News Round Up 14th February 2025

Huge congratulations to the U13 hockey team who have successfully defended their ISHC national plate title! After winning their semi-final 8-1 against Hymers College and a thrilling match against James Allen Girls School in the final which they won 4-3, our fantastic team are bringing the plate home for the second year in a row! Well done to you all, we’re so proud of you!

Following the team's hockey success, we would also like to wish Matilda in the Upper Sixth lots of luck as she represents England during half term in an international U20 Pentathlon in Sweden! We are all behind you Matilda!

Dance Showcase

Last night's Dance Showcase was a wonderful celebration of our talented Dance students. In total 30 students took part from Year 7 to Upper Sixth, performing GCSE and BTEC exam pieces and routines learnt in the extra curricular Dance clubs such as Contemporary, Jazz and Street Dance. There was also a fabulous Modern Dance piece from the Junior Dance Club performed to Sax by Fleur East. Well done to everyone who took part in such a fantastic evening!

Year 9 Art

Year 9's have been busy creating self portrait paintings inspired by the New York street artist, Shepard Fairey, an artist whose work is deeply rooted in street culture and political activism. His most iconic work was Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign 'HOPE' poster.

Combining colour theory, photography, and typography, their final portraits are wonderful pops of colour.

Maths Challenge

On Wednesday 29th January, our top mathematicians from the middle school took part in the United Kingdom Mathematical Trust Intermediate Challenge. Congratulations to the following students who used their mathematical skills in order to solve a variety of interesting and thought provoking problems and achieved the following certificates:

Bronze certificate:

• Year 10: Harriet and Poppy
• Year 11: Madeleine and Sarah

Silver certificate

• Year 10: Delia
• Year 11: Ava

Gold certificate

• Year 10: Judy (Best in Year)
• Year 11: Chloe, Anita and Yuhan (Best in School)

Special congratulations to Yuhan, who qualified for the follow-on round which takes place in March.

HALO Lecture

Chaplain Katie gave this week's HALO lecture on "Christian Mystics". She firstly challenged us with what a mystic is and how mystics might engage in "the apprehension of truths beyond the intellect", before informing us of some of her favourite female Christian Mystics from the Middle Ages. Interestingly, these women had few choices about what they could do with their lives but all of them found ways to make a difference to the lives of Christians and women, both then and now. Finally, Chaplain Katie explained her desire to become a nun when she was growing up, running a Béguinage, a community of women, dedicated to religious devotion and social justice, and explained how they link to modern day trade unions. All in all, a very informative morning.

Pupil comments:

We learnt a lot about how women worked to do as much as they could with the little options they had, but this also made us feel grateful for all the opportunities available to us now. Thank you for sharing these stories, Chaplain Katie, especially about the Béguinages. Claudia, Poppy and Donna, Year 10

I have learned a lot about early oppression of women and those women who went against the system through nunneries. I thank you for the new information and the enjoyable delivery. Year 9 pupil

It was really fascinating learning about mystics. Before the lecture, we did not know what a mystic was and we have learned so much more now. Thank you, Chaplain Katie. Annabelle, Josie, Jessica and Ella, Year 7

Sixth Form Futures Talk

This week we had Holly Smith from the University Guys, International University Applications Specialists, visit our Lower Sixth, to talk about the opportunities available to study for a degree abroad. Students learnt about the different application systems in the USA, Canada and Europe as well as learning about the range of costs and variety of learning methods.

Year 7 Interhouse Football Tournament

As part of their BTEC Diploma in Sport, Lower Sixth students are required to organise a sports event. This week, Izzy hosted an interhouse football tournament for Year 7. After organising the tournament, completing all the relevant paperwork and promoting it, the event was run during Year 7's PE lesson on Thursday. There were some very exciting matches and close results, but the Danes came out as the winning House. Izzy also awarded players of the tournament to:

• Celts: Kayla and Jendayi
• Saxons: Josie and Freya
• Danes: Chloe and Charlotte

Sophie also won the award for the best team player. Well done Izzy on a brilliantly organised event.

Textiles

Textiles Club

Textiles Club is always busy with lots of the students perfecting work from lessons such their owl cushions, starting crochet patterns, drawing, or beginning their designs for The Young Fashion Designer Award. This week Isabelle was practising draping on the stand to create a beautiful flowing gown!

The Young Fashion Designer Award 2025 is open for entries. If you're interested, click here for more information.

A Level Textiles

Over the last few weeks Upper Sixth students Piper, Ella, and Pippa have been putting together their portfolios for University applications. It's quite a long process which entails creating approx. 20 x A2 sheets of work that show a variety of artwork, textile examples, fashion illustrations and designs. The aim is to show off their skill set and the different ways they can work.

This week Piper has been very busy putting together her portfolio, collating work from GCSE right the way through to A-Level. Well done everyone for all your hard work. Fingers crossed for your applications!

Sixth Form Boarding Lunch

The Sixth Form enjoyed the first lunch in-house of this term which is a lovely relaxed occasion. After half term, there will be more opportunities for all the boarders to have lunch in-house with their friends.

Gymnastics Success

Last Sunday, our U13 gymnasts from Years 7 and 8 competed at Haberdashers Boys School in Elstree .

Competing against 12 other schools including The British School of Brussels and The British School in the Netherlands, our U13 team finished in third place. They also placed third in the Group sequence. Additionally, Zarina placed fifth and Ava was sixth individually out of 60 gymnasts. Fantastic result everyone!

Valentine's Bake Sale