Two 6th Form students and a student in year 8 at the Stephen Perse Foundation – a forward-thinking, co-educational Cambridge independent school – have achieved a musical hat-trick of distinctions. The talent, hard work and commitment of Naomi Choy, Valeriya Kopanitsa and Juliette Richards has resulted in Trinity College London awarding three distinctions in their recent Performance Diplomas.

Valeriya, an accomplished pianist, and Naomi, a talented saxophonist, both undertook ATCL Performance Diplomas. A post Grade 8 level qualification, this Diploma is equivalent to the performance component of a first-year undergraduate degree course.

Students transformed themselves into disco divas, hippies and Harry Potter yesterday as they held their biennial charity event to raise money for Barnardo's children's charity.

Barnardo's Day saw the Senior School taken over by student fundraisers and decked out in themes ranging from space to St Trinians, celebrities to festivals, and Halloween to Christmas.

Two teams took part in the ESAA Cross Country Cup Competition at Wyndham College last week.

Both teams performed exceptionally well and gave their best in what were ideal running conditions.

The Inter team consisting of Fran T, Ella M, Priya B and Elizabeth E came 4th as a team, a superb team performance, with top placings for Fran - 3rd and Ella - 5th; outstanding runs by both students.

An encouraging inaugural outing for some of the younger members of the new equestrian team at the NSEA County Championship Show Jumping Qualifier at the College of West Anglia on Saturday.

As the sun rose in Saffron Walden on October 13th, 'An Island Adventure' awaited the Year 3 castaways from Dame Bradbury’s and the Junior School.

The day revolved around a series of activities designed to get the children thinking, not just thinking their own thoughts and ideas but thinking collaboratively. After walking the gang plank the adventure began!

On Thursday 6th October, on a gloriously sunny Autumn morning, Year 5 pupils from Junior School and Dame Bradbury's met at Latham Road for their collaborative day on the theme of 'Go Wild'. 

They quickly and enthusiastically got into groups, renewing old friendships and starting to form new ones. Tracy Grant, from the Exploration Society, kindly donated her time and skill to light a welcoming fire around which we all gathered to sing some campfire songs. Throughout the morning everyone had the opportunity to toast some marshmallows - a gooey treat enjoyed by all! The groups then set to work, collaborating in small groups to create artwork using natural materials foraged from their surroundings - within no time pine cones, sticks, leaves and grass were transformed into ladybirds, dragonflies and other insects. 

On a lovely autumn morning Year 5 pupils set off bright and early for Epping Forest. This visit was to launch our new topic of 'Run, River Run'. The day began with learning about our location and the source of Loughton Brook.

JLC (Junior Language Challenge) is the National Language Competition for children aged 10 and under in the UK. The JLC, which is great fun, is designed to encourage young people to learn unusual languages like Romanian, rather than Spanish or French.

There were more than 1000 participants from all over the UK who took part in the JLC 2016 Finals. Only 200 who topped in the score board in the initial round were selected for the regional semi-finals and only 30 from semi-finals were selected for the finals. The first language this year to learn was Romanian followed by Korean and Swahili, for semi-final and final respectively.

Initially I was not very sure whether I should take part in this competition. After playing a few games with my mum in Romanian using the JLC app, I started liking it. Although I started at the bottom of the Cambridgeshire leader board, I was delighted to finish in first place. Finishing first, meant I went through to the semi-final. For the semi-final I had to learn Korean and all summer I worked hard.