Beautiful blanket of snow to greet the last few days of term. Today over 100 students head for Obertauern in Austria for the annual ski and snowboarding trip. Bon voyage!

Two rising stars in their disciplines of sport and music have been announced as this year’s Gordonian Award winners. Nerys Tullett (sport) and Elysee Spacie (music) will receive up to £1,000 over three years to further develop their talents and expertise in their areas.

For Elysee the award comes just weeks after conducting her winning entry, ‘A Christmas Camel’ in the school Carol Service competition. Now working towards her Grade 7 singing exam for musical theatre, Elysee sings with the school choir Semper Fidelis, is a Music Ambassador, member of the Pipes and Drums and has attained Level 4 Bagpipes.

Nerys has excelled both on and off the sports pitches. A keen athlete, as well as setting school records, she has successfully competed in the District Championships and South East Schools Regional Finals. She also represents the school in hockey and cricket, as well as coaching younger students in hurdles.

Both students will have their names engraved on the Gordonian Awards Board in the Dining Hall in recognition of their achievement.

For more information on the Gordonian Awards, please click here.

Four new boats for the Gordon’s Boat Club named on Sunday in the traditional way, with champagne for luck. But nobody more surprised at the ceremony, than the rowing coach -  three times Olympian Cox, Alan Inns. As the Gordon tartan, was removed on the new main launch, the name was revealed as Alan Inns! Head of Boats James Gibson explained why Mr Inns had been honoured in this way – “He has been the coach that has kept rowing going since it started and his coaching is one of the main reasons behind our success in the past year”. The four new boats, three of which were named after people and items associated with General Gordon, are to accommodate the growing numbers of students taking up rowing at Gordon’s. In 2018 just four students were taking part in this co-curricular activity. Now 28 students are turning up before dawn for training.

Given just eight minutes in which to work out the profession of the parent at their table, Year 10 students attending today's Careers Speed Dating are facing a difficult challenge! Among the team of talented parents who have volunteered is a university lecturer; finance director; psychologist, airline captain, orthopaedic surgeon, pharmacist, actuary and search dog handler! Thank you to our parents for an unforgettable insight into such a varied number of careers.

Among the many coaches, physiotherapists, managers and players that make up each team competing in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, is Gordon’s School Head of Rugby Chris Davies.

This week he flies to Dubai for the second tournament in the series, where he will be the assistant coach for the Men’s Spanish 7s side. The country, currently in 12^th place, just one behind Great Britain, takes on Ireland in their first game of this leg, on Friday 2^nd December.

This is the first time Mr Davies, a former skills coach for the Fiji Men’s 7s team, has worked with the Spanish team.  Even though there will be a language barrier (he admits to not knowing a word in Spanish!), he is relishing the opportunity and has even been picking up Spanish tips from a current player, Sixth Form student Rodriguez who is part of the Senior squad at the school.

“It will be difficult because we share a pool with Ireland, as well as France and Uganda”, said Mr Davies, adding:  “I will be assisting Pablo Feijoo and helping ensure that the team remains in the top ten of the world series, qualifies for the Olympics and inspires the next generation of Spanish rugby players”.

The Welsh-born coach who played his junior representative rugby in West Wales before joining the military, has enjoyed stints at London Wasps, the Abu Dhabi Harlequins and the Hong Kong Rugby Union. At Gordon’s, he heads up the school’s RFU ACE partnership with Harlequins and in the Summer, saw two of the original five students starting the programme, progress to the Harlequins senior squad.

“I’m really looking forward to returning to the 7s series and the challenges that it will present. I am thankful to Gordon’s for allowing me this opportunity. When I return, I am hoping to be full of ideas to put into practice in readiness for the school’s extensive 7s programme and of course our 7s tour to Portugal next year.”