Oundle School
Arts Exhibitions
The Arts Exhibitions scheme was set up by Dr. Townsend in Michaelmas Term 2000 to recognize outstanding achievements by our pupils in fields other than the sporting and academic. The term ‘Arts’ is intended to be a catholic one: we are looking for strong evidence of imaginative and consistently outstanding contributions over a period of time to one or more of a very wide range of activities. The scheme deliberately bridges the conventional notion of the Arts/Science divide, therefore. In a typical year awards might recognize such diverse activities as Music and Singing, Drama, Theatre Technical work, Journalism (print and radio), Debating and Public Speaking, Engineering Projects, Photography, Cinema Appreciation, Fine Art and IT.
Arts Exhibitions offer us a strong reminder of how rich and diverse the School remains in the face of increasing exam pressures, thanks to the energy and creativeness of so many within the community. We have been delighted by the number and strength of the nominations and have been interested to note how the scheme has helped to identify achievers and contributors who did not necessarily come to the fore on entry to Oundle: between a third and a half of winners since 2000 have won no previous school scholarships or other awards.
Mr N.A. Brittain, Undermaster