Thanks to Mrs Fox, Lead Teacher of Dance at Richmond, for the following report: 

“Our GCSE Dance students recently enjoyed an exciting and insightful trip to the Phoenix Dance Theatre, Leeds, to take part in the event Inside Phoenix: Shadows. This unique opportunity allowed students to explore one of the professional works studied as part of the GCSE specification, choreographed by the renowned British choreographer Christopher Bruce. 

During the visit, students participated in an engaging lecture demonstration which explored the creative and technical elements that bring Shadows to life on stage. They learned first-hand about the use of costume, lighting, and set design, gaining valuable insight into how these components contribute to the work. 

Students also took part in a contemporary dance class led by a company dancer, followed by a practical workshop where they were taught movement directly from the performance. Experiencing the choreography physically provided a deeper understanding of the movement style and intention, making it an invaluable learning opportunity ahead of their written exam. 

The visit also included the opportunity to watch a live performance of Shadows and participate in a question-and-answer session with the professional dancers. Students were able to ask about the rehearsal process, working alongside Christopher Bruce and life within the professional dance industry. 

The students demonstrated impressive subject knowledge throughout the day. In a knowledge quiz involving several schools and colleges in attendance, three Richmond School students achieved 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places - a testament to their hard work and understanding of the work studied. 

The dancers fully immersed themselves in the experience and demonstrated enthusiasm and professionalism throughout the day. It was a fantastic experience for all and a wonderful opportunity to bring their GCSE Dance learning to life.” 

We recently received an email from Rebecca Simpson, mum of Lauren, Year 7 student at Richmond School, passing on some information about Lauren’s performances in two orienteering events. These events weren’t local events with a few competitors, but much bigger – the British Orienteering Championships in the Brecon Beacons and the Portugal ‘O’ Meeting, a week-long competition featuring some of the world’s best athletes, held in Mira, Portugal. Just competing in these events is an achievement in itself, but Lauren won the W12 category in Wales, becoming British Champion, and came second overall in Portugal after competing in five different events over the week. As mum said in her email – she's pretty good at running and navigating! We caught up with Lauren to find out a bit more about these events and her background in orienteering – read on! 

RS: Can I confirm that I’m talking to the W12 British Orienteering Champion 2026? 

LS: Yes. 

RS: I ‘m honoured! How did it feel to be British Champion – standing on the podium receiving your medal and the trophy and the Welsh Red Dragon? 

LS: Good. I like winning. 

RS: Are you quite competitive? 

LS: Yes. 

RS: And you also went to Portugal over half term to compete in a week-long competition. Your results from five events meant that you came second overall? 

LS: Yes. 

RS: And last weekend you went to the Lake District with your club, the North East Junior Squad, to train for a big event in Scotland over Easter – the JK Festival? 

LS: Yes. 

RS: And am I also right in saying that the whole family competes: Isla in Year 12, Rae in Year 9 and mum and dad too? 

LS: Yes. 

RS: Ok, good that I’ve got my facts right – thank you. 

Let’s go back to the beginning – how did you get into orienteering? 

LS: Hmm – I can’t really remember exactly – there wasn’t really a choice! 

RS: Fair enough! I guess because the whole family was doing it, it made sense that you did too. 

What do you like about orienteering? 

LS: I like seeing my friends from the club. Some of them live quite far away like Stokesley, so it’s nice meeting up with them at events and training sessions. I like actually doing the events too – running and navigating and especially winning! 

RS: For those people who don’t know anything about orienteering, can you talk us through how an event works – you can use the British Championships as an example. 

LS: Ok – you go to the start and pick up the control descriptions from a box, then you get to look at a map without the controls marked so you can get an idea of the area. Then you go to the end box and pick up your map – but you’re not allowed to look at it until you go. The controls are marked on the map, joined with lines, so you know what order to do them in. Then you start running! 

RS: And do you try to follow those lines? 

LS: Not really – they just tell you which control is next. You have to use paths and tracks that are marked on the map to get between the controls. 

RS: Ah, ok – you obviously have to be very good at reading a map. And what happens when you get to a control? 

LS: You have a dibber – an electronic thing that registers when you get to a control. Then you head off to the next control. You orientate your map, so you know which direction it is. If there are paths you use those, or you take a bearing and run in a straight line. 

RS: How do you do that? 

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Thank you to Mrs Fox, Lead Teacher of Dance at Richmond, for the following report: 

“Last week, 27 students from Years 8–11 had the exciting opportunity to attend the Everybody Dance Festival at York Theatre Royal. 

The festival celebrates dance, movement, and community, bringing together schools, colleges, and community groups from across Yorkshire for a day full of creativity and collaboration. Throughout the day, our students took part in inspiring dance workshops and had the chance to develop their skills while working alongside other young performers. 

One of the highlights of the day was an explosive Afrobeats workshop led by Teissy Easton and the students fully embraced the energy and rhythms of the style. We were also treated to a professional dance performance by Mithun Gill, which provided a fantastic insight into the world of professional performance and choreography. 

The day culminated in a spectacular evening showcase held on the magnificent stage of York Theatre Royal. Our students performed confidently in front of an audience of over 500 people and demonstrated total professionalism. A big thank you to the many parents, family & friends who made the journey to York to watch the performance and support us. 

It was an unforgettable experience for everyone involved. The students represented the school brilliantly and should be extremely proud of their performance and commitment throughout the day. The energy and positivity they brought to the day was incredible! The event organisers even commented on this on their social media, saying "Richmond were a joy. So supportive and friendly with the younger groups - great to see". 

A huge thank you to Hannah and Drew at York Dance Space for hosting such a joyful community event. We can't wait to return again next year!” 

To see a brilliant video of the tech rehearsal performance, go to this link: https://youtu.be/tq2FFDKSwyg 

Hermione was nominated by Miss Dunwoodie who said: “Hermione has recently been off school, and she asked for work and revision while she was absent so she would not fall behind. She was also concerned as she was potentially going to have to move to the Foundation tier in Science due to her grades in some assessments. She asked if she could sit both Higher and Foundation papers in the recent mock exams. She planned to work really hard outside of school as she needs a grade 6 for her next steps. Admiring her dedication, we agreed for Hermione to do this then review her tier of entry. She told me that she achieved a much-improved grade compared to her last assessments and is now going to be entered for the Higher tier. 

Hermione is a shining example of what sheer resilience and determination can help you to achieve, despite challenges outside of school. We are delighted for Hermione and know that her excellent attitude and dedication will see her go from strength to strength in her future. Well done Hermione, may your story be a shining example to others and good luck this summer.” 

Thank you to Mr Moore, joint Lead Teacher of PE at Richmond, as well as coach and manager of the Year 9 boys rugby team, for the following account of the team’s journey to the very top of Yorkshire’s most prestigious schools’ rugby tournament – the Yorkshire Cup:  

“Our journey through the competition started with a round-robin tournament at Harrogate Grammar School back in September with the boys needing to play three games against Ripon Grammar School, Harrogate Grammar School, and King James, Pontefract. The competition is laid out for the winner of that group to go into the semi-final of the Cup competition, with the runner up going into the Plate competition. Our boys won the group quite convincingly.  

The semi-final saw us take the trip down to Otley to Prince Henry's Grammar School.  The squad delivered an excellent performance, showcasing their skill, discipline and game management. Their relentless determination in both attack and defence set the tone, with every player contributing to an outstanding team effort. Richmond won 56-20.  

Saturday's final took place at West Park Leeds RUFC with us taking on Rodillian Academy, Wakefield. The game was a real physical battle from the start with both teams working incredibly hard on both sides of the ball. Richmond took the lead through a Charlie Downes try, before Rodillian responded well making the score 5-5. Richmond grew into the game as it went on before Archie Christon put us ahead with a well-worked try finishing with some powerful running. Two more tries from Steeno Lewavakula and a second from Archie Christon with conversions from Oliver Pickles put Richmond 26-5 up. The game was sadly stopped early due to an injury to one of the Rodillian students around eight minutes from time, with both sides accepting the game was effectively over, and the winner decided.  

The boys were invited up onto the clubhouse balcony to be awarded with the trophy, with Charlie Downes also picking up the Man of the Match award.  

The boys should be hugely proud of their achievement. As a school, we are certainly immensely proud of every one of them. Yorkshire is a big old county and to say you are the best school team in it is quite the claim to be able to make! The team is an absolute pleasure to take for fixtures - they live for their rugby, are all hugely passionate and I really look forward to seeing where their rugby journeys take them both with school and beyond.”   

The full Richmond team is listed below:  

Tobyn Gardener, Sam Kawa, Charlie Miller, Sam Fudali, Zac Airey, Rueben Willby, Moses Suguturaga, Ryan Wills, Rowan Wilkinson, Dylan Hall, Callum Coburn, Archie Christon, Charlie Downes, Steeno Lewavakula, Harrison Baines, Oliver Pickles, Will Littler, Archie Thomas, Addison Olliver, Rozen Magar.  

To see a short video of the team celebrating their win, go to this link: 

https://youtu.be/h9qzd40PgGU 

Ben was nominated by Mrs Green who said: “I have mentored Ben since he started at Richmond School in September and I can't express enough what a lovely and polite young man he is. He is so easy to talk to and he is always keen to let you know how his day and week is going. 

Ben is a brilliant example of all our credit values as he demonstrates them all day every day. 
Ben is a little bit of a worrier. One of his targets was to become more organised and independent during his time at Richmond School. Ben is definitely proving that he can do this! He packs his bag the night before, prepares his own (and his sister’s!) packed lunches and makes sure he has everything he needs for PE. Ben is so organised - he has everything but the kitchen sink in his bag. He is also easy to spot because he has the biggest smile and his bag is bigger than he is! 

Ben strives to be the best he can be by being very disciplined about keeping on top of his independent learning and revising for all his assessments and tests. Unfortunately, Ben prepared so much for a recent French test that his mind went blank. Ben was quite upset about this, so we have agreed that now one of his targets is to stop being so hard on himself. 

Ben is also very creative. He lives on a farm with mum, dad and little sister and has helped the family with their new home as it needed a lot of work doing to it. He also helped create and make a playhouse and stand for his goats and is constantly helping around the farm. Ben also shows great resilience and understanding as, while the house was being renovated, he and his family spent many months living in a caravan. 

Ben is an exemplary student and a real asset to Richmond School. He is also very caring of others and shows a genuine interest of what others have to share with him.” 

As some of our readers may have been aware, on the Thursday after half term, a world record was attempted at the Locomotion Railway Museum in Shildon, County Durham. The current record for the largest number of people ‘doing the Locomotion’ at the same time stands at 1,751 people. For the record to be broken, the official Guiness World Record guidelines required at least 1,752 people to dance the Locomotion for five minutes. The call went out to local dance schools from around the area, as well as members of the public, to gather for the attempt at 2pm on Thursday 26th February. We caught up with two Richmond students who took part, Maggie Copland, Year 7 and Rosie Bromfield, Year 11, to find out a bit more. 

RS: Before we talk about the event, tell us a bit about your dancing – you're both members of the Tiffany School of Dance in Darlington, aren’t you? 

RB: I’ve been there since I was three, so 13 years. I mainly do ballet, but also one lesson of street dance. Ballet’s my favourite. I’m grade six at the moment and doing my grade seven in April. I do Vocational as well and I’m at Advanced Foundation for that. 

MC: I’ve also been dancing since I was three. I just do ballet – pointe classes at Foundation as well. I’ve just started working on my grade four. 

RS: You’re both very experienced dancers! How did the Tiffany School of Dance come to be involved with the Locomotion event? 

MC: They emailed all the dance schools in the local area to try to get as many people as possible, and we said yes. 

RS: Makes sense. So, let’s talk about the Locomotion dance and the choreography. You know that the famous music producer Pete Waterman OBE was involved with this event? He worked with Kylie on her version of the song back in 1998 and he’s a real railway enthusiast. 

RB & MC: Err no – we haven’t heard of him. 

RS: I’m not surprised, to be honest. He’s quite old now and 1998 is a *very* long time ago. Tell us about the dance – did you practice it beforehand? I saw the choreographers Darrien Wright and Zoe Bellamy demonstrating it – it looked very complicated!  

RB: Yes, we definitely practiced it. We did it as a warmup before our dance lessons, then there were two after school sessions where we practiced. Miss Tiffany went through it and explained all the moves. 

MC: There were about 40 people from the dance school that went to the event. We’d all been practicing it for ages in the run up, so we were all pretty good at it! 

RS: Sounds as though you were well prepared! Tell us about the day itself. I know the record attempt was at 2pm, but what happened beforehand? 

RB: We arrived and we got to look around the museum – that was pretty cool. There were loads of people around – big crowds from other dance schools – it was a really nice atmosphere. 

MC: Miss Tiffany got us together and registered us, then we went in and got a wristband. We also had stickers to tell us where to dance – the dance area outside was divided into different sections – it was all very well organised. It was raining, though. 

RS: Yes, I heard that the weather wasn’t great. So, everyone got together before the attempt – talk us through what happened next. 

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As part of the German Week activities before half term, the Richmond School German department ran a German themed baking competition.  

Miss Dutton, Lead Teacher of German said: “This was a first for Richmond School, and we were blown away by the number and quality of entries. We had over 35 entries from students in Years 7-10. All entries were tasted by the judging panel which included Mrs Potter, Miss Tucker, Ms Doak and the MFL team. We tasted apple cake. Black Forest gateau, apple strudel, traditional gingerbread biscuits, marble cake,  Streuselkuchen, Baumkuchen, and Bienenstich to name but a few.   

The bakes were decorated in creative ways: we saw flags, hearts as well as more unusual ideas including a Miniatur Wunderland, the Swiss mountains, a traditional German Bollen hat and a beer stein. A lot of deliberation was involved but eventually we decided on 10 overall winners. We have definitely seen the work of some future Bake Off stars - well done and thank you everyone for taking part!”  

The certificates were presented in Assemblies last week.  

Winners   

In preparation for an exciting educational visit to Switzerland later this month, A‑level Physics students from Richmond, Northallerton, and Stokesley Sixth Form Colleges came together this week for a special introductory event hosted by Catherine Scott at Northallerton. 

The session was designed to help students from the three colleges meet one another, begin forming friendships, and build a sense of teamwork before travelling together on the upcoming trip to CERN. From the moment everyone arrived, there was a lively buzz as students took part in a series of ice‑breaking activities aimed at helping them feel more at ease in their new group. 

A highlight of the morning was a fast‑paced ‘getting to know you’ game of Herd Mentality, which encouraged students to share fun facts and discover common interests.  

The group then turned their attention to Physics, taking part in a session about the synchrocyclotron—CERN’s first particle accelerator. Students learned how it operated and how it paved the way for the modern accelerators they will soon see in action during their visit.  

After a productive morning, students enjoyed lunch together, giving them further opportunities to chat informally and continue building connections. 

The meet‑up proved to be a valuable start to the CERN experience, helping students feel more confident, comfortable, and excited for the journey ahead. With new friendships already forming, the group is looking forward to exploring the world‑leading research facilities at CERN together. 

Many thanks to the teachers Catherine Scott at Northallerton for hosting, and Abbie Hope and Anna Harrison from Stokesley and Richmond for organising the visit for their students. 

Thanks to Mrs Southgate for the following report: 

“A fantastic day for our U13s at the Hambleton and  Richmondshire Area 7‑a‑side Tournament last Thursday. 

After a losing 2-0 to Easingwold in the first game, the team bounced back brilliantly with wins over Queen Mary’s, Northallerton, Stokesley and Risedale, finishing 2nd in their pool on goal difference. 

They then capped off the day with a 2-0 win against Wensleydale to claim 3rd place overall. 

A huge well done to all the players for their teamwork, determination and great football throughout the tournament. 

Congratulations to Bedale High School who beat Stokesley to win the competition and thanks to Bedale High School and Bedale Junior Football Club for hosting the tournament. 

Thanks also to Emmy Raggett (Year 12) for her expert coaching and refereeing!”