Congratulations to bobsleighers Jazmin Sawyers, Ollie Biddulph and James Lelliott for their fantastic achievements at the Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

Upper Sixth pupil Jazmin took silver, alongside team-mate Mica McNeill, while former pupils Ollie and James came fifth in the boys' event, just 0.1 seconds off the podium and 0.27 seconds behind the gold medal time. Read more

(L:R Head of Economics Mr Jon Andrews, Zachary Stephenson, Johnny Taylor, Lidia Guzman, Mr Martin Vander Weyer, Andrey Sidorov, Patrick Aschke, Daniel Agland and Amy Clough)

Debate and challenging opinion are important aspects of education and development, so we were delighted when Martin Vander Weyer of the Spectator accepted the invitation of the Academic Society to talk on ‘The Morality of Business’. His fascinating lecture engaged Society members and Economics pupils in addressing ethical dilemmas alongside business considerations, and created an interesting discourse around recent headline stories.

In the same week the Biology Symposium offered pupils the chance to hear from leading academics and scientists from Bristol and Cardiff Universities and the Colorectal Cancer Genetics Group in London. Read more

Our Economics pupils need your help! Millfield's Target 2.0 team  require primary data to help with their challenge and would like as many parents as possible to complete their survey. The team would very much appreciate your support. All answers are anonymous and the data will be used only by the team for the purposes of the competition.

(L:R Millfield Ski team: Tom Ash, Will Lovell, Tom Doyle, Cody Mountain and Robbie Faulkner)

Millfield Sport has started 2012 in true Olympic spirit. Kicked off by Jazmin Sawyers’ Bobsleigh silver at the Winter Youth Olympics and followed by Chris Robshaw’s appointment as England Rugby Captain, the whole campus has been inspired to great achievements.

George Bailey tops the National fencing rankings in junior foil and will represent GB at the forthcoming European Championships; Craig Worman has made his international debut in épée; and Harriet Dixon and Griff Williams will represent Wales at the Junior Commonwealth Championships later this month.

Meg Lewis-Williams and Ffion Thompson have made their respective Welsh and English U16 squads for the summer’s hockey internationals.

James Golby and Dominic Webb represented ISFA U18s in football, with James also earning his ESFA cap and leading our 1st XI to the ISFA Cup Final, to be held at MK Dons Stadium on March 15.

Other successes this month have been our 1st VII netballers getting through to the semi-final of the Independent Schools Cup; our skiers claiming second at the British Schoolboys Team Championships, including individual gold medals for Tom Doyle in both Slalom and GS; Amy Cooper leading the Somerset field in cross country; and the launch of the Millfield Rowing eight-boat in the company of British Olympic Athletes’ Commission Chair Sarah Winckless. Read more

The Atkinson Gallery is proud to present its annual MA & Other Post Graduates contemporary art show (now in its 16th year).

The exhibition showcases the work of students who express particularly fresh, innovative ideas and reflects the talent and wide range of work being produced in art schools today.

I'd like to invite you to the preview evening on Monday 20th February 7-9pm for a unique opportunity to see current work in painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and film. Read more

Millfield international pupils enjoyed a festival of music, fashion, colour and, of course, food from around the world at the International Student Association's Annual Dinner last Friday.

Pupils from 20 countries paraded their national dress on the catwalk and entertainment encompassed singing from Wales and the Caribbean, Irish and Indian dancing, violin and piano recitals and a talk on Africa from two pupils.

The sumptuous feast included Tunisian cous cous, m'chuziwa nyama, falafel, moroccan chicken and coconut cake.

Many thanks to Mrs and Mr Orton for organising the event which has now been running for 13 years. 

Mr Orton, Head of English as a Foreign Language, said "The February catwalk has become one of the highlights of the school calendar, and is certainly one of the more colourful events." See photos

The A2 Drama pupils have performed their final exam pieces during this week both to examiners and to a packed Millfield audience. The performances were examples of breath-taking theatre and demonstrated the pupils’ expertise and invention at the culmination of their two year course. The performances were a diverse mixture of styles: comedy of manners, physical theatre and creative adaptation, demonstrating the tremendous imaginations of our young directors and actors.

Earlier this month, Year 10 Drama pupils were treated to “Mayday Mayday” at the Bristol Old Vic. This was a beautiful and harrowing tale which utilised a huge variety of creative story-telling techniques and has inspired the pupils in developing their own skills in the classroom. You can see the pupils interpretation of the work on the Millfield Drama blog.

And finally, best of luck to our National Youth Theatre (NYT) auditionees. Being selected for NYT would be an excellent experience for our pupils, with a wonderful opportunity to work with top directors, writers, actors and designers. There are a number of shows to be performed by the NYT this year including one at the Olympic village to the London Games competitors.

We were delighted to present Hayley Scurr, Fundraising Manager at BIBIC, with a cheque for £14,060 on behalf of the school. BIBIC was Millfield's school charity for 2011 and the Charity Committee organised major fundraising events throughout the year including cake sales and retiring collections at school events in aid of the local charity.

I look forward to announcing the new 2012 school charity in the March edition of the Headmaster's Newsletter.

Pupils and staff have also raised funds for other charities throughout the year and I am pleased to announce that Shapwick and Warner Houses raised £525 selling their "SHWApple" apple juice in aid of Cots for Tots, a charity raising funds for Bristol's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

We are looking to publish half-term reports for Year 9, Year 10 and Lower Sixth on the Parent Portal (secure area) this afternoon. An email will be sent when the reports are live.