The opening of the new calendar year always sees the school rolling up its sleeves to get stuck into the serious business of assessment deadlines and examination preparation. A great motivator for the Upper Sixth has been the strong and steady flow of university offers coming in from both the UK and overseas. As ever, these come from top institutions, with the vast majority featuring in the top 100 QS world rankings; in other words, the best universities in the world.
The colour and excellence of the House Music competition and performances of this year’s bravura Bancroft play have been just part of Lancing’s colourful contrast to February’s rather grey climes. I have enjoyed many House Music Finals Concerts in my time here and this one was up amongst the exceptional best: our adjudicator’s task was entirely unenviable. Gibbs’ were the ultimate victors, but this came only after hot competition across hundreds of entries across a bewildering array of categories. Do take the chance to enjoy the highlights.
We are also part way through another competitive tradition as spring fights its way past the gloom of winter: the League Run. Alongside countless regular fixtures against other schools, record numbers have been pounding the inter-House League Run course each week. We hit a ground-shaking 400 hundred runners a couple of weeks ago, all for the glory of athleticism and holding the House trophy aloft at the close of term. All remains to play (or should that be race?) for as we reach the halfway point of the term.
The Lent term is our designated House Charities term and fund-raising is in in full swing. It is the pupils who choose which charities to support, with often heartfelt personal reasons for each selection. They must then deploy all their zeal and dedication to devise and execute fund-raising for their chosen causes. Looking out into the world and focusing on service to others are right at the heart of what we value at Lancing and the pupils are both leading and supporting one another in impressive style. That sense of a community coming together has been very powerful throughout the term and indeed was the topic in the latest of a fine series of student sermons, this week given by Sofiia, one of the Heads of School, in Wednesday’s whole-school Eucharist. You can hear her excellent sermon (and many others) here.
I hope that a restful half-term week is enjoyed by all. In the meantime, I leave you with the very fresh news that our kind sponsor (and double Oscar-winner) Sir Christopher Hampton has generously agreed to support a second year of the Lancing inter-house film festival. We will once again have the chance to enjoy a spectacular feast of audiovisual creativity: there will be 10 movies, each written, directed and edited by Lancing pupils with the support of professionals from the movie industry. These few days of holiday will thus be a great chance for them to practice pitching their ideas to you, be that comedy, tragedy, horror, thriller, sci-fi epic, or even combinations of the above.
With my best wishes,
Mr Dominic Oliver
