now boarding

School cricket match

I was lucky enough to have time one week day in July (of year 6) to be able to go watch the Under 11s cricket play cicket against a South London Catholic School. Due to their Cathedral commitments, the boys don't always get to complete full matches which is a great shame as so many of them love to play (in the summer term as they're using every spare minute in the school playground for knockabouts).

The Head of Games has always encouraged us parents to go along and watch if the opportunity arises, and it did. Of course it reminded me of my school days.

The team (day boys and Choristers) were accompanied by the sports master, a gap and the Director of music (not sure if he was just helping out of if this was an official duty but at my school sports teachers always had to double up). 

Very nice to be invited to join in the warm up and fielding exercices. The DOM made me feel very welcome and this single inclusive act transformed my experience from being a mere spectating Dad to being part of the squad; well that how it made me feel and I'll ever forget that.

I'm not sure how these things are worked out but there did seem to be one or two older boys in our team, or at least bigger, much bigger in fact than the opposition. We smashed them. William took a couple of wickets in the first over and many of the Choristers had fine spells of attacking bowling.

It was a very special afternoon and I felt very privilaged to be there to see the win. Tom even took a good catch at mid wicket.

So if you're ever able to go along to a match or a tournament, do. It's great fun, you get to see the boys in another light and who knows, maybe the next Cookie?

 

First half of term.

After the full-on month of advent and all the Christmas services, and a good couple of weeks holiday, the winter term approaches with all the regularity that business as usual brings.

We've been very busy as a family since Christmas trying to move house, hence the lapse in posts, so here's a brief overview of some of the things that have happened.

Christmas Day
Our second Christmas spent at the Cathedral, Tom has a hectic schedule (which I'll describe later) and we end up collapsing in a heap back home around 5.30 in the evening. What's nice is that for us, having our family day on boxing day, added to the festive warm up of activities, services and concerts, means that christmas is warmly long and gradual, enabling us to savour the spiritual aspect of this time of year. 

Settling back in
Tom goes from strength to strength and the beginning of this term was his best ever, I know he'd agree that. He helped with packing and organising and there was barely a tear on returning to school.

Radio 3 Broadcast
Every year around the time of St. Paul's day, choral evensong is broadcast live from the Cathedral. Apart from the microphones everywhere it's business as usual for the boys.

Parents Evening
There are some teachers we barely get the chance to see, or indeed have never met before, so the parents evening is a great opportunity. And of course to hear how Tom's doing. Here too he seems to be going from strength to strength. Possibly as his confidence in the choir and with boarding rises, his school work reflects this.

Games Workshop trip
One Saturday I took five of the boys to Games Workshop on Oxford Street. They loved it. They really are a great bunch, working and playing together and supporting each other in a way that would put many adults to shame. 

300th Anniversary Gala
A big concert this one, to celebrate the Cathedral's 300th year of completion. John Rutter conducted and Andrew Carwood, the director of music, sang Tenor. 

Cello
We knew Tom was enjoying his cello but we weren't quite prepared when his teacher told us just how much potential she believes he has (echoed by the schools director of music). The plan is for him to take his grade 2 exam this spring but then skip straight to grade 5. this also means we need to prepare for the purchase of decent instruments, so long as, as his teacher puts it, he doesn't decide to give it up and play rugby.

A new year 5 chorister
Tom is joined by a new probationer after half-term, boosting the numbers in his year to four! Eight seems to be average. For a couple of terms, Tom was the only chorister in his year.

 

The summer term starts here!

We had a great Easter holiday, of course it does feel a tad long for us but not so for Tom; he's more of the opinion that he's earned it and I think he's right. As usual he spent a good chunk of time playing with his sister but mostly I know he values time by himself, which is totally understandable and common amongst the other choristers. Other than that, the three weeks and couple of days whizzed by.

He did manage to leave his prep in the classroom (again understandable at the end of a hectic holy week), and for possibly the 3rd holiday in a row I found myself visiting the school mid-holiday to collect. Need to watch out for that in future.

His end of term report was excellent again, his grades improving quite noticeably, clearly a sign that he's increasingly comfortable with the boarding and in fact the whole setup. 

The painters were in and the parts of the school that I saw looked clean and bright with a good lick of paint; I know that major works are reserved for summer holidays.

 
 Returning for a new term has never been a strong point for Tom - we've had a few wobbles previously but for this term he's really transformed; no tears (that I noticed), well organised and totally up for it. In fact he's been talking more and more about the repertoire (and in particular this Sunday's Eucharist Sanctus), which must be a good sign.

The Director of Music thought this a good sign too, and at the term's early Chorister Parent evenings he told us how well tom was doing. Not perfect of course, looking for Tom to 'let rip' occasionally and not worry about perfection.

 
  
Always good to get insight on his work in the Cathedral; and in September he'll have been there two years (he started age seven), so it's certainly a good, robust and gentle development.

The Chorister Parent evenings are annual informal, one to one opportunities to speak to the Director of Music and the singing teacher; but it's a tight schedule, barely 10 minutes allocated per chorister.

Other events take place at every beginning of term, the PTA's sale of second hand uniform sale effectively recycles valuable clothing and generates good revenue for the PTA to spend on the Children. (The most recent big ticket item the PTA has supported is a new school minibus).