School News

The service was held yesterday evening at Christ Church Cathedral. With just hours’ notice, many of the choristers came back from their well-earned holiday following Holy Week to sing at the special thanksgiving evensong conducted by the Sub Dean of Christ Church, the Revd Richard Peers.

It's been wonderful to be together again this week; to hear instruments being played from countless different directions, to see the peripatetic staff again and most of all to hear singing everywhere!

The CCCS community, nothing daunted by lockdown, celebrated World Book Day 2021 in style with a wonderful variety of caps, hats and hairdo's in the image of favourite authors and characters from literature.

Over half term Mme Loyer, who is running our weekly Cooking Club on Teams, set a challenge - Cooking Around The World. Boys were invited to create dishes from a country of their choice and submit photographs of their creations.

I was delighted to be able to spend the first part of Lockdown #3 poring over compositions submitted by boys for our Carol Competition. Entrants were invited to create their own entirely new carols, or to make an alternative setting of an existing carol. It was particularly heartening to receive submissions from such a wide age-range.

The Nursery children of Christ Church Cathedral School certainly got a surprise when they visited their Woodland School to find they had a Woodland Lake!

Since January, Reception have had the challenge of adapting to online learning and I am so proud of their achievements in such unusual circumstances.

The wet weather did not stop play in the Nursery this week. With boots, hats and coats we ventured to the Woodland School for a 'Soup and Sausage Sizzle'.  We read the story of Stick Man and Searched for our own Stick men, who were hiding on the Meadow whilst our Sausages cooked.

The School was delighted to learn that the actor and CCCS Old Boy, Toby Jones (CCCS, 1971 – 1979) was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in the 2021 New Year’s Honours List. 

On the first day back of this term, other than Nursery, which functioned as normal, we met for online school as many of us did last spring.

Two Christ Church Cathedral School boys spent the Summer riding almost 500km each in aid of the School’s charity, A Rocha.

Former Christ Church Cathedral Chorister, Alexander, was this week crowned BBC Young Chorister of the Year and hailed as the voice of hope for 2020.

CCCS launched three short films this week – one about the Prep School, one about the Pre-Prep and Nursery, and one about the Cathedral Choristers – with the common theme that the School is a place where “Boys can be themselves”.

The corridors of Pre-Prep have been ringing with the exchanges of different languages among the children this week as our European Day of Languages, usually celebrated on 26th September, extended over several days with a variety of activities linked to the topic of languages.

Form 2 boys spent an exciting and most informative day at Cogges Manor Farm. The morning was jam-packed with activities, such as wool carding, weaving and even milking a cardboard cow and making butter.

After a largely virtual Trinity Term, the year ended with a virtual concert and Speech Day.

On 25th and 26th June, the boys in the Prep School put on an extraordinary display of musicianship and technological wizardry, with our first ever Virtual House Music Competition.

On his last day at Christ Church Cathedral School, Alex, a Cathedral Chorister in Form 8, sported his craziest hairstyle yet - six spiky buns.

In order to stay busy (and entertained) during lockdown, the boys in Prep and Pre-Prep were challenged to learn the ‘Cup Song’ routine from hit movie ‘Pitch Perfect’.

Soundabout Inclusive Choir, the Oxford-based choir for people with special needs and their families, which CCCS’s fundraising helped launch last year, is reaching tens of thousands during lockdown.

To encourage boys to get the most out of their musical instrument practice during lockdown, Ms Biddell, our Director of Music, has come up with eight helpful tips. She is delighted to hear from boys about how they are getting on – and no doubt that will be all the better for her useful advice below.

Assembly on the Theme of Hope and Tips for Surviving Lockdown by Catriona Wellesley, CCCS School Counsellor.

Warmest congratulations to the nine boys in Form 8 who have won music awards to their senior schools.

Nicky English, our Head of Nursery, talks about how children learn in a safe risk-taking environment: