Rossall School News – Michaelmas Week 4

The first day of autumn, beautifully captured by Heather (Catering Team).

Message from The Headmaster

This has been a really tremendous week in so many regards. Choral Evensong on Sunday Evening was sublime and as I watched the shaky footage of the service from Dina Porovic’s WhatsApp video, it was difficult not to feel a real sense of joy and gratitude. The Chapel is once again a place of worship and our beloved Chapel Choir is back up and running under the masterful direction of Tom Edney. How fitting that the very first piece of music in the service was William Smith’s Preces and Responses. William Smith was Organist of Durham Cathedral during the period immediately prior to the English Civil War and this was Grace Gordon’s last performance with the choir before she heads off to study music at Durham University.
It has been another week of sporting triumphs and our 1st XI football team drew against Fleetwood Town U18s and scored an impressive victory (5-2) against another team from FTFC on Saturday morning. The game on Saturday was attended by scouts from various English clubs and at least one American university. Our new Director of Football, Joey Newson, is inspiring great performances out of the boys and the team dynamic is brilliant.  The art department, learning development department and design and technology department were all busy over the weekend and it is lovely to see so many children picking up the threads of school life. Any concerns that school life might become a rather anodyne experience amidst COVID-19 restrictions have long since been dispelled. 
As I explained at the beginning of the week, we are currently self-isolating at home. My temporary office is the girls’ toy room and we are struggling to juggle remote learning with the never-ending stream of Zoom meetings, lessons, emails and policy documents. The girls are missing their friends and having already missed out on so much this year it is a real shame.  However, we are all feeling very well and looking forward to returning to School very soon. 
Preparations are now underway for our second ever virtual Open Day. As you are aware, it is incredibly difficult to replicate the experience of visiting the School in person. However, we are very fortunate that, once again, Sven Knight and his team from Knight Rigging Services (KRS) have kindly agreed to bring their production wizardry and technical brilliance to the process. They are an absolute joy to work with and I was particularly impressed that Sven took a call from Uri Geller moments before we went live during our last open day! Luckily, Uri elected not to use his skills of psychokinesis to interrupt our flow. 
If I was starstruck by the mention of Uri Geller and his spoons, I particularly enjoyed discovering, just yesterday evening, that another idol of mine, Marlene Dietrich, once lost a pearl earring at Blackpool Pleasure Beach when riding upon the Big Dipper back in 1934. Some seventy-three years later the earring was dredged up from the bottom of the Log Flume Lake. It is strange to think of Dietrich descending upon Blackpool and suffering a mishap whilst hurtling along upside down. On one level it is an utterly trivial story but it certainly reminds us of Father John’s maxim to live life with hope. 
 

Marlene Dietrich takes in Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1934

Wishing everyone the happiest of weeks!

Mr Jeremy Quartermain
Headmaster of Rossall School

Message from the Junior Headmaster

Dear Parents,

Another incredibly busy week in Junior School has seen the children participating in a great deal of activities both inside and outside of the classroom. The joy on the faces of the pupils as they enjoy a wide array of learning experiences, is something that is truly fantastic to behold. Whether it be greeting one another in Spanish or celebrating peer success, the children are loving being back in the throws of a busy educational environment.

I too enjoyed celebrating the successes of the pupils last week in our weekly online assembly. Seeing the genuine happiness of receiving recognition for their endeavours is always heartwarming – be it in person or via a zoom assembly – well done to all our winners last week.



The weather has taken a slight turn this week and I ask that you ensure the children arrive at School with a Rossall coat. We will all be endeavouring to venture outside to get some fresh air at breaks and lunch. 

A reminder that I will always make time to speak with any parent regarding any concerns or questions that you may have. Arranging a conversation at a mutually convenient will always be conducive to ensuring a positive home-School partnership. I am delighted to have spoken to a number of parents throughout this week and urge you to make contact with me directly should you need to – my virtual door is always open!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mr Turner
Headmaster of Rossall Junior School
ASSEMBLY – MONDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER
In this week’s assembly, Mrs Lee delved deeper into the history of Rossall School and showcased some of the amazing intricacies of our buildings, including the unique carved animals in Chapel and the iron dolphins and shells on the Dining Hall. There were also messages from our Headmaster, Mr Quartermain, Deputy Head (Academic), Ms Porovic, Director of Music, Mr Dobson and Head of EDI Mr Symons. Finally, Year 8 pupil, Mary Morcos ended the assembly with a beautiful performance of Edelweiss as known from The Sound of Music. We hope you enjoy.
Q&A WITH THE HEADMASTER
Last Friday (18th September 2020), Mr Quartermain hosted a live Q&A. If you were not able to tune in, you can watch the video here.
EVENSONG
On Sunday, our Choir performed their first Evensong of the year. It was wonderful to have our Chapel once again filled with the sounds of such beautiful voices. To watch the video, please click here.
A ROSSALL RABBIT WELCOME
Our Reception pupils were delighted to receive a visit from Rossall Rabbit who gifted them with their own cuddly toy rabbit to mark the start of their journey at Rossall. 
ROSSALL VS FTFC
Sunday 20th September saw the return of competitive sport at Rossall with our Elite Football Programme students competing in two fixtures against the Fleetwood Town FC Academy. The games were played in excellent spirit with some exceptional football on show by our boys, scoring some fantastic goals in the process. This was the first time that our Elite Football Programme has played a professional academy and they equipped themselves fantastically, drawing plaudits from the Fleetwood Town FC staff in the process who have requested that this be a regular fixture moving forward. We are currently in week 3 of the yearly coaching programme and to produce such a high level of performance against a team of Fleetwood Town’s stature, shows the exceptional footballing talent we currently have within the school.

Photo by Tim Brice
PRE-UNIVERSITY COOKING SKILLS
Our Year 12 students have thoroughly enjoyed partaking in the pre-university cooking skills activity. So far, they have tackled making flapjacks and a bolognese pasta bake!
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
The children of Anchor House have been researching where they live and sharing this with the rest of the House. Here’s George, Ben and Miracle the first three Anchor boarders to proudly show off their home countries.
A GREAT START TO THE GOLF SEASON
Well done to all Rossall School Golf Academy students who represented the School in the ISGA Senior Schools Cup at Sunningdale Heath Golf Club. The A Team finished runners up whilst the B Team finished in fourth place – a great start to the season!
A PIECE OF GOLFING HISTORY
Mr Hemmings was recently contacted by Mr Craven, one of the school governors who happened upon an article regarding Rossall School’s golfing history. The earliest record found so far for the Rossall School Golf Club is the match against Fleetwood Golf Club in April 1895. It is great to see that golf is still thriving at Rossall 125 years later!
WEEKEND ACTIVITIES
10.30-12.30 Art Department open (Ms Heap)
10.30-12.30 Music Department open (Mr Dobson)
10.30-12.00 Year 13 IB Maths HL Workshop (HS102) with Ms Porovic
10.30-11.30 Business Breakfast (BS Dept) with Mrs Wright
11.00-12.30 GCSE Film Studies (PAS) with Mr Newell
10.30-12.30 DT Department open (Mr Hodgetts)
08:30 – 09:30 U12 & 13 Boys Football with Mr Kelly
08:30 – 09:30 U12 & 13 Girls Hockey with Mr Roberts
09:45 – 10:45 U14 & 15 Girls Hockey with Mr Sidwell
09:45 – 10:45 U14 & 15 Boys Football with Mr Kelly and Mr Newson
11:00 – 12:00 Senior Boys Football with Mr Newson
13:45 – 14:45 Badminton & Gym with Mr Cropper
14:45 – 15:45 Boarders Football & Basketball (Boarders only) with Mr Cropper