Junior School Warwickian - Lent 2024

Note from the Headmaster Terra House Charity Day

The Lent Term started with a bang with over 150 boys attending the Young Voices Concert in Birmingham. It was a wonderful opportunity for the boys to join with children across the region in sharing the joy of music.

The Performing Arts remained a theme this term with the Year 4 boys filling the Bridge House Theatre with their performance of Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies. With great confidence and ability, the boys sang, danced and acted through 90 minutes of wonderful entertainment. The audience had a great evening and the enjoyment the boys brought to the performance was contagious.

The Junior School boys continued to show their musical talents in the Spring Concert and Pro Corda competition. Both events allowed the boys to not only showcase their enjoyment of music but also an incredible array of musical talent and ability.

It was a very busy term on the sporting front with fixtures in football, swimming, chess, cross country and hockey. The boys also competed in swimming galas both locally and regionally. A highlight of the term was the annual Warwick Junior School Sevens festival with schools from across the country joining us showcasing teamwork, competitiveness, technical ability, athleticism and fair play.

This term saw opportunities for the boys to work together with their peers towards a common goal. Terra House organised a highly successful charity day, raising money for Save the Children. Boys in Year 3 and 4 joined the girls in the Prep School to take part in a range of activities as part of our Link Day programme. Members of Year 5 also joined with the girls from Kingsley and the Prep School to gathering their views on the schools to present to the governing board as part of our work on pupil voice.

Teamwork remained a theme during the residentials this term, Year 6 travelling to Snowdonia and Year 3 and 4 taking part in a joint 2-day residential to Derbyshire. The boys developed a whole range of skills including resilience, cooperation, independence and responsibility and made some lifelong memories.

It’s been a hugely successful term, and we look forward to the summer months ahead with great anticipation.

From the Principal

Last year, we shared the Foundation’s strategy for the next ten years. A key part of this was to articulate more clearly a character and personality for the charity of Warwick Schools Foundation. This included identifying areas of commonality and focus across the schools under the charity’s umbrella, and areas of focus where the charity itself can helpfully take a lead.

One of the strategic intents relates to community - our current and future Foundation community, and the wider community, with the aim of developing our reputation locally and further afield.

Within our own current community, this term’s Year 5 Pupil Conference, with representatives from Kingsley Prep, Warwick Prep, and Warwick Juniors, has highlighted areas where we can support our pupils’ ambitions to work together. One manifestation of this is the planned orchestra day in May, bringing together the current school orchestras, to create an enhanced musical experience for all.

As a charity, we are required to demonstrate public benefit. Unhelpfully, unlike in Scotland, there is no clear definition to work towards. Broadly, educational charities such as ours consider this in two ways: first, enabling access to pupils who would not otherwise be able to attend, and educational partnerships.

We are incredibly fortunate to be supported by local charities, who help us in fulfilling this obligation. For example, we receive financial support from the Charity of Sir Thomas White and King Henry VIII Endowed Trust for means tested access for pupils who live in CV34. Income from our investments supports bursaries for those in other postcodes.

King Henry VIII also supports educational projects for pupils in the town of Warwick, including attending Holiday Action activities, and ‘Sprint Finish’, and we look forward to our first CV34 Music Festival next term, which brings together primary pupils through partnership work with both Orchestra of the Swan and Warwick - A Singing Town. Over the years, we have developed especially close relations with a number of our local maintained schools, and events such as this help to create even stronger bonds.

As a charity, too, all our income is reinvested in our educational provision. Use of our facilities when not required by the schools is an important and developing income strand for us, and here again we have developed strategic relationships especially in sports and the arts. This term, we hosted the finals for the National Concert Band Festival, and regional rounds of the national chamber music festival, Pro Corda. These help to cement our growing reputation as a national centre for excellence, and happily, our pupils’ ensembles which performed at them were recognised for their individual expertise, too.

Our longevity is well known - our schools having delivered education in the towns of Warwick and Leamington for a combined total of 1552 years is a remarkable achievement. Building our education provision, our partnerships and further enhancing our connectivity in our community, will help ensure that our charity’s future will continue to shine brightly, matching the ambitions of our forebears, whose vision has enabled countless generations to benefit from Warwick Schools Foundation.

Terra House held their charity day in aid of Save the Children. Boys donated money to wear charity shop items into school, take part in the cake sale and play ‘guess the children to save the children’, where they had to name teachers based on photos from when they were children! It was a fantastic day, with lots of money being donated to charity both in and out of school. The boys raised a fantastic £618.85!

Years 3 and 4 Link Day

Years 3 and 4 from Warwick Junior School and Warwick Prep School enjoyed a very successful Link Day. Year 3 girls from Warwick Prep School walked over to Warwick Junior School to collaborate on an art activity, creating scenic pictures of Warwick Castle and enjoying philosophy games. At Warwick Prep School, Year 4 boys and girls battled it out in a ‘Guess Who’ tournament and a competition to build the tallest tower from marshmallows and spaghetti.

Richard Nicholson Foundation Principal

Plas-y-Brenin Trip

One of the highlights of the term was the Year 6 residential to Plas-y-Brenin. Throughout the five days, the boys experienced all of the elements of the Welsh weather - including some lovely weather, but also rain, snow and plummeting temperatures! The boys had a fantastic trip, taking part in a variety of activities such as exploring the gorges, hiking, abseiling, and other team-building challenges.

Over the course of the trip, the boys became more independent, learnt some valuable lessons and demonstrated a variety of skills. It was a truly fantastic trip, with the boys exceeding all expectations.

Young Voices

Warwick Junior School always puts their best foot forward at Young Voices and this year was no different. The boys joined thousands of pupils from across the country in Birmingham and sang as part of the largest School Choir in the world!

Year 4 Play - Robin and the

Sherwood Hoodies

As always, one of the main highlights of the Lent Term was the Year 4 pupils’ drama production.

This year, the production was ‘Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies’, with the boys performing in two shows on separate evenings in the Bridge House Theatre.

The boys put on a fantastic show, and they should be immensely proud of their efforts!

Botanical Gardens Trip

On Wednesday, 6 March, Year 5 visited The Botanical Gardens in Birmingham. It was amazing! As we got onto the coach,

I couldn’t wait to just get there and start all the fun and exciting activities. As we arrived, I could already see the beautiful glass houses containing all types of different plants.

Sammy (Year 5)

Throughout the term, several Junior School boys took part in the first round of the national Pro Corda Chamber Music Festival, with some great results!

They all worked together in small chamber ensembles, in addition to the groups that they already play in each week. To top it all off, eSquires made it through to the final - good luck boys!

All of the boys who took part had worked extremely hard, including lots of extra practice – a big well done.

The 32nd Warwick Junior School Rugby 7s Festival

On Wednesday, 28 February, Warwick Junior School hosted the 32nd running of our Rugby 7s festival.

With teams travelling from as far as Aysgarth and St Peter’s York, the standard was yet again extremely high with some fantastic Rugby 7s on show.

The Warwick team performed well throughout the day, making some excellent progress - not just with the results, but also with the type of Rugby that they were playing.

Solihull Chess Final

There were some more fantastic chess results this term, including at the Warwickshire Primary Schools Team Championship Final and Plate competition at Solihull School.

For most of the boys, this was the first time competing outside of the school, but they performed admirably

– with both teams taking home well-deserved bronze medals!

Both teams performed outstandingly - achieving these results in the Final and Plate is simply brilliant –but we are especially proud of the fact that there was a great sense of team spirit at all times.