’ list is my radiotherapy mask. This is a rite of passage for all head and neck cancer patients, like a strait jacket but for the face. The one thing I’ve learnt from this process already is that being able to meditate, to zone out, is essential. A soft, wet plastic blanket laid across my face, neck and

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shoulders, moulded into my features and left to set hard for 10 minutes. I can now star in a superhero movie – Radiotherapy Mum to the rescue! I’ll wear this mask for every session I have, all 30 of them. I show my boys a photo of the 3D mask and they think it’s cool. ‘Yeah,’ I say, ‘it’s mine to keep afterwards, it won’t fit anyone else. We can turn it into a piece of art if we want.’ Or use it for target practice with the Nerf gun, I think.

My sleep is all over the place – I’m wide awake at 2.30 most mornings and watch some TV before drifting back to sleep at around 4. Throw some hot flushes into the mix for good measure and life feels just peachy. I mean, do I really have to contend with that too? I’m exhausted most of the time and figure I’m emotionally drained by what’s happening to me. The husband is coping admirably, with the help of Alexa who’s working overtime with reminders for everything from taking the rubbish out to giving the dog her tablets and reminding the kids to take theirs. I feel guilty that he’s having to take on so many of the domestic chores, but he says I only have one job to do and that’s to get into training; to do the exercises the physiotherapist and swallow team have given me and get mentally prepared for what is to come. So, I am now readying myself for the Chemoradiation Olympics – the next 6 weeks are going to be gruelling, the challenge of my life. The thoughts of summer at the beach with friends and family and throwing the biggest party for all the people who’ve helped me through this hideous time will be what see me through.

SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD THROUGH A PANDEMIC

Lucy Lewis, Dorset Mind Ambassador

Even at the best of times, children and young people face many challenges as they grow up that can make it difficult to maintain good mental health. Today, young people also have to cope with a global pandemic and the difficulties and uncertainties that come with it.

Current events are negatively affecting every aspect of a young person’s life, including their social lives, hobbies, schooling and home life too. Many people will tell them that their youth is the best time in their life, but they are spending theirs indoors and missing out on the life and experiences offered to the young people before. Additionally, many young people have not developed enough resilience and coping skills to adequately protect their mental health during such a life-altering event.

We all want to support our children and young people, but it can be difficult to know the best ways to do so when we’re struggling with this ‘new normal’ ourselves. Here are some of our top tips for supporting your child’s wellbeing during the age of COVID-19:

Practise the Five Ways to Wellbeing Research has demonstrated that increasing physical activity, socialisation, giving, noticing and learning are simple ways to improve wellbeing (search dorsetmind.uk ‘Five Things’). Encourage your child to take part in and increase these positive behaviours by providing opportunities to practise them. Try facilitating a nature photography walk or learn a new skill with your child,

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and help them incorporate other relevant activities into their routine.

Listen without judgement You do not need the ‘right answers’ to comfort your child; just provide the space for them to share their concerns freely. Listen to them talk without interrupting, and avoid trying to force a positive mindset on them. Pressuring them to ‘think positively’ may make them think they can’t come to you with negative thoughts. Make it clear that you are there for them, even when they are feeling darker emotions, and don’t pressure them to feel a certain way. Let them know it is OK to feel like this, and that you will always love them regardless.

Speak honestly with your child It can be tempting to try to protect our children from everything bad in the world, but depending on their age, this can do more harm than good. If they are old enough to understand, talk to them honestly about the pandemic, and the things that are unknown. In this media heavy world, they will hear negative news regardless. If you talk to them about things first, they will know that you are trustworthy and that they can come to with questions, instead of relying on other unreliable sources. Remember, it is OK not to know all the answers, but own this honestly.

Seek further support if necessary Even though many services are currently reduced and stretched, there are helplines, text numbers and online services available to access if your child needs further support with their mental health. If you are unable to visit your GP in person, book an online or telephone appointment to discuss their mental health. Additionally, you can visit dorsetmindyourhead.co.uk to learn more about available services and resources you could access to support your child’s mental health.

Look after yourself This has been a difficult year for parents. It can be easy to overlook your own wellbeing and prioritise that of your family. But remember that you will be able to support them better if you are feeling well yourself.

Make time for yourself and the things that make you happy. Try to keep up with regular exercise, self-care sessions and enjoyable activities, such as a luxurious bubble bath or reading your favourite book. Be kind to yourself and remember that being a parent means you need to just do your best to support your child; it does not mean you need to be invincible.

Dorset Mind Dorset Mind can help provide support for local people in Dorset. They are not a crisis service but can signpost to additional support and national helplines.

The charity offers a wide range of 1-2-1 and group support for adults at dorsetmind.uk, and children and young people, their parents and teachers at dorsetmindyourhead.co.uk. Both websites contain useful resources and information about mental health and how you can look after your own wellbeing.

dorsetmind.uk dorsetmindyourhead.co.uk

PLOT TWISTS

Daniel Fernley, Deputy Head (Academic), Sherborne Prep

How the teaching profession has changed in the last twelve months. This time last year, I gazed out at the covering of frost on the playing fields. Today we have windows and doors propped open, teachers entering in face-masks and corridors marked out in a complex one-way system!

Each class is a bubble with staggered lunch and break times. This has required a military-style level of logistics to maintain but teachers and children have adapted with considerable skill. We have had staff self-isolating, pupils working from home, but lessons continued notwithstanding – all enabled by investment in technology and training of staff and pupils to facilitate a dramatic increase in the use of ICT to keep up with this maelstrom of change.

Each day we face a new situation or have a new rule to address. In a lesson last week, I had a pupil at home using a laptop, while another was on a virtual ‘taster day’ via a link, getting a feel for the school.

For parents too, the times are challenging. They are not allowed onsite anymore – a huge part of their experience has been turned upside down. No more match teas where much social interaction took place between staff and parents, and indeed, where many

Image: Katharine Davies

"schools can provide some stability and normality when lives and home-life have been thrown a curve ball"

conversations took place and many a problem solved.

What was routine is more about adapting to change and the agility to interpret a storm of ever-changing advice: New testing, government initiatives, Baker days (remember those?), back to basics, SAT tests...teachers today are constantly adapting, this chameleon-like act now an expectation. As a profession, teaching has experienced exponential change.

But what is evident and strikingly clear, is that with the right leadership to cut through the confusion and to provide confidence and clarity, schools can maximise the amount of learning and provide some stability and normality when lives and home-life have been thrown a curve ball by the pandemic.

We must now strive to do more than just adapt; we need also to push the boundaries. Pupils need to have opportunities for active, investigative learning in these challenging times. There needs to be flexibility in the way the pupils learn, with an emphasis on learning how to learn and collaborate, to think independently and to demonstrate real initiative. It is almost inevitable that an increasing number of pupils will need a device of some sort, and although I am a traditionalist, I can see the benefits.

Children are now expected to have the skills to learn online and use screens to a far greater extent, this has become the norm. The career paths our children will take in the future are without doubt, unknown although exciting. We believe in equipping our children with the necessary skills and education to thrive in today’s modern world.

And, although technology is here to stay, I would always encourage parents to support their children to read. Forget the waiting list for the latest PS5, support your local bookshop or library, and find a book. Reading is the greatest pleasure and a fundamental building block that a student can take away from these early, prep school years. Although the pandemic has created friction, uncertainty, and undeniable complications in our daily lives and learning, it has also been an agent for change. From adversity and struggle comes growth, if we are willing to embrace it.

‘You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach her to learn by creating curiosity, she will continue the learning process as long as she lives.’

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON PRIMARY EDUCATION

Elizabeth Winter, Deputy Head, Leweston Prep

Alanda Phillips, Head, Leweston Prep

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented us with the biggest health crisis in decades; the legacy of which will be salient for generations of British children.

As I speak to friends and family from fellow teachers to social workers, self-employed electricians, stay-athome parents and landlords, it is evident that everyone has similar experiences. The impact is severe and will be long lasting. Health and education have been at the forefront of newspaper headlines throughout. Doubtless, children need to be in school, and the negative impact of the March lockdown was felt by all. Much has been written about the impact thus far, and it is clear that COVID-19 forced changes to the way we teach. But, if necessity is the mother of invention, these adjustments could result in an education that is better suited to the changing needs of our children.

In March, our school, along with every other, was thrust into an unknown arena. We had never experienced anything like it before, and had no idea how long it would last. My colleagues and I immediately set to work figuring out a way to deliver education remotely. Our training, however, was based on face-to-face teaching: it was our profession, and, like any other professionals, we knew how to do our job effectively. Teaching primary-aged children on a screen was not something we had prepared for. How were we to deliver what they needed? How do we scoop them up when they were upset? Spend the extra time with the child who didn’t want to admit that they were struggling? Guide them through their friendship difficulties? Maintain that trust and irreplaceable relationship between teacher and pupil?

We spent hours playing with PowerPoint, figuring out how to ‘customise the ribbon’ so we could record on each slide, and videoing ourselves to send our colleagues something we had just figured out. We learned how to share our screens on a live Zoom lesson, how to optimise the sound, and how to allow the children to draw on their screens so that they too could contribute to the lesson. We bought bendy clamps to fit to our tables so we could film what we were doing, microphones to improve sound quality and other technologies designed to facilitate more interactive online learning. Most importantly, we learned how to control the ‘chat’ and ‘mute’ settings. Although we were all in separate households, indeed separate counties, there was a camaraderie based on the overwhelming necessity to

figure out the technology that brought us closer.

At our school, we tried to recreate the school day by posting a ‘daily document’ that followed the school daily timetable for that year group. Each lesson was either a live lesson via Zoom, or a recorded teaching input in the form of a video with some independent work to follow. The parents uploaded their child’s work and we gave feedback. We conducted assemblies, story time, sports lessons and after-school activities all via Zoom. The highlights of our days were the live lessons with our pupils: we missed them and enjoyed being able to interact online. We took time for the pastoral elements, letting them show us their pets and talk to us about their pursuits that day. It occurred to me that it was something we have spent less and less time doing in class over the years due to the time constraints, and the pressures of the curriculum.

Over the summer we eagerly prepared for the return of our pupils. We wanted to be back in the classrooms. However, it wasn’t going to be a simple transition back into schools. The pandemic hadn’t disappeared, and the anxieties about returning to an environment in which we couldn’t protect ourselves with the use of masks or social distancing were real. But education is about the pupils, our children. The real issue was the impact that COVID-19 and lockdown had had on them and how it would affect their return to school. The government talked of the academic gaps that needed to be filled. We fully prepared ourselves to plug these gaps, and give the children as many opportunities as possible to catch up. We planned the curriculum around covering what had been missed, whilst ensuring we still ploughed ahead to safeguard progress. We timetabled top-up sessions, for example, which meant extra support for those pupils that had struggled with a new concept during a lesson, or had missed a critical element of the curriculum. We employed new teaching assistants and teachers to help support the return to school after 6 months of home learning. However, it was the mental health of the young children that needed further consideration; namely, the social skills that they had forgotten, and how to be around each other again.

Young Minds charity have written in depth about the impact of COVID-19 on our young people. They say, ‘As well as providing stability, routine and consistency to many young people, schools provide protective factors for young people’s mental health and notably a connection with trusted adults such as teachers and pastoral support.’ Pastoral support and a sense of community in school is such a vital element to the education of its pupils. The measures put in place to fill the academic gaps will only be successful if the mental wellbeing of the child is given a high priority. We know that anxiety levels rise with the feeling of isolation from a secure and comforting setting. Many parents have said that forcing their children to engage with remote learning has been a source of considerable tension in the home. I am a teacher, and yet teaching my own children within the family home was incredibly stressful.

The well-established community at our school is so highly valued, and so integral to the success of our pupils that we have focused our efforts into supporting and fostering these relationships. We have a trained mental health first aider who sees children that we have identified as needing support. We have made a playground games folder, and the staff have been out teaching the children how to play together again. We have ensured that all the ‘special’ events that we run at school have still taken place, albeit via Zoom for our weekly achievement assemblies, Christmas parties, Children in Need charity events and Anti-bullying Week. We have run virtual trips, and held workshops so that the children can experience that critical layer of learning that comes through different experiences. Although we cannot see the parents face-to-face, we are now able to invite them to our achievement assemblies - something previously too difficult to do, as we didn’t have enough physical space. But it was ‘Grandparent’s Day’ that really impressed upon me the value of our community, and the possibility that COVID-19 could have left in its devastating wake some positive marks on education. ‘Grandparent’s Day’ has always been a heartwarming experience. Grandparents are invited to join the pupils in their classes for a morning with absolutely no agenda other than to share the incredible journey that learning is. This being impossible, we ran the morning via Zoom, and although not without technical difficulties at points, the fact that we had people able to join us from Russia, New Zealand, Australia and the USA was unbelievable. This opened our community up in a way we could never have imagined.

With rapid technological advancements, a refocusing of priorities, taking time for the smaller things, and a reinvigorated community spirit, maybe COVID-19 has taught us all something.

GATHERED THOUGHTS

Revd Dr David Campbell, Chaplain, Sherborne School

Despite having toiled, occasionally triumphed and sometimes failed in them for nigh on 15 years now – by far the longest period of my entire working life to date – there is no question that independent education still seems to me to be something of a strange beast. Perhaps it is because I suffer somewhat from what the psychiatrists call ‘Imposter Syndrome’. Despite its mysteries, I can say that now more so than ever, I am very glad to be a small part of it.

And yet in these extraordinary days through which we have been living and working, and perhaps because of them, I certainly feel myself to have been privileged in the extreme to have been here and to have done my bit along with everyone else at this time in the School’s long and storied history. It has certainly been a time that will not easily and quietly pass into the annals of that history as instantly forgettable. Yet, for all that notoriety, and if things did seem more than a touch bleak at times, it has somewhat oddly but truly, as Dickens would have said, been the best of times and the worst of times.

In my little corner of the good ship Sherborne, this time has opened up all kinds of new, genuine and exciting, if at times daunting, challenges, even if for the first time in my working life I felt somewhat ill-equipped and inadequate to deal with them. In particular of course, and no doubt for many of us of my vintage who communicate and teach others, the challenges of technology have necessitated a steep learning curve. Computer programs and applications that were once names to me now comprise a necessary part of life and work. Although for me it remains a truism that often I could only stand back and admire the ingenuity, intellectual and technological grasp and ability of colleagues to whom these varied adaptations seem as natural as the air they breathed.

Perhaps the stiffest challenge many of us have faced though has been the lack of opportunity for gathering as a whole school community and gathering with the town. Isolation and loneliness are such frightful enemies and many of us will have experienced both as we adapted to what became the new normal. Instead of seeing real friends and colleagues, it was the camera and the recording studio which became my friend and for me that also entailed spending a great deal of time recording and re-recording parts of homilies and services which would be broadcast online. Last year this was the case for our traditional Harvest Thanksgiving, Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day as well as the well-loved and lamented Christmas Carols. Perhaps it is not too much to say in this regard that we never really know what we have until it is taken away from us? Perhaps I am not alone in thinking, as some of the boys have bravely (not to mention generously) said to me, that it will indeed be a great day when we can all be together again in the Abbey to hear our wonderful choir, and each other, sing. There is no doubt that in togetherness there is strength and I would venture to suggest that in these weeks something of our strength has been drained. Donne was surely right when he reflected that, ‘No man is an island…

sherborne.org

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WHAT WAS THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM?

‘The Christmas Star’ was a lecture given by the late Dr. Percy Seymour on 12. 12. 06. He was the Principal Lecturer in Astronomy at The University of Plymouth and the driving force behind the formation of Sherborne Science Cafe. He is sorely missed. Rob Bygrave, Chair, Sherborne Science Cafe

After the Winter Solstice, 25th December was the first day on which early astronomers were able to detect a noticeable increase in day length. So, even before the birth of Christ, it was celebrated as the day of the return of the Sun-God from the south.

Later on the early Christian Church adopted this as the day on which Christ was born.

However there were errors in the calendar. Herod’s death was marked by an eclipse of the Moon. This could have been the one of 10th January 1BC or the one of 13th March 4BC. Both of these would put the birth of Christ before the normally accepted date of 1 BCE*.

The Magi, otherwise known as The Three Wise Men, were astrologers so we can assume that The Star was an actual astronomical event:

‘We must always bear in mind the purely astrological significance of the star, and we must accept that the wise men were astrologers first and foremost. And if the star really existed its astrological implications must have been profound.’ Patrick Moore

Therefore in order to investigate The Star we must look at all possible astronomical events that occurred around the time of Christ’s birth, and then consider how these events might have been interpreted by the magi-astrologers.

A conjunction between two planets occurs when two planets overtake each other on the highway of the

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sky, which is called the zodiac. Over the last 400 years conjunctions between Saturn and Jupiter have been the most popular explanation for The Star. However, in the last twenty years conjunctions between other planets have also joined the list of possibilities.

A new and different possibility is that has emerged in the last ten years is that The Star was an occultation of the planet Jupiter by the moon. An occultation is when the moon (or a planet) passes in front of a star (or another planet).

The Ancient Greeks’ View In Aristotle’s theory (350 BCE), the universe consisted of a series of concentric spheres, surrounding the spherical Earth. There were seven transparent spheres, and to each one of these was attached a planet (the Sun and Moon were also considered to be planets at this stage). Below the sphere of the Moon we had the spheres of fire, air, water and Earth. In these sub-lunar spheres there could be change, corruption and decay, but in the spheres above the Moon, there could be no permanent change; everything had to be based on cycles of change. Ancient astrologers believed that the spheres below the Moon were under the control of the spheres above the Moon. How could decay and corruption arise if this was the case? This was because of free-will. Although the regular movements of the planets gave a direction to human behaviour, we were free to act as we wished – we could ignore the messages from the cosmos.

Could the star have been Halley’s Comet? Comets were irregular visitors to the skies, and this meant they had to be in the sphere below the Moon. It was Edmund Halley (2nd Astronomer Royal at Greenwich) who discovered that some comets were periodic, but mostly they had very long periods. The comet that bears his name has a period of 76 years and it was seen in 12 BCE. Since astrology was based on the predictable movements of the planets, comets were not included in their schemes.

Could the star have been a Nova? A nova is not a new star, but a relatively faint star, which, over a period of days, suddenly increases its brightness and then, over a period of months, or even years, it gradually fades away. Generally these brightness increases are non-periodic and unpredictable. Such behaviour was not allowed in Aristotle’s theory, because the stars were the region of perfection.

21st December 2020 Those of us who strained their eyes before Christmas 2020 would have seen a lot of clouds – but no conjunction. However the web-cam from Exeter University made up for a live view in the South West.

* BCE (Before Common Era)

Learn more about Sherborne Science Café by visiting their website sherbornesciencecafe.com. They hope to open again soon, when COVID restrictions allow.