Page 8 - Millfield GSG Brochure 2021

WHAT THE GOOD
SCHOOLS GUIDE SAYS

THE ARTS AND
EXTRACURRICULAR

Millfield is a busy place and students often
discover new talents whilst at the school.
A girl who arrived at Millfield in Year 9
with a music and art scholarship was
swimming for Kenya by the time she left.
‘She hadn’t realised that she was a
particularly good swimmer until she came
here but that’s what Millfield enables you
to do,’ says the head. ‘Our best musician is
a concert standard vocalist and she hadn’t
sung before she came to us.’

Art and DT happen in a gorgeous spacious
block – needless to say, all equipment is
bang up to the mark. The nationally known
Atkinson Gallery hosts four major
exhibitions a year and new work for the
sculpture trail is regularly commissioned
or purchased. Music is ‘astonishingly
good’. A parent told us, ‘The sport is
terrific but music is out of this world.’
Exposure to music is part of every
Millfieldian’s first year, when learning an
orchestral instrument is compulsory.
Major concerts often take place in Wells
Cathedral, where the choir sings regular
services.

Drama is popular and well resourced, with
several studios as well as the Meyer
Theatre. Just one whole school production
a year but a ton of other things, such as a
sketch show, a Spanish play, and
opportunities to get involved in all
goings-on backstage. Applications to
drama school are well supported and
success rates high. During the pandemic
an enterprising sixth former used his
school stage management experience to
illuminate Glastonbury Tor in blue after
the national clap for health workers and
carers every week.

The Millfield Activities Programme (MAP
to its friends) offers 100 different pursuits
for all students up until Year 12 and is
intended to offer breadth. French cinema,
German card games, skiing race training,
silversmithing – it’s all there for the taking.
Local volunteering opportunities with a
range of charities.