On the last day of term the Queen visited Christ Church to distribute Maundy money, and the whole school was very lucky to be involved in this special event. Prep boys had the thrilling experience of watching the royal party land in a helicopter right in front of them on the field, and Pre-Prep greeted the Queen with flags and flowers as she exited into Tom Quad. The cathedral choristers had the immense honour of singing for the Maundy service, performing an extensive musical programme including works by Handel and Byrd. What a memorable and exciting event!

Thomas and Libby with their flowers:

Watching the helicopter's approach:

Cathedral Choristers play host to the boys of the Chapel Royal:

 Click below to see more photographs.

Mr Morton produced a spectacular school play which raised the roof on Friday and Saturday nights. 'Old Father Time' was full of energy, humour, brilliant acting and wonderful singing. The cast and audience clearly enjoyed their race through history immensely, and the Hall rang with laughter.

Harry Y’s verdict: ‘I played the part of Bodger in Old Father Time. I had never acted before and I loved it. I learnt lots of lines which was quite hard but when the audience laughed so much it was worth it. It made me very happy!’

On the day before Half Term, CCCS boys celebrated their creativity on a fantastic Arts' Day. The children's writer John Foster came to give inspiring poetry workshops, cartoonist Adam Murphy ran sessions for Form 3 and 4 boys, and director of the National Youth Boys' Choir Greg Hallam put a select group of singers through their paces.

Other delights on this cross-curricular day included composing activities inspired by pieces of art, and an art workshop based on portraits of great composers. As is traditional, the day ended with the school Poetry Competition, where the boys excelled themselves through stunning feats of memorisation and the rich variety of material chosen. 

 
The boys have been enjoying the recent flurries of snow, and there has been much snowball-aiming practice in the school yard. Alex, Johan and Harry spent today's break-time making a mini-snowman, who has now retired to the tranquility of the front garden... Thanks go to Mr Pritchett, who has been busy at work around school keeping things cleared with grit and a shovel! 

From food for thought to thoughts of food, school clubs cater for boys with diverse preferences!  The Cookery club have been hard at work making some food to sell for our chosen charity this year, but have also provided catering for some parent meetings. The mini quiches below were offered to parents coming to the recent English Forum on Storytelling. Amid a wide range of activities enjoyed by boys, the Forensic Science club has been dusting for fingerprints, the Philosophy club has been examining the nature of perfection, the Drama club has begun to rehearse next term's play, and there are challenges to be had for squash players, chess hopefuls, music theorists and origamists. Extra excitement has been caused this term by the arrival of a school gecko (pictured above), who has taken up residence in the Science lab. The boys have named her Lizzie, in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Long may she reign! 

Forms 3 and 4 delighted their audiences at the end of last week with performances of the musical, 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. Based on one of Roald Dahl's 'Revolting Rhymes' this featured a bloodthirsty giant and an amazing, magical beanstalk that reached right up to the ceiling of the Walton Hall! Some photos of the talented cast are below.

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Along with about 82,000 other spectators, 13 CCCS boys visited Twickenham to see England defeat Fiji in the recent rugby international.  The boys enjoyed the day immensely, and even made an impression in the crowd. (see email extract below)

PW

‘I attended the England V Fiji match this weekend, and sat in front of your boys.  I wanted to contact you to say how much of a credit they were to you.  Such well behaved, intelligent lads, and they were a pleasure to talk to– as well as keeping us informed of everything going on in the game.  It’s very rare to see kids on a school trip who are so confident, happy and involved and I thought it was definitely worth mentioning.’

It's a time of year when projects are coming to fruition. Boys in Form 7 have been  making trip hammers in DT, which demonstrate a repeating motion such as is used in many mechanisms. Most boys avoided making a hammer that would strike small brother or sister over the head! Boys in F8 have been building structures which have to hold a maximum of 8kg away from a wall, using 8x8mm wood, glue, string, card and dowel.

In English Form 8 have been writing exam poems for National Poetry Day, but some were also inspired to write Chocolate-themed poems for National Chocolate week in the middle of October!

Chocolate, by Ben P

Chocolate, Chocolate with a caramel centre,

Into my perishing stomach you will enter.

Dark, white, milk or plain

I can’t stop eating it again.

My favourite, well how can I tell?

When there’s Mars Bars, Galaxy there all just as well

As a Double Decker for the true connoisseur

It’s just as good as a Cadbury’s bar

A Milky Way, well I can report

They’re just as good as a Ritter Sport

A nutty taste, a strawberry flavour

The smell of melted chocolate makes me quaver.

So which is better, which is the best?

Is Cadbury, Galaxy, I must continue this quest

With Milka and Nestlé and all those treats

Like Maltesers and Hershey’s for me to eat.

I think chocolate is more priceless than pearls

Especially Yorkies (they’re not for girls)

I like chocolate with pudding, I like chocolate à la
mode.

I eat so much chocolate I think I’ll explode.