Half Term Highlights
February 2023

Magic

As a mathematician, every day is (quite rightly) Number Day. You don’t need a special occasion to don a T-shirt featuring the Lo Shu – the only possible 3x3 magic square featuring the numbers 1 to 9 – but I was delighted to see my son doing exactly that last week as part of the national NSPCC fundraising event. This kindling of academic excitement was matched at the other end of the school by the brilliant news about Miranda and Mia securing places at Cambridge and Oxford respectively, with this week’s Scholars Society lecture and the visit by some of our mathematicians to the Florence Nightingale Day at Lancaster University, and the application of all of this in the national Tycoons competition, where our Sixth Formers remain high-fliers on the leaderboard, and the recent Round Square Service Day out on the sand dunes.

Number Day was just one of a host of happenings across the Prep School this half term, with our Senior Medical Society heading up the service road to share a session on healthcare with our Prep children, with some very young visitors joining us to celebrate Chinese New Year, the PTA Valentine’s Disco, and a cluster of tremendous sporting performances including victorying the LSA Sports Hall Athletics competition. Sporting success was shared by numerous teams in the Senior School, with our U12 and U14 girls hockey and U15 boys football teams remaining unbeaten, some impressive cup runs from our U13A girls hockey and U16 boys rugby squads progressing in their respective competitions – including a famous victory against Stonyhurst in the latter – and we look forward to their continued success in the rounds to come.

I was fortunate indeed to have tickets for the incredible sold-out performances of Chicago. From the amazing leads, including the brilliantly charismatic and manipulative Scarlett and Alex as Velma and Roxy, Alex as the downtrodden and excessively-loyal Amos – or was it Andy? - Louis (in his musical debut) transformed into the dazzlingly deceptive and convincing Billy Flynn, Liberty’s almost-unrecognisable transformation into the malignly-maternal Mama Morton, and right across the enormous cast, it was amazing to see a show that continued the unmatched tradition of our Lowther showcases. The musicianship from Mr Brown’s hidden orchestra, and the extraordinary choreography from Ms Vidotti – Katie’s chilling and beautiful balletic portrayal of the hanging of the Hungarian struck a stunning contrast to the upbeat 20s vaudeville sounds – were perfection. And, of course, the exceptional leadership and direction of Ms Worthington, modestly scribbling notes in the audience and allowing the cast to take centre-sage, together with Mr Waterhouse and his team, made this all possible. Chicago is a bold choice for a school production, but another triumph: thank you to the enormous cast, and army of supporters, for bringing magic to the theatre once again.

David Harrow, Headmaster

• an excellent opportunity to understand the 'AKS difference' and to get a taste of our extensive co-curricular programme.
• suitable for pupils from Year 4 upwards who wish to explore the next stage of their educational journey
• an opportunity to explore entry in Years 7-10. Scholarships and bursaries are available (where we have places)