Following Emi's success at the Norfolk Country Cross Country Championships we decided to ask her a few questions about her love of running and her upcoming London Mini Marathon. How long have you been running?/How long have you been running with the school? I have now been running for 3 years, and I have been competing for the school since Upper 3. How often do you run outside of school? I run with a training group 2-3 times a week depending on the dates of various competitions. How do you train?/How do you prepare for a race? I think that mental preparation is the most important, I use visualization which can help me enter an open mindset. And I think it is mainly accepting that it will have painful aspects, but the aftermath feels phenomenal. And physically preparing, is a matter of being consistent at training in my case. How did you find the Cross Country championships? The Cross Country Championships was certainly nerve-racking before hand, but I think the race went very smoothly and I left it all out on the course. And attempted to compete to the best of my abilities! Can you tell us a bit about the London Mini Marathon in April? Fortunately because of my performance at the County Championships I have been accepted to run at the London Mini Marathon! How are you feeling about it? As much as I am excited, there is no doubt I will be feeling nervous. But I think that it is a great opportunity, also to be surrounded by excellent runners! Where do you hope your running will take you? As of my running, I would like to compete at a high level but most of all I would love to continue to enjoy it! Because I truly believe if it is bringing you no satisfaction or joy, there is not a point in perusing it. What piece of advice would you give to aspiring cross country runners? For people who are aspiring to do cross-country as a sport, I would advise them to just have a go and give it a chance. Because if you are willing to give it a chance, you might just find that you will like it!

What a joyful and uplifting concert it was, packed with confidence, colour and lots of happy moments! From the very first notes, it was clear how much enthusiasm and hard work had gone into preparing this programme. The concert opened with the warm, rich sound of the cello in The Two Grenadiers by Robert Schumann, setting a confident and expressive tone. Some lively vocals and guitars performed Lush Life by Zara Larsson which was full of energy and great teamwork. The piano brought a touch of movie magic with Let It Go by K. Anderson, before switching gears completely with the dramatic rhythms of War Drums by F. Waterman. A beautifully calm moment came with River Flows in You by Yiruma on the piano, played with lovely control and feeling. The smiles continued with vocals performing 7 Years by Lukas Graham, showing great expression and connection with the audience. The bright sound of the trumpet shone through for Africa followed by a cheerful flute rendition of the traditional Pease Pudding . The piano took us on a fun musical journey with Yankee Doodle , then treated us to a confident and familiar Ode to Joy by Beethoven. Another gentle piano highlight came with Little by Little by F. Davies, played with care and musicality. A lively vocal performance of Golden from K-Pop Demon Hunters brought lots of sparkle and stage presence, while Tomorrow from Annie was delivered with real enthusiasm and a big smile. The pace picked up with an exciting drum performance of Skullcrasher , which certainly lived up to its name! The piano then returned with the flowing melody of Bluebird by P. Waterman, followed by a spirited violin performance of Wild West by D. Blackwell. The concert closed beautifully with The Singing Swan by P. Waterman on the piano, a lovely and confident finish to a fantastic event. Overall, this was a wonderful concert full of bravery, enjoyment and musical growth. Every performer should be incredibly proud—there were lots of smiles in the Lower School Hall and plenty to celebrate. Well done to everyone involved!

When pupils leave Norwich School, they reflect on the wonderful community in the Close, the teachers who supported them along the way, the friendships they made. However, in recent years as we look at the quotes of Upper 6 leavers, there seems to be a theme in what they'll miss - the food! To celebrate the work of our incredible catering staff we decided to ask Gareth Parry, Thomas Franks General Manager, a few questions... What does a day in your life look like? A typical day - Arriving in the morning and receiving a mountain of orders before the pupils are on site. Breakfast is freshly prepared and served from 7:45am to 8:45am. Chefs are busy prepping for the lunch ahead that day whilst front of house staff are getting the break time snacks ready and freshly preparing sandwiches etc. Lunch is served between 12pm and 1:55pm, then we clear everything down ready to start again the next day! There are various functions on throughout the week for which we might provide simply tea and coffee, buffet lunches or a three course sit down meal, it really varies from day to day. On average, how many meals are served at Norwich School in a day? On an average day we feed something in the region of 1250 meals for lunch. This can rise dramatically if we have functions on throughout the day and evening. What goes into planning a school menu? We proudly take time and effort to explore a variety of dishes from around the world, with a focus on nutrition. We have to consider catering for various age ranges from 4 to 18 and also consider a whole variety of dietary requirements. Finally we ultimately have to look at cost and keeping to a budget without compromising the culinary experience. What time does your day start and end? We have chefs on site from 6am, sometimes earlier! I am often the last to leave on a typical day without functions at 6pm. If we have a meal on in the evening, this can even run until midnight to clear up. What is the best part of your job? We certainly enjoy the creative side of cooking and providing hospitality to the masses and it is pleasing to educate people through food where we can. There is also the rush of lunch service which is fast and frantic, this keeps us on our toes and certainly makes time pass quickly! How does your work help pupils get the best out of their school day? We hope that the pupils look forward to coming into lunch for a tasty, well balanced, nutritional meal which helps fuel the body as well as the brain What is the most popular dish with pupils? Katsu Chicken Curry, it has been a staple on our menu for many years. Any fun facts for us? On a busy day we can clock up 40,000 steps each. Our average step count is 20,000 for the day. We use over 150kg of flour a week just to bake bread and make desserts for lunch time. Last year we cooked over 10,000 sausage rolls! In an academic year we serve over 4000kg of pasta at lunch times which is 4 metric tons! If your job had a theme song, what would it be? Food, glorious, food from Oliver!