News

This month we are celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month. The School’s Equalities and Diversity committee have put together this short video about LGBTQ+ History Month: https://vimeo.com/515290686/5a57c3dfa7 together with some great resources including a three step plan and some ‘Facts of the Day’. Click on the images below to find out more.

On Thursday 11th February, hundreds of members of the Bishop Luffa community, including staff, pupils and their families, came together (virtually of course!) to take part in an online Escape Room based around the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan. This is a great series for Year 7 and up featuring an ordinary teenage boy in modern day America who discovers he has a Greek God for a father and is given a dangerous quest to find Zeus's stolen lightning bolt. Some teams were astonishingly fast and must have used some good guesswork and a bit of luck to finish so quickly - well done to the Escape Pees! The fiendish puzzles were put together by Mrs Shuttleworth from the Library team. Our library has managed to operate a book borrowing service in school this year but we haven't been able to put on the events and activities we would usually be doing; and we are very much missing sharing these experiences and excitement around stories. The Escape Room proved that you don't all need to be in the same place to do this and we've had some really positive feedback from the teams that took part. We hope this won't be the last event like this we do - watch this space!

We have some amazing students at our school who are doing amazing things for charity.

Bishop Luffa School supports the fantastic work of the BEATS Charity, which was set up following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami which claimed many lives over a vast area in Indonesia. We recently received an update from them:

For the first time, King House’s Team Triathlon event will be open to participation across the whole school.

As someone loves theatre and live performance, I was overjoyed at the prospect of sitting in the audience to watch Chichester Festival Youth Theatre’s brand new version of ‘Pinocchio’. I managed to watch Team FOX live and I am so proud of all our talented Bishop Luffa students (past and present) who performed in this heart-warming show. The announcement of the new Tier 4 restrictions sadly meant that from Boxing Day all remaining performances would move online. This meant that I could watch Team CAT a week later from the comfort of my own sofa! All students in both Team CAT and Team FOX were fantastic and their passion and dedication shone out for all to see. Well done to all of you!

As part of the A-Level Dance course we are required to present a high-quality performance piece as a group. Over the course of two full day workshops, Amy Morvell of Morvell Dance has choreographed a contemporary dance piece that reflects the strong sense of unity and identity, as individuals and as a team. During the choreographic process we discovered new ways of manoeuvring our bodies and interacting with the music, the space and each other; paired with technique and emotion. The choreography is challenging yet exciting to perform. It was a really valuable and inspiring experience for all of us and seeing Amy’s own unique and compelling style was a fantastic opportunity to grow as dancers.

On the last day before schools shut in March, Bishop Luffa School asked students to bring in a donation for the Food Bank. We were overwhelmed with the response. On Friday 20th November the school decided to do it again, this time with a target: we wanted to raise a ‘Tonne of Love’ from our school community.

We are incredibly proud of all our students and it’s great to hear news of what they have achieved after leaving Bishop Luffa.

Bishop Luffa makes a point of coming together to mark the Armistice, and this year was no exception. Although current restrictions prevented us physically meeting as a School community, we were able to come together virtually, and all be part of a whole school event. Just before 11am, teachers and classes across the School (and some parents) joined a live feed, and were able to see a short service of commemoration. After an introduction and opening prayer from Mr Hindman, Mr Bonney (ex-forces) read an excerpt from ‘For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon. This was followed by Freddie Lynas of 9Otter (ably supported by Alex Wilburn (9Otter) and Mrs Bowen-Melfi) playing the Last Post. At this point the whole School fell silent for 2 minutes from 11am. At 11.02 the reveille was sounded by Freddie, and Freya Jones (one of our School Captains) read the Kohima Epitaph. The service ended with a wreath laying ceremony by Mr Hindman, Mr Bonney and Freya. Although this has been a year of immense challenges in so many ways it was heartening to see the School come together in unity to remember the sacrifices made so that we may enjoy the freedoms of today. My thanks must go to all involved, including those ‘behind the scenes’ who worked to make it available remotely.