The countdown to Christmas officially begins! Wednesday (15 November) marked the latest exciting milestone for our upcoming professional Christmas show – Nativity! the Musical – with the introduction of our professional actors, George Attwell Gerhards, Natalie Turner, Aidan Cutler, Matthew James Hinchliffe, and Anne McCall.

Last week, a group of our pupils, alongside pupils from King’s High School and The Kingsley School, had the brilliant experience of taking part in a workshop with conductor Rebecca Miller.

Image of Billy playing chess in school

On Sunday, 22 October, Billy in Year 7 competed in the Open section of the Birmingham Rapidplay. In his first round, he faced a formidable foe in the form of International Master Ameet Ghasi. Ameet is the current British Rapidplay Chess Champion with a national rating of 2640. He recently drew with legendary former World Number 2 Alexei Shirov. Facing him in rapid format would be a daunting prospect for any chess player, let alone someone who just turned twelve years old.

Quite unbelievably, Billy did what Shirov could not do and had Ghasi in all kinds of trouble. The master offered him a draw at one point and Billy boldly declined, playing on in pursuit of victory. Some ten moves later, he was offered another draw. Billy was objectively winning still in the position, but, with it being complicated and having limited time on his clock, he accepted this time. This is nevertheless a phenomenal result against the reigning British Champion and world-class player in this format. Furthermore, Billy went on to score 4.5/7 overall in the tournament, performing nearly 150 points higher than his rating.

I don't like to use superlatives for the sake of it, but on this occasion they are merited. There are few children Billy's age on the planet who could have achieved what he did on Sunday.