OLD PERSEANS
School News PRESTIGIOUS medical publication Neil Sardesai (Upper Sixth) has co-authored an article published in Regional Anaesthesia & Pain Medicine, the journal of the American Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine. Last year, he became involved in a University of Cambridge project that explored the use of ultrasound to map the anatomical variations of the medial cutaneous nerve in the forearm. Neil's Rouse Award project which explored how funding should be prioritised towards research into stroke treatments has also been published in the Young Scientists' Journal.
INCLUSION, EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY update In 2020, The Perse formed an Inclusion, Equality and Diversity (IE & D) working group, comprised of over 100 members of The Perse community. Pupils, staff, parents, Governors, Old Perseans and IE & D experts from other institutions are working together led by Emma Rothwell, the School’s Assistant Head (IE & D and Chaplain). So far the group has discussed: • Racism and anti-racist practice, particularly with regards to the curriculum, identity, representation and training; • Sexism and sexual violence, and how this impacts the learning and wellbeing of the whole community; • The response to Everyone’s Invited.
WORLD BOOK DAY celebrations Children at The Perse Pelican and Prep celebrated World Book Day in March by dressing up as characters from their favourite books. Pupils had a great time showing off a wide variety of colourful outfits, including the Gruffalo, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland and the Gingerbread Man.
We intend to address other areas of IE & D in the coming months. In addition to the working group, we have run peer-led consent workshops for Y11 and a whole staff meeting on how IE & D issues affect learning in the classroom. We are committed to running unconscious bias training for all staff, and will be working towards a Gold Equalities Award. The School will also be partnering with LimeCulture, one of the UK's leading sexual violence and safeguarding training and consultancy organisations, to develop a sexual violence first responder accreditation for schools. We will keep Old Perseans updated as we continue this important work. If you would like further information please contact Emma Rothwell at erothwell@perse.co.uk.
PERSE MUSICIAN of the year Prodigious pianist Juliette Richards (Upper Sixth) was declared the winner of the 2020 Perse Musician of the Year competition for the “panache and drama” of her rendition of pieces by Ravel, Beethoven and Stravinsky. Juliette was praised for an outstanding recital demonstrating real command of the piano. As well as Juliette, the final featured filmed performances from trumpeter Henry Butler (Upper Sixth), violinist Adrianne Lin (Year 10), clarinet player Alicia Li-Yan-Hui (Year 9) and vocalist Iona Woods (2020). 4
