Headmaster's Blog: 26 March 2018

Sports at Truro School

On the sporting front, our Under 15 netball team have been crowned county champions, untroubled by any opposition along the way. The Under 12 boys’ hockey team have just achieved similar county status.  Meanwhile, Harris has once again received his England call-up for the home countries cross-country international. Our badminton players took the regional finals in Bournemouth by storm, winning gold, silver and bronze medals. The Under 16 girls are once again off to the National Badminton Finals. For the umpteenth year in a row, Truro School has been crowned the best sabre fencing school in the country, following success at the national schools’ championship. The eagle eyed among you will have spotted that our advertisement for a new Director of Sport has gone live, and I am excited about the opportunities we have, both to continue to build on these successes but also to enhance a culture of exercise as an essential part of health and well being for all.

Musical Achievements

It was an honour to meet HRH The Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall on his visit to open the newly refurbished Old Cathedral School. Our boy and girl choristers sang beautifully for him, the echoes of “Sound the Trumpet” wafting through the school chambers. HRH was overheard commenting to the Dean how impressed he was with their singing. Sticking with the musical theme, about 150 of our musicians took part in the annual Cornwall Music Festival last week. It was wonderful to see the magnificent silverware brought home which is testament to the hours of dedication our boys and girls put in to orchestras, ensembles, choirs and indeed their own solo efforts. Our chamber orchestra and chamber choir were magnificent when they teamed up recently with the Truro Choral Society and Truro Symphony Orchestra. Conducted by Mr Palmer, our terrific director of music, it was a most wonderful evening of Mozart. There were many highlights, but the flute concerto played by Katie Shaw certainly deserved the standing ovation it received. Katie has an offer from Cambridge University to read Natural Sciences so has much to look forward to.

ALPS

Last week I met with one of the non-executive directors of ALPS, the performance system that schools across the country use to track their A Level value-added results. The meeting coincided with confirmation from ALPS that Truro School has achieved a rolling three-year average value-added that is in the top 10% of the country.  I was told at the meeting that our Economics department was the best performing department in the country, on the basis of their 2017 score! No surprise that over a quarter of next year’s lower sixth cohort have opted for Economics.

Truro School Cookery

You won’t be surprised to hear that the planned launch of our cookery school in September 2018 is capturing imaginations. I am thrilled with the interest shown in the Leiths Certificate of Food and Wine, which has attracted over 25 candidates. Maria Taylor, our Head of Cookery will be at school this week meeting the first cohort and sharing details about the layout of the kitchen and plans for next year.  Maria and I have also been discussing how to maximise school and community use of the teaching kitchen and finalising arrangements for the Cooking for Life curriculum. Watch this space.

This won’t go down as the finest term ever as regards the weather. Let’s hope that our summer term is indeed summery. I wish all of our Truro School families a happy and joyful Easter.