St Albans High School for Girls September 2013 Newsletter
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Transcript of St Albans High School for Girls September 2013 Newsletter
September 2013Newsletter
“We could not be happier with these two outstanding sets of results.
Achieving top scores at A Level, GCSE and the more rigorous IGCSE
takes enormous enthusiasm, commitment and dedication from the
girls and also from their teachers and parents who support and
encourage them. We are therefore delighted to see the efforts of all
the girls so richly rewarded” Rosemary Martin
I am delighted to inform you that
Dorothy Henderson, following a
successful period shadowing as
Chairman Elect, will take up the
role of Chairman of Governors
from September. Dorothy has
been a Governor for four years
and has recently been working
with fellow Governors on the
strategic vision for the school
going forward. Dorothy is a
solicitor and currently sits as a
part-time Employment Tribunal
Judge, having formerly been a
partner in a leading City firm.
I, on the other hand, have been looking back at my
tenure with a sense of privilege and joy at the
continuing accomplishments of St Albans High School
for Girls and the changes which I hope you agree
enhance not only the education and experiences the
girls have here but the environment too on both sites.
I have been fortunate to work with committed and
supportive Governors, dedicated Staff, and wonderful
Headmistresses. The leadership and example they all
set should never be underestimated and I have greatly
appreciated the positive underpinning they have all
given me in my time as Chairman and in enabling me
to do that job.
I am confident I leave the High School in good heart
and that it and the girls will continue to flourish.
I wish everyone all the best for the future.
Welcome to the new look termly Newsletter!
In line with the design of our new prospectus
and website, we have made some slight
changes to the format of the newsletter which
continues to demonstrate the breadth and
depth of activities and achievements of the
girls.
I feel proud and privileged to have witnessed
the joy on the faces of our girls as they
opened their A Level and GCSE examination
results last month. This year’s results were
outstanding and testament to the hard work
and dedication of the girls and their teachers
and I would like to warmly congratulate them
on their achievements.
In the middle of September we shall be
welcoming a representative from the Good
Schools Guide to the school. Following the
visit, reviews of both the Senior and
Preparatory School will be published in next
year’s edition of this well-respected
educational publication. What a wonderful
opportunity this will be for the girls to
demonstrate the pride they have in
their school.
Finally, I would like to
take this opportunity to
welcome all new pupils,
staff and parents and
hope they will enjoy
being a part of the High
School community.
Mrs Rosemary Martin
Headmistress
Dear ParentsH
ead
mistr
ess
’s L
ett
er
September 2013 | Newsletter
2 St Albans High School for Girls
Sixth Form students
celebrated a joyous day as
they received record-
breaking A Level results in
August. With 37% of all
grades at A* and 82% at
A*/A, the results were especially rewarding as a nationwide
decrease in the proportion of A Levels awarded top grades was
recorded for the second year in a row, with just 7.6% of entries
gaining the elite A* grade. 97% of students are going on to their
first choice university, including 11% who have been successful
in gaining places at Oxford or Cambridge.
A Level and GCSE results- a record-breaking year!
Mrs Jacqui Boulton
Following record-breaking A
Level results the previous week,
our GCSE pupils were delighted
that they too had achieved a
stunning set of results. 59% of
grades were at A*, 99% A*/B
and 100% A*-C. With 18 girls
getting straight A* across a variety of subjects, these results
proved to be the best ever for the High School.
A* successat A Level
Another stunning set ofGCSE results for 2013!
JacquiBoulton
DorothyHenderson
Chairman ofGovernors
Life has also emerged out of the ‘Grow your
Own’ garden, with ripe red strawberries,
clambering runner beans and fresh greenery
from the potatoes and pumpkins. Year 3
planted the potatoes in recycled tyres and
we are hoping to harvest enough potatoes
in the autumn to eat them!
The Science lab sprang into life during
Trinity term with the arrival of seven
chicken eggs. After what seemed to the
girls like a very long wait (19 days) we
were blessed with the arrival of three
chicks, one of which hatched in front of
the teachers! The chicks are thoroughly
enjoying the girls’ company and are being
superbly looked after by our Year 5 pupils.
St Albans High School for Girls | Prep 3
During Design and Technology lessons, girls
in Reception enjoyed designing flip flops and
choosing which materials they would use to
make them. They had great fun taking part in
their own fashion show!
September 2013 | Newsletter
Dear ParentsDuring last term the Prep School made the most
of the summer weather. We have been growing our
own fruit and vegetables and we saw the complete
lifecycle of the butterfly. A highlight was hatching
our own chicks and watching them emerge from
their eggs and develop into fluffy, highly curious,
energetic balls of fun! There were many moments
of sporting excellence from the girls at our Sports
Days and various events locally and nationally. The
additional outdoor pursuits included into the PE
programme, such as skiing, rock climbing and water
sports, proved very popular with Years 3 – 6. Many
creative projects were undertaken from Reception
through to the top of the school, as well as
educational visits and theme days. We hope you
will enjoy reading about some of the activities that
the girls have been involved in.
In closing, this academic year the Prep School
celebrates ten years in Wheathampstead and 125
years of the High School as a whole. There will be
various events arranged throughout the school
year to mark our tenth birthday, which we will
share in future newsletters.
With best wishes
Ms Gillian Bradnam
Head of the Preparatory School
Cre
ativ
ity
Here
comes
summer
New Life Grow your OwnYear 1 had an exciting time learning
about the lifecycles of different
creatures including chickens and
frogs. During Science lessons, the
girls were fascinated to see the
transformation of caterpillars into
Painted Lady butterflies and then
watched them being released into
the school grounds! Every girl kept
a diary of what she had observed
to record what they had learnt.
We made our own boats using recycled
materials. Then we raced the boats in our water
tray by blowing very hard. It was great fun!
Year 1 enjoyed learning about Queen Elizabeth II. They wrote a
letter to Her Majesty asking her a question about her life and
were all thrilled to receive a reply from Buckingham Palace.
Com
munity
O.H.M.S.
September 2013 | Newsletter
4 St Albans High School for Girls | Prep
As part of our Mexican topic, Year 2explored maps and used books and theinternet to find out what life is like in thelittle village of Tocuaro. The girls haveparticularly enjoyed creating their ownmask designs and joining in with theMexican Fiesta.
Eco Warriors
A party was held to celebrate 60 years since The Queen’s
Coronation. We wrote invitations to our teddy bears so they
could join us for our special afternoon and made crowns, flags
and sandwiches.
¡Hola!
Year 3 went on an exciting adventure to the indoor
Snow Centre as part of our Fit for Life week. All the
girls had a memorable day taking part in learning how
to ski safely and sledge in style.
Snow Joke
In Geography, Year 3 have been studying why it is
important to care for our environment. The girls were
set the task to design and create their own outfit
using only recycled materials. During Independent
Learning Week, the girls shared their knowledge and
views with members of the local community.
Year 4’s Trip to the Zoo
Josie and Claudia
were runners-up of
the Mini Green event
at the Hertfordshire
Aegon Schools Mini
Tennis tournament.
Year 6 performed their
end of year production
– Olivia Twirl.
SportsRoundup
Olivia Twirl
Year 5 had great fun working collaboratively on a
Thinking Skills project during their PSHEE lessons.
Each group was given a different characteristic
such as persistence, originality or risk-taking. They
were set the task of coming up with a character
to define their trait. The girls created fun and
inspiring cartoons on paper and performed a role
play to the year group. There were some inspiring
tales told and great fun was had by all!
This was a story of Olivia, an orphan
who escaped from an orphanage and
made her way to London. There she met
a number of characters including Eliza
Doolittle, Fagin, Dodger, Scrooge and
Sherlock Holmes. She eventually finds
her mother, Annie, when they discover
they both wear matching lockets.
Taking time to think
We were blessed with fabulous weather for Prep
School Sports Day. This year Mandeville House
were victorious winning both the Relay Cup and
the Sports Day Cup. Well done to all Prep girls
who contributed to a great day of Athletics. The
super weather held for Pre-Prep Sports Day and
it was another great afternoon with Julian House
being victorious.
At the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing
Academy, (the venue for the 2012 Olympics),
Penelope and Eleanor represented the High School
for the first time in this event. They faced very
difficult conditions during the morning race, with
gale force six winds and hail! The girls came an
excellent 5th place. This was a fantastic result and
the girls should be very proud of their strength of
character and achievements.
Sports Days
IAPS Sailing
As part of our legacy for London
2012 – to give the girls wider
sports opportunities and to
enhance pupil resilience – we
have introduced a number of
outdoor pursuits sessions for KS2
ranging from water sports, to
skiing and climbing. All these
session were a great success.
For the first year we entered the
London Prep Schools Athletics
Championships. A team from Year
5 and a team from Year 6 travelled
to Eton to compete. 32 schools
entered the competition and our
girls recorded some great results.
We recorded similar success at the
District Athletics Championships.
As a result of fabulous team
performances the girls won the
trophy and are the Girls District
Athletics Champions.
Outdoor Pursuits
St Albans High School for Girls | Prep 5
September 2013 | Newsletter
District
Athletics
Championships
On 1 July, Quantum Theatre Company
gave a lively and energetic performance
of ‘Twelfth Night’ to Year 8 pupils. There
were just four members performing
which entailed many quick costume
changes in order for all the characters
to appear. We had been studying the
play and therefore had some prior
knowledge and found it really
entertaining and easy to follow.
Year 10 and 11 GCSE Drama
students enjoyed an exciting inclusive
dance performance on aerial skills by
ActOne ArtsBase, who provide
dance classes, training and
performance opportunities for
disabled and vulnerable young people
throughout Hertfordshire. The
students were given the opportunity
to explore the themes of the piece
through a dance workshop and to
test out their own aerial skills using
ladders. The Drama Department have
been raising money for a number of
years for ActOne ArtsBase with the
total currently standing at £1755.
September 2013 | Newsletter
Showcasing Art – GCSEThe eagerly awaited summer exhibition of
GCSE art, showcasing some excellent pieces
of work, was extremely well attended by the
High School extended community in May.
6
A Sense ofBeauty
St Albans High School for Girls | Senior
An alternative‘Twelfth Night’By Amy, Year 8
As part of National Schools Sports Week,
over 100 pupils in Years 7-9 competed in a
team handball tournament. Forming four
teams per year group, the girls were very
competitive and worked very hard throughout
the tournament
to present an
exciting week
of handball.
Congratulations
to the winning
teams.
Sports Day proved to be
a memorable occasion
mainly due to the
number of records
broken. Honours were
shared between Verulam
and Paris Houses with
Paris winning the House Jumping Cup and Middle
School Cup, and Verulam winning the Senior School
Cup and the Combined School Cup.
On 18 June, Year 7 ventured on a Geography day
trip to Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex. Walton has
many geographical features, such as cliffs that have
eroded over hundreds of years and these showed
clearly the different layers, for example, silt, red crag,
London clay and gravel. This was a perfect trip
because we were learning about the erosion of cliffs.
We felt the London clay and could see how wet it
was and therefore how easily it helped the cliffs to
slump. We then measured how much the cliff had
eroded by counting how many steps it took from
where the edge of the cliffs are now, to the sea. We
then went on a hunt for fossil and found fossilised
wood and thousands of years old dinosaur poo!
Following completion of our worksheets we
analysed sea defences and after lunch had a chance
to paddle in the sea, ending the day with a sandcastle
competition before making our way back home.
At this year’s Old Girls’ Tennis Match it was lovely
to see so many familiar faces, including Lauren
Hewitt who is competing at university level in
America. The Old Girls were victorious and were
presented with a new trophy.
We are delighted that both individual and team talentsand achievements in sport were recognised last term.
Going the extra mile
Harpenden
Doubles U16
Runners-up
Lucy &
Georgie
U15 Aegon
Division 1
Tennis team
County
Runners-up
September 2013 | Newsletter
FieldworkBy Jeea, Year 7
7St Albans High School for Girls | Senior
At the Herts
Advertiser School
Awards Lucy and
Sophie received
runners-up awards
in the Sporting
Achiever Categories.
At the District Sports Awards,
numerous awards were made, including to the
U19 Netball team who were named School
Team of the Year, with Olympic Gold Medal
Winner, Peter Wilson presenting the award.
Year 9 pupil, Isobel received a recognition
award for U21 Elite Athlete of the Year. SportsDay
The sporting season finished on a high with wins in both the U14 & U16County Athletics Finals. Over 50 schools competed in both leagues, witheight schools reaching the finals in which our girls took home all thetrophies. Earlier in the season the School also won the Overall DistrictChampionships Trophy, in addition to the Year 8, 9 & Senior team trophies.
U14, U13 & Overall District
AthleticsChampions
Handball Winning Teams
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
OGA vs
STAHS
The Mathematics ofSudoku and MagicSquares; Superheroes –the Science andMathematics and AlanTuring and the EnigmaMachine engaged and
challenged 24 Year 10
girls just before the end
of the summer term
when they experienced
a maths enrichment day
at the University of
Hertfordshire. All the
girls enjoyed their
experience including
Corinne, Nina and
Rebecca – winners of
the lunchtime quiz.
EnrichingMaths
September 2013 | Newsletter
My Ganesh Statue
For our last RS lesson last term, I brought in my statue of Ganesh – the
elephant God of Hinduism, who has many features which represent
different things. Mrs Patel said that it is important to ‘live’ a religion every
day and wanted some of us to bring in artefacts that we use as part of
our religion.
The Hindu god, Ganesh, has a trunk which can pick up big or small things.
This represents his consideration. With his big ears he can listen and filter
out all the bad things people say so he can see the best in everyone.
Sometimes Ganesh has a mouse sitting at his left foot and this shows that
he cares about small things in life. I choose to worship Ganesh because I
like the way he has many meanings and symbols which represent
thoughtfulness and kindness. It is important for all people, not just Hindus,
to be reminded of these virtues every day.
8 St Albans High School for Girls | Senior
On 1 July, 96 Year 7 students
travelled to the Château du
Tertre, in Northern France to
experience French life and to
practise their language skills by
purchasing items from the
local market and French shops.
A host of challenging individual
and team building activities
were also enjoyed including
archery and raft building.
Foreign Shores
By Isobel, Year 7
Senior
September 2013 | Newsletter
On 4 and 5 July, a group of Sixth Form
reporters transformed the Rotunda into ‘The
Newsroom’, in order to keep staff, parents and
Governors up to date with what was
happening during Year 7-10 Activity Days. The
Newsroom was humming with activity with its
bank of laptops and a supply of food and drink
helping to fuel a steady flow of news
throughout the day!
The Virtual Learning Environment was put to
very effective use with the creation of The
Newsroom website which required reporters
from all year groups to be efficient and
discerning when gathering their information
and reporting back to the team. The
experience helped them to develop important
skills such as time management and working
to deadlines, juggling (in more ways than one!)
as well as interview techniques. As the news
went live, there was little time for editing so it
was important to get it right in the first takes.
The Sixth Form reporters in particular, who
were in The Newsroom as part of their work
experience, greatly enjoyed the opportunity
to develop skills specific to journalism and also
learning more about just how much work
goes into producing pages for the school VLE.
All the girls involved were very grateful to
have the opportunity to be a part of
something that was challenging, fun and
different and that everyone could appreciate
and get involved in.
By Katherine, Year 12
St Albans High School for Girls | Sixth 9
Pupils in Years 7-10 enjoyed two
very different school days during
the first week of July. On day one
they spent a day in school learning
a variety of circus skills with the
Shooting Stars Circus Skills
company. On day two they enjoyed
a whole host of activities at an
outdoor activity centre in Watford.
Activity Days
The team was made up of:
(some but not all featured below)
Amy, Katherine, Lagshiga, Annabel, Evie,
Georgina, Mitzi, Holly, Millie, Adele, Rebecca,
Alice, Alysia, Oyinlola, Marianne, Francesca,
Alicia, led by Mrs Wright, Mr Ramsbottom
and Mr Corcoran.
The Newsroom
Community
September 2013 | Newsletter
National Youth Theatre Placement
Held
for the
first time in
the bright, airy
space of the
Jubilee Centre, the
AS/A2 Level Art exhibition
showcased a variety of
inspiring pieces of work.
10 St Albans High School for Girls | Sixth
Beautiful renditions of pieces including Tchaikovsky’s
Hymn of the Cherubim, Schaffer’s Bavarian Rhapsody,
Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Malcolm Arnold’s Little Suite
and Howard Shore’s Suite from Lord of the Rings were
performed by the Intermediate Orchestra, Lower
Strings Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra and the Senior
Choir at this year’s Summer Orchestral Concert.
A confident and stylistic performance by Georgina of
the first movement from the Hummel trumpet
concerto (1803), accompanied by the Chamber
Orchestra opened the second half of the concert.
Arnold’s A Grand, Grand Overture brought the concert
to a surreal yet fantastic end. Featuring a few
unexpected guests – namely three vacuum cleaners
and a floor polisher, this was written for one of the
famous Hoffnung Concerts in 1956, with the various
cleaning implements brutally silenced towards the end
of the piece by four rifles. A spectacular concert indeed!
Sixth Form student Aurélie has gained a place
at the prestigious National Youth Theatre to
study set design. Aurélie, who had been
studying stage design through the AS Level
Theatre Studies course, is very excited at the
prospect of spending her summer with the
company.
Orchestral ConcertShowcasing Art – A Level By Rachel, Year 12
Senior
September 2013 | Newsletter
Race for Life
St Albans High School for Girls | Sixth 11
Despite overcast skies on Sunday 23 June,
nothing could dampen the spirits of the Year
12 students who gathered at Stockwood Park,
Luton for the Race for Life.
AlumnaeNews
Congratulations to
former pupil Janine
Gray who has
achieved a first in her
examinations for Part
1B of the Natural
Sciences Tripos at
Newnham College,
Cambridge.
Talented musician
Chloe Rush wants to
use her High School
education to help
those less fortunate
than herself by
spending her summer
teaching at a school
outside Kathmandu.
Chloe, who plays the
violin, saxophone and
piano and is studying
music at Cambridge,
raised funds for the
school in Nepal and is
looking forward to
teaching English and
also music particularly
when a language
barrier exists.
Final Farewell
Year 13 girls bade a final, fond farewell to the
High School on Friday 21 June at their Leavers’
Lunch, the last official day of their school
careers. This followed on from the hugely
successful Leavers’ Ball in May, where the
paparazzi jostled to get photos of a seemingly
endless stream of elegant High School girls. We
wish all of Year 13 the very best.The girls showed great tenacity and true High
School spirit in their support for each other on
the day. A member of 'the team' ran the race
before she set off to visit Durham University and
another took public transport all the way from
Southgate, encountering problems along the way,
to arrive in time for the start!
One of the Mums, who ran with the girls
commented, “the girls were an absolute credit to
the High School and it was a pleasure and a
privilege to run with them”. The money that they
raised will go towards Cancer Research UK; a
very worthwhile cause which is close to the heart
of many.Chal
lenge
On 25 June, Badac Theatre Company visited Year
9 to talk about a topic that we are currently
studying in RS and had previously studied in
History: the Holocaust. The Director, Steve
began by talking about when Hitler became
Chancellor of Germany and how the situation
started to change in Germany to become anti-
semitic. We were given in depth detail about the
events including the Kristellnacht, Night of the
Shattered Glass. It was shocking to hear that
there were only six death camps as we had
expected many more considering that such a
high number of people, six million, had died.
Throughout the talk, Steve asked us questions
to see how much we already knew, and he made
sure that we were clear about the facts.
Afterwards we were split up into smaller groups
and were told to come up with a freeze frame
of what we imagined to happen in the camps.
Some of the still images consisted of people
dying in the gas chambers, people working in the
concentration camps and the physical
examination queue which decided if you were
well enough to work or if you were to be gassed
straight away. After the groups had displayed
their still image, Steve discussed with us the
reality of the image and went into more detail
about each one whilst adding in true stories to
increase our understanding of the tragic events.
After lunch, we went back into the School Hall
to watch the Ashes to Ashes play on the
Holocaust. Two large metal rectangles had been
hung from the ceiling to represent the bodies of
two Jewish prisoners. The play examined the
daily routine of life in a concentration camp:
wake up, roll call, exercise tests (to check if the
prisoners were still capable to work) hard
labour, ‘coffee’ breaks in which the workers were served
muddy water as a cruel joke; labour, food, where the
prisoners were given extremely watery soup which had
next to no substance and a slice of bread. The same routine
would be repeated day after day until the person is
incapable of working any longer. The officers in charge often
misused their power and made the prisoners undertake
humiliating and exhausting acts in front of others just for
their personal entertainment.
The two metal hangings were struck repeatedly throughout
the play to symbolise how the officers beat Jewish prisoners
and each time the metal would make an incredibly harsh
clanging noise which made everyone flinch. However, no
one could find it in themselves to complain once they
realised that the sound represents the pain that would be
inflicted on the bodies of the weakened prisoners.
At the end of the play, the two prisoners were gassed
because they had become too weak to work. After the play,
everyone felt that, to some extent, they could now imagine
how absolutely horrific the Holocaust had been and we all
felt extremely sorry for those who had had to go through
it. Badac Theatre Company left us all with an understanding
of how the prisoners must have felt and how we, as part of
the new generation, could not let something as terrible as
this happen ever again.
Ashes to AshesFe
ature
September 2013 | Newsletter
12 St Albans High School for Girls
By
Arv
een, Year
9
We extend a warm welcome to Mrs Laura Lord who will
be joining the High School this term as the Association
Officer for the newly created St Albans High School
Association. This will be an overarching organisation to
which all former pupils, current and former parents, current
and former members of staff, Governors and all Friends of
the School belong. It will maintain communication between
all these groups and the School, establishing a careers
network between present and former pupils, as well as
running social events and working with the Old Girls’
Association to organise reunions for former pupils, in
addition to many other initiatives.
Photo by kind
permission of the
Badac Theatre
Company
Headmistress:
Rosemary Martin MEd NPQH FRSA
www.stahs.org.uk
We said goodbye
to Mrs Mitchell in
the Mathematics
Department, who
has worked at the
High School for 26
years and wish her
well on her
retirement.
St AlbansHigh SchoolAssociation
MrsMitchell